DISCLAIMER: I only own my character! Anything you might recognize is courtesy of the CW.

WARNING: Some of these episodes/chapters may contain graphic violence, cursing, mentions of suicide or assault and other triggering aspects. Proceed with caution please.

Episode Summary:

A mysterious death draws Angel, Sam and Dean to a town full of old-school magicians. Their investigation leads them to Charlie, Jay, and Vernon, three friends who were famous magicians in their day but have now been replaced by flashier, younger magicians. One of them has made a deal to acquire real magical powers, but the price was extremely high. The Winchesters must figure out a way to reverse the spell before others are harmed.

Previously skipped: Family Remains…

Prologue…

On moonlit street a magician demonstrated turning a heart-shaped balloon into a dove. The impressed crowd around him applauded and cheered for more. A sign on a nearby streetlight read 'Iowa Celebrates Magic Week: Welcome the International Association of Magicians Sioux City'. Inside a nearby bar, another magician practiced a card-handling move. At the bar, yet another magician, an old man named Jay, demonstrated a one-handed cut to the cute bartender.

"Charlier cut."

"Wow." She grinned, "You're really good."

Another magician, a younger man named Vance and his assistant were sitting nearby.

"Yeah, great." Vance sneered in sarcasm, "Hey, show us another."

His assistant rolled her eyes, "Finish your drink, Vance."

Jay ignored him and his laughing as he shuffled the deck and fumbled some of the cards.

The bartender earned his attention again, "Do a card trick for me."

"Ooh, here we go." Vance heckled again, "'The Incredible Jay.'"

"Alright, young lady." Jay smiled at the bartender as he riffled the edge of the cards, "Would you please tell me when to stop?"

"Stop."

Jay held up part of the deck to show the card he was stopped on, the three of spades, but didn't look at the card himself.

"This is your card. Commit it to memory."

He put the deck back together, the three of spades apparently somewhere in the middle.

Vance sneered yet again, "That's incredible, Jay."

His assistant yet again rolled her eyes, "Don't be a jerk."

"Right, now…" Jay ignored them as he spread the cards out face-down, then used the four of diamonds to flip them all face-up, "Do you see your card?"

"Um…" The bartender frowned, "No, I don't.

"No." Jay played with the cards dramatically and made the bartender laugh, "The cards say no."

Vance stage-whispersed towards them, "Check his pocket."

His assistant huffed in exasperation, "For God's sake, Vance."

"Oh, just check-" Vance irritatedly stood up, "Check the damn pocket!"

Jay tried to continue once again, "So, if you then would remove-"

Vance walked over and cleared his throat as he pulled a card out of Jays pocket and turned it over, "This your card?"

It was the three of spades.

"Why are you so mean?" The bartender glared at Vance irritatedly, "Can't you just leave the old guy alone?"

Taken aback by her words, Jay gets up and quietly leaves the bar. Later that night, he and two of his oldest friends, magicians Charlie, an old man with a birthmark above his right eye, and Vernon. The three of them were sitting in the audience as a young man, Jeb Dexter, was practicing a trick involving flying on wires, smoke, and flames in the palms of his hands.

Charlie frowned, "Is he wearing eyeliner?"

"Can't tell." Vernon answered with a frown of his own, "I'm blinded by all the sterling silver."

"The light has to find me!" Jeb yelled at the tech guys, who made the music stop so they could hear him, "Get it? It has to find me!

Jebs helper motioned to the team, "Let's take it back."

Charlie shook his head in disdain, "What a douchebag."

"Would you guys give it a rest?" Jay groaned from in between them, "You're giving me a headache."

"Oh, come on, Jay." Vernon motioned to the stage, "His misdirect is shaking his ass like an Eighth Avenue hooker."

Charlie agreed, "Used to be about skill."

"Yeah, used to be." Jay grumbled, "Used to be. Listen to the two of you. It's pathetic. Bitter old men talking about the glory days. You know what? This douchebag isn't the joke. We are."

