Chapter 18

I just remembered Gabriel, he's been working on Asmodeus for who knows how long. With his imagination, I even feel sorry for the poor demon.

- Hey, mutant. - He's the little guy that showed up at my doorstep. He's a mind-reader or something.

- You done yet? - I mean, it's a rhetorical question. Is there anything left for me? - and I want to know the answer to that one.

- Of course, dinner's served. - and something incomprehensible fell in front of me. But if you use your imagination, it's still Asmodeus, most of it.

- You're a lousy chef. I'm not going in that piece of meat. - That's disgusting.

- But you're a great trainer, look. - and the archangel blew his whistle. The piece of meat moved and got down on all fours, it gave me the creeps, what a disgusting sight. - Leave your body and move into the guy next to me. - another order came out. Which the demon obeyed without delay.

Well, bon appétit.

The new tenant was mentally weak, and there was almost nothing left of his personality, so let him sit there, he's not even in the way. So he scratched at the wall, on his instincts alone, and settled down.

- You broke him quick. - It's a wonder, he's not just broken, he's actually destroyed.

- Eight years is not fast. - That even made me hover for a second.

Well, yes, it's quite consistent with his capabilities and character. The monster that lurks behind the face of man, you can't forget that.

- I've been wondering for a long time. - Why didn't you kill me the first time you met me? My bullets may have been hardened in holy fire and lubricated with Leviathan blood, but the wound was faint, more like a scratch.

- I was bored, and you were so interesting, so I felt sorry for the fool.

Now I know what is even beneath Hell is my self-esteem! She got a sensitive slap again. If there's a Fortune in this world, I'll give her a dozen souls when I meet her.

- And how did Asmodeus manage to catch me? - Staring at the demon's empty shell, Archangel asked. Oh, yeah, I didn't tell him.

- Lucifer killed Odin, almost killed you, so you went to the one who had already helped you. But for your father's death, he had you whipped. I think the sons also helped. How exactly they did it, I don't know. Apparently there was a way. - I had to jog my memory.

- Loki it is. - He was a feathery one," said the gloomy one.

- So much for his father. You think long and hard before you make up your mind, and if you need me, I've got your back. - He did not care for my advice and offer of help, but I got the nod. - Now get the grace here, you may need it at any time. - I very "subtly" changed the subject of the conversation.

- You mercenary bastard, all you want from me is my white liquid. - It sounded tragic and infinitely disgusting.

I did not have time to say my fi to his dirty jokes, I appeared in front of me briefcase.

When I opened it I saw a miracle, several large phials of grace, I thought it would be much smaller.

- You're a wanker, aren't you? - I said in shock. - How come there's so much?

- The grace of the Archangel, it's a universal currency. - my surprised face obviously put him in a good mood. - You're welcome to use it. I may have some urgent business to attend to soon. If I don't respond, you can deal with the fourth. - and flew away without saying goodbye.

I often do that myself, and as it turned out, it was annoying.

When I moved to my farm, I checked all the defenses, just for the sake of order. I put it in the safe for more security.

Yes, I have a farm nobody knows about, there is a secret bunker that nobody can find, and in it a safe that can not be opened.

Very much I hope that all of the above is at least a little bit true, I would not want to lose what has been gathered with all my hard work. And even more, I don't want to be found while I'm absorbing a demon and in fact remain completely helpless.

Now you can take the main course called Asmodeus, this time for my carcass no one will follow, so I was a little nervous.

Once again, a month of life to the dog in one place. Even the prince's lack of "brains" did not make me change the absorption scheme, I was still cautious and did not hurry unnecessarily.

Because of the demonic power that overwhelms me, my soul has darkened greatly, and there is almost no light left. Add to this five foreign elements in the form of divine grains and you get not a soul, but the creation of a crooked, self-taught chimera. Which, in fact, I am.

The disguise was beginning to come apart at the seams, but so far it held. I was not ready to use Gabriel's grace yet, not until after Azazel. Oh, I'm going to get sick of myself.

