A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who is reading this tale!

Thank you so, so much to those of you who are choosing to follow / favorite / review this story! It means so much as an author!

I do not own Supernatural, Sherlock Holmes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or any other TV Show, Movie, Song, and/or Book referenced in this tale.

Chapter Warnings: This chapter deals with some serious angst. Sam and Victoria are both dealing with her kidnapping and what happened to her while she was kidnapped in their own ways. It is a heavy chapter, but I tried to put some comforting things in there. The next few chapters will be heavy, but I would love to include any scenes you guys may want to see as well. Thank you so much for reading.

Chapter 17

Evidence

Victoria kept staring at the Angel sniffing the body. Ezekiel never did this. Was this a thing? She tried to subtly text Dean.

I don't know how to phrase this…

Is dude sniffing the bodies?

Dean never gave himself enough credit. Victoria sent him a gif of a celebrity nodding their head up and down.

He does that.

"This body, Angela DeWinter, has died from blood loss and a missing heart. Her soul is currently in Heaven. She had a penchant for raspberry flavored chocolate and a stomach ulcer. Treated with antacids."

Victoria liked the Heaven part. She walked over to examine the body as well. She saw the open chest cavity and bite marks on the victim's neck. She also noticed what looked like pieces of nail polish around the chest cavity. She examined the wound further. It could very well have been done with nails and a hand. She flash-backed to when she was about to rip out that cannibal's heart and had to steady herself.

Cas's hand was on her arm immediately.

"I think the chest may have been opened with a hand."

Castiel nodded.

Victoria took her gloves off and threw them into the trashcan by the door before leaving the room.

"Will you need to look at the body anymore Miss Doyle?" The coroner looked a bit ill. Too ill for just that body in there.

She prayed to Cas to read his mind.

Sam was just about to get out of the Impala when Dean shoved a pair of gloves at him. "Suit up Sammy."

The warehouse was deserted, and dirty. They could see the wardings covering almost every square inch of the outside. The spray paint mixed with rust and made the building look foreboding.

They drew their guns and ventured inside.

The smell overtook them immediately.

"Holy crap." The body of the man Victoria had killed was still on the floor. The blood dried, the eyes open. Flies were buzzing, feeding. Rats scampered over the carcass, eating whatever was left.

Both men covered their noses with their jackets, guns at their sides.

"We'll get used to the smell in a minute, Dean."

"Nobody should have to get used to that, damn!"

Next to the man was the chair Victoria was tied to for two weeks. They saw the broken chain, and IV that she ripped out of her skin. Sam could picture her there; he shook his head to try and clear the image.

Dean saw the woman his brother was so fond of as well. But his image was the one of the woman ripping out the man's neck. The woman who fought Cas in the woods, the woman with blood running down her throat. Blood that was not her own. He too, shook his head.

They walked around, until they found it, the room Sam was terrified existed.

The hospital had a break room, and they escorted the coroner in there. Cas and Tor sat across from the man, making him aware with their body language that he was not allowed to leave.

He nervously fumbled with the pen in front of him. Cas took it out of his hand.

He looked at Victoria, "He was going to try to 'Dexter' his way out of here. I don't know what that means, but I figured it would not be good."

Castiel transferred the pertinent knowledge to Victoria's mind and she began the questioning.

"They have your son?"

The coroner nodded nervously. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I've been hiding the other bodies, saying they were animal attacks, but the Sheriff, she saw this one before I could make out the death certificate."

"How many bodies?"

He fidgeted nervously. Castiel grabbed his tie and pulled him forward, surprising Victoria.

"How many?" He growled.

"Four, four."

Castiel let go of his grip and the man sat back. "I'm not working with them, they just, they just, threatened my family and now they have my son!" He started crying into his hands.

"We'll get your son back." Cas added, reassuringly.

Victoria marveled at how quickly Cas changed from 'I'm going to get information Angel' to 'comforting Angel'.

"How many of them are there?" Victoria was trying to gauge what they were up against.

"Three." The man mumbled into his hands.

"Do you know what they are?"

The man peeked at Victoria through his fingers, like when there is a scary part in a movie. "No."

Okay. "Do you know where they are?"

He shook his head.

Victoria drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. "We probably shouldn't go around searching for them blind."

Cas urgently put his fingers to her forehead. "Can you not see Victoria?"

