It's another two months before Sam and Dean make it back to Erika's, Halloween, and whilst not exactly a holiday they like to celebrate they can't avoid it. The two brothers stand in the doorway to the bar looking in, they share an amused look before looking back to Erika, who is dancing in what can only be described as a Dracula costume, on the tables, her hair all backcombed and wild. Dean smiles watching her, after a bad two months this is nice, coming back to her. It's not exactly a normal relationship, for starters she's a vampire and he's a hunter. But he doesn't care. This is the most he's felt like home in years, and it's because of her. Erika spins on the table and her eyes find him, she smiles, beams at him, like the world around her is forgotten. She jumps down and disappears into the crowd before she is at his side pulling him into a kiss, he smirks and kisses her back.
"Hey" he greets pulling back, Erika licks her lips.
"Hey, yourself, love" she coos grabbing hold of his jacket and smirking at him.
"Hello, Erika" Sam states, she looks to him.
"Hey gorgeous" she coos, Sam chuckles.
"You know, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to drink the stock" he teases, she smirks and bites her lip.
"I do what I want" she teases back.
"I'm going to grab a beer," Sam tells them heading to the bar, Dean pulls Erika closer and kisses her.
.......................
Dean lays with Erika's head on his chest, she traces patterns across his stomach, his strokes her back.
"Lindsey's my bar manager, but I'm still training her and the rest of the new staff up, especially with the new drinks menu and the food...and all the theme recipes" Erika explains. "It's taking longer then I wanted but...once it's done I can...I can come with you, if you still want me to" she coos lifting her head from his chest, Dean smiles and strokes her cheek.
"Yeah, I do," he tells her. "Do you think I would keep coming back if I didn't" he teases and pokes her nose.
"Any luck on the Colt?" she asks, he shakes his head.
"But we did find a....what was it Cas called him?....A cambion?" Erika sits up.
"A cambion....half-demon, half-human, fascinating" her eyes sparkle. "What was he like? How powerful was he? Where is he now?" Dean raises an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"Just...you" he offers. "Still surprising me" she smiles at him. "He was just a kid, Eri, and he was being dragged into the angel/demon pissing match" Dean scoffs. "The world is falling apart" Erika leans closer and kisses him.
"And you'll fix it," she tells him pulling back touching his chest, he strokes her hair and shakes his head.
"I don't know if I can" he admits twirling a strand of her hair.
"Well...I believe in you" she tells him.
"Why?" he asks disbelievingly. He can't understand what this vampire sees when she looks at him, she shrugs and smiles, he brushes his thumb over her cheek. "Tell me" he whispers.
"I don't think you're ready, love" she answers. "Not just yet" he threads his fingers into her hair and smirks pulling her closer.
"But you will tell me?" he asks.
"One day" she answers and kisses him before pulling back and snuggling into his neck.
...............
1000+ years ago: A 16-year-old Erika braids a 13-year-old Rebekah's hair as they sit outside the hut they call home, Rebekah has a pile of daisies at her side and is chaining them together with a smile. Samael leans against the stable side watching the two girls, a smirk on his lips. Erika looks up and across at him and he's utterly lost. He had been planning on corrupting her, twisting her, turning her soul dark, but the depth of her eyes and that perfect face and that smile, his entire plan has changed, he wants her. Across from them is current, present Erika, she stands watching them, she knows this is a dream, Lucifer appears next to Erika and holds out a bag of chips.
"Cool ranch puff?" he asks, she shoots him a look.
"No, thanks"
"No? It's funny, isn't it? You'd think the king of hellfire would be more of a flaming hot guy, but love these bad boys" she raises an eyebrow at him. "You're not busy, are you?" he asks her.
"Actually, shocker, love, I am busy. And it's really not a good day for... your... 'Luciferness'. So I'm going to wake up now" she tells him and then pokes his nose. "Boop" she teases, he looks towards dream teen her and Samael. He smiles. Samael leans on a tree smirking down at teen Erika who looks up at him all innocent and naïve.
"That was the moment I knew you would be mine, the moment I knew you were not like the others of your kind," Lucifer tells Erika warmly, he looks to her. "The moment I fell in love with you" Erika tightens her jaw and hangs her head. "You're staling.....I want Sam"
"No" she tells him, Lucifer turns and raises an eyebrow at her.
"No?" he asks, she shakes her head.
"No, I'm not doing it anymore..." he grabs her throat and tilts her head back.
"Then I'll kill the other one" he whispers. "The one you are so fond of. Dean, isn't it?" Erika closes her eyes. "Do as I say, gimme what I want and I'll let him live" she looks to him. "I will kill him" he promises. "And I will do it painfully, and I will make you watch, you know I will....." she closes her eyes again, he kisses her, biting her lower lip.
