Broken Wings

Then

Windom, Minnesota – 2006
 

“Mom…? Dad…?” The blonde 14 year old girl was standing on top of the staircase, wearing her pajamas and listening if she could detect any sound or voices. The alarm clock on the nightstand had shown her that it was around midnight. It was quiet. The lights didn’t work and it was so dark she could barely see the end of the stairs. Maybe, there had been a storm which would explain the loud noises that had woken her.

Anyway, where were her parents?

‘They could be in the basement, fixing the electricity.’ She thought and eventually, she began walking down the stairs. The only light provided was that by the streetlamps shining through the small window on top of the staircase. Nevertheless, she took one step after another; her green eyes were already trying to catch any sign of her parents. When she reached the first floor, her heart was pounding fast and she was sure you could hear it in the entire house. The front door was on her left side and for a second, she thought about leaving the house. She quickly dismissed this idea. Why would she go? Everything was fine.

Therefore, she decided to look for her parents in the living room. Perhaps they had fallen asleep while watching TV, which was often the case, so they weren’t aware of the power outage.

She was moving again when she suddenly saw something on the ground in the doorway to the living room. As she came closer and thanks to the light from the streetlamps coming through the windows in said room, she recognized that it was her father. He was lying on the floor on his back, his eyes closed as if he was sleeping. He was also in his pajamas, except there was a stain on his shirt almost in the middle of his chest. Immediately, she got on her knees next to him and put her hands on his shoulders.

“Dad?” She asked worried while gently shaking the man a bit. There was no reaction. “Dad, wake up! Please, wake up!” She begged, still shaking the lifeless body. At this moment, she realized that her father was actually dead and the stain on his shirt was blood.

The next thought that came into her mind was her mother. She had to be alive. She simply had to. The girl stood up trembling, yet she walked towards the couch, where her mother might be sitting and telling her that everything would be okay. Unfortunately, her mother was not okay.

“No…” She breathed out, unable to fully comprehend what she was seeing right now.

Her mom was lying on her back in front of the sofa with a hole in her forehead. Shocked, the girl held onto the couch’s backrest with her right hand to prevent herself from falling over, her left hand was covering her mouth. The sobs came out anyway and she dropped on her knees once again. After a few moments, she managed to crawl over to her mother.

“No, no, no, no,…” She repeated this word several times – God knows how often – as she held her mother in her arms, crying heavily.

“Y-You… You were not supposed to be home.” All of a sudden, an unfamiliar voice spoke to her. She looked in the direction the voice supposedly came from and saw a young man – he couldn’t be older than 25 – all dressed in black. He was sitting on the floor, a few feet away from her and looked extremely upset.

True. They were supposed to be on holiday this weekend but the girl had caught a bad cold, so they had decided to postpone the trip for another week. This is why she had been asleep early in her room upstairs while her parents had stayed up watching TV. They never had much money. Her dad was an office worker in a big company and her mom was working only a few hours in the local hospital. Nevertheless, they lived a good life and the relationship with her parents had always been great.

She couldn’t say anything. She was still crying and looking around as if searching for something or someone.

“I… I’m so sorry!” The young man spoke miserably and lifted both of his hands to his face.

Once more, she turned her attention towards him. By looking at him she thought of several questions to ask him but the words wouldn’t leave her mouth. Instead, she just continued sobbing and didn’t realize that she was still staring at him. He noticed though, which is why he eventually looked back at her. His expression had changed, yet she couldn’t quite figure out what it meant. She was scared but something told her that she wasn’t in danger. In addition to that, she was suddenly very tired. She closed her eyes, just for a moment, until she would be able to think straight again. Surprisingly, she now felt calm and peaceful.
 

This moment, however, didn’t last long due to the fact that the front door abruptly burst open and the sheriff and three policemen stormed into the living room.

“Hands in the air where I can see them!” The sheriff screamed harshly. He and his colleagues were pointing their guns at the young man in black as well as the girl in pajamas. Both did as they were told. The police officers needed a few seconds to understand the present situation. Who was the culprit, who the victim? Certainly, they figured it out fast so they stopped pointing their guns at the traumatized girl. After a quick gesture from the sheriff, one policeman wasted no time. He put handcuffs around the criminal’s wrists, dragged him to his feet and led him outside. “Search the house!” The sheriff demanded afterward and the two remaining officers instantly followed their boss’s order.

At the sight of the kneeling girl and her dead mother, the man let out a sad sigh and briefly rubbed his face with his left palm. He knew the girl named Amelia well. He had gone to high school with her parents, Sara and Noah Clarke, and like them, he had stayed in his hometown. Often, he had bumped into them in the city and had chatted with them about the latest news. They were good people. And now, they were gone. Just like that.

‘Poor thing…’ He thought, pitying the girl. He put his gun back into its holder on his belt and stepped up to her.

“Amelia, are you alright?” He asked calmly while bending down to her. What a stupid question. Obviously, she was not. He had to rephrase it. “Amelia, are you hurt?”

She looked at him, although all she could do was shake her head. But that was enough for him. Before he could inquire more, he was distracted by the two policemen who returned with the information that no other culprit was found in the house. The sheriff nodded and turned his attention for a second time towards the girl. Amelia had stopped crying, however, she was shivering and staring at nothing.

“Amelia, we have to go.” He said friendly. She could barely move or understand what he was saying because she was in shock. She just let him pull her to her feet and escort her out of the house.

Outside, many of her neighbors were gathered and there were police cars as well as an ambulance. Right away, some woman, a paramedic, came up to the girl, wrapped a blanket around her and went with her to the ambulance. Due to the fresh air – it was a cold November night – Amelia finally came to her senses and could replay the events of this evening in her head. She endured the medical examination the paramedic carried out and the questions she was asked. Even though she knew that she was the one sitting there and talking, it didn’t feel like it. To be honest, right now, she didn’t feel anything at all. There was only emptiness.

“Mia!”

She heard a very familiar male voice scream her nickname and when she looked past the paramedic, she spotted her older cousin.

“Adam…” Amelia spoke, but it was merely a whisper. Without considering the woman in front of her, she stood up and ran towards the boy. He immediately covered her in a hug and once again, she started sobbing uncontrollably on his chest.

“Ssh… Everything’s gonna be okay. I promise.” Adam consoled her while gently stroking her blonde hair.

He and his mother, Kate Milligan, had gotten here as fast as they could after they had received a call from Mrs. Jackson, Amelia’s next door neighbor. Mrs. Jackson had also been the one calling the police. While walking her dog late this evening she had seen the two culprits breaking into the house.

After this, everything went down pretty fast. They drove off to the police station where Amelia was questioned. She was glad that she could pull herself together and tell what had happened tonight. It was the least she could do for her parents. She on the other hand was told that the burglar – the young man she had met in her house – had an accomplice who fled the crime scene after he had shot her parents. Luckily, he was caught at a nearby gas station where he attempted another armed robbery. Mia was relieved they got him. She had never been a resentful person but in her opinion, everyone should take responsibility for their actions.

The same night, she moved in with Kate and Adam. She was grateful to have them as her family, especially Adam. He was like a big brother to her, caring for and worrying about her all the time.

Three months later, the trial took place. Amelia wanted to go; even so it was very difficult for her. But she had to speak for her parents because they couldn’t anymore. And she wanted to hear what the burglars had to say.

The man who had killed her parents had been so surprised they were home that he had panicked and accidentally shot her father as he had tried to fight the intruder off. When the burglar had noticed that her mother had watched everything, he shot her too. “I had a blackout.” He stated in court. And that he was truly very sorry.

Sure, this was no excuse and Mia would lie if she were to say that she had never been angry. However, she forgave them. Forgiveness was a very important part of life and she could tell that they were telling the truth. She believed that they never intended to hurt anybody to begin with.

In the end, they got their rightful punishment and she could start a new chapter of her life.
 

Seven years later
 

Another nightmare. Again. Three years of therapy had helped Amelia coping with the trauma of losing her parents. For a while, the nightmares had even stopped but when she felt extremely upset or stressed, they returned. And she had to admit, the last few weeks had been really demanding. She had studied every day, often until late in the night and had also worked at the local hospital as part of her required internship.

Lying in bed and looking at the ceiling, she let out a sigh. What would her life be like if her parents were still around? Maybe quite similar because she had known for a very long time what kind of job she wanted. Her mother had worked at the local hospital and her aunt Kate still was a nurse there. This is why Mia got interested in this kind of job early on, except instead of a nurse, she wanted to become a midwife. She was thankful that she could study at the local university. She didn’t want to leave her hometown or Adam and Kate – yet.

Adam had enrolled at the same college four years ago, his majors being biology and pre-med. He was exceptionally smart and had no problem remembering facts, so for him, learning was quite easy. If Amelia struggled with her studies, he was always there to help. He supported her in any way possible as he had done seven years ago and basically her whole life.

Smiling, she got out of bed and opened the curtains by the window. It was a beautiful summer’s day and her mood improved immediately. She didn’t have to hurry, it was the beginning of the summer break and she was really relieved she could finally relax. She now opened the window as well, before going to her closet and picking out the clothes for the day. Then she went to the bathroom, changed her clothes and came back to her room to make the bed and close the window.

Mia eventually entered the kitchen downstairs, where Adam was sitting by the kitchen counter, sipping his coffee and reading the newspaper. Her aunt Kate was cleaning the dishes. Today, she had to work the nightshift so she had time to do the housework and grocery shopping. Although Amelia and Adam helped with the chores as well, she wanted them to concentrate on their studies and leave the rest, at least for the most part, to her.

“Good morning!” Mia greeted her family cheerfully.

“Good morning, sweetheart!” Kate replied, smiling softly.

“Morning, Sis!” Adam said, looking at her with a broad grin on his face. How she loved that grin. It cheered her up all the time. “Someone’s in a good mood.” He pointed out the obvious.

“Why wouldn’t I be? It’s summer, the weather is great and I don’t have to study or work.”

“Good point.” He agreed smirking.

Happy, Amelia made some tea, sat down next to her cousin and began eating her pancakes.

Once they had finished breakfast, Kate drove to the store to get some groceries and Mia cleaned the house. Adam left too because he had promised a friend to help with ‘computer stuff’. Besides, the housework wasn’t his thing but fortunately, his two girls were understanding about that. In return, he often did the grocery shopping or technical work in the house.

Around midday, Amelia went to meet some of her fellow students for lunch in town. Since her parents had died she found it more and more difficult to open up to someone. She didn’t have friends, only classmates or colleagues. She was fine with that for now. Someday, she would be able to form real friendships and even enter a serious relationship with a man. She had had a relationship a few years ago and the boy had been friendly, smart and very considerate. However, they had broken up after two years because they simply didn’t love each other ‘that way’. They had remained friends but had lost contact over the years.

Anyway, lunch lasted two hours and after that, Mia took a stroll through the city and the park. There, she sat down on a bench and read a book she had brought with her. At 5:30 pm, she decided to head home.
 

“I’m back!” She shouted as she entered the house and closed the front door, just in case Adam was here.

“Welcome home!” Kate said smiling. She was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, much to Amelia’s surprise.

“Oh! Hi! I thought you had to work the nightshift. Why are you not at the hospital?” Normally, her aunt left at 5:15 pm to get to work and started the shift at 6:00 pm. It was already past that time.

For a moment, Kate had to think about what she was saying. “Right! There has been a change in the work schedule so I’m home the entire night.” She explained, still smiling widely.

Somehow, Amelia found that a bit odd. The older woman never laughed that much although she wasn’t a sad person. Nevertheless, Kate was rather reserved and didn’t have emotional outbursts. In addition to that, Mia asked herself what could have happened that would make the hospital change the work plan at the last minute.

“What should we have for dinner?” Kate asked now, surprising the girl yet again.

“I… I don’t know. Let me take a shower and then I’ll help you cook.”

“Okay, sweetheart!”

Amelia went upstairs to take a quick shower and then to her room to change her clothes. As she was standing beside her bed, she heard a noise coming from the corridor.

“Kate?” She spoke cautiously, turning her head towards the door behind her. No response. “Adam?” Still no answer, but she heard footsteps approaching her room. The moment she wanted to storm out and confront whoever was there in the hallway, she noticed it was her cousin.

“Hey, it’s me!” He greeted low-voiced while entering her room and quietly closing the door.

“Adam, you scared me!”

“Sorry! I waited for you to come home. We need to talk.” The concerned expression on his face made Mia feel uncomfortable.

“Adam, what’s going on?”

“Something’s off with mom. I can’t explain it but I think she’s behaving really strange. Don’t you?”

“Yes, but…”

“And why is she not at work?”

“A change in the work schedule.”

“Yeah, she told me. I don’t buy it.”

“Stop being so suspicious! Work plans change, you know. And maybe she’s just in a great mood today.”

“You can’t possibly believe what you are saying.”

“Adam…”

“No! I know my mom and I know that something’s not right. I just don’t know what.”

“Okay, calm down. Tell you what. When you do, let me know. Until then, I’ll go and help Kate with dinner.”

“Alright…” Adam sighed surrendering.

Amelia left her cousin standing in her room and headed downstairs, ignoring the weird feeling in her stomach.
 

“How about some pasta?” Kate inquired when her niece entered the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure!” The younger woman replied, trying to smile.

Right away, she got some vegetables from the refrigerator, but as soon as she closed the refrigerator door and turned around to put them on the kitchen counter, her aunt was suddenly standing in front of her and holding up a big knife in her right hand.

“Kate? Is everything okay?” Mia was alarmed. The wide grin on her aunt’s face was in fact very creepy.

“No. But it will be soon.” Kate spoke calmly and without any further warning, the knife flew at her niece. Luckily, Amelia had taken a self-defense course after what had happened to her parents, so she was able to react instantly. The vegetables fell to the ground but she didn’t care. She had to catch her aunt’s arm to keep herself from being stabbed. What followed was a tussle between the two women in which Mia managed to push Kate’s right arm a few times against the refrigerator. As a result, the knife dropped onto the kitchen floor and the fight came to a break.

“Kate, what’s wrong? Why are you doing this?” Amelia asked frightened and breathing heavily.

The older woman didn’t respond. Instead, she attacked again screaming and consequently, they landed on the ground as well. At this instant, Kate choked Mia and latter grabbed both of Kate’s arms trying to get them off her throat. It was to no avail. When did her aunt get so strong? It was… not human. Then she remembered a lesson in her self-defense course. She removed her hands and poked her thumbs tightly into Kate’s eyes. Kate cried out in pain and moved her hands to her eyes, still kneeling above the younger woman. Amelia crawled backwards in order to kick her aunt vigorously with both of her feet and away from herself. After this, she grabbed the knife by instinct and got on her feet. Kate however was faster, already standing and grinning evilly. She approached her niece but unexpectedly stopped right in front of her. She slowly looked down on herself. Mia had stabbed her in the stomach, blood immediately coming out of the wound.

Kate glanced back at the younger one, her grin remained. “This won’t work on me, sweetheart!” She stated self-assured, pulled out the knife and threw it on the floor. “Now, I won’t hold back anymore. Playtime’s over!”

Amelia was terrified. This couldn’t be her aunt anymore. She took a few steps back, the other woman following every one of them. She increased her pace, walking backwards around the kitchen counter and restlessly searching for another weapon. A frying pan on the stove caught her eye, yet she was uncertain about using it. Before she could ponder any longer, Kate assaulted her once more. Mia was able to elude, grabbed the frying pan and the moment her aunt turned around she beat her hard on the head. Therefore, Kate hit the kitchen counter and sank motionlessly to the floor.

Shaking, Mia stared at her. She didn’t know what to do next, the only thing she was certain about is that she wanted to get out of the house. But she wouldn’t leave without Adam. She put the frying pan back on the stove and ran into the hallway to get upstairs, where she assumed her cousin was. She stopped in her tracks when she saw that the door to the basement was left wide open and swallowed hard. She was afraid of what might awaited her there. Despite that, she cautiously went downstairs and tried to make as little noise as possible.

“Mia?”

“Adam!” Highly relieved, Amelia jumped down the last two steps, ran towards her cousin and hugged him tightly.

“Are you okay?” He asked worried, pushing her slightly away from him and checking her from head to toe.

“No! But I’m not hurt.” She answered honestly. “Adam, what are you doing in the basement?”

“About two minutes after you left to help mom, I thought I’d join you, to keep an eye on her. As soon as I reached the hallway, I heard loud noises coming from the kitchen and I wanted to run there to see what was happening. But suddenly, he grabbed me from behind and dragged me down here.” Her cousin explained angrily and pointed at a man lying on the ground a few feet away from them. She noticed him just now. “He tried to bite and even kill me, so I fought back and killed him by bashing in his head with that iron bar.” The mentioned object was lying next to the dead body.

“What the hell is going on? Kate tried to kill me too. Why would she do that?” Mia said with tears in her eyes.

“I have no fucking clue.” Adam told her baffled while running a hand through his dirty blond hair.

“Humans.” All of a sudden they heard Kate’s voice. The woman was coming down the stairs and holding the kitchen knife from before in her right hand. “Always resisting, thinking you are better than everyone and everything else.” She finally reached the basement floor. “Let me tell you something. You are not!” She spat out furiously.

“Who are you? What do you want from us? And where is the real Kate?” Adam inquired harshly.

“So many questions, so little time.” Kate spoke while approaching them. The young man pushed Amelia protectively behind him. “But since you’re going to die anyway, I will answer them.” She grinned wickedly and stopped walking. “Firstly, I’m a ghoul. I eat dead people, sometimes live ones as well and take their form.” She explained proudly while sliding down the knife at her body. “Secondly, my brother and I…“ Now, she pointed the blade at the body on the floor. “…just want the good old-fashioned revenge. Your father, John Winchester,…” She then aimed at Adam. “…killed our father 23 years ago. I tried calling John, posing as Kate, but sadly, his phone is out of service. However, after I kill you as well, I will wait for him to show up and when he does, I can finish him.” She laughed satisfied.

His father. Adam didn’t know John Winchester very well. They had met for the first time when Adam was twelve and after that, John had occasionally visited. He had taught his son pool and poker, had taken him to ball games on his birthday, had bought him his first beer when he was 15 and had given him driving lessons. Nonetheless, for Adam, his mother and Amelia were the only ones he considered family.

“What do you mean by ‘kill us too’?” Mia asked distressed, snapping her cousin out of his thoughts.

“Right!” The ghoul grinned, stepped in front of the freezer which was also standing here in the basement and opened it. “Thirdly and lastly, I killed her this afternoon.”

Amelia gasped, immediately shaken by the sight of her dead aunt lying in the freezer.

“You monster!” Adam yelled. Disturbed and enraged at the same time, he attacked the ghoul without thinking about it any further. He ran at it and consequently, it dropped the knife on the floor once again. Adam pressed it against a rack, yet it only laughed at him.

“You can’t hurt me, boy!” The monster hissed arrogantly, putting its right hand around his throat and lifting him up. Next, it turned around and shoved him against the shelf.

“Maybe I can!” Mia said unexpectedly. The ghoul turned its head to look at the young woman and before it could comprehend what was going on, she rammed the knife she had picked up into its skull. The monster no longer did make any sound, except when it collapsed onto the ground with the blade still stuck in its head.

Being able to breathe and stand on his feet again, Adam coughed and rubbed his hurt throat. “Is it dead?” He asked doubtfully.

“I think so.” Amelia wasn’t pleased though. How could she be when her aunt got killed by a monster which she just stabbed in the head?

“Come on.” Her cousin spoke softly. He took her hand and they quickly left the basement.

They stopped by the kitchen where Adam used the landline to call the sheriff’s department. Afterward, they went outside – neither of them wanted to stay in the house – sat down on the stairs of the front porch and waited for the police to arrive.

About ten minutes later, the sheriff and his officers along with an ambulance and the coroner got there. Amelia and Adam were immediately examined and questioned. For Mia, it felt like déjà-vu. Well, it was. The look on the sheriff’s face didn’t help either. He had seen her in this kind of situation nearly seven years ago.

However, the two young adults told the police exactly what had happened – apart from mentioning the ghouls. While waiting for the authorities, they had discussed that it would probably be best if they kept this little detail to themselves. Because who in the world would believe them?

Of course, the police couldn’t quite wrap their heads around all this. In the end, they declared the intruders had been stalkers who wanted to take over the life of their victims, even going as far as having plastic surgery to look like them.
 

