Chapter Text
Dean and Sam walked into the diner in Lebanon, KS. As they exchanged smiles with the familiar owner they scanned the layout, only to have their eyes land on a young woman standing by a booth, giving them a small wave. She bore little resemblance to her cousin, Aaron Bass, who had called the boys requesting their help, save for her dark brown hair that was tucked under a knitted cap, and her height. She wore thick librarian-style tortoise-shell glasses over a round face with little or no make-up on it. On her body was a thin, comfortable looking hoodie, a jean skirt that went to her knees, and grey leggings, with her feet in a pair of cloth flats. The outfit screamed college student, though she had the ambiguously aged look of a woman in her mid-twenties. She was surprisingly tall for a woman, almost eye level with Dean, and she had enough curves that they were visible even under the roomy sweatshirt.
“Rebecca?” Dean shook hands with the young woman.
“Yes, so good to meet you!” She exclaimed with nervous excitement. “Aaron and I really appreciate all your help. I hate to inconvenience you both, but you’re really helping us out of a bind.”
“What was it you were looking into? Aaron didn’t really say.” Sam inquired.
Rebecca’s eyes lit up and she reached into a messenger back on the seat as they each took a seat. “Well, I was sifting through old letters of my grandfathers, following any breadcrumbs I could. I came across all sorts of research the Thule Society was doing on anthropology. They were obsessed with finding the origins of the Aryan race. Most of it is superstitious and incredibly racist, but they started to get really detailed about creatures called ‘Nephilim’. Have you ever heard of them?”
Rebecca turned her notebook sideways so that the boys could see her notes. The pages were covered in a mix of English and Hebrew writing, arrows, doodles, words written in margins, or scratched out messily.
“Yeah, they’re the offspring of angels and humans.” Dean replied.
“Well, legend says that the Aryan race was started by them. But what fascinated me was the emphasis on Angels, specifically the Angels of the Book of Enoch.”
On the following page was a list of Hebrew words, followed by what appeared to be book references. Lower on the page were the words “War”, “Pestilence”, “Famine”, and “Death”, followed by dates, events and casualties.
“What are these words here?” Sam asked, pointing at the Hebrew words.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t transcribe them.” She quickly started to scribble in the Latinized names, ‘Yeqon’, ‘Asbeel’, ‘Gadreel’…
“Gadreel?” He exclaimed.
Rebecca looked at him wide eyed. “You know that name?”
Dean cut in, “What does it say about him?”
“Nothing! Just that he’s partly responsible for the fall of man. That’s it though, it all falls short. It’s just names. But you have to understand. The Thule Society was trying to use the occult to help the Nazi war effort. That included the Kabbalistic spells used by the Baalim Shem; the spells that brought the Golem into being. These Rabbis had all sorts of rituals for using esoteric names of angels. I think the Thule Society was trying to summon Angels, and I think they were trying to bring about the Apocalypse.”
“Okay, slow down here…” Dean started, but Rebecca immediately interrupted.
“Look, I know it’s crazy. Hell, I wouldn’t have even put the pieces together, Revelations isn’t even Jewish, but look at the details!” She pointed to the notes at the bottom of the page. “1914 - 1918, World War I, over 37 million dead, 1939 - 1945, World War II, over 60 million dead, 1917 - 1922, Russian Revolution, over 5 million dead, Russian Famine of 1921, over 5 million dead, Soviet Famine of 1932-1939, over 6 million, between 1941 and 1945 famine accounted for 15 million deaths, in 1918 the Spanish flu infected 500 million people worldwide, accounting for almost 100 million deaths. That’s three of the Four Horsemen, and over 200 million dead, and then the Thule Society finds a way to bring the dead back to life. Even if I didn’t believe in this stuff, I’d be freaked out.”
Dean hushed her “Okay, we can’t talk about this here. Come back with us to the bunker.”
Rebecca followed them back to the bunker. Once inside, her eyes lit up, and she moved around the main room poking at everything, commenting on how exciting everything looked. Dean brought her back to earth.
“Okay, why would the Nazis, or anyone, want to bring about the Apocalypse?”
Rebecca sighed and turned to him. “I’m not really sure, but I’m guessing that they figured only the master race would survive, or perhaps that they could bring back only the most desirable. It’s really just an idea; an educated one, but I could be wrong.” As she was speaking to them, she noticed that both boys were visibly upset. “You’re scared.” She realized, and a chill ran down her spine.
“Okay,” Sam said calmly, “the whole point was to see if we could find more information. Let’s just take a breath and see what turns up. Rebecca, you’re probably exhausted from the drive, can I get you some coffee?”
“That would be Heaven, thank you. I’ll start getting my research organized.”
They each got settled. Sam brought over two cups of fresh coffee.
“So, you’re Aaron’s cousin. Rabbi Bass was your grandfather as well?”
“Yes, my mother’s father. There’s only the two of us and my sister on that side.”
“Aaron said he was the last remaining member of the Judah Initiative when we last saw him.”
“Neither of us really knows what happened to the other Rabbi’s, but we assumed because of the war, our grandfather was the only one to escape with the Golem and the secrets of the JI. Then, Grandpa only had one son, who showed no interest in taking up the mantel, and then one grandson, in whom he placed all his remaining hope.”
“But why didn’t he try to recruit all his grandchildren?”
Rebecca looked at her hands. “My grandfather was a good man; a great man, and a wonderful rabbi. But, he came from a different generation. The Judah Initiative was a society of rabbis.”
“And women can’t be rabbis.” Sam finished.
