Don't Fear the Reaper

Another round of yelling makes him pause. "Those two have some serious pipes. Do they fight like this often?"

"Nah, usually, they're pretty chill with one another. Fights like these are rare." Heather said with a slight shrug. There was a crash from outside, prompting her to poke her head out the door. Jess and Raven were glaring at each other, but neither were sporting any injuries.

Raven's gaze met Heather's before switching back to Jess. "You two DO realize that there are already two hunters on his tail, right? And that if I can track him here, so can they." her voice back down to a reasonable level now that she'd finished yelling.

Gabe spoke up from the other room. "You mean the Winchesters? Those two chuckleheads are pretty dense. They've already met me."

Raven rounds on him. "I should tell them exactly where to find you." she snaps. "Then they'll kill you and this will be over!"

"Yeah, and I can bust your ass." Heather says flatly. "As long as he's here, he has our protection. And you know as well as I do that I can lay out anyone."

Raven gives her a sour look. "You can't fight."

"Don't have to when I can take down my target at 300 yards."

Jess calmly takes a step back. It's not often Heather gets involved in her and Raven's fights, but this one seems to be a bit personal. She frowns and glances over at Gabe. He watches the entire thing with a look that's half-amused, half-surprised. Raven glares at Heather a moment longer, and to her credit, Heather doesn't flinch. Finally, Rae sighs.

"Whatever. Do what you want." She turns and points a finger at Gabe. "Hurt them and I'll kill you."

Heather breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh good. She's finally decided to stop trying to set me on fire with her mind."

Raven gave a faint laugh. "I keep trying to tell you guys I can't actually do that. It'd be cool if I could, and my job would be way easier, but no."

Jess edged in next to her sister. "We cool?"

"Yeah. We're good. But seriously, what prompted the two of you to go looking for him?" Rae asked, jerking her head in Gabe's direction.

Jess and Heather gave her identical grins. "You told us not to." Jess said. "You seriously think we're gonna listen?"

"It was nice to dream." Rae said, somewhat wistfully. "Next time, be less adventurous, okay?"

Gabe watches the exchange with a faint grin. "So what are you two gonna do about the Winchesters?" he asks.

Heather flashes him a smirk. "Leave them to you." she says.

"They probably know how to kill a trickster." Raven warns.

That makes Heather laugh. "Yeah, but he's also the king of pranks. So - yeah. Tell me how that's gonna end in their favor."

Raven considers this for a moment, then promptly bursts out laughing. "Good point."

Jess claps her hands together. "Okay - can we start training now? I'm getting antsy."

(*insert timewarp here*)

Heather staggered into the hotel room, helping Jess make her way to one of the beds. She gave Jess a critical once-over. "Okay, where do you hurt worst. We'll start there and work our way to the least serious wounds."

Jess grunted as she lifted her shirt off, and turned to expose the long cut across her side. "That's the most serious of the cuts. The rest are mostly superficial."

Heather eyeballed the cut, then walked across the room to their bags. "You know this is gonna hurt, right?"

Jess gave a quiet scoff. "As if it doesn't already?"

"I'm gonna be dumping alcohol on it, Jess. In three, two, one, now." With that, she emptied half the bottle onto Jess's side.

Jess stiffened, her eyes slamming shut as she started to swear. Loudly.

Heather winces as she starts stitching up the cut. "I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

Jess offers a tight grin. "You'd think we'd be used to this by now."

"I still hate stitching you up." Heather ties off the end of the thread and leans back. "Nothing else that needs stitches?"

"Nope. Nothing a shower can't fix, and that's not happening now." Jess grabs the bottle from her, takes a swig, and motions for her to turn around. "I know you got hit. Show me." Heather winces, but she turns around and pulls her shirt up, revealing the deep gash down her back. Jess winces. "You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

And it's her turn to swear as Jess disinfects the wound.

"You need to breathe, Heather." Jess says tightly as she works. "I can't have you passing out."

"I can't say I'd complain if I did." Heather ground out, her grip on the comforter white-knuckled.