Once the investigations were over and Kate’s funeral had taken place, Adam and Amelia moved back into the house. Living there wasn’t easy but it was their home regardless.

What was almost worse was the fact that they both were left behind feeling unsettled and puzzled, Adam in particular. He was a rational person. Therefore, he wanted answers, mostly regarding his father.

Amelia on the other hand just wanted to forget everything. Obviously, that was easier said than done. In the two months after the funeral, she cried a lot and knew that Adam did too. She sometimes heard him sobbing in his room. At least, they both dealt with Kate’s death and somehow got through the toughest time.

Adam found yet another way of coping. He immersed himself in research about his father and ghouls, which worried Mia. She couldn’t lose him as well.

Still, whatever help he needed, she would be there for him. The same way he was always there for her.

Now

Windom, Minnesota – 2016
 

“Morning…” Adam greeted while slowly walking into the kitchen. He immediately got a cup of coffee, sat down at the kitchen counter and put his left elbow on it, just to let his head rest in his left hand. A long yawn escaped his mouth so he used his right hand to cover it.

“Good morning!” Amelia said, smiling lightly. She had finished breakfast a few minutes earlier and was about to clean the dishes, but when she spotted her cousin she stopped what she was doing right away. Instead, she went over to him and placed her arms on the kitchen counter.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” She asked frowning. Adam looked very tired and he was a bit pale. It was Saturday; however, he wasn’t hung over or sleepy from a night out. Sometimes, she wished it would be because of that.

“Nope.” The young man replied shortly without looking at her. He couldn’t stand the worried expression on her face; it always made him feel guilty or sad. He took a sip of his coffee.

“Adam, I know you still want answers. But it’s been almost three years. Let it go.”

“I can’t.” He spoke, glancing at her and then focusing on the coffee cup in his hand. “I know I’m close to finding what I’m searching for, I only hit a dead end. That’s all.”

„Maybe you should take a break. You know, find a job or go on holiday or start a hobby. And then you can get back to research.” Since Adam had finished university, all he did was searching for information about his father. Unlike Amelia, he didn’t get a job after his degree. She wasn’t angry with him, yet she wished he would work at least a few hours a day to get his mind off of the incident that had happened three years ago. Thanks to the insurance money left by her parents as well as Kate, they didn’t have to worry about their financial status. So that wasn’t Mia’s concern. It never was. She cared firstly about Adam and his mental state.

Suddenly, Adam’s face lit up and he stared at his cousin like he just had the biggest idea ever. You could nearly see the lightbulb above his head.

“Sis, you are a genius!” He shouted excited, jumped on his feet, took his coffee cup and rushed out of the room, leaving Mia perplexed. She sighed and eventually went back to cleaning the dishes. Whatever idea he had, she would know soon. Even if she didn’t wanna know.

The young man didn’t leave his room for another few hours and she didn’t bother him. She decided to go for a walk as it was a sunny spring day and it often helped her to clear her head. Unfortunately, this time it gave her the opportunity to think about her life and mostly all the bad things that had happened in the past ten years. Her birthday was coming up. In two days she would turn twenty-four but it didn’t matter anyway. She had stopped celebrating this special day after her aunt Kate had died. She knew it was dumb, however, from time to time she thought that the deaths in her family had been her fault. That somehow, she was bad luck.

After an hour, Amelia came back home. Today was her day off and she was bored. She liked working, it kept her going and from thinking too much. Perhaps she was the one who needed a hobby, except with the frequently twelve-hour shifts at the hospital that wasn’t so easy to manage. Adam and she spent as much time together as possible, still she felt more and more lonely. To distract herself from these depressing thoughts, Mia sat down on the couch in the living room and turned on the TV.

Later, she cooked dinner although she knew that her cousin probably wouldn’t eat with her. As long as he ate, it was alright with her. Besides, she would make sure of that.
 

“I got it!” Adam exclaimed thrilled. He was walking into the living room at a hurried pace and with his characteristic grin on his face.

“You got what?” Amelia asked confused. She was sitting on the couch, looking up from the book she was currently reading and focusing on him.

“Everything.” He seemed as if he had found the cure for each illness in this world.

“Could you be more specific?”

“Okay, listen.” Her cousin sat down on the coffee table in front of her. “You said I should go on holiday and that reminded me of something. So, I went through my mom’s stuff again and I found this picture.” He paused to show her the mentioned photograph. “Of course, you recognize my father on the left. And the man standing next to him? His name is Mike Guenther, he owns the auto repair shop you can see in the background.” He flipped the picture so that she could see the text written on the back.

“Dear Kate and Adam! Greetings from Lawrence, Kansas. See you next holiday. John.” Mia read out loud.

“Why didn’t I notice this sooner? The whole time, the answers were right in front of me!” Adam laughed.

“What do you mean? It’s just a picture.”

“Don’t you wanna know how I could identify the man beside my father?”

“Okay… How did you identify the man beside your father?” Amelia inquired for fun.

“I’m glad you asked!” He grinned. “I googled him. Well, the auto repair shop to be exact. And I found it along with a phone number. So, I called Mike. He told me that he hasn’t heard from John in a very long time but perhaps his sons could help me contact him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know where to find them either. However, he also told me that John once has talked briefly about his father, Henry Winchester, who has been working in Lebanon, Kansas while he was still alive. John apparently often went there too.” Adam finished his explanation, proud that his hard work finally paid off.

“I can’t believe it.” Mia spoke bewildered by the news.

“We have to go to Lebanon!”

“What? Hold on a second! Adam, do you actually realize what this all means? You have brothers!”

“I realize that!”

“Do you?”

“Yes! Maybe we can locate them there along with my dad.”

“What do you think they will say when we show up out of the blue and ask them about… ghouls?”

“Only one way to find out.”

“I don’t know... How long does it take to drive to Lebanon, anyway?”

“Approximately seven hours.”

“Seven hours?”

“Mia, please! I’m so close to getting all the answers I’ve been searching for. But I won’t leave without you.”

She sighed. She certainly hadn't been expecting this. Adam stared at her, pleading and hopefully at the same time.

“Alright…” Amelia gave in. “When do we leave?”

“Thanks Sis, you’re the best!” Her cousin was overjoyed and gave her a brief hug. She had to smile. “How about Thursday morning?” He suggested, well aware of her work schedule.

“I have to work the nightshift on Wednesday. If nothing comes up, I can be home Thursday morning as usual, maybe even sleep in the hospital beforehand and then in the car. Friday is my next day off. So it works for me, I guess.” She reflected.

“Great! We leave on Thursday.” Adam confirmed eagerly and stood up. “Thanks again, Sis!” He grinned and left the living room as fast as he had entered it.

Mia on the other hand was still very skeptical about their plan. Did they have a plan? Well, they would figure something out.
 

The following days went by quickly. Nothing interfered with their schedule; this is why they could leave on Thursday at 8:00 am. They arrived in the small town called Lebanon at around 3:45 pm – they had taken a short break at noon to eat something at a diner and to use the restroom. Without further detours they drove into a parking lot in the town center and got out of Adam’s car – a navy blue Chevrolet Cruze.

“So, this is Lebanon.” Adam said as he looked around. He was not exactly impressed by his surroundings.

“Yes, here we are.” Amelia spoke and yawned. She was tired. She had merely slept two hours in the car and not at all at night. Preferably, she would lie down in a motel room and take a nap. But she knew that her cousin wouldn’t let that happen until the evening.

“Okay, then let’s go.” He was highly motivated to walk through town and ask the residents if they had any information on his father and brothers. He only knew their names – John, Dean and Sam Winchester. However, in a small town like this it wouldn’t be too hard to meet someone who could help finding them.

“Dean? Oh, yeah, I know him! Comes in here several times a week, buys mostly beer and chips and such stuff. Don’t know where exactly he lives, though.” The guy in the convenience store they were now standing in told them good-tempered. It meant that his brothers were in fact staying in this town. Adam paid the two water bottles along with the chocolate bar and thanked the other man politely. Back on the sidewalk, Mia unwrapped the chocolate bar and took a bite. She loved chocolate and at the moment, she urgently needed some. They continued their search right away, which meant walking into a few other stores as well as the post office. Some of the people there knew the Winchester-brothers; yet no one could enlighten the two strangers with any more details. “Somewhere out of town.” Was the response they received the most when it came to the question where Sam and Dean lived.

After three hours of wandering and asking around, they decided to call it a day and eat something at the diner before heading to their motel.

“Hi! What can I get you guys?” The young waitress inquired smiling as they were still looking at the menu.

“I’ll have a glass of water and a salad, please.” Amelia ordered friendly. She wasn’t very hungry since they had eaten lunch.

“I’ll take some French fries and a coke.” Adam replied. “And can I ask you something?”

“Sure!” The waitress responded cheerfully and took the menus back.

“Do you know Sam and Dean Winchester? They are supposed to live around here somewhere.”

“Yes, I know them. They occasionally come here and eat. I remember they once said they stayed out of town, but that’s all.”

“Okay, thanks anyway.” Adam was slightly disappointed.

“You’re welcome!” The woman gave him another smile and went to serve another table.

“We should drive out of town tomorrow and search the area. They can’t be staying too far away.” He pondered afterward.

“We can do that. Sounds like a good idea.” Mia approved smiling. They couldn’t give up just yet. They were close to finding the brothers. Very close, as they would realize soon.

“Hey, it’s your lucky day!” Their waitress declared delighted while setting their drinks on the table. “Sam and Dean… there they are.” She pointed at the two men who entered the diner right at this moment and left again. Adam turned around immediately.

“Unbelievable!” Then he faced his cousin, excited and surprised at the same time.

Amelia was puzzled as well. They had searched for hours and now the brothers were standing in the same diner they had dinner in.

“Do you wanna go talk to them?”

“Not yet.” Adam reckoned as he observed Sam and Dean. They sat down four tables away from them.
 

So, Adam and Mia ate their dinner, paid the bill and eventually went outside to wait for the brothers there. A few minutes later, the two men were also leaving the diner and it seemed as if they were having an animated conversation over something.

“Dean, how can you always hit on the waitress when she clearly said that she wasn’t interested?” Sam asked reproachfully.

„Because I can, Sammy. Because I can.” The older Winchester answered teasingly and tapped his brother firmly on the shoulder. Sam scoffed and shook his head in disbelief. Dean would probably never change.

“Sam and Dean Winchester?” Adam interrupted their little argument while approaching them. He already knew who they were; nevertheless, he wanted to make sure. Mia kept a little distance to the three men.

“Yeah?” Dean grunted, eyeing the younger guy suspiciously.

“Hi! My name is Adam Milligan and I’m your brother.”

“Sorry, what?”

“John Winchester, he is my father too.”

Dean looked at Sam, skeptical of what he had just heard. Sam shrugged with his mouth open in disbelief, but he couldn’t say anything.

“I have proof.” Adam added and pulled a photo of him and John out of his pocket to show it to his brothers. Sam received the picture and stared at it. Although Dean took a look at it as well, he still was doubtful. There was so much shit going on in their lives that he couldn’t trust anyone that easily.

“Who’s she?” He therefore inquired and nodded towards the blonde woman behind Adam. His voice sounded a bit softer than before.

“I’m Amelia, his cousin. But you can call me Mia.” She replied smiling.

“How did you find us?” Sam asked astonished.

“The guy who owns the auto repair shop John worked at told me that he went to Lebanon a few times. So I thought we should start our search for him and you here.”

“Well, you found us. Now what?” Dean stated a bit harshly.

“We wanna talk to you and John. We have questions about an incident of three years ago.”

The two older brothers faced each other once again, considering the request of the younger one.

“Okay.” Dean agreed, surprisingly smiling lightly. “Follow us.”

“Where are we going?” Amelia was somewhat anxious.

“To our car, we better talk there. And after that, we can drive home to John. But if you don’t want to...”

“No! It’s alright.” Adam cut him short. “It will be fine.” He turned to his cousin with a soft smile. She nodded tentatively and consequently, they followed the Winchesters to their parking spot. “Nice car!” He spoke impressed as they were standing next to the black Impala. It was the same car John had always driven.

“Thanks!” Dean smirked briefly and cleared his throat. “Before we talk, we have to check the water in the trunk.”

He gave Sam a meaningful look. Still, it took a few moments until the younger realized what his brother intended. “Uh, yeah, right. Just a sec.” Sam said a little tense.

Adam and Amelia were frowning and wondering what the two men were about to do. Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to just follow them here?

Nonetheless, Dean and Sam opened the trunk and momentarily rummaged in it. They seemingly found what they were looking for since they now closed it and stepped in front of their new acquaintances. Each of the brothers was holding a silver bottle in their hands which they unscrewed instantly.

“What’s that?” Adam examined them suspiciously.

“Water.” Dean replied and without further warning, he and Sam splashed some of the liquid in Adam’s as well as Mia’s face.

“What the hell?!” The youngest Winchester shouted, angry and perplexed at once.

“What was that for?” Amelia was equally irritated and in addition to that extremely exhausted. “We have driven seven hours to get here, were running around all day searching for you and you spatter us with water? You could’ve just told us to leave.”

“Listen, we are sorry. Let us explain.” Sam apologized genuinely and since he didn’t get a rejection, he continued. “This is holy water. We wanted to make sure you weren’t demons.”

“What? This is a joke, right?” Adam asked unconvinced.

“Look, we are hun-“

“Sam!” Dean stopped his little brother. “Don’t say it.”

“But-“

“First, let’s call Cass. He should check them out. Then we can tell them everything.”

“Alright…”

“Who’s Cass? What the hell is going on?”

“Cass?” Dean called out, ignoring the questions of his youngest brother. “Cass, come on! We need you!”

Suddenly, a man in a beige trench coat appeared out of nowhere. “Hello, Dean! Hello, Sam!” He greeted calmly.

“Dammit, Cass! I told you not to do that. Personal space, remember?” Dean scolded his friend who was standing right in front of the two brothers. A bit too close, which is why they took a step back.

“I’m sorry.” Cass said regretfully.

“Yeah, whatever… Cass, do your thing on these two. We need to know if they are who they say they are.”

The man in the trench coat turned around to face Adam and Amelia, who were still perplexed by his sudden appearance. “I understand.”

“Whoa, wait a second! No one is doing anything until you explain to us who this guy is.” Adam demanded flustered.

“My name is Castiel. I am an angel of the Lord.”

“You are… an angel?” Mia asked stunned. She didn’t believe in God, yet she had always believed that there was… something else.

“Yes. And I am going to read your mind now.” He answered friendly and approached her.

Her cousin wanted to interfere but she stopped him. “It’s okay.” She assured him smiling.

Therefore, Castiel placed two fingers on her forehead and immediately, his eyes began to glow. After a few seconds, he removed his hand and his eyes returned to their normal form. “They are human and mean no harm.” He confirmed softly.

“Thanks, Cass!” Sam was relieved. It didn’t happen too often that they met someone who wasn’t tricking them.

“Alright! Now we know you’re not going to kill us. Let’s talk!” Dean declared, still not very pleased that they had to take two strangers home. They couldn’t chat in the parking lot of the diner though.
 

About fifteen minutes later, they were sitting in the bunker where Sam and Dean lived. The two brothers really told Amelia and Adam everything. That their father had died in 2006. That angels, demons, vampires, werewolves and many more monsters existed. That all of it was real and not only folklore or fairytales. That they were hunters who killed those monsters. And that they had to stop the Archangels Michael and Lucifer from carrying out the Apocalypse.

Understandably, Mia and Adam were speechless. However, they asked the brothers about ghouls and what these monsters had to do with John. Sam and Dean didn’t know either, so they read in their father’s diary. He had indeed written something about ghouls. In January 1990, he had killed a male ghoul but was hurt in the process, which is why he went to the hospital where Adam’s mother Kate had worked. They spent a night together and nine months later, Adam was born.

Now, everything made sense – especially the circumstance that his father had rarely visited. He had been hunting all the time.

“And that’s it.” Sam said and closed John’s diary.

“Thanks, I guess.” Adam spoke hesitantly.

“Well, I think we occupied you two long enough. We should go. Thank you for everything.” Amelia reckoned while putting her left hand on Adam’s right shoulder and standing up from her chair.

“It’s late. You can sleep here if you want.” Sam suggested kindly.

“Sam!” Dean wasn’t happy about his brother’s idea.

“Come on, Dean! It’s really late and we can’t let them drive to a motel when they are already here. It’s only one night.”

Dean briefly thought about Sam’s suggestion. “Alright… Dammit! I swear to God, if you two do anything stupid, you are out on your asses in no time!”

“We won’t, we promise!” Mia smiled, not at all intimidated by the angry man in front of her.

So, they got their bags from Adam’s car and went straight to bed because they were exhausted anyway.

Only one night. Neither of them knew then that this was simply the beginning of a journey they had to accomplish together. And that they would soon get company – even if he was not really welcome.

Three Winchesters, a Demon and an Angel walk into a bar

Lebanon, Kansas
 

“No! Hell, no!” Dean shouted sternly.

“Why not?” Adam yelled as well.

“Because you could die, that’s why!”

“So could you and you do it, anyway!”

“We don’t have a choice!”

“Bullshit! You chose this life and so do I!”

“You are either stupid or suicidal! Or both!”

“I want to do it because it’s the right thing to do!”

Dean and Adam were arguing for over ten minutes now – about whether it was a good idea to let the younger one become a hunter. Sam and Amelia were sitting at one of the tables in the library of the bunker and watching the two men. They had already given up on trying stopping them.

“Right thing, my ass! Sam and I have been doing this job for years, so let me tell you one thing: there is no ‘right’ in this. Not really!”

“You wanna tell me how unfair life can be? I lost my mom because of a monster. Because of a ghoul who wanted to take revenge on my… our father. We…” Adam pointed at Mia and then at himself. “…just want to get to know the only family we have left. You.”

At this point, Dean was silent and looking sympathetically at his youngest brother. He knew the feelings of losing family members all too well. How sad, desperate and helpless he had felt about it.

“Please... Let us stay here and help you defeat those monsters.” Adam pleaded.

“Adam? Can I talk to you for a second?” Amelia interrupted after all while standing up from her chair. She pulled her cousin with her, a few feet away from his brothers. “You said we should stay and help them.”

“Yeah! So?”

“Where did you get the idea that I wanted that, too?”

“I will not leave you behind all by yourself.”

“Adam, we both are grown-ups. I can take care of myself. Besides, maybe it’s time that we start living our lives separate from each other.”

“You don’t mean that. Do you?” Adam was promptly uncertain.

“I do. I can’t just leave my present life behind and hunt monsters. I have a job, you know. And what about our house?” Mia lectured him.

“Oh, yeah, such a great life! Working twelve hour shifts or more and living in a house where a family member got killed. Can’t imagine anything better than that.” He said sarcastically. “I for one would really like to start anew.” He added determined.

“And you can do that. But I can’t. I’m sorry.” She reckoned a bit sad.

“Why do you have to be so stubborn?”

“You should talk!” She smiled.

“Well, we are family.” Her cousin grinned. He couldn’t be angry with her.

“Thank you for understanding!”

“I don’t like leaving you alone at home but I know I can’t change your mind.” Adam seemingly gave in and shrugged. “Yet.” He thought obstinately and held back a grin. There was still time to convince her otherwise.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt. We found a case.” Sam told them unexpectedly.

“What does that mean?” Adam asked eagerly.

“It means that we have to go on a hunt.” Dean answered while already grabbing his backpack which was sitting on one of the chairs.

“Okay, let’s roll!” His youngest brother rejoined.

“No! We’ve discussed this. You stay here!”

“Try and stop me!”

“You can’t hunt!”

“Then show me!”

“Are you serious? You wanna die?”

“No, I want to help you! Don’t you get that?”

“This kid is driving me nuts!” Dean looked at Sam, irritated by Adam’s stubbornness.

“I’m not a kid!” Adam stated displeased and crossed his arms.

“Alright! You can come with us.” Sam quickly decided before any of his brothers could start fighting again.

Dean grumbled; he didn’t disagree though. It would be no use, anyway. Adam grinned satisfied.
 

