Thanks to all of you who took the time to read the first chapter & special thanks to those who reviewed/subscribed! I understand that the first chapter was a little short, but it was an introduction to the story, which I had never intended to be very long. I don't have a beta reader at present, although I am looking, so any mistakes are all my own doing.
Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Supernatural, or any of the characters.....those all belong to Mr Kripke and the network..... I might add in a few of my own as the story develops.
Authors Note: Any character thoughts will be shown in italics. I will make it clear which is which though. Also, this story takes place after episode 4x10, and I'll probably work from there, and not include anything from 4x11 onwards...unless I'm really inspired to do so.
The road was long & dark as the brothers made their way back from the hunt. It had been a simple haunting, which ended up in a standard salt & burning of the remains. This had been just what they needed after the events of their last 'hunt', which ended up with the girl they were sent to protect by a demon turning out to be an angel.
"So..." Dean began as they drove down the road back to the motel "...that was almost a little too simple after recent events wouldn't you say?" as he turned to look at Sam. He felt like Sam had been acting oddly towards him ever since he had revealed what happened in hell. The little voice in the back of his mind – which just so happened to sound like Alistair – said "that's because he thinks you're a monster now". Dean shook his head, trying to shake away that thought.
"Yeah, well not everything has to be complicated Dean" Sam replied, turning towards his brother. Dean was still looking at Sam. "Don't you think your eyes should be on the road dude?" Sam asked. Dean raised his eyebrows in question at the tone Sam had used, but turned his head back to the road. "What?" Sam asked.
"It doesn't matter Sam." Dean replied as he flipped the radio onto almost full volume when a classic song came on. The rest of the journey back to the motel was made in an uncomfortable silence between the brothers.
When they got back to the motel, Dean switched off the car almost at the same time as he put her into park. Noting that this was something his brother never did, and that it was something he had gotten onto Sam about doing in case he killed her, Sam decided to mention it jokingly. "Dude, what was that about? You almost took my head off when I done that a few times?"
"Just get off my case Sam!" Dean said as he opened the door and almost jumped from the car. Sam instantly followed. Dean opened the door to their room and threw the door closed behind him, Sam just caught it in time or he would have ended up being locked out. Dean was facing the back wall of the room when Sam came in.
"Dean! What the hell?! I was trying to joke and lighten the mood. I get that things have been hard for you since you came back, but Dean..." Sam said, trying to control himself. He'd waited so long to talk to his brother about both of their feelings since Dean's return from hell that it all tried to tumble out in the one breath.
"Hard? You 'get' that things have been hard for me Sam?" Dean said while turning round to face his brother. He could feel all of the anger he had at himself for what he did in hell boiling to the surface, threatening to come out. "You don't know the half of it!"
"Yeah, I do 'get' that things have been hard for you Dean. Things have been hard for us all since you died that night." Sam said as he walked towards Dean. Taking a calming breath as he stopped in front of his brother, he said "But Dean, you don't talk to anyone about it. It took you God knows how long to tell me about something you remembered from hell".
"T'yeah. And you've been walking on egg shells ever since Sam." Dean said as he moved away from Sam. "You don't know how to act around me anymore. I can see it every time you look at me, every time open your mouth to speak." he continued, feeling the boiling anger come closer to the surface.
At that moment the door to their motel room was knocked. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me" Dean said as he went to answer the door. As he opened the door, he asked "What?!" which was closely followed by another "You gotta be kidding me" when he seen who was at the door.
He moved aside to let Uriel pass into the room and instantly walked to the back to the room to stand beside Sam. Behind Uriel another 'person', or angel, walked into the room. Both looked like they had just returned from a large battle. Their clothes were smoke stained, and caked in mud in some parts, smeared with blood in others. Both faces were very sombre and serious looking.
"So what... you guys are only just learning to knock on doors?" Dean asked, still feeling some anger left over from his argument with Sam.
"Believe it or not, Dean Winchester, we do know how to knock on doors. We may not have been amongst you in a very long time, but that does not mean we haven't observed your behaviour" Uriel said, the usual bite gone from his voice.
"So, uh, where's Castiel?" Sam asked, taking in the appearance of the two angels who stood before him.
