Dream Deal

Dean and Sam burst into the house, guns cocked. A man, woman, and a child that had been laughing together in the kitchen, screamed in terror at the sight of the hunters. Dean held his gun on Eddie Cogan. Eddie, according to their files repaired computers when he wasn't sending people off to dreamland. Sam took Murrieta and Evan Cogan. Murrieta was a married mother of one. Evan was her and Eddie's only child and was a pretty good student at school. They seemed like a normal family, but that was just an illusion. In reality, they were a family of Djinn.

"Thought you could go kidnapping people and eating them without wrangling up a few hunters, huh?" Dean huffed, finger hovering over the trigger lightly. He knew the gun wouldn't do anything. It was just for show. The real weapon was hidden in his boot. The silver blade dipped in lamb's blood was cold on his skin there, but he suffered through it.

"What are you talking about? Murrieta shouted. Her voice was mixed with confusion and fear. We –"

"Cut the crap," Sam interrupted. "We know you're Djinns. There's no point lying."

"No, but…"The woman trailed off, swallowing nervously. "We didn't hurt anybody. We swear! We just moved here a day ago!"

"We have the house papers to prove it!" Eddie added. Sam and Dean shared a look.

"Prove it."

"Evan, get Daddy's papers from the top cabinet above the fridge, please," Eddie called to his son. The boy looked to Sam and Dean. Both hunters nodded and the boy pushed a stool against the fridge to reach the papers. When he had them he handed them off to Dean before running back into his parents' arms. The hunter read over the papers before lowering his gun.

"They're not lying."

"Then who's been…"

"Maybe it's just normal kidnappings for once," Dean sighed, irritation bubbling in his veins. They had been away for two days because of the damn case. It had been more difficult than usual, but they had hunted down the only Djinn family in town. Finding out their hunt was for nothing was not something the sleep deprived hunters had wanted to hear. Well, it wasn't for nothing. They had found a family of monsters. Dean glanced back at the family, looking them over carefully before pulling the silver blade from his boot. He spun the blade in hand and Sam pulled out his own blade, mimicking his brother's stance.

"Sorry, but you're still monsters," Dean explained. "There's no telling when you guys will start killing. It'll happen sooner or later and we'd rather keep that from happening." Both brothers prepared to lunge. They wanted this over with. Both Dean and Sammy were tired and starving for something other than crappy diner food. They also had someone to get back to too.

"Wait!" Murrieta shouted. Both brothers stopped mid-leap. Murrieta swallowed nervously. "Are…are you the Winchesters?" Both Dean and Sam shared an apprehensive look.

"So what if we are?" Sam questioned, voice on edge.

"We ran into a vampire a while back…Benny." Dean visibly stiffened. "He told us about you and your…children."

"And?" Dean stressed, voice laced with both hesitancy and curiosity. The woman hesitantly glanced towards her husband. Eddie nodded and she turned back around to face both hunters.

"We think we may have a way to help the comatose one." Dean suddenly felt lightheaded. Was he dreaming? Was this just some sick joke his mind was playing with him. "We create dreams for people and put them in our dream worlds all the time, but if you allow us we can try put one of you into the child's head so you may speak to him." Sam scoffed.

"If we wanted to enter his dreams we could do that with African Dream Root and for your information we tried that and still couldn't get through. Cas' mind has locked down completely," Sam hissed. Dean flinched. Dream Root was the sixth or seventh they had tried in their failed attempts to wake Cas and in the end it ended the same as all the others.

"We're stronger together though," Evan stated then, stepping out from behind his parents a little. "Dream Root's good and all, but it's not as strong as all of our powers." Sam laughed to himself.

"No offense, but do you seriously think we'd trust you even if you really could do what some African plant couldn't? How do we know you're not just going to feed on us and Cas?" Sam questioned, eyes dark as he glared at the family. Eddie stepped forward then, shoving his son behind him protectively as he did so.

"Do you think we're dumb enough to mess with the top hunters in the world?" he countered. "We've heard tales about you both and the things you do. If you can't trust us, then trust that our instincts for survival are stronger than our hunger." Sam opened his mouth again to decline, but Dean reached out, hand clasping over Sam's shoulder. Sam turned and looked at his bother. Dean's eyes were wide and hopeful, something Sam hadn't seen in a long time. "Dean…" Sam whispered. Dean hushed him, shaking his head.

"What else do we have to lose, Sammy? Cas is stuck. He needs our help. If they try anything it's not like we're not armed." Sam looked his brother over.

"What's the catch?" Sam turned to look at the family, forcing his eyes from Dean. "There's always a catch."

"You spare us and we'll save your child," the mother stated. Sam eyes widened before falling into a frown. He still didn't buy it. It seemed too good to be true. When did something like this ever happen to people like them?

"Sam." And there it was. Sam reluctantly met Dean's gaze again. The hunters face was stern and determined. There was no persuading the hunter to reconsider. Sighing, Sam nodded and Dean's lips tugged upwards slightly before he turned his gaze to the family.

"Follow us," he said simply before turning on his heels and walking out Sam ushered the family to follow Dean and then followed closely right behind. No one noticed the suited figure in the shadows with a wide, mysterious smile.

"Here he is," Dean whispered, taking a seat in a chair set up next to the bed that held Castiel's sleeping form. The djinn family shuffled inside, eyes raking over the child carefully. Sam and the others were all downstairs, giving the group some room. They stared at Castiel, following the long wires and tubes hooked to his body. Cas' hair had grown longer and it was greasy from not being brushed. Dark circles still surrounded his eyes and his face was still a disturbing white. "So…" Dean hummed. "What do I do?" The family stepped forward, reaching out to the hunter and touching his head gently. Dean gasped and tried to pull back from the hands, but the family latched onto him. The tattoos covering the three's bodies began to glow just as bright a blue as their eyes and Dean suddenly felt a wave of power sink through his veins. Dean's eyes rolled back into his head then, and he collapsed against the bed. All he heard before drifting off was a series of voices murmuring one word. Sleep.

I found nothing saying that Djinn could or couldn't put people into someone else's dreams and I figured that more than one Djinn working together would have the power to do something like that so I made it happen. But will it work? That is the question ;)