"Dean! I'm leaving okay?"

Sam waited for answer as he waited by the front door of their apartment, he finally heard Dean grunt back and he quickly left the apartment bundling himself up in his jacket. It was starting to get colder in North Willows and the comforting chill of autumn was replaced with crisp winter air. He walked down the street with his hands in his jacket keeping himself warm as he went to buy groceries. He paused to look behind him but saw nothing. Shaking his head, the younger Winchester continued walking.

'I swear… I feel like someone is watching me.' He thought, occasionally glancing behind him. He wasn't sure why but it had been almost two weeks since he had felt like this- as if someone was hiding in the shadows and watching him. Once he thought he saw someone outside their apartment, looking into his window but when he blinked the shadow was gone.

He sighed, 'I must be too stressed...'

Sam Winchester entered the shop, walking past a man sitting on the bench reading a newspaper. His dark eyes trailed the teenager into the shop. He got up, leaving the newspaper on the bench and walked into the dark alley way, he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. Dark smoke poured out of his mouth and disappeared into the air while the body of the man slumped down on the ground, his eyes closed and his body… lifeless.

The older Winchester woke up a few hours earlier, trying to rub the sleepiness from his eyes. He noticed that it was oddly quiet in his house and his eyes darted to the clock: 12am.

"Sam?" He called out.

No answer.

He got up from the couch and opened the door to Sam's room, "Sam?"

The room was empty. The panic struck him and his heart begun to beat faster, "Shit… Sam…" he muttered, running to the living room and grabbing his phone off the coffee table, he quickly dialled his number and paced around the room.

"Come on… come on… pick up… pick up…," He muttered and sighed in relief as the ringing stopped, "Sam? Where the fuck are you?!"

There was no answer. He felt his heart race and his palms begun to sweat, he found himself pacing again, "Sam?"

"Hello Dean Winchester."

He froze. He did not recognise the voice of the man who said his name but he could feel his pulse beating heavily against his chest and with every heartbeat he felt as if his throat was squeezed. The feeling of dread crept up against him, the hairs on his arms rose and he found himself shaking.

"W-Who is this…"

"Never mind who I am Dean Winchester. I have your brother and if you want him back… bring the hunter boys with you. We have business together, treat this as a bargain. You'll give me what I want and I'll give you back your brother. I'll contact you soon Dean Winchester… We'll be watching."

"W-Wait! W-who are you talking about?"

"Castiel and Balthazar Novak."

He heard the line cut and the voice was gone. He felt his legs give out and fell back onto the sofa. His shaking hands grabbed his phone and dialled Castiel, his hands were shaking violently he could barely press the button. His heart pounding against his ribs, he could not hear anything but the sound of the phone ringing against his ear and the ticking of the clock that had suddenly become louder than usual. He felt sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Dean?"

He let out a choked gasp when he heard Castiel's voice, "C-Cas… Cas… listen to me… Sam… Someone took Sam and when I called his phone they answered… fuck… I don't know what's going on okay? I don't know what the fuck is going on but he said he needed you and your brother to come here… now, fuck… Cas… what the fuck is going on… Do you know anyone who would do something like this?"

Dean got no answer but heard soft breathing on the other side, "Cas! Do you know anyone who would do something like this?"

"I'll be there Dean. Give me a few days, I'm dealing with business."

"Cas, what the fuck! It's my brother you get your fucking ass back here now! Where's your brother? Let me speak to him!"

"Balthazar isn't here…" Dean heard Castiel muttered on the phone before sighing, "I can be back tomorrow, that's the earliest… Don't tell anyone about this… I'll see you then… Bye."

Dean screamed in frustration and hid his face into his hands. His hands gripped his hair tightly as he rocked back and forth on the sofa. He gasped for air. He felt as if he was suffocating, as if someone had placed a noose around his neck and tightened it. He felt tears of both sadness and frustration flowed down his face as he began to cry; the mere action of crying was so unusual to him. Dean Winchester had not cried for many years and mixed with all the frustration and sadness of the sudden and strange situation, he was confused.

Why did it happen to him?

Why Sam?

And how is Castiel and Balthazar connected to all this?

Castiel Novak

Castiel ended the call and placed his phone in his back pocket, looking at the woman that was sitting in front of him. She was tied to a chair, her clothes were soaked in water and blood that was from the cuts on her face. He clenched his fist tightly, feeling a sharp pain on his hand from the wounds from his knuckles.

"You're useless now… I know where Furcas is…" he muttered, his calm demeanour changed with each step he walked. The woman shivered and tried to plead with him but she could not talk without crying out in pain, "I… I don't know anything… please…"

He paused, his tall height towering over her figure that was slumped over on the chair, her chest rising and falling in uneven sequences, he rose the knife in the air and with a swift movement swung it down into her chest, the socket of her eyes glowed as she screamed and soon he was staring at a lifeless body. He left the empty, abandoned building. He wiped the knife clean with a cloth as soon as he got back into his car and drove away towards the motel. He finally reached the motel and parked the car but he didn't get out of the car. He stayed seated with his hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel, took a deep breath and exited the car.

He slammed open the motel room door and saw his brother jump up and grab a gun from the bedside table and pointed it at Castiel but once he saw that it was his brother, he sighed and placed the gun back on the table.

"Shit… you scared me Cas. Hey… I thought you said you were going to get food… where's the food?"

"We're going back to North Willows. He's there… and he has Sam, Dean's younger brother."

Balthazar nodded and the two brothers quickly grabbed their bag of clothes and dumping it in the car. After paying for the motel, the two left, driving down the road that headed for the small town called North Willows.

"Cas."

"What?"

"Where did you go?"

Castiel glanced at his brother and shrugged, "Needed to get some fresh air and forgot about the food. Sorry." He said and continued to look out of the window but Balthazar knew he was lying and the smell of light sweat and blood was on Castiel and even though he tried to hide his bloody knuckles, Balthazar saw it.

"Cas."

"What?"

"Aren't you going to answer your phone?"

Castiel pressed the red button and turned off his phone, tossing it in the back of the car seat and continued looking out of the window as Balthazar pressed the car to go as fast as he could. He took a deep breath, "Cas?"

"What?"

"What are you going to tell Dean?"

His younger brother remained quiet, his blue eyes staring out of the window. The blonde brother could not read what he was thinking, Castiel was not showing any expression- his face was blank but he sensed that he did not want to talk about it further. Castiel clenched his fists and felt something in his gut that he had not felt for a long time.

He was scared.

A/N: Hello! Sorry for not publishing for such a long time! I hope you find this chapter alright… I didn't think it was the BEST chapter but this chapter is almost done, I think a few more chapters and the story will be finished so yeah. I HOPE to be publishing soon, tell me what you think of this chapter!

Seriously guys, please review.

Thanks for reading and see you next chapter!