Chapter Eleven

Familicide

Bobby's House: Afternoon - June 17, 2010

Rowena hated to admit it, but this wasn't the worst situation in the world. Whoever owned the house had a respectable library, the wards kept her well hidden from any of her enemies, and despite the restraints on her power she was treated respectfully. The angel didn't trust her, but he would be a fool to do so and she didn't suffer fools. Samuel was an eager student and a bottomless well of supernatural information. She'd thought Dean was the stereotypical tough man, but even he seemed intelligent and dedicated to their mission. It was rather refreshing. There was only one fly in the ointment, as it were.

"When will that demon be returning?" she asked over lunch.

Castiel huffed, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "He should have been back days ago."

She sipped her tea, smiling at the taste. "Samuel mentioned the demon had a spell that required a coven? I'd like to know more about it."

"I know he said it would require three to five people," Dean shrugged. He hadn't lifted his nose from the book she recommended to him two days ago, and it was rather adorable how determined he looked.

"He also seemed to think you would know it," Samuel pointed out. "He was very reluctant to seek you out though."

Rowena frowned, racking her brain for such a spell. It was sad, but she'd forgotten more than most people knew about magic. Perhaps she should ask one of them to bring her to her library. Each spell they tried had failed, and despite her frustration, she reveled in the challenge. When she finally tracked down this slippery archangel, she was going to grill him for all the information he had on cloaking magic.

"And he was the one to perform the tracking spell?"

"Yeah," Samuel said before taking a bite of his sandwich. A thoughtful look passed over his face, and Rowena watched him carefully.

"Is something wrong?"

"I just don't understand why he had your blood," he said. "Crowley let me set up the spell, but wouldn't let me cast it."

"Probably something he created," Rowena dismissed. "Practitioners are rather protective of their creations. I assume as a demon he is even more so since most creatures of Hell had to deal for their magic."

Still, something about the situation was fishy. She'd gone to painstaking lengths to make her blood useless in most spells. That, and she was extremely careful never to leave blood lying around. So how had a demon she'd never met not only come across her blood but also found a way to use it?

A phone ringing broke her thoughts, and she snorted softly as all three men dug for their cells.

"Maybe you should set different ringtones?" she asked in amusement.

Samuel laughed softly, tossing his phone aside once he realized it wasn't his ringing. The angel answered the phone, frowning.

"Where are you?" he demanded.

The frown became more pronounced before morphing to a look of horror.

"Put my sister on the phone, now!" Castiel snapped, his eyes flashing to a stormy silver color.

"Cas, what's wrong?" Dean asked. The angel shook his head, and Dean grabbed his hand. Rowena watched the interaction, surprised by the openness. The two love birds had been dancing around each other to the point Rowena assumed they were in denial, but it seemed they'd just been uncomfortable showing their feelings in front of her. Castiel squeezed his hand tightly, and Rowena could hear a female voice on the other end of the phone. She couldn't make out what was being said, but the effect on the angel was clear.

"Give me an hour," Castiel hoarsely replied. "I'll gather some supplies." The angel hung up, and he dropped the phone on the table.

"Cas?" Dean gently prodded. "What's going on?"

"They found three angelic corpses," Castiel whispered tightly. "They could only identify one; the Seraphim Cassiel, Gabriel's second in command."

Rowena felt her heart skip a beat at the heartbreak in the angel's voice. Samuel's face crumbled and Dean cursed, snapping the book he was reading shut.

"We'll go with you," Dean said.

"No," Castiel said. "At most I could bring one of you, and Azrial said the cave wasn't that big. She wants to collect the remains, and try to identify the other two angels. It will be up to Gabriel how he wants to handle Cassiel."

"Cas, I really think you should take someone with you," Samuel said. "Please, at least take Dean."

Castiel looked conflicted but sighed. "Get a heavy coat," the angel tiredly ordered. His dark eyes moved toward her, and Rowena froze. For the first time since meeting the angel, Rowena could feel the immense power he had at his command. "If you harm Sam, if even a hair is out of place when I return, not even God himself will be able to bring you back."

