Crowley got there in record time. He saw Sam holding Gabriel, which didn't really surprise them as they were identical twins.
"Right, here's the deal. I'll use my magic to bring this jackass back and in exchange his markers are wiped clean and Dean the dumbass goes to hell for a bit," said Crowley.
Loki snorted at the description of Dean but didn't comment.
"What do you mean for a 'bit'?" asked Bobby.
Crowley looked at Loki.
"You want to tell them about that asshole Lucifer or should I?" he deadpanned.
Loki snorted.
"Lucifer is an arch angel. One who was sealed in hell inside a cage. Thing is that the locks can be broken. There's over six hundred seals and certain ones have to be broken in order for him to be able to leave Hell. One of them is for a righteous man to spill blood in hell."
"So?"
"So Dean here happens to fit that particular slot. If he goes to hell, they'll throw him to Alistair, Hell's chief torture specialist until he breaks and the first seal is broken," said Crowley.
Normally he wouldn't give two shits about someone like Dean making a deal...that sort of soul would give him a real boost in terms of power. However the last thing he wanted was for Lucifer to get loose and ruin all his fun. He would rather rule hell instead of following the orders of some jumped up feather duster who viewed his creations worse than he did humans.
So if he had to give the Winchester morons information he would normally keep his mouth shut about just to make sure his work wasn't ruined, he would give them information.
Upon later reflection he would fully blame Gabriel's influence. That tosser could corrupt an arch demon into doing something nice for a human without asking for a reward.
"What are the others?" asked Bobby.
"Rising of the Witnesses is a mile-marker I think," said Loki. Crowley nodded.
"And last but not least is the death of the First born at the hand of the Righteous man, or at least someone of similar bloodline," said Crowley.
"First born?"
"Demon by the name of Lilith," explained Loki.
"So are we going to do this or not?" asked Sam.
"Normally I would seal this with a kiss, but frankly you're too damn fugly and I want out of here," said Crowley.
Dean looked mortally offended by the idea he was 'fugly' by a demon's standards. If it wasn't for the entire reason Crowley was there, he would be laughing at the look on Dean's face.
Either way Sam had discreetly taken a picture of that look so Gabriel could get a good laugh later.
Instead of kissing Dean, Crowley settled for a hand shake.
The moment their hands met and shook, there was a loud thunder clap above. Sam gasped in shock as something went through him and into Gabriel.
The wound on Gabriel's chest healed up and the bullet vanished and he took a deep gasp of air.
"What..."
"Dumbass just made a deal to bring you back."
Seeing the disbelieving look on Gabe's face, it was clear he was very surprised that Dean considered him worth selling his soul to bring him back.
"So how long do I have?"
"Because of how high profile that soul of yours is, I can't give you the standard ten. Best I can do is a year," said Crowley.
"So what now?" asked Bobby.
"Now we deal with Jake. After what that asshole just did, he's dead man. Only question is what will gank him first," said Gabriel flatly.
Crowley vanished, since he had only been needed to bring Gabriel back. He disliked angels at the best of times, and being that close to one made him understandably nervous.
They were about to head towards the two cars Loki had brought Dean and Bobby in (Sam had still been in the tent) when Loki suddenly stopped.
"There's a spirit wolf nearby. Has a weird signature too," he said.
"I noticed her earlier. Hang on," said Gabriel.
He went to where he had last seen the wolf and whistled gently. There was a rustling in the bushes, and something white came out. Gabriel leaned down and held out his hand.
The wolf, definitely a female, sniffed it before wagging her tail. Gabriel grinned as he petted the wolf.
"You sure she's a spirit?"
"Well that eye color alone is from a hell hound. No idea if she's a half-breed of a normal wolf or if she's a full one. I'm betting half-blood because she's not even reacting to Lo," said Gabriel.
"Not half wolf. Quarter angel is more like it," said Loki when he examined her.
"HUH?!" came the collective reply to that.
Loki looked around and finally located his spell work.
"Come out you brat. I know you're around here somewhere...I can sense the spell work!" shouted Loki.
There was a loud thump from the trees, and a man approached with wolf ears and a long black tail.
"Hello dad," said the newcomer.
"I was wondering where you vanished off too. Seen Jor lately?"
"Still sleeping, the lazy bum," he snorted.
