Author note
Set after Castiel spent some time as a human and he got resurrected. The three of them have not met the witch Rowena yet.
Chapter one
Her curse aimed for him had seemed pointless. What had she thought on her last breath? No mere mortal could enchant an angel, or so Castiel believed. Sure, she had been a powerful witch, but her world of magic held little weight in heaven. His grace was bound to fight off the shiver of unease he had felt aimed at him. It would heal him, even when since recent years, after his resurrection, it needed more time than he was accustomed to. Events of late had left heaven on a fragile balance... and it seemed that its lack of force was affecting his powers too. In the heat of the moment he had been confident enough for all three of them to brush it off, along with a triumphant Dean, who'd made the kill on second shot.
Sam though had looked sceptical, worried even. Maybe they should have listened to his hunter's instincts... but then, Sam too had shrugged when Castiel had waved the spell off. He would be fine. After all, his vessel was left intact and he didn't feel any different, at least not yet. As they drove away from the small town her threat to 'make them appreciate the gift of magic' was left behind them... further even with each passing mile. The hunt had ended in the only way it could have done. On that they all agreed.
But two hours into their long drive back to the bunker Castiel had curled up on the leather back seat of the Impala... and to his confusion he had fallen asleep. What was that about? Faced with two worried looks of equal bewilderment and maybe a touch of amusement, from Dean, Castiel could only shrug. Yeah, the way the eldest Winchester had stepped on the breaks and he had ripped him from his deep rest didn't help his awoken feelings of discomfort, not for one bit. "Did you have to?"
"We need gas and snacks." Dean pushed open the door on his side. Its typical loud creak caused by the decades old hinges was an expected sound, but even so Castiel winced at how much louder than usual it grated on his nerves. What the... no, angels didn't curse, and yet he felt like he almost might have done. No one though noticed his unease. "Are you coming?"
Through the opened window Castiel scrunched up his nose at Dean in disgust. No, he wasn't tagging along. The back seat felt too comfortable for him to leave. "I don't need sustenance", he said, while a niggle on his brain entertained the thought of how he'd never before wanted to stay inside of the car for longer than he had to. Baby was Dean's love, but Castiel didn't share his fondness for objects. Still, he supposed that its unique combination of smells included the memories of the men who'd spend most of their lives inside, and they had become pleasant to him. When had that happened?
"No, you don't." Dean looked at Sam with a frown, the brothers sharing a not all that subtle moment of understanding about his blunt reaction, before he rolled his eyes. In the same brisk manner of how he had stopped the car Dean turned away to fill her up. "Talk to him", the gesture had revealed his care from behind gruff manners.
For once Castiel wasn't too fond of the united front formed by the Winchesters. Not when they were aiming it at him. Rather than face their scrutiny Castiel shrugged off his trench coat. What could he say? He wasn't sure if he knew why he had slept so deep. Most odd, since angels didn't sleep. Before, all he had to do was close his eyes and concentrate on his celestial powers to heal himself in but breaths. Not now though...
Maybe his dimmed grace had needed the inner calm sleeping brought humans, but he'd been out for more than an hour and he felt no different for it. Why hadn't it worked? The strangest thing was that he couldn't even name what was going on with his senses or his temper anymore. Were his powers so low now that he needed even more time? It was almost like the witch had ruffled something deep inside of him and it refused to leave. Castiel decided that he would take another nap, to be more patient with his ill at ease grace. After all, his celestial powers were stronger than any magic, weren't they?
"Cas?" Sam broke into his whirlwind of thoughts.
"I am fine."
Grinning at his distracted grumble Sam shook his head at him. Long legs shifted so that he could sit sideways to face Castiel with green eyes full of honest concern and intrigue. "You've been hanging around us for too long. That came out too fast. Try again…"
At the self-aware remark Castiel offered a wry smile to Sam. Caught! He should have known. It was too much of a Winchester thing to say, for especially when the brothers weren't well, they hid behind the same three words. "I will be before we get home", he shrugged while curling up his legs on the seat. It was so tempting to lie back down and let the world deal with its problems by itself. He was so tired of trying to do good, of failing despite of his efforts or maybe because of them, and he was done too with fixing the mistakes he had made far too many off. With his choice made to give in Castiel didn't even fight his yawn. Instead he laid his head down with a mumbled, "I promise, Sam. My grace will protect and heal me."
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A gentle nudge of a large hand on his shoulder shook him back to awareness. Unamused to get torn from a place of peaceful sunshine Castiel peered out his sleepy head from under his trench coat, blinking at Sam with more confusion than he was comfortable with. "Where are we?"
