Dean was irritated.
"Okay, explain to me again why the hell the Trickster is hanging around?"
Loki was over by Raven showing her how to braid the metal just right to make her own lanterns. Sure, having the original one was great, but if she could make her own she could net a nice profit from hunters and other psychics who could use the extra protection it gave.
"Because for some reason Loki took a liking to Raven. I think she said it had something to do with him being a fan of her parents," said Sam without looking up.
"And why haven't we shot him yet?" said Dean. Loki looked up from where he was helping Raven and Dean flipped him off. He stuck his tongue out at the hunter.
"Because he's the only supernatural creature we've ever met who's actually apologized for traumatizing us?" said Sam shrugging.
"And because he's the best source of information on what the hell this 'Righteous Man' crap is about without having to dig through god knows how many books!" Raven shot back. But really, the only reason they even considered letting Loki into the group was because he apologized to Sam.
Besides, once you got over his pranks, the snark, and the fact he was a sugar hound, he was actually rather tolerable...so long as you weren't his target. He seemed to treat Raven like a baby sister or something, which was very weird.
Finally Dean settled on the real reason why he tolerated Loki's presence, despite the fact the ass had targeted them more than once. He terrified Ruby into staying far, far away from Sam.
Ruby might hate Raven with a fierce and fiery passion that the psychic shared with equal vehemence, but she was downright terrified of the pagan Trickster. Raven seemed to have an idea why, but Loki wasn't talking.
"Dean, I think I might have a lead on Bela," said Sam.
"Good! I've been meaning to get the Colt back," said Dean with a growl. He was still pissed she took advantage of Bobby's condition to steal the only thing they knew could kill Lilith.
Raven winced. She didn't want to get anywhere near the thief because she was terrified Bela might recognize her. The last thing she wanted was for the English to realize where she disappeared to.
"I'll keep an eye out for you two in case something goes wrong, but I'm not getting within five feet of that woman. The last thing I need is for a Brit to recognize me," said Raven tightly. Sam noticed she was shaking a bit, though he failed to notice the speculative look in Loki's expression when he hugged her.
Raven seemed to relax around Sam. Like she knew she was safe around him.
"You alright Raven?" asked Dean. Loki gave him an odd look hearing the honest concern in Dean's voice.
"I'm fine. I just get bad memories when I think of England," she said.
"Well I'm sure we can leave you in Loki's sugared hands while we force Bela to hand over the Colt," said Dean with false cheer. It was clear he was debating on whether to go or try and comfort Raven.
"Go. Though be careful. Heaven only knows how many people she's tricked over the years," said Raven.
Raven's fear was proven right when Bela got them arrested. Dean wasn't expecting the thief to call the FBI and all but hand them over.
To make matters worse, there apparently were demons in the FBI.
Dean could only feel relief when Raven showed up with her lantern burning brightly, though he did wonder why no one saw her enter the back.
"You have no idea how thrilled I am to see you," said Dean honestly.
"We need to leave. There's only a small window of time before that mass of demons I sensed hit this area and I really don't want to get caught by a siege," said Raven.
"Can you get the door open?" asked Sam.
Raven brought out a bone white wand.
"Alohamora," she whispered. The door swung silently opened, and she repeated the process with the cuffs binding them. Then she tossed Dean the keys to the Impala and a bag to Sam.
"Let's get out of here before they realize you've escaped."
"How are we supposed to sneak past the cops outside?" asked Dean.
Raven smirked.
"Loki showed me a neat trick I wasn't aware of with the lantern. So long as you keep on hand on my shoulder, anyone caught in the light will believe you to be mere wisps of smoke. Basically turning you into spirits that can't be see without the power," she told them.
"So that's how you got in here!" said Dean impressed.
"Hurry!"
Dean and Sam kept a firm hand on her shoulders as she lead them outside. However the window closed faster than Raven realized. They were barely able to get the supplies from the car before the smoke hit them, since it would take too long to open the lot without the people inside hearing them.
Raven's light warned them that Henricksen was possessed long enough for Sam to chant the exorcism before he had a chance to do any real damage. The light kept the demon from getting near them.
"What the hell is going on?" demanded Henricksen.
"You were just possessed by a bloody demon, and you still don't get it?" said Raven irritated. Henricksen finally seemed to notice her enough to register her features. She looked disturbingly familiar, but he was having trouble placing where he had seen her.
It took a few moments for the cloud to pass, but the hunters (and lone psychic) knew they weren't out of the woods yet. They would be back.
Henricksen looked at Raven. In the darkened room her hair took on a black hue and he finally remembered where he had seen her face before.
"You. The FBI has a wanted poster of you that was issued by Interpol," he said suddenly.
Raven froze.
"Wait, what? What could Raven have possibly done to get Interpol on her ass?" asked Dean.
"Don't you dare. I know for a fact the English only issued that warrant because they want their precious poster girl back and I will have no part of that mess!" she hissed.
Sam and Dean were taken aback by the sheer viciousness of that tone. What on earth happened to Raven?
"So the charges of first degree murder are...?" he left hanging. He was not expecting her to close in on him and pin him to the station wall with a hard thud.
"I don't care what bullshit charges those sheep put on my name. They're just pissed because I gave them the slip and refuse to let them dictate how I would live my own life. And if you're smart, you'll forget ever seeing me," she snarled.
Dean slowly put a hand on Raven's shoulder.
"Calm down."
"I will not calm down! Not while we're trapped in a damn police station with even the slightest chance that those damn sheeple will find out where I went when I ran away! I refuse to go back!"
Dean managed to pull her away from Henricksen with a bear hug. Whatever had happened to her, it was bad. He had never seen her so afraid.
