"Look, I have been around all stripes of Vince, all right? Drunk Vince, depressed Vince, megalomaniacal "I'm a Golden God" Vince. The Vince who threw me through that door... that wasn't him. And it wasn't just his eyes, man. I- I mean, the strength. He was like- he was like an MMA fighter. Hell, he was like twenty."
I frown at the man in front of us, Tommy, his name is. He's in a band with Vince Vincente, or he was before Vince got possessed by Satan. He's telling us a little of what happened.
"If you hear from him, don't hesitate to call," Castiel says beside me, handing Tommy a card.
"Okay, Agent... Beyoncé?" Tommy reads in disbelief, looking up at Cas incredulously. Cas nods his head at him. I roll my eyes as we stand up and I pull Cas away from him before he can ask anymore questions.
"Really, Beyoncé?" I ask. "You could pick a famous guy instead." Cas doesn't say anything, only frowns.
Cas and I met up a few days ago. He dropped me back off at my motel room and left, but now we're both in Cleveland on this Lucifer thing. I got here first and then he did a day later, and we decided to just work together. I definitely don't mind working with Cas. I feel like I don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing to him.
"I guess that makes me Agent Jay Z."
I groan as we pass by the bar and spot a familiar face. Crowley is sitting there sipping a drink. I'm really getting sick of this guy. So is Cas, apparently, judging by the less than happy look on his face.
•••
"You... one of these days I'm going to kill you, and it's going to be great," I say casually as the three of us walk back to Cas's truck. Though, I don't know why Crowley's still following us, I'm not going anywhere with that dickhead.
"Save your breath, dear," Crowley tells me. I narrow my eyes but don't say anything. He turns to Cas. "Bumping into each other, working the same leads. What are the odds, Cassie? Fate brought us together." I scoff as I go to my bike which is parked right next to Cas's ford truck.
I zip my jacket up and grab the helmet as I listen to Cas and Crowley bicker. "I'm not interested."
"No ones interested!" I say loudly.
"Why not? We made a somewhat effective team against Amara," Crowley is saying to Cas. "It's been months, I mean, months since we last tried to kill each other–"
"And I'll be trying again very, very soon," I say. I really wish this guy would just go away. I mean he's okay, but he's a sucky partner compared to Cas. Though a little naive about some things, Cas is a lot nicer than Crowley and he's not always telling me how he would like to kill me.
"We all got very, very good reasons to want Lucifer dead," Crowley points out. "Besides, while you two were gabbing with Vince's second fiddle, I was ransacking his room. Found these. Postcards from his beloved sister Wendy. Oh lookie here. An address and everything. Worth a look."
I scowl as Crowley throws the cards on the truck seat. Cas picks one up and examines it.
"What's the address?" I ask. Crowley smirks.
•••
I reach Wendy's house first, with Cas following shortly behind me. Crowley is riding with him, which I don't understand because the demon could just teleport. I guess he likes annoying Cas that much.
"You're slow," I say as I get my helmet off, as Cas and Crowley are getting out of the truck.
"You look bloody ridiculous on that thing," Crowley tells me. I glare at him.
"Well, I don't–" I begin, but then I notice Cas standing next to his truck, crouched in front of the mirror and fixing his hair. I laugh a little. "Yeah, I'm the one who's ridiculous."
I hang my helmet on the handlebar and take the keys out before walking up to the house.
I make the mistake of letting Cas stand closest to the door. The woman who I can only assume is Wendy answers, opening the door looking tired. "Hello," Cas greets her, pulling his badge out a little awkwardly. "I'm Agent Beyoncé, and these are my partners, Agent Z, and Granger. Um, we wanted to ask you a few questions about your bro–"
Wendy closes the door.
"–ther," Cas turns to Crowley. "Do you think that happens to Sam and Dean?"
"Oh, all the time," Crowley says. I lift my hand and smack Crowley in the back of the head.
A second later the demon disappears. "Stupid. This is why we shouldn't work with demons!" I say a little more than irritated.
The door opens back up to reveal Crowley. I'm only shocked for a moment before stepping inside the house with Cas. "Ah, so Vince was here. Yesterday," Crowley says to Wendy, who's standing in the middle of the room with a phone in her hands
"Odd," Cas says. I furrow my eyebrows. "She's been recently healed."
"Is that so?" Crowley asks. "Let me guess– your brother got you up and walking again. And how are you enjoying the use of those legs? You know the gift he gave you, I can take away, like–"
Crowley raises his hand to snap his fingers, to do like he said, but Cas grabs a hold of his hand to keep from doing so.
