Chapter 7

Being that Castiel felt no need to resurface with some more of his sage wisdom, Dean felt he had no other choice but to continue forward. He was leery of crazy angels, but Cas had said that this guy with a hat was the closest thing around, and really Dean needed some more answers about what the hell he's supposed to be doing. And who this Knave was that he's supposed to save.

He walked the path where Cas had pointed. Well...sort of pointed, and soon he came upon a vast garden filled with a cornucopia of floral. Tulips swayed in the breeze, and bougainvillea climbed along lattice fencing. Song birds carried a tune across lush green grasses, and great spreading umbrella pines cast patches of shadow over the earth. It was the kind of place Dean wouldn't mind rolling into with a hammock and a beer and just make himself comfortable. That was but for the giant gaudy table slapped down in the middle of everything.

The table was long and lined with empty chairs. Across its surface were mountains of overturned dishes and cups, appearing to have been dirtied and the discarded. Dean scanned the contents, and then his eyes lifted to where the table ended.

At the tables head, squeezed together so that they all claimed host to this empty party, sat the angels Balthazar, a very drowsy Samandriel, and on the end in a top hat and tuxedo, was a very cleaned up Gabriel. Dean swallowed hard. Did he really want to poke this hornets nest?

They all looked incredibly bored, but they hadn't noticed him yet. Dean could just turn around, back away, and... go where? What would he learn? Letting out a long sigh, Dean stepped into the clearing and walked up to the table. Finding a vacant seat near the head where the settings appeared unused, Dean pulled back the chair and sat down.

"Would you like some booze?" Gabriel said idly without even looking up to acknowledge Dean. Dean would fucking love some booze! That stuff would cure his liver problems hands down when just one swig can knock him on his ass like it does.

"I would love some booze," Dean said jovially, but then he looked around the table and frowned. "But I don't see any."

"That's because their isn't any," Gabriel said and he lifted his head to look at Dean. His wide hazel eyes, shaded by his top hat, held a wild glint that made Dean uneasy.

"Well that was kind of rude," he admitted honestly, and Gabe shrugged.

"So is sitting down at a table without an invitation."

"Let off him, Gabe," Balthazar whined, and he lifted his arms in a stretch. "Can't you see he has questions?" Samandriel turned his head but continued to doze; his face buried against his folded arms.

"Many questions," he sighed in his high lilty voice as though he were talking in his sleep.

"I have questions too!" Gabe declared, and he picked up a cane propped against the side of the table and pointed it at Dean.

"What is the difference between a hunter and an angel?" Gabriel asked in riddle. Dean eyed Gabriel's cane and thought about his axe, feeling a weapon might come in handy, but the second he thought of it he realized it was gone. Where had it gone? Did he set it down? How long ago?

"Would you like some more alcohol, Dean?" Balthazar offered.

"How can I have more alcohol when I haven't had any to begin with?" Asked Dean, annoyed.

"Ah but don't you mean to say how can you have less?" Gabriel offered with a flash of teeth, "You can always have more when you have had nothing."

"Nobody asked your opinion," Dean muttered under his breath.

"He has a point," Samandriel sighed in his sleep although if he was referring to Dean or Gabriel, Dean couldn't tell.

"What time is it?" Dean asked, trying to change the subject.

"It's always time for a drink," Balthazar said and Dean scowled at him.

"Is that why your table is such a mess? Always time to drink, never time to clean up?" Dean offered.

"Precisely!" Gabriel snapped and he worked to adjust his hat. "Have you guessed the answer to my riddle yet?"

"Your riddle?" Dean asked and then he remembered Gabriel's question from earlier. "No, I give up. What's the answer?"

"I haven't the slightest idea," Gabriel said, his face the perfect display of innocence, then he burst into cackles of laughter.

"Be quiet. I'm sleeping," Samandriel said as he turned his head and Dean shuddered at the long screws protruding from his temples and forehead.

"I would still like to know the time," Dean pressed and Gabriel scoffed.

"Wouldn't we all? Look at me, hunter, do you think I dress this way for drink? There is a tournament I am in need of attending."

"If only we were all invited to such excellence," Balthazar said with a roll of his eyes and Gabriel flashed his teeth in a grin.

"Come with me then! Be the highlight of the party. The hunter can come too."

"If don't think-" Dean began.

"Then you shouldn't talk!" Gabriel snapped in retort, and he reached to adjust his hat again. Well Dean had about enough of dealing with this senseless conversation. Getting to his feet, he left the garden without another word and no one bothered to call after him.