{seattle} In which Bela tries to offer some help and Cordelia's got some news.
Bela leaned back against the couch before picking up the phone, pausing only to blow out one of the candles nearby. The spirits were coming up with nothing as far as a location, but she did have some information on the symbols to share with Sam, and hopefully that would be of some help. This situation was a complicated one, and if someone had some information that would bind the powers of an angel, then they definitely weren't someone to be screwed with.
Taking a breath, she listened to the phone ring while she wanted for Sam to pick up, hoping that it wasn't too early several time zones over.
Sam had fallen asleep face down in a book, which wasn't uncommon and he knew he would probably be hearing from Ruby again on that. Hearing his phone ring, he lifted his head and rubbed at his face, reaching for the thing. "Hello?"
"The symbol is Tibetan," she replied, starting to sit up a little more and teaching for one of the texts. "At least the middle one is. The others a definitely eastern, and he would have used some pretty heavy metals to get a symbol like that to stick on an angel. I'm thinking metal from highly consecrated ground."
"Really?" He was waking up fast, his mind shifting to hunting mode pretty easily. "You know any big Tibetan groups that have a deal against us because as far as I know, we've never pissed them off..."
"Not that I'm aware of, but whoever they are, they're covering their bases. He or she is completely off the radar."
"Well, they were able to hide Ben from the presence of the archangels, so I'm not surprised as much by that. I'm just worried about what the next step in this guy's plan is since they are slowly moving up the family chain." Sam licked his lips, knowing that it would be him or Ruby next, hence why they basically stayed inside a lot in the safety of the wards. "Doing that kind of magic would have to leave dead zones, right? Like how cell phones have areas they can't get reception, wouldn't there be like areas that had that kind of feel to certain entities?"
"Most likely, but finding that specific one is probably going to be hard to track. There could be several people all over the world doing the same kind of magic. I need a specific area to look."
"I can ask Michael where he found Ben. I know he was taken in Texas. Could start there and span out?"
"Well, it'd be a start at least," she said with a sigh. "I'll see what I can find."
"Thanks. This is a good start for me too. Now I know a source, I can start looking into some contacts on who might deal with this type of magic." Sam stretched in his seat. "Really appreciate it, Bela."
"No problem. Let me know if you find anything."
"I will." Sam hung up the phone after saying goodbye, then looked back at the book. Tibetan was something he could work with, and he went to Bobby's shelf to pull down the rest of the eastern Asian symbolism books to start looking through. "Dean," he spoke softly towards the heavens. "Need to know who might hate you in Tibet."
Dean and Alec appeared not soon after, landing in the room behind Sam as silently as possible, before starting to make his way over to where his brother was sitting. Given the situation with Ben and Castiel, Dean wasn't taking any chances with his other son. Alec was coming with him everywhere it was allowed, and if he couldn't be there another angel was with him. Right now, however, he wasn't concerned with Alec overhearing something he shouldn't, so he was coming with. "I don't believe I know anyone in Tibet."
Alec actually started to lose his balance when they popped back into existence and grabbed his father's sleeve for a second to steady himself. Then he noticed Jinx wasn't there. "You oh Jinx a treat. 'Cause he's gonna be miffed when he gets here." He shook himself and ordered his thoughts. It still took some effort but he was much better at it now. "Hi, Sam." The smile was genuine. He had missed the man while he'd been away.
"Hey kid," Sam picked up a book and tossed it at Alec. "You get to help out. Have fun." He playfully ruffled Alec's hair, then walked towards the kitchen to make some coffee. "I got in touch with Bela the other day about Cas' situation and she got some information from the spirits. The symbols are from eastern and Tibetan magic. The only problem is, there aren't very many people who practice that in the states since most of that stuff stays limited to the religious monks. So I have no clue who it could be."
"Is it possible that this person could have learned from from one of those monks, and put the knowledge to a different use?" Dean asked, looking over the books that Sam had placed in front of him, studying all the information quickly.
Alec caught the book, but was more interested in the actual diagram. He stood over it for a minute, head tilted and then sat down and touched a finger to it, tracing it. "I know this." He said it almost to himself.
"They are very selective who they train..." Sam paused in the doorway, turning to look at Alec. "Wait... you know them?"
