Witch Hunt

By

Ava Brett

Disclaimer

None of the characters who are mentioned in the below chapter belong to me in any shape or form. I am merely using them for my own entertainment.

Author Note

So I've had some difficulty with this chapter mainly because I wrote this and another version and I couldn't for the life of me decide which one to put up, so the downside is it taken some time to put this chapter up but the plus side is that it does mean that the next chapter is pretty much written already.

I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm highly depressed today. I was meant to be going to the UK Supernatural convention but the organiser screwed me and my friend over big time. We did everything we were meant to do, received the order confirmation and a reference number but the bastard didn't bother taking the money from our account and didn't even tell us that he had cancelled our order. We only found out on Sunday when we chased our ticket and then the guy told us. We had booked the hotel and everything.

Perhaps I shouldn't be writing in this mood but I'm trying to keep my mind occupied and luckily writing does that. It just sucks so badly that I could have physically met Misha and Richard, I would have been so inspired!

Overall Summary

Sam and Dean Winchester's lives are turned upside down by the arrival of Gabriel and Castiel Novak, hunters whose reputation precede them. They know that the Hunters are after them but when Castiel marks Dean as his own, the brothers realise how truly screwed they actually are. Now it's a race against time to not only hide who they are from the Novaks but to try and obey the rules of the coven which state they must use their powers against them. Now they must make a decision, their coven or the loves of their lives?

Chapter Summary

"Two bottled beers of some description and a promise that if I'll leave Adam alone then you'll give me at least twenty minutes of your time later so we can talk"

Overall Romance

Castiel Novak/Dean Winchester and Gabriel Novak/Sam Winchester

Chapter Romances

Mentions of Castiel Novak / Dean Winchester and Gabriel Novak / Sam Winchester

Chapter Fourteen

I'm a professional I'll have you know

Gabriel sucked in a breathe and tilted his head back staring up at the Impala bar sign above him with a searching look before he looked back down, breathing out and fixing his attention on Castiel, an uneasy feeling blooming in the pit of his stomach as he caught the eager look on his brother's face. An expression he couldn't remember seeing there before.

Somehow he had a feeling that tonight wasn't going to end up going quite as they planned it to. He reached up and ran his hand down his face sighing as he spoke.

"Look Cassie, I don't need to tell you how much I despise when we're forced to have a conversation approaching emotional but I guess this is one of those occasions" he announced carrying on before Castiel could respond to him. "Are you sure that your mind is on the job at hand because if it isn't and you're gonna spend all the time we should be questioning the local staring at the clock behind the bar with that strange, disturbing mooning look on your face, waiting for Dean to appear then maybe it would be better for you to head back to the motel, do what you gotta do to clear mind and then come back. I can hold the fort until you're finished. It's no problem, in fact to be completely honest with you bro, I think I'd actually prefer it then to have to see that expression again."

Gabriel waited for an answer, raising a questioning eyebrow at Castiel, when his brother turned to look at him, an expression of amusement and annoyance mixing together in his eyes. Gabriel pulled a face when Castiel remained silent and began talking again trying to erase the awkward silence between them

"Its not a big deal you know, it's kinda understandable that you might be slightly distracted, I mean who wouldn't be if they almost kissed someone like Dean, I know if it was me and Sam I'd still be hitting the ceiling through frustration and excitement but let's be honest we've got nothing to go on because the articles we found here have been shit. They've given us no leads and nothing to work with, we've got one lead only and that's Ben Braeden. There has to be someone in that room who knows about him, someone who is willing to speak to us about him and about Lisa Braeden because I'm telling you Bro there is something strange about that kid, I just can't put my hand on what it is. His mother is a bit strange as well placing her high on my list of potential witch suspects." He frowned, his eyes narrowing as his mind moved through the evidence they had gathered. He would need to have another talk with Lisa Braeden.

"You know I could ask you the exact same question Gabriel" Castiel remarked after a pause, a flat tone to his voice which made Gabriel wince, that was the tone Castiel used when he was pissed off and dealing with a pissed off Castiel was something that Gabriel could have done without at that moment in time. He glanced back at Castiel when the younger man continued speaking, crossing his arms over his chest. "Or do I have to remind you that Sam is just beyond that door, standing behind the bar and well within reach of you. He'll be available to talk to and flirt with. Are you going to be able to focus at the job at hand Gabriel or are you going to spend all your time tonight at the bar trying desperately to get into his pants?"