“Not traditionally, no.” She resumed eye contact with him. “But that’s changing. I always loved learning with my grandpa. He impressed upon us how powerful knowledge is, and I took it to heart. I’ve wanted to follow in his footsteps since I was a child.”
“So I get why dear-old-granddad didn’t name you heir to the JI throne, but why didn’t Aaron get ahold of you when he first got the Golem?” Dean cut in.
“Well, he was in shock. First our grandfather spontaneously combusts after leaving a cryptic voice message, then a giant clay homunculus arrives on his doorstep, and then two corn-fed good-ole-boys with guns help him kill Nazi wizards. He may have been a tad distracted.”
Dean shut-up.
“When the dust settled, he called the only person who knew Grandpa Bass’ stories better than anyone else. Me.”
“And you became the second member of the Judah Initiative.”
“And it’s first woman.” She added proudly.
They pulled all sorts of books, letters and news clippings. Sam was looking for anything about the Judah Initiative collected by the Men of Letters, while Rebecca looked for information about Gadreel.
“Gadreel’s name in Hebrew is ‘gader ha-el’, the ‘wall of God’. He’s said to be the Angel who stood at the gates of Paradise.” Rebecca informed them while she browsed.
“Right, he let Lucifer into the Garden of Eden, causing the downfall of man.”
“Get this! In the book of Enoch, he’s listed as one of the father’s of nephilim. That’s why he’s listed in my notes. The names were the five angels listed as being responsible for the downfall of men by getting to close, sharing Heavenly secrets, compromising their orders.”
“Sort of like Prometheus.” Sam added.
“Exactly like Prometheus. Apparently, these fallen angels went as far as to take human mistresses, the ultimate transgression.”
Dean suddenly became interested “Do you think that might be how Lucifer got the slip on him? He was too busy making a move?”
Sam and Rebecca shared a glance. “It would make sense.” She replied.
“That would explain why he was punished so severely.” Added Sam.
“Lucifer didn’t just get the jump on him, he slipped in while Gadreel was disobeying orders.” Dean continued.
“What else does it say?” Sam asked Rebecca.
“Um…” she read on, “He was replaced by Uriel after humanity was expelled from the Garden of Eden wielding a Flaming Sword… that’s weird… why is that capitalized?”
Sam leaned over to see, and she turned the book towards him. “There’s a reference here. Just a sec.” He got up and scanned the bookshelves, pulled a book and matched the reference. “Flaming Swords, they can be used to open portals to different realms. Seems like one was used to create the portals in Purgatory.”
“Does it say how to find one?” Dean asked.
“No, it just gives examples of ones that have existed. They were used to cut paths between all sorts of worlds, Purgatory, Earth, Hell, Avalon even.”
“Like the Hell Gate. If we find this, do you think we can open up Heaven again?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Rebecca looked at them concernedly. “Is this why you were so interested in Gadreel? Could he have been the one responsible for the ‘would-be-Armageddon’?”
In the excitement, the boys had forgotten about her ‘Horseman’ theory.
“No,” Sam concluded “Not at that time, but it’s possible he’s looking for it now. But do you think it’s possible the Thule had it?”
“Or they were looking for it.” Rebecca confirmed.
“Think Cas might know a thing or two about it?” Dean added.
“Might as well ask.”
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Castiel stood at the edge of Navy Pier, looking out across Lake Michigan when Hannah found him.
“What did Gadreel have to say?” she asked.
“Gadreel still believes in his mission. He will not concede.”
“Then it is war.”
“No. I do not wish to fight my brothers and sisters anymore. There must be another way. I just need more time to find it.” He insisted.
Just then, his phone rang. It was Dean.
“Heya Cas, we have a question for you. What do you know about WWI & II and the Four Horsemen?”
Castiel paused and became even dourer. “Where did you hear about that?”
“Aaron Bass and his cousin have been looking into some stuff with the Judah Initiative. They asked for our help.”
“It’s not an easy subject.”
“But there is something to it?” Dean asked surprised.
“I do not wish to discuss it over the phone. Perhaps the next time we meet.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in Chicago at the moment.”
“We can be there tomorrow.”
There was silence as Castiel felt conflicted between his longing for his friends and his desire to protect them from his troubles.
“If you wish. I’ll be here.” He relented.
“Good. See you then.”
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Dean sat in the library, a double of whiskey and a bottle in front of him, deep in thought, when Rebecca interrupted him. “Getting started early I see.” She sat herself on the table top next to him, stole his glass, and downed it in one without even flinching.
“Where’d you lean to drink like that?” Dean asked lazily.
She smiled shyly. “Um… Israel.”
“Israel?”
“Yeah… A year in Midrasha and a year in the Army.”
“You served?”
She nodded. “As a Machal, a Jewish volunteer.”
“Combat unit?”
She nodded again.
“You don’t seem the type.”
“Nope.” She confirmed.
“Why’d you join?”
She shrugged. “Stubbornness, I guess. I have a tendency to do things just because they’re not normally done.”
“A true rebel.”
She breathed a laugh. “I guess I also wanted to know what it was like. All my Israeli friends had to serve. I didn’t want to be left out.”
“Was it worth it?” He asked.
She looked past him. “Every minute.”
She said this without pride or satisfaction, but with sheer honesty. When she met his gaze again, he saw something in her, as though she was letting him see past her walls. She had the hardened look of someone who had been through the flames but made it out whole. She hadn’t been consumed by the fire; she had been forged in it.
Then the moment passed and she smirked, grabbing the bottle and pouring another shot.
:to be continued: