On the third day of unanswered calls they were both feeling uneasy. Sam had checked for Cas' pimp car on police records in case he had gotten any tickets on his trip to Illinois. He found nothing on the car, which wasn't completely unusual because Cas drove like a saint (no pun intended).
Dean had checked in again with a few hunters every morning after he tried calling Cas. They had all denied seeing him. Some didn't even knew Cas existed, while others knew him from the times they had accompanied the Winchester on some random hunts. They all promised to keep an eye out for Cas. Dean thanked them, knowing too well that they wouldn't do much good.
According to the date scribbled on the note, more than a week had passed since Cas took off to Illinois. Sam and Dean feared that Cas had gotten himself injured and was alone in some dingy motel room, or that he had been taken by some supernatural being. They refused to think he was dead.
Dean wasn't able to sleep the next night. He woke up every hour to call Cas' phone or just send him a text. He even prayed to God, knowing far too well that he wasn't listening to him. He opened a bottle of hunter's helper when he figured he was too worried to sleep peacefully and eventually fell asleep around 2 in the morning with a bit of booze in his system. He woke up later in the morning and went to find Sam in his room. He didn't find Sam there, so he went to the library and found him asleep in front of his laptop and a bunch of printed out articles.
They began investigating anything they thought Cas could have taken an interest in. It meant looking at every single police case and newspaper article. They made some calls and on the next day drove to Illinois. They had over 20 cases waiting for them at Illinois, some were connected to each other and some were simple cases. They checked motel parking lots for Cas' car wherever they went. Cas didn't even specify which city he went to and Dean was becoming angrier and angrier each passing day.
Dean was either constantly worried or planning how to kill Cas after saving him.
The Winchester brothers started a raid on every supernatural being hiding in Illinois. A few hunters accompanied them on some of the cases, but it was mostly a two man army taking over Illinois' supernatural population. They barely slept at all.
On the the second week, Dean had taken to going to bars to hunt for information; but it was really to get drunk, meet hunters and find girls willing to have sex with him. One night he even found some asian twins and drunk dialed his brother like he just aced some test he didn't study for. Sam had just laughed and ended the call telling him to have fun.
Full vampire nests had fled the state when rumors of the Winchesters arrived. Sam and Dean felt it was far too suspicious to be normal and followed after them with a biker gang of hunters that they met in a bar. Dean loved every second of it, while Sam totally hated the experience.
They killed ghouls, salted and burned ghosts, wiped out two werewolf gangs, slayed a kitsune, killed some demons doing their nasty business on a club, and had hit five vampire nests in about 5 weeks. They had actually solved two non-supernatural kidnappings on pure accident; one of them included a chatty teen.
"So what? You guys something like Batman or shit?" One of their normal victims asked them while lounging on the back seat of the Impala.
"Woah! Language kiddo!" Dean had turned around to look at the girl in the back seat.
"Dean the road!" Sam placed a hand on the steering wheel and kept the Impala steady.
"So are you guys Batman and Robin?" The girl asked again.
"No," a heavy pause from Dean. "We are actually looking for someone." Dean ignored Sam's wide judging eyes.
"Who? Your daughter?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Sam snorted and Dean choked.
Sam was still laughing when he stuttered a "no". Dean was coughing now and the girl was just looking at them with confused eyes. It sounded perfectly logical for them to look for their daughter considering that they were looking for her.
"I'm not old enough to have a daughter!" Dean shouted and Sam just laughed harder. "We are looking for a guy. He is a detective and was working on a case in Illinois when he disappeared. We don't know which case, so we are checking every lead nonstop." That made Sam shut up. The silence in the car was tense and cold, like something just sucked all the energy out both of them.
"Is he a friend of yours?" The girl asked innocently.
"More like family." Sam said in a low voice. Dean gripped the steering wheel tighter and nodded grimly.
The girl didn't ask anything else out of respect. The silence of course didn't last much.
"Uhmm have you checked out Illinois State University?" She muttered eventually.
"Hmm? No why?" Asked Sam.
"Well there was a news article a month ago about a girl getting kidnapped by a tattooed dude who used a blue powder drug to knock her out." The boys turned around to stare at her. That was a djinn description and they knew how strong they could be. Cas could have easily been taken in by a djinn if he was alone. "What? I wasn't allowed to watch TV in that basement but I had a shit load of fresh newspapers in there." She shrugged.
Right, the ashole that had kidnapped her was currently unconscious in the trunk. They were taking them both to a police department dressed as FBI guys. They would literally just drop the girl and the guy with anyone who looked slightly capable of handling them, and leave the place looking like busy agents who didn't care. Probably add in some insults and a little badge flashing to complete the act.
They did just that and rushed back to the motel to find the article on the Illinois State University girl. Dean ran over four red lights and almost crashed into the motel wall as he parked the Impala. Sam was out even before Dean had stopped the car. They ran up the stairs and almost broke down the door to their room. Sam ran for his laptop and Dean was already on the phone arguing with someone while fetching his own laptop too.
They found everything they needed in record time. It was obviously a Djinn judging by what the victims saw. It had almost been 40 days since Cas' disappearance. The Djinn was probably sucking on Cas' blood as they spoke.
They hauled ass to Normal, Illinois. Sam had arranged to meet with a hunter to supply them with enough African dream root to last them for a year. Sam stayed in the motel mixing the Djinn antidote and doing research on the area while Dean interviewed people linked to the case around the university. The first subjects weren't too helpful, but the best friend of the victim was just feral.
"The FBI? Again? What makes you so damned special? If the last guy didn't find my best friend then why in God's name-" Dean raised a hand to shut the girl up.
"Wait, what other guy?" The girl didn't answer just glared at him. Dean raised his hand below his eyes to indicate Cas' height. "Small guy, black messy hair, blue eyes, awkward, he also likes to wear an ugly trench coat?" The girl crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know about small, but yeah sounds like him. He was pretty weird and looked like an amateur." She frowned at Dean when he smiled like all the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Oh thank God!" Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was really trying not to show too much emotion, but the relief that was coursing through his veins was too sharp to ignore. He wanted to ditch the place and call Sam and pray his thanks to God because he had finally found Cas.
He was so going to kick his ass when he found him.
"Uhh everything okay?" The girl brushed her dark hair in a nervous movement. Dean shook his head.
"Yeah!" Dean sighed in relief, "that agent has been missing since last month," Dean looked at the floor in anger, "and we believe the son of a bitch that took your friend managed to also kidnap a federal officer which is the most idiotic move I can imagine. I'm hunting down this son of a bitch myself. Tell me everything about your friend and any rumors you've heard about her disappearance." The fire in Dean's eyes was evident. He tightened his fists in the pocket of his pants and licked his lips angrily.
The girl, Kiara ,told him everything she knew, even told him what the witnesses saw and what state of mind her friend was in. Emily was suffering from depression ever since her mother took a job in South America as a psychologist. Her dad died in a car crash when Emily was young and that's how she met Kiara. She had been in the hospital with a broken arm and went outside her room to talk to the girl crying in the hall. Kiara and Emily had been friends ever since.
Dean figured out that the djinn had been lured by the depression Emily was suffering from and hunted her down. He thanked Kiara for helping him out. The girl smiled sadly at him and rubbed her arm awkwardly.
"I hope you catch the asshole and find your friend." Kiara smiled shyly. "I... just need to tell Emily that I have a thing for her." Kiara sniffed and shrugged. Dean placed a hand on her shoulder expecting the girl to nod and begin the water works. She hit his arm instead and frowned. "Shoot the bastard for me, huh?"
"That I can do ma'am." Dean tipped his head and did his best Indiana Jones impersonation. The girl laughed and curtsied a bit princess style.
"Thank you kind sir." Dean laughed and shook his head at her silliness.
Dean called Sam to investigate any other disappearances while he scouted the area for abandoned warehouses or places a common Djinn would use. Sam called back with several addresses and a list of possible victims.
"Man this place is crawling with abandoned places, it's like monster heaven." Dean groaned into the phone while driving to the motel.
"Yeah, tell me about it. I figured they wouldn't be too far from the university and the hospital." Sam paused for a moment looking down at his notes. "Ok, so we are left with four possible places."
"Alright, how are the antidotes coming along?" Dean asked.
"Great, I didn't know whether you would have preferred sugar or honey with your tea so-"
"Ah, no Sammy! I ain't going inside anyone's head. It's always me, man!" Dean huffed in exasperation and could hear Sam grinning on the other side of the call.
"Don't be a wuss, Dean." Sam teased "but I'll do it this time don't worry." Sam was finishing grinding the last of the herb in his mortar and mixed it with the cinnamon and sugar. "We just need the ADN from the vics and we are done with this mix."
"Alright. Gonna hang up now, I'm here." Dean ended the call and exited the Impala. He froze when he found Sam heating up water and pouring it in one of those expensive travel mugs on the small kitchenette of the motel room.
"What?" Sam asked when he felt Dean staring at him.
"Where did you get that hippy thing?" Dean frowned and pointed at the silver mug.
"This is not hippy man. Like… at all." Sam did his bitch face while he poured the water carefully into the mug. "If I'm drinking this shit again I'm sure as hell gonna try to make it taste good." Sam approached the kitchenette and poured a bit of milk in the mug. He kept the plastic bag in his pockets and started packing his weapons inside his jacket.
Dean rolled his eyes and started to undress himself. He placed the suit jacket on the back of a chair and removed his tie.
"You could try adding some Bailey's to it." Dean grinned and winked at him. Sam knew Dean was teasing with the so-called girly alcohol and didn't answer. "Sissy!" Dean shouted at Sam before heading to the bathroom.