Chapter 6: Unleashed
Dubbiel picked at the dirt under his nails with feigned disinterest as Phil flipped through book after book in the dingy church library. The hunter was determined to do as much research on Dubbiel as he could before deciding if he'd help him or not. Good thing churches were open 24/7. Dubbiel had angel-ported the both of them into it regardless of it's open hours however, and oblivious to the way Phil doubled over in nausea as they landed in their new location. He needed to get this over with and Phil on his side as soon as possible. It wasn't his fault humans couldn't handle the way he traveled. The more time they spent here, the longer their opportunity to strike quick and have the element of surprise was ruined.
"You hunters. It's always research this, research that, isn't it?"
Phil grunted, not looking up, and the fallen angel rolled his emerald green eyes. It didn't matter how much research Phil did, he'd trust him in the end. They all did. He WAS an angel after all, fallen and out for vengeance or not. The only difference was that this man might actually be of use to him.
He'd spent too many years wandering the Earth looking for someone, anyone, with a lead to Gabriel. He had to hand it to the older Arch Angel; he was good at hiding and covering his tracks. Who would have ever thought that he would have taken refuge in a Norse God's body? Loki of them all. His blind spot was that he had been looking through devout worshippers, positive that Gabriel would be hiding out in a church in a small corner of the world. He never suspected going to a hunter and hearing about the Trickster that ran amok all over America.
Oh how the mighty had fallen. Both him and Gabriel. Gabriel, once the self-righteous angel that defied his father to save a small country of people was now practically a serial killer with a fucked up sense of humor. And Dubbiel himself, had once held so much power in Heaven, and was now destined to wander Earth as a weakling.
That was all about to change.
He couldn't get near Gabriel without him sensing his prescience, as earlier in the hotel had proven. Their auras clashed and made Gabriel violently and physically sick but in the end, Gabriel had over-powered him when he realized whose aura it was affecting him and he fled for his life. He hadn't been within reach of Gabriel's senses since.
Phil, on the other hand, would be able to easily get close to the arch angel. Close enough to exact his own revenge on Sam Winchester. Philly didn't need to know the rest of his plan from there though. Once he was done with him, he wouldn't need to know anything.
"So...Dubbiel."
Dubbiel made a sound in the back of the throat to alert him he was listening.
"You're really the real deal?" He continued at the angel's quirked eyebrow. "Don't give me that- I've never met an angel before."
"You've met Gabriel. Apparently."
"Yeah, speaking of that, you guys really aren't what I had in mind when I think of angels."
Dubbiel gave him a dry, sarcastic smile. "We're God's soldiers, not prayer and miracle machines with wings. Blame your kind's own misinterpretation of the Bible for that."
"Yeah." Phil coughed. "So. Anyways."
"You've really got a way with words Philly."
Phil glared at him and wondered if he'd go to Hell for punching an angel. Or for whatever he was getting ready to help Dubbiel do to Gabriel.
"Yeah. So. Anyways." He repeated. "I'm on board. I'll help."
Dubbiel smiled a smile that was probably once charming and sweet but now sent a chill through Phil's body.
"I know. Enough wasting time."
SPN SPN SPN SPN
"Sammy, we've been out here for hours. Where the hell is this thing?"
Dean's irritated voice broke out over the silence in the graveyard. They had paid Meredith another visit, and let her know that they were going to investigate the graveyard for extra details for the story so that she wouldn't panic when she saw their flashlights and call the cops but after two hours of wandering around in-between the dark tombstones, the Vetala still hadn't made an appearance. And they needed it corporeal when they read the rites to banish it.
"Maybe Gabriel changed his mind and already got rid of it?" Sam replied with a hint of hopefulness although he knew it wasn't likely. Gabriel had been acting weird all morning, worried almost. Although he was good at hiding it and changing the subject every time he saw Sam catching on to the look in his olive eyes.
Whatever could make an Arch Angel worry couldn't be good though. He hoped it was just the usual stress of Lucifer and the apocalypse and no new threat had come to surface. Then he snorted. Usual stress of Lucifer and the apocalypse...when had his life become so fucked up that running around after the devil to stop the end of the world was normal?
Then again, who would have thought that he'd be in a gay relationship with not just any supernatural being, but the 'heaven-almighty Gabriel the Arch Asshole' as Dean liked to call him. Especially since three years ago when they first met him, they thought he was just a nameless trickster with a sick sense of humor. Scratch that, Sam sighed. Gabriel's pranks apparently lead way back to Sam's freshmen year in high school. And then apparently back before he could remember.
A warm feeling washed over him for a second, feeling special that he'd not only attracted Gabriel's attention from the start, but kept it for so long. It had to be considered an honor for an angel of the lord to 'go gay' for you, even if he was a run away angel that had joined the pagans centuries ago.
"That'd be just like damn Gabriel." Dean muttered. "Tell us he's not going to do it, and then do it without telling us and leave us out here all freakin night on a wild goose chase." He threw his arms up in the air exasperated. "He's probably perched in a tree somewhere watching and laughing his ass off."