"Cas!" Samuel yelped. "That's going too far."

Rowena couldn't look away from the angel, a mix of fear and respect compelling her to nod. "You have my word, angel. I do value my life after all."

Castiel grunted softly, gently pulling Dean up. "Jacket, now," he said flatly.

The hunter nodded and quickly headed out of the room. Castiel started moving around the room, looking down at his phone from time to time as he gathered supplies. Samuel gently touched her shoulder, drawing her attention.

"I'm sorry, he's just overprotective."

"It seems he has good reason," Rowena said. "It can't be easy to kill an angel."

"It's not," he sighed. "That's why this is such a big deal. Cas didn't say it, but this had to have been a trap set for angels. The last time this happened...it was another angel killing his siblings for Lucifer."

Rowena shuddered, not bothering to hide her disgust. He had gone into great detail about Lucifer during their talks. Rowena was sure if she'd met the charismatic archangel without the hunter's warnings she'd have become one of his many victims. She'd been wary to search out Gabriel after that, but Samuel had been more than understanding and had talked about the other archangel as well.

"We should rest while your brother and Castiel are away," Rowena suggested after a moment. "You'll be too worried to cast."

"You're probably right, but I hate sitting around and doing nothing."

Rowena patted the man's arm as she stood up. "Then we'll do something else. Tea?"

He smiled weakly, nodding in thanks. Rowena could think of some pleasant things to do with the handsome hunter, but if the way he talked about Gabriel was any indication, she wouldn't get far. At least not without the archangel's help.

Line Break

Iceland

Crowley looked up at the sound of wings, trying to keep his body relaxed. It didn't work until he saw Castiel and Dean, and even then he still felt unusually tense.

"Follow me," he ordered. "Azrial and Bobby are still near the waterfall."

Castiel didn't respond, just nodded and followed after him. The quiet was oppressive, but Crowley felt no need to break it. Castiel looked no better than Azrial, and his grace was rising and falling chaotically. He wasn't accustomed to the angel's grace, and it set him even more on edge. Once he could see Azrial, he walked ahead of the two. She was speaking quietly to Bobby, her face pinched with pain. The hunter had a firm hand on her shoulder and was trying to comfort the emotional archangel. He was happy the man was here because he wasn't sure he'd be much help to her. They both looked up when he cleared his throat, gesturing behind him.

"Are you ready?"

Azrial sighed, looking over at Castiel. "We will go alone."

"Princess is that a-" Bobby was cut off by Azrial squeezing his hand.

"It will be fine," she soothed him. "We'll be together and this...it's something we have to do alone."

"All right," Bobby muttered and gently pulled his hand away when he noticed Dean looking at them. "Just...we're here if either of you needs us."

"Thank you," Castiel said. "This shouldn't take long."

"Fly me?" Azrial quietly asked.

Castiel offered his hand, and Azrial took it and the two vanished with the supplies the angel had in his other hand.

"Damnit, I don't like this," Bobby muttered. Crowley sighed, tilting his head in agreement.

"We need to allow them this time."

"Cas was really shaken up," Dean said. "I've only seen him that mad a few times."

"It's unheard of," Crowley muttered. "Three angels in the same place? That reeks of a trap."

"Could it have been demons?" Dean asked.

"It could, but...I should have sensed something if it was. There is also the placement of the wings to consider. Best the three of us can figure, the two near the wall died with their backs turned."

Dean frowned, his brows scrunched in thought. "Their backs turned?" he repeated.

Crowley rolled his eyes. "That's what I said, squirrel."

"It can't be," Dean muttered. "But what's the likelihood of two more bodies?"

"What are you on about, Dean?" Bobby demanded.

"I need to speak with Azrial," Dean said firmly. "I don't want to voice my thoughts without some evidence."