"Yes?" He shook his head. "No. Uh. . " He visibly took a minute to sort himself out. "This," He traced a finger around the very basic outer structure. "I know. And this one." He peered at it. "I've seen as part of something else. Inside this framework." He fell silent still looking at it and thinking.
Dean frowned as he looked over. "Have you seen it used by a particular person, or on a specific text or object?"
"Lindsey." He tapped the three other border symbols. "I bet these are in the same. . .family as the one I've seen before. But this one?" He tapped the center. "I don't know. It's not the sort of things I've ever seen him use."
"Lindsey?" Sam thought a moment, then looked over at Dean. Bela was the obvious choice on a demon who had betrayed the brothers, but Lindsey was another on that list in betraying Dean's son to Meg.
Dean hesitated for a moment, before glancing over at Alec again. "Have you heard from him lately?"
He shook his head. "No. Not since he left with Felicia." He looked back at the diagram. "It's. . .weird. These? The parts that are familiar? They aren't meant to hurt. I know that."
"Well, I think it's time we reach out to him and ask him a few questions." Sam went back to making the coffee. "You have his number, right?"
"Yeah, but. . .I dunno. It sort of feels like him, but . . I don't know." He pulled out his phone.
"That's not gonna get you very far," Cordelia sighed as she appeared in the doorway of the room. She was thankful that there weren't any anti-angel wards here. "Lindsey McDonald's been missing for weeks." She just lounged against the door frame, giving a bit of an amused smirk as she watched Michael's jaw tighten. "By the way, Gabriel totally owes me dinner."
"Cordelia," Dean said slowly, not bothering to turn around. "Now is really not the time."
"Hey, there is always time for me to say 'I told you so,' bucko. It's not my fault nobody listens to me."
"Whoa. Hold the phone and back up the convoy." He stood and made his way over to the door. He don't like people he didn't know in his home. A place he felt safe. "Gabriel, currently can shove it where the sun don't shine. Who are you? And saying 'I'm an angel of the Lord.' ain't gonna cut it."
Sam walked over to them, watching the woman carefully. "So it's really only convenient that the demon who's betrayed us before disappeared right before one of the kids he helped kidnap once gets kidnapped again," he stated, then looked at his brother. "Friend of yours? Or perhaps Castiel's?"
"Oh, honey, angel of the Lord so isn't what I go by," she replied, watching Sam right back. "I'm Cordelia Chase. Lindsey and I go way back, and trust me -- Lindsey might be involved somehow, but he's not an evil mastermind. He just tends to get yanked around by them."
"Cordelia is one of the angels Gabriel is training to deal with prophets," Dean explained, jaw still a bit tight. "As you can see, she is probably one of the more vocal angels in the garrison."
Alec looked up. "Seriously?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Cas. Where is he? If he's still got that. . .whatever it is, I can get a better feel for it."
"He's in the den." Sam walked past them and stuck his head to where Cas had his pile of books. "Hey, Alec wants to see the mark in person. He thinks he recognizes pieces of it."
Castiel had been trying very hard to forget that his brothers were there. He couldn't feel their presence in his bones like he used to. His Grace couldn't rise to meet them. He just wanted to bury himself in his reading. He was not happy to be bothered, but he ignored it.
"Of course," he said, got to his feet and joined them in the living room. His hands went to the snap of his jeans to remove his pants so Alec could see the mark on his thigh.
Her eyes shifted to Castiel as she came in, a more sympathetic look crossing his face. She couldn't imagine the pain he was in, and Castiel was honestly the last angel she would wish this on, but there wasn't much she could do about it. At least, not that she knew of. She was just there to prevent Lindsey from getting smote. But once the pants started falling though she turned around, hand covering her eyes. "Whoa. So much more than I needed to see, pretty boy."
Sam closed his eyes and just rubbed his forehead. He was grateful that Castiel had underwear on.
Alec rolled his eyes. "You people are obsessive and weird." He did shrug at Cas though. "I just need to see the magic, not the actual mark." He pulled his glasses off then to get a look. It was double layered, one that same sort of shimmer he'd seen on Lindsey. Tight to the skin an almost like a heat haze. Cloaking and hiding him. The second layer, under the first was. . .ugly. He swallowed, feeling sick. "Jesus Christ." Out of all the names in the world that was the one he took the most seriously. The second layer washed over Castiel and turned in on itself. It gave his soul, and angel's soul that should never be cut off from God or even bound to a body, no room to stretch or breath. It was awful.
