The Confectionary Chronicles || HP/SPN

Lollies and Loki- CH42

Three of the five demon-witches that he'd found convened in the house were now dead; only two remained, one both furious and terrified as it huddled back against the basement wall and one currently possessed by the demon. Instead of trying to escape after Gabriel had surprised the coven, the demon had led them all down to the basement and, after the first trap was sprung on him, Gabriel had realised why. Now, several traps later, he was just plain pissed off.

"Leave now, or pay the price," the demon warned him, baring its meat-suit's teeth as it made its impotent threats, "this is your one chance to live!"

"Let me think," Gabriel snarked, glaring back at it, "fuck no."

"Fool!" it hissed, before abruptly spinning in place and driving a dagger through the heart of the last remaining demon-witch, barring the one whose body it was wearing. The dagger immediately flared a violent, bloody red and around them, symbols appeared on the dark, stone floor of the basement, flaring the same bloody red. It fairly reeked of blood magic, pain and suffering as the demon-witch's dead body collapsed to the ground, dagger still buried in her heart, her blood pooling out and soaking into the stone, joining the blood of those that had come before her, adding power to the dark curse.

That, of course, was the moment when Hermione's sharp, panicked, fear-soaked prayer reached him.

And when Gabriel immediately stretched his wings, demon forgotten as he responded to her call– the curse snagged at him, just as the demon simultaneously attacked.

It was a short, brutal, bloody fight, the coven's blood curse tearing Gabriel's vessel apart, even as he, in turn, tore the possessed demon-witch apart, then seized onto the panicked demon as it attempted to flee and smote it from existence in a bright, punishing burst of grace. The blood-curse took a frustrating, terrifying near thirty seconds of finagling to disentangle from himself before it dissipated from existence, and it took another terrifying eleven seconds to put his vessel back together and vanish the blood, before, with a single, powerful beat of his three-sets of wings, he followed the call of his own grace to Hermione's side.

He could have cried out in relief to see that his precious, precious priestess was still alive, was still in the library, even, except the place looked like it had been hit by a hurricane. He barely had eyes for the destruction, however, too distracted by how Hermione was doubled over, apparently having been physically ill. When she looked up at him, with teary, accusing eyes, he felt his metaphorical heart breaking in his chest.

He was more relieved than words could express when she fell into his arms in a flood of tears, though it didn't take her long to pull herself together, her mind turning to the others in the library, that bleeding heart of hers far too big for her tiny frame.

As he glanced around the room, Gabriel briefly froze as his eyes passed over two small boys. Frankly, he was shocked that he hadn't seen them earlier; it was almost unfathomable to him, that he could have missed the pair. The Righteous Man(Boy)'s soul burned bright like magnesium, while Lucifer's True Vessel had a soul as radiant as starlight. And, of course, it was those two boys, the Winchester brothers, the children of John Winchester, the man beginning to make a name for himself as an obsessive hunter who didn't discriminate between the harmless and the malevolent supernatural when he killed, the future True Vessels for the destined apocalyptic death match between his siblings, that Hermione went straight towards.

Gabriel felt tense, watching her interact with the Winchesters. At first, he burned with protective fury, watching how the older child's insensitive words sent Hermione back to tears– though it did give him a better idea of what had happened, as did editing the memories of the library's patrons, considering there was no body– and then he just felt agitated as he observed the starlight soul tentatively prod against the brilliant sunshine of his Hermione, while burning magnesium hovered protectively next to them.