"Hey." Charlie burled up, "Who you calling a joke?"

"Me, for one." Jay frowned as Jebs act came back on, "That used to be us." He shook his head as Jeb performed a lavish trick, "You know, maybe he is a douchebag, but he's playing the main stage and we can't even afford an assistant. What the hell are we doing?"

Charlie shrugged, "We're doing alright."

"No, we're not. We're sad, we're old, and we're dying."

"Jay."

Conviction crossed Jays face, "I'm gonna do the Table of Death tonight."

"No. No, you're not," Worry immediately crossed Vernons face as he studied his old friend, "Jay. Don't be crazy."

Charlie scoffed, "You almost killed yourself the last time you tried it, and that was thirty years ago!"

"Oh, who cares if it kills me? At least I'll go out with a headline."

Later that night, at the dinner theater…

Someone in the audience yawned widely as Jay performed onstage in his tuxedo.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to see is not a trick or an illusion, simply a display of daring and dexterity." Jay laid down on a table labeled Table of Death before Charlie cuffed him down, "Now, young lady, if you'll please check the bindings, you'll see they're very real. Very tight." The young woman from the audience tested each of the cuffs for him, "Thank you. You may take your seat."

"Damn straight they're tight." Charlie leaned into Jay, "You sure you can slip them?"

Jay smirked at him before looking above him where ten swords hung, each with a blade stained red. Charlie pulled a curtain to hide Jay and the swords from view before the lights went out. Backstage, Vernon does the sign of the cross. Charlie picked up a miniature blowtorch and went over to Vernon as they both communicated silently between each other. Jay tried to slip the cuffs off as Charlie lit the blowtorch to the end of a cord attached to a rope, but they're too tight.

The cord burned with much light and smoke as sparks flew around everywhere. A light behind the curtain showed Jay's silhouette as he struggled to get out of the cuffs. The cord burned to the end and through the rope making the swords fall and pierce the table. Jays silhouette was seen still on the table. The lights were flipped back on as Charlie tugged one curtain aside and Jay the other. Jay took a smiling bow, looking slightly confused, as the crowd cheered and gave him a standing ovation.

Outside of the Hotel Patricia…

Vance and his Assistant were leaving Pat's Pub as the woman turned to him, "Show's in an hour, Vance. Try to be on time."

Vance waved her off and continued walking along before he stumbled from slicing pain in his chest. He pressed his hands to his now bloody chest before falling to the ground dead. Blood soaked his white shirt from several knife wounds that were sliced into his chest from under the shirt.

With the Winchesters…

In a motel room, in the wee hours of the morning, Angel sat at a table and read through multiple articles she had pulled up on her laptop. She was tired, her body ached, her eyes burned, but she was on the hunt for another job as she was unable to get any sleep. The nightmares from not only her time in hell, but now the most recent cases she and her brothers were investigating haunted her everytime she closed her eyes. Hunting was the only sure fire way she knew to keep her mind occupied on the present and not the past. It was also the only way she knew how to even begin to rectify everything she's done.

Sam, having been asleep on the bed closest to the table she was sitting at, stirred awake. He looked over to her curiously when he noticed she was up. Exhaustion was clear as day on his face.

"What are you doing?"

She flashed her green eyes to him boredly before going back to her reading, "What's it look like I'm doing?"

Quietly he got up to sit across from her, "Like you're looking for a job."

"Well…" She smirked at him, "Looks like that Stanford education is kicking in, little brother."

"Angie…" He ignored her sarcasm, studying her, "We just finished a job like…" His eyes flashed to the nightstand and he shook his head at the time, "Three hours ago."

Angel's mind flashed back to their last case where they investigated and saved a family from two feral teens that were living in the crawl space. They had originally thought the house was haunted by a young female ghost, but discovered that wasn't the case when the youngest boy of the family that was living there was abducted. When they found him, they discovered two feral abused teens, the heavily abused children of the house's former owners, had been living in the walls since their parents' death and killing anyone who moved in.