She giggled. "It's a saying, Castiel. Meaning that we should probably ascertain what we are up against before we go to fight them."

Castiel nodded.

Why did she have this itch to call Sam and Dean? Speaking of itch… She pulled down her shirt a bit to look at her chest. The Grace was behaving itself today, good.

Cas looked at her wearily.

"I'm fine. It's actually not bothering me today."

His eyes narrowed even further.

"Promise."

They needed a library.

Sam and Dean still had their guns drawn as they inspected the room. It was sterile. There was a stainless-steel examining table, a freezer, various petri dishes, plastic containers, microscopes. It was an examining room and a lab.

Dean's heart froze, he looked at his brother. Dean wanted to explode. He wanted to kick over everything in that God-forsaken place. He wanted to take his anger out on anything and everything in his way. But he couldn't, not with Sammy looking like that.

"Sam…" Dean put his gun back in his waistband and carefully approached his brother.

Sam stood there, shaking, frozen, unable to move.

"Sammy?" A plea, a helpline.

"Dean?" It was a whimper, a cry out for his older brother.

"I'm here Sammy." Dean wrapped his arms around his brother from behind and buried his face into his back. It was a total chick-flick moment, but his brother was on the edge of collapse. "I'm here."

After a few minutes of standing there, Dean was able to get Sam back into the Impala. It wasn't easy as he pretty much had to drag his Sasquatch of a brother.

Dean called Agent Brooks, told her the location of the warehouse and what they pretty much knew went on there. Agent Brooks said she would try to get fingerprints. She too, sounded defeated.

They were driving, just driving. Dean didn't have a location and he didn't know what his brother needed. He kept tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and bouncing his leg. Sam was quiet, dangerously quiet. He didn't like Sam this quiet.

"Sam."

"Not now." He managed to mumble, his head against the glass.

"Look, we don't even know if it worked, or where…"

"Not now, Dean!" There he was.

Dean could deal with angry Sam. "What do you need Sammy?"

Sam looked dangerous. "The doctor."

Victoria was on her laptop at the local library, which was small, but quaint. She got some BBQ from a local stand and got Cas to eat some. She enjoyed eating with someone and was grateful she could give Cas human taste buds. They both had a cup of coffee in front of them. Cas had the case file strewn out in front of him at one of the library tables. They convinced the coroner to give them the other case files as well, before they left him. He was distraught and Victoria felt pity, but she knew they were doing what they could to get his son.

The Sandman and Mo'o taught her a lesson, be prepared. Being a cocky Chosen One would get her killed. And although she knew she would end up in Heaven, and had never been afraid to die, this time was different. This time she had men who needed her. Damn it all, Victoria had started using the Winchester's word for love.

Castiel looked at his phone.

Call me.

From Dean. Castiel excused himself and stepped outside the library.

"Hey Cas."

"Dean." How the angel could put so much meaning into just his name Dean would never know.

"We uh, we found the evidence Sam was looking for."

Cas put his head against the brick wall that made up the library.

There was a pause on both ends of the line.

"What are we going to do, Dean?"

"Sam wants to find the doctor."

Cas understood.

"He…" Dean paused. "Sammy wants to see what information he knows."

"I will help."

"I know, Cas." Pause, again. "Can't we just ever catch a break man?"

Cas pursed his lips at the pain in Dean's voice. A pain he was accustomed to, unfortunately.

Dean needed distraction. "So, how's the case going there?"

Cas slightly smiled as he sat on one of the benches. Normalcy, well for them. "We don't know what it is. Or what they are. There's three and they have the coroner's son."

"Damn."

"Yes, it is not an ideal situation."

"Do you need us, man?"

Cas thought, eyes narrowed. "I would say yes, however, I am unsure of how Sam is going to be around Victoria. At least until he finds the Doctor."

Dean knew that. But getting into a semi-regular hunt seemed the way to get rid of some of this tension.

"Yeah, man, I uh thought of that too, but you know how hunts kinda help us out sometimes, get us back in the groove? Maybe it'll help Sammy, let him work on the doctor thing as a long game."

"Whatever you think, Dean."

Victoria looked up lore after lore and finally came to a conclusion.

Cas looked up at her.

"Hybrids?"

Victoria nodded.

Cas's brow furrowed. "Like in Vampire Diaries?"