"And who's this?" Dean added to Sams question, pointing to the angel standing beside Uriel.
"To answer your question Dean, this is one of our brothers. Acarya. His powers are unique and he is here to help us..." The angel standing beside Uriel nodded his head slightly as if to say hello. Uriels face looked as though he was grieving.
Acarya picked up where Uriel had trailed off "...To find Castiel...we don't know exactly where he is, although we can hazard a very good guess. I can't feel him well enough to find out his location." As he said this his eyes fell to the floor.
"So what happened?" Sam asked the angels.
Uriel told them about the latest battle and how Castiel had been taken from them by Alistair.
"Shit! This is so not good" Dean said, earning disapproving looks from the three faces looking him. "Uh, sorry. But it's not. We have to find him. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
"Yes, we know you wouldn't Dean. It is vital that we bring him back from there. He knows all of our plans and strategies. We think they are planning to take his grace and interrogate him as a human." Uriel said. He turned to Acarya, who had a looked of strained concentration on his face and asked "Anything?" Acarya merely shook his head. Putting a hand on his brothers shoulder, Uriel said "Okay. Rest now. We will need your power to be fully useful later. We all need to come up with a plan, where we can all work together."
"Yeah, we do. Why don't Dean & I start with research on rituals that would be used to extract an angels grace?" Sam asked.
Uriel nodded and answered "Yes. That's good idea. We will go look around and see if we can get anyone to talk about where he might be." With that the angels disappeared in a fraction of a second, and Dean & Sam hit the research.
"Wakey wakey rise and shine" The sly voice invaded his thoughts. Castiel opened his eyes to see rock above him. He knew he was lying flat on his back, on top of what felt like rock. He tried to get up and fly away, not fully remembering what had happened to him. "Oh I wouldn't try that if I were you. Your just gonna damage your fine packaging." Alistair said, leaning over his face.
"Where am I? What are you doing?" Castiel asked.
"I could tell you, but I'm saving that for later. It's sort of part of my big finale. Guess if you want." Alistair said, with a mocking laughter while moving around the room.
Castiel took more note of his surroundings. He lifted up his head to see that his hands and ankles were restrained with thick dark metal cuffs. There were symbols painted onto his chest. He was in a room which almost resembled a cave, but something felt very familiar, almost warm, about this room. It was lit by candle & firelight, and there were large thick books on shelves around it, there were also glass bottles & containers dotted around the room.
"Oh..." Alistair said, interrupting Castiels inspection of his surroundings "...and don't bother trying to use your powers and contacting daddy or your brothers. They won't find you. Those symbols will block them for now until we find something more permanent."
Castiel felt the panic rise within him. He thought of struggling to free himself, and he thought of screaming for his brothers and his Father to help him, but he decided to try to stay calm and not play into the demons games.
"Huh" Alistair sighed. "Not the reaction I was expecting son, but, we do have lots of time and I enjoy a good build up". He waved his hand and he was suddenly surrounded by twelve demons who were all wearing long black cloaks with their hoods pulled up. "Okay, let's get him ready boys". He said. With that, the demons moved to Castiels arms & legs, three at each one. At the same time, his cuffs were released and he was lifted over to a table. His arms were stretched above his head and he felt bindings being fastened onto his ankles and wrists again.
"Much better". Alistair said. "Okay, go get what we need." He waved is hand and eleven of the demons disappeared. Looking at Castiel, Alistair smirked and said "I prefer to be as alone as possible when I work. Now, here's how this will go. I ask you question, you answer it truthfully, no need for pain, no need for my big finale, as disappointing as that will be." Nodding in the remaining demons direction, Alistair said, "And he can tell if what you're saying is the truth or not".
Castiel knew that things were going to get very bad for him, but he would never give away the battle plans given to him from his superiors. These plans must remain secret at all costs; the fate of Heaven and Earth depended upon these plans. At that point, Castiel resigned himself to the fact that would most likely die, and that he would die alone at the hands of this demon, but that Heavens plans would remain a secret.
Alistair watched the angels facial expressions change and finally settle on determination, he said "Now then....let's get started..."
So...there was the second chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know what you think!