CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Trick snuggled down in the hole, wrapping his arms around himself against the cold. His mind wouldn't settle. Images kept haunting him, ever since he'd woken up he'd suffered a constant barrage of what seemed to be memories, but couldn't possibly be.

They went back in time to the beginning of time. Things he couldn't possibly know, let alone remember. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the construction of the great pyramids, the creation of the earth. - Standing beside another, looking down at a fish crawling out of the water and sayings "Don't step on that fish Castiel. Big plans for that fish."

It wasn't only the past causing Tricks mind to spin and ache but the future. It was like a premonition or something. The war was going to end with them the victors. Hitler, the man they were here to defeat, would kill himself. Well, maybe not. Trick thought. Maybe he had a little help. Peace would reign for a few years before another country, another war.

But there would always be wars and he would see them all. He would not fight; he would watch from the side-lines and wait. Deal out punishments when he saw fit. A dancing alien here, a worm-hole there.

Until he arrived, him and his jerk of an older brother, then the punishments would stop and he would have to face his family. Have to stand up and be counted.

Trick closed his eyes, trying to push back the memories or visions or whatever they were. He tried to concentrate on the cold but couldn't. Against the blackness of his lids a movie played itself.

The two men looked confident and nervous all at once. He had known that hunters would arrive for him eventually, they always did, but these hunters were different. He may have been in hiding for half a millennia, or maybe more. He didn't remember, but he knew what the plan was, where it was going to end.

The fact that of all the hunters in the world it was these two on his case made his skin crawl. He didn't want to get involved with any of it. Not the war, not the fighting, not the vessels, nothing. He wanted out and he intended for it to stay that way.

Problem was he couldn't just skip town. That would be far more suspicious, he'd just had to see this one though. Allow them to think they'd won then he could vanish into the shadows and keep his head down, do what he did best and wait for it all to be over.

"Hi." The taller, long haired one said, smiling warmly down at him. "We're from the electrical company. We're meant to check the wires."

Gabriel smirked. The electrical company, yeah right. He was half tempted to have them be hit by lightning just for lying, but that was a little too over the top, especially for these two.

"Hey." He nodded instead, giving them his winning smile. "I guess you'll be wanting me to show you around then?"

"Yeah…if you don't mind. – They wanted us to check out the fourth floor."

Gabriel watched the pair for a minute before shrugging his shoulders and heading for the stairs.

He watched them as they investigated. Looking for clues. They obviously weren't the sharpest tools in the shed either. He'd met a lot of hunters over the years and a few of them had cussed him out instantly, some had never found him at all, but considering who these two were, well that it had taken them three days to figure it out…. With help he might add, well that didn't bode well for the hunters or the planet.

But worse thing was he kinda liked the pair. Having watched and screwed with them for three days, he had to admit that although they were thick as shit at times, they clearly cared for one another and obviously had a sense of humour and family. Something brothers his own was lacking.

And there weren't too many people who could appreciate his way of doing things, but these two could… as long as it wasn't aimed at them.

He watched as his mirage vanished, taking a bite out of his candy bar with a sigh. It was such a shame it was almost time. He'd actually begun to think it was never going to happen.

"Yeah, so our hero here just jumped on the poor kid." Scott's voice broke though Tricks thoughts and he turned to his friend after he was nudged in the side.

"Huh?"

Scott laughed. "I was just telling Blake here about the incident before we arrived at the village last week."

Trick frowned. "Last week?"

"Yeah, with that replacement who stood around watching the artillery like it was a spring shower or something. – Your remember Gabe, the one you jumped on."

Of course he'd remembered, but hadn't that been a dream? – Scott had said it happened last week. Trick rubbed at his forehead, trying to ease the pain while murmuring to his friend. "Don't call me Gabe."

Scott laughed again. "Why so sensitive?"

"I don't like it Okay. – Just… don't."

His comrades watched him with a slight hint of concern. It was unlike Trick to be moody and harsh sounding. There was most defiantly something wrong but neither of the two men was going to mention it.

"Gabriel."

Trick's head snapped up angrily with a curse on his lips that fell silent when he saw the long haired kid stood at the edge of the hole, a stern yet relieved look on his face.