Twenty minutes later, all four were riding in the Impala and heading to a town called Hastings in Nebraska, merely a one hour drive away from Lebanon. At first, Amelia didn’t want to come along. She had to work the dayshift tomorrow, which meant that she needed to go to bed quite early. And hunting monsters wasn’t the kind of adventure she had been expecting when meeting Adam’s brothers. At least, she was with her cousin and Sam had suggested that Castiel could teleport her home anytime she wanted. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to stay in the bunker all by herself either, so she was sitting in the backseat of the car and listening to Sammy’s explanation regarding the case.

“There has been a series of strange incidents in Hastings in the last three weeks. One of them occurred two days ago. A teacher, William Gallagher, got drunk and stabbed his wife to death.” He explained composedly as he was reading the online newspaper.

“What’s weird about that? Murders happen all the time.” Adam inquired skeptically.

“He stabbed her seventeen times and after that, he tried to take his own life. But he survived and is currently in the hospital to recover.”

“That’s terrible.” Mia said compassionately.

“It is but why are we on this case? Can’t the police handle it?” Her cousin wanted to know.

“We think it’s something supernatural. It’s too strange that he can’t remember anything before the murder. Also, he is a good man. I mean really good. According to his family and friends, he is a rather coy and calm person as well as a private tutor in his free time. He goes to church every Sunday, works in the local homeless shelter on weekends and never drinks alcohol. Furthermore, he was highly religious and wouldn’t have risked going to Hell after his death.”

“Okay, that actually sounds weird.” Adam acknowledged.

“Nothing we can’t handle.” Dean spoke confidently.

At around 10:45 am, they arrived at the sheriff’s station in Hastings and got out of the Impala right away. Sam and Dean were wearing a suit. They had changed clothes back in the bunker due to the fact that they would pose as FBI agents to get further details about the case. Amelia wasn’t sure how to feel about that, yet she didn’t bother them with questions.

“Alright, we will go in there and speak to the sheriff. You two wait here.” Dean eyed his youngest brother and Mia strictly.

“No way! I’m coming with you.” Adam insisted, facing him resolutely.

“Fine.” He didn’t even try to talk him out of it. “But hang back.”

Adam nodded in agreement and Dean exhaled sharply. Subsequently, they went into the building and directly into the sheriff’s office.

“Hi! Sheriff Dunn? Agents Jones and Smith, FBI. We are here regarding the murder of Gloria Gallagher.” Dean introduced Sam and himself to the bewildered older man, showing him their badges in the process.

He now stood up from his chair. “Hello gentlemen! Can I ask why the FBI is investigating this? We didn’t call for help.”

“We have reason to assume that we are dealing with more than a murder since there have been similar incidents in the last three weeks. But we are not allowed to talk about details.” Sam explained.

“And who are they?” Dunn pointed at Amelia and Adam.

“They are trainees within the FBI, top of their class.” Dean responded smirking.

“Alright, then…” The sheriff sighed. “What can I do for you, gentlemen?”

“We need all the files on this and the other cases and we have to speak to Mr. Gallagher.” Sam answered politely.

“Will do.” Dunn instantly fetched the requested files from the drawer behind him and handed them to Sam. Afterwards, he rang one of his colleagues who was watching Mr. Gallagher in the hospital, telling him that the two FBI agents would visit the man.

On this occasion, the older Winchester brothers went alone to question Mr. Gallagher in his hospital room while Adam and Mia waited by the car. Sam and Dean introduced themselves once again when they were standing in front of the older man. He told them that the only thing he could remember was coming home, being extremely angry at his wife because he had been convinced she had been cheating on him and eventually, he had stabbed her. “I… I can’t remember anything before that, I swear! I don’t know why I would kill Gloria. I loved her! I would never harm her. And why would I get drunk? I hate alcohol.” Mr. Gallagher stated desperately.

“Maybe you don’t remember a thing because you were too drunk.” Dean uttered.

“Have you suffered from severe stress lately that you would get yourself drunk?” Sam cut in.

“No! I mean, yes, I had a lot on my plate in the last few weeks. But like I said, I hate alcohol. I haven’t had some in years so I would never get drunk. You can ask all of my friends. Every time we meet at Leo’s I simply drink water or alcohol-free drinks.”

“Leo’s?” Sam asked keen-eared.

“It’s a bar in town. I was there the night of the… incident. At least that’s what my friends have told the police.”

“Okay, thank you, Mr. Gallagher!”
 

Since the bar would be closed until the evening and they all were hungry, they decided to go to a diner for lunch. Dean and Adam both ordered a burger and fries; Sam ate a salad with chicken and Mia got pasta with veggies. Dean and Adam, who were sitting opposite from one another, practically devoured their food. They ate so fast as if it was the first meal they had had in days.

“You really are brothers.” Amelia laughed, amused by their similar eating habits.

“There’s no denying it!” Sammy agreed smirking. His brothers looked at each other baffled, yet they immediately continued eating, a little embarrassed by this realization.

Anyway, Sam began studying the police reports. He found out that each offender – a bank-robber, another murder apart from Mr. Gallagher and a kidnapper – had been drunk when they had committed their crime and afterwards, they had committed suicide.

“Okay, so the criminals were drunk. This means we should go to every bar in town and find out if anyone there knows anything about these cases.” Dean stated.

“You only want to go to a bar and drink.” Sam claimed tauntingly.

“Yes, I do.” Dean admitted grinning. “And I say we start at Leo’s.”

“Yeah… Well, we can’t go there until 5 pm so I suggest we go to Mr. Gallagher’s house first and search for clues.”

“Good, let’s go!”

“Great!” Adam was excited; finally they could carry out real hunter’s work.

They arrived at the address that was written in the police report fifteen minutes later. Dean and Sam both grabbed a gun and something else from the trunk of the Impala. Although Adam complained, they didn’t give him a gun. The last thing they needed was to be shot by him. As they entered the house, Sam pulled out the other item he had taken with him.

“What’s that?” Amelia inquired surprised.

“It’s an EMF meter, it measures electromagnetic fields and can detect if there’s a ghost in here.” He enlightened her friendly.

“A ghost radar, so to speak.” She concluded smiling.

“Yeah, you could say that.” He chuckled. “But it doesn’t indicate anything.”

“Hey, Sam! Take a look at this.” Dean shouted from the living room where the murder had taken place.

“What is it?” His younger brother wanted to know while he and Mia walked into the room.

Dean showed them his right palm. There was some sort of powder on it.

“Sulfur.” Sammy was certain about it. At this moment, he noticed the smell of rotten eggs too. “A demon.”

“Yeah.”

“A demon?” Amelia was nervous.

“Cool!” Adam on the other hand was thrilled. His oldest brother shook his head in disbelief.

“How about we check out the other murder victim’s place next? It’s not far from here.” Sam proposed. “Maybe it’s a coincidence that a demon has shown up here.”

“Nothing’s a coincidence with those sons of bitches.” Dean spoke angrily. “But, yeah, why not.”

Although they were pretty sure it was a demon they were dealing with, they drove to the second location regardless. As expected, they discovered some sulfur there. Now they were completely certain what kind of monster they would have to fight. However, they needed to find it first.

When they eventually pulled up at Leo’s bar, all four of them were impatient in their own kind of way. Dean wanted to drink, Sam to find the demon who was behind all this, Adam to hunt and Mia honestly to go home.

“Hi! You ready to order?” The brown-haired waitress inquired cheery. “Oh my gosh, you are so beautiful!” She complimented Amelia.

“Uhm… thank you…” The blonde woman answered timidly. Then she quickly ordered her drink and the others did as well. The waitress gave her another big smile and left their table.

Afterwards, the boys made a plan – sort of. As soon as they got their drinks, they intended on questioning the folks in the bar.

“Alright, let’s mingle with the crowd and see if we find out anything important.” Dean knocked on the table, stood up and grabbed his beer. “I’ll start with our waitress.” He grinned and seconds later, he was on his way over to her.

“Let’s do it!” Adam was eager to help in any way possible and promptly followed his oldest brother.

“Dean!” Sam yelled but it was to no avail. He exhaled sharply. “Come on!” He said to Amelia, briefly touching her arm and smiling softly.

The young woman smiled back at him. She liked him. He was very kind and he seemed as if he always wanted to do the right thing. Consequently, Adam and Sam were also incredibly alike, there was no doubt her cousin was a Winchester. She was happy for him that he had found his brothers.

After almost two hours of chatting with people, Sam and Mia had had enough. Mia hadn’t planned on drinking anything alcoholic at all. Nevertheless, she had ordered a caipirinha an hour into the ‘interrogations’ given that she hadn’t been to a bar or a club in ages. This is why she kind of enjoyed being here, even though it was because of a demon and she had to work tomorrow. In all honesty, at the moment, she didn’t care. Besides, all the talk about demons and killing were a tad too much for her.

“So, what did you find out?” Sam asked as Dean and Adam came up to him and Amelia.

“Well, she likes Lady Gaga, vodka, American football and BDSM.” Dean declared humorously and pointed at the brown-haired waitress from earlier.

“I mean the cases, Dean.” His brother spoke a little annoyed.

“I know! Come on, Sammy, lighten up a bit!” The older one hit him on his left upper arm. Sam simply looked at him reproachfully.

Therefore, Dean cleared his throat and reported what he had heard in the last two hours. The waitress had actually been helpful since she had told him that all of the offenders had been at Leo’s hours before their criminal acts. They had gotten drunk and at some point, they had left to go home.
 

“I see you allow yourself a night out. Good for you!” Their conversation was suddenly interrupted. They focused their attention in the direction the male voice came from. Sam and Dean knew it all too well.

“Gabriel? What the hell?!” Dean exclaimed angrily.

The man with golden hair who was wearing blue jeans, a wine-red shirt and a grey jacket approached them. “Hi, guys!” He greeted joyfully.

“What are you doing here?” The oldest Winchester inquired rather unfriendly.

“I just wanted to see you. It’s been a while.”

“Oh, yeah? The last time we saw you, you trapped us in TV-land in order to force us to say ‘yes’ to Michael and Lucifer.” Sam explained upset.

“Yes, I did! And you exposed and left me in a ring of holy fire, so let’s say we’re even.”

Dean scoffed. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“Who are your friends?” Gabriel grinned mischievously and looked at Adam and Amelia.

“None of your business!” Sam replied seriously.

“Come on, guys! You can’t be mad at me forever.”

“We can’t trust the Trickster, either!” Dean countered resentfully.

“What’s a Trickster?” Amelia was confused.

Gabriel unexpectedly stepped right in front of her which is why she was a bit startled. “I am! The name’s Gabriel.” He introduced himself officially while taking her left hand and placing a kiss on its back. “Enchanté!” He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “What’s your name, darling?”

“A-Amelia.” She stuttered and blushed. It had been years that a man had given her any attention and frankly, she couldn’t handle proximity from strangers very well.

“Okay, pal, that’s enough!” Adam interfered protectively and shoved the other man away from his cousin. “Who exactly is this dude?” He turned to his brothers.

“He’s an angel.” Sammy stated more calmly.

“Wait. I thought he was a Trickster?”

“He is, but he is also an angel.” Dean clarified.

They were silent for a moment until Mia realized something. “Like Gabriel the archangel?”

“That’s me!” Gabriel confirmed cheery.

“Oh my god!” She was stunned.

“Yeah, that’s my dad.”

“One more time, Gabriel. Why are you here?” Dean was impatient.

“Alright, alright. I’ll tell you.” The angel gave in, lifting his hands in surrender. “I want to help you find the demon that’s responsible for the crimes around here.”

“And why would you do that? Last time, you made it very clear that you would never help us.” Sam scoffed and crossed his arms.

“Well, I’ve changed my mind.”

“You expect us to believe that?” The oldest Winchester spoke distrustfully.

“Believe it or not. Your choice.” Gabriel shrugged.

The two brothers faced each other doubtfully. How could they trust him after all he had put them through?

“Forget it! Go and annoy someone else. We don’t need anything from you.” Dean rejected him.

“Your loss, guys!” The archangel reckoned nonchalant.

“Yeah, whatever.” Dean stared at him, smirking confidently.

“Alright, I’m off! Good luck with your demon.” Gabriel said frustrated. He waited a few more seconds; possibly they would change their mind. They didn’t, instead, they left him standing there and went straight to the bar. Damn! This was harder than expected. Still, he wouldn’t give up that easily.

“Scotch.” Dean ordered immediately. “Can you believe this son of a bitch?” He asked shaking his head.

“Not really.” Sam responded pensively. “How does he know that we are hunting a demon, anyway?”

“Well, he is the Trickster. He probably was spying on us the entire time. Again.” The oldest Winchester took the glass the bartender just put in front of him and drank the liquor in one go.

“I want to go home.” Amelia surprisingly requested.

“Mia-” Adam started, however, she cut him short.

“Adam, I mean it. Please, I want to go home.” She looked pleadingly at the three men.

“Okay!” Sam smiled hesitantly.

“Thank you!” She was relieved. “I have to go to the bathroom first. Then we can call Cass to bring me home.”

“Yeah, sure!” Sammy agreed since none of the other two men said anything. The blonde woman gave him a quick smile and headed to the bathroom.

“Scotch, please!” Adam ordered and like Dean, he downed his drink instantly. His brothers faced each other baffled.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was in the act of leaving Leo’s when he spotted Mia coming out of the ladies’ room. She passed by him and in doing so she smirked and winked at him. He gazed after her perplexed.

“Hey, I changed my mind. I want to stay.” Amelia declared happily as she came back to the three Winchesters.

“Are you serious?” Her cousin inquired doubtfully and thrilled at the same time.

“Yes, of course!”

He grinned widely and hugged her. “Glad to hear that, Sis!”

Next, she ordered another drink and even though they already had all the information on the demon, she decided to talk to some people – alone.

“Something’s off with her. She’s different.” Adam realized alarmed while he watched his cousin chatting and laughing with four men. The bar was currently pretty crowded.

“What do you mean?” Sam was worried right away.

“She’s not shy but she wouldn’t just go up to strangers and talk to them. She simply wouldn’t.”

“What are we supposed to do? We are not her parents and she’s a grown woman. Maybe she just wants to have fun tonight.” Dean grinned naughtily.

“Dean, it’s not funny!” Sammy lectured him.

“Alright… Sorry, kid!” The oldest Winchester apologized to Adam who reacted disgruntled.

“Don’t call me that!”

“Okay, sorry! Jesus, relax for a second.”

“I will, as soon as I know what’s up with Mia.” Adam expressed his concern afresh. Therefore, the three brothers re-focused their attention on the crowd of people in the bar and tried to detect Amelia. But she was nowhere to be seen. “Fuck!” Her cousin exclaimed frantically.

“Calm down! We will find her.” Sam attempted to comfort him.

His younger brother didn’t seem to listen because he now approached one of the four men Amelia had chatted with. “Where is she?” He asked sternly.

“Who?” The other man was confused.

“The young blonde woman you and your friends talked to earlier.”

“Oh, her! She wanted to go home and asked one of us to accompany her to the nearest taxi stand.”

“And did you?”

“Yeah, Phil did.”

“What’s your friend’s full name and address?” Dean demanded.

“What? Why would I tell you?” The other man scoffed. Dean grabbed him firmly by the collar. “Name and address.” He repeated harshly.

“Okay, okay!”
 

Ten minutes later, the three brothers arrived at the address they had received.

“Listen carefully. If we are walking in on a one night stand, you go home tomorrow. No discussion.” Dean urged his youngest brother.

“Alright.” Adam spoke unfazed. He was pretty certain that they were in on something completely different.

As they were standing in the dark house, Sam switched the light off and on again. It didn’t work. Due to this they turned on their flashlights, Dean and Sam had their guns out too. They instantly split up and began searching the first floor. When they met again in front of the staircase, they merely shook their heads to signalize that they hadn’t found anyone or anything. Then they heard a noise coming from upstairs. They quickly headed to the second floor and discovered a woman lying on the ground, bleeding from a wound on the side of her lower belly. They could discern the smell of rotten eggs.

Sam directly kneeled down beside her. “She’s alive.” He reported relieved.

They didn’t have much time to ponder about their next move because they heard rumbling from a room on the left side.

“You stay here.” Dean commanded Adam and the younger one complied.

Sam and Dean stormed into the room, seemingly a child’s bedroom, and pointed their guns at the man who was turning it upside down. He was obviously searching for something and held a bloody knife in his right hand. He noticed that they had entered so he turned around.

“Where is she?” He screamed at them. “Where is Ellie?” The brothers glanced at one another frowning. Who was he talking about? “Where is she?” The other man was in a rage and moved towards them.

Dean wasted no time talking to him; instead, he knocked him out with a punch. Sam gave him a judgmental look. “What?” The older one shrugged.

After that, they dragged the man out of the room into the hallway.

“Hey, where’s Adam?” Sammy tried to spot their younger brother.

Dean wanted to reply, probably even curse, when Adam appeared from another room.

“I’m here.” He said calmly. In addition to that, he was not alone. A little girl was holding his hand. “This is Ellie. I found her hiding in the closet in her parents’ bedroom.”

Sam got down on one knee in front of the girl. “Hi, Ellie! I’m Sam. Can you tell us what happened?”

“My daddy was very angry at mommy. So Mommy told me to hide.” She explained sadly.

“Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be okay.”

“What about the blonde woman who came with my daddy?”

“Did she hurt you or your mommy?” Adam inquired tensely.

“No, she just talked to my daddy. But she said bad things.”

“Alright, let’s get them out of here.” Dean suggested.

“What about Mia?” The youngest Winchester was understandably worried.

“First, we bring them to the car. Then we can search for Mia.”

Adam nodded although he was not completely okay with it. Nevertheless, they carried the woman as well as the man downstairs and headed for the front door.

“You really wanna leave? The party’s just getting started.” Amelia’s voice let them stare in the direction of the living room. The lights started to flicker and before they could do anything, they were pulled into said room.

“Mia?” Adam asked warily. Ellie hid behind him, obviously afraid of the blonde woman.

“Yes and no.” Mia responded. Her green eyes changed to completely black for a short moment. “She is in there, I can hear her screaming. She’s quite strong. It’s pretty annoying actually. The waitress didn’t put up that much of a fight.” She elucidated wickedly grinning.

“The waitress from the bar? You have possessed her too? Did she kill those people?” Sam questioned her while he and Dean laid the bodies carefully on the floor.

“Yes, I have. But then I saw Mia and I wanted her body so badly. I followed her to the bathroom, dumped the other body there and voilà.” She laughed. “And no, she didn’t kill anyone and neither did I. I only convinced those humans to drink and do the bad things they did.”

“Oh, you convinced them. You mean you forced them. Like the coward you are.” Dean stated angrily.

“Don’t you dare insult me, you worthless human!” She yelled furiously and lifted her right arm. The three Winchesters flew through the air and were eventually pinned to the wall. “I’m gonna show you why Lucifer chose me to strengthen his army!”

“Lucifer’s army? What the hell?” The oldest brother was irritated and shocked at the same time.

“You stupid humans! You think you are the only ones preparing to fight?” She mocked them. “Lord Lucifer may be weak now but he gets stronger with every soul I send to Hell.”

“You send souls to Hell?” Sam couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Hells, yeah! I manipulate people into committing crimes. I tell them that their wife is cheating on them or the man they kidnap wants to hurt their family. I can be pretty persuasive. And after they commit their sin, I make them kill themselves. That will get them sent to Hell for sure.” She enlightened them proudly.

“You use them for your sick plan and on top of that, you make them commit suicide?” Dean was truly heated.

“Duh! I can’t wait for them to die of natural causes, can I? Lucifer needs his souls now. Besides, it’s so much fun to see them suffer.”

“And why make them drunk?” Sammy’s question prompted her to grin even wider.

“Because it’s fun! With him…” She pointed at the man on the floor. “…I couldn’t do it though. You were watching me the entire time so I had to act faster than usual.”

“You really are sick! Go back to Hell and leave Mia alone!” Adam shouted heatedly.

“No way! I love this body. I think I’m gonna keep it.” The demon grinned. “So, let’s get back to business.” She lifted her left arm. The man who was originally lying unconsciously on the ground instantly opened his eyes. He stood up, walked over to his wife, kneeled down on top of her and began choking her.

“No, daddy! Please, stop! Please don’t hurt mommy!” Ellie begged crying heavily.

“Ah, isn’t this great? Humans killing each another and children crying. Imagine the world being like this forever. Nothing’s going to stop-” The demon ended her speech abruptly and the satisfied expression on her face changed to a surprised one. She slowly lowered her arms causing the Winchester-brothers to be released from the wall and the man to end his involuntary killing attempt and faint once again.

