Description: Humanity knew that not all of them were completely… human. There was the occasional growl between two arguing friends, a hiss from another, and the flash of demon-like eyes when one was frightened or angry. They knew it wasn't normal. They knew something was up, and sighed in relief when the shifter community 'came out of the closet.' Well, not really. More like the woods… and the sand… and the mountains… and the tundras... and just recently, the oceans. But not all of them revealed what they were, not yet.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Supernatural characters, they go to Kripke. The original characters and plotline totally go to me, though.
Castiel sighs at the older teacher's antic, lightly pushing the older shifter's feet off his lap as the omega pulls on one of the long sleeves of his thin sweater, a hint of irritation in his salty lemon and sand smell. The room is warm and a bit stuffy, making him kind of regret wearing the outfit he chose that morning. At least the school year is ending and it's the last day of the exams. "I am not going to go to the beach party, Dean. And don't you dare say that it's by salt water, it's not going to change my mind. Let me remind you, I live by the ocean."
Dean lets out a small groan, whipping ketchup off of his face. "You live by the ocean? How rich is your family?" At the look on Castiel's face, Dean rushes forward. "It's a rhetorical question, Cas. Besides, you still haven't told us what kind of shifter you are. We know you're a marine, so are you like a dolphin? Or something like a turtle?" Castiel just gives him a long look, the dark haired man just shaking his head.
"Come on, Cas! Please tell us!" The marine shifter ignores him as he stands up, moving around the desks of his classroom as he heads to the door as it opens. Standing in front of the door is a short, golden haired man.
He's wearing a plain grey sweater, a flour-covered apron thrown over it to protect the shirt from the materials its covered with. His pants are fitted and a dark blue color, faded in the knees area like he's been on them constantly while wearing them. Surprisingly, his scent is like cotton candy, honey, and salt with an alpha quality to it. His eyes are a whiskey gold color, an inner light dancing within them as the short man takes a look at the group of four shifters and one human sitting/standing around in the large history room.
The man's eyes narrow at Dean once he spots how close the wolf's chair is to Castiel's, a waft of protective marine alpha filling the room for several seconds before the younger snakes a hand around the other's free arm. "It took you long enough, Gabriel. I thought I was going to starve for a bit." The man -Gabriel- snorts, rolling his eyes as he steps into the room.
"I could never let you starve, Cassie!" Castiel winces at the nickname, giving a half hearted glare at the other marine shifter as he takes the held out bag. He moves back into the room, Gabriel trailing behind him. "What kind of older brother would I be if I did that? And here's your coffee, Charlie." He drops the cup in his hand onto the desk the lynx shifter is sitting at. "Enjoy it, kitten. It was personally made by yours truly: me. Anyways, I couldn't help but overhear about a little fish not wanting to go to a beach party, though. Why won't you go, Cassie? I bet it'll be fun for you, spread your fins while you're at it."
Dean grins, tail thumping against the chair happily despite the small feeling of fear from the new shifter in the room. "See, Cas! We're not the only ones who want you to go. It is a party just for the teachers."
"Really? Just for the teachers?" Another sigh comes from the taller of the marine shifters. "Dean, I heard that you bring your brother to the party. The others had said it happens yearly."
"And?" The wolf shifter raises an eyebrow, taking another bite out of his burger.
"And he's a lawyer." Charlie rolls her eyes as she steals a fry and ketchup off of Kevin's tray, watching Gabriel promptly move Castiel's chair away from Dean's. The marine shifter ignores the small growl from the much taller wolf, causing the lynx to smile.
"Castiel, Castiel. We are allowed to bring someone that isn't a student currently enrolled in a school district." Her smile turns into a smirk as Gabriel sits down between his brother and Dean, crossing his arms. So she wasn't the only one who figured out that their scents tend to mix whenever they're together. "Sam isn't a student enrolled in a school district. He shouldn't be, anyways. He is in his thirties."
"So does that mean that I can force Cassie to go and tag along?" The surrounding teachers nod or grunt their agreements, causing Castiel to make a sound of disagreement. Gabriel shoots a silencing look at Castiel. "It's been awhile since we both been at the beach. You heard what Dad said about the meeting with the other families coming up. He's been pushing us to take off the long sleeves and spread our fins to prepare for the long swim there."
Castiel sighs, shoulders slumping in defeat as he takes a bit out of the food. "Fine. As long as you don't ruin anything and be the one that tells Dad if one of us shows our scales to the wrong person on accident." Gabriel grins, the smell of his and the others happiness filling the room.
"Great. When's the party?"
"Tomorrow, at noon."
Gabriel smirks, messing up Castiel's hair even more than it already is. He quickly runs out of the room, his laughter joining the others at the irritated yell of his brother.
Sam trudges his way through the underbrush, following the scent of the client that was frightened and took off while they were talking. Police sirens sound somewhere behind him, some of the cops that came arresting the bear that had approached him and his zebra client.