Gabriel put two and two together.
"Fenrirsûlfr, right?"
"Just Fen. Been tracking down these psychics to hide my scent, and then who else would show up but my old man?" said Fen giving Loki an unhappy look.
"Look, we have to find that idiot Jake so we can stop him. You want to travel with us or should we just part ways?" asked Gabriel.
"I'll come with you. At least until I can find a new way to hide my scent from the angels. They don't exactly like me if you get my drift."
"This girl have a name?"
"Chesa."
"HA! I knew that series was based off of something you did!" said Loki triumphantly.
Fen looked a bit uncomfortable that his father was aware of that show.
"Slight problem...we don't have enough room for all of us," said Dean.
Between Kiba in the backseat and the two seater Bobby had brought with him, there was going to be an odd man out. Fen was quite a bit taller than Sam was, and he barely fit in the Impala as it was.
Gabriel had other ideas.
"We're heading to Bobby's anyway right?"
They all nodded.
"See you there then," said Gabriel before he disappeared with a loud crack. Everyone except Loki jumped.
"What the hell was that?!" said Dean.
"Apparition. Basically the magical version of teleporting. You visualize where you want to go, then will yourself to the location. Problem is that wizards tend to overload the damn thing, so they always come and go with a crack sound of displaced magic. Gabriel got his license to do it about six months after he first came to America after escaping Europe."
"So why doesn't he travel like that all the time?" asked Dean.
"You have to be able to picture your landing site very, very clearly, and he really hates the feeling of it. Besides, he prefers driving his baby because it's more fun," shrugged Loki.
"Not to mention that if you screw it up, you might splinch yourself," added Fen dryly.
"Splinch?"
"Sometimes they don't do it properly or they use too little magic and they end up 'leaving' bits and pieces of themselves behind. There's an entire squad of healers in every country dedicated to fixing up the idiots who can't do it right," said Loki amused.
"So who goes with who?"
"Sam goes with Dean, Chesa and Fen can go with Bobby," said Loki.
"You sure there's enough room in the back for her?" asked Fen.
Loki snapped his fingers and expanded the back half of the trunk. Chesa jumped in and was able to comfortably lay down without touching the edges.
"So...how exactly does the son of an angel end up making a half-hellhound, half angel crossbreed?" asked Gabriel a few hours later.
Fen squirmed.
"Well?" asked Loki, grinning.
"I don't want to talk about it...though Chesa was the only one who survived that mess," said Fen embarrassed.
"Ah. Sounds like what happened with me then," said Loki.
Fenrir had been an accident too. He hadn't planned on making any half-breeds, but once the damage was done he had quit caring.
"Looks like Kiba is interested in Chesa," said Gabriel grinning.
Fen looked at him dryly.
"Seriously?"
"It gets better... I gave one of my hounds to a friend and he named it Tsume. We just need Toboe, Hige and Blue now," chuckled Gabriel.
"So what sort of hounds are these?"
"Hell hounds raised outside the Pit and exposed to Grace regularly. Took us six generations before they could become trainable and human-friendly," said Gabriel.
"You two have fun talking shop over your little pack. We'll find out where Jake is going and if he's there yet," said Loki.
Gabriel and Fen settled outside where Kiba and Chesa were sniffing each other. The rest of Gabriel's pack were staying in their assigned areas mostly because he wasn't dealing with having to keep them under control at the moment.
"So... just how involved are you with my father?"
"You caught his scent on me did ya?"
"Pretty much...plus there's the looks he keeps shooting you. Last time he had that expression on his face was with my mother before the angels killed her."
"Meh. Loki's a better partner than any that the wizards would try to force me with...plus he's always eager to try my creations," said Gabriel.
"You really do love him don't you?" said Fen.
"I wouldn't even know what love feels like. All my life I've been treated like crap, forced into horrible situations that I never should have been in if the adults had been doing what they were supposed to, and the one time I thought I could finally be happy, and they dropped me like yesterday's news because they learned my bloodline wasn't as 'pure' as they wanted. I'm still in shock Dean was willing to sell his soul just to bring me back at all."
Fen looked at him oddly. Why would Gabe be so surprised his own brother would want him alive?
"Surprised? I used to be known as Harry Potter," said Gabriel by way of explanation.