"No...I don't think so Dean. I think he's pre-occupied." Sam mumbled, completely un-aware of the dirty look his brother threw him through the dark.
"Pre-occupied with what exactly?"
Sam looked up slightly alarmed by the growl in his brother's voice before realizing his mistake. "No, no, nothing like that. He just...seemed sick. I don't know, do angels even get sick?"
Dean shook his head. "Not as far as I know. Never seen Cas with as much as the sniffles. Maybe all that sugar is finally getting to him."
"Mmhm." Sam pursed his lips together and shifted his gaze. "This is weird; it should have shown up by now."
"Tell me about it. I'm giving it another hour before I go back to the motel."
Sam shrugged in agreement. "Maybe the boundaries of the graveyard go deeper than we thought. I'll check the surrounding woods...see if there are any old tombstones stashed between trees or something."
"Yeah, you do that. Be careful."
Sam was already headed towards the dense forest on the edge of the cemetery before he even heard Dean tell him to be careful. Not that he needed to hear it; he always knew Dean would tell him before he did something dangerous. It was more out of habit than worry for his safety after all these years.
Sam was an older, more experienced hunter now than he was when Dean and dad had first started showing him the ropes, how to hold a gun and flash light at the same time and how to track through woods. Back then Dean had been so concerned about Sam all the time he'd almost sounded like a broken record. 'Be careful, watch out, watch your back, be careful.' 'Hey, listen, hello, look.' He remembered his dad had smacked Dean upside the head more than once and told him to get his mind off Sam and on the hunt.
But still, it did seem like bad luck seemed to follow Sam Winchester around. It was Sam who had gotten kidnapped by the Benders and the Morton ghost. It was Sam who had gotten hunted by crazy Gordon Walker, not once, but twice. Three times if you included the time he sent his two friends after him. It was Sam who had been possessed, and then worse, kidnapped by Azazel and killed by Jake.
Things both Supernatural and human seemed to take a liking to taking Sam captive. He couldn't count the number of times he'd gotten captured on a hunt when he was younger and needed his dad and Dean to come rescue him. But they'd always had. They always had his back in the end. They'd tell him to be careful and then act like they were going on their usual business without a care about him but they never stopped listening for him, for anything that might be wrong to come running to at once.
At least now he had Gabriel, an extra security blanket, so the pressure wasn't all on Dean to keep him safe anymore. He was worried about his older brother. There was only so much stress one person could take before they had a heart attack and he was adding to Dean's growing pile every day.
If Dean had been with Sam at that second, he would have laughed at the irony. Sam was so lost in his thoughts of the past, thinking about all the times he had been kidnapped; he never even heard the quiet stealth of the other hunter in the woods behind him.
Second verse, same as the first. An arm wrapped around his throat from behind and covered his nose and mouth with a foul smelling cloth that Sam recognized in a panicked moment as chloroform. He reached for the knife he kept in his jacket and slashed at his attacker's arm that was wrapped around him but it only caused the grip to tighten, cutting off his airway.
Hadn't this happened before? Oh yea, when the crazy alchemist Dr. Bennett had kidnapped him. Damn it not again, were his last thoughts before his eyes rolled up into his head and his body hit the ground heavily as his vision faded to black.
SPN SPN SPN SPN
Phil stood over a sink, bandaging his arm. Damn Winchester had managed to nick him pretty deep in the arm with that knife when he'd grabbed him.
"It would have been easier if you just would have let me knock him out with a baseball bat." He growled at the angel who was inspecting the young hunter with wavy brown hair that was currently tied to a chair in the middle of the basement of this abandoned house.
Dubbiel didn't even bother to acknowledge his remark with a look.
"I already explained to you...Gabriel is attached to his human. And when I say attached I don't mean 'oh I really love my puppy.' I mean, he can sense his blood. He knows when it's been spilt and he would have been there in 0.2 seconds flat and if you think he'd let you walk away twice, especially after hurting HIS human, you're wrong. He would have killed you."
"Right, right. Too risky to bludgeon the kid and make him bleed." Phil leaned back against the wall. "So tell me how we're going to kill him and keep all his blood inside him at the same time?" And please don't say suffocation, Phil thought. He may be an experienced hunter, but he didn't think he'd be able to stomach choking a poor kid to death. He was starting to have second thoughts about wither he really wanted Sam Winchester dead or not but it was too late to back out now.
"We're not going to kill him until after we kill Gabriel."
"Why did you make me kidnap him and lug him all the way here then?" Phil shouted. This was getting insane. He was sick of being kept in the dark and running around like this guy's lap dog when they'd met less than a few hours ago, angel or not.
"Because I couldn't get near that town again. Gabriel was already aware of my presence once. He'll be on alert. I needed you to go in and get him, and bring him to me. Does that not make sense to you? Are you questioning my orders or are you just too dense to figure this out on your own?" Dubbiel titled his head, his dark hair falling to the side and emerald green eyes glaring out from behind the strands.