..................
Erika wakes and takes a breath, she leans on her knees and threads her fingers through her hair. Dean wakes and looks to her.
"Eri?" he asks sitting up, touches her back, moving it to her neck. She looks to him. "Your lips bleeding" Dean states wiping the blood from her lip, she touches it as it heals. "Eri?" she lifts her eyes to him. "You okay?" he asks quietly. She nods and smiles.
"Of course, love" she answers. He kisses her head and lays down, pats his chest, she smiles softly and lays back down, curls around him.
.....................
Erika touches Dean's jacket and pouts at him, he kisses her and smirks.
"Not two months, love" she warns him. He nods and strokes her cheek. "Just in case" she starts. "I know it's only the 1st November but you and Sam....you two are more than welcome here for Christmas," she tells him. "I'll even get a tree" she teases.
"Hmm will you wear that Santa dress?" he asks moving his hands to her backside, she smirks.
"If that's what it takes" she purrs and kisses his nose, he smirks and kisses her.
"I'll call you" he promises backing away, she nods and smiles a little. She waits, watches Sam and Dean climb into the impala before it pulls away.
........................
Erika walks back into her bar and sighs, Lucifer sits at her piano wearing a smirk. She walks past him and into the apartment, ignoring him, he stands and follows her.
................
Lucifer watches Erika set a coffee mug under the machine nozzle, he moves closer to her. He touches her hand and she jerks it away, he smirks and kisses her neck pressing himself up against her back, trapping her against the counter.
"Let me tell you something" he starts running his hand down her side. "No matter what happens. You will always come running back to me" Lucifer tells her, curling his hand around to her stomach. "Because you just can't help yourself" he purrs in her ear. "I was your first" Erika turns to him and presses her hand to his chest pushing him back.
"Let me make myself perfectly clear, love. I will never, ever, ever sleep with you again. Never. Okay? Got it?"
"Playing hard to get. I like it" he teases flicking his forked tongue over her nose.
"When Hell freezes over, Lucifer," she tells him walking away.
"I can arrange that, actually" she shoots him a look and walks into her bedroom, slams the door behind her.
...................
Four days later: Erika sits with Klaus as he feeds off some young blonde thing. Erika rolls her eyes and looks to her own glass of blood before her cell phone pings with a text. She sets her drink down and picks up her phone, opening the message, before her eyebrow raises.
"What?" she asks, Klaus looks to her and raises his own eyebrow. She turns her phone to him and the eyebrow goes higher, he smirks. "It's not funny," she tells him turning the phone back to dial Sam's number "What the bloody hell are you two involved in?" She asks, Sam chuckles down the phone.
"Dean got tapped by a he-witch playing poker" Sam answers. "And now he's 80 years old"
"I swear, you two will be the death of me" she teases. "Have you got a plan, love? To get him turned back?"
"We're...working on it" Sam offers. "Hey, Dean, wanna talk to Eri?"
"You called her?!" Dean shouts, Erika bites her lip amused. "What did you do that for?"
"I think he's worried you won't find him attractive anymore," Sam tells Erika.
"Dude, shut up!" Dean complains.
"I don't know, love, he's kind of like a sexy Hugh Hefner now"
"Oh, Hugh Hefner, really??" Sam asks, Dean stops shouting.
"Gimme that" Dean snatches the phone from his brother who smirks. "Hey" Dean greets.
"Hey yourself, love" she greets back.
"Hugh Hefner?" he asks.
"Uh-huh, Hugh Hefner" she answers biting her lip.
"I suppose it's not too bad then" he grumbles. She smiles. "You okay?" he asks.
"Of course, love, just.....miss you" she admits, he smirks.
"Yeah? Miss you too" he admits back. "Bobby's just got back, I'll call"
"Look forward to it, love," she tells him before hanging up, she smirks at the picture on her phone as Klaus sends her a look, she shrugs back.
..................
A week later: Erika looks to her phone and sighs, again, it's been three days since she's heard from Dean, he's normally pretty predictable, even if he can't call he'll send a text and she's had nothing. She throws the phone down and then bites her lip, she can't believe she's going to do this. She clasps her hands together and closes her eyes.
"Hello, Eris" Castiel greets appearing behind her.
"Surprised you came," Erika tells him picking her drink up from the table.
"Why? You admitted that you have faith" he tells her back. "Why is it so surprising I'd listen?" she shrugs.
"You know who I am, what I am.......who I loved"
"A thousand years ago" he reminds her. "You've changed" she looks to him. "Your....fate has changed" she raises an eyebrow at him. "Why did you pray?" he asks.
"I'm worried about them," Erika tells Castiel. "I haven't heard from either of them in days, and neither one is picking up their cell phones"
"That is....strange" the angel agrees.
