Chapter 7 - Hunting
The case Bobby presented them with was only an hour from Sioux Falls, and it was pretty basic demon stuff. What made Bobby nervous, however, were the unexplained signs.
"See, this stuff here is all classic demon signs," Bobby explained handing Sam a handful of internet print outs. "These, however, are not." He handed a second stack of papers to Castiel, who flicked through them at a speed normal humans couldn't read.
"Here, Cas, let me see those," Sam said, trading stacks of paper with the angel. After perusing for a moment, his eyebrows shot up. "Well that's unusual."
"What is?" Gabriel asked, his tone grumpy at not being filled in immediately.
Sam's lips twitched in response, but he shifted the papers so Gabriel could read as well, explaining to Dean as he did so. "So there's all the classic weather stuff, but for whatever reason there's also been random outbreaks of mass hysteria and rioting. Obviously, since we know demons are there, that's not exactly weird, but what is weird is that all of the craziness has been done in the name of achieving peace in the town. The people don't even know about the demons, apparently, they just decided that in order to attain perfect peace they had to raze the town to the ground."
Gabriel's eyebrows shot up. "Sounds like my kind of party."
"It does not sound like a party to me," Castiel countered with a frown.
Gabriel shot him a disparaging look but didn't otherwise comment.
Bobby ignored the exchange and grabbed the print outs back from Sam and Castiel, spreading them out on the desk. "What I'd like to know is why demon activity is resulting in an insane craze for peace. Demons and chaos I get, but the peace vibe is weird. I didn't want to do this one alone, so I figured you boys could take a look."
"Yeah, sure, Bobby," Dean agreed. "You're coming, right? We haven't had a chance to hunt with you in ages."
Bobby looked at him appraisingly for a moment before nodding. "As long as you boys don't start lip locking on the job, I'll come," he said, his tone surly.
Castiel gave the old hunter an uncharacteristic smile and moved forward to pat Bobby's shoulder. "We shall do our best to ensure you are not in an awkward position," he assured him.
Dean and Sam both went a little pink, but nodded earnestly. Neither of them were really eager to have any kind of intense physical contact in front of their adopted father figure anyway.
Despite Dean's protestations, the hunting party was transported to the town in question via angel wings yet again. Bobby smacked his shoulder to get him to shut up when they landed, pointing out that any demons that could hear his angry cursing would ruin their chances of surprising the enemy.
Castiel had gone surprisingly quiet when they landed, and his expression betrayed an attitude of intense concentration.
As soon as Dean noticed Castiel's focus, he glanced towards Gabriel, who Sam was already waving his hand in front of.
"Gabe? Earth to Gabe, come in short stuff." Sam snapped his fingers, looking puzzled.
Gabriel shook his head and glanced up at Sam, his expression petulant. "Short stuff?" He demanded.
Sam smirked and glanced over to Castiel, who was still zoned out. "Cas?" He called.
"What's got you two so interested?" Dean muttered, shaking Castiel a little to jolt him out of his stupor.
"The demons," Castiel answered, finally snapping his eyes to Dean's face.
"What about them?" Sam asked.
Gabriel made a face. "These are high level demons. That's why the signs are so bizarre. The higher the demon in rank, the more self control they have. There's a plan at work here."
"Balls," Bobby muttered, a sentiment which the Winchesters clearly agreed with, if the expressions on their faces were any indication.
"Where do we start?" Sam wondered, giving the town in front of them a thoughtful once over.
"The demons to do not have a headquarters," Castiel informed them. "Their presence is scattered."
"Detectable though," Gabriel added. "I say we pick one up and do some interrogation. Figure out what their plan is before we make a counter plan."
Dean cocked his gun and his expression settled into what Castiel had heard him refer to as the 'blue steel.' "Let's go then."
Castiel was concerned at how easy it had been to apprehend the demon they currently had trapped. Of course, three hunters, an angel, and an archangel were more than a match for a simple demon, but it had still been remarkably easy to accomplish.
"What's the plan here?" Dean demanded, a jug of holy water in hand that he had been periodically pouring on the demon. Sam stood to his right, Ruby's knife twirling in his fingers.
"Like I'd tell you," the demon said sarcastically. It was inside of a middle aged man with a bald spot, and the disgusted look on his face as he watched the hunting party quickly turned to one of eternal torment when Dean went at him with the holy water again.
"Stubborn bastard, isn't he?" Bobby grunted, handing Dean a new jug of holy water as the older Winchester emptied out the previous one into the demon's mouth.
"ALRIGHT!" The demon howled, glaring at the hunters. "It's just a stepping stone, okay? Nobody actually cares about South Dakota."
"Then what are you doing here?" Bobby demanded, the slight against his state stinging a little.
The demon scowled. "Let's just say this is a testing phase."
"Testing what?" Castiel asked, stepping closer and allowing the demon the tiniest glimpse at the power of his grace, which had the demon cowering faster than anything the hunters had tried.
"Please, don't!" The demon begged, shrinking away from the angel as much as he was able in the confines of the trap. "We're just trying some new tactics, okay? Training new demons, that kind of thing. We send in the big guns, figure out some new battle plans, then teach the troops. If we don't switch it up every so often, we get too predictable."
Gabriel nodded. That made sense, and it wasn't the first time he'd come across demons doing something similar. At skeptical glances from the rest of the hunting party, he gave them a reassuring nod. "It's not really a new practice," he told them. Turning to the demon, he asked, "So what's the point of this tactic?"
The demon glared at him petulantly, refusing to answer.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you're scared of Cas over here, but not me? You must be a lot dumber than you look, ugly."
Sam cracked a smile at that and patted Gabriel's shoulder. "Don't take it personally, Gabe. Demons aren't the brightest tools in the shed."
The archangel made a face at Sam and turned back to the demon. "Regardless..." he muttered, stepping forward and imitating what Castiel had done, only revealing far more of his inherent power.
The demon shrank back further, shaking more than should be possible for anyone. "No, no, no, no..." he whimpered.
"What is this tactic for?" Gabriel demanded again.
"Herding cattle!" The demon bellowed, desperate not to be on the archangel's bad side. "We make the people desperate for peace and tranquility, to the point where they do anything to get it. They don't realize they're really creating chaos, because everything they do is to further their personal quest for peace."
"Ah," Sam made a noise of understanding. "I get it."
Dean gave his brother an impatient look. "Share with the rest of the class?"
"Right. Look, what he's saying is that the demons are creating an environment of complete chaos, but it's like herding cattle because the people just go right along with it, thinking they're creating happiness." Sam explained with a certain amount of animation, pleased that they had figured out what was going on. "It's a new one on me, but I guess that was kind of the point."
The demon nodded in agreement, but didn't speak further.
"So, what, we just have to clean house and this will be over?" Dean asked, glancing between Sam and the demon as though not sure who would answer the question.
"Not just yet," a new voice said.
Whirling towards the new sound, Sam's hand tightened on the demon blade as he saw the new arrivals. Three heavy weight demons had arrived.
"We've got a few other plans up our sleeves," another voice said, causing the hunting party to turn to the right, where an additional four demons had just walked in.
"This isn't just about abusing humanity," another demon said with a chuckle.
The hunting party reluctantly acknowledged the arrival of another three demons to their left. They were surrounded, and even Castiel and Gabriel looked uncomfortable.
"Well, boys, I'd say we found our demons," Bobby muttered.
