AN: Eeeeeep I don't really know where I'm going with this, but it's exciting! (:
Chapter 9
There was a silence that lasted for a few minutes, while Dean and Cas pondered the implications of what Gabriel had just said.
'It might involve more than just you.'
Did he mean Castiel was involved? Cas had no idea how it could, unless the killer had found out that Dean was alive, and staying with him.
Eventually it was Dean that spoke. 'What are you talking about?'
Gabriel sighed. 'So after our conversation the other day, where you and Sam told me about all the scary things being real, I remembered something we'd found a while ago and dismissed. '
He glanced up at Dean, and then pulled up a chair, and sat down opposite Dean. Castiel walked over and stood behind Dean.
'So I guess you must know, we didn't find anything at the scene of your murder. This guy is good. I mean, really good. No fingerprints, no weapons, no sign that anyone other than you had been there. But one of the boys found a scrap of paper outside. It didn't have anything written on it, but it had the address of a motel just outside of town on it. Now I know that's not much to go on, it wasn't even at the scene. But we had nothing to go on at all... so we thought, hey, why not?'
Gabriel paused for a second. He was trying to make sure he didn't miss anything out, he didn't really want to repeat himself.
'So we went to the motel, and asked for a list of guests. We did a scout of the rooms, and everything looked normal, except for the fact that no one had seen one of the guests for a few days. Before the time when Dean was killed. We went to check his room out, and all his stuff was there, but there was nothing to suggest he'd done anything wrong? You know?'
They nodded.
'Well yeah, we were just doing a final sweep round, to be sure. And I saw this weird old book thing. I opened it up, and it was just full of nonsense. None of us could find any sort of logic in it, so we left it.'
'Then we were just leaving, when one of the cops found a knife in one of the drawers. I mean, we all thought this could be it. So we waited, I mean we staked the place out for two days and it was booooorrrriiing. But he never showed up. Eventually we just bagged the stuff, and took it back to the station. The next day was resurrection day, and I was hoping you'd know something about your killer. But no, that'd be far too easy wouldn't it?'
Dean crumples under Gabriel's accusing stare. 'Errr...sorry?'
Castiel frowned, and hovered his hand over Dean's shoulder. 'It's not his fault Gabriel.'
'Ppft whatever.' Gabriel snorted. 'Where was I? Oh yeah, so yadda yadda yadda, you know what happened next, up to when Sam told me about hunters. So I thought, huh. Demons and stuff are real? Who knew. And then it dawned on me. It was one of those light bulb moments you know? I felt like a freaking genius let me tell you.'
'Gabriel...' Castiel interrupted his brothers self flattery. 'Get to the point.'
He stuck his tongue out at Castiel. 'I went back to the book stupid! And all the nonsense in it, wasn't so weird. It was filled with all this crap about ghosts and demons and spells!'
'Wait... so a hunter's journal? I was killed by a hunter?!' Dean sounded offended.
'I'm not so sure. From what you said, the hunters are normally against the supernatural stuff right?'
Dean nodded.
'Well this guy seemed to love it. It's all talk about summoning demons, raising the dead and stuff. But not the way Cassie does it, like. Serious stuff man.'
He frowned. 'And that's not all. Thing is, I was looking back. And I found the name John Winchester, in several places. He seemed to have been keeping track of your daddy Dean. When you were living in Lawrence.'
'But why?' Asked Dean.
Gabriel shrugged. 'Beats me bucko. Maybe he was just making sure your Daddy didn't get involved in whatever he was doing.'
'What was he doing?' This was Castiel now. He couldn't help but get a bad feeling about this.
'Well that's where it gets sucky again. There are a few pages torn out, and it looks like it was from around the time John died. We have no way to know what he was doing.'
'But there is one other thing. There is another name in the journal.'
He paused, trying to see if they'd caught on yet... but their faces remained blank.
'Novak.' He sighed. 'It said Novak, Cas. I think... I think this guy was keeping track of all of us. And it looks like he lived close.'
Their faces still gave nothing away. Gabriel couldn't decide if they were in shock, or if they weren't getting it.
'Look guys, It's looking like this guys was obsessed with Dean's Dad, and also black magic. Now that doesn't sound like a winning combo to me. My theory? The guy was doing something bad, and was worried John knew about it. Now I'm not saying he killed him, I'm fairly sure we can pin than one on ol' 'Rise and Shine' over there...'
Castiel blushed and looked down at his feet.
'But what if he thought John had told you or Sam something? What if he found out that you guys had his journal and freaked? You know... maybe he wanted to tie off the loose ends?'
Dean was worried now. This guy had killed him, and he had always just assumed that it was done. But this made him uneasy... what if he knew he was alive again... and even more likely... what if he was now coming for Sammy?
But it looked like Gabriel hadn't finished talking. 'The thing is guys, yeah sure, if this guy lived on our street then he would know the name Novak. But why would he write it in his journal? I mean there must have been ten families on that road. Why us? I just think the timing is too much of a coincidence here.'
He paused and ran his hands through his hair leaving it in a state of disarray. He looked worried. Castiel wasn't sure if he had ever seen Gabriel scared before.
'I just can't shake the feeling that all this has something to do with your power, Cas.'
Castiel hummed in the back of his throat as he thought it over. Gabriel was right. It couldn't be chance that whoever this man was, he had been doing all of this, at the same time as Cas noticed his abilities beginning.
'We have to warn Sam.' Said Dean.
Gabriel nodded. 'I'll go over there now. You two need time to process this. I can tell him.'
Dean started to protest, but Castiel stopped him.
'Gabriel's right. I think we need to sit down and think all this through, Sam will be fine for now. He's clever. Gabe can tell him.'
Dean relented, and nodded silently. His head was spinning, and he felt like his legs were about to collapse. He couldn't help but think how different his life could have been if it wasn't for all this supernatural crap. Gabriel patted Castiel on the shoulder, smiled grimly and left. Dean walked upstairs in a haze. He was vaguely aware of Castiel saying things, but he wasn't listening. Eventually, he just went to bed.
It seemed like a lot more than a few hours ago that he was having a flour fight, and kind of kissing his best friend in the kitchen.