"I thought you could...I don't know.." Erika drinks her whiskey. "Do something" she tells him sitting in her armchair.
"I will..." he tells her. "I thought you would be with them" she cocks her head.
"I'm not their pet" she argues. "Plus training my bar staff....." He cocks his head. "And drinking" she adds. He raises an eyebrow before disappearing. Erika sighs and shakes her head.
......................
In a warehouse: The Trickster claps.
"Well played, boys. Well played. Where'd you get the holy oil?"
"Well, you might say we pulled it out of Sam's ass" Dean answers.
"Where'd I screw up?"
"You didn't. Nobody gets the jump on Cas like you did" Sam answers.
"Mostly it was the way you talked about Armageddon" Dean adds.
"Meaning?"
"Well, call it personal experience, but nobody gets that angry unless they're talking about their own family"
"So which one are you? Grumpy, Sneezy, or Douchey?" Sam asks.
"Gabriel, okay? They call me Gabriel"
"Gabriel? The archangel?"
"Guilty"
"Okay, Gabriel. How does an archangel become a trickster?"
"My own private witness protection. I skipped out of heaven, had a face transplant, carved out my own little corner of the world. Till you two screwed it all up"
"What did Daddy say when you ran off and joined the pagans?" Dean asks.
"Daddy doesn't say anything about anything"
"Then what happened? Why'd you ditch?" Sam asks.
"Do you blame him? I mean, his brothers are heavyweight douchenozzles" Dean answers for Gabriel.
"Shut your cakehole. You don't know anything about my family. I love my father, my brothers. Love them. But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't bear it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again"
"Then help us stop it"
"It can't be stopped"
"You wanna see the end of the world?"
"I want it to be over! I have to sit back and watch my own brothers kill each other thanks to you two! Heaven, hell, I don't care who wins, I just want it to be over"
"It doesn't have to be like that. There has to be some way to, to pull the plug" Sam offers, Gabriel laughs.
"You do not know my family. What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner. That's why there's no stopping this, because this isn't about a war. It's about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. You'd think you'd be able to relate"
"What are you talking about?"
"You sorry sons of bitches. Why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan. You were born to this, boys. It's your destiny! It was always you! As it is in heaven, so it must be on earth. One brother has to kill the other"
"What the hell are you saying?" Dean asks.
"Why do you think I've always taken such an interest in you? Because from the moment Dad flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all gonna end with you.....and her of course" he adds, Dean and Sam frown. "Erika Mikaelson. Eris. The Hybrid. The abomination. The vampire queen of New Orleans" Gabriel smirks. "She's destined to go dark....to become Lucifer's Eris" Sam and Dean look down, then at each other. Sam nods to his brother.
"No. That's not gonna happen. None of it is"
"I'm sorry. But it is" Gabriel sighs. "Guys. I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow...but this is real, and it's gonna end bloody for all of us. That's just how it's gotta be. So. Boys. Now what? We stare at each other for the rest of eternity?"
"Well, first of all, you're gonna bring Cas back from wherever you stashed him" Dean tells him.
"Oh am I"
"Yeah. Or we're going to dunk you in some holy oil and deep-fry ourselves an archangel" Gabriel snaps his fingers. Castiel appears. "Cas, you okay?"
"I'm fine. Hello, Gabriel"
"Hey, bro. How's the search for Daddy going? Let me guess. Awful" Castiel glares.
"Okay, we're out of here. Come on, Sam" Dean turns and walks away.
"Uh. Okay. Guys?" Sam follows Dean. "So, so what? Huh?" Castiel follows Dean. "You're just gonna, you're gonna leave me here forever?" Dean stops at the door and turns back.
"No. We're not, 'cause we don't screw with people the way you do. And for the record? This isn't about some prize fight between your brothers or some destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your family" Dean pulls the fire alarm. Gabriel looks up; the sprinklers go off. "Don't say I never did anything for you" Gabriel glares. Castiel looks back for a moment.
"You're wrong" Castiel tells him. "About Erika...." Dean looks to Castiel. "She has her...demons, but she would do anything for them" Castiel nods to Sam and Dean. "Even destroying her own fate" Castiel leaves, then Dean, Sam right behind.
.................
The Impala is exactly where Dean and Sam left it. Dean and Sam go up to it. Castiel hangs back.
"All that stuff he was spouting in there, you think it was the truth?" Dean asks.
"I think he believes it."
"So what do we do?" Dean asks.
"I don't know"
"Well, I'll tell you one thing. Right about now I wish I was back in a TV show"
"Yeah, me too" Sam gets into the car, Dean looks to Castiel who nods.
"About what you said, about Erika...." Dean starts.
"She'll be fine, Dean," Castiel tells him. "She's just....a little lost" Dean nods and then climbs into the car.