“You… You have to get them out of here. I don’t know how… how long I can hold her… back.” Amelia faced the three men desperately. Due to the sobbing little girl, who reminded her of herself as well as her trauma, she had been able to finally break through and prevent the demon from causing more pain and sorrow. For now. “Please… Get out!” She pleaded.
 

All of a sudden, the front door swung open and ultimately, Gabriel walked into the room.

“Crazy night, huh, boys?” He said grinning while coming nearer. “Who would have thought that the waitress was possessed by a demon?”

“Gabriel, what are you-” Dean interrupted himself. “Wait a second! How do you know about the waitress?”

“Well, I am an angel. I could see right away what she was. And if my angel eyes don’t fail me now, I’d say that Amelia here is possessed too. Sorry about that, by the way.” He explained casually.

“You knew? Why didn’t you tell us?” Sam reproached him.

“You didn’t want my help, remember?”

“Can you help now?” Adam asked friendly and glanced worriedly at his cousin who was still fighting to keep the demon at bay.

“Sure can.” The Trickster smirked. “And I will. But you’ll owe me one.”

“Deal!” The youngest Winchester agreed without consulting with his brothers first.

Gabriel grinned and wasted no time. He approached Mia swiftly and once he was standing in front of her, he placed his right hand on her head. Soon after, she threw back her head and the demon in the form of black smoke escaped from her mouth. Subsequently, she lost consciousness and collapsed, which is why Gabriel had to catch her so that she wouldn’t meet the floor. Nonetheless, he managed to snap his fingers, killing the demon in the process.

Adam quickly ran over to them. “Is she alright?” He wanted to know nervously.

“She will be.” The angel answered softly as he studied Mia’s face. He had to admit, she was really pretty. Anyway, he cleared his throat and tapped her on the forehead. Amelia opened her eyes and he assisted her with standing on her feet again. She blinked a few times and put her right hand on her head.

“Mia?” Adam spoke somewhat doubtfully.

“I’m okay.” She assured him smiling slightly.

“Thank god!” He hugged her tightly.

“You still think demons are cool?” She asked teasingly.

“Definitely not! I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“No, it’s Lucifer’s fault.” Dean uttered disgruntled by this undeniable fact.

“Yeah. We mustn’t underestimate him.” Sam affirmed, looking at Ellie who was sitting on the ground. She was crying, as well as scared and distressed because of the events that had occurred.

“Can you help them as well?” Mia examined Gabriel sadly. She felt responsible for the little girl’s misery.

“Anything for you, sugar.” He grinned and snapped his fingers.

She and the three Winchesters were surprised as they found themselves standing next to the Impala outside of the house.

“What just happened?” Adam was confused.

“I healed the parents, cleaned the house, erased the family’s and friends’ memories and teleported us out of there.”

“They won’t remember anything that has happened tonight?” Amelia inquired uncertainly.

“Nope.”

“Thank you!”

“Sure thing, darling!” The archangel smirked and winked at her.

Although she was thankful for what he had done, she didn’t trust him and felt uncomfortable when he used those pet names. To her, he came across like a womanizer. He wasn’t attractive in the typical sense; however, he was good-looking. At least to her. Not that it mattered, anyway. She was almost certain that he merely wanted to play with her.

“Stop it!” Adam was annoyed by him.

“You gotta relax, kid!” Gabriel uttered laughing.

“Don’t call me that! My name is Adam.”

“Alright! Sensitive much?”

Sam chose fast to intervene. “Gabriel, we appreciate your help. So if you come up with an idea for us to, uh, pay you back, let us know. For now, we should hit the road and get Mia back home.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” The archangel assured grinning and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

“I, uhm…” Amelia began hesitantly while looking at the three Winchesters.

“Yeah?” Adam faced her eagerly.

“I wanna stay.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

He hugged her yet again.

“Oh, great.” Dean wasn’t exactly happy about her decision. How the hell were he and Sammy supposed to take care of someone else? They were barely able to keep themselves alive.

“What changed your mind?” Sam was genuinely curious.

“I have seen what Lucifer is capable of and I want to help you stop him.”

“We both will. I don’t care if it’s dangerous. We have to help you.” Adam declared determined.

Dean sighed. He didn’t want to put them in any danger; on the other hand, they needed every aid they could get. “Alright, you can stay.” He agreed eventually.

“Seriously?” His youngest brother was puzzled to hear him say those words.

“Yeah, seriously! Don’t ask again or I might change my mind.”

Adam shook his head. He would never take that risk.
 

Back at the bunker, Adam and Amelia started moving in immediately. Castiel teleported them home so they could pick up everything they needed. After all, they hadn’t brought more clothes or other things since they hadn’t expected to stay for… well, a long time. Even though it wasn’t that easy to just leave their home and old life behind, Mia and Adam were happy to start anew.

Nevertheless, they could not in the slightest anticipate that they had set off more than a family reunion.

Who let the Archangel in?

Three weeks had passed since Amelia and Adam had moved in with Sam and Dean. Apart from handing in her letter of resignation to the hospital as well as completing the sale of their house – in an amazingly short time – nothing much had happened in those past weeks.

Surprisingly, everyone had quickly acclimated to each other and the new housing situation. Mia made breakfast almost every morning and Sam often assisted her. Dean and Adam were mostly sleeping in; still, all four always ate breakfast together. In the beginning, Dean had been far from pleased about the fact that he and Sammy had gotten roommates. He had let them stay only because he couldn’t send them away after Mia had gotten possessed by a demon and in all honesty, he had expected them to leave after a few days. But they didn’t.

Instead, the young blonde woman, who reminded him of his mother, was frequently cooking them breakfast and even dinner. Also, the three brothers spent much time together doing research and teaching Adam (and Mia) how to use a gun along with the basics of killing the supernatural.

Now, Dean was already used to walking into the library of the bunker and finding somebody else except Sam there.

“Alright, are you ready?” The oldest Winchester exclaimed excitedly and a bit maliciously while entering said room.

“Do we really have to do this?” Amelia asked nervously.

“You wanna get possessed by a demon again?”

“No.”

“Then yes!” Dean smirked.

Twenty minutes later, they were standing in a tattoo studio in town.

“Hi, guys! What’s up?” A man with tattoos all over his arms greeted them thrilled.

“Hey! We need this…” Dean instantly showed him a picture. “… on these two.” He pointed at Adam and Mia.

“Sure thing! Come with me!” The tattooist guided them into a separate room. “So, who wants to start?” He inquired readily.

“Ladies first!” Adam answered grinning, shoving his cousin towards the big chair which was standing in the room. She glared at him but didn’t complain.

“Alright, where do you want it?”

Amelia took off her long-sleeved shirt – she was wearing a strapless top underneath it because she had known what they were up to – and showed him the spot so he could get to work.

After overall three hours, he was done. Mia had the special tattoo on her right shoulder blade; Adam had chosen his left chest, just as his brothers.

“Alright, let’s grab something to eat. My treat.” Dean suggested satisfied as they stepped outside on the sidewalk.

“Sounds good!” His youngest brother approved overjoyed and proud of his tattoo. He felt like he was finally a part of their family.

“You okay?” Sam asked Mia as they were strolling to the nearest diner, his brothers already went ahead. He had noticed that there was something on her mind.

“I’m fine.” She replied smiling lightly. The Winchester kept staring at her considerately, so she started talking again. “I know, I agreed to stay and help you but I’m still not sure what to think about… well, all of it. If I can handle it. Everything happened so fast and I don’t want to get in the way or be a burden because you have to watch out for me.”

“You won’t be. You aren’t. It’s great having you here!” Sammy reassured her. “It feels good to have family except Dean. He is my brother and I love him, but sometimes it can get a bit lonely, you know. For the most part of our lives we’ve had only us, so I’m really grateful that you have found us.”

“I’m glad you say that! I’m happy that we came here. I think the change is good, for both Adam and me. I just need a little more time to get adjusted to everything, I guess.”

“That’s okay! It’s a lot to take in. For that, you handled it pretty well.” Sam smirked and she returned the smile. Yes, she was glad that she had decided to stay.

As soon as they had finished their lunch, they returned home. Dean parked the Impala in front of the bunker and all four got out of the car.

“What are we gonna do next? Research, weapons training? Or you could show me how to put up warding!” Adam was highly motivated while they headed towards the entrance of the building.

“Whoa, slow down, ki…” Dean, who was walking beside him, stopped and held up his right hand. “Bro.” He corrected himself on the last word. He knew by now that the youngest Winchester didn’t want to be treated like a child. Besides, he definitely wasn’t a kid anymore. He was a grown man and even the same height as Dean.

“Did you just call me ‘Bro’?” Adam was astounded and a grin grew on his face.

“Well, I can’t call you kid… And you are my brother, so…” The oldest Winchester shrugged and looked away, feeling slightly uncomfortable with acknowledging this fact.

Adam however grinned widely and before the other man could say anything more, he hugged him tightly. It took a few seconds for Dean to hug him back, smiling softly in the process. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all to have him here. Mia and Sam couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of the two men sharing such a genuine moment.
 

“Aaah, isn’t this just sweet?” Oh no, not him again.

“Gabriel?” Sam was understandably surprised to see the archangel approaching them smirking.

“Were you following us again?” Dean wanted to know none too happy.

“Yes, I was.” Gabriel admitted. He had no reason to lie, anyway. He wanted something from them; therefore, it would be best to be honest.

“Why? What do you want this time?” Sam questioned him frowning. He knew him well enough to be aware of his rather bad intentions.

“I wanna stay with you.”

“You want what?” Dean must have misheard.

“I helped you defeat the demon and now I came to call in your favor.”

“You want to… live with us… at the bunker?” Sammy made sure he understood him correctly.

“Ding, ding, ding! Hundred points for Sam Winchester!”

“Does this look like a homeless shelter to you?” Dean was not in the slightest pleased with his idea.

“You want an honest answer with that?” Gabriel asked teasingly. The old run-down building in front of him didn’t exactly invite anyone to call it their home.

“You know what I want? I want Lucifer and Michael to leave us the Hell alone! I want demons and other monsters to be killed for good! And I want you to leave!” The oldest Winchester shouted at him angrily.

“That’s great! But still, you owe me.” The Trickster was undeterred and determined to get what he desired.

“Why?” Adam intervened and added to his question. “Why do you wanna stay with us?” Gabriel’s request didn’t make any sense. He was an archangel, he could stay anywhere. Why here of all places?

“What? Are you afraid it won’t be fun having me around? I am the Trickster!” Gabriel replied mockingly.

“No! I think you are an annoying prick and should fuck off!” Adam was irritated. He simply didn’t like him.

“Adam, you don’t have to be so rude!” Amelia said indignantly.

“Thank you, darling!” The Trickster grinned, feeling victorious.

“That applies for you, too! You can’t just show up here and expect us to let you stay without a good explanation.” She rebuked the man who was staring at her flabbergasted. After a few moments in which no one else spoke a word, he cleared his throat.

“Alright, I’ll tell you. But can we please step inside?” He faced them almost pleadingly and further seconds passed.

“Okay, let’s go in.” Dean approved at last and subsequently, they entered the bunker.

“Wow! Not bad, guys! I must say, I’m impressed.” The archangel uttered jollily while they took the stairs down to the main room.

Once they reached the ground, the oldest Winchester wasted no time for another chit-chat. “Talk.” He demanded sternly and crossed his arms.

“Alright! You guys are no fun, you know that?” Gabriel looked at them a bit frustrated. Nevertheless, he sighed and began his heated explanation. “I’m sort of on the run, thanks to you! Since you revealed who and what I am, I’m followed by demons who try to kill me. Good thing I am an archangel and they were mostly underclass demons, so it was easy for me to get away every time.” He paused for an instant to compose himself. “Anyway, I’d like to live a little bit longer. In peace. And this is where you come into the picture.” He pointed at Sam and Dean with both of his index fingers and a mischievous smile on his face. “You broke the world and made me a refugee, that's why you have to take care of fixing it. I will stay here until you figured out a way to do that.”

“We tried to save the world! We didn’t release Lucifer on purpose, you know that!” Sam defended himself and his brother upset.

“Whatever! You haven’t found a way to stop him yet, have you?”

Sam and Dean didn’t answer; they only glanced at each other uneasily.

“We will find one, you can bet on it!” Adam declared confidently.

Gabriel smirked briefly. “I hope you are right!”

“You could help us.” Mia proposed optimistically.

“Sorry, honey! I’m not here to help.” He responded nonchalantly and shrugged. She gave him a disappointed look.

“We have to discuss this.” Dean didn’t know how to handle this present situation otherwise.

“Oh, yes, please! Take all the time you need. I’m sure Lucifer wastes his time talking, too.” Gabriel’s sarcastic tone made the oldest Winchester even angrier. He grunted annoyed and quickly stepped away because he felt a huge urge to punch the Trickster in the face or stab him with an angel blade.

Luckily, right in this moment, Castiel came down the stairs as well.

“Cass!” Sam was relieved to see his friend.

“Hello!” The angel greeted calmly.

“Hey, bro! How’s it going?” Gabriel welcomed him cheerily.

“Hello, Gabriel!” Cass was not too friendly. He still held a grudge for being zapped away by his angel brother so he could play with Sam and Dean. “So it’s true. You are here.”

“How did you know that? We didn’t tell you yet.” Sam asked surprised.

“Angel radio.” Castiel responded shortly but when he saw the confusion on the others’ faces, he carried on. “First, I thought it was simply a rumor that an archangel was hunted down by demons. But three weeks ago, you told me that Gabriel was back and today, the nearer I came to the bunker, the more I felt his presence. So, I assumed it must be true. And here he is.” He eyed his brother warily.

Gabriel clapped his hands. “Great story, bro. Really touching. But can we get back to the original topic? Me staying here?”

Now, it was Cass’ turn to look confused.

“Yeah, we need to talk.” Dean spoke grumpily.

“Here we go again.” The Trickster rolled his eyes.

“Okay, that’s enough! Sit down and shut up until we have discussed this!” The oldest Winchester yelled at him irately.

“Fine.” Gabriel mumbled sulky and took a seat on the small couch in the library.

“What is going on? Gabriel wants to stay… here? With you?” Castiel questioned his friends bewildered.

“Yeah. We kinda owe him a favor and this is what he wants in return.” Sam explained.

“It’s my fault. I agreed we would owe him if he helped us to defeat the demon that has possessed Mia.” Adam reckoned guiltily.

“It’s not your fault! He is the Trickster and knew that we were desperate enough to let him help.” Dean clarified convinced. “I say we just kill him. Then we no longer have to take any of his crap.”

“Can we do that?” His youngest brother asked keenly.

“Unfortunately, no.”

“So, maybe we should let him stay.” Sammy thought aloud.

“What? Are you out of your mind?”

“Dean, I don’t think we have a choice. Besides, maybe we can change his mind. Maybe, we can convince him to help us in the end.”

“There are too many ‘maybes’ in this.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s all we’ve got. He’s still an archangel. He could be useful for us even if he doesn’t want to be.”

“You got a point.” Dean had to admit. “Cass, what do you think?”

“He is powerful. To have him on our side either way is a good thing. And he doesn’t want to hurt any of us. That’s not who he is.”

“Still, he is the Trickster and we have to be aware of that the whole time.”

“I guess we have to take that risk.” Sam assumed pensively. “What about you? Will you be okay with Gabriel staying here?” He turned to Adam and Amelia.

The youngest Winchester exhaled sharply. “Well, like you said, we don’t have a choice.” He crossed his arms and glanced suspiciously at Gabriel.

“It’s fine with me.” Mia consented.

“Are you sure?” Adam inquired doubtfully.

“Even though he is an archangel, I can defend and take care of myself, Ammie.” She insisted assertively. She was the only person in this world who used this nickname for him. When she was very young, she couldn’t pronounce his full name, Adam Milligan, correctly. She had always called him ‘Ammie’ instead because it was short and easy to articulate and somehow, it stuck. However, she rarely used it nowadays.

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on him. If he doesn’t behave, we’ll kick him out.” Dean put a hand on Adam’s shoulder to reinforce his statement.

“Alright.” Although his youngest brother obviously wasn’t pleased with the idea of having Gabriel around, he agreed. He trusted that his brothers wouldn’t risk putting any of them in immediate danger.

Eventually, they stepped in front of the archangel to deliver the ‘good’ news.

“Okay, Gabriel, you can stay. But don’t think that we can’t throw you out anytime if you mess with us.” Dean told him resolutely.

“Guys, I wouldn’t dream of it!” Gabriel grinned innocently.

“We will totally regret this.” The oldest Winchester mumbled and got himself some Whisky from one of the cupboards in the library.

“So… what’s next?” The Trickster inquired curiously.

“Research.” Dean’s reply was short as he took a sip of the liquor.

“About what?”

“About how to stop your jerk-brothers from destroying the universe.”

“Right!” The archangel reflected upon something for a short moment. “Since you can’t kill either one of my brothers, have you ever thought about locking Lucifer back in his Cage?” He had decided to help them at least a little bit. After all, they let him stay here and the faster they stopped his brother, the sooner he could go back to his non-refugee life. Sam, Dean and Cass instantly faced him dumbfounded. He looked at them in disbelief. “You haven’t? Seriously? What have you been doing all this time? Waiting for a miracle?”

“We didn’t know that his Cage was still there. Not to mention that we could lock him back in.” Sam countered.

“Well, it is and you can.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Dean was impatient.

“You’ll need the rings of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Those are the keys to open the Cage.”

“Okay! We’ve already got War’s ring, so that leaves Pestilence, Famine and Death.” Sammy stated hopefully.

“Yeah, but we have to find those SOBs first.” His older brother was not really optimistic.

“Shouldn’t be too hard to locate them.” Gabriel was certain about that.

“What makes you say that?” Adam asked skeptically.

“They aren’t exactly… discreet. You said you’ve got War’s ring so you should at least know what they are capable of.”

Cass had to agree with his brother. “He’s right. If they are here on Earth, we will find them. They won’t be hiding, anyway, since they have an important job to carry out.”

“Alright! Let’s check if there are any strange incidents happening across the states. And if there’s anything useful written in the books.” Dean was now re-motivated.

Consequently, they all began researching. Except for Gabriel, who still didn’t want to help them any further. Cass on the other hand left to go to Heaven; maybe someone up there could enlighten them about the Horsemen.

“This is what you do all day? No wonder you’re so tense. This is boring!” The archangel complained after only half an hour where no one had spoken.

“I have a great idea!” Dean told him smirking.

“What?”

“Shut up and help us!”

“Thanks for the offer, but no.” Gabriel answered tauntingly.

The oldest Winchester exhaled sharply. He and Adam were sitting next to each other and could not only hear but see what their new roommate was doing. It made it all the more unbearable. Sam and Mia had their backs turned on him. However, Dean tried to focus on the book he was currently reading. He had better things to do than to argue with this… what did Adam call him? Oh yeah, annoying prick. Unfortunately, the Trickster wasn’t that easy to ignore. He started whistling different songs. By the beginning of the fourth song, Dean couldn’t take it anymore. He quickly rose from his chair and punched his palms onto the table, startling the others in the process. He was clearly pissed off.

“Dean, calm down.” Sam appeased him while holding up his hands. His brother was staring furiously at a now silent Gabriel.

Amelia unexpectedly stood up, too. “Maybe you should take a break.” She smiled softly and grasped Dean’s left arm.

Due to this, the Winchester shifted his gaze hesitantly to her face and his anger slowly vanished. “I’m gonna go grab a beer.” He uttered disgruntled and immediately went off to the kitchen. It wasn’t about the beer; he simply had to leave the room for a few minutes.

“I’ll go see if he’s alright.” Adam followed his oldest brother.

“Thanks.” Sam smiled lightly at Mia as she sat back down on her chair.

“I don’t want him to be angry.” She explained even though she didn’t have to.

“Yeah, me neither.” He chuckled; nevertheless, he looked somewhat sorrowful.

“Why is he like this?” She had recognized from the beginning that Dean was a tough guy – on the outside. She didn’t know him that well after the short time they had lived together. Yet, she knew that he was a sad and hurt man and that he used his anger to cover that up. He didn’t want to show his soft and vulnerable side. That was something they both had in common. Unlike him, she hid behind her optimism because she didn’t want to face her sorrow and fear of loneliness.