"Forgive me," Castiel said, slightly embarrassed. He tended to take things rather literally. He pulled his pants back up and then stood still, waiting to hear what Alec found in his examination. From his curse, he assumed it wasn't good.
Cordelia turned back once Castiel's pants were back on. It wasn't that she had issues with immodesty, it was just that seeing Castiel as anything other than an angel felt -- wrong. She could appreciate his vessel aesthetically, but only if he had clothes on. Because mentally, as far as human emotion was concerned, he was a young teenage boy, at best. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, before starting to move out of the doorway a bit. "How bad is it?"
"Bad. Wrong." He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to pull himself together.
While he was doing that Cordelia was pushed to the side by a hundred and fifty pounds of annoyed hell hound. He gave her a baleful look, made his way past and into the room. Dean was treated to another annoyed look. The man had two hands didn't he? One for Alec and one for the Hound. Then he sat in front of Alec who dropped into a crouch to pet the dog.
"Dad promises to get you a treat to make up for it." Alec looked up at them, still rubbing Jinx's ears. "It's two layered. The spell I mean." He stood and went back to the diagram on the table. "This?" He ran his fingers over the outside. "I'd bet it's Lindsey's work. It has the same feel, though. . . not his power signature. But he has something similar. When I asked he said he was hiding from his old bosses. His is more powerful. But. . . " He wasn't sure how to phrase it. "More focused. One symbol to the four here." He looked up at them. "But as I said, it isn't made to hurt. Which. . .is very much Lindsey." He didn't give them a chance to work up to anger. "He doesn't like to hurt people. He will if he has to, but he doesn't like it. Everything he's ever taught me? It more about balance and healing." He tapped the center symbol. "That? That's ugly and mean to hurt."
Castiel very subtly winced. He didn't need Alec telling him how wrong or bad it was. He knew. He had lived this caged existence for weeks now. "If I am no longer needed, I will leave you to your work," he said. He was having a hard time listening to this.
"Cas," Sam stopped him and touched his shoulder. "If this is Lindsey's doing, then we'll get him. Ok?"
"It wasn't Lindsey. Same magic doesn't always mean same guy. And Alec's right about it not being his M. O." Cordelia caught a look from Michael, and pressed her lips closed, electing to shut up because she knew someone in pain when she saw it. "Just saying."
"Is there anything we can do?" Michael asked, looking over at his brother sympathetically.
Alec decided then that maybe they've keep Cordelia. But he also had to be honest. "I don't know if it was him? But if it was?" He shook his head. "It's not like him. He has nothing to gain and a lot to lose."
"And if it was him and he's working for someone again, whether or not if it's his M.O. or it's not like him -" Sam gave Cordelia a look because he didn't want to hear her jump to Lindsey's defense again - "he's still an accomplice and when we learn more of the story and his role in it, we will deal with him accordingly if necessary."
"First thing we need to do if find him. If he's disappeared off the radar, then let's start with Felicia. I'm going to see if Ruby's had any contact with her in the last few weeks." With that, he started towards the stairs.
Alec's jaw tightened clearly not pleased at how the man was being judged guilty already. But regardless they still needed to speak to Felicia, who would never be his favorite person, but still. Ruby would be an okay path to go through. She didn't automatically think the worst of Lindsey, but if he really was at fault she wouldn't let him off either. "Am I the only one the remembers that he wasn't really working for Meg?"
"I do," Cordelia replied. "And nobody's getting smote unless there's more proof than some symbol that just so happens to be Tibetan."
Dean's back straightened slightly as he turned around to actually face her for the first time. "And what gives you the gall to presume that you have any control over my actions whatsoever? We may not have known each other long, Cordelia, but I still have far more power than you do."
"So what? Because I'm some lowly angel who used to be human, I should just bend down and kiss your ass like it's what I was born to do? Sorry, honey. I don't kiss ass, and I don't just blindly take orders from somebody because the good book tells me to. Lindsey's a lot of things, and he tried to kill me and the people I care about on more than one occasion when I was alive, but that doesn't mean he's the guilty party here." She grit her teeth slightly, and stared him back right in the eye. "Punish the one who is. Don't take it out on those who just got dragged along for the ride. Oh, and by the way? I brought the fact that Lindsey was missing to Gabriel's attention weeks ago, and nobody seemed to care. Glad to see that everyone is caring now when angels are getting bound to their vessels and people are getting kidnapped. So don't yell at me, Golden Boy. This isn't the first time Heaven decided not to give a shit, you think they would have learned by now."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Feel better?"