"Yeah?" Angel sighed deeply, "I'm pretty sure there's more than just the one case out there, Sammy. There's always a job." Her eyes flashed to his momentarily, "Which spot sounds better; Cedar Rapids, Tulsa, or Sioux City, Iowa AKA Little Chicago?"

"Look, I am all for working. I really am. And you know Dean loves the job more than anyone, but you got us chasing cases nonstop for like a month now." When her eyes found his, not knowing where he was going with his little speech, he pressed, "We need sleep."

"Yeah, and we just got a few hours." She said matter of factly, "Now im looking for our next gig."

Sam rolled his eyes, "You're exhausted, Angel."

"What are you talking about? I'm fine."

"No, you're not." He argued, "You're running on fumes, and you can't run forever.

"Sam…" She rolled her eyes in a huff before glaring at him, "What the hell am I running from? Hm?"

"From what you told us. From everything you told us." Sam's eyes softened as he stared at her, "Or are we pretending that never happened?"

Flashback: The previous night…

After finishing up their hunt, the exhausted Winchesters shuffled into the nearest beat down motel they could find. Angel tossed her bag onto the dingy motel couch, signaled for her brothers to take the beds, and headed into the bathroom for a shower. By the time she got out Dean was back from his food run and tossed her a burger before sitting and digging into his own beside Sam.

She looked at it for a second before tossing it back on the table, "I'm not hungry."

Dean stared at her appalled, "You okay?"

"Yeah." She grumbled non convincingly as she stuffed her clothes into the duffle, "Yeah, I'm fine." She could feel both of their eyes burning holes in her back so she sighed and took a heavy seat on the couch, "It's just… I don't know, I kind of empathized with those kids back there…" She scoffed shaking her head, "I mean, lifelong torture turns you into something like that."

"Woah, woah." Dean tossed his own burger aside, "You were in hell, Angel. Look, maybe you did what you did there, but you're not them."

"Ang." Sam came to sit behind her in comfort, "You're not. Those two, they were barely human."

"No, I wasn't like them." Her hands fisted together, "I- I was worse. They were animals defending territory. Me? I did it… I did it because it felt good." The boys each tensed at her words, confusion in their eyes, "It felt good to do it. I enjoyed it." She wiped her face as the shame of everything filled her, "They took me off the rack, and I tortured souls, and I liked it. All those years, all that pain… Finally getting to deal some out yourself. I didn't care who they put in front of me because that fee-" Her voice broke as the emotions rocked through her and spilled over, "That pain I felt, it just slipped away." She finally met their eyes, "No matter how many people I save, I can't change that. I can't fill this hole. Not ever."

Present day…

Angel slammed her laptop closed loud enough to have Dean sputtering awake in confusion. Sparing a final glare to Sam she swiped the keys to the impala and made her way towards the door.

"I'm gonna go pick up breakfast and coffee. Be ready to leave by the time I come back."

"Dude." Dean wiped his tired face in confusion before jumping when she slammed the door shut and then glared at Sam, "What the hell?"

SECTION ONE

Jeb Dexter stood in front of an audience on the street as he performed card tricks. A cameraperson as well as a microphone person stood at the ready in the crowd.

"This, this isn't a trick, okay? I don't do tricks. This is a demonstration about demons and angels, love and lust…"

Angel, Sam and Dean, all dressed in their FBI attire, approached him. The two eldest held a look of disdain while Sam held one of mild interest.

Dean scowled, "What a douchebag."

"That's Jeb Dexter."

Dean eyed his little brother with disappointment, "I don't even want to know how you know that."

"He's famous." Sam shrugged, "Kind of."

"For what? Douchebaggery?"

"But whatever happens…" Jeb continued as Angel chuckled at her brothers, "No matter how messed up it gets, don't touch me, okay? For your own safety."