“I have no idea.” Sammy replied honestly. “He wouldn’t talk about it, anyway, so I have stopped asking.”

Amelia nodded, she understood both sides. On one hand, you should talk about the worries in your life, but on the other hand, talking often didn’t make anything better and above all, go away.

The ringing of Sam’s cell phone snapped her out of her thoughts. “It’s Cass. I’ll be right back.” The Winchester stood up from his chair and left the library.

Gabriel took the chance and seated himself opposite from the blonde woman who wanted to continue reading the book which she had started earlier. She eyed him a bit distrustfully. “So… What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” He smirked curiously.

“Helping Sam and Dean.” Mia responded shortly.

“Oh, come on, talk to me! I’m bored!”

“That’s not my problem, Gabriel.” She couldn’t tell what bothered her about him. He was intrusive; still, he hadn’t done anything bad, at least to her. Sam and Dean had told Adam and her what ‘games’ the Trickster had played with them and admittedly, they had been shocked. He was a powerful being and could mess with anyone anytime, if he wanted. However, she wasn’t afraid of him.

“It kinda is.” The archangel grinned. He liked that she wasn’t intimidated or intrigued by him that easily. It would definitely be fun living here. “What’s your job, besides reading ancient books?” He kept asking questions although he wasn’t honestly interested. Talking to her was simply better than just sitting around and doing nothing.

Amelia hesitated for a moment but she decided to answer him. “I am… was a midwife.”

“And now you’re a librarian?”

“I’m helping Sam and Dean. Something you should be doing as well.”

“Nah. It’s not my fault that my brothers are fighting. If they want to kill each other – fine. But don’t drag me into their mess. I just want to enjoy my life with or without them.” Gabriel stated seemingly detached.

“But they are your family! You should try to reconcile with them.”

He had to laugh. “You haven’t met them, have you? Because you wouldn’t say that if you have.”

“I’m sure it’s not too late.”

“Oh, it is. Trust me.” He assured her assertively. “Speaking of family… what about yours?”

Mia focused on the book before her. “I only have Adam.”

“Your…”

“Cousin.”

“Aaah!” Now, it was clear to him what kind of relationship those two shared and why Adam was so protective of her. “What happened to your parents?”

She kept her attention on the book even though she wasn’t reading. “They died when I was fourteen.”

“Let me guess. Killed by a demon?”

“No.”

“Vampire?”

“No!” She got sadder and angrier with every question.

“Werewolf?” That was too much.

“NO! For God’s sake, they were shot in our house by a burglar, a human! And I was just lucky that I have survived! Are you happy now?!” She screamed at him with tears in her eyes.

Gabriel stared at her, genuinely taken aback by this reveal and her sudden misery. He had seen sad people before but with her, it was different. He felt guilty, something that he rarely felt – if ever.

“What’s going on?” Adam shouted alarmed while running into the room. He and Dean had been on the way back to the library when they had heard her yelling. Sam was also hurrying into said room, worried by her small outburst.

Amelia merely jumped up from her chair and walked out. She locked herself in her room, sat down on her bed, hugged her knees and let her head rest on them. She didn’t wanna cry; the tears were flowing down her cheeks, anyway. In this moment, she hated everything and everyone. She hated her parents for leaving her alone. She hated Adam for taking her here. She hated Gabriel for making her digging up those horrible memories. She hated Sam and Dean for letting all of them stay in the bunker. She hated God for not preventing the deaths in her family. But primarily, she hated herself right now. For thinking those thoughts and for not being able to get her shit together. She wasn’t an angry or resentful person. Sure, losing her parents and her aunt had been awful and she probably would never get over it completely. However, it wasn’t Gabriel’s or Adam’s fault.

A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts once again. She lifted her head and faced the door, expecting someone to enter her room. Then she remembered that it was locked.

“Yes?” Mia said while wiping away her tears. To her own surprise she sounded quite normal.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked from outside the door. He was concerned; she could hear it in his voice.

“I’m fine. I just need a few minutes.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“Mia, you know you can always talk to me.”

“I know. But like I said, I’m fine.”

“Mia-“

“Adam, please.” She replied, this time more emphatically.

Her cousin seemed to understand. “Okay. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

As soon as he was gone, she took a deep breath and exhaled to calm herself. She repeated it several times, something she had learned in the three years of therapy. She was glad it helped and that she felt a little bit better. Nevertheless, it took another half an hour until she finally got up and walked to the sink. She looked into the mirror which was hanging above it and sighed. She’d really like to know when her life would get any easier. She felt frustrated and exhausted.

“Stop whining! There are more important things to worry about right now. So pull yourself together and get back out there!” Amelia exhorted herself in her mind. Now was not the time to be depressed or selfish.
 

“This won’t work. He has to leave!” Adam spoke upset.

“He’s only been here for two hours.” Sam tried to reason with his younger brother.

“Yeah, and he already blew it!”

“We need to give him a chance to adapt. This situation is tough for everyone.”

“Guys, I’m still here!” Gabriel, who this conversation was about, pointed out.

“That’s the problem!” Adam eyed him annoyed.

“Deal with it!”

“Oh, I’d love to!” The youngest Winchester gave the Trickster a challenging look.

“Guys, stop! Fighting won’t lead us anywhere.” Sammy interrupted quite calmly. The other two men simply stared at each other coldly.

“I have to side with Sam on this. I’m not a fan of him staying here either but we already agreed to it.” Dean cut in. “We have to think about the whole world, not just us, even if we don’t like it. Besides, we’ve had worse than this and we will get through this too… together.” He put his right hand on Adam’s left shoulder and smirked.

“Alright, I get it!” His youngest brother uttered displeased.

“What’s wrong?” Surprisingly, Mia entered the library right at this moment. The four men immediately turned their attention towards her.

“Uh, nothing. Everything’s fine.” Sam’s response wasn’t very convincing.

“Okay!” She smiled though. “By the way, what did Cass want?” She remembered that Sammy had been on the phone with the angel.

“Ah, right! Unfortunately, Heaven can’t or won’t help us.”

“What a surprise!” Dean said sarcastically, shooting a glance at Gabriel in the process.

“Anyway…” His brother continued. “Cass thinks he has found one of the Horsemen, namely Pestilence. Yesterday, a bunch of people died in a diner of an unknown disease and a few days ago, the same happened in a cinema hall. Apparently, Heaven is in quite an uproar because of that.”

“Sounds like our type of guy.” The oldest Winchester affirmed.

“So we’ll go after him, right?” Adam was ready to hunt whatever monster they would encounter.

“Pack up! We’re leaving in ten minutes.” Dean declared, holding back a grin. He was excited, something he hadn’t felt in a while. Hunting wasn’t exactly fun, at least most of the time, but with Adam, he felt his own fighting spirit building up increasingly.

“Yes!” The youngest Winchester exclaimed thrilled and rushed out of the room.

“I didn’t even tell you yet where we have to go.” Sam mentioned slightly puzzled.

“You can tell us on the way.” Dean reacted smirking and left the room as well.

Amelia only smiled at Sammy and shrugged. He chuckled and shook his head. Afterwards, the two also went to their bedrooms to pack their bags. Gabriel stayed in the library; he didn’t have anything to pack anyway, due to the fact that he rarely changed his clothes. If he wanted to, he could do it with a snap of his fingers. There was no need for him to carry any luggage around.

“Okay, Gabriel. We’ll be back in a few days. Make yourself at home.” Sam spoke friendly as they all were packed up and ready to leave.

“Oh no, I’m coming with you!”

“What? First, you insist that you stay here because you are being followed by demons and now you want to go out there?” Dean wasn’t sure what to think of that.

“Well, I hate to feel bored which I definitely would without you being here. Besides, there is a higher chance that the demons kill you, so I think I’m quite safe.” The archangel answered grinning.

The oldest Winchester faced his brothers and Mia doubtfully. They simply nodded in agreement, even if it was rather hesitantly.

“Fine.” Of course, Dean was not at all overjoyed to drag the Trickster along. Nevertheless, he wanted to avert another fight between them.

Consequently, they had to split up for the drive. Gabriel rode in the Impala with Sam and Dean, Adam and Amelia took Adam’s Chevy.
 

All of them were actually completely clueless what they were getting themselves into. And that this was a next big step towards fulfilling their inevitable destiny.

What doesn’t kill you…

Davenport, Iowa
 

“Driving is exhausting. Don’t you guys ever take an airplane?” Amelia said while stretching herself from the long drive.

“I hate airplanes.” Dean answered shortly.

“Me too.” Adam was frowning at the thought of getting onto a plane and high up in the air.

“Dean is afraid of flying.” Sam explained a little gloating.

“You should talk, clown-boy!” His older brother countered smirking. Sammy cleared his throat, embarrassed by the fact that he had a fear of those ‘funny’ beings.

“Is this the moment where we bond over our fears and worries?” Gabriel asked mockingly.

Instead of speaking, Dean only shook his head. He was too tired to reply, anyway, because it was already after midnight. This is why they immediately checked into the motel they would be staying in and went straight to bed.

Of course, Gabriel didn’t need to sleep since he was an angel, so he watched TV in his room. A knock on the door made him turn off the series that was currently on and look skeptically at the wooden entrance. Who could this be at this hour? He stood up from the rather uncomfortable bed and walked to the door. He opened it without further hesitation; after all, he was an archangel and couldn’t be killed or hurt that easily.

“What are you doing here?” He was surprised to see his brother Castiel standing in front of him. “And why are you knocking? You could just teleport in, you know.”

“Sam and Dean hate when I do that. It’s more polite to knock.” Cass explained calmly.

“Whatever you say.” The Trickster shrugged smirking, turned around and walked over to the bed again.

“Why are you here, Gabriel?” His brother questioned him while entering the room and closing the door behind him.

“Because Sam and Dean took me here.” Gabriel replied amused, facing the other man once more and crossing his arms in the process.

“I mean: why do you want to live with them? And why did you come here when you have no intentions of helping them?”

“They owe me! It’s their fault that I’m a refugee so they have to take responsibility!” The archangel was promptly irritated.

“There’s always someone else to blame, is it? It’s never your fault! You are just like Lucifer!” Castiel reproached him angrily.

“Don’t you dare compare me to that son of a bitch! I’m nothing like Lucifer!” The Trickster yelled furiously.

“Then why don’t you take responsibility for a change and help us?”

“Because I don’t want to! It’s their fight, not mine!”

Cass gave in. It was no use trying to convince him. “Fine, do what you want. But can you do me at least one favor?”

“What?” Gabriel wanted to know gruffly.

“Stop blaming Sam and Dean. They didn’t mean for all of this to happen. They really try to make the world a better place and will do anything to defeat Lucifer.” Castiel said pleadingly.

“Anything except saying ‘Yes’.” The other angel mumbled sullenly. His brother merely looked at him reproachfully. “Alright…” Gabriel agreed displeased. Afterwards, he snapped his fingers and two glasses of Whisky appeared on the small table next to the TV. He picked them up and held one out to the other man.

Cass eyed him doubtfully. “I don’t drink.”

“Come on!” The archangel grinned and stepped in front of him. “Take it as some kind of a peace offering.”

Castiel sighed and hesitantly received the Whisky. “Thank you.”

They clinked glasses and took a sip. As angels, they didn’t have to drink or eat to stay alive but thanks to their vessels, they could taste the liquor and food they were consuming. Even if it perhaps wasn’t as acute as a real human would perceive it. Still, it was better than nothing.

“So… Do you have a plan how to get the ring from Pestilence?” Gabriel inquired.

“Not yet.” Cass responded pensively. “I will talk to Sam and Dean in the morning and we will figure something out.”

“I’m sure you will!” The Trickster smirked. He was curious how their trip would turn out.
 

Amelia woke up with her heart beating fast and an uneasy feeling in her stomach. The nightmare she had had reminded her of what had happened yesterday. How Gabriel had made her dig up those terrible memories she thought she had locked away.

“Good morning!” Adam said smiling as he was coming out from the bathroom.

“Good morning!” She smiled as well, sat up and yawned.

“How are you?” Her cousin faced her concerned.

“I’m okay.”

“You were talking in your sleep. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yeah… but it wasn’t as horrible as they used to be. Don’t worry.”

“If you say so…”

“I do.” Mia assured him, stood up and headed to the bathroom as well.

Fifteen minutes later, they met outside with the others.

“Hi, Cass!” The blonde woman greeted the angel happily.

“Hello, Mia! Adam.” He reacted friendly, even giving her a small smile.

“Hey, Cass!” Adam smirked. He somehow liked the quirky angel, something he couldn’t say about the other one. When he spotted Gabriel, his expression turned stern again.

“Good morning!” Gabriel grinned widely at Amelia, ignoring her cousin and his distrustful gaze on purpose.

“Good morning.” She answered unsmilingly, only glancing at him for a short instant. He stared at her baffled. Was she mad at him?

She wasn’t. She simply had decided that she wouldn’t let him get to her emotionally. She needed to control her feelings and concentrate on more important things – like the end of the world.

“Hey!” Sam spoke as he and Dean eventually joined up with them. “Is everything okay?” He immediately noticed Gabriel’s pensive face and Adam seemed to be annoyed.

“Sure!” Mia replied smiling.

“Good! Then we can go grab something to eat.” Dean declared eagerly.

“Dean, how can you think about eating when we have to find Pestilence?” Sammy didn’t quite understand his brother.

“I can’t do that on an empty stomach, so I’m gonna go find something to eat first.”

“I’m with Dean!” Adam sided with his oldest brother.

“Alright, alright!” Sam knew they were right. They needed their energy to hunt down Pestilence.

Unfortunately, they had no idea where to find him. Castiel couldn’t tell the exact location either because the Horseman was too powerful. The only clue was that he had been travelling and in the town they were currently at, where he had spread a disease in a diner. This is why none of them wanted to eat in a diner. Instead, Dean and Adam left to pick up some breakfast from a bakery while Sam, Mia and Gabriel stayed in Sam and Dean’s motel room. Cass decided to search the town for Pestilence; perhaps he would be able to seek him out after all or find clues on his whereabouts.

“What are you doing?” Amelia asked as Sammy sat down at the small table in the room and flipped his laptop open.

“I just thought I’ll search some lore about the Horsemen once more. Maybe I overlooked something.” The Winchester answered friendly.

“Okay, I help you. Two heads are better than one.” She smiled and took a seat next to him.

Somehow, Gabriel didn’t like that. He was standing a few feet away from them, leaning against the wardrobe with his arms crossed before his chest and frowning at the sight of the two staring into the laptop. Why was she mad at him? Why did it even bother him if she was? And why did he want her attention so badly? He wanted her to look at him with those beautiful green eyes, angrily or sadly or curiously – he didn't care. He simply wanted her to not ignore him. No, no, no! He was thinking too much. He had to stop that right away. To distract himself, he turned on the TV. Not even that made the two turn to face him. Whatever, he didn’t need them, anyway. He only needed himself and his freedom – which he hopefully would regain soon. Maybe he should help them after all? Nah. Besides, he also had no idea how to get a ring from a Horseman because not even an archangel could kill them.

“Nothing…” Sam sighed frustrated and closed his laptop after twenty minutes of browsing the web.

“We will figure something out.” Mia said optimistically.

In that moment, Dean and Adam entered the room.

“So, who’s hungry?” The oldest Winchester exclaimed grinning while putting the bags with their breakfast on the table.

“What were you doing?” Adam wanted to know ’cause he noticed the laptop sitting in front of them.

“We were researching about the Horsemen.” Sam replied smiling slightly.

“And did you find something?” Dean was almost hopeful.

“No, nothing.”

“Well, I guess no one had to stop the Apocalypse before.”

“And apparently, no one ever thought that the Apocalypse would actually happen or they just didn’t know how to prevent it, either. In this case, the internet and the books are pretty useless.” Sammy explained displeased.

“At least we know that we need the rings of the Horsemen!” Mia was still positive.

“But not how to get or use them.” Adam pointed out.

“Yet.”

“Mia’s right. We can’t give up just yet.” Sam spoke determined.

“Yeah. But before we do anything, let’s eat!” Dean demanded impatiently while already unpacking the bags on the table.
 

After finishing their breakfast, they left the motel room to drive through town and help Castiel searching for clues about Pestilence.

“So, where should we start?” Adam inquired a bit uncertainly.

“I’d say in the diner where he was last seen.” Sam suggested.

“You won’t find him here. He’s already moved on.” Suddenly, they were interrupted by a deep male voice.

“Crowley?” Dean was not too pleased to see the black-haired bearded man who was wearing a well-tailored black suit with a blue tie.

“Hello boys!” Crowley greeted grinning. “Gabriel.” He shot a glance at the archangel but instead of replying, Gabriel simply faced him distrusting.

“What are you doing here?” Sammy asked suspiciously.

“I want to help you.” The older man answered casually.

“You wanna help us?” Dean couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

“Of course! But first, where are our manners? Why don’t you introduce me to your friends?” Crowley spoke in his British accent and looked at Mia and Adam.

“Uh, sure…” Sam reacted hesitantly. However, he did as he was told. “This is Adam, our brother and this is Amelia, his cousin.”

“Mia is fine.” The blonde woman cut in smiling slightly.

“Another Winnie the Pooh! How delightful!” Crowley was thrilled about the fact that there was a third Winchester-brother. “And finally, there’s a lady to accompany the boys. Tell me, doll: how’s it been so far?”

“Good. And my name is Mia.” She now was a tad annoyed. Why did he also have to use a pet name for her? Was it common these days to greet a woman like that?

“Yeah, I got that part.” He reckoned smirking, disregarding her angry tone.

“And you are?” Adam wanted to know. Probably another angel, he figured, since the man had appeared out of nowhere, like Cass and Gabriel.

“I am Crowley. High-ranked demon and king of the crossroads.”

“Did you say demon?” The youngest Winchester and his cousin were instantly shocked.

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

“You’re friends with a demon?!” Adam turned to his brothers alarmed.

“He’s not our friend!” Dean claimed sternly.

“Ouch! That hurt, you know?” Crowley pretended to be disappointed.

“You’ll get over it!”

Adam wasn’t over the shocking reveal yet. “Hold on a sec!” He had to compose himself to not scream at them. “I get Cass, okay? He’s nice and somehow cool and he’s an angel. I can even tolerate Gabriel. But a demon? What’s next? A vampire?”

“Listen.” Dean was surprisingly calm. “He’s not our friend. But he has helped us before, so we have some kind of a truce. We don’t kill him, he doesn’t kill us.”

“Okay…” Adam trusted his brother, even though he found it somewhat disturbing.

“Crowley, you said Pestilence has already left town?” Sam intervened keen-eared.

“Yes! Do I have to repeat everything I say today?”

“Do you also know where he is now?” The other man decided to just ignore the demon’s snarky tone.

“No…”

“Great. Then why are you even here?” Dean was disgruntled.

“BUT I know someone who knows.”

“And who is that?” The oldest Winchester was unconvinced and interested at the same time.

“His name is Logan. He’s a demon and the Horsemen’s stable boy. He manages their ‘business trips’ along with other things. If anyone knows where the Horsemen are, it’s him.”

“Okay, good! Where can we find him?” Sam said motivated.

“Well, as luck would have it, his office is right in this town.”

“His office? A demon has an office?” Adam was puzzled.

“Some demons are very organized, just like humans. Besides, if you want to bring about the Apocalypse on Earth, you need to plan and strategize.” Crowley clarified as if talking about the construction of new buildings or organizing a big ball game.

“Alright! Let’s storm his office, torture this SOB and get all the information we need about his boss!” Dean proposed confidently.

“Hold on there, squirrel! It’s not going to be that easy.” The demon stopped his enthusiasm right away.

“What do you mean?” The youngest Winchester frowned at him.

“I mean, you can’t just storm into his office and expect to not be killed. Haven’t you learned anything in the past years? It’s like you want to die!”

“So what do you suggest? Make an appointment and talk business with him?” Dean didn’t even try to hide his sarcasm.

“Something like that.” The black-haired man grinned. “Logan is smart when it comes to business. However, with women… well, let’s say they are his weak point.”

“Meaning?” The oldest Winchester was getting more and more impatient.