"Much, actually," she grinned. "Thank you."
Alec looked at them then at Jinx, who shrugged. They both looked back at Cordelia and Dean. "Uh couple of points of interest, guys. One," He held up a finger. "Dean was human, so I don't think you're point of origin is really the trouble. More that someone dicked over one of his kids. It's a Winchester thing. Two," Another finger came up, "Someone remind me that Gabriel owes me some answers, and that I might owe him a pop to the face. Three," Yet another finger. "I'm sorry no one looked for him sooner. I'm pretty good at dropping the ball. It's a hobby. Four," he dropped his hand because this was getting stupid. "I'm not saying that Lindsey is all sunshine and puppies. He's a demon and a survivor, so he's capable of dishing out some pretty bad shit. But this is still out of character for him in regards to us. Why would he wantto piss off the mother-fucking anti-christ and his touchy family oriented brother who happens to be the hardest hitting angel available? Especially when he has a safe haven here? It's weird."
"Exactly. He wouldn't. Besides, Lindsey only does stupid things when there's a different kind of Angel involved and he hasn't been up to much for a while now," Cordelia crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I'm not saying that Lindsey isn't capable of bad. He worked for Evil Incorporated once. In fact, if you really want to be technical, he probably still does and doing something big, like attack angels, would be causing way too much undo attention." Then her attention turned back to Dean. "You never bothered to tell them that Sam isn't an antichrist? He lacks some serious mojo there."
"It never came up," Dean replied, his jaw tightening again. "Are you going to be helpful, or are you just going to stand there and talk at us?"
"I can be helpful. I just don't do research. I get way too bored way too fast. That was always Wesley's thing."
Alec looked at his father. "Deep breaths. I know what Sam is and isn't genetically. But he's still the card carrier." He rubbed his hands over his face again. "Can you two sit down. You're making me dizzy." And by that he meant nervous and a little shaky. "If Sam is going to work on tracking Lindsey's location we can work on peeling that cage off Cas. Before he has screaming hysterics for which I wouldn't blame him."
Her face softened as she turned back towards the door to the den, before moving to take a seat near one of the tables. "Kind of wish we did have Wesley. Or Giles, maybe. Oh! Giles is still alive! We could call him."
"I don't think the Watcher's Council would be the best resource to tap right now," Dean replied. "Not if we don't even know how to break it."
"I hate to break it to you, Mikey, but you angel types were never really known for thinking outside the box." She gave him a bit of a look. "Also, I wasn't talking about the Watcher's Council. I was talking about Giles."
"Rupert Giles is the Watcher's Council, and he's got enough on his hands to deal with the Slayers then to work on fixing our puzzle."
"Fine. I was just offering."
". . . yout two are hilarious." He shook his head. "Let's figure out what it is then maybe we can get it off." He looked over the images again, eyes settling on the one he'd seen before. "Cordelia? You know Lindsey when he was alive. Who, exactly, were his bosses?"
"They were called the Senior Partners. It was basically a smoke screen for some kind of demon contingent -- I never really got a look at them, at least not while I was alive, and then again -- not even after I was dead."
"So, they were demons? Do we know what kind? Human stock or Fallen?" He's mind has really kicked in at this point and it trying to pull the problem apart.
"They're -- "
"They are as close to pure demon as you can get these days," Dean sighed as he dropped down into one of the chairs, rubbing his eyes lightly. "Very old, very tricky. With Lilith dead they most likely own the market on crossroad deals."
"Okay. So. . .logically speaking. . ." he tapped the symbol he'd see on Lindsey. "This is some sort of ward against demons. Since he was hiding from them." He looked up to see if the logic made sense to them.
"So some of what he used was protective magic?" Dean frowned.
'Kinda? It was more like. . .a living smoke screen. Like he was hiding. The best defense if not having to fight, you know?"
Michael paused, considering that for a moment. "A person who intended harm wouldn't have included that in magic like this. Even if the intent of the spell itself is to harm."
He shrugged a little. "No one could help Cas if he can't be found. But... all this part seems to do is make the targeted type look away."
