They're Gone But Not Lost
The Seraph turned bright eyes on him that looked a little stunned. "The Carltons; they're gone"
~x~x~x~
Dean was speechless for a moment. "What do you mean gone?!" he was standing up now, duffel over his shoulder and looking towards the house.
"One moment I could feel their souls within the house, the next they were simply gone. No others entered or were anywhere near the home." by the look on Castiel's face, the hunter could tell that this was troubling the Angel more than his gruff voice let on.
"So, what? Nobody broke in? There's nothing you can detect?" Dean didn't want to admit that they had, possibly, lost another couple while being right freaking there.
Cas shook his head slowly. "Dean... I don't believe there is anything we can do."
The elder Winchester turned and inhaled deeply, resisting the urge to punch the tree as that would hurt less than punching the stoic being behind him. "You're absolutely sure that there was nothing around?"
Dean turned back around to find an expression that he was more used to see on the faces of Angels; one that said 'I-am-an-almighty-being-how-dare-you-question-me' "If anything had been within a radius of half a mile from the house, I would have been able to detect it, even in this bound state. All that I could sense was ourselves and other occupants in their houses."
"Son of a bitch!" Dean kicked the bench in frustration. Two more people he couldn't save.
"Dean," The hunter felt a hand settle on his right shoulder and felt his shoulder unconsciously relax slightly. "This is not your fault, do not blame yourself. Focus on finding this creature and we should be able to save them, if the gap between the abductions and the bodies being recovered is any indication."
The hunter gritted his teeth. "You are absolutely sure that they're gone."
The Angel levelled his gaze. "Dean, I am completely certain that the house is still locked but its occupants are gone. I am sorry."
The elder Winchester rubbed a hand over his face as he sighed. "Then I don't know what else we can do. I'll ring Sam, see if he has anything else."
~x~x~x~
Trrrrrrzzt.
A hand came out from the covers and slapped at the phone on the bedside table that was vibrating far too loudly for... Sometime in the morning before Sam was awake.
Trrrrrrzzt.
Grabbing the offending piece of plastic and hitting the 'answer' button, "Huh?" was all the greeting that Sam gave.
"Sam, the Carltons are gone." came the older brother's voice through the phone.
"Dean- What?" he checked the clock on his phone to find that it read 3:22am – far too early, in Sam's opinion.
"The Carltons? The couple we were watching? They're gone." There was a cold edge to his brother's voice that Sam recognised as when his brother was on the verge of flipping out.
Sam bolted upright; partly from his brother's tone but also at the words. "What? Bu- But I thought you were watching them."
"We were. Cas was monitoring their souls using what Angel powers he can reach and apparently they just... I don't know, vanished." then there was some talking away from the phone that the younger brother assumed was Cas saying something to Dean.
When the line next came alive, it was the Angel on the other end. "Hello, Sam. I was monitoring the house and the Carltons when the situation occurred. There were no other beings around when theirs souls disappeared; if there had been I would have been able to detect them from their own soul imprints."
The younger Winchester sighed, shoulders slumping. "A- Then we had better find this thing quick, by the marks on the body I say that this god or whatever is killing it's victims about five or six days after taking them and in four more days, the next couple is set to go. Try and be in the house, I guess?" Sam was still stumped on whatever the mystery monster was and was growing increasingly worried about the case. Nothing had ever evaded their knowledge for this long, especially when Bobby and Castiel were helping. All of it was adding up to make the younger hunter wonder if this wasn't some new monster that Eve had cooked up. He decided to voice this to the Angel. "Say, Cas, could this be Eve? Could this be something of hers?"
Sam could all but imagine the head tilt that Castiel was probably doing at that moment. A slight hesitation before "No. No, this is not Eve. This feels... Old but not as old as Eve or like any of her creations. I feel as if I have encountered this before but I cannot remember where." The confusion was evident in the Seraph's voice which just added to the Winchester's sense of unease.
"I'll get back to looking for whatever this is. There's gotta be something. You two, uh, see if you can find if anyone wanted to hurt the couple. An argument at work. Old family disputes. Anything."
Chatter away from the phone and then "Dean says we will meet you in the small bar off from the town's centre tonight to discuss further."
The line went dead and Sam dropped his phone back on the bedside table and worrying his lip slightly between his teeth.
The younger hunter was certain that the estate agent was the monster, but going against him with no clue what he actually was could be dangerous, even so, Sam figured he'd at least stop by the agent's house and see if he could at least get some answers.
~x~x~x~
By six o'clock the same morning, Dean and Castiel were back in the house and the Angel knew something was definitely wrong. He recognised that the human tried to save as many people as he could and saw the stakeout as a failure of some kind but the Angel maintained hope that they would be able to find the missing couple before any harm came to them. After all, he trusted Sam who had assured him he would maintain his search and that the bodies showed that they were not killed immediately. Dean was, however, sitting at the table, gazing at nothing with a glass of whiskey in front of him and sporting a grim expression on his face; one that Cas recognised as the expression Dean used when he did not want to talk.
The Seraph believed that, given the situation, he needed to 'diffuse the bomb', as Bobby had once said, that is Dean Winchester when angry/hurt and/or upset.
Castiel sat across from him and waited for the green-eyed man to make eye contact.
"I know what you're thinking Cas, and no." Dean sighed.
"Dean, there is nothing you could have done and you know it."
The hunter finally looked over. "And that just makes me feel worse. We should have found whatever this thing is by now, not just someone we think might be it and some random-ass star chart for any hint about where it's from." Castiel saw Dean's soul start to be clouded by the deep, blood red of anger which inched into black at the edges: hatred. Hatred that was directed onto himself.