“He’s a successful businessman. And what does a successful businessman do except business? Right! Women.” The others stared at him dumbfounded, making him think they didn’t understand. “I mean lots and lots of women. Black, white, blonde, brown, small, big-”

“Okay, we get it!” Dean exclaimed annoyed, the demon grinned widely.

“How do you know all of that?” Sam questioned him distrustfully.

“Hellooo? Demon?” Crowley pointed at himself with a grand gesture of both of his hands. Still, he got a quizzical look; this is why he carried on. “I am a businessman myself, so I have connections and employees all over the country. One of them is working for Logan – at least that’s what Logan believes. In actuality, he’s working for me, spying on Logan’s and the Horsemen’s plans.” He explained proudly.

“Why would you tell us all of this?” Adam crossed his arms. A demon would help them but not an archangel? It didn’t seem right.

“What? I can’t grant you a simple favor after all this time we’ve known each other?”

“Come on, Crowley! We are not that stupid.” Dean spoke resolutely.

“All right.” The older one sighed. “Let me put it that way: I just can't wait to be king.”

Once again, the others faced him confused.

“Why does that sound familiar?” The youngest Winchester was certain he had heard that one before.

“It's a song from the Lion King.” Sammy enlightened him.

“The Disney movie, remember? We watched it like a hundred times when we were kids.” Amelia added happily.

“Right!” Her cousin was now slightly embarrassed.

“Seriously?” Dean uttered reproachfully.

“It’s a great movie!” Mia countered.

“Okay, whatever! Back to you, Crowley. You were saying?”

“I want to be king. King of Hell, to be exact.”

“That’s a thing?” Adam scoffed.

“Of course it is, Mr. Wise Guy!” Crowley answered unfriendly. “What do you think Lucifer is?”

“So you want to take Lucifer’s place.” Amelia assumed.

“Precisely.”

“And you need our help to achieve that. This is why you’re here.” Sammy concluded smirking.

“I wouldn’t say it like that…”

“Cut the crap, Crowley!” Dean urged the demon.

“Fine! Yes, I want Lucifer gone but I can’t do it all by myself. The demons that are following me are getting less and less every day. No one wants to be on Lucifer’s bad side. So, the only chance to get what I want is to count on you two schmucks to defeat this crybaby Lucifer. And a little help from uncle Crowley can’t hurt, can it?” The black-haired man smirked self-assured.

“You are actually serious?” Sam asked astonished.

“Of course I’m serious! Lucifer treats me like a servant, forcing me to collect as many souls as possible. I’m working my ass off and for what? This spoiled brat ruins everything! If he gets through with the Apocalypse, there won’t be much left to rule. He has to be stopped!”

All were silent for a moment to let his words completely sink in.

“Okay… If you have a spy working in Logan’s office, can’t he get the information we need?” Sammy thought aloud.

“No. Logan would figure it out immediately and kill him. But not before torturing him and finding out that he was my spy all along. Then I would be next. So that’s not an option.”

“We’ll keep it in mind, anyway.” Dean grinned spitefully. Crowley shot an angry glance at him for that.

“In that case, what can we do? Lure him somewhere secluded and interrogate him?” Sam pondered further.

“That won’t work, either. At least not without a good reason for him to tag along.” The demon smiled evilly.

“What are you thinking?” Sammy assumed the worst.

“Well...” Crowley began, waiting for everyone to give him their full attention. “If we only had a woman with us who could seduce our stable boy so excellent that he would gladly follow her anywhere to… you know, sleep with her. Then we would have a chance to capture and question him.” His gaze shifted to Amelia.

She stared at him, taken aback by his idea.

“No fucking way!” Adam yelled harshly.

“Oh, come on! You’re just his type! Young, healthy, pretty. It will be easy for you to convince him to pursue you and lure him into our trap.” The black-haired man spoke eagerly to Mia, paying no attention to her angry cousin.

“There has to be another way!” Sam insisted.

“If you have a better plan, please speak now or forever hold your peace.” Crowley responded mockingly.

“I’ll do it.” Amelia agreed unexpectedly.

“Mia, no!”

“Adam, stop! I’m not a child anymore. I can make my own decisions and I need you to trust me. I can do it.”

The blond man eyed her pensively. “Alright… I trust you, you know that. But I don’t trust him.” He turned to the demon.

“What? What’s not to trust?” Crowley reacted indignantly, gaining a blaming look from Sam and Dean in the process. “Yes, I know, I haven’t always been the best companion. However, this time, I really want to help you so that you can help me. What goes around comes around, so to speak.”

Dean exhaled sharply. “Alright... What’s the plan?”
 

It was not the worst, but it definitely wasn’t the best plan either. Unfortunately, no one had a better one up their sleeves. Therefore, Crowley went shopping for Amelia since she didn’t have anything slutty enough to wear. From his mouth, it had sounded like an accusation and she had almost felt the urge to apologize for that. The urge to punch him had been bigger, though. Nevertheless, she had ignored his snide remarks about her wardrobe and eventually kicked him out of her motel room to get into the shower and changed into the most awful clothes she would ever wear in her life. If it helped saving the world – what the Hell. She would take it like a woman, hoping that she wouldn’t blow their only chance to find Pestilence. Somehow, it was even exciting to dress up and put on some make-up – she hadn’t done that in a very long time.

‘Doesn’t look too bad.’ The blonde woman thought to herself while studying her painted face and slightly curled open hair in the mirror. ‘This dress, though…’ Her expression changed to a somewhat disgusted one as her eyes moved over the rest of her body. Still, she made sure everything fit the way it should, before putting on some perfume as well as her black jacket, grabbing her small black handbag and leaving the room.

None of the boys were waiting outside yet, except for Gabriel. He was standing there with his hands in his jeans pockets and looking at the stars in the night sky. He seemed so calm and lost in thought that she nearly didn’t dare to move any further. Amelia was startled by the door that snapped shut behind her, now realizing that she had forgotten to grab the handle to close it quietly ’cause she had been staring at him.

The archangel turned around to face her and instantly, a wide grin spread across his face. She quickly looked away, trying to block out the tingling feeling in her stomach. He on the other hand checked her from head to toe, she could sense it. Not that he was hiding it, anyway.

On top of that, Gabriel whistled. “You look sexy!” He exclaimed overjoyed by the sight of her.

Mia blushed. She was embarrassed and flattered at the same time. No one had ever called her sexy before. Of course, the short red dress with thin straps and an incredibly low-cut neckline wouldn’t allow her to be called anything else.

“Thanks.” She replied discontented and dared to glance at him uncertainly after all.

Luckily, the door to Sam and Dean’s motel room opened and the three Winchester-brothers stepped outside.

“Sorry for making you wait-” Sammy apologized and wanted to add something, but he stopped when he spotted Amelia. He needed a moment to get adjusted to her new look. “Uh… we… uh… should get going.” He chuckled flustered.

Mia simply nodded, feeling more and more uncomfortable with every second that passed.

“Dean, do you have the keys?” Sam turned to his brother.

The oldest Winchester didn’t answer; he was staring at the blonde woman with a dumb grin on his face.

“Dean!”

“Huh? What?”

“The keys?”

“Uh, yeah, sure!” Dean said and showed him the mentioned object. “Let’s go!” He was highly motivated for this night out as he and Sammy began walking to the Impala. “Crowley does have taste, I’ll give him that.” Dean spoke acknowledging. His younger brother merely scoffed in disbelief.

Amelia finally closed the zipper of her jacket and started moving in her black high-heels, passing by Adam who was still standing in front of the door.

“Just… don’t.” She begged insistently. He shook his head in silence and the two followed his brothers to their car.

Gabriel tagged along grinning. Thank his dad he had decided to come with them! It was fun already.

“How do you feel?” Adam asked his cousin as they were standing in the parking lot of the nightclub where – according to Crowley – Logan went to every weekend.

“I feel like a prostitute.” Mia replied not at all amused.

“But a high-class prostitute!” Dean reckoned smirking and immediately earned reproachful looks. He cleared his throat. “Alright, are you ready?”

“Let’s get it over with.” The blonde woman sighed.

“That’s the spirit!” Crowley exclaimed thrilled. He was one step closer to getting what he so desperately wanted. Logan had been a thorn in his eye since the day he had become Lucifer’s follower.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sam inquired concerned.

“Yes, I am.” Amelia assured him. “I’ll go in, flirt with him, lure him out and you can trap him. Piece of cake, right?” She repeated what Crowley had told them a few hours earlier, mainly to convince herself that the plan wasn’t that stupid or dangerous.

“That’s right, doll! Nothing to worry about.” The demon spoke smirking confidently. “And now, off you go! Before Logan finds another woman to take home and our plan goes down the drain.” He added more impatiently.

She glared at him. Easy for him to say. Nevertheless, she took off her jacket and gave it to Sammy who nodded at her encouraging.

She smiled slightly at the boys. “Wish me luck!”

“Blow ’em away!” Dean grinned somewhat tense. He wanted to hide that he was truly worried about her.

“If anything goes wrong, call Cass. He’ll be there in a second and we will be too.” Adam said insistently.

The angel wasn’t there because it would draw too much attention to them. It was enough of a risk that Crowley and Gabriel were with them. However, since they were a high-ranked demon and angel, they were better shielded from other creatures.

“I know.” His cousin smiled. “See you in a few.” Then she turned around and walked as fast as the high-heels allowed towards the entrance of the nightclub. How she hoped that her flirting skills were enough and that everything would work out the way they planned.
 

As Mia was standing in line, the anxious feeling in her stomach grew stronger the closer she got to the entry and when the doorman eventually let her in, she was beyond nervous. Still, she took a deep breath and made her way to the bar. She didn’t get a drink though; instead, she searched for the VIP area and was quickly successful. It was located at the second floor of the club and she saw Logan right away. No doubt it was him, she remembered him from the picture Crowley had shown her.

‘Okay, here goes nothing.’ Amelia thought while striding onto the dance floor and making sure she was standing at a spot where Logan could see her. Afterwards, she began dancing as sexy as possible to the song that was currently playing to attract his attention and from time to time, she peeked at him to check if he was looking too.

It didn’t take long until he noticed the blonde woman in the red dress. She was exactly his type. He watched her interested and ultimately, their eyes met. He gave her a perky grin and she smiled at him flirtatiously, but continued dancing. In the middle of the third song, she glanced up again and to her surprise, he was gone. Damn, did he leave already?

“Looking for someone?” A male voice from behind startled Mia and she quickly turned around. It was Logan.

She kept her composure regardless. “No.” She lied innocently smirking.

“You sure? ’Cause I saw you looking at me.” The man replied confidently as he was coming even closer. There were now merely a few inches between them.

She instantly felt the urge to run, but of course, she dismissed this idea and her smile remained. “I was only admiring the architecture of the building.”

He grinned widely. “You could admire it much better up there. And I could show you a thing or two.”

She knew right away that he wasn’t talking about architecture. “I’m sure a man like you doesn’t have time to show a girl like me.” Oh God, what was she saying?

“I’ll gladly take that time for a special lady like you.” Logan was holding out his right hand and looking deep into her eyes. Wow, he was really trying hard.

Amelia smiled gladly and laid her left hand into his presented one. “Well, in this case, how can I refuse?”

Only moments later, they were sitting on the big couch in the VIP area and ordering drinks. Mia had never felt more uncomfortable in her whole life. Anyway, she reminded herself why she was doing this and that the others counted on her. So, she endured his shameless flirting which included remarks as well as devouring looks about and over her body. She even let him touch her knee and whisper lewd comments into her ear. After a few drinks – she had poured some of the liquid away when Logan hadn’t looked – he turned to her once again.

“You wanna get out of here?” The man asked lusty.

“Sure.” The blonde woman responded smiling even if she didn’t feel like it. The smell of alcohol from his mouth disgusted her and the air that blew at her ear when he talked into it sent shivers down her spine – not in a good way.

Logan didn’t seem to notice any of it. He took her right hand, rose from his seat and pulled her up. Without another word he walked with her away from the VIP area and to a door that said ‘Private’ on it. The doorman who was standing there keeping watch nodded and stepped aside to let the two pass.

Wait! This was not how it was supposed to go! The plan was to leave through the backdoor downstairs so that Sam and Dean could trap him. Panic rose in Amelia. Had he seen through her act?

“What’s wrong, baby?” Logan questioned her nonchalantly. God, she really hated those pet names.

“I thought we were leaving.” She replied uneasily.

“We are.” He grinned maliciously, opened a door to his left and quickly pushed the woman into the room behind it. He followed just as fast, turned on the light and instantly locked the door.

Mia studied the room briefly. There was a big bed, a table with two chairs and even a mini-bar. It was obvious what the room was for.

“I… I really wanna go now.” She said anxious and turned around to face Logan.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you.” He answered grinning.

“Cass!” Amelia wasted no more time and called for the angel. “CASS!” She screamed again louder.

Logan simply laughed. “Your friend can’t help you. This room is angel-proof.”

She looked at him with wide eyes. Fuck. She fell right into his trap.

“You stupid girl! You really thought you could fool me? From the moment you walked into the club I had my eyes on you. And when you watched me too, I knew what was going on.” She faced him frowning. How could he know?

“How could I know?” He grinned evilly. “Well, the spy Crowley has put amongst my employees is working for me. He’s sick of being pushed around by this arrogant wannabe-king, so he switched sides. He was the one who told me about Crowley’s plan. But I have to admit, you exceed my expectations.”

She couldn’t say anything. The only thing she wanted right now was to get out.

“I like you, anyway. Very much.” The man spoke tauntingly and approached her. “Come on baby, let’s have some fun!” He grabbed her arms and tried to kiss her, but she turned her head to the side. It didn’t keep him from kissing her on the cheek as well as her neck.

Mia stiffened. She was frightened. However, she hadn’t lost her will to fight and ability to think. Consequently, she grasped him by the shoulders, stepped on his right foot with her heel as firmly as she could and rammed her right knee between his legs. He groaned with pain and immediately let go of her to touch his hurt spot.

“You… bitch!” Logan cursed angrily.

The blonde woman paid no more attention to him. She rushed towards the door, unlocked it and left the room. Instead of running through the crowded club, she decided to take the emergency exit that was only a few feet away. She had noticed the sign when they had been walking along the short hallway to get to the bedroom. Fortunately, the door was unlocked, so she hurried down the stairs until she reached the ground as well as the final exit. She grabbed the door handle but stopped in her tracks.

“You fucking bitch! I’m going to kill you!” Logan shouted furiously from the top of the staircase.

Amelia glanced terrified in his direction. Nevertheless, she ultimately opened the door and ran outside. As she was turning to her right, she suddenly bumped into something or rather someone. Shocked, she let out a scream and tried to escape the hands that had gripped her upper arms.

“Mia, calm down! It’s me!”

She looked up and recognized that it was in fact her cousin.

“Adam…” She breathed out relieved. Afterwards, she hugged him tightly, shaking and almost crying from what had occurred a few moments earlier.

“What happened in there? Didn’t we tell you to call Cass if anything goes south?” Dean inquired reproachfully and concerned at the same time.

“I tried but the room had warding!” Mia clarified upset.

“Are you ready to die, bitch?” At this moment, Logan came through the door too, still enraged because of her attack on him. He was surprised to see the Winchesters and an archangel standing in front of him.

“Are you?” Crowley uttered unexpectedly from behind. When Logan turned around, the crossroad demon pulled a sack with a devil’s trap over his head and bashed it with an iron bar until the stable boy fell unconscious to the floor.

The others stared at him flabbergasted.

“What was that?” Dean asked angrily.

“I knocked him out so that we can take him with us? As we discussed?” Crowley didn’t understand why the Winchester wasn’t pleased about the fact that they got Logan where they wanted him.

“No! You said that Logan was stupid and that it would be easy for Mia to lure him out. And that she would be safe! Clearly, she was not!” Sam responded indignantly.

“Okay, he’s stupid but not that stupid!” The demon admitted.

“Crowley!” The oldest Winchester urged him.

The black-haired man exhaled sharply. “You know, it’s really hard to find good personnel these days. I was aware of the fact that my spy was actually Logan’s spy all along, so I fed him information about our plan. I told him that I would send a woman after Logan who would question him about Pestilence and that subsequently, I would be able to seek out the Horseman and take his ring. This way, I would be one step closer to becoming King of Hell. I didn’t mention that I was working with you, hence his surprised reaction when spotting you.”

“Are you serious?! You deliberately put Mia into danger!” Adam was furious, stepped up to the demon and punched him in the face. Crowley was a little taken aback, yet he didn’t feel any pain and wasn’t hurt by something like that.

The youngest Winchester was though. He instantly hissed and shook his right hand. It felt as if he had punched against a wall.

“Adam, are you okay?” His cousin asked worried.

“No! This plan was stupid as Hell!” He yelled while holding his hurt hand.

“Come on! The plan worked perfectly, didn’t it?” The demon reckoned undeterred and pointed at the body on the ground.

“Perfectly? I almost got killed!” Amelia reacted annoyed.

“Look, Missy. Maybe I didn’t consider every little detail, like an angel warding. But Logan wasn’t expecting this, was he?” Crowley grinned satisfied.

Adam merely scoffed and shook his head.

“Alright, let’s just get out of here.” Sam cut in frustrated.

“Yeah. I’ll go get the car.” Dean agreed and left.

“Does it hurt a lot?” Mia felt guilty about Adam’s hurt hand.

“It’s fine.” Her cousin lied. It hurt like Hell.

“You need something for that?” Gabriel surprisingly inquired. He hadn’t spoken or intervened the entire time.

“No.” Adam answered distrustfully.

“Yes. He does.” The blonde woman insisted; this is why the archangel briefly touched Adam’s right hand.

“Better?” Gabriel smirked. He knew it was.

“Yeah. Thanks.” The youngest Winchester expressed his gratitude not too friendly. The other man grinned pleased with his good deed.

Dean returned in the Impala shortly after that. Crowley put Logan in the backseat and sat down next to him. Sam got into the car as well and they drove off to a more isolated place to interrogate him.
 

Meanwhile, Gabriel teleported Amelia, Adam and himself back to the motel.

Mia was happy that she could finally take off that awful dress and the uncomfortable high-heels. Although she had already taken a shower earlier this evening, she got into it once again. She urgently needed to wash off tonight’s events that included Logan’s touches and kisses.

When Adam’s brothers came back with information on Pestilence, it was already late in the evening. So late that it was almost morning. But neither of them could sleep, therefore, they sat together in Amelia’s and Adam’s motel room and talked. Mainly about the evening and the Horseman. Due to being tortured by Sam and Dean, Logan had eventually given in and told them where his boss was currently staying. Of course, Crowley had killed him afterwards.

“Mia, how did you escape Logan, anyway?” Sammy asked curiously. She hadn’t mentioned anything about what had happened between them.

The blonde woman faced him uncertainly. “Well… when he… kissed me, I kicked him in his… manhood and ran.”

The three men stared at her dumbfounded.

“The balls. You kicked him in the balls.” Dean was the first to speak.

“Yeah. I kicked him in the balls.” She had to laugh. She couldn’t believe that she had really done something like that.

“Nice!” The oldest Winchester reacted impressed and gleefully.
 

They went to bed an hour later. Naturally, they were exhausted and slept until the afternoon. They didn’t care. They had another challenging day ahead of them and needed their energy. How challenging it would be they could only assume. The only thing they knew for sure was that they would do anything to defeat Pestilence once and for all.

…makes you stronger

Lafayette, Indiana
 

Since they had slept until the afternoon, they arrived in the town Pestilence currently stayed at in the evening. They had to quickly find and defeat him ’cause Logan had told them that their plan was to spread diseases all over the country to kill people or turn them into some kind of zombies who would kill each other eventually. Consequently, the humans would exterminate themselves in the end.

They knew by now where the Horseman was staying – at a hotel in town. Still, they had to figure out a way to take the ring from him.

“So we need a plan to get into his hotel room or to catch him somewhere outside of it.” Sam pondered as all six of them were sitting in a diner and eating their dinner.

“Yes and it has to be a good one. Pestilence is the most dangerous of all Horsemen.” Castiel stated.

“Well, maybe, if a certain archangel would help us, it would be easier for us to come up with one.” Adam reckoned and looked intensely at Gabriel who was devouring his second piece of pie.

The Trickster faced him smirking. “Let me think about it… No.” He replied mockingly, turned to his pastry again and finished it in merely a few seconds.