Jess tied off the end of the thread and sat back. "Done. Anywhere else?"

"No. That was the worst of it." Heather blew out a breath. "That was a really close call tonight." she murmured, swiping the bottle from Jess and downing a couple gulps. "If that fight had gone on, we might not have walked away."

Jess nodded. "We're just very lucky. I think next time we decide to take on a coven of witches, we should have backup." she said dryly. "And I expect we'll be hearing from Gabe in the next ten minutes or so."

Heather snorted. "Are we gonna ask him?"

"I don't see why not. What's the worst he can do, smite us?"

"Since he's an archangel, that's kind of his thing." Heather said with a slight grin. "Sheesh, I'm beat."

Jess offers a wry grin. "I'm pretty sure he could smite us now and we wouldn't be any worse for wear." she says.

Heather nods. "Good point. Still, I think we need more hunter friends. For cases like this." She really wants to lay down, but sprawling out on her back is absolutely a bad idea right now. Instead she leans forward, bracing herself on her knees.

Sure enough, about five minutes later, she feels the distinct presence of someone else in the room. She glances up to see Gabe standing there, arms crossed over his chest. He looks pissed, but more than that, he actually looks worried. She almost smiles.

"Hi Gabe."

"Exactly how close were you planning on cutting that?" he demands.

Jess gives a half-shrug, wincing when she pulls her stitches. "Well, this is probably one of the closest calls we've had."

"No kidding!" Gabe crosses the room and kneels so he can inspect the girls up close. "I can heal these, you know."

Heather nods. "We know. Would you mind? I don't think we got all the witches."

Gabe sets his hands on the worst of the wounds and concentrates, Jess and Heather hissing as the cuts close completely.

Jess rubs a hand over her side. "That felt SO weird." she gives Gabe a considering look. "So, we have a question, and if you don't wanna tell us, that's fine. But I have to ask. Why didn't you tell us you are an archangel?"

Gabe goes very still.

Heather pinches the bridge of her nose. "You know, I figured we'd be subtle about it."

Jess shrugs. "I'm too tired. Besides, how do you ask that question subtly?"

"Good point." Heather looks up at Gabe, who hasn't moved from his spot at the foot of the bed. He's staring at them oddly, and she offers a slight smile. "We're not mad, you know. Just curious."

"How long have you known?" he asks quietly.

"When you started training us." Jess replies.

Gabe curses. "I must be slipping."

"Nah. We're just not idiots."

Jess gives him a slight grin. "Your name's a bit of a give-away. It wasn't hard to make that leap."

Gabe tilts his head. "If the two of you have known for this long, why didn't you say anything?"

"Like what? 'Hey, we know you're this insanely powerful angel from Heaven, could you put in a good word for us'?" Heather asked, grinning. "We figured it was your business. We just got nosy, and decided to ask because we're sore, and our filters are full of holes right now."

Gabe just sighs and straightens up. "I wasn't gonna tell you." he says flatly. "There are - well, I have my reasons. I'm not on good terms with my siblings right now, let's just leave it at that, okay?"

Jess smiles at him. "No worries. We were just curious."

"You know the whole 'we're friends, you can tell us anything'?" Heather continues. "Yeah, that counts."

Gabe rolls his eyes. "You must be tired. Stop trying to be meaningful and go to sleep. We can talk about it more in the morning."

"Will you still be here in the morning?" Jess wonders.

Gabe gives her a dirty look. "I did not train you two chuckleheads just to watch you die because you were too tired to notice someone sneaking in."

Jess laughed as she very carefully stretched out. The wounds were healed, but the area was still tender. "We're harder to kill than that."

Heather snorted. "I dunno, we came pretty close today."

"Don't remind him!" Jess said, flopping a hand in Gabe's general direction. "I don't wanna have a lecture as I'm falling asleep. Talk about a mood-killer."

Gabe snorts. "I'd just wait until the two of you got up."

"Welp, that just gave me incentive to never leave my bed." Jess said cheerfully.