"Yes, but -- it would be odd that someone would put the effort into considering adding that. Unless this person was very careful and holding a very heavy grudge."
"Lindsey is careful. But . . . he has no grudge against Cas. Against any of us. See? It's weird."
Taking a breath, she listened to the phone ring while she wanted for Sam to pick up, hoping that it wasn't too early several time zones over.
Sam had fallen asleep face down in a book, which wasn't uncommon and he knew he would probably be hearing from Ruby again on that. Hearing his phone ring, he lifted his head and rubbed at his face, reaching for the thing. "Hello?"
"The symbol is Tibetan," she replied, starting to sit up a little more and teaching for one of the texts. "At least the middle one is. The others a definitely eastern, and he would have used some pretty heavy metals to get a symbol like that to stick on an angel. I'm thinking metal from highly consecrated ground."
"Really?" He was waking up fast, his mind shifting to hunting mode pretty easily. "You know any big Tibetan groups that have a deal against us because as far as I know, we've never pissed them off..."
"Not that I'm aware of, but whoever they are, they're covering their bases. He or she is completely off the radar."
"Well, they were able to hide Ben from the presence of the archangels, so I'm not surprised as much by that. I'm just worried about what the next step in this guy's plan is since they are slowly moving up the family chain." Sam licked his lips, knowing that it would be him or Ruby next, hence why they basically stayed inside a lot in the safety of the wards. "Doing that kind of magic would have to leave dead zones, right? Like how cell phones have areas they can't get reception, wouldn't there be like areas that had that kind of feel to certain entities?"
"Most likely, but finding that specific one is probably going to be hard to track. There could be several people all over the world doing the same kind of magic. I need a specific area to look."
"I can ask Michael where he found Ben. I know he was taken in Texas. Could start there and span out?"
"Well, it'd be a start at least," she said with a sigh. "I'll see what I can find."
"Thanks. This is a good start for me too. Now I know a source, I can start looking into some contacts on who might deal with this type of magic." Sam stretched in his seat. "Really appreciate it, Bela."
"No problem. Let me know if you find anything."
"I will." Sam hung up the phone after saying goodbye, then looked back at the book. Tibetan was something he could work with, and he went to Bobby's shelf to pull down the rest of the eastern Asian symbolism books to start looking through. "Dean," he spoke softly towards the heavens. "Need to know who might hate you in Tibet."
Dean and Alec appeared not soon after, landing in the room behind Sam as silently as possible, before starting to make his way over to where his brother was sitting. Given the situation with Ben and Castiel, Dean wasn't taking any chances with his other son. Alec was coming with him everywhere it was allowed, and if he couldn't be there another angel was with him. Right now, however, he wasn't concerned with Alec overhearing something he shouldn't, so he was coming with. "I don't believe I know anyone in Tibet."
Alec actually started to lose his balance when they popped back into existence and grabbed his father's sleeve for a second to steady himself. Then he noticed Jinx wasn't there. "You oh Jinx a treat. 'Cause he's gonna be miffed when he gets here." He shook himself and ordered his thoughts. It still took some effort but he was much better at it now. "Hi, Sam." The smile was genuine. He had missed the man while he'd been away.
"Hey kid," Sam picked up a book and tossed it at Alec. "You get to help out. Have fun." He playfully ruffled Alec's hair, then walked towards the kitchen to make some coffee. "I got in touch with Bela the other day about Cas' situation and she got some information from the spirits. The symbols are from eastern and Tibetan magic. The only problem is, there aren't very many people who practice that in the states since most of that stuff stays limited to the religious monks. So I have no clue who it could be."
"Is it possible that this person could have learned from from one of those monks, and put the knowledge to a different use?" Dean asked, looking over the books that Sam had placed in front of him, studying all the information quickly.
Alec caught the book, but was more interested in the actual diagram. He stood over it for a minute, head tilted and then sat down and touched a finger to it, tracing it. "I know this." He said it almost to himself.
"They are very selective who they train..." Sam paused in the doorway, turning to look at Alec. "Wait... you know them?"
"Yes?" He shook his head. "No. Uh. . " He visibly took a minute to sort himself out. "This," He traced a finger around the very basic outer structure. "I know. And this one." He peered at it. "I've seen as part of something else. Inside this framework." He fell silent still looking at it and thinking.
Dean frowned as he looked over. "Have you seen it used by a particular person, or on a specific text or object?"