"The thing that healed you," Cas begins. I glare at Crowley, making sure he won't do anything stupid. "That wasn't your brother. Something... something else, something old and evil. I- I think a part of you knows that. We don't want to hurt Vince. We want to help him."
I nod my head a little as Wendy looks at me.
"He showed up out of the blue and fixed me like a miracle," Wendy tells us. "But he did it cold, like... like it was nothing to him. Like he was running an errand. Barely said a word. And then he just took off with his groupie friend."
"His groupie friend?" I ask.
"Red-headed broad. Didn't say much," Wendy explains. I realize who she's talking about immediately. I remember Lucifer taking off with Rowena, but didn't think anything of it until now. Well, she's a witch and I don't really care for her, obviously I didn't worry too much.
"So, Vince's cabin in Sagamore Hills... apparently all of his greatest records were written there– 'Serpentine', 'Theater of Mercy',"
Crowley says as the three of us walk away from Wendy's house.
"I should've known there was something you weren't telling me," Castiel says a little bitterly to Crowley. "Rowena?"
"So mother and I had an unfortunate, if not rather embarrassing, run-in with Lucifer," Crowley says.
"It's not a big deal," I try to tell Cas. "So he took off with Rowena? No one cares." I wave my hand.
"Lucifer has made off with a colossally powerful witch who, by the way, is the only person alive who can slam him back in the cage," Crowley explains. "He will either kill her, control her, or she will offer her services to the biggest bad in town in order to save her neck, like she always does. Do any of those sound like particularly good outcomes to you?"
Cas doesn't look pleased with what Crowley's saying. "Oh, come on, he's just being–" I begin, but then my phone starts vibrating in my pocket.
"Hold on a sec," I say to Cas. I go to stand by my bike as I pull my vibrating phone out. I'm more than shocked to see Sam's name on the screen. For a second, I'm positive I don't want to answer, but then I remember telling him I would call. That was a few days ago. I hate breaking promises.
This guilt drives me to answer it. I take in a deep breath before I do so, a little nervous to talk to him. "Hello?" I say.
"Hey," Sam's voice comes through the phone. He sounds relieved that I answered, which is how I feel at hearing his voice for the first time in a few days. "I didn't know if you would answer. I thought you might be busy."
"I kind of owed you a phone call anyway," I point out. "How're things going? I mean, with your mom?" I ask, not knowing what to say. I feel kind of stupid asking that, but I also kind of want to know.
"Okay, I guess," Sam replies after a moment, but he sounds unsure. "I mean, I think she's having trouble adjusting. We're on a case right now, actually."
"Really, where?" I ask. I want to know how far away we are from each other.
"Minnesota," he answers. "Where are you?" He asks.
"Cleveland," I say. "Cas is here too."
"You're with Cas... looking for Lucifer?" Sam questions.
"Yeah, why? Is that a problem?" I ask, detecting something in his voice that sounds a little like doubt.
"No!" He defends quickly. "No. I mean, it's just that..."
"Aw, are you worried about me?" I tease as I get in my bike. Cas and Crowley are talking next to his truck still.
"Well, you make it easy," Sam says, teasing me a little right back.
"Come on," I say. "You know I can take care of myself."
"Of course I know that," Sam responds. "But this is Lucifer we're talking about here."
"Really, it's Lucifer? I thought we were talking about someone else," I say sarcastically. I hear Sam sigh through the phone.
"Just... be careful, okay?" He asks.
"Sure."
"Okay, hey I gotta go, Dean just walked in," Sam says.
"Okay, bye," I say, smiling a little.
"Bye," he says. I have a big smile on my face as I slide my phone back into my pocket.
•••
A few hours later, Cas, Crowley, and I are walking through Vince's cabin. I have an angel blade in my hand like the two in front of me. I'm gripping it tightly, waiting for Lucifer to pop out of nowhere.
"If you're looking or Lucifer, you just missed him," a voice tells us as we step out onto the back porch. I furrow my eyebrows and see Rowena sitting on the back porch casually, a drink in her hand. "Cup of tea?" She asks.
I look at Cas in confusion.
"Until you forced me to get back in the game, I'd tried to forget about Lucifer," Rowena is telling us as we walk back through the empty cabin. "I loathe him, and I loathe that I had any part in letting him out of the pit he belongs in."
I purse my lips together, remembering that day. The heat, Hell, Sam being stuck with Lucifer, the big fight, and then him getting out.
"So, you'll help us then?" Cas asks.
"Good god, no," Rowena responds. "That whole FBI pantsuit look? Not my hex bag. But if you get Lucifer cornered and find yourself in need, I'm there."
I smile gratefully at her, though I know she's not doing it for me.