"Rather tactful of you," Crowley snorted. Dean rolled his eyes but began pacing as they waited for the angels to return.

The sun had begun to fall below the horizon when the two angels reappeared, three ornate boxes between them.

"Sorry," Azrial sighed. "Castiel had to make a few trips back so I could create the ward boxes. The other bones still had a lot of grace in them, so I wanted to be safe and ward them as well."

"Was Castiel able to-?"

Azrial nodded mutely, cutting Bobby's question off. "Ezekiel and Sophia," she whispered. "They were young. Born when Castiel was. They were…"

Crowley watched her clutch the box in her arms tighter, and Castiel tensely finished her sentence.

"They were also of Gabriel's flock. They've been missing for hundreds of years, and Michael assumed they left and joined Gabriel here on Earth."

Azrial set the box she was holding near the fire Bobby had started. Her power was rising and falling at a quick rate, but so was Castiel's. Crowley carefully maneuvered closer to Bobby, just in case.

"Azrial, I need to ask you something."

She looked up at Dean, and Crowley could see the confusion in her eyes. "Yes?"

"At the meeting, where exactly were you stabbed?"

Her lips pursed softly, but she slowly lifted her shirt to show Dean the spot on her lower back. Dean walked forward, a critical look pinching his face.

"Clean and precise," Dean muttered. "Expert."

"And?" Azrial asked. "What are you getting at?"

"Something Castiel said back when we first met you, but...work with me okay?"

The plea in his voice caused Azrial's cold gaze to soften. "Go on," she prompted.

"Crowley said you think two of those angels died with their backs turned, what about the other?"

Crowley frowned at Dean's cautious question, but Azrial seemed to consider it.

"She ripped her grace out and died human. Likely from starvation or dehydration, if I had to guess."

"Right, but why so calm?" Dean countered, pacing the area. "There was likely a sigil used to banish the enemy, and it's just faded."

"It's possible," Castiel admitted. "There was a lot of old blood in the cave, but that's only what stained the rocks."

"How powerful were Sophia and Ezekiel?" Dean asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Bobby asked. "You ain't making sense."

"Like I said, just follow me," Dean insisted. "Well?"

"Sophia was a guardian angel, so a bit more powerful than some of the angels you've encountered," Azrial said.

"Ezekiel was a powerful healer, but that was the extent of his abilities," Castiel added. "I'd say he was of average power."

"So we have three angels of increasing power, all of the same flock. A flock without a leader."

Crowley inhaled sharply, glancing at Azrial. The archangel was frowning but still seemed outwardly calm.

"We can also assume Cassiel would have been stabbed in the back as well, had the attacker got the chance," Dean continued. "That's a pretty specific MO, don'tcha think?"

Castiel frowned but nodded in agreement. "But we'd already guessed that, Dean."

"Yeah, but we're forgetting another victim. One who's been stabbed in the back twice now."

"Balls," Bobby choked out. Crowley shut his eyes, finally putting the pieces together in his head.

"Dean," Castiel choked out. "You can't be...you understand what you're implying, don't you?"

"I ain't implying shit," Dean said firmly. "You said it yourself, Cas, you don't need to be a heavy hitter-"

Crowley cut Dean off, finishing the man's thought. "If you can simply stab your opponent in the back."

"He was there both times." Castiel's voice cracked, as he stepped toward Dean before turning to look at Azrial. "He was there both times you-"

Azrial's eyes were silver, and the pupil was completely gone. "Lucifer wouldn't have stabbed me in the back," she growled. "Michael would have fought me head to head."

"Lucifer didn't have an archangel blade either," Dean added.

Crowley placed a hand on Bobby's shoulder, tugging him closer to his body.

"The hell are you-?"

Bobby wasn't able to finish his question as Azrial let out an animalistic shriek and Crowley just managed to pull Bobby's body behind him as the archangel lost control.

"RAPHAEL!"

The next update is Saturday, November 13, 2021

Happy Nano, my darlings.