"Easy Ray. We won't let them drag you back," said Dean.
Raven let out a small sob and leaned into his arms. She never wanted to go back to England. She knew that the only thing waiting for her was a fate she never wanted to deal with...they would use her up and never care about her feelings.
Henricksen looked extremely uncomfortable.
He had a hard time equating the list of things on that poster with the crying red head Dean was holding. Something definitely didn't add up.
"Well isn't this a fun party?" said a voice without warning. It was clear from the newcomers tone he meant the exact opposite of 'fun'.
"Loki. Where the hell were you?"
"Avoiding a demon cloud, at least until I felt her magic flare up. What the hell set her off?" asked Loki, looking at Raven.
"He (Dean nodded to Henricksen) apparently recognized her from some poster," said Dean.
"Ah. There's a reason why she's stayed in that ghost mansion for a decade with limited human contact. The last thing she needs is to be found," said Loki. He accepted Raven from Dean, and she seemed to calm down once her magic recognized him.
Hearing one of the windows break, Dean looked irritated.
"Now what?!"
Seeing Ruby there, Dean barely repressed the urge to curse. This would not end well, he just knew it.
Two seconds after Ruby explained what she needed for her 'spell', Dean and Sam spoke at the same time.
"Absolutely not."
The brothers blinked at each other before Ruby looked at them both.
"And why not?" she demanded. To be rejected outright and with no hesitation in the response was not what she was expecting.
"We're not letting you cut Raven's heart out just because the two of you hate each other," said Sam.
"Actually I was against the killing an innocent just to wipe out the demons," admitted Dean, giving Raven an odd look.
"And how would you know Raven's never done well, that, Sammy?" asked Loki interested.
"Found out when we visited Midnight," explained Sam blushing.
"You do realize there is another candidate for the ingredient we need in the room, right?" asked Ruby, looking pointedly at Nancy.
"Again, no way in hell are we sacrificing someone just to kill demons," said Dean.
Raven however had a strange idea. She looked at Loki and he leaned down. The minute he heard what it was, his grin widened.
"That would piss them off and possibly get them to leave, but what are you going to do about the drought that might show up after?"
"Do you want to listen to the advice of that thing?" she asked, looking at Ruby with open hatred. The demon gave a similar glare back.
"Point taken. I'd recommend the one you filched from the goat. That has more than enough power," said Loki grinning.
Raven nodded, and went into one of the offices so she could aim her spell outside. She said something under her breath and a flare of white and silver shot out of the stick in her hand.
Everyone but Loki jumped at the sound of thunder when there wasn't a cloud in the sky before. When the sound of rain hit, Dean gave her an odd look.
"What did you just do?"
"Rain spell. I might have overpowered it since it summoned a thunderstorm though."
"Why a rain spell?" asked Sam.
"Because she turned it into a holy water rain spell by adding the sanctum charm to it. Can't imagine the demons outside enjoying that!" said Loki grinning.
And they could hear the surprised screaming from the demons getting drenched. Sam looked outside and saw a lot of smoke coming out of those caught in the rain.
"That can't be pleasant. Wonder what holy water does to a demon that's forced out?"
"It hurts like nothing you've ever experienced," came Ruby's immediate response.
"I dare say it will take them some time to get new bodies. Perhaps we should take advantage and vacate the area?" suggested Raven. She wanted to leave now.
"You guys should probably head home. Claim a sick day and then wait for the fall out. From what I know of Lilith she's going to be pissed these two chuckle heads escaped their grasp and she will take it out on you," said Loki to the cops and agent.
"Fine by me. As far as I'm concerned you two morons died in the helicopter explosion," said Henricksen. He carefully avoided looking at Raven.
Loki got them out of there before the demons came back.
Dean and Sam carefully avoided talking to Raven about the issue Henricksen brought up. Winchesters were very good at ignoring big warning signs like that until it blew up in their faces. Like Dean's deal or Sam's powers.
Unfortunately for her, Loki wasn't about to let this topic die until they knew the full story.
"Look, there's no way I'm letting you two idiots hang around Raven without at least giving you the gist about why they want her so badly that they made up a fake warrant for her."
"Loki..." hissed Raven.
"No Ray, they need to know."
Dean and Sam gave him their full attention. Yes, they were curious, but they didn't want to push Raven when it was clear she absolutely wanted no reminders of why she had isolated herself.
"All around the world there are magical societies of people like Raven, though most if not all are actually way weaker than she is. But in England they have this whole 'blood purity' nonsense which started up a war between the magical version of the Nazis and this group lead by this hypocritical pacifist. And once the war died off the first time, there was a sudden need for magical blood of those from long lines of the stuff. They seemed to think it made the blood better or some crap," said Loki.
Sam blinked.
"Okay, why are you quoting the Harry Potter series?" he asked.
"The what series?" said Loki.
Sam dug out one of the books that he had shown Raven, but she wanted nothing to do with. Kinda like how the Winchesters refused to read Supernatural.
"Okay, that's weird. But this makes things simpler. This isn't entirely fiction, but they got quite a few things wrong... like the gender of the one who offed Riddle for starters," said Loki, glancing at it.
Sam put two and two together and made four.
"You mean she's..."
"Yeah. She's the main character of the book, but like I said, whoever wrote this got a lot of things wrong."
"So the reason England wants her back so bad?"
"The best she could hope for would be a poster girl and broodmare," said Loki. Raven winced.
"She's still our Ray. No way are we letting some douchebag witches have her. No offense," said Dean.
"None taken. They are total pricks," said Raven. The Winchesters hugged her, and for the first time since her self-imposed exile, she had a glimmer of hope that maybe things would work out.