As usual, after a long absence, I checked on my aunt; she was fine, but the baby was sick, but I fixed her up.

It takes an enormous amount of strength to heal, it is necessary to "lighten up" urgently. Her husband has problems at work, so he sometimes abuses alcohol. Decided not to get involved yet, maybe it will work itself out.

There's also a couple of bloodsuckers in the house where it all started.

- Do you have any honey on you? - I asked the two decapitated bodies. But as expected, I got no answer. The house was a strange place, either vampires moved in or demons were summoned, so I had to burn it.

That's how I went about my business.

Killed all kinds of things. Even found a few gods, but they were weak and useless. They wouldn't do me any good, and their new powers would do my soul no good.

I had a strong "suspicion" that the barely audible whisper in the periphery of my consciousness was not good.

I was thinking that it was time to distract myself, and I was thinking that it was time for me to go back to the phase.

I thought it was time to visit my hunter friends, but my thoughts were interrupted by Ellen's frightened voice. She, too, knows of my ability to hear the call.

Canon is close, I realized as I looked at the reason for my call.

The bar was on fire, and there were people inside, still alive and not so much anymore. Ellen was standing not far from the building, terror frozen on her face.

Yeah, I stopped time almost immediately, after training I have about a minute. And started pestering people, healing along the way. Even brought a couple of them back to life.

It's lucky for them that they died just a few minutes ago and their souls are still with their bodies, so it's not hard to get them back. I can't do anything about it, there's no "power. Unless it's through a demonic contract.

That's what I'm talking about, the amount of power isn't everything. But even so, it was taking a hell of a lot.

- All right, Ellen, I'm here, calm down. - I got in front of her and gave her a hug. Apparently, she only managed to escape because she'd gone for pretzels in time, so I appreciated her burden.

- Adam there are people and Ash, help them!!! - and she's not supposed to be nervous.

- I'm not even human anymore? - Ash, who was one of the dead, spoke in a slightly smoky voice, and judging by the lost look on his face, he realized it.

- Apparently not. - I smiled. Only now Ellen realized that we are not alone at all, and that we are surrounded by a bunch of people from the bar, mostly hunters.

One of them told me what had happened.

- We were attacked by demons, and they set us and the building on fire. - He pointed with a frown at the remains of the building, and then looked at me and asked. - You're the one who got us out, your magic thing again?

- Sort of. - Let mankind know its hero.

Then the fire department, police, and ambulance arrived. There was a showdown, a confrontation and all sorts of nonsense. Everyone here got locked up, and I got the hell out of there.

Bobby's home in a jiffy. I should warn them about what happened and see how they're doing. Now that we're in the middle of something, it's time to get involved. But I didn't get a chance to say anything.

- Adam, I need your help right away. - The master of the house began without any preamble, and he looked sad and pale.

- Here I am, what happened? - I had my doubts.

- Sam's missing! - But we found him! Great. And then he was killed. He kept breaking the news.

Doubt was no longer vague.

- What the fuck, why didn't you call me? - I couldn't bring back someone who had died a long time ago at the behest of my left heel.

- They did when Sam got shot, but you didn't come. - There was an anger in his voice, not at me, but at the whole situation. But why didn't I hear it? Okay, that would have to wait.

- Next.

- Dean left an hour and a half ago-I think he wants to make a deal! - He went on with the news, but it was understandable that Winchester didn't have many options.

- Then what the fuck do you need me for, assholes. - he said, and at the same time he was looking for the middle one of the three morons.

Yeah, well, the signal wasn't coming in.

Yeah, I do.

The brothers listened to me and carried my witch pouches, which I used to pinpoint Dean's whereabouts.

I caught him and the demon kissing. That's awesome. But all was not lost yet.

The red-eye was about to leave, but I held her back and covered her with the illusion.

Dean took off to check the results, quick as a whistle. So we could use him. I don't need any more yelling, like, 'Stay out or Sam will die, because the demon said so.

- "Hand the contract over to me," I ordered. Maybe she wanted to object, but she couldn't.