Close behind the large wolf are two human cops, following him and their German shepherd companion. Sam can hear the shepherd -who knows that her humans call her Charlene and had immediately started referring to Sam as 'Wolfy'- searching the forest to his right for the scent of the zebra. Moving farther into the forest, Sam sniffs a nearby rose bush and gets a noseful of panicked zebra and blood. He must've hit the thorns when he went the bush.
Sam barks to gain the attention of the German shepherd and the cops, and they start walking is way. 'I found him,' the wolf says to the large dog as she draws closer. 'We need to head this way.' Charlene nods, wagging her tail as the cops catch up to them. At the cops' questioning looks, he lightly noses the rose bush before catching the scent and following it, Charlene close behind him.
The large canines soon get several yards ahead their human counterparts, the scent of the zebra getting stronger and stronger. Ahead of them, the sound of rushing water reaches them, along with the sound of mythical singing. Confused, Charlene moves ahead as Sam freezes, eyes wide as the singing slowly relaxes him. His ears drop as he moves forward, the singing getting louder and louder. Sam follows the smaller canine through a hole in a large wall of bushes, finding the sources of the scent and the singing.
His client stands by the large river, completely relaxed as he stares at the rocks next to him. And sitting on the rock is the top half of a shoulder length haired black woman with dark brown eyes, running a glowing hand down the zebra's slightly injured side, the skin stitching itself together. The woman's hands are webbed for an easier way of swimming, fins on her arms that'll probably make her faster. There's a dorsal fin on her back, blending smoothly into the skin there as it goes through the strapless black seashell bra she's wearing. The woman's waist goes from skin to scales, a tail like that of the mermaid tails Sam had seen on the Internet taking place of her legs, the scales a mix of black, brown, and grey in color. The tail's pelvic fins are long, their spins reaching down to where the scales stop and turn into the thin skin of the caudal fin. And the caudal fin… Sam lets out a somewhat dreamy sigh, moving forward to get a closer look. It's curved at the bottom for speed, it's own spins twice it's length.
Taking another step forward, one of his paws snaps a twig beneath it, causing the half woman half fish -mermaid, his mind supplies- freeze in her song. The entire forest holds still as the merman stares at the German shepherd and obvious wolf shifter, dark brown eyes widen in shock and a hint of fear. Quickly giving his zebra client's side a once over, the mermaid turns and dives off of the rocks, disappearing into the river with a small splash.
The forest goes back to normal, and the larger of the three mammals whimpers in fear. Sam quickly steps forward, shifting back to his human form. "Mr. Jones… James… it's me, your lawyer, Sam." The wolf says, trying to calm the other shifter down as one thing stayed on his mind. "It's alright, you're safe, everything is perfectly safe." Mermaids are real.
Michael sighs heavily as he and his father walks up to Gabriel's and Castiel's large house, wondering why Raphael thought it was a good idea to swim up the river alone. He gives Chuck a quick side glance, confused as to why the older merman is so calm about this.
Two shifters saw the older of his little sisters in her natural form. Sure, one was injured and the older of the three middle children would be tempted to heal it, but she said it wasn't that bad. 'It was just some small puncture wounds,' Raphael had said. 'They would've healed up easily without any help.'
Why she healed that zebra, Michael doesn't understand. She said he'll be fine if she left the small wounds unattended. And the wolf shifter is another matter. He was drawn in by Raphael's singing, a normal canine by his side as he searched for the missing zebra. The large wolf was stated to not be that affected by her true siren-like singing voice. He's probably the soulmate of a merperson and went unaffected by the close proximity of them. The only merpeople the alpha knows that lives close enough is his family, and most of them have already meet their soul mates. Well, all but Gabriel.
Michael frowns, following his father around the house and to the beach underneath it. The alpha spots his youngest brothers by the water, slowly unclothing as they talk to Raphael. Castiel's dorsal fin unfolds from where it lays on his back, swaying in the slight wind as it curls back to its normal spot. The four fins on his arms follow suit, arching in happiness at the freedom.
Unlike Castiel and Raphael, Gabriel doesn't have a dorsal fin. Instead, gold scales make their way down his spin, starting at the base of his head and down to the spot above his human form's butt cheeks. Michael knows that the scales will spread out at the bottom once his tail comes out, and that his twin is the mirror image of him… just with boobs and blue eyes. And like Castiel, his four fins arch up on his arms, curling in the air.
Michael notes the sigh of relief from Chuck, knowing that he's glade his oldest daughter wasn't injured alongside the problems she possibly caused. He probably already knew with what his seer powers show him. Moving forward, Michael snakes his arms around the necks of the two, causing Castiel to jump and Gabriel to send a lightning bolt through him. He winces, giving the blonde a dark look.
"Sorry, sorry. You didn't have to shock me." Gabriel snorts, rolling his eyes and muttering a 'yeah, right' under his breath. Chuck comes up next to them, crossing his arms as he stares down at Raphael.
"Enough arguing, boys. Now I want to know why you revealed yourself without talking to me first?"
Raphael gulps, fins tucking themselves in and folding against her skin.