Chapter Two- Welcome to the New Divide

A/N: All music mentioned in this story will be real music, and none of it will be owned by me (shocker). I highly recommend you listen to the songs though so you can get an experience of the mood of the scene, or just a peek into Gabriel's thoughts. Or just because. Any music suggestions, let me know! I may mention it in a car scene.

About 2,600 words

Songs mentioned in this chapter:

Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden

Hysteria by Muse

It's a new dawn

It's a new day

It's a new life

For me

And I'm feeling good

-Feeling Good, Muse cover

Gabriel sat stiffly in the passenger seat, clearly uncomfortable with the length of plaster holding his torso safely in place. He dropped his head back onto the seat, a white stick of a dum-dum sucker poking from his lips. In his lap was lain a pocket sized journal, one of three. Any Hunter who wasn't an idiot always kept some record of their missions, and where they'd been. It was as close to textbooks as Hunters grew up with, but also hard to come by. Castiel and Gabriel had made mistake after mistake before coming across that of a man named Remington Tanner, who was described as killed by "something dark, scary, and terrifying." The blood splatters on the cover were more than enough explanation about the degree of scariness the creature was due to obtain.

That journal was in the compartment under the back seats, with Castiel's- he had no need for it while driving, and could make additions later. The one Gabriel had with him was his own, full of five years worth of tales, pictures, newspaper articles, snarky comments, and cold hard facts.

August 29, 2011

Location: Middlebury, Vermont

The ghost killed her fifth victim last night, a forty year old man who'd jogged by and gotten too curious. (A small newspaper clipping was stapled to the upper right corner of the page with the title "Jogger Mystery: Suicide or Murder?). On the bright side, we know a name and burial location. She was Rachel Arlington, a thirty-three year old widow who apparently left her home for almost nothing after her husband's murder. As for why she's doing the killings, and what the patterns are, Cas and I have no idea. But it doesn't really matter, because she won't be a problem after tonight. Bye, sweetheart. Don't rest in hell.

He snorted, reading the entry. Ah, but only if, he chided his past self futilely. He bit his pen with his teeth in thought, then jotted in a note that looked like an aside rather than an actual entry.

One day, a rib cast, and a burnt house later- if you're dealing with a hermit type bitch, always burn the house too. Just FYI.

He capped the pen with satisfaction. Perfection.

He sent a glance aside at his brother, who was driving with his eyes focused on the road. It wasn't abnormal for the younger Novak to go for some considerable lengths without initiating conversation, but some was off about him. He seemed distracted in a way that wasn't like him. Gabriel hid a frown by tossing his finished sucker into a trash bag and popping in a jolly rancher instead. There was a click as the front compartment in the dash was opened and his journal and pen dropped inside, and another as it closed.

At least it wasn't like it was completely silent, something that would have driven Gabriel insane. The radio played illegally downloaded music on Gabriel's phone, for Castiel didn't care much about the music that was played during their roadtrips. "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden was halfway through its tune, but the music was far to slow to hold Gabriel's interest. He scanned through his list of songs, and gave a quirked smile before selecting Hysteria by Muse.

Much better.

"Bugging me, grating me, and twisting me around..." Gabriel kicked his feet on the dashboard, half humming and half singing. "Yeah, I'm endlessly caving in, and turning inside out..."

Castiel, unbeknownst to his brother, rolled his eyes. He tapped his rough, worn fingers on the steering wheel to the beat. If Gabriel kept stretching himself into odd positions, they'd likely have to stop at another hospital in the next hundred miles. It was like the man was actually incapable of sitting still.

But Gabriel's thoughts had been correct- Castiel was distracted, but he couldn't quite wrap his head around what exactly it was that was distracting him in the first place. His hands itched with the desire to write whatever it was that was knocking at the back of his skull, but nothing was there to write. The strangest things had been setting off déjà vu the entire day, all eight hours of driving. Gabriel had laughed a few hours back and Castiel had thought he was about to have a heart attack from the overwhelming sense of familiarity.

He adjusted the steering wheel, noticing the car beginning to slant lightly towards the side of the road. The physicality of the action brought him back from his deep thoughts, and now Gabriel was humming some unfamiliar song that was definitely not of the appropriate type. Gabriel noticed the glance and with a lopsided smirk switched the song.