Adam scoffed in disbelief, Dean stared at him impressed, Sammy and Cass both sighed frustrated while shaking their heads and Amelia eyed him frowning.

Right in this moment, their waitress put another two pieces of pie, which they had ordered earlier, in front of Mia and Dean. They thanked her friendly and the oldest Winchester immediately began eating. The blonde woman also wanted to do that but before she could stick her fork into the delicious pastry, it was taken from her.

“Hey!” She exclaimed indignantly and glared at the culprit, Gabriel, who was sitting opposite from her. Of course, she tried to reclaim what was rightfully hers. However, he was holding it so that she wasn’t able to reach it and grinning widely, amused by her hopeless attempt to get it back.

“Can you just once stop being a total ass and at least try to behave?” She said angrily. It had been enough that he had mocked her nearly the whole car ride about her encounter with Logan. And now, he stole sweets from her? She wasn’t a defenseless, innocent child!

“I’m just watching your figure!” Gabriel answered laughing and not at all regretfully.

“You… You think I’m fat?” She was irritated. It was not because she thought she was fat. She knew she wasn’t. It was because of the fact that he assumed her body was his business or that he had the right to tell her what she could and couldn’t do. And that it sounded like he didn’t like the way she looked which somehow bothered her. Why? She had no clue.

“Oh shit…” Dean mumbled alarmed. Even he knew that this was something you should never ever say to a woman.

The archangel stared at her speechless. What should a man answer to a question like that?

Surprisingly, Mia simply stood up from the bench they were sitting on. “I’m going to the bathroom.” She declared somewhat prideful and left their table.

“What?” Gabriel asked as he received reproachful looks from everyone.

“You really are an ass!” Adam confirmed annoyed.

“So what?” The archangel scoffed and started eating the piece of pie he had taken from Mia. Although after what he had done, she would definitely be mad at him, he didn’t care. He had gotten what he wanted – she didn’t ignore him anymore. Okay, maybe he did care, at least a little bit. He wanted to have fun and arguing with her was. He needed her to talk to him – she was the only one who really did – or he would die of boredom. Except he couldn’t die that easily. Anyway…

Shortly after, Mia returned to their table. Since everyone had finished eating (and she didn’t want another piece of pie), they got the bill and left the diner. Then, they headed to a bar due to the fact that it was around 8 pm and they had decided that it was best if they took this night off and think about Pestilence again tomorrow.

Cass wanted to go and spy on the Horseman, perhaps he would leave his hotel room and he could follow him around.

“Be careful, okay?” Sam was worried about his friend. If demons caught him, God knew what they would do to him.

“I will.” The angel nodded and gave him a small smile.

“See you tomorrow!” Dean uttered confidently, yet he was concerned as well.

“Bye Cass!” Mia and Adam spoke simultaneously and smiling.

“I’ll see you soon.” Castiel said his goodbye and disappeared.

Admittedly, Sammy preferred to search for Pestilence too and because of what had happened last night, Amelia didn’t have much desire to go out. Nevertheless, they tagged along.

Therefore, they walked into the first bar they found and sat down at a table. They ordered drinks and talked about something other than the Horsemen or the Apocalypse.

“A big talking teddy bear? Seriously?” Mia laughed while picturing the described situation in her mind.

“Yeah, I’m not kidding!” Dean explained enthusiastically. “We couldn’t believe it either. He was sitting on the bed and complaining about life. This was definitely one of the weirdest things we’ve ever seen.”

“I can imagine!”

“I wish I would’ve come up with that!” Gabriel grinned. That was exactly his type of humor.

“Be careful what you wish for.” Sam reckoned smirking and a bit gloating. “Dean had to learn that the hard way.”

“Hey, it was a good sandwich.” His older brother shrugged and took a sip of his beer.

“So how did you solve the case?” Adam inquired curiously.

“The guy who threw the magical coin into the wishing well finally took it out and all wishes were reversed.” Sammy clarified.

“What did he wish for?”

“A girlfriend.” Dean responded.

“Wow! He must have been really desperate.”

“He kinda was.” Sam confirmed thoughtfully. “Poor guy.”

“Don’t pity him! He caused us and the people in his town a whole lotta trouble.” The oldest Winchester spoke displeased.

“He didn’t know that the coin was magical and the wishes would go south.”

“Yeah, whatever! If his girlfriend hadn’t tried to kill us, we would’ve had to force him to remove the coin.” Dean was certain about that. “The things you do for love…” He added smirking, tilted his head briefly to the right and took another sip of his beer.

“Sounds like he just wanted to be loved.” Mia remarked sympathetically.

“Or maybe he was an egoistic jerk who only thought about himself and his happiness.” Gabriel reacted tauntingly and received a glare from her – the twelfth on that day. But who was counting?

“Look who’s talking.” The blonde woman countered and regretted it immediately even though she was not wrong. She wasn’t the kind of person to be mean to someone or to speak without thinking first. However, she was slightly mad at him for constantly teasing her and taking her pie. He somehow made the words fly out of her mouth and she couldn’t do anything about it.

The archangel didn’t seem to be offended by her words though. He merely gazed at her with this stupid cute grin on his face. She quickly looked away. She couldn’t stand that he gave her the impression that nothing she said mattered. That she could say anything to him but he wasn’t hurt or moved by it. That he could say anything and instantly make her feel sad or angry or both at the same time. That she would reveal details about her past because he teased her but he wouldn’t talk about his. It wasn’t fair.

“Alright, let’s get another round!” Dean declared now to lighten the mood and raised his right hand to signal the waiter who was just passing by their table that they wanted to order again. They received their shots of vodka not long after that. Everyone drank and Sam and Dean continued to tell stories about their past cases.

A few minutes into their narration, Amelia noticed that Adam, who was sitting next to her, didn’t pay much attention to his brothers anymore but rather to a woman at the bar. He was repeatedly looking and flirtatiously grinning at her and she happily returned the gesture every time.

“Adam, would you please just go already?” Mia unexpectedly blurted out.

“What?” Her cousin laughed.

“The girl at the bar? You are flirting with her so go over to her.”

“Okay, okay! You don’t have to be so pushy.” Adam didn’t really fight his cousin; he simply grinned and stood up from his chair. “Don’t wait up for me.” His grin grew even wider and he quickly left their table. Sam and Dean gazed after him puzzled.

Adam was a bit of a ladies’ man; however, he was always respectful and kind around women and could accept a ‘No’ – in case he ever got one.

“You never do that for me.” Dean turned to Sam.

“What?”

“You never tell me to go over to a woman.”

“Are you serious? Dean, you chase after every woman you like and never ask me about my opinion! Besides, you would never listen to me, anyway!” Sammy complained.

“Good point.” His older brother had to admit. “But you could be a bit more supportive.”

Sam scoffed and shook his head in disbelief.

“I wouldn’t call it supportive.” Mia rejoined the conversation. “I just shortened the time from when Adam started flirting until he walked up to the woman he likes. But usually, I don’t get involved. He is a grown-up after all.” She shot a glance at her cousin who was currently having an animated conversation with the mentioned woman.

“What about you?” Gabriel asked suddenly. She faced him confused. “Do you flirt with men?” He grinned curiously.

At this point she glared at him again. Number thirteen. Still not counting.

“Why would I tell you?” The blonde woman inquired somewhat annoyed.

“You can tell me anything, sugar.” The archangel replied teasingly.

“I don’t think so.”

“Come on, Gabe! Cut it out!” Sam rebuked him.

“Gabe? Does that mean we’re friends now?” The Trickster grinned.

“It’s only a nickname. Don’t flatter yourself.” Dean uttered dismissively.

“Are you gonna call me Gabe, too?” Gabriel re-focused his attention to Amelia.

“No.” She rejected him displeased.

“Hm.” He muttered smirking while crossing his arms before his chest and leaning back on his chair.

Mia on the other hand excused herself once again to go to the bathroom. She needed space and time to compose herself. Why did she let him get to her that easily?
 

As she was walking out of the ladies’ room, she stopped by the bar and considered not going back to their table. No, that was stupid! Why would she not go back because of him? She could ignore him if necessary, it had worked earlier. …Kinda.

“Hi!” All of a sudden, a young man appeared in front of her, immediately snapping her out of her thoughts.

“…Hi!” It took her a few seconds to realize he was there and to respond.

“I’ve been watching you for a while… Wait, that sounded creepy! I’m sorry!” The brown-haired man laughed nervously, his brown eyes looked at her apologetically. “Let me try that again. Hi, I’m Daniel.” He spoke smiling and held out his right hand.

She hesitated for a moment; nevertheless, she shook his hand in the end. “I’m Mia.” She smiled.

“Mia, do you wanna have a drink with me?” Daniel asked friendly.

“Um, I… I should get back to my friends.” She answered hesitantly.

“Maybe they’re able to spare you for just a bit?” He eyed her charmingly. “For one drink?”

Amelia shot a glance in the direction of the table where Sam, Dean and Gabriel talked excitedly.

“I guess one drink is fine.” She finally agreed and the young man smiled happily.

Consequently, they went to the bar, sat down on the bar stools and ordered drinks.

To Mia’s surprise, talking to Daniel was extremely pleasant and she felt comfortable. She couldn’t remember the last time that was the case. He was charming, considerate and he had a good sense of humor. He listened to her and didn’t tease her about anything she said or had done in her life. So, they ordered a second drink.

This didn’t go unnoticed.

“I guess that answers your question. She does flirt.” Dean grinned. “And it seems she’s quite good at it too.”

“Who cares?” Gabriel shrugged and downed the rest of his Scotch.

He did. Her flirting with another guy, it bothered him. Very much. What was that called again? Jealousy? No, that wasn’t it. Perhaps he was irritated that she could talk to a stranger so lightheartedly and laugh at his jokes. But jealous? No, surely not! Why would he mind that she spoke to him only angrily or reproachfully and not smile at him for just an instant? He didn’t need her. He didn’t need anybody. He was the Trickster and an archangel for his dad’s sake! He could do whatever and whoever he wanted.

“So, do you live around here?” Daniel inquired interested.

“No, I recently moved to Kansas. I’m only staying here for a couple of days.”

“Why’s that?”

“Um… Family business.”

He wanted to ask more when suddenly a woman screamed with horror. They turned to the side and saw that a young woman had collapsed among the crowd of people in the bar. She was lying on the floor shaking and blood was coming out of her nose. Instantly, a few people gathered around to check on her and to call an ambulance.

Mia jumped down from the bar stool but held onto the object to have some kind of support as she was shocked by what she was witnessing. Merely a few seconds later Sam, Dean and Gabriel were running up to her. Sammy softly grabbed her and said something she couldn’t quite understand. There was too much noise. Afterwards, he led her outside to their car followed by the other two men. They didn’t drive off though.

“That looked bad.” Sam uttered calmly, still holding Amelia in his arms.

“Yeah, it did.” Dean spoke seriously.

“Could it be…” His younger brother stopped as a few people passed by them and waited until they were far enough away. “Pestilence?” He almost whispered that name.

“Sure looks like it.”

Sammy only nodded uneasily.

“So what are we gonna do now?” Amelia inquired while freeing herself from Sam’s hug.

The two brothers pondered for a moment.

“We see what we can find out.” Dean decided and showed them his fake badge to make clear what he meant.

“Alright.” Sam agreed confidently.

“What about Adam?” Mia was worried.

“I don’t think he was in the bar anymore. Otherwise he would’ve come with us.” The oldest Winchester reckoned.

“I’ll text him.” The blonde woman pulled out her cell phone and typed her message.

‘Adam, where are you?’

It didn’t take long until she received an answer.

‘At Holly’s. Don’t wait up for me ;-)’

“He’s fine.” She concluded relieved.

“Good.” Dean responded shortly.

The paramedics arrived a few minutes later. The two brothers waited until they came out with the patient before questioning them about her medical condition.

Amelia and Gabriel stayed by the car. He stared at her smiling but she ignored him. Well, she tried.

“What?” She asked more harshly than she had intended, facing him after all.

Like always, the archangel didn’t seem to mind as he shrugged. “Nothing.” His grin remained.

She merely sighed. There was this feeling in her stomach again, yet she disregarded this as well.

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean were speaking to the patient’s friends. They claimed there had been nothing out of the ordinary going on this night or the days prior, except that Julie – the patient – had been making out with a boy who she had met on said evening. That hadn’t been like her; on the other hand, she had just broken up with her boyfriend so she probably had wanted to distract herself from the pain this had caused her.

“Not really enlightening.” Dean wasn’t pleased that they hadn’t learned anything useful while he and Sam were walking back to the Impala.

“I wouldn’t say that.” His brother disagreed pensively.

“What do you mean?” The oldest Winchester eyed Sammy doubtfully as they eventually reached their car.

“The paramedic said that there has been a similar incident a few days ago. A young man broke down, he was shaking and blood was coming out of his nose. They didn’t know what kind of disease it was and he died one day after being admitted to the hospital. So it can’t be a coincidence that the same thing happened tonight. It has to be Pestilence!”

“You got a point! But we still don’t know for sure.”

“Dean, are you serious?! What else could it be?!” Sam was indignant.

“Alright, alright! I’m just freaked out, okay? We know where this SOB is but we can’t get to him! He’s probably playing with those people around here and with us! And I bet he’s enjoying the fact that we can’t do anything about it!” Dean yelled upset.

His brother was speechless for a moment ’cause he was searching for the right words.

Instead, Mia jumped in. “You can do something! We can do something! We can figure out a plan to defeat him. And we will! Maybe we can’t save everyone but we can save many.”

Dean looked at her rather unconvinced and next glanced at Sam who was smirking at her appreciatively.

Consequently, he had to smile too. “Then what are we still doing here? Let’s go save the world!” He swiftly approached the driver’s door of his Impala and waited for the others to get into the car.

Sam and Gabriel were already seated when he addressed Amelia. “Hey…”

She faced him quizzically.

“Thanks!” He grinned softly and she returned the smile.

“You’re welcome!”
 

They worked on their plan together with Castiel for hours. Unfortunately, the angel hadn’t figured out much about Pestilence. Nevertheless, he had found the hotel the Horseman was staying at and he was sure it was the right one. In addition to that, he had researched about Pestilence victims. The ones from the cinema hall and diner had died right away when they had gotten infected in mentioned places. Others, like the young man from a few days ago, were showing symptoms and dying some time later after the infection.

Anyway, at some point they went to bed because naturally, they needed to sleep.

Amelia was woken up at around 5 a.m. by banging on her door. Startled, she sat up and stared at the entrance.

“Mia…” She heard her name through the door and recognized her cousin’s voice. He repeated her name several times and the knocking didn’t stop either. She immediately jumped out of bed and quickly walked towards the door with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. He sounded… she couldn’t describe it but something was not right. He had his own room so why would he come to hers unless there was something going on. As soon as she opened the door she knew that for sure. The young man was pale, sweating and breathing heavily.

“Adam, what’s wrong?”

“She… She’s dead.” He spoke desperately and showed her his hands. His palms were covered in blood.

She looked at them shocked, needing a moment to understand that this was actually real.

“I didn’t kill her, I swear!” He stated miserably.

Mia turned her attention back to his face. Currently, it was showing nothing but despair which caused her ability to think to come back. Therefore, she pulled him into her room and closed the door behind them.

“Go wash your hands. I’ll call Sam and Dean. Everything’s gonna be okay.” She said softly while pushing him slightly towards the bathroom. Adam did as he was told and she called Sam on his cell phone. Luckily, he picked up almost instantly and not a minute later, the two older Winchester-brothers were standing in Mia’s motel room.

“Okay, what the Hell is going on?” Dean wanted to know tensely.

Adam, who was sitting on the bed next to his cousin, eyed the other two men anxiously. “The girl I went home with last night… I… I woke up and when I was facing her, she was lying there on the bed, shaking like crazy and bleeding from her nose. I tried to help her and called an ambulance but she died shortly after they arrived. Then I bailed ’cause they asked questions and even wanted to call the police. I was afraid they would suspect me to have killed her! Shit, maybe I shouldn’t have left! Maybe they are searching for me now!” He almost screamed the last few sentences, panicked by what had occurred.

“It’s okay. We know you didn’t kill her.” Sam appeased his younger brother calmly.

“Yeah. It was Pestilence.” Dean agreed. “We need to do something. Fast.”

“We should confront Pestilence before it gets any worse.” Sammy said confidently.

Mia nodded nervously. She knew they had to go after the Horseman. Nevertheless, it was dangerous and of course, she was scared and worried. Not for herself but for Sam and Dean.

Suddenly, Adam groaned with pain and was hugging his belly with both of his arms.

“Adam!” Amelia was alarmed, so were his brothers.

“What’s wrong with him?” The oldest Winchester wanted to know.

Adam only moaned louder and got on his knees on the floor. However, he immediately fell to his left side and then, he started shaking. His cousin got on her knees as well and tried to soothe him.

“Fuck!” Dean exclaimed as he also kneeled on the ground and noticed the blood running out of Adam’s nose.

“Pestilence…” Sammy assumed taken aback although he didn’t want to believe it.

“No…” Mia breathed out distressed. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. “No!” She already cried while still holding her cousin, afraid of what might happened if she let go of him.

“CASS!” Dean yelled loudly and the angel showed right away. He was accompanied by Gabriel who had heard the screaming and was curious what it was all about. They had no chance to ask and they didn’t need to.

“Heal him! Now!” The oldest Winchester commanded harshly yet he didn’t care.

Cass complied and kneeled beside Adam. Dean pulled Amelia to her feet so that he could do his work unimpeded. The angel laid his hands on the young man and they glowed. Although the shaking and bleeding stopped, he had no good news.

“I can’t heal him.” He stated sadly.

“What?” Mia sobbed.

“What do you mean you can’t heal him?” Dean was angry. Of course, it was not because of Cass.

“I was able to diminish the symptoms but the illness itself… it remains.”

“But that would mean he…” Sam couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Yes. He’s going to die.” The angel confirmed gloomily.

“No! No, you have to help him! You have to help him!” Amelia shouted frantically, grabbing his trench coat in the process. “Please, you have to help him!” She begged crying.

“I’m sorry.” Castiel apologized, not able to look her in the eyes.

She cried even more which is why Sammy pulled her away from his friend and into a hug.

“Let’s put him on the bed.” Dean spoke quite composedly and placed his arms under Adam’s shoulders. Cass took his feet and both laid the youngest Winchester carefully on the bed.

“How long?”

“I don’t know. From what I’ve learned, maybe a few hours, a day at the longest. It depends on when he got infected and how strong his body is. I was able to buy him some time but it will not last long.”

“How did he get infected anyway?” Sam inquired.

“No idea. He was with us the entire time. How could he have gotten in contact with Pestilence?” His older brother was at a bit of a loss.

“Wait. He was with this girl, Holly, last night.”

“So?”

“So maybe, she gave him whatever decease she had. I’m sure they kissed and did… well, you know what. That must be how it’s passed on. And the girl from the club. Her friends said she has made out with a guy.”

“Yeah, sure! But that doesn’t help us saving Adam! Everyone who was infected by Pestilence died! Everyone! So we’re screwed!” Dean was furious. Why did they always have to lose family? Especially when they had just found a new one.

“Then we go and defeat Pestilence! It’s the least we can do for Adam!” Sam uttered impatiently.

“You better or you will get into trouble with me!” Amelia surprisingly declared and looked at them resolutely.

“Alright.” Dean spoke seriously. “Let’s go crush this SOB once and for all!”

“I’ll come with you.” Castiel wouldn’t let his friends go alone.

The two Winchester-brothers nodded in agreement.

“Just… come back, okay?” Mia was close to crying again, yet she fought it.

“We will!” Sammy smiled slightly and gave her another hug.

His older brother merely nodded for a second time and before anyone could say or do anything more, he rushed out of the room. He couldn’t bear being there for another second.

The others gazed after him concerned.

“Gabe, you stay here with Mia, okay? Keep an eye on her and Adam.” Sam said friendly.

“Since I don’t have anything better to do… Why not.” The Trickster shrugged with his hands in his jeans pockets, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

The Winchester smiled at him thankfully and finally, he and Cass left as well.

Amelia sat down next to Adam on the bed. His breathing was shallow and he was sweating. She placed the back of her right hand on his forehead to check his temperature. He was burning up. She quickly stood up and headed to the bathroom.

