The entire house was in a panic, and Dean was pissed as hell. Sam had been taken, by Ruby no less. He knew why, they planned to use Sam as bait get Dean to kill Lilith.
He would have done it anyway if she had gotten anywhere near him. He disliked demons on principle, but Lilith was a special kind of sick. She preferred children as her meat sacks. The last one, the one where she killed his doppleganger, had been a little girl. She had used the girl to kill and keep the family in a perpetual nightmare.
Last time Gabriel checked on the family in question, they had moved to Rome in Vatican city and the girl was studying to be a devout Catholic girl. That kind of nightmare tended to do things to people and it broke Dean's heart seeing children involved. The only solace he took was that the girl had lived and had come out of it completely unharmed except for the emotional and mental trauma.
But right now Dean wanted to rip Lilith apart piece by bloody piece. And he would sent Ruby's head to Crowley for him to mount on a wall. He hated that bitch almost as much as Dean did, and she still kept trying to slink into their group.
He knew the demon could use a good laugh.
"Calm down Dean. You're agitated enough after what happened to Cas, if you went after Sam in that state you might accidentally hurt him," said Gabriel.
Dean slowly tried to regain control over his dragon. It was already riled up enough after Castiel was injured. He didn't need to loose complete control now.
Dean felt someone slip their hand into his. He didn't have to look to know it was Castiel trying to calm him down.
Even after the torture he was put through, he was still the same angel. The only difference was that he was very vulnerable at the moment and still needed time to heal. Time and having someone who wouldn't push him too far.
"First things first. Cas, can you find Sam? If I'm going to go tearing into something, I want to know where it is," asked Dean, starting to simmer down and think.
Castiel nodded, always eager to be useful. While his grace was still recovering, he was relatively useless to have on a hunt. But Dean didn't care about that. He found little ways for Castiel to be useful and never made him feel like he was a burden. Not like Uriel or the other angels had.
"Find who?"
"Sam!" Dean practically pounced on his brother and Gabriel wasn't far behind.
Sam rolled his eyes, though he noted Castiel's disappointment.
"How did you..."
"Blame Crowley. Apparently he hacked the telepathic connection we keep forgetting to close and told me how to get out of a demon trap. Should have heard Lilith shriek at Ruby when she realized I had slipped out without her knowing," said Sam smiling.
"How do you know that?" asked Lucifer. Sam hooked at thumb outside. There, in the yard, was a massive tunnel.
Dean started laughing.
"You pulled a Bugs on their ass?"
Sam ducked his head sheepishly.
"I pulled a Bugs."
Sam didn't use his creature form often, but when he did they called it a "Bugs". It was mostly for emergencies or doing a Looney Tunes skit with Dean playing Daffy.
"Way to go Sammy!"
"I might have also burned down an old church on the way out."
"You what now?" said the angels in unison.
Sam rolled his eyes.
"I burned Ruby and Lilith in the church after making sure to salt the windows. It was abandoned and the only ones there were me and the demons, so I figured why not? Hell, I even made sure no one else was in there by asking Mort!" said Sam.
"What did you use?" asked Gabriel, morbidly curious.
"Holy oil, what else? That way the angels couldn't put the damn thing out before those demons died, and I was semi-sure it would kill them. Or at least hurt them pretty damn bad," said Sam.
"Holy oil can affect demons too. I made sure of that," said Lucifer quietly.
It was something he had deliberately put in his creations. If only to insure that they didn't try to use it on angels.
"So...Lilith is dead?"
Castiel, the only one who stayed tuned into heaven brought out his mirror and scryed for the information they needed.
"She's dead alright, but heaven is in an uproar because the lock didn't fail on the cage. They want to know what is going wrong so Lucifer can be free."
The angels wanted Lucifer out to restart the war. So the fact the first demon died and the cage still held was worrying them. They wanted to know how to fix it.
"In the meantime, let's get some sleep. I'll set the holy oil barrier," said Dean.
Castiel had trouble sleeping without it. And while it made Lucifer and Gabriel uncomfortable, they put up with it.
Crowley waited for Dean to put out the barrier before he came in. He didn't spare more than a glance at Lucifer, who was drinking his coffee.
"Well whatever the hell you did to Lilith Sasquatch, it did a number on her and that bitch Ruby. I currently have pieces of their meat sacks on my mantle as a trophy," he said bluntly. Sam winced.
"How bad?"
"Let me put it this way. Between the Moose and you, the Moose probably did it with more agony and less fun," he deadpanned.
Dean snorted. In short he would have been humming while they screamed, whereas Sam would have nightmares of it.
"So any idea how the pit's reacting to the fact she's dead?"
"I have a list of higher demons. The more you take out, the happier I get," deadpanned Crowley.
"Crowley, how are the demons reacting to her death?"
"Confused mostly. Though some have started to notice he's not even in the cage, so they might come up anyway. It's a toss up at this point. Now feed me or else," said Crowley.
Crowley had come by when Dean was cooking, and had been brave enough to try it out. Needless to say he was hooked on first bite, so every time he came by with information he demanded food. Specifically Dean's cooking.
Dean rolled his eyes and started making the scrambled egg recipe he picked up. Crowley took one bite and nearly choked in shock.
"What?" asked Dean irritated.
"I didn't want to believe it. I had thought it was a joke of a rumor they spread for a laugh. You really ended up with that group while dead drunk? And still got the recipe for salt-less eggs?!" said Crowley in shock.
"Oh, you mean the gay-demon orgy. I have pictures of Sam's face when I told him where I got it!" said Dean grinning evilly.
"To be fair, Mort supplied him with Asgardian Mead. I'm still amazed he can drink four shots of it without imploding," chirped Gabriel.