"Just messing with you, Cassie," he claimed, putting his palm against the back of his neck.

The Mark V swerved abruptly to the side of the road as both Novak's were forced to turn away from the road, lest they be blinded. As it was, there was a deafening BOOM which left Gabriel's eardrums ringing loudly. Castiel's pulse quickened as that very same déjà vu feeling rose up in his chest, and he forced himself to take deep breaths and calm down.

The light had hardly even begun to dull before the doors of the car were popped open and the Novak brothers were warily walking forward. Both held their arms in front of their faces for protection against the shining whatever, but it was fading very fast. And then, just like that, it was dusk again- cool air, and shadowy colors all around.

Gabriel lowered his forearm hesitantly, a hand on the handle of the gun in his belt as Castiel drew his. The younger titled his head in confusion at the scene though, and turned to glance around.

"Gabriel, I don't see anything that could have done that." And just what was "that", anyway? Certainly nothing Castiel had ever seen, and he'd seen a lot of odd crap in his life.

Gabriel drew to a slow stop, glancing down at the ground without saying a word. He seemed horror stricken, or maybe just struck dumb with confusion. That worried Castiel, as he'd never actually seen such an expression on his brother's face. He took cautious steps forward to join him.

Then, he also stopped cold.

Because what he saw was so utterly bizarre and horrifically beautiful that he couldn't help but stare in wonder, matching expressions with Gabriel. It was like some artist had stopped on the side of the road and decided to make a prized masterpiece out of charcoal, but Castiel had a sick feeling inside his chest that said this wasn't charcoal- it was too realistic, and the air still smelled like something burning. A feather floated as though being pushed by the heat radiating the concrete, and Gabriel gingerly caught it as it made its descent. He clenched it in his fist, unsure if he were about to puke or faint.

It was a magnificent wingspan, at least fifteen feet wide. Each feather was placed perfectly and naturally along the bone structure. The shoulders of the wings met as though there was meant to be something joining them, but there was nothing there.

After what felt like an eternity, Gabriel glanced over at his brother. "Well... that's new," he said drily, and Castiel nodded slowly. They took further steps to the mural, and where they stepped the charred ground didn't smear- like it was meant to be there, and wasn't designed to be removed.

Two men drove their beaten down car to the side of the road. Gabriel debated telling them to get lost, but opted instead to ignore them. After all, they couldn't mean any harm. One hat a baseball hat on and a cigarette sticking from his mouth just like the stick of Gabe's sucker, and the other had oily but well groomed dark hair. They were only spared a passing glance, but it was enough to make Castiel and Gabriel take a few steps closer to each other and away from them, on significant alert. Castiel started to reach for his gun, but a hand grabbed his wrist and stopped him cold. "No, stay still."

The voice was commanding but not unkind, but definitely unfamiliar. Gabriel and Castiel jumped around and Gabriel started to draw at his own gun. But then he looked at the owner of the voice and just let his hand settle on the handle.

He was a young man, no older than nineteen at the absolute most. His hair was a sandy blond color, and he was tall with lanky limbs. His face was urgent too, not threatening at all. Rather he seemed agitated and nervous. He looked beyond at the two men who were surveying the imprinted wings, as though taking their time, and it only seemed to panic him more.

"Sorry guys, we're gonna want to move. Now."

Gabriel looked over his should at the men, and one of them met his eyes and murmured something to his friend in a low voice. Unnerved, he looked to the stranger. "I'm sorry, why do we want to do that?"

"Because I'm guessing you two idiots would like to live past the next ten minutes." He was snappish- in a hurry, frustrated, or perhaps both. He took a few steps back, inviting the Novak's to follow him. Castiel, of a more trusting nature than Gabriel, took half a step after him.

The stranger's gaze focused sharply on something behind Gabriel and suddenly pulled his gun. The shot was fired before Gabriel's had completely lifted from his holster, but it didn't matter; the bullet wasn't meant for him. He rotated to watch the greasy hair man go down hard, bouncing where he hit the pavement.