Gabriel was watching her every move. Somehow, he was impressed by how caring a human could be. He had seen it with Sam and Dean and now those two. Sure, Adam was a tad overprotective of his cousin but that was only because he loved her, the archangel assumed. Although he had been living on Earth for a very long time, he didn’t know much about human love, not to say love in general. Yes, he loved his father and brothers. Still, that was a different kind of affection.

Mia returned with a wet towel in her hands and without looking at the man who was standing there observing her. She sat on the bed once more and placed the towel on Adam’s forehead to cool him down. It broke her heart to see him so weak and suffering. She was already crying again, nevertheless, she held back the sobs. She felt so damn helpless.

Gabriel noticed her misery regardless. He had never been able to deal with situations like this well. Okay, he had never had to deal with situations like this. And with someone like her. He didn’t know what to say or do. The one thing he knew at the moment was that he didn’t like seeing her sad.

“I guess it won’t make you feel better if I say that he’s going to a better place?” Alright, maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to say considering the circumstances.

“Please…” She whispered because her crying made it impossible to speak in her normal voice.

Shut up? Leave me alone? He thought of several sentences that could come after that.

“Heal him.”

He merely stared at her and it took a few seconds until he answered regretfully. “I can’t.”

The blonde woman unexpectedly rose up from the bed and faced him angrily.

“You are one of the most powerful beings in the universe! You can create fake worlds and people and make them do whatever you want! You can teleport wherever you wanna go anytime you want and you can heal people! I’ve seen it! So heal him!” She yelled, not realizing that she was approaching and eventually standing right in front of him.

Gabriel eyed her in a baffled way. Then, she surprised him yet again. She pressed herself against his chest while holding fast onto his shirt and burying her face in it. He froze as he felt her trembling as a result of her crying and heard the sobs that left her mouth. Before he could fully comprehend what was going on, his body was already reacting. His arms wrapped around her upper body and held her tightly towards his. Consequently, his heart began beating faster and a weird feeling spread in his stomach. Despite the bad situation they were in, he was happy and relished this moment. He closed his eyes, inclined his head a bit and immediately, the smell of roses reached his nostrils. He even thought about stroking her hair – he was sure it was extremely soft – but he didn’t wanna overwhelm or startle her. So he just remained in this position.
 

Meanwhile…
 

“Dean, you really think that’s a good idea?” Sam asked doubtfully.

“No but we don’t have a choice. He knows we’re coming for him, anyway.”

“He will make you suffer, that is certain.” Castiel uttered seriously.

“Great. Thanks for the build-up.” Dean turned to his friend sarcastically.

“You’re welcome.” The angel replied undeterred. He didn’t quite understand the human language sometimes, especially sarcasm.

The oldest Winchester simply shook his head and re-focused his attention to the trunk of his Impala.

“Alright. We do it the old-fashioned way.” He declared as he loaded the shotgun he had taken out. “We storm the hotel and kill everything demonic that comes our way. And don’t get killed ourselves.”

Sammy nodded in agreement while tightly grasping his demon-killing knife, feeling uneasy and determined at the same time.

Dean on the other hand put some more shotgun shells into his jacket pockets and eventually closed the trunk of his car.

“Let’s do this!” He was all set to confront Pestilence and get his ring.

To their surprise, the front entrance of the hotel wasn’t guarded by anyone and when they entered the building, there was not a single person on the first floor. Of course, they were aware that it was probably a trap. However, they headed for the second floor and soon found people lying on the ground.

Sam instantly checked the pulse of a chambermaid. “She’s dead.”

They continued walking through the hotel despite passing by other dead people, until they finally reached the top floor where Pestilence had his room.

Suddenly, the Winchester-brothers started coughing and feeling dizzy. They staggered across the hallway, trying to maintain control over their bodies. But that was easier said than done. They had already fallen victim to the Horseman’s powers. Their condition worsened the closer they got to his room and as soon as they arrived at the door, they almost couldn’t stand on their feet anymore. Although Castiel supported his friends, they were about to faint and even he felt Pestilence’s influence.

The door now unexpectedly opened and two bellboys were standing in front of them.

“Sam and Dean Winchester! Welcome!” A happy voice from inside the room greeted them.

The bellboys stepped aside and before the Winchesters could reply anything, they fainted and fell onto the ground after all. Cass was forced on his knees as well, he had to cough heavily and his vision began to blur. He was an angel; still, he was affected by the Horseman’s powers.

“Get rid of him. I need some alone time with the boys.” Pestilence spoke satisfied and the bellboys complied. They grabbed Castiel and dragged him away.

Then the Horseman used his powers to pull Sam and Dean a bit further into the room. They were barely awake and groaning with pain.

“You boys look sick. Are you not feeling well?” Pestilence reckoned somewhat cheerfully. “Here, have some water.” He took a bottle of said liquid and poured some of it over the Winchester’s heads. “That’s better, isn’t it?” He mocked them as they coughed and moaned. “No? Don’t worry. It will get so much worse.” He smiled evilly.

Sam tried to grab the knife he had dropped earlier but the Horseman noticed his attempt and stepped on his hand. Once more the Winchester groaned with pain.

“Humans are so fragile and impure. Not like disease.” Pestilence explained contented. “I know it’s got a bad reputation. It’s described as filthy and… chaotic. But that’s only because of you humans. I mean… look at you right now.” He laughed. “You don’t understand it like I do. Disease itself is pure and unswerving. It spreads around and fulfills its purpose. It can’t be exterminated – unlike you humans. You will die eventually but disease prevails. It comes back no matter how hard you try to wipe it out. In the end, it always wins. Always.”
 

Gabriel didn’t know how much time had passed – could’ve been hours or merely a minute. Mia was still wrapped up in his arms; yet, the sobs had stopped.

All of a sudden, she pushed herself away from him. The look in her eyes was a confused and sad one.

“I…” She said hesitantly. “I need some air.” She rushed outside, slamming the door shut behind her and leaning against the wooden entrance. Shit, what had she been doing? Leaning onto Gabriel and crying in his arms like a little child, like he was her friend or even her… Amelia shook her head to get rid of those inappropriate thoughts. She scolded herself in her mind. How could she be thinking about something like that when Adam was dying? That was the only reason she had let Gabriel get so close. She had needed someone to console her and he had been there. That was it. Her eyes were watering up once again.

“Hi there, doll. Why so sad?” Crowley’s voice startled her.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she eyed him distrustfully. He simply stared at her expectantly. “Why do you care?” She asked after all.

“Uncle Crowley always cares.” The demon grinned despite her obvious misery.

She focused her attention on something other than him. She didn’t wanna talk right now, especially not to him. As fast as he had shown up, he disappeared. Good. She figured he had understood. But only seconds later, he was back.

“I see.” Crowley spoke more seriously. “Pestilence got him.”

Mia bit her lower lip to prevent herself from sobbing. A few tears were rolling down her cheeks anyway.

“You know, I could help him.”

She looked at him surprised and hopefully at the same time. “Are you serious?”

“Of course.” The black-haired man replied smirking.

“Don’t believe anything he says.” Gabriel unexpectedly interfered in their conversation.

Gosh, she hated when they did that!

“My, my! Why so serious, Gabriel?” Crowley’s grin remained.

The archangel ignored the demon and kept his gaze on the blonde woman.

“And why should I trust you?” She inquired slightly angrily.

“You don’t have to.” The Trickster shrugged. “But you definitely can’t trust a demon.”

“I think I can make that decision for myself.”

“And what about Sam and Dean? You trust them, right?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then maybe, when Pestilence is defeated, Adam will be cured.”

“But you don’t know that for sure.”

Gabriel didn’t response.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Amelia reckoned disappointed.

“Please, you don’t have to fight over uncle Crowley. There’s enough for everyone.” The demon now cut in self-assured.

Mia finally turned to him. “So how can you help Adam?”

“Don’t do that, honey. Help from a crossroad demon never comes without a price.” The archangel warned her.

“I don’t care, okay? I just want Adam to live! So stop telling me what I can or can’t do! I don’t need your help!” She rebuked him insistently and quite unfriendly.

“Fine.” Gabriel uttered sulky. “Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” Then he vanished.

She regretted her behavior yet again. However, she needed to do what’s best for Adam.

“Well, that settles that.” Crowley said undeterred. “Now, where were we?”
 

Was that the end? No! Dean refused to believe that, even though it didn’t look good for the two brothers. They couldn’t move and Cass was gone.

Pestilence really was a tough son of a bitch. He smirked, completely certain of his victory over them.

Out of the blue, Gabriel appeared in the hotel room.

“Hi guys!” He greeted, yet not as cheerily as usual.

The three other men stared at him surprised.

“Gabriel, what are you doing here?” The Trickster asked in a deep voice, imitating and mocking Dean who couldn’t talk at the moment. “Saving your asses. Again.” He answered in his own voice while eyeing the two Winchesters reproachfully.

Pestilence wasn’t exactly intimidated by his appearance. “An archangel. To what do I owe this pleasure?” He inquired curiously.

“Nothing special.” Gabriel shrugged with his hands in his jeans pockets. “I was just bored so I thought I’d stop by and watch you all do your thing. But don’t worry. I won’t get in your way. I have no interest in fighting.”

“That’s a real shame! Such great power but no intention of using it? You should reconsider your decision. Because now that you’re here, I can’t let you get away.” The Horseman stated confidently.

Without further hesitation, he approached the other man with the goal to also infect him with the worst disease he could think of. As soon as Pestilence reached Gabriel, he grabbed him by his shoulders. The Trickster didn’t even move. Therefore, the Horseman grinned, feeling victorious again and next, he sneezed right in Gabriel’s face. The green mucus was spread all over it and the archangel would lie if he claimed that it wasn’t disgusting. Nevertheless, he stayed put.

“Have fun fighting this.” Pestilence spoke spitefully as he kept on grasping Gabriel’s shoulders.

After that, the archangel started feeling sick. His expression changed from a calm one to a somewhat hurt one. He instantly had to cough heavily; this is why he dropped his head. The other man didn’t let go of him regardless.

“Archangels. You always think you are invincible. But even someone like Lucifer can’t carry out the Apocalypse on his own. He needs us Horsemen to do the dirty work.” Pestilence tapped Gabriel briefly on the left shoulder. “However, since I’m here on Earth anyway, there’s no harm in doing what I do best. Spread disease and make humans suffer. Don’t you agree?”

He was distracted by Castiel who stumbled into the room coughing. He had managed to kill the demons that had taken him away. Despite that, he was still influenced by Pestilence’s powers so he was forced on his knees.

“The family that stays together dies together. Isn’t that the saying?” The Horseman reflected mockingly. “You can all die here and now. Just let it happen and it will all be over soon.”

“You’re right.” Gabriel surprisingly reacted, lifting his head in the process.

Pestilence faced him shocked. The archangel wasn’t sick at all. If anything, he smirked gleefully.

“It’s over.”

Subsequently, he grabbed the Horseman and pushed him towards Cass.

The angel quickly picked up the demon killing knife, stood up, took Pestilence’s right hand and pressed it on the desk under the television. He cut off two of the Horseman’s fingers; the ring they were after was on one of them.

“It doesn’t matter... You can’t defeat him.” Pestilence claimed weakly while holding his bleeding hand. And in a blink of an eye, he was gone.

“Good job, bro!” Gabriel praised his brother grinning.

“Thank you, Gabriel. For your help.” Cass expressed his gratitude kindly.

The Trickster only wiggled his eyebrows and afterwards, his body began to blur until he eventually disappeared.

“It was… just an illusion?” Sam said hesitantly. He and Dean were finally able to stand up.

“Well, he is the Trickster.” Dean reckoned not really surprised.

“At least we got the ring.” Castiel declared relieved.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

As they approached the Impala, they saw a very familiar person standing next to it.

“Gabe?” Sammy was puzzled.

“Why are you still here? And why were you here at all?” Dean questioned the archangel disgruntled.

“I figured it wouldn’t hurt to check on you guys. It was no fun back there at the motel.” Gabriel explained. “Especially with Crowley showing up-”

“Crowley was there?” Sam interrupted alarmed. He knew the demon wouldn’t appear without a good reason.

“Why did he come?” The oldest Winchester asked seriously.

“No idea. But he noticed that Adam is in bad shape so he offered to help.” The Trickster clarified nonchalantly.

“What?! You’re telling us just now?”

“What about Mia?” Sammy was worried.

“I didn’t want her to do anything stupid and tried to convince her she shouldn’t trust a demon but she wouldn’t listen.” Gabriel shrugged.

“So you left her alone?! With Crowley?!” Dean was furious. “Dammit Gabe!” He exclaimed and opened the driver’s door. All of them quickly got into the car and drove back to the motel.

When they arrived there, Sam, Dean and Castiel stormed into Amelia’s room. They were baffled to see Adam as well as Mia sitting on the bed. The young man was seemingly fine, except he was a bit pale.

“Did you make a deal with Crowley?!” Dean walked swiftly towards the blonde woman who immediately rose from the bed.

“No!” She replied upset.

“Don’t lie to me! This is serious!”

“I’m not lying! Yes, he offered it but I refused. I’d never make a deal with a demon!”

“Then why is Adam not dead?”

“Because you defeated Pestilence.” She assumed more calmly.

The oldest Winchester stared at her sternly for another moment. Ultimately, his expression softened. “I guess you’re right. I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“It’s okay!” Amelia smiled.

“Oh, I’m fine, by the way! Thanks for asking.” Adam now intervened sarcastically.

“Adam, we are so sorry! Are you really okay?” Sam uttered concerned.

“I’m good! Really.” His younger brother assured them smiling.

“Yeah, well, you look like shit.” Dean remarked smirking.

Sammy and Mia had to chuckle. Thank God everything had turned out all right!
 

Even so, the blonde woman hadn’t quite told the truth about her encounter with Crowley…
 

Some time earlier…
 

“Well, that settles that.” Crowley said undeterred. “Now, where were we?”

“How can you cure Adam?” Mia repeated her question.

“I can’t.” He admitted. “But there is someone who can and coincidentally, I owe her a favor.”

“If this someone is like Logan, I’m not interested.”

“I assure you, doll, she’s not.”

“How can I be sure you’re not fooling me? Like you did before.”

“If you prefer making a deal with me instead, be my guest. I won’t refuse.”

Amelia pondered for an instant. She remembered what Sam and Dean had told her about crossroad demons like Crowley. That they’d grant you any wish as long as you were willing to trade your soul. However, given that he claimed there was another way, she turned down his offer.

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, I can’t blame you.” The demon grinned. “So, are you approving of my proposal to call Morba?”

“Morba?”

“She’s the only one who can help your cousin.” He reckoned. “And no, she’s not a demon.” He promptly answered her unspoken but obvious question.

“Okay.”

That one word was enough. Crowley smirked satisfied and they went back inside the motel room. Adam was still unconscious and it seemed that his condition had worsened.

His cousin quickly sat down next to him and took his right hand into her hands. She was about to cry again.

The black-haired man merely looked at them irritated. Human emotions. Even when he had been a human himself he had wished he hadn’t had possessed something useless like that. Anyway, he cleared his throat to gain Mia’s attention.

“I will call her now. Let me do the talking or else I can’t guarantee anything. Understood?”

The blonde woman simply nodded.

“Wait.” She remembered what he had told her earlier.

“What?”

“You said you owe her. Are you sure she will help us?”

“She will. Trust me.” He spoke confidently.

Although she didn’t trust him, she nodded again. What other choice did she have?

Consequently, he started calling. “Dear sweet beautiful Morba! This is Crowley, king of the crossroads. Would you be so kind to grace us with your presence?”

Amelia looked around the room expectantly. Nothing happened. She faced the demon doubtfully.

“Just wait. She will show.” He claimed, yet not as confidently as before.

After almost a minute, still nothing. He laughed uneasily.

“Come on, Morba! I know you heard me!” He yelled impatiently.

Only seconds later, a black cloud materialized in the middle of the room and a tall woman with long black hair who was wearing a long black dress stepped out of it.

“Hello Crowley.” She greeted far from delighted.

“Morba, you look great! Gotten any new diseases lately?” Crowley complimented her overjoyed.

“Why did you call me here?” Morba wanted to know unfriendly.

“Straight to the point, like always.” The demon smirked, she only glared at him. “All right.” He gave in. “I owe you a favor. Remember the Spanish flu?”

“How could I forget.” The woman spoke displeased. “I helped you clear up the mess some of your demons had caused.”

“It was an accident!”

“You call killing millions of people an accident?” She scoffed.

Mia stared at them flabbergasted. One of the worst diseases in human history had been caused by demons? Somehow, she wasn’t really surprised.

“Fine, I admit, those were not my best years. But let’s not fight over an old matter, shall we?” Crowley gazed at the black-haired woman emphatically.

“Fair enough.” She consented. “Now, what can I do for you?”

“Oh, it’s rather what uncle Crowley can do for you. Like I said, I owe you.” The man grinned proudly. “The young man over here…” He pointed at Adam. “He was infected by Pestilence.”

“Did you say Pestilence?” Morba asked astounded.

“Only the best for you!”

She eyed the demon skeptically; nonetheless, she approached the bed and leaned over Adam to examine him closely.

“Crowley… Always good for a surprise.” She smiled sassy, straightening herself again in the process. “With this, I can feed my children for months.”

“I’m glad to help.” Crowley reacted self-assured.

“Feed them? What exactly are you?” Mia inquired nervously after all.

“Didn’t I tell you not to speak?” The black-haired man rebuked her.

“Please, Crowley!” Morba looked at him calmly. “Let us girls have a talk.”

“As you wish.” He complied.

Therefore, she turned her gaze to the blonde woman. “I am an Illeater.” She began her explanation while pacing gracefully in front of the bed. “I absorb diseases you humans get infected with. Cancer, syphilis, the flu… Whatever illness there is, I take it in. This way, my children and I get provided with food and stay alive.”

Mia couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.

“I see you have a question, dear.” Morba stopped and faced Amelia once more.

“It’s just…” The younger woman hesitated briefly. “If you can cure any disease, why are there still so many sick people who, in the end, die because of it?”

“You have got the wrong idea.” The Illeater clarified. “I don’t cure them. I take the disease they are stricken with out of their bodies. Sometimes they survive, sometimes they don’t. It depends on how strong they are and if it’s their time to die. I only take what I need. I don’t choose who lives or dies.”

Amelia was silent and looked sadly at her cousin. What if Adam wasn’t strong enough? What if his time had already come?

“I would choose fast if I were you. Once he’s dead, I can’t help him anymore.” Morba remarked.

Mia glanced at her, then at her cousin and eventually back at her.

“Do it.” She agreed at last.

The Illeater nodded. “Please step aside.”

The blonde woman did as she was told and rose from the bed.

Morba bent over Adam again, held him down by his shoulders with both of her hands and eventually sealed his lips with hers. First, nothing special occurred. But then, Adam suddenly opened his eyes. They were wide open and he was breathing as well as shaking heavily. Still, the Illeater didn’t let go of him. She needed to absorb everything so that nothing of the illness was left in his body. After a few more seconds, Adam’s breathing slowed down and he closed his eyes. Morba finally released her grip on him.

Amelia had watched her anxiously. Did her cousin survive? Please, let him be alive!

“He will live.” The Illeater confirmed as she stood again.

The blonde woman laughed relieved with tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”

Morba smiled slightly and approached Crowley.

“Can I assume that my old scores are settled?” The demon asked.

“Yes. Please don’t call me again.” The black-haired woman said sternly.

“I make no promises.” He grinned mischievously.

Morba glared at him one last time before she vanished in a black cloud.

“What a woman!” He exclaimed cheerily before he spoke to Mia who was currently sitting by her cousin’s side. “Since Adam is feeling better, my presence is no longer required. So I’m off. But I’m guessing we will see each other again.”

“Thank you, Crowley.” The blonde woman gave him a small smile.

He eyed her surprised; he hadn’t expected her to thank him.

“This will be our little secret, all right, doll?” He responded smiling.

“Sure.” She agreed honestly.

After that, he was gone.

Adam woke up just a minute later. And it didn’t take long until Dean, Sam and Cass stormed into the motel room.
 

Mia wasn’t certain if it was okay to not tell the others about Morba and Crowley. On the other hand, she wasn’t really sure about anything anymore. Except one thing – that she had made the right decision to save Adam.

She would do it again because she knew he would do the same for her. Yet, she truly hoped that day would never come.