"Lindsey." He tapped the three other border symbols. "I bet these are in the same. . .family as the one I've seen before. But this one?" He tapped the center. "I don't know. It's not the sort of things I've ever seen him use."
"Lindsey?" Sam thought a moment, then looked over at Dean. Bela was the obvious choice on a demon who had betrayed the brothers, but Lindsey was another on that list in betraying Dean's son to Meg.
Dean hesitated for a moment, before glancing over at Alec again. "Have you heard from him lately?"
He shook his head. "No. Not since he left with Felicia." He looked back at the diagram. "It's. . .weird. These? The parts that are familiar? They aren't meant to hurt. I know that."
"Well, I think it's time we reach out to him and ask him a few questions." Sam went back to making the coffee. "You have his number, right?"
"Yeah, but. . .I dunno. It sort of feels like him, but . . I don't know." He pulled out his phone.
"That's not gonna get you very far," Cordelia sighed as she appeared in the doorway of the room. She was thankful that there weren't any anti-angel wards here. "Lindsey McDonald's been missing for weeks." She just lounged against the door frame, giving a bit of an amused smirk as she watched Michael's jaw tighten. "By the way, Gabriel totally owes me dinner."
"Cordelia," Dean said slowly, not bothering to turn around. "Now is really not the time."
"Hey, there is always time for me to say 'I told you so,' bucko. It's not my fault nobody listens to me."
"Whoa. Hold the phone and back up the convoy." He stood and made his way over to the door. He don't like people he didn't know in his home. A place he felt safe. "Gabriel, currently can shove it where the sun don't shine. Who are you? And saying 'I'm an angel of the Lord.' ain't gonna cut it."
Sam walked over to them, watching the woman carefully. "So it's really only convenient that the demon who's betrayed us before disappeared right before one of the kids he helped kidnap once gets kidnapped again," he stated, then looked at his brother. "Friend of yours? Or perhaps Castiel's?"
"Oh, honey, angel of the Lord so isn't what I go by," she replied, watching Sam right back. "I'm Cordelia Chase. Lindsey and I go way back, and trust me -- Lindsey might be involved somehow, but he's not an evil mastermind. He just tends to get yanked around by them."
"Cordelia is one of the angels Gabriel is training to deal with prophets," Dean explained, jaw still a bit tight. "As you can see, she is probably one of the more vocal angels in the garrison."
Alec looked up. "Seriously?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Cas. Where is he? If he's still got that. . .whatever it is, I can get a better feel for it."
"He's in the den." Sam walked past them and stuck his head to where Cas had his pile of books. "Hey, Alec wants to see the mark in person. He thinks he recognizes pieces of it."
Castiel had been trying very hard to forget that his brothers were there. He couldn't feel their presence in his bones like he used to. His Grace couldn't rise to meet them. He just wanted to bury himself in his reading. He was not happy to be bothered, but he ignored it.
"Of course," he said, got to his feet and joined them in the living room. His hands went to the snap of his jeans to remove his pants so Alec could see the mark on his thigh.
Her eyes shifted to Castiel as she came in, a more sympathetic look crossing his face. She couldn't imagine the pain he was in, and Castiel was honestly the last angel she would wish this on, but there wasn't much she could do about it. At least, not that she knew of. She was just there to prevent Lindsey from getting smote. But once the pants started falling though she turned around, hand covering her eyes. "Whoa. So much more than I needed to see, pretty boy."
Sam closed his eyes and just rubbed his forehead. He was grateful that Castiel had underwear on.
Alec rolled his eyes. "You people are obsessive and weird." He did shrug at Cas though. "I just need to see the magic, not the actual mark." He pulled his glasses off then to get a look. It was double layered, one that same sort of shimmer he'd seen on Lindsey. Tight to the skin an almost like a heat haze. Cloaking and hiding him. The second layer, under the first was. . .ugly. He swallowed, feeling sick. "Jesus Christ." Out of all the names in the world that was the one he took the most seriously. The second layer washed over Castiel and turned in on itself. It gave his soul, and angel's soul that should never be cut off from God or even bound to a body, no room to stretch or breath. It was awful.
"Forgive me," Castiel said, slightly embarrassed. He tended to take things rather literally. He pulled his pants back up and then stood still, waiting to hear what Alec found in his examination. From his curse, he assumed it wasn't good.