Jeb inhaled and exhaled deeply, shook his head, then imitated something like a seizure. With one hand he grabbed for the cards in his other hand and scattered them, flinging them in the direction of the window behind him.

"Go back to hell, demon!"

The card that stuck to the window was the ace of diamonds. Jeb dragged his hand over the card to show that it's on the far side of the glass.

"Is this your card?"

Angel couldn't help but cringe right along with her brothers at the show, but the rest of the crowd erupted in applause.

Dean scoffed, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Did he just…" Angel shook her head, "Fake demon possession for a card trick?" As she walked away her brothers followed her, "It amazes me that people are actually entertained by fake crap like that."

Sam shrugged from beside her, "It's not all crap."

Dean turned to him with a frown, "What part of that was not a steaming pile of BS?"

"Okay, that was crap," Sam appeased, "But that's not all magicians. It takes skill."

"Skill, right…" Angel snickered before a grin played on her lips and she stopped, "Hey, wait, wait! You actually liked this crap when you were a kid, huh? I forgot about that."

"Oh, right, right." Dean grinned as Sam rolled his, "You had like a deck of cards and a wand."

"I was thirteen." Sam grumbled, "It was a phase."

"A phase." Angel winked, "Right, right. I've told myself that before too, Sammy."

"I don't know… It bugs me." Dean interjected, "Actually, it offends me." He scoffed in annoyance, "You know, playing at demons and- and magic, when the real thing will kill you bloody?"

Angel agreed, "Like a guy who drops dead of ten stab wounds without a single tear in his shirt?"

"That's what I'm talking about."

"And that's why I chose this case over the other one." Angel shrugged as she continued leading the way to the victims' hotel room, "Figured it would be interesting to say the least."

Once in Vance's room, the three hunters watched as his assistant tossed a handful of metal rings into a mostly-packed trunk. She turned to face them when Dean spoke.

"So did your boss have any enemies that you know of?"

She leaned down and grabbed the end of a series of tied-together handkerchiefs, "Vance had plenty of enemies."

Angel watched her, "And why was that?"

"He would steal from other magicians. All the time."

"What would he steal?"

"Stage effects, closeup techniques…" She shook her head, "Anything he could get his hands on."

Dean nodded, "Is that enough to get him killed?"

"These guys take this stuff pretty seriously." She moved a cloth off of a white rabbit, smiling and picking it up so she could pet it, "There you are."

"Did you find anything weird in Vance's stuff?" Dean looked around for a second before rephrasing, "Well, weirder?"

"Matter of fact, I did."

She put the bunny in a bag and pulled out a Rider-Waite tarot card: the Ten of Swords. The image on the card had ten swords sticking out of a man's back.

Sam frowned at the card before looking back at her, "I'm guessing this didn't belong to Vance."

"He hated card tricks. Never wanted them around. Let alone in his precious cape."

As the three of them studied both sides of the card they noted there wasn't anything special they could see. It looked like a perfectly ordinary tarot card.

At the theater…

A sign hung up above the stage that read: The Incredible Jay over the Table of Death. Jeb Dexter could be seen and heard on the phone nearby.

"It's a lame gig. I'm in a fleabag hotel doing this man-of-the-people crap, and Criss freaking Angel is in Vegas doing Cirque du Soleil! That should have been mine." Jeb angrily hung up the phone and sat down at a table where Charlie and Vernon were sitting adjacent as Dean approached them, "Alright, boys, get it in gear. I don't got all day."

Jebs' camera and microphone person started moving around as Dean crouched behind Vernon.

"You Vernon Haskell?"

Vernon barely leaned back, "Who's asking?"

"Federal agent. Ulrich." Dean flashed him an FBI ID before continuing, "Looking into the death of Patrick Vance."

"I'm Jeb Dexter. This is Devil Twist." Jeb began talking into the camera from across Jay, "We're chilling at the International Magicians' Convention, which is a dope chance to tip my hat to the wicked cats who came before me. Smoking hot effect last night, Jim."