The Angel's eyes narrowed. "You will do what you can, nothing more can be expected from you."
"And if those people turn up dead? That's on me. I couldn-"
"If they die, then that guilt will way on me as much as you, if not more; after all, I was the one watching the house." The Angel replied, a cold lining to his voice.
"I shouldn't have even been sleepin'." Dean stared into his glass before owning the rest of its contents.
"Dean," Castiel growled and the hunter looked up, a small amount of alarm showing in his eyes at the Angel's tone. Castiel took a deep breath before letting it out again, calming himself. He reasoned that, had he not been bound, a sudden storm would have rolled in or every light, mirror and window would have been smashed within half a mile around him – possibly both – if he did not control his growing anger. "The outcome would have been the same whether you were asleep or not. There is nothing you could have done. You must understand this. There is still time to save the couple and that is something you can effect."
A humourless smirk as the hunter placed his glass back on the table. "Great, so now I'm useless."
Before either of them realised what he was doing, Castiel had Dean by the collar of his jacket and backed onto the wall. The Angel may not have had superior strength but he did have the element of surprise which left the elder Winchester speechless and the intensity of the other's gaze made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
The Seraph opened his mouth to speak, his eyes matching the dark sky from earlier, when there was a small knock on the door. Castiel blinked and then stood up straight from where he had been leaning into Dean, the majority of the anger falling from his frame. Dean swallowed and, after receiving a 'this is not over, Winchester' glare from the blue-eyed man, pulled his gun from the table and made his way to the door.
Looking through the peep-hole, Dean saw that the sky had lightened considerably and on their porch was... Toby? Yeah, Toby, the ginger haired guy they'd met at the barbecue. Chucking off his jacket and nodding at the Angel to do the same before opening the door, gun tucked into the back of his jeans – just in case.
"Hey Toby, is somethin' up?" Dean asked, a small smile accompanying the question as Castiel leaned against the wall diving the hall and the living room.
"Yeah, I mean, I know you live kinda a way away from them, but do you know if the Carltons came home last night? I go to walk their dog this morning, same as every other and theirs no answer. I can't reach them on their phones, all the curtains are closed. I just hope they haven't... You know." the boy finished quietly and the hunter shared a slightly worried look with Cas.
"Didn't see Fiona at all yesterday but we saw Darrell drive home, didn't we, babe?" it wasn't all a lie, just a tweaked truth.
A nervous hand carded through his hair as Toby's eyes widened. "Oh God..." A small scowl from the Seraph, that went unnoticed, was shot towards the door. "I- I should ring the police. Oh my God."
Dean saw that Toby was about to start hyperventilating or something similar and quickly moved to attempt and calm him down. "It's okay, don't worry. I'm sure it's nothin'. Cas can call the cops, just in case something is up but I'm sure it's all fine." the Winchester nodded to Cas who nodded once in return before turning into the living room to fetch the phone.
The hunter, meanwhile, sat Toby on one of the wooden porch seats. The ginger-haired man was almost doubled over where he sat, hands gripping his head as if he feared it were to fall apart should he let go. "I'm s-so sorry you two had to- to move in while a-all of this g-going on." he sounded like he was bordering hysterical.
Dean scrambled for something to say to try and explain why he wasn't, also, freaking. "Yeah, well, I'm in the police so I guess I've seen my fair share of crazy." Not his best cover, he'll admit, but it explained his relatively calm composure.
"S-still doesn't mak- make it any easier, though, eh?" a dry chuckle and then Castiel was behind him and to his left.
"Dean, the police should arrive within seven minutes. I suggest someone should be there to great them." The Angel was sporting a completely blank and stony looking expression. It reminded Dean of how Castiel when he had first met him; all duty and no emotion.
"Yeah, um, I'll go." Dean walked past the Seraph to grab his coat and added a quiet. "Get Sam down here, too." to which Castiel nodded.
~x~x~x~
By the time the police arrived, so had half of the occupants of surrounding streets. Toby's house-mates had knocked on other doors asking about the Carltons and now there was a small crowd of people outside the last house on Joshua Avenue.
In the early morning light – and with sun rising behind the house, casting most of the front in shadow -, the house seemed eerie. With ivy climbing the sides of its stone walls and curtains still drawn, the house seemed to ooze an air of all things foreboding that reached under Dean's skin and made him anxious. The was cold and Dean unconsciously tugged his jacket tighter around himself. A haze of mist had settled over the park that could just be seen behind the house and made the air smell slightly damp.
As the cops tried to get into the house, the gathered crowd murmured and muttered quietly in small groups, possibly trading theories about what was going on.
Dean and Castiel stood apart from the groups, not looking at each other, when an engine cut out behind them. Dean turned to find his brother and a small man he didn't recognise getting out of Sam's car.
"Dean, Cas; this is Malcolm. We heard what's happened." Sam nodded in greeting while the other man, Malcolm, looked up, wide-eyed, at the house.
"Yeah, I think they're ready to break down the door to get in." the elder brother cast a glance over his shoulder at the cops on the house's doorstep.
"Th-this isn't right. None of this is right." Malcolm was still staring at the house.
Dean was about to quip something – possibly a 'no shit, Sherlock' – when there was a bang, a few shouts and then muffled gasps of horror.
The two hunters and the Angel glanced at each other before pushing through the crowd to see what was going on, leaving the black-haired man behind.
When they reached the front of the crowd, Dean swore under his breath.
The door had been broken in and there, at the bottom of the stares, was the Carlton's dog with its eyes blank as it stared at nothing while a red smear lead from its body and into the living room as if it had been dragged to its current position.
Sam turned away, covering his mouth.
"Oh, this fucker is gonna pay." Dean growled.