"It would appear I owe a group of demons an apology and a round of drinks," said Crowley, eating his breakfast. He was among many who hadn't believed that particular group of demons about the story of Dean Winchester joining them in one of their seasonal orgies. They did it to celebrate every season. Summer, spring, fall and winter.
"If you see Paul again, give him these. Tell him it's thanks for that recipe he shared," said Dean cheerfully.
It was a few recipes he had made that went great without salt.
Crowley put them in his pocket to pass along.
In Ohio...
"What do you want Crowley? Here to call us liars again?" asked Paul. He was sipping some fruity drink Crowley didn't care to know the name of.
"Actually I came to pass these on. The next rounds on me," he said flatly.
Paul looked at the cards.
"What are these?"
"Recipes cards courtesy of Dean Harvelle. See, he dropped his father's last name years ago after they found out he had a third son."
"So you believe us now?"
"He has your egg recipe," deadpanned Crowley, "Hell he took pictures of his brother's reaction when he finally told them how he got the recipe."
Paul looked amused. Crowley produced the pictures.
"His brother a homophobe or something?"
"More along the lines of Dean knew how to make him embarrassed. Sam's dating Loki," said Crowley flatly, ordering a drink.
Paul looked through the pictures, his amusement growing with each one.
"Ah yes, the duty of older siblings everywhere to embarrass the younger generation just because they can."
"Oh, and Dean said you have a standing invitation to swap recipes at their favorite restaurant so long as you don't start a fight over the others. They have an pair of angels who frequently stick around them but they can learn to ignore you."
Paul looked openly amused.
"Is this a trick?" he asked.
"Not really. I regularly have tea with Dean at a cafe to swap information. He'll trust the information, he just won't trust you," said Crowley flatly.
"Smart man. Great in the sack though," said Paul.
"Do not need to hear it. At least not without his brother around to mortify with details," said Crowley. Sam was hilarious to tease, and it was one of the few things he could do to the Moose without worrying about his pagan-angel guard dog biting his head off. Hell, Loki joined in!
Paul snorted.
"What."
"I think someone let the Horsemen out. I just felt War's power acting up in some no name town," said Lucifer.
Under normal circumstances he would be pleased. He might even work a way to bring Death out. However after getting to know Dean and finding a strange sort of family with him and his brother that had been missing since leaving heaven, he was loath to ruin it. Besides, if Death wanted out, he would be. He had more freedom than Lucifer did since Potter completed the Hallows and wasn't turned into a reaper.
"Great. Just fantastic. So what do we do?"
"Take the ring, end his effect. But don't ask Mort because if you do he'll know his brother was around in an instant and call him on it after."
"Great. We have to deal with that nonsense..." said Dean tiredly.
"By the way, I finally got Castiel to spill on who tortured him. There were four angels there."
Dean's eyes took a sharp glint as they slitted.
"Who are they?"
"Zachariah, Annadriel, Uriel and Raphael. Apparently Annadriel was sent to Earth deliberately not to learn more about humans, but to act as a fail safe in the event you knew something they didn't want you to know. Like the fact I was out and about, or the fact Lilith is the final seal. She was pretty pissed off about the Castiel choosing you over heaven for some reason. Or she hurt him over the fact he allowed you to tamper with her ability to report to heaven."
"So we have three angels who are doomed to die, and one overdue for a major asskicking. Would you like to watch the last one?"
"If the angel in question is Micheal, absolutely," deadpanned Lucifer. That would be fun to watch, and he would be laughing the entire time.
Dean looked at the broken bridge and grimaced.
"I think this is where we either walk or ride," he said.
"Ride," said Sam immediately.
Dean grinned.
"Hold on tight Sammy! Bear, you stay with the car. This shouldn't take too long."
Bear barked, and the two pugs barked with him. They were used to guard duty.
Dean shifted to dragon form and took off. He was big enough for Sam to ride on his front claws, but not so big as to block out the sun immediately.
Ellen spotted them the second they came near main street.
Damn Sammy, something stinks around here!
Use that dragon nose of yours to find War, so we can leave. The less blood is shed, the happier I'll be.
Sam still had nightmares of Ruby and Lilith screaming. The only reason he was able to sleep at night was because Gabriel kept his wings around his boyfriend, keeping the nightmares at bay.
Dean grimaced the closer he got to the source of the smell. He would rather deal with Bear's gas problem than this.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Something stinks to high heaven in here," complained Dean. He let his nose lead him to the source, if only to get some relief.
There was an older gentleman in the back looking at him oddly. Then again, everyone was giving Dean strange looks.
"Oh dear Loki, I smell it too. What is that?" said Sam, holding his nose.
"Gunpowder and blood," said Dean after a moment. No wonder it was making him nauseous.
The closer he got to the gentleman, the worse it got. Then he spotted the heavy ring on the man's hand.
"Found you. That ring is what's causing that stench," said Dean in a sing-song voice.
The gentleman laughed coldly.
"I suppose I should have cloaked it. Then again big brother never mentioned his current Hand had a dragon's nose," said War.
"If I hadn't smelled it, Bear sure as hell would have. Besides, this way you get to watch the angels get their asses kicked for being such douchebags without having to listen to their orders," said Dean.
"Good point. Happy hunting, Harvelle," said War, handing over his ring. He vanished without a trace.
"What the hell have you gotten us into this time boy?" demanded Ellen.
"Long story short, above and below are wanting Micheal and Lucifer to duke it out, and Sam here killed Lilith. Though we threw a major wrench in the things early. Neither side has any idea what's about to happen and I plan on keepin' it that way," said Dean proudly.
Ellen took three quick steps and slapped both brothers on the head. They took the punishment they were due.