Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original character.
Part 25:
Shit.
Shitshitshitshitshit.
Shit.
Kae tugged furiously at the cords binding her wrists. Chad, or Mercury, as she'd heard the others call him before she'd been shoved under the concierge desk, her ankles now bound too, kicked her and she let out a small squeak of pain.
"It'll be worse if you don't shut up." he warned. "I have to get back to the others. But just in case... he bent over her and placed a hand on her forehead."
She tried to speak, but nothing came out.
No.
And then in the blink of an eye, he was gone. It wasn't long before she heard panicked yelling, the sound of running, and then a voice.
Dean.
"C'mon everybody, let's go! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
Then silence. She tried to keep her breathing regular; she had to get through this, remain strong.
Before long, Mercury had returned, and there was a ringing noise as someone rang the bell on the desk for service.
"Checking in." a familiar voice said.
Kae felt her stomach twist uncomfortably.
Lucifer.
"Lucifer." Mercury said pleasantly. "Thanks for coming."
"Oh you did right calling me," Lucifer replied.
"It's just..." the pagan hesitated for a second. "The way the talk is heading in there, it's...It's insane." There was the briefest pause, and then suddenly, she was being grabbed and hauled upright by him. "I...I thought maybe we could figure a way to end it. Maybe a deal?"
Lucifer's face remained impassive, but it still made Kae sick as his eyes roved over her body, the way they lingered on her disheveled hair, the cuts on her face and neck, her bound arms.
"And you thought that Kae would make a good bargaining chip?" he asked softly, his tone nonchalant as he reached over and touched her cheek.
Mercury nodded nervously. "Well I...she is...the one -"
He was cut off as Lucifer withdrew his hand from Kae's face and twisted it. At the same time, Mercury's neck broke, and he fell to the floor dead. Kae, who was still tied by both ankle and hand, slumped forward on the desk, her eyes wide with terror as Lucifer gripped her under her arms and lifted her up and over the desk.
A quick snap of his fingers and the ropes binding her vanished and her voice was restored.
"Much better, don't you think?" he asked, giving her a smile. Combined with the grotesque appearance of his vessel (she recalled something she'd heard a while back about some humans not being able to contain angels in their bodies), it terrified her.
"I -"
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you, and I'm not gonna hurt your boytoy or his brother." he assured her. "but first, I need to check something."
She cried out as he laid a hand on her stomach, and closed his eyes. There was a brief flash of light, and she stumbled back, only for him to grab her by the arm and pull her against him.
"Not pregnant." he breathed. "Good news. Now I really have no reason to snap Dean in two, huh?" he paused. "Remind me to thank Castiel the next time I see him - he uncomplicated my job for me."
"Lucifer -" she tried, but he shook his head and she fell silent.
"Let's go have some fun, hmm?"
He tugged her off down toward the ballroom.
"You didn't see Kae at all?"
Dean shook his head. He looked at Kali.
"Where did they take her?" he asked angrily.
"How would I know?" she asked flatly. "She was with the two of you. We sent our men - Oh."
Baldur looked over at her, his expression indiscernable. "Kali?"
"Mercury." she breathed in realization. " You know him as Chad." she added when the brothers exchanged a look of confusion. "He...He took her."
"Why?" Dean demanded.
"Deal with Lucifer. Exchange her for stopping the apocalypse."
"Handing her over wouldn't stop it." Dean snapped. "'Prophecied mother of the Antichrist', remember?"
Suddenly the room shook and the lights overhead and at the bar in the back of the ballroom flickered. Sam looked at Dean anxiously as screams reached their ears.
"It's him." Sam said.
"Zap us out of here," Dean cried, but Baldur shook his head.
"We can't."
"Of course you can't." Lucifer walked into the room, covered in blood, his hand clamped around Kae's forearm. Blood streaked across her cheek, stained her clothes, and was matted in her hair. She was shaking. "You didn't say 'Mother, may I?." his eyes flicked to the brothers standing behind Baldur as he advanced toward the devil. "Sam, Dean, good to see you again. You miss her?" he let go of Kae's arm. "She's been having so much fun with me...but I guess you can have her back." He gave her a push forward, and she stumbled before falling onto her knees. She looked so drained - so - not her.
Dean moved forward and helped her up.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to him pleadingly, "I'm sorry, he threatened to kill you - I couldn't -"
"We'll talk about it later." he promised. "Later." They rejoined Sam to watch the exchange between Lucifer and the pagans.
"Baldur don't -" Kali started, but it was too late.
"You think you own the planet?" Baldur challenged, "What gives you the right -?!"