((you are so gonna hate me for this))

Heather is just about to fall asleep listening to the two of them mock-fight when she hears it. Instinct has her going from stretched out into a crouch in two seconds, one hand gripping her knife tightly while the other steadies herself on the bed. Jess immediately follows, gun in hand. "What is it?"

"Did you hear that?" Heather demands. Jess scowls and listens hard. It takes a moment, but she hears it - a hissing sound, almost like gas.

"Salt!" she shouts, and the two of them spring into action. They salt the windows and door just as the hissing sound grows into a snarling roar.

Heather slaps her hands over her ears. "What is that?" she shouts.

Gabe stands there, head cocked, listening. "That is a very powerful, very pissed-off demon." he says calmly enough. "It seems he's annoyed you killed his coven."

Jess snorts and covers the door with her gun. "Yeah, well, we were annoyed when we heard that his coven kidnapped and ritually sacrificed nine people." she gave Gabe a droll grin. "Guess who was more annoyed."

The roar was loud enough to shake the windows and rattle the door in it's frame. Gabe stepped forward, and the roar stopped. Gabe smirked. "Better."

"We know you, angel. What is a messenger of God doing here?" The voice outside hissed.

"These girls are protected. Go back to where you came from, and I won't send you back to Lucifer with your tail between your legs."

"And if I refuse?"

The door slammed open, with no one touching it, the salt line still intact. Gabe strode forward to come face to face
with the demon-possessed human. He reached out, and laid a hand on the demon's forehead, chanting quickly in Latin. There was a series of really loud screams, and the human dropped like a stone. Gabe dusted his hands off.

"Teach you to mess with me."

Heather blinked. "Did you just kill it?"

"No. I just sent it back." Gabe says, examining the human on the ground. "He'll live, too." He glances at the girls. "That's some fast reflexes. How have I missed that?"

"Because you aren't always around, and we have to move quickly." Jess quips. She lowers her gun. "Are we out of trouble now?"

Gabe tilts his head to the side and nods. "Yeah. He was the only one."

Heather sighs and puts away her knife. "I'd rather leave anyway. Just in case."

Gabe shakes his head. "Leave tomorrow. I'll stay the night and ride with you. Nothing's gonna happen."

"And also, Gabe may have healed us, but we're in no shape to be behind the wheel." Jess points out. "The only reason I'm standing is adrenaline. We'd kill ourselves, and then he'd be mad at us." she says, pointing at Gabe.

Heather's gaze flicks to the door again, and Jess can see the wheels turning in her head. Gabe opens his mouth, and Jess holds up a hand. Heather nods once. "Fine. But we leave first thing in the morning."

Jess nods. "I can do that. I"ll pack up our gear now, so we don't have to tomorrow."

Heather turns to Gabe. "You're riding with us?"

"I don't see why not." he says with a grin. "It's been a while since I've tagged along."

"It really has." Heather smiles. "We'll just shove you in the middle again."

"And I'll have my favorite girls on both sides of me." Gabe grins. "I can't imagine a better day."

Jess chuckles tiredly. "Just keep your hands to yourself, Gabe."

"I'm wounded. Seriously."

Jess snorted. "Yeah, you sound it." she bit back a groan as she stretched back out on one of the beds. "I shouldn't be this sore."

"Um, yes you should." Gabe pointed out. "In case you've forgotten, you just got out of a life-or-death fight with a coven of demon-possessed demons. I'd be very concerned if you weren't sore."

"Well, quit yapping and make me not sore." Jess said, not opening her eyes. "I hate being sore."

Heather snorted as Gabe just rose an eyebrow in Jess's direction. "I don't think he's gonna do it, Jess."

"Nope." Gabe said cheerfully. "That'll learn ya."

"No, it won't." Jess said just as cheerfully, though her eyes were closed. "We do dumb things on a regular basis. D'ya really think bein' sore is gonna stop us?"

Heather started to grin. "Ooh, you are tired, you're beginning to slur your words, Jess."

"Shaddap an' lemme sleep."

