Chapter 2: The Boys are Back in Town

The rumble of the 67 Chevy Impala could be heard long before the beautiful black sheen could be seen down the road. Eventually the car made its way down the road towards the impossibly big city, the pair of men sat silently in the car. The driver kept his eyes trained on the road, glaring as if trying to make the pavement apologize for being so never ending and making the drive take way too long. The taller of the two stretched as best as possible in the passenger's seat, he kept his eyes trained on the newspaper rereading the article for the countless time. The taller ran his hands over his eyes, he continued to move his hand up to tangle in his long hair. He sighed and looked over at his brother letting his hand fall into his lap.

"I said it once…" The elder brother spoke when he realized that he had his younger brother's attention. "I don't like this."

"I know Dean." The younger winchester said, "But Cas asked us to."

Dean frowned but continued to drive. Castiel had asked them to follow up on a murder in Chicago. He believed Angels were starting is dissolve into chaos, unsure of how to deal with the Darkness that had been released. The brothers couldn't see any of that happening though, from the outside it only seemed that both Angels and Demons were just trying to stay clear of the impending doom.

"Yeah, but last time we went to Chicago..." Dean shook his head. He recalled the memory, the boys discovered that several supernatural creatures were running the underground of the city. They were warned not to come back, but that was about 3 years ago. It was a big city, there was no way they would be recognized… right?

Dean grabbed the cup of coffee and finished the last of the drink. He couldn't even remember how long they had been on the road, but he really need more caffeine. "Alright, tell me again about this case." The short haired brother spoke.

"Jennifer Davis was found dead in a church. Stabbed through the heart." He looked again over the article. "Cas said he thinks it was an Angel murder, it would make sense the paper said there were black marks left in the church in the shape of wings."

"Yeah but I don't get it." Dean answered. "Angels gank each other all the time, why should we care about it this time?"

"Cas said that Angels haven't killed each other since Metatron lost his power." Sam answered, "He's just worried. I mean who could blame him?" Sam looked carefully at his brother. "Angels have been killed for the past few years, then cast out of Heaven, then…" He gestured vaguely. "Who knows how many are left? Cas is just worried about his Family."

"Even if his family is a bunch of dicks who tried to kill him more often them help him." Dean concluded in an angry tone.

The two continued down the road towards the city ahead. After another hour or so of driving, the pair reach an old motel on the outskirts of the city. They agreed they needed to get some sleep before starting the investigation. The car finally slid into a parking space just in front of the office of the motel. Dean walked in, without waiting for his brother, and booked a room. He came out as Sam unfolded from the car. How he was able to cram himself into a car for hours on end would always be a mystery to Dean. They grabbed their bags and headed into the room.

Once inside the dingey room, Dean took up residence on one of the beds. They had traveled to so many places around the country, stayed in more motels than one could probably count that the pair didn't even take the time to look around and take in the sights. They didn't notice the horribly outdated wallpaper that clung to the walls but still left barren spots interspersed throughout. Dean didn't even look at the all the thin blanket and sheets before plopping down on the bed to remove his shoes and get comfortable. Sam pretended not to hear the all too loud creak of the springs as he tossed his bag to the unoccupied bed before declaring he needed to take a shower.

Straight away Dean started to take out his guns from the bag and go through his routine of disassembling them and cleaning every nook and cranny. It was something of a habit to keep his hands busy; some people smoked some knitted but Dean cleaned his guns. He was completely absorbed in his work, the only this he could hear was the steady stream of water rushing from behind the closed bathroom door. He started to go over the facts in his head about what they knew of this case, which wasn't really much. There was a girl, probably some vessel for who knows what Angel, she was killed in a Church. There seemed to be nothing special about the girl, so why was Cas so insistent they they come here?

Dean thought back to the morning. Cas had appeared in an almost-but-not-quite-silent rush of wings, right away he started to tell the boys about this case staying that something wasn't right. It was only because Cas was unrelented in his persistence that agreed to take on this case. Dean finished assembling his gun when Sam walked out the shower. He walked over to his bag, being very careful not to let the towel wrapped around his waist fall. The eldest Winchester kept his eyes trained on his gun, he could have easily made some comment to Sam that would have made him roll his eyes and glare but Dean was too exhausted from the drive to even attempt it. Instead his allowed his younger brother to grab a spare change of clothes and return to the bathroom to get dressed.

The door wasn't even fully closed yet when the Hunter could hear a ever slight change in wind that indicated the Angel of the Lord had come to talk with them. Without looking up from putting the final touches on his gun, Dean spoke up before Cas could.

"So…" His voice was gruff and indicated his tired state, "Do you have any more information?" He looked up to bright blue eyes that met his with the same intensity. Apparently Cas was in no mood to talk to them much today.

"No" His deep voice resonated with Dean, even with one word he could feel the anger radiating off Castiel. "I tried to speak with some who may know something," He looked away to break eye contact, this was something of nervous habit that Dean figured out. Whenever Cas need to talk about something he was uncomfortable with or even ashamed of, he would pointedly look anywhere except for Dean. Right now he was glaring at a particular strand of carpet on the floor of the motel. "It seems like my siblings are still quite infuriated with me and would not aid in the knowledge that I seek."

The Hunter rolled his eyes and stowed his gun back into the bag. "Yeah well… they are dicks." He casually said, this just made Cas frown even more at the carpet. "Anyway, Me and Sam are going to head over tomorrow to check out the Church and the Morgue. Maybe we can drum up some information for you." He smiled slightly to reassure his friend.

"Thank you Dean" Cas looked back up and allowed a ghost of a smile to show. At that moment in time, Sam exited the bathroom fully dressed, he was running a towel through his wet hair in an attempt to dry it. He greeted the Angel before crossing the room to flop unceremoniously onto the bed.

Dean just cleaned up his supplies on the bed, he couldn't help but think that Sam at the right idea. "We can let you know in the morning what we find, until then I am going to get a few hours."

"I will continue to see if I can find more information." Cas answered, "Goodnight Dean" A rush of wind and the angelic being was gone from the room. Dean leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes. He didn't realize how tired he actually was until he opened them the next morning.