Gabriel's eyes narrowed for a moment before he shook his head, placing his hand over his heart and staring at his brother with wide eyes, an offended look plastered on his face.

"I can't tell you just how hurt I am by your accusation Cassie. I am and always have been a complete professional when it's come to this sort of thing. I know when to separate work and pleasure I'll have you know. When I step through those doors in a few minutes then my whole attention will be fixed on talking to the locals and trying to find out whether there's been anything else which has happened in this town which might reflect some witch activity. It wouldn't surprise me if the papers are simply not reporting it. For all we know the witch is someone quite prominent in the town, someone who can affect what is placed in the paper or not. I heard of that sort of thing happening before in small towns, its not exactly uncommon and it would explain the lack of reported strange occurrences."

"That's a possibility" Castiel remarked absently before he turned to look at Gabriel giving him a disbelieving look "As for the rest of your speech well are you actually standing there telling me that you can always be professional?" he asked raising an eyebrow. Gabriel nodded.

"Always" he replied.

"And that time when we were in San Francisco when you jumped the policeman? That was you being professional?" he asked the flat tone leaving his voice to be replaced by an amused tone.

"Yes" Gabriel said "It was vital to solving the case" he continued stubbornly.

"It got you thrown into jail overnight Gabe" Castiel pointed out

"Yeah and that where the ghost was, if I hadn't been thrown in jail and kept the police distracted with my singing then you would never have been able to sneak in, find the body and destroy it. My jumping the police man solved that case."

"Yeah, it also left us pretty damn short on money as well by the time I paid your bail" Castiel said rolling his eyes. He looked away glancing towards the door before he looked back at Gabriel. "So you're telling me that if we walk into that room right now and you see Sam standing there naked with a can of whip cream and a come and get me smile you'd ignore him and question the locals?" he asked, his mouth curving into a smile when Gabriel snorted shooting Castiel an amused look. The residual tension between them dispersing as though it had never existed.

"I said I was a professional Cassie, I didn't say I was stupid. If Sam is standing there naked waiting for me, and I pray to God above that he is, then you know I'll be taking care of that business first before I even think of dealing with the Witch side of things, dealing with Sam would be a lot more fun and satisfying then the other option. Besides its not like we have a place to be or another hunt to go on once we've finished this one" he remarked, looking back at the bar in front of him with a thoughtful expression on his face. "We could always take a small break from Hunting if you wanted. Other people get holidays why not us? We could stay here a few days Cassie. You know get two motel rooms and stuff?" he offered casually.

Castiel remained silent for a moment before he slowly nodded his head.

"I think we would have earned a holiday. I can't remember the last time we just stopped for a while; we're always going from one hunt to another. I'd like to take a break here in Lawrence and I'd like another motel room" he replied before he turned to meet Gabriel's eyes with a serious look. "You don't have to worry about me Gabriel. I'm a professional as well. I know what is at stake here the same way I know exactly what we have to do when we find the witch. I even know that we're running out of time" Gabriel raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Running out of time?" he repeated in confusion. "How exactly are we running out of time? It's not like this Witch is like the one we dealt with in San Diego last year. She's not taking victims to sacrifice them to Hecate, at least not that we can see."

"I'm not talking about that" Castiel said "I'm talking about other Hunters. You said it yourself back at the last motel. If we've picked up the signs then you can guarantee that Uriel and Anna have picked up on them as well. They'll be heading here as soon as they can if they aren't already on there way and I'm not allowing them to get this from us."

Gabriel hissed, his face falling into a frown as he thought about the two Hunters. God he hated the pair of them, if a Supernatural being happened to take them out then he'd probably shake it by the hand and congratulate it before he killed it. There were some people the world was better off without and two of those people were Uriel and Anna in his eyes.

"I had forgotten about them" Gabriel admitted shortly, an undercurrent of anger to his voice.