Victoria blinked rapidly. She had a secret. A deep, dark secret. And this secret could be discovered right here, right now. Her nostrils flared, her posture straightened, she licked her lips and sighed. "Yes, Castiel, like that."

She knew of only one other being whose blue eyes could rival that of the Angel sitting across from her, and that man was on that show.

Castiel nodded, completely serious. "So, a vampire and a werewolf mated, and hybrids were the result. They are probably siblings, creating their own type of nest or pack."

Victoria agreed.

Castiel continued, "My Father made precautions so that could not happen in the 'natural' world." Victoria always smirked at his use of air quotes.

"Like mules."

"Yes. They are unable to procreate."

Victoria got one of the town's free maps from the library stand. She placed it back on the table. "All right, let's see if I can sense these guys."

"No, Dean."

Dean rolled his head back and forth and released a deep sigh. "Look man, your girl misses you. All right? If we're right on this, then we have a while. Okay? So, let Agent Brooks do her thing, and we'll go from there."

The youngest Winchester glared at his brother. "Now, Dean."

Dean lightly pounded Baby's steering wheel. "Dammit Sammy! Just, let's go home. We'll figure it out, just like we always do."

"If you won't go with me, I'll just go by myself."

Dean had had it. He understood, he did. He was pissed too. But he didn't see how anything could get done this way. He was an experienced hunter, completely different from the boy desperately trying to find his father all those years ago. This Dean knew that sometimes plans were required. Although he usually let Sammy make them. But Sam obviously wasn't doing that now. This Dean had been through hell and back, literally. This Dean knew that the Doctor was a long game, and they needed help.

"Sam, look…" Dean tried to phrase in the most sensical way possible to convince his little brother. "You know I will go anywhere with you. You know that. But just, hear me out, okay? We have nothing to go on, but Agent Brooks, she does. And uh, for some reason, Tor probably, she wants to help us, okay? So, let's let her do her job, while you spend time with your girl, and I have my bed, and mom. And Cas, and Jack, and that dumbass big ole dog."

Sam slightly smiled. "Yeah, you're right. I just…"

Dean knew. "I know, Sammy. I do. And trust me, we will get this bastard, and we will get down to the bottom of this, and we will…" he hesitated. "Do everything we need to. Okay?"

"Okay."

Victoria closed her eyes and ran her fingers along the map, hoping to hear them. She could feel the grace moving around her heart, but it didn't itch. She refocused on her fingers and the map.

"This child is needy. Can't we just eat it?"

There was a deep growl. "No, Samson. He is our leverage."

"What do we need leverage over that dumbass for?"

Another growl. "He keeps our kills quiet. Don't you like living here?"

"So what, we're gonna keep the kid until he manages to somehow cover up this one?"

"He will."

"The Sheriff already saw it Delilah, there's no chance."

Deepest growl yet. "He will!"

Victoria's eyes popped open. She looked at the map.

"Here."

She typed the address into Google maps. "It's a subdivision?"

She and Castiel didn't have the element of surprise. As an Angel of the Lord supernaturals had a pretty good chance of identifying him on sight. And Victoria was the same. Otherwise she would have gone with a whole 'we just moved into the neighborhood and wanted to come by and say hi' bit.

Chances are, if they recognized them, which they would, they would take the kid. Victoria was fairly sure they could be smited, smitten, what word to use? But she didn't want to take a chance with the kid. Crap on a frickin' cracker. How was Dean this influential in the manner in which her thoughts thought?

She needed a distraction while she found the boy. As long as the boy was safe, the hybrids could be taken down easily. Or fairly easily. She sat drumming her fingers on the table. Hostages always made things more complicated. Frickin' monsters.

"So, we have to find the kid, get him safe, and then kill the hybrids."

"You are contemplating how to find the child?"

Victoria nodded. "I need a distraction."

Cas lowered his head and furrowed his brow. "A natural one."

She nodded.

Victoria had her phone on speaker sitting crisscross-applesauce on the hotel bed.

"I need a human distraction, Castiel and I would be discovered on sight. The humans need to knock on the door with some cookies or something, seemingly normal, while Castiel and I look for the boy, get him to safety, and then kill the hybrids."

"Like on Vampire Diaries?" Dean let slip.

"Yes, like that."

Both Victoria and Dean were quiet for a moment.

"Where's Sam?"

"I'm right here, Tor."

Victoria's chest itched. Castiel noticed her scratching and sat by her.