Heather holds up one hand and starts silently counting down from five. Jess, without ever looking up, promptly raises one hand and gives her the finger before dropping back to the bed sound asleep.

Gabe has to smother his giggles. "I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you two were telepathic."

"You and the witches, apparently." Heather says. "We have our moments. Apparently death-defying situations are one of them."

"Oh shut up and go to sleep."

Heather stretches out, but doesn't go to sleep. She shoots Gabe a grin. "I'm tired, but not sleepy. There's a difference."

"I can make you fall asleep." Gabe says casually. "It's not hard."

"What if I don't want to sleep?"

Gabe merely smiles at her, and Heather rolls her eyes. She lifts her head briefly to meet Gabe's gaze. "We're headed to Arkansas tomorrow - there are rumors that a wendigo is preying on a small town."

Gabe blinks. "A windigo? Isn't that a little - tough for newbie hunters?"

"We're not newbies." Jess muttered from her bed, drawing Heather and Gabe's attention. The two idiots we had to save from the coven, they were newbies. Effin' idiots the lot of them." With that, she fell back asleep.

Gabe blinked and turned to Heather. "I think you forgot to mention something."

Heather shrugged. "Apparently we were investigating the coven at the same time as a team of hunters were. The team had been hunting for what, a week or two, and decided that a big coven of witches would be a good way to gain some notoriety. When Jess and I got there, the witches had killed three of the team, and the other two were slated to be the next sacrifices."

Gabe pauses. "Did they get any of your blood?"

"If they did, they don't have it anymore." Heather says. "We hung around just long enough to torch the place. Everything burned as far as I know."

"I think I'll go back and double-check that."

That gets her attention. "You think they found a way to salvage it?"

"I wouldn't put anything past the demons." Gabe says sourly. "And if word gets out that you two are under my protection - I'll be back."

With that he vanishes. Heather just flops back on the bed and closes her eyes.

Never a dull moment.

Jess turned her head to stare at Heather sleepily. "Well, that sounded promising." she said quietly.

"I thought you were asleep."

"I was. And then Gabe got all tense, and woke me up." Jess said around a yawn. "What's he freaking out about?"

"He apparently went to double-check that yes, we torched the place, and that no traces of our blood is still there." Heather said with a shrug. "I wasn't gonna stop him."

"Yeah, me either."

Heather snorted. "Jess, you haven't lifted your head or moved a muscle at all. You're a zombie right now."

"Rrrr . . .brains . . .gimme yer brains. . ."

Heather laughs and throws a pillow at her. "Shut up and go back to sleep, ya zombie."

------/

Gabe stands in the middle of the house the coven was using. Or rather, what was probably the middle of the house. The fire had done its job remarkably well. Gabe wonders if they used some kind of accelerant, then decides it really doesn't matter. They made sure none of the hex bags made it out alive.

"Hello, Gabriel."

The voice almost makes Gabe jump, but he was kind of expecting this. "Castiel. Will wonders never cease. I thought you were still in training." He turns around to see the youngest of his brothers standing behind him. He arches one eyebrow. "Holy tax accountant? Seriously?"

((Family conflict - why not?))

Castiel shrugs, and looks Gabriel over. "You look happy." he remarks.

Gabriel gives him a grin. "Cas, I'm always happy. I'm a happy guy. But I have to ask, why are you here?"

"I'm helping a friend of mine." Castiel glances back towards the road. "They're looking for you."

"You gonna tell them where to find me?"

"No. You would destroy them. And I have become fond of them."

"Are we talking about the Winchesters, by any chance?" Gabriel asks, watching Castiel closely. "We are, aren't we? I like them too, you know. As long as they leave me alone, I'll leave them alone. Are you going to tell them what I am? Might persuade them to stop trying to kill me."

Castiel gives a quiet snort. "No, I don't think I will. When they catch up to you, then you can tell them. It's not my secret to share."

"I like how you say 'when' instead of 'if'. You're that confident in those two chuckleheads."

"They've proven themselves." Cas says simply. "I must go. Goodbye, Gabriel."

"Yeah. See ya around, little brother."