She wouldn't be patronized for screwing up the whole Winchester contract, and it wasn't in her power to do anything about it.

It must be frustrating. She had to talk her way out of it before, but after taking over the three Dukes, it's much easier to control them.

- You have to pay, it's the law. - The demoness spoke in horror.

It makes sense.

Silently handed her two human souls. One for Dean, and one to pay for the bargain we had already struck. A sensual kiss, and the contract is now mine, felt nothing new, just knew.

Nobody likes witnesses, me included, so peace be upon her. I doubt very much that an order to keep quiet about who intercepted the contract would have been enough.

As it is, no body, no case.

Visited the place where Azazel was having gladiatorial fights between his kids. The town was covered by a very specific spell, something similar to the one that Gabriel had used during our "fight" in the desert. If it covered a whole archangel, what was a normal call to him?

Leaving this town, I realized it all worked. It's just that these two geniuses didn't think to call a second time.

Chalk it up to shock.

On the way back, I stopped by to check on Ellen and Ash. Just in time; they'd already sorted things out with the police and the others. Most of the hunters had already left. Without asking too many questions, I moved with them to Bobby's.

Dean wasn't here yet; he hadn't had time. Sam was already back in the world.

After I got the firefighters cleaned up quickly, I examined the walking dead man.

At first glance, everything seemed normal. The soul is bound to the body through the contract. If you just rip the younger one again a corpse, providential enough on the part of the red-eye.

These two smartasses don't know when to stop. I was distracted from my thoughts by Sam, who had been groping himself in various places before.

He was probably checking to see if everything was in place.

- Adam, what happened? All I remember is the pain in my back. Did you help me? Thanks, buddy. - So many questions, I can't keep up with the answers. I'm about to ruin his mood.

- Not me. Your alternatively gifted brother made a deal with a demon. - judging by his pale face again, he did.

- What? Is he an idiot? - The former corpse is in shock. First the father, now the older brother.

- Let's consider the question rhetorical. - Bobby intervened. - Were you able to do something?

- I did at the last minute, and now I'm the holder of the contract. - I calmed the couple down. - Sam, I'm gonna come inside you and we're gonna see if everything's okay, first person, so to speak.

- Yeah, go ahead. - He didn't argue, which made sense, it was in his own best interest.

Everything in Sam's head was the same as before, and we didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

Azazel's words about Sam being a bit sweaty after the resurrection were a common hoax, and that was a very good thing.

- All right. - replied to Bobby's questioning look, after returning to his carcass.

After a while, a very grim Dean returned.

And why would that be?

He didn't have time to say anything before he got his sad face slapped by his brother. Sam kneaded him silently and methodically, without pity. The older man didn't put up much of a fight.

Understands his joint. Bobby and I stayed out of their family squabble; we'd done all we could.

About twenty minutes of fiddling, stubborn.

- Winchesters stop it, we've got enough to do. - Mouthed me, picking them up with my telekinesis, taking a few seconds to clean up the aftermath of their fight, I continued. - Most likely what Yellow Eyes is planning to do today. - I got to the crux of the problem.

- Why today? - Bobby asked, he'd just gotten back from Ellen's. Helping her regain her composure after what happened.

- Apparently our Prince has already chosen his Queen of the ball, so there's no point in waiting any longer.

Ash joined us, holding a melted something in his hands. It turned out to be his laptop.

While I was checking to see why there was no signal he went into what was left of the bar and found his toy.

But almost everyone present was shocked to be asked to restore this creation of his dusky genius.

He is even willing to sign a knowledge contract for it. We are friends, of course, but I did not want to lose such an opportunity. Under the action of Chronos's power, the computer returned to its original state and appearance. I simply rewound the time back, specifically for this object and to the moment of the beginning of the damage. If you keep rewinding, there is a good chance that the information there will be lost.

That's exactly the information Ash wanted to share.

We've already figured out ourselves that the gate will be opened today. But it wouldn't hurt to confirm it.