"At the bunker... home", Sam added the last bit with a wry smile. After a life of travelling from one motel to another he still struggled to trust in that he would not have to move on again. "Come on, sleepy head. Let's..." His voice trailed off while Castiel uncurled from under the coat he must have at some point in his sleep pulled over his upper body to burrow his head under.
"How long?" He blinked into the red light of the setting sun, trying to figure out where so much of the day had gone to.
His question went unheard. Instead of hearing him Sam got distracted by something else. Green eyes flashed to where they fixed onto the top of Castiel's head. "Are those..." Almost enchanted and in wide eyed interest he reached out to his hair to pet him there.
Castiel blinked at the hunter's show of unexpected closeness, lost for a moment by how he could feel the long fingers brush over his scalp to curl around a sensation that held no logic within. A far different than any other caress he'd ever experienced in his thousands of years as an angel sent a spark of pleasantness down his head, neck and into his spine. It felt so good that he closed his eyes with a soft, but deep rumble of a sigh. "Sam?"
Sam pulled back with a small blush, as if painfully aware how he'd acted on his impulse. "Cas, I am sorry, I didn't mean to, but they're... dude, you've got cat ears now."
"What?!" The absurdity of the blurted-out words was too much to take in at once.
"Yeah, furry and black ears above your own. They're hard to miss and... well, they are kind of cute." Something in Sam had switched from shock into a soft, but wry smile of fondness. From his almost apologetic shrug Castiel remembered another conversation they'd had. He'd seen Sam with a kitten once, a scruffy thing at best, which had clung to him with pitiful meows. Dean though had sneezed, grumbled about allergies and that no pets were allowed in his car. And so, because they'd been out on a hunt, his decision was the end of it. They'd dropped the ball of fur off at a local shelter, but Sam had sulked and Castiel had learned of how much he had wanted to take the tiny being home.
Slow to snap himself back to the meaning of his current predicament Castiel stared at Sam in shock. "Can't be..." He reached out to feel for himself, flinching when at last his hands found the ears and his mind connected the dots on the truth he could no longer ignore. They were real! No, had magic taken a hold of him? How come?
"The hell?!" Dean bowed down to fill in the gap between the car door and his crouching brother. One look at Castiel and his body language tensed up to one of ill ease. His expression too went from tired to annoyance in the blink of an eye. Sure, their hunt was over, but they had come home with a new case on their hands. When would they ever get a break? Over the last two months their feet had barely hit the concrete floors of the bunker. "Son of a bitch! That witch got to you after all."
Too loud! His voice triggered an uncomfortable sensation in Castiel, one which made him jump and cringe at once. Further driven by a need for space to figure out what was going on he uncurled his body away from the seat. Though the brothers were blocking off his exit route from the car he pushed them aside with ease, using his inhuman strength, but not too much of it to hurt them. Ignoring their indignant grunts as they tumbled aside, he fled into the bunker... his coat left forgotten on the back seat.
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His mirror image blinked back at him. Castiel looked at himself in shock. To feel his feline ears was one thing, but to see them point up large and alert from his dark hair above his vessel's human ones quite another. The inescapable truth twitched on top of his head to seek out sounds he wouldn't be able to hear without them. Dean and Sam... they were calling out for him, running down one corridor, and into the next. A twinge of fondness at their concern washed over him. Maybe he had to let them know where he was, but then, how he could he face their questions?
None of his feline half made sense to him. Why had his angel grace not fought it off? Or had it prevented worse? Castiel sighed over his initial assumptions. He'd underestimated the witch, that much was obvious now. Hindsight... and so he dismissed it, since he could no more ask a dead person for help than any mere mortal could, not while on Earth.
Movement in the low corner of his sight startled him. At another glance in the mirror his eyes widened in further shock. Was that a tail? As if to answer him it curled up high enough for him to wrap his fingers and palm around its soft end. What the... he could feel that both ways! The charcoal black tail of thick fur was his, it had to be. Setting it free he leaned his head to the side in thought. Well, if nothing else, at least he could fit some pieces about his change in behaviour together. Didn't cats sleep a lot more than humans did? And were they not a little erratic in temper?
Expected footsteps interrupted his contemplative moment. Through the large mirror, which ran from the ceiling to the floor, he saw how Sam was walking into the guest bedroom at the far end of the bunker to join him. Castiel smiled to himself at how Sam had reined in his usual present self a little, trying not to move fast or unexpected out of his fear of spooking him. Well, he supposed that if one hunter knew creatures better than anyone else it was Sam, who buried himself in lore for the fun of it. He though need not worry. Castiel knew in his heart that Sam wouldn't judge him for what he'd become, nor would Dean. They would rather aim towards solutions.