Castiel instantly trained his gun on their stranger, but he wasn't looking at either Novak brother. Even when Gabriel's jaw dropped and he exclaimed with a loud, "What the hell?!", and had a second gun aimed his way, he barely flinched. Instead, he held his own straight at Baseball Cap guy.

"Let the man go." Hearing orders come from such a young man was very strange and difficult to take seriously, except for the tone. His voice was cold, professional, and left no room for arguments. His gun arm was level, and steady.

Cas and Gabe exchanged looks, and Gabe voiced the questioned that occurred to both. "Sorry, let who go?" He saw no one else around, and the truck that had been pulled up was empty as far as he could tell.

"Not now," said the stranger in a low voice through gritted teeth, his attention definitely not on Gabriel.

Baseball Cap man looked down at his fallen partner and gave a heavy sigh. "Aw, he was my poker buddy."

Castiel was far too overwhelmed with confusion of what was even happening to made his expression more discombobulated than it already was. He got the idea Gabriel was also just planning to wait this out, ask questions later. But his body got chills at the humored sadness in the man's voice, and a headache throbbed at his temples as he swore he saw the man's eyes flicker black.

A quick transfer of aim by Gabriel suggested he'd also noticed it, and that made Cas feel a bit more secure in his sanity. But the condition of déjà vu made him nearly sick. He took a deep breath and concentrated on the situation at hand.

"What the hell are you?" Gabriel demanded, with a signature flare of sass that normally would have amused Castiel.

Baseball Hat dude shifted his gaze to Gabriel, but only smiled teasingly before returning it to the stranger. Said stranger kept up his cold gaze with frightening intensity.

"Release him. He doesn't have to die to get rid of you."

The man laughed, and mimed a tear sliding down his face. "Oh, why not? That's half the fun." He winked his nightmare black eyes.

There was another deafening bang of the gun, and a bright spark of metal on metal from the gun. The stranger stepped forward quickly, muttering something very unfamiliar as the Novaks watched in stunned fascination.

The man with the black eyes had been shot square in the knee cap, bringing him crumbling to the ground. He yelled and put up a great fuss, but something suggested it wasn't the pain from the bullet. Both brothers had had their fair share of bullets, but this man was writhing as though his entire form was on fire. He head twisted around with painful intensity.

"- cessa dispere humanas creaturas, eisque aeternae-"

The man screamed in agony, and Castiel watched in horrified fascination as Gabriel stepped forward quickly. "The hell are you doing?!"

"-perditionis venenum propinare." He paused, taking a breath. "Humiliare sub potenti menu Dei, audi nos!"

The man opened his mouth to scream again as Gabriel roughly grabbed the stranger's shoulder, but then stopped once more to stare as black smoke, like that of a storm cloud, was sucked out of his lungs in a pillar of darkness. He, the man, screamed the whole time until it was out all the way. The black pillar dissipated to some other where as the man collapsed with a very noisy thump onto the side of the road.

The stranger wasted no time turning to Gabriel and Castiel. "We have to get away. Now. There's more of them on their way."

"Hold on just a second-" Gabriel spluttered as Castiel nodded.

"A-alright." The tall man pulled out his phone, presumably to call the police for this poor man who was lying unconscious on the ground with a bullet hole it his leg.

"Wait, stop with the orders! Who do you think you are?!" demanded the elder Novak with a tone of authority. The stranger turned around and faced him, easily looking down on him.

"Death or knowledge, man. Your choice." The man stepped towards the Mark V, where Castiel hung up. "How long until they get here?"

"Less than ten minutes," estimated Castiel.

"Cas!" Gabriel yelped, feeling a bit betrayed. His brother shrugged at him.

"I'm sure he'll explain later. But we should leave before the police get here."

Gabriel stood a few meters away with a conflicted expression, but realized protesting at this time was absolutely ridiculous and simply withdrew his keys. The car doors unlocked with a soft click, and three men- well, two men and a very young man- got in.

"At least tell us who you are," Gabriel grumbled, turning the keys in the ignition.

As the car jumped to life, the stranger turned away from his lookout position, scanning the road for more vehicles. He looked uneasy now that he was out of the crosshairs, which seemed extremely backwards to Gabriel. Nevertheless, he tried to offer an unsure smile in greeting. "My name's Adam Milligan. I'm a Hunter."