Cordelia turned back once Castiel's pants were back on. It wasn't that she had issues with immodesty, it was just that seeing Castiel as anything other than an angel felt -- wrong. She could appreciate his vessel aesthetically, but only if he had clothes on. Because mentally, as far as human emotion was concerned, he was a young teenage boy, at best. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, before starting to move out of the doorway a bit. "How bad is it?"
"Bad. Wrong." He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to pull himself together.
While he was doing that Cordelia was pushed to the side by a hundred and fifty pounds of annoyed hell hound. He gave her a baleful look, made his way past and into the room. Dean was treated to another annoyed look. The man had two hands didn't he? One for Alec and one for the Hound. Then he sat in front of Alec who dropped into a crouch to pet the dog.
"Dad promises to get you a treat to make up for it." Alec looked up at them, still rubbing Jinx's ears. "It's two layered. The spell I mean." He stood and went back to the diagram on the table. "This?" He ran his fingers over the outside. "I'd bet it's Lindsey's work. It has the same feel, though. . . not his power signature. But he has something similar. When I asked he said he was hiding from his old bosses. His is more powerful. But. . . " He wasn't sure how to phrase it. "More focused. One symbol to the four here." He looked up at them. "But as I said, it isn't made to hurt. Which. . .is very much Lindsey." He didn't give them a chance to work up to anger. "He doesn't like to hurt people. He will if he has to, but he doesn't like it. Everything he's ever taught me? It more about balance and healing." He tapped the center symbol. "That? That's ugly and mean to hurt."
Castiel very subtly winced. He didn't need Alec telling him how wrong or bad it was. He knew. He had lived this caged existence for weeks now. "If I am no longer needed, I will leave you to your work," he said. He was having a hard time listening to this.
"Cas," Sam stopped him and touched his shoulder. "If this is Lindsey's doing, then we'll get him. Ok?"
"It wasn't Lindsey. Same magic doesn't always mean same guy. And Alec's right about it not being his M. O." Cordelia caught a look from Michael, and pressed her lips closed, electing to shut up because she knew someone in pain when she saw it. "Just saying."
"Is there anything we can do?" Michael asked, looking over at his brother sympathetically.
Alec decided then that maybe they've keep Cordelia. But he also had to be honest. "I don't know if it was him? But if it was?" He shook his head. "It's not like him. He has nothing to gain and a lot to lose."
"And if it was him and he's working for someone again, whether or not if it's his M.O. or it's not like him -" Sam gave Cordelia a look because he didn't want to hear her jump to Lindsey's defense again - "he's still an accomplice and when we learn more of the story and his role in it, we will deal with him accordingly if necessary."
"First thing we need to do if find him. If he's disappeared off the radar, then let's start with Felicia. I'm going to see if Ruby's had any contact with her in the last few weeks." With that, he started towards the stairs.
Alec's jaw tightened clearly not pleased at how the man was being judged guilty already. But regardless they still needed to speak to Felicia, who would never be his favorite person, but still. Ruby would be an okay path to go through. She didn't automatically think the worst of Lindsey, but if he really was at fault she wouldn't let him off either. "Am I the only one the remembers that he wasn't really working for Meg?"
"I do," Cordelia replied. "And nobody's getting smote unless there's more proof than some symbol that just so happens to be Tibetan."
Dean's back straightened slightly as he turned around to actually face her for the first time. "And what gives you the gall to presume that you have any control over my actions whatsoever? We may not have known each other long, Cordelia, but I still have far more power than you do."
"So what? Because I'm some lowly angel who used to be human, I should just bend down and kiss your ass like it's what I was born to do? Sorry, honey. I don't kiss ass, and I don't just blindly take orders from somebody because the good book tells me to. Lindsey's a lot of things, and he tried to kill me and the people I care about on more than one occasion when I was alive, but that doesn't mean he's the guilty party here." She grit her teeth slightly, and stared him back right in the eye. "Punish the one who is. Don't take it out on those who just got dragged along for the ride. Oh, and by the way? I brought the fact that Lindsey was missing to Gabriel's attention weeks ago, and nobody seemed to care. Glad to see that everyone is caring now when angels are getting bound to their vessels and people are getting kidnapped. So don't yell at me, Golden Boy. This isn't the first time Heaven decided not to give a shit, you think they would have learned by now."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Feel better?"
