Trouble With The Trickster || Gabriel - Supernatural

-8-

"Found anything?" I asked after about an hour. I was now sat on the couch, Gabe leaning his back against my shoulder with his legs stretched out away from me. Dad was perched on the kitchen table, a huge book he found in the basement spread across his lap.

"Just one," Dad called over, still reading it through with intense curiosity, "Archangels can shield themselves and up to ten others from all spells and summons but there's a catch that you may not like, Gabriel..."

"What is it?" he turned away from me to look at him.

"It's a similar to the rib carvings but it's very complex. There's a lot more to it... and, well, the carvings have to be engraved on the soul..." Dad explained and Gabe pulled an annoyed face, "It sounds terribly painful for both of us but it's the only one I could find..."

"What does it need? What ingredients?"

"Uh... blood from all involved, a shark tooth, dried dragon hide and some Alkahest... I have no idea how we're gonna get all tha- ...Gabriel?" we both looked up, puzzled, as he disappeared, "Gabriel?"

"Where did he go?" Balthazar shrugged.

"Oops, sorry about that," Gabe suddenly appeared again in the centre of the room with what looked like sand in his hair, "Went shopping... to Nepal. They still have Alkahest, they just haven't found it yet. And, I broke into Bobby's storeroom to grab the dragon hide and tooth, he probably won't notice..." He set down the plastic bag he was carrying on the table before fishing out something else, "Oh yeah, and I nipped to Target and got some Skittles because... Skittles."

He left Dad to sort out the ritual, coming back to the couch and sitting beside me, his feet curled under him like a child. "Want one?" he offered me the already half empty packet and I gladly took a few.

"Come here, you've got sand all in your hair..." I pointed out, my voice muffled from the candy. He tried to duck away from my hands but I was quicker, ruffling his hair to dislodge all the sand nesting in it as he swatted me away, almost dropping his candy in the process.

"No- get off of me! Nooo! Balt, help me!" he protested but Dad just chuckled unsympathetically, "After all I've done for you!"

"Oh, come on, Gabe. Stop being such a child; you keep pointing out that your older than my Dad..."

"Darling, age doesn't equal maturity where Gabriel is concerned," Dad sighed, not even looking up as Gabe winked at me, "Thank you for proving my point there, Gabriel."

Gabe pouted and I couldn't resist going to poke his bottom lip. Unfortunately, he realised what I was planning and snapped at the last second, clamping my finger in his mouth and smirking at me. "Hey, that hurts. Let go."

"Nuh uh," Gabe mumbled through his teeth before saying something inaudible.

"What was that?" I asked in confusion. He rolled his eyes and tapped his cheek, signalling for me to kiss him.

I rolled my eyes and sighed at his antics, "Fine..." I leaned in towards his cheek but this time he was quicker, letting go of my finger and turning at the last moment to catch my lips with his own. I tried to pull away but he held the back of my head as warmth spread from his lips to mine and all I could taste was the sweetness of the Skittles which captivated me and kept me wanting more.

Eventually, my Dad must have looked up because Gabe was thrown back against the far wall, hard enough to make him groan in pain. He slid down to the ground as I turned to see my Dad, red with anger, glaring at him furiously, "Can you honestly not be a dick for just five minutes whilst I'm trying to save our bloody lives?!"

"S-sorry..." Gabe gasped, the force of the blow having completely winded him, "I-I don't know w-what came over me... S-she's your daughter, I g-get it. F-forgive me..."

I looked back over at my father, pleading silently with him not to hurt Gabe any more. He seemed to hear me as he glanced at me wearily, "Fine! Just... come and help me with this. Elizabeth, can you help him up?"

I nodded and went over to where he was still sprawled against the wall, carefully helping him up as he looked at me with curiosity the entire time. Just as I was about to let him stand on his own, he gently grabbed my shoulder and pulled me down to hear him whisper, "You... kissed back...?" There was a hint of confusion in his voice and it was reflected in his eyes as he looked back at me before heading over to where my Dad was preparing everything they needed.

"I think that's it," Dad suddenly announced, tearing me away from the thoughts of what had just happened.

"What do I have to do?" Gabe asked, careful to avoid my gaze as he read through the ritual, "My blood?" Dad nodded and handed him a knife, watching as his sliced into his palm and let it drip over the other ingredients before doing the same himself with a separate knife. "Now what?"

"It says to place your hand into the bowl and then do as you would to carve ribs with the substance on your hand," Dad explained before stretching the neck of his t-shirt over his shoulder to bare the top of his chest as Gabe did as he said, flinching slightly at the texture of the concoction as it covered his skin.

Cautiously, he placed it against Balthazar's skin, making Dad cry out in sudden agony. I jumped up to go to him but Gabe held his other hand out to stop me before screaming himself, his face contorting in pain. He let go of Dad, not able to hold on any longer as he fell to his knees but he still refused my help while Dad held himself up against the table. I felt helpless, watching them in pain, but I didn't want to interfere for fear of sabotaging the entire thing.

Finally, after more minutes of agony, the pain seemed to slow down in both of them and, as Dad made his way to sit down on the chair behind him, Gabe thankfully let me help him, "Beth..." he gasped.

I rushed forward and helped him up, holding him tightly to ensure he remained standing before guiding him over to the couch and laying him down on it. "Did it work?" I knelt down beside him as he nodded, his eyes closed in exhaustion. It seemed to have drained all of his energy but, with some rest, he could probably recover fully. "Get some rest," I instructed, turning to go to my Dad but he caught my wrist before I went, pulling me back and leaning up to kiss my cheek.

"Alright," he smiled, closing his eyes as my face turned red, "Go and check on your Dad..."