"Are you okay?" Oh. The emotion that came out with those three words flooded her. She wanted Sam to tell her everything and hated to admit that she was a bit hurt when he didn't. She hated that she cared so damn much.

The itching intensified. Castiel, with a concerned countenance, removed her hand from her chest and replaced it with his. At this point he was sitting behind her, and she found herself relaxing her body into his. The Grace calmed.

"I'm fine."

Code for definitely not okay. Victoria winced.

"Okay."

No one said anything for a solid minute.

"Uh, you want us to be your distraction Tor? We're a while out yet, but I think we can be there tomorrow afternoon?"

Could she face Sam? She would have to sooner or later. She missed him terribly, but she knew there was something holding him back, something new. Something he felt he had to keep from her, and that thought? That thought scared the hell out of her.

"Only if you both get some rest."

"Yeah, we'll stop at a motel on the way, get our four."

"Sam?" The way that sounded, the pitifulness, the pain, the longing she expressed in just his name angered her. How did she allow herself to become this person? The person who was resting in the arms of an Angel and practically crying the name of the man she grew to love?

"Tor?"

She could hear the pain in his voice too. What was this? What were they facing? She shivered slightly and Castiel wrapped his other arm around her as well. She became even more embarrassed. But the weariness, the worry, the strain of the day made her care less about the embarrassment and more about the comfort. Son of a frickin' bitch! She was now co-dependent, just like the rest of them. She cared less than she thought she should.

"I, uh…" She hesitated, unable to say it, unable to force the words out. "be safe."

She could almost feel him closing his eyes, almost felt the wince, the pursed lips. Whatever it was, was going to be bad.

"You too."

When she ended the call, she felt a tear roll down her cheek. God, she was annoyed by herself.

Victoria Doyle re-positioned herself in the arms of the Angel and fell asleep.

"You know, I never catch anything here." Dean took a sip of his beer and motioned for Cas to sit down.

"Is that really the point of fishing, Dean? Isn't it more the solitude, the appreciation of nature? The peace?"

"Not really in the philosophical mood Cas. How's yours doing?"

"She is asleep, in my arms. I feel the grace, Dean, when it bothers her. It yearns."

"Yearns?"

"It is the only way I know how to explain it. As if it is trying to mend her heart, but causes irritation instead, because it is foreign."

"So…?"

"I do not believe my Grace soothes the Grace inside her. I believe the comfort does."

"Victoria is strong as hell, what's going on, man?"

"Needing comfort is not a sign of weakness, Dean, although I can see how you would both think that. You are very similar."

"Yeah, well, she's like you too, buddy."

Cas thought, his face pensive, "She is like Victoria Doyle."

"Damn straight."

"She misses Sam and doesn't understand."

Dean sighed. "Yes, he's uh, on a mission now Cas, but I think I calmed him down. He agreed to go back home and figure this out over the long haul."

Cas nodded. "Will he discuss this with her?"

Dean pinched his nose. "I don't think so, man."

Cas bowed his head. "So, the lie will fester."

Victoria was in the chair again, IV's in her arm. She could hear them, slightly. They were discussing her.

"What's up doc?"

Stupid laughter.

"Shut up!"

"All right, all right. What do you want me to do with her?"

"Bring her in here."

"Kay. You want the IV's or no?"

"No."

Victoria felt him ripping the IV out. Blood squirted in his face. "Bitch!" He wiped it off. He started to pick her up and she squirmed, fighting against him as much as possible. He pulled a syringe out of his pocket and stuck it in her arm violently.

Darkness.

Victoria awoke with a start. Castiel pulled her back to him. Her grace was itching powerfully as it wrapped around her heart, trying to calm it.

"Cas..." unable to say the whole name.

"I'm here."

God she was embarrassed. She felt silly, weak, this was not her. She was the woman who took down vamps and werewolves single-handedly. She was not the woman who collapsed into a man's arms. Well, angel's arms.

"What time is it?"

"Three in the morning."

Of course it was. She allowed herself to lean back into him, accepting the comfort her heart so desperately needed. Screw it.

"Sorry about the grace thing."

"I do not mind physical interaction with humans, Victoria. Oftentimes, I find it comforting. Holding my Father's greatest creation in my hands."

Okay, so Castiel got a 10/10 for comforting on that one. She allowed her face to relax and tried to forget her dream.