Observing Sam move with an added sense of curiosity, that of a cat, Castiel observed the hunter in his approach. When would he notice? Ah, there it was! Eyes roved over his backside, or rather his tail, which poked out from the tear in his trousers, and back up again to meet his in reflection without reproach. The same slow dawning recognition that he'd felt but seconds ago met him by the time Sam had closed the distance between them. "Cas?" Two gentle hands fell onto his shoulders from behind. "Here you are."
Unable, and unwilling too, to deny himself the support of his presence Castiel leaned into his hold while he met his eyes through the mirror. "Here I am."
"May I?"
Castiel needed no more words to understand his intentions, for they were all conveyed in the mirrored look of care and interest. Sam had a natural born greed to try and make sense of the world around him. A need to learn, not as a hunter alone, but also as a man in search of answers to life. Amused by how with all of their differences they had this trait more in common than anything else Castiel nodded. "You may."
Without pause Sam brushed his long fingers from his shoulder over his hair to touch first one ear and then the other. Almost startled again by how enjoyable a caress it had become to him Castiel felt how the pleasure ran down his spine and into his tail. "Oh", he belatedly bit down a moan. "That's..."
"Good huh?" Sam half whispered above his head, seemingly more aware now of his heightened animal hearing. "Makes sense, for a cat."
"Not to an angel."
Sam's reflection offered him a wry smile. "Perhaps not, but maybe he can accept that he's not as powerful as he thought? Not when it comes to magic at least."
Where a grumbled protest rested on his lips it turned to a sigh of bliss instead. Sam's long fingers had dug into the combined mess of fur and hair between his cat ears. They scratched over his skin, leaving him breathless under how good it felt, before wrapping back around his ear and doing it all over again. "Unfair..." Was he purring? "... you know more about cats than I do." Almost desperate for more, despite of his lame attempt at a protest on behalf of his dignity, Castiel leaned his head against the chest behind him, at last meeting Sam's eyes beyond the mirror by looking up at the larger man.
"I'll teach you."
Was Sam flirting? His smile suggested as much, but before Castiel could process it, not helped much by those sinful fingers wrecking an unprecedented pleasure from him, a new presence filled in the gap of the left open door. Dean.
"Gee. You two... get a room."
Castiel whimpered at the cold, unwanted air which replaced Sam in a blur of movement. Annoyed by the return of awkward tension around him he glared at Dean for ruining the moment and tearing his pleasure away. So, what if none of them did hugs or feelings well? Something inside of him ached to feel Sam's knowing hands pet him again. He even felt tempted to raid the kitchen or to curl up on his bed and sleep for a while. Maybe his cravings were nothing more than the spell? These seemed feline needs, not his own, and yet... did he not deep down long to discover and maybe enjoy a few of the more Earthly pleasures? Was this a curse or a gift? Castiel wasn't sure of anything in the moment.
Everything in him tensed up again at the loud sneeze, which cut into his thoughts and ears. Dean glared back at him, confused and hurt, sneezing again with a frustrated groan of realisation at how his dislike of cats seemed to affect both of them. "Great, now I am allergic to you."
Pained by seeing that Dean had gone sad on them, even though he hid it well, Castiel closed the distance between them in but strides. Reaching out with two of his fingers he asked, "May I heal you?"
Dean sniffed and brushed a finger over his nose to scratch the itch the both of them had no say over. "If you can." He shrugged, his appearance nonchalant but for the eager in his eyes. Annoyed as he was, he too seemed concerned for him. Could Castiel still use his angel powers? Dean didn't know how it continued to pulse hot like electricity inside of his core... couldn't see or feel it with his more limited human senses.
Happy to show that despite appearances he was still himself too Castiel put his fingers against Dean's forehead. Closing his eyes, he called upon his grace to let it chase out the allergies in his friend. There! Found... and sent away. Opening his bright blue glowing eyes, he nodded at Dean. "Done." As he restrained his grace back into his vessel, he offered both brothers a smile. "Whatever this is, we will find a solution, yes?"
"Always", Dean said, while Sam nodded at them both.
Not ready to deal with how what he'd said didn't quite fit with what he felt deep down Castiel brushed past them. Walking through the long hallway he aimed for the kitchen, not by choice but on an instinct more bound to the feline side in him rather than the angel he was born as. His core being had decided that he needed a break, one he wouldn't take while fully himself. It too saw that his friends did as well, and so it latched onto the spell, firm.
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Two sips into his milk Castiel blinked once more over his strange behaviour. He didn't drink, had never needed to or felt like it. More feline instincts? Trying another sip, he moaned out his pleasure over how he could taste it as something more than its scientific parts. Cool, delicious and rich it filled his mouth until he swallowed it down, almost in greedy thirst. It was rather satisfying a sensation, but also a strange one. Trying it again he cherished the unique experience for what it was, or what he believed it would be, a one off… at least until they returned him to his old self.