"Much, actually," she grinned. "Thank you."
Alec looked at them then at Jinx, who shrugged. They both looked back at Cordelia and Dean. "Uh couple of points of interest, guys. One," He held up a finger. "Dean was human, so I don't think you're point of origin is really the trouble. More that someone dicked over one of his kids. It's a Winchester thing. Two," Another finger came up, "Someone remind me that Gabriel owes me some answers, and that I might owe him a pop to the face. Three," Yet another finger. "I'm sorry no one looked for him sooner. I'm pretty good at dropping the ball. It's a hobby. Four," he dropped his hand because this was getting stupid. "I'm not saying that Lindsey is all sunshine and puppies. He's a demon and a survivor, so he's capable of dishing out some pretty bad shit. But this is still out of character for him in regards to us. Why would he wantto piss off the mother-fucking anti-christ and his touchy family oriented brother who happens to be the hardest hitting angel available? Especially when he has a safe haven here? It's weird."
"Exactly. He wouldn't. Besides, Lindsey only does stupid things when there's a different kind of Angel involved and he hasn't been up to much for a while now," Cordelia crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I'm not saying that Lindsey isn't capable of bad. He worked for Evil Incorporated once. In fact, if you really want to be technical, he probably still does and doing something big, like attack angels, would be causing way too much undo attention." Then her attention turned back to Dean. "You never bothered to tell them that Sam isn't an antichrist? He lacks some serious mojo there."
"It never came up," Dean replied, his jaw tightening again. "Are you going to be helpful, or are you just going to stand there and talk at us?"
"I can be helpful. I just don't do research. I get way too bored way too fast. That was always Wesley's thing."
Alec looked at his father. "Deep breaths. I know what Sam is and isn't genetically. But he's still the card carrier." He rubbed his hands over his face again. "Can you two sit down. You're making me dizzy." And by that he meant nervous and a little shaky. "If Sam is going to work on tracking Lindsey's location we can work on peeling that cage off Cas. Before he has screaming hysterics for which I wouldn't blame him."
Her face softened as she turned back towards the door to the den, before moving to take a seat near one of the tables. "Kind of wish we did have Wesley. Or Giles, maybe. Oh! Giles is still alive! We could call him."
"I don't think the Watcher's Council would be the best resource to tap right now," Dean replied. "Not if we don't even know how to break it."
"I hate to break it to you, Mikey, but you angel types were never really known for thinking outside the box." She gave him a bit of a look. "Also, I wasn't talking about the Watcher's Council. I was talking about Giles."
"Rupert Giles is the Watcher's Council, and he's got enough on his hands to deal with the Slayers then to work on fixing our puzzle."
"Fine. I was just offering."
". . . yout two are hilarious." He shook his head. "Let's figure out what it is then maybe we can get it off." He looked over the images again, eyes settling on the one he'd seen before. "Cordelia? You know Lindsey when he was alive. Who, exactly, were his bosses?"
"They were called the Senior Partners. It was basically a smoke screen for some kind of demon contingent -- I never really got a look at them, at least not while I was alive, and then again -- not even after I was dead."
"So, they were demons? Do we know what kind? Human stock or Fallen?" He's mind has really kicked in at this point and it trying to pull the problem apart.
"They're -- "
"They are as close to pure demon as you can get these days," Dean sighed as he dropped down into one of the chairs, rubbing his eyes lightly. "Very old, very tricky. With Lilith dead they most likely own the market on crossroad deals."
"Okay. So. . .logically speaking. . ." he tapped the symbol he'd see on Lindsey. "This is some sort of ward against demons. Since he was hiding from them." He looked up to see if the logic made sense to them.
"So some of what he used was protective magic?" Dean frowned.
'Kinda? It was more like. . .a living smoke screen. Like he was hiding. The best defense if not having to fight, you know?"
Michael paused, considering that for a moment. "A person who intended harm wouldn't have included that in magic like this. Even if the intent of the spell itself is to harm."
He shrugged a little. "No one could help Cas if he can't be found. But... all this part seems to do is make the targeted type look away."
"Yes, but -- it would be odd that someone would put the effort into considering adding that. Unless this person was very careful and holding a very heavy grudge."
"Lindsey is careful. But . . . he has no grudge against Cas. Against any of us. See? It's weird."