"I hadn't" Castiel replied equally shortly, he sighed reaching up and running his hand through his hair. "We can't ever afford to forget someone like the pair of them. The more information we can get from the locals before they get here the better. If too many people are asking too many questions then the people of this town will simply close down and we won't get jack shit out of them. Trust me when I say I'm going to be focused on the task at hand."

Gabriel nodded, a feeling of relief sweeping over him as he heard the determination in his brother's voice. This is when he needed Castiel the most. The younger man had a way about him which made people confide him whether they meant to or not. When he was on the top of his game then there was no secret he couldn't uncover.

"Well you'll be focused until ten anyway. I'm thinking that all bets will be off once Dean's pretty little face emerges from the kitchen" Gabriel remarked, grinning widely when Castiel laughed shaking his head.

"That's still three hours where you get my complete and undivided attention" he pointed out "And we can find out a lot in that time period."

"And after that three hour period?" Gabriel teased. Castiel shot him a wicked grin.

"Well then I have some unfinished business to take care of Gabe" he answered with a shrug before he looked towards the door. "We should head in there now if you've finished with this talk. The more time we get to spend in there the more chance we'll have of finding out something about the Braeden's. As you say someone is bound to talk especially if they've been drinking alcohol all night, they might not even realise the importance of what they have been telling us which would be handy for us especially if they don't remember telling us the next day."

"Let's hope so because we need a lucky break in this case Cassie, I've had never had one before where there's literally nothing for us to work with." Gabriel remarked, hesitating for a moment before he reached out and snagged the sleeve of Castiel's light jacket, dragging him to the side of the door so they weren't blocking it.

"How exactly shall we do this tonight?" he asked quietly, smiling over his brother's shoulder at the couple who glanced at them curiously before they entered the bar. Gabriel looked back at Castiel as he continued speaking. "You want to keep together for a bit before we separate or should we walk in separately instead, one now and one in about five minutes or so? We could try and down play the fact that we know each other. It won't work on either Sam or Dean or anyone who was there last night but it might work on people who weren't especially if there's another bar server there tonight. We might get more information that way. People are more likely to talk to someone if they think they are there by themselves because they automatically feel sorry for them."

"I don't think it exactly matters how we go into the bar Gabe as long as we go to the actual bar first. It's gotta look natural when we're questioning them and it's not going to if we don't have a drink in our hand. People tend to get suspicious of people who aren't drinking in bars especially if they start asking questions." Castiel remarked, reaching up and lightly pulling at his lower lip with a thoughtful frown.

"Ok then" Gabriel agreed "We head to the bar first and get a drink, then we separate and we find out what the hell we're dealing with. We can discuss our finding back in the motel room once we're done. I think the further we are from each other the better." Gabriel breathed out shaking his head. "I don't know about you Cassie but I'm beginning to get the feeling that we might be dealing with something more then we initially thought. There's just something about this place which doesn't feel right" he went on to say, his eyes narrowing. "Like there's something sleeping here and its not a witch or at least not a normal witch that we're used to dealing with. I'll be damned if I know what it is though. Maybe the theory which you think is completely crazy isn't quite so crazy after all; maybe just maybe you were on to something there." He met Castiel's eyes. "Let's get this show on the road bro" he announced, pushing his concerns to one side as he turned and led the way through the door and into the warm crowded room.

The first thing that Gabriel saw was Sam standing behind the counter talking to a young blond boy who Gabriel had never seen before. They were standing close together talking to each other paying little attention to the waiting crowd. Gabriel expected to see the waiting crowd rioting but they all seemed content to wait until the two men had finished whatever it was they were discussing. Whatever the younger man was saying to Sam must have been amusing if the smile on his face was anything to go by.

It was a different smile to the one he was used to seeing Sam use. Not showing his teeth and not as wide as before but there was something genuine about it as though he really meant the smile. The only time Gabriel had seen it the day before had been when Sam had been with Dean. He used it all the time when he was near his brother, talking to him. At least he had before the shit had hit the fan between Sam and Castiel the previous night.

Gabriel still has no idea what had happened to turn Sam from the pleasant man they had initially met into one who looked as though he would happily have strangled Castiel with his own bare hands if he had been given the chance. When he had questioned Castiel about what had happened his brother had simply replied that he had no idea what he had done to garner that reaction from Sam. As far as he was concerned he had done nothing which was worthy of Sam's dislike unless Sam considered Castiel shaking Dean's hand a criminal offence.