"Jay."

"Huh?"

"My name is Jay."

"Yeah, whatever." Jeb waved him off, "We can loop it later."

Vernon rolled his eyes, "What a douchebag."

"Couldn't agree more. Is, uh-" Dean pulled out the Ten of Swords tarot card, "This familiar to you?"

"Should it be?"

"Well, I heard that you used tarot cards in your act."

"My act?" Vernon laughed, "That was a long time ago." He held up a shaking hand for Dean to see, "I haven't touched a deck in years."

"Do you know someone that might use them now?"

"Well…" Vernon met eyes with Charlie briefly before turning to Dean, "There was a guy down on Bleeker Street."

"Oh, yeah." Charlie nodded with a small smirk, "He, he peddles that kind of specialty stuff."

"Did he have a problem with Vance?"

"Matter of fact, Vance crossed him about a year ago." Charlie nodded as Vernon spoke, "Probably cost him fifty grand in royalties."

"You know the exact address?"

"Four twenty-six Bleeker."

"Ask for Chief."

"Chief." Dean nodded and then turned to leave when he saw Angel walk in, "Thank you."

On Bleeker Street that night…

A siren wailed in the distance as Angel and Dean walked along the dark alleyway that led up to 426 Bleeker Street. Angel sighed as they passed two men rummaging through the dumpster and stopped in front of a neon sign that read 426.

Angel eyed the bars on the doors before looking to her brother, "You sure this is it?"

"This is what they said." Dean knocked on the bars and the chain-link door almost immediately swung open to reveal a young man who eyed Dean and Angel apprehensively, "We're, uh, here to see Chief."

Angel frowned at the name as the young man raised his eyebrows at them in surprise, "Both of you?"

The two of them looked from one another and back to him before nodding slowly. He raised his eyebrows again but opened the barred door and allowed them into the dimly lit building. They followed the young man downstairs before he stopped and turned to stop them from going further.

"Stay here. Don't touch anything."

As he left, the two Winchesters walked around to survey the dark basement they were in. Graffiti lined the walls and the bass line of music from the lower level was still very audible.

"Dean…" Angel frowned when she came across a large table and chair that held multiple BDSM toys, "What exactly did-"

A door opened behind them eliciting them both to face it. A large man, Chief, climbed the stairs from a downstairs EDM club where the music could be more clearly heard. Chief was wearing all leather and carrying a flogger, which he slapped into his other hand a couple times as he smirked at Dean.

"You are really gonna get it tonight, big boy." He smirked at an open mouthed and shocked Angel next, "We're gonna make your mistress real happy, big boy."

"What?" Angel squeaked, "Oh, no, no-"

"There's been a misunderstanding." Dean backed up a little, "I, uh, I think I've been had."

"Oh, you ain't been had till you been had by the Chief." Dean frowned and swallowed thickly at that as Angel tried to stifle her giggle, "Oh, and before we get started, I'm gonna need both of your safewords?"

Back at the motel…

Sam was sitting at a table working on his laptop when a knock at the door distracted him. He looked up apprehensively for a second before getting up and peering through the peephole to see Ruby standing there.

He sighed and opened the door, "What are you doing here, Ruby?"

She walked past him, "I should be asking you the same thing."

"I'm working a job."

"The whole world's about to be engulfed in hellfire, and you're in Magictown, USA."

Sam laughed, "You got something against magic?"

"That would almost be funny if thirty-four seals hadn't been broken already. Thirty-four, Sam. That's over halfway. The angels are losing this war. Every day is one day closer, and if someone doesn't do something soon-"

"And that someone is me?"

"Who else would it be?"

"I don't know where these seals are. I don't know squat. So why don't you tell me where you'd like me to start?"

"Well, you can quit dicking around here, for one. Bigger fish, Sam. And if the seals are being broken, you might want to go after the one doing the breaking."

"Lilith?"