"No. I understand now. So the kid's bait." Phil glared back, shoving down the bile in the back of his throat. Nothing about this plan was sitting right with him anymore. He didn't do torture. He didn't do kidnapping. He didn't do elaborate schemes. He just wanted to shoot Sam in the head and get this over with and leave Dubbiel to deal with Gabriel. He was officially out of his pay grade and level.
Dubbiel smiled. "Exactly." He caressed Sam's head, causing the younger man to stir slightly. "Did you set everything up like I asked you to?"
Phil nodded. "Though once again, I don't get why I needed to. What have you done today?"
"Me? I've savored the fact that after tonight, I'll finally have what I've been working for all these years. Have you ever worked for a goal Phil? Worked for something for over two-thousand years? No. I didn't think so." He answered his own question with a smirk. "Well let me tell you something. Tonight is going to be a good night. Tonight is going to be an AMAZING night."
SPN SPN SPN SPN
Gabriel appeared in the middle of the cemetery that Sam and Dean had said they were going to. Hell, he had been at Meredith's house earlier, he knew exactly where it was. He cast a reproachful glance at the religious nut's house looming in the distance, nothing more than a dark shape in the night.
"Gabriel?"
He turned around to face a slightly frantic looking Dean.
"I should have freakin known. Is this fun to you? I've been going out of my freaking mind here!"
"First off, I find alot of things fun...but what exactly did I do to make you freak out on me this time?"
Dean glared at him as if he should know and he merely shrugged. He'd been scouting out the hotel and town ever since the boys had left for this hunt and he'd sensed Dubbiel's aura. Whatever the fallen angel was doing in town, he'd left in a hurry and with no trace to follow. Quite frankly, he wasn't sad to see him leave without stopping by to say hello. Dubbiel was right on top of the list of angels he never wanted to see again.
Arrogant prick with strap on wings had taken his place next to dear old dad when he'd shown the Jews mercy all those decades ago. And then he'd used his power to bring his own country he watched over, Persia, to the top of the game by helping them slaughter and take over their neighboring countries.
So maybe dad had over-reacted a bit when Gabriel had told him what Dubbiel was really up to and kicked him out of Heaven. That wasn't really HIS fault, was it?
After searching for Dubbiel however, he had returned to the hotel room expecting to find a furious Dean and worried Sammy for him being gone when they got back. Instead, the room was still as empty as it was when he'd left. It'd been three hours, how long did an easy Vetala take?
So now here he was, just wanting to check up on them and he was getting yelled at. Again. It seemed like Dean chewing Gabriel out for one thing or another would almost be considered their bonding time.
"You said you weren't going to do shit to help us."
"Yep. And I meant it." Gabriel looked around. "So if the Vetala's gone, why are you still here?"
Dean narrowed his eyes. "How do you know it's gone?"
"Because I can't sense it." Gabriel gave him a look. "Hellooooo, Arch Angel, remember? Comes with a built in evil-detector."
"Well we didn't kill it...wait...and if you didn't kill it. Aw damn it. Please tell me you've got Sam."
Gabriel froze. "Why would I have Sam?"
Dean threw his arms up in the air, almost dropping the flash light. "Because I can't find him anywhere! He went off into the woods to look for the damn creature about an hour ago and won't respond. His phone is off and I've been looking everywhere. I saw you and I just assumed -"
"You assumed that I'd think it was fun to manipulate this into getting me some Sammy time by leaving you in a graveyard looking for him and a creature that's already dead. Thanks Deano, thanks. For the record, if I want Sammy time, I don't need to pull something this elaborate to get it."
"I don't care about you and your Sammy time. There isn't going to be anymore Sammy time for anyone if we don't figure out where he went."
Gabriel could almost hear Dean cursing in his mind and hear his heart hammering faster than usual. Sam in danger always put Dean in moods like this. Sure back in the day Gabriel found it pretty damn entertaining to screw with the both of their lives, but now he was more cautious. He wouldn't do something like this to make Dean panic.
He didn't feel the same way about Dean as he did Sam, but after the past few months he'd become fond of the older hunter. His snarks and the bitter sarcastic conversations they could throw back and forth at each other were almost fun. He'd never met many people that could keep up with his remarks and was secretly pleased to find someone else who could play the game as well as he could. Even if that someone else was constantly threatening to tie him down and set him on holy fire. He was even beginning to find the death threats endearing, as if they were the only form of affection the older Winchester knew how to show towards him.
But now there was a bigger problem. Sam was missing. His Sam. And he hadn't even realized it. Had Dubbiel been a distraction to gain his attention while something grabbed his lover? Was it whatever had killed the Vetala, or worse?
Nothing toke his Sam from him. Nothing. Not Lucifer, not Michael, not dad himself and certainly nothing else in this world was going to get its hands on him.
He was going to find him, get him back, and then take his time ripping whoever had done this limb from limb. The gloves were off when you touched what belonged to an arch angel.
"Let's go."
End ch6
Sorry for the short chapter, I was a bit stuck and now that I've added Dubbiel to the mix I've got to switch POV's more often. I just wanted to get this up before I went to Anime Weekend Atlanta this weekend and I've been distracted by my fresh addiction to Tumblr and my Dark Angel fanfics. Next chapter will be longer.
