Meanwhile Sam and Dean had arrived in Monroe, Iowa and checked into yet another cheap motel. Even though they had been driving for several hours, the first thing they did was to check the local news for any weird occurrences in the area.
Sam found a few hints that might indicate a witch's activity. There were reports about strange noises and some animal disappearances. They decided to check it out the next day. It was too late to go around and start talking to people. But Monroe was a pretty small town, so they were confident that someone had to know something helpful.
The next morning, after breakfast, they split up to gather more information. Sam went to canvass the neighborhood, where most the reports had come from, while Dean went to the police station to try and get more detailed information on those reports.
After finishing at the police station Dean called Sam to hear how things were going at his end.
"Hey, I think I found something. How about you?" he asked his younger brother.
"I still have a few people to talk to, but so far they've all said pretty much the same."
"Alright, let's meet back at the motel when you're done. I'll get lunch." Dean decided and hung up. He had already started eating his burger, when Sam finally entered the room.
"What took you so long?" he mumbled between bites of the awesome bacon cheeseburger. Without taking his eyes of his food he picked up the second paper bag and threw it at his brother, who deftly caught it.
Sam sat down opposite Dean at the table and peered into his bag. He started to eat a few fries and opened his laptop. "The last person I talked to was a lonely elderly woman who had just lost her dog. She really enjoyed my company and wouldn't stop talking. It took me forever to get out of there." he finally answered Dean's question.
Dean had to stop eating for a moment, because he was laughing so hard at his brother. Sam threw a French fry at his brother, who ducked in time and the projectile missed its intended target, landing harmlessly on the floor. It was only because Dean had already finished his fries and would never give up his burger that he didn't retaliate.
"Did you at least find out something useful? Or are you going to have to visit her again?" Dean asked, still chuckling. Sam glared at him in response.
"It's not funny, Dean."
"Oh yes, it is. But seriously, what did you find out?" The older Winchester had now calmed down and was concentrating on the case again, it was serious enough. They had to help Cas and if they couldn't… He had no idea what he'd do if they couldn't help Cas, it just wasn't an option.
"That lady's dog is just one of many pets that have gone missing in the neighborhood in the last few days. I plotted those disappearances on a local map and it is centered around just a few houses. Our witch probably lives in one of them, right at the center."
Dean pulled the map over to his side of the table and checked the area Sam had marked.
"Hmm, I checked all the reports about disturbances in this town. There were actually quite a few reports for a town this small. But there were some from one address right in the center of the area you marked. A Miss Simmons lives there." he told his brother about what he had found out.
"How did you manage to get all that detailed information in such a short amount of time? Didn't you say you'd go look through reports and files and stuff?" Sam wanted to know.
"Well, the officer on duty was a very charming young woman. We talked for a bit and then she was really eager to help me and get the right files for me." Dean explained, smirking at his brother.
"Let me guess, you got her number?" Instead of answering properly, Dean put a piece of paper on the table, on which a name and a number were written.
"You are unbelievable." Sam said, shaking his head. "Are you gonna call her?"
"Nah, I don't think so." Dean dismissed the idea. This caused Sam to pause and look at his brother. This wasn't the first time that Dean had gotten a number and never actually done anything about it. It was very unusual behavior for his brother.
"What?" Dean demanded, when he noticed his brother staring at him.
"Nothing." Sam replied, silently still wondering. "So, this Miss Simmons. Do you have any more information about her? Could she be our witch?" he quickly changed the subject to the more important matter.
"She could be. It's our best guess. I don't have any more information about her though, just that her first name is Marcia."
Sam immediately started searching for a Marcia Simmons online, but came up with nothing helpful. So the brothers decided to stake out the woman's house that night, to see if anything out of the ordinary was going on there.
Dean decided to let Castiel know what they had discovered so far and what their next step would be. He prayed to the angel when Sam was in the bathroom. He felt like he needed a little privacy for this, even though it felt more like a one-sided phone conversation than an actual prayer. But he knew Castiel would be listening to every word he said.