"Cut the head off the snake. You're the only one who can stop her, Sam. So step up and kill the little bitch."

"Oh, I'm game, believe me. It's not the psychic thing I got a problem with."

"Yeah, I know what you got a problem with, but tough. It's the only way." When he shook his head at her she pressed further, "You know, this would all be so much easier if you'd just admit to yourself that you like it. That feeling that it gives you."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh I don't, huh? Fine." She turned to leave but paused to address him once more, "It's simple. Lucifer rises, the apocalypse starts. You think that you have demons on your hands now? People are gonna die, Sam. Oceans of people. So you just let me know when you're ready."

Later on…

After Angel and Dean got back from their more than interesting trip to 426 Bleeker Street, they stepped into the theater where people were getting set up for the next big show.

"Oh my god." Angel bellowed out in laughter as Dean glared from beside her, "You should've seen your face!"

"Alright, I get it."

"'You ain't been had till you been had by the Chief.'" She mocked with another laugh as they came up beside Sam who was standing by the entrance, "That was amazing."

Dean rolled his eyes at her teasing before addressing Sam, "Find anything interesting?"

"What?" Sam jumped a little, having been distracted by his own thoughts, before looking at them, "Oh, uh, no. You?"

"Oh yeah." Angel grinned, "Right, Dean?"

"No." He glared in dismissal, "Nothing I want to talk about, or think about, ever again." The three of them walked up to Vernon and Charlie who were talking, "The Chief, huh?"

"What's the matter?" Charlie smirked, "Chief not your type?"

"You know…" Dean smirked back, "I could have you both arrested for obstruction of justice."

"How?" Vernon scoffed, "You're no Fed."

"We con people for a living." Charlie explained when shock filled their faces, "Takes more than a fake badge to get past us."

"You got us." The three of them laughed stiffly before Dean quickly recovered, "Yeah, we- we are actually- aspiring magicians." He slapped Angel's shoulder roughly causing her to glare, "This is our assistant; Bertha."

"Bertha?" Angel reeled back, "Excuse-"

"Yeah." Sam agreed quickly and effectively interrupting her, "We came to the convention 'cause we thought we could learn something."

"Yeah, get some ideas for our new show."

"Ooh." Vernon nodded in interest, "What kind of show?"

"Well, it's- It's a-"

"It's a brother act."

"Yeah, you know, with the rings and doves and…" Dean laughed awkwardly, "Rings."

"Ladies and gentlemen I give you…" The crowd around them erupted in applause as the announcer got on stage, "The Incredible Jay!"

"You want to learn something?" Charlie asked when he turned back to them, "Stick around."

"Ladies and gentlemen…" Jay spoke strongly and confidently once he was on stage, "What you're about to witness is a feat so daring, so dangerous, even the great Houdini dared not attempt it. I give to you…" He lifted a hand to the contraption behind him where a noose fell from the top of it, "The Executioner!"

The audience murmured in excitement and soon he was in a straight jacket with an audience member checking it, "Now, sir, as you can see, this jacket is the real article. You may take your seat." After the man took his seat, Jay addressed the audience again, "Now, I will have one minute, 60 seconds, to escape certain death. Let's see if I can do it."

The curtain fell, showing Jay's silhouette struggling to get out of the straightjacket. After a few long seconds, with each member of the audience on their toes, Jay was still struggling to maneuver his escape.

Dean tensed, "I don't think he's gonna make it." But just then Jay pushed aside the curtain, unharmed, thoroughly impressing Dean, "Oh! That was amazing! That was freakin' amazing!"

"Uh, well… It was-" Angel gaped in confusion, "That was- that was something…"

"That was…" Sam's brows shot up as well, "Not humanly possible."

Inside Jebs hotel room…

Jeb was posing in front of his hotel mirror as a noose moved by itself and positioned itself behind him. The noose dropped around his neck and pulled him up, hanging him. Jeb was now dead, his body hanging from the noose tied to the ceiling fan.