"Potter... Not the same kid who actually treated his werewolf uncle with actual common decency and never gave too craps about whether someone was infected or not?"
"You've heard of me?"
"You're the only hunter on either side of the pond who actually treats werewolves like they are still human. Do you have any idea how popular you are with the supernatural clans? Especially since you took out Gordon in a way he can't get his hunter buddies to get him out again?"
Gabriel blinked. He hadn't thought his treatment of the clans had been that effective.
"I suppose my simple rule of thumb when it comes to people or supernaturals does a lot more than anyone would expect..." he muttered.
"What rule of thumb?"
"So long as they aren't trying to kill, screw me over or otherwise make my life harder than it needs to be, I don't give a damn. I don't care if you're a werewolf, vampire or demon...if you treat me with common decency, I'll ignore whatever it is about you that others seem to pick up on and treat you the same."
"In other words, live and let live?"
"Pretty much. Being neutral is easy when you just don't care," said Gabriel.
Gabriel had a simple rule. So long as you had a brain, could talk plain English and didn't try to kill him, he was fairly easy to get along with. If you were an idiot or tried to kill him, he would respond with a cynical wit and reply in kind.
It had served him well over the years...especially when it came time to sweet talk the centaurs into letting him leave.
"So...what's your animagus form?"
"I got a double. Cerberus with hellfire and a crow," said Gabriel.
"Chances are that after being resurrected and having your soul put back, they might merge into one form."
"That might be fun," said Gabriel.
"So...what was with Gabe's expression when he heard about what I did?" asked Dean. The look of utter shock and disbelief that Dean would sell his soul to bring him back bothered him.
"Gabe...he was hurt bad when they dumped him without a second thought. He might act like a tough guy, but he still hurts from that pain. The fact you thought him worth more than your own soul is something he's having trouble coping with," said Loki.
"Why?"
"Some scars never heal. And for Gabe, his biggest fear will always be that those he's close to will abandon him again. He's actually a lot more vulnerable than you might expect."
"If I ever see the bitch who dumped him just because he was adopted, I'm shooting her no questions asked," growled Dean. Hermione's betrayal had been the biggest blow to Gabriel's heart.
"Oh it gets even better. She's a witch."
"Which means my conscious will be clear when I shoot her," deadpanned Dean.
"Well I suppose insuring that the bushy-haired harpy gets what she deserves is worth manipulating the Brits," mused Loki evilly. He could get behind helping Dean get back at Hermione Granger, the two-faced harlot who hurt his Gabe.
"You two done flirting with each other?" Loki called out fifteen minutes later.
Gabriel flipped him off, to Fen's amusement.
"We got a location?"
"Considering what we know of yellow-eyes, and the fact he told Jake where the Colt was...we think he's going to hit the Hell's Gate made by Samuel Colt," said Bobby, spreading the map.
"Makes sense...also explains why he stole that thing from Mr. Paranoid," said Gabriel.
There was a shout from outside, and everyone who was comfortable with a gun grabbed theirs and aimed it in the general direction of the shout.
Dean went out first...and found Ellen. The woman who they all believed dead because of the attack on the bar that killed everyone inside.
"How are you alive?" asked Gabriel.
"We ran out of pretzels," she deadpanned.
"She's clear," said Fen suddenly.
"You sure?" asked Bobby. Normally he would force a holy water test, but this guy had one hell of a nose. He knew without being told what Bobby had eaten in the past three days!
"Trust me, I know what a demon smells like. She's free of sulfur and demon taint, and she doesn't reek of feathers or that weird after-bite shifters have."
"Who is this guy?"
"Ellen, meet Fenrir. Yes, that Fenrir. Apparently he had been tracking the psychics too," said Gabriel dryly.
Gabriel had taken Loki with him once to Ellen's roadhouse.
If he hadn't had that illusion on him, he would have been shot on sight.
On the plus side, Ellen had gotten a 'prank-free' rule for her place from Loki and Gabriel...and a courtesy warning from the other Tricksters in exchange for being allowed to enter the place. Meaning she wouldn't have to worry about some idiot bringing a trickster to her place and having to clean up.
Though they still preferred Midnite's bar, if only because they didn't have to worry about the other hunters learning what Loki was and shooting him on principle.