Lucifer thrust his hand, through Baldur's chest, silencing him. "No one gives us the right," he breathed. "We take it."
He pulled his bloodsoaked hand free from Baldur's body and it collapsed.
Kali didn't move. Flames began to appear up her arms, and she lifted one, projecting the flames toward Lucifer. As they ricocheted off of his vessel's body, the guys and Kae dove behind an upturned table for cover.
"You okay?" Dean asked Kae over the roar of the flames.
She shook her head.
"Not really." a different, but familiar voice answered, and when Dean rolled over to look who it was he saw Gabriel there with them. "Better late than never, huh?" he thrust a DVD case into Dean's arms, his expression serious. "Guard this with your life." he said before rushing to defend Kali, who now lay on the floor with Lucifer standing over her, about to put his foot right through her chest.
An invisible force knocked him backward just in time, and when he got to his feet, there was Gabriel standing in front of Kali, angel blade in hand.
"Luci," he quipped. "I'm home."
Lucifer got slowly to his feet and advanced toward Gabriel, who helped Kali to her feet, angel blade held before him in defense.
"Not this time," he said. "Guys?" Sam and Dean exchanged a look before they and Kae got up from behind the table they'd used as a shield. "Get her out of here."
He moved in front of them as they led Kali out of the ball room, blade still at the ready.
"Gabriel -"
Kae had stopped at the doorway, and was looking at him with an odd expression on her face.
"I know," he responded simply. "Sam?"
With a tug of her arm, Sam pulled her into the hall and they hurrried back down the hall toward the front doors.
"I'm not getting in that thing."
"Just get in the damn car, Princess." Dean snapped as he hurried around to the driver's side door of the Impala. Kae stood at the passenger door, staring down at it with a blank expression on her face.
"Kae?" he said hesitantly, unsure if he should touch her. "C'mon. We gotta move."
She nodded.
"Yeah...okay."
They drove Kali out to the outskirts of town where she vanished, and Sam decided it was time to see what was so important about the DVD Gabriel had given them. Kae, after some coaxing from Sam, left the car (she'd spent most of the ride in silence) and waited with Dean as Sam got out his laptop, turned it on and popped the DVD in.
Sam looked skeptically at Dean as a porno began to play. "Gabriel wanted you to protect this?"
Dean shrugged. "Maybe he's a fan. It is a good one."
Kae rolled her eyes and, against her better judgement, returned her eyes to the screen. She didn't understand why Gabriel would want them to protect a porno either - until she saw him on the screen.
He grinned at the camera. "Sam, Dean, Kae. You're probably wondering what the hell is going on here." The woman in the film tried drawing his attention back to her, but pouted and grabbed a magazine before sitting on the bed and reading it. "If you're watching this, then I'm dead."
Kae made a choking noise.
"I knew it." she said hoarsely. "I knew - Son of a bitch!"
"Without me, you've got zero chance of stopping Lucifer." Gabriel continued. "Sorry! But," he leaned in closer to the camera, "you can trap him. The cage you sprung him from? It's still down there. And maybe, just maybe, you can shove his ass back in."
"Oh my God." Kae breathed. Trapping Lucifer? Hell to the fucking yes. But how -?
"...and here's the big secret, that even Lucifer himself doesn't even know. The key to the cage? It's out there. Actually, it's keys. Plural. Four keys. Well...four rings. From the Horsemen. You get 'em all, you got the cage. Can't say I'm betting on you guys, but hey, I've been wrong before...And Dean? You were right." Both Kae's and Sam's heads turned to look at Dean as Gabriel spoke. "I was afraid to stand my brother. Not anymore. So this is me standing up," he got up off the bed and the woman, her magazine now cast aside, moved behind him. "And this is me lying down."
"Yeah I think you can shut that off now," Kae said, staring pointedly at the ground as the porno returned to, well, sex. Sam practically slammed the lid on his laptop. "So..the Horsemen."
"Four Horseman of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. We've only got War's." Dean told her.
Kae stared at him like he'd grown another head.
"The fuck do you mean, you only have War's ring?" she glared at him. "What about Famine - where's he at?"
Sam sighed. "We dunno. Everything got kind of crazy after Carthage. Then Martin called and - well...yeah."
She breathed heavily through her nose. "Three rings to go then." she muttered. "I can get us Famine's...might even be able to swing Pestilence while I'm at it."
It was their only option - and she didn't want to deal with Crowley at all but it seemed like they didn't have a choice.
Dean arched an eyebrow as Sam looked at her uncertainly. "How?"
Kae smiled grimly.
"Wait here."
She vanished.
Thoughts? No flames please!