Gabriel stood in the doorway, staring at Sam, his eyes skirting over the other man's features feeling surprisingly torn.

On one hand he wanted to push what happened last night out of his mind and simply walk up to the bar as though he didn't have a care in the world. He would flash Sam his killer smile and proceed to flirt the other man into submission. Once Sam admitted he was attracted to Gabriel then life would be so much easier for them both. Not only would Gabriel get Sam in bed like he wanted but he would also be able to pick his mind for answers, answers which he was desperately craving. It should have been easy because Gabriel knew he was considered a good catch by most people who met him. He was good looking, he was intelligent and he could hold a conversation and make the other person laugh. He had even been told that he was amazing in bed and yet he had the feeling that none of that would matter to Sam. Something was holding the other man back from getting close to him, Gabriel just needed to figure out what it was and deal with it.

One way or another Gabriel would get Sam; it just required some patience from him.

And yet there was another small part of him which was reacting to Sam in a negative fashion which surprised him, A part which rarely came out but which was surprisingly strong, A part which had flared into life in Castiel's defence. Gabriel might not have been the most attentive of brothers but he was still a big brother at the end of the day and if Sam had a problem with Castiel for no reason and continued to treat his brother like he was scum then Gabriel was going to be forced to do something about it even if it damaged his own chances.

He frowned, sometimes being a big brother sucked.

"You ready or shall we just linger by the doorway some more and let all the cold air in, pissing off the locals because you know that's really going to endear us to them and make them want to talk to us" Castiel pointed out from behind him, placing his hand on Gabriel's shoulder and pushing him forward so he could close the door behind them.

"Funny" Gabriel replied, shaking his head as he led the way through the crowd towards the bar. He pushed through the waiting throng until he was at the bar standing directly in front of Sam and the blond boy. Sam glanced towards him, his hazel eyes lingering on Gabriel's face for a moment before he looked around him, his eyes widening slightly as though he had just realised that there was a crowd waiting to be served by them. He looked back towards the blond boy who was looking around him with a sheepish look.

"You head over there and serve the people on that side Adam, it looks like they've been waiting for us for a few minutes now, make sure you apologise to them for the wait. I'll deal with this lot over here" he commented his eyes flickering back to Gabriel and Castiel. Gabriel watched as they narrowed slightly before Sam turned and smiled at Adam, placing his hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze before he pushed him lightly to the people waiting at the end of the bar. The boy, Adam glanced back at them both with a curious look before he looked away heading over the portion of the bar which Sam had allocated him.

Gabriel shot him a thoughtful look; he would have to try and grab the boy later on and see whether he could get any information from him. He looked pretty young and Gabriel had learnt from experience that the younger the witness the more likely they were to talk to him.

"Don't even think about it Gabriel" Sam stated flatly, resting his palms against the counter and leaning forward slightly, a watchful expression on his face as though he was waiting to see what Gabriel was planning on doing.

"Think of what exactly?" Gabriel replied innocently.

"Whatever it is you're thinking to do with Adam then just forget it. Leave him be, he's just a kid" Gabriel smirked.

"Now you're just making him interesting to me" Gabriel remarked glancing back at Adam before he met Sam's eyes and smiled. "Don't get your knickers into a twist Sam. There's only one person who is on my mind at the moment and he's standing right in front of me looking pretty damn fine." He watched as Sam's mouth moved upwards into a smile before he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah real smooth there Romeo" Sam snorted "What can I get you?" he asked turning professional.

"Two bottled beers of some description and a promise that if I'll leave Adam alone tonight then you'll give me at least twenty minutes of your time later so we can talk."

"Just talk?" Sam said suspicious.

"Just talk" Gabriel confirmed "and before you say anything Sam I'm a man of my word. I don't break it ever" he said, a serious tone coming to his voice. Sam frowned slightly searching his eyes before he sighed looking down the bar towards Adam.

"Fine you leave Adam alone and you'll get twenty minutes to talk to me later, deal?"

Gabriel grinned.

"Deal"

Author Note

Thanks for reading!

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