"Hey, Cas. We think we found the witch you told us about. We're going to watch her place tonight, see what is going on there, just to be sure. I guess you could join us if you want to. Maybe you can see more than we can." He looked around, but he was still alone the room. "Anyway, take care, whatever you do." he added as an afterthought.
The angel still hadn't shown up when Sam came out of the bathroom and the two hunters left the motel and parked the Impala in front of Marcia Simmons' house to watch it from the car. Nothing happened for several hours and the brothers were having trouble staying awake.
"It's her. I can feel it." The low, gravelly voice coming suddenly from the backseat startled both Winchesters.
"Shit, Cas. Don't sneak up on us like that." Dean quietly cursed when he had recovered.
"Sorry." Cas apologized, blue eyes looking directly at Dean.
"It's okay. Just a little warning next time?" Castiel nodded. "Are you sure that the witch is in this house?"
"Yes, I can feel the power from the connection with Micah. And there are some Enochian signs around her door. She probably used them to lead Micah here." the angel explained.
"Who's Micah?" Sam asked.
"He's the angel who joined forces with Raphael and his power helped the witch create the monster. We should go now." Castiel already extended his hands to press two fingers to the brothers' foreheads, but Dean stopped him. "Whoa, wait. Go where to do what?"
"We'll go inside and take the powers away from the witch. She must have an object that focuses Micah's powers on her. We have to find it and destroy it. That should weaken the creature." Castiel told them his plan.
"And if the creature shows up to protect whatever it is we're looking for?" Sam wanted to know.
"It won't. I created a false trail to keep it busy for a while." This time Castiel when reached for the brothers he wasn't stopped.
An instant later they were in the witch's living room. Sam and Dean didn't really know what they were looking for, but apparently Castiel did, because after a quick search he told them that the object wasn't there.
"She probably keeps it somewhere close to her." Sam suggested, so they went to the bedroom looking at the sleeping woman inside.
Dean went through the door first, springing a trap, which threw him across the bedroom, pinning him against the far wall. He clutched his throat because he was being pressed into the wall with so much force that he could hardly breathe anymore.
"Dean!" Sam yelled, but the witch was now awake and he had to concentrate on her. Castiel and Sam entered the bedroom without a problem, but the witch was far from defenseless.
"Her necklace." Castiel whispered to Sam, as he identified the object they needed. They went closer to the bed, but the witch kept them away. Since she couldn't concentrate on both at the same time, she chose Castiel as the bigger threat and started drawing the sigil to banish an angel.
Before she could finish Sam was on her, yanked the necklace from her neck and destroyed the half-finished sigil. In response the witch turned to Sam and flung him across the room. He slammed into the wall next to Dean, hitting his head and falling to the ground unconscious. He still had the necklace in his hand though.
Castiel noticed that taking the necklace hadn't broken the witch's power. Dean was still being choked and Sam couldn't help at the moment. He had to do something fast, before she succeeded in her attempts to banish him or killed the Winchesters.
He teleported to a place right behind her and was ready to make her fall asleep with his own powers, when she suddenly turned and tried to stab him with a blade Micah must have given her. He was so surprised that she would have killed him if Sam hadn't woken up in time, quickly pulled out his gun and shot her.
With the witch dead the powers holding Dean faded and the three of them left the house of the witch. They took the necklace with them, thinking it would still be safer to destroy it, so it couldn't be given to another witch. This was Castiel's task. He zapped Sam and Dean back to the car and then left to take care of the necklace. They met up at the motel room again, later, to discuss how to get rid of the creature that was still out there somewhere.
Chapter 4 already, wow. Didn't expect this when I started the story. It took me a few days to write this (mostly because I had to work) but it's finished now and I hope you enjoyed it. In the end it was difficult to stop writing this chapter, but I managed. The next one will probably follow very soon, because I'm on a roll now with this (and it's the weekend ;) ).