"Milk? Really?" Again, he was no longer alone. Castiel turned towards Dean, who stood nailed to the floor in bewilderment. The hunter recovered himself, walked on and strode past him to grab a beer from the fridge. Uncapping the bottle, he faced him, a twinkle of humour in his eyes, before his face sobered up into a frown of concern. "Since when? Wait, don't tell me, it is cat-you."
Castiel shrugged, feeling even more lost than his friend did. "Apparently so."
Downing what seemed to Castiel like half the bottle Dean stared at him, but also not quite, his thoughts no doubt drifting back to the hunt. "I should have reacted faster, but the witch had us all fooled. I should have trusted in my gut instinct. Her kind are nothing but trouble, so shoot first and ask questions later, which would have saved us a world of trouble. White magic my ass. She wanted to hurt Sam, liked it even."
"Dean..." Castiel waved the guilt away. "It wasn't our fault that other men have wronged her out of fear of her powers. She was wary even before knowing what we were. Growing up an orphan, how was she to know that her gift also entailed a curse? No one had told her that her love for another would slowly drain the life out of them and kill them if she didn't let them go."
"But Sam? He was no threat to her, but she lured him in like a spider does a fly."
"She must have sensed that he's a hunter. Dean, she was the opposite of Sam and you. The one hunted down and feared. Even when her intentions were good to begin with the loss of her fiancée pushed her over the edge. She wasn't to know that Sam was truthful when he offered to help her, and so she only had her instincts to go on. Well, and they can be quite a force as I'm beginning to see." Castiel set his now emptied glass down on the kitchen counter with a wry smile.
Not missing a beat Dean grinned at his final point. Sobering up he offered, "Blood is even stronger a force. It was either Sam or her, and that was no choice for me."
Castiel reached out to rest his hand on Dean's shoulder for support. "I was but a second behind you."
"Which is why you got hit by her spell, not me."
"I'd do it again." He set Dean free with a wry smile. "Even when it means drinking milk."
To his amusement and pride Dean grinned at his attempted joke. "It's the ears and tail, buddy. They are what creeps me out more. Speaking of witches and spells... Sam has gone up to the car to check for hex bags. Have you done the same with your clothes?"
Shaking his head in denial Castiel felt down his trouser pockets. Coming up empty he said, "Nothing, but that is good thinking." He turned, ready to help Sam, but drawing short when the hunter's footsteps came over from somewhere down the hall. Waiting for his arrival he pointed at the opened door. "Doesn't sound promising."
"What?!"
Castiel smiled to himself at the confusion in his voice. "When Sam is tired, he drags his feet a little. I can hear it from here. There's no bounce to his step." Letting the smile slip onto his face he shrugged. "Cat ears, though odd, they do have a benefit."
Before Dean could express his stunned realisation, Sam walked inside to pause but a few feet beyond the threshold. "Nothing but cat hairs", he teased. He smiled when Castiel did and walked over to the kitchen table to unburden his arm from the blood and hair stained trench coat.
"Not on the back seat too? My poor Baby."
Sam shrugged while Dean huffed at his answer, drawing a grin from his brother in turn. Looking between them Castiel too shrugged. What could he say? It wasn't his fault, even when it were the hairs he had shed. Indifferent to the car his attention drifted away to the milk carton he'd left standing on the counter. He wanted to drink more... and on that instinct he grabbed his glass to refill it and walk out of the kitchen with his price in hand.
Unseen to him two sets of eyes observed his far from usual behaviour with wide eyed amusement. His ears though caught on to their exasperated laughter, which followed him out. "Did he just..." Dean didn't finish his confused suggestion.
"Up and leave us with his mess, like an Angel, but with cat behaviour."
"What if he slips further into this spell? We have to watch out for him." Dean groaned in his annoyance of what it meant for the night ahead, "Great..."
"Do you think he's going to change all the way?"
"Who knows, Sammy. Maybe you get to have a pet after all."
"Not funny."
"No." Dean sounded tired, almost deflated even.
As their conversation ended Castiel bailed. It was too much to face their concerns along with his own. He had to believe in his angelic powers, that his grace continued to keep him safe. Either that or give in to this magic, which he still felt curl into his vessel too. Most odd... the feline in him didn't feel like a threatening force at all. How come?
Seeking out his answers Castiel turned to the war room to read and later fall asleep with his body doubled over in a chair and his head on the opened pages of the book he'd laid out on the table. No one mentioned it how he sensed that either Sam or Dean were sitting by his side through the night. By morning Castiel emptied a second carton of milk into his coffee in an attempt to kick start the research mission of which he'd become the unwanted focus.
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