AUTHOR'S NOTES: In writing fan fiction I've found that some characters are easy to write and others are harder. With this story… I'm honestly not sure how to classify the 'Supernatural' character Castiel. It kinda goes both ways I guess.
Hope ya'll enjoy!
Chapter 2
Driving down the road towards the address Stella had given them, Sam kept glancing over at Dean who was determinedly not looking at Sam. After a while, the quiet and lack of music started getting to Sam and he said, "You and Stella seemed to get along pretty well."
"How long have you known her, Sam?" Dean asked, still just looking straight ahead as he drove.
"A while," Sam answered, vaguely.
Finally looking over at his brother, Dean asked again. "How long, Sam? Since you came back from the cage?"
After a long moment, Sam sighed and replied, "After you went to Hell."
Dean pulled off the road sharply and stopped the car, turning to look at Sam. "Start talking," he said, snapping.
Sam shrugged and after a few moments of Dean's hard stare, he said, "I was in town and I was having problems with the Impala. I called Bobby, hoping he'd be able to recommend someplace… He said to take it to Stella."
"So you were sleeping with her and Ruby at the same time?" Dean asked, trying to keep his temper in check.
"Stella and I have only been together for about 6 months," Sam replied, hoping Dean would drop the subject. "She's a good person, Dean."
"Oh, like Ruby was a good person for being a demon?" Dean snapped, getting irritated again.
"It's not like that," Sam insisted. He thought for a while of how to explain and finally just settled on the truth. "Stella was a hunter. But she quit when her little brother was killed by demons."
His mind running back to the diner, Dean frowned and asked, "Wait, what? She said her youngest brother was in college."
"He is," Sam confirmed. "Stella's father found him lying in the backyard of their house around the same time I came back."
"And the same time Samuel and the cousins popped up," Dean added, thoughtfully.
"And we're not the only ones," Sam went on, seeing that Dean wasn't going to bite his head off. Digging into his bag and pulling out a thick file, Sam said, "Three other families have had people coming back from the dead. The only thing tying them all together… all the family members were hunters."
"Someone… or something is resurrecting hunters," Dean said, thinking. "Why?"
"No idea," Sam replied as Dean pulled back onto the road.
In the basement of her old house, Kelly Gibbs felt like a stranger in her own life. Two years ago she'd been killed by a demon and about a year after her death she'd found herself lying on the floor of the basement very much alive.
The basement was full of memories. Kelly could remember helping her father build the boat that used to take up the entire floor… Then when she was 18 her mother had been violently killed by what Kelly learned later on was a demon.
Since then, Kelly had become a hunter and she'd been a very good one. But standing here, in her old house and alive she wondered now about her future. It would be so easy to slip back into the life of a hunter and obviously she was needed since she'd heard reports that other hunters who had been killed were back.
Hearing the steps creak, she whirled around, pulling out her 9mm Berretta and aiming it at— "Dad," she said with a sigh of relief as she lowered her weapon. "Sorry," she added, somewhat breathlessly. "Habit."
"Don't apologize," Gibbs said, quietly as he pulled over a barstool and a sawhorse. "It's a good habit." He took the stool and Kelly sat on the sawhorse and waited until her father spoke again. "How are you feeling, Kelly?"
"Okay," Kelly shrugged, brushing her hair away from her face.
Gibbs studied his little girl for a moment. She'd seen more fights and battles than most Marines and somehow she still managed to make him think of that small little girl Shannon had brought home from the hospital all those years ago. "Kelly, it's me. Talk to me about what's going on."
"I don't know, Dad," Kelly admitted as she stood, running a hand through her short, red hair. "I haven't… I haven't been…"
Gibbs nodded and went on. "Vance is a demon."
"Yeah, I, uh… I guessed," Kelly replied, vaguely. Seeing her father's look, she sighed. "I didn't want to just go ahead and kill him in case I was wrong. Besides, barging into the guy's office and shooting him full of rock salt would probably have created a fuss."
"You know anything about this guy, Winchester?" Gibbs asked, curious about the hunter he'd met earlier that day.
Kelly stopped and took a deep breath before nodding. "Dean Winchester has been out for a year but he's probably still pretty sharp. His brother Sam is… like me."
Gibbs stood as well and waited until Kelly stopped pacing and looked at him. "Sam was dead?"
Kelly nodded. "Dead and in Hell. Literally. But… what I've been hearing is… Something pulled him out. Same thing that pulled me back."
Gibbs took that in but even after almost 8 years he still couldn't completely wrap his head around all this supernatural stuff. Looking at Kelly and thinking of the year he'd spent without her, there were so many questions he wanted to ask: Had she been watching over him? Had she reunited with Shannon? But instead Gibbs just took a step closer and pulled Kelly into a hug and said, "I'm glad you're back."
"I'm glad I'm back, too, Dad," Kelly said, so happy to be able to hug her father again.
When Dean parked the Impala in the driveway of a very palatial lodge-style house, he looked over at Sam and raised an eyebrow. "A little better than a motel?" nodding towards the house he added, "Seriously?"
"Stella's family comes from money," Sam replied with a shrug as he got out of the car and grabbed his bag out of the backseat.
Dean wasn't sure what to make of all this as he'd never seen hunters who were so obviously financially loaded but deciding to go along with it for now, although he made sure he had his gun safely tucked away before he followed Sam into the house. Letting out an impressed whistle as he looked around, he said, "Very nice."
"Wait till you see the armory," Sam replied, heading for the basement door.
"Armory?" Dean asked, both eyebrows going up. "They have an armory?" But as he followed Sam down to the basement, he asked, "So Stella gave you a key to the house? Just how close are the two of you?"
Sam didn't reply as he went to the light switch on the wall and flicked it on.
Dean looked around at the handguns, automatic weapons, rifles—including a Winchester 1897 12 gauge. "Oh, man," he said, eyes widening in admiration as he went over and took a closer look at the shotgun. "Sam, did you see this?" Dean exclaimed, in awe of the weapon.
"Come on," Sam replied, nodding. Once he'd pulled Dean away from the shotgun and back upstairs, he looked out the front window just as an old pickup truck came up the driveway. Sam headed outside and smiled at the three men who got out of the truck.
"Sam," the older man said with a nod. "Nice of ya to stop by and visit."
Sam grinned and shook the hands of all three guys, exchanging greeting before looking over at Dean who looked more than a little annoyed that he was being left out. "Guys, this is my brother, Dean. Dean, this is Stella's father."
The older man took a few steps toward Dean and held out a hand. "Call me Jack." Shaking Dean's hand, he added, "Nice to meet you, Dean."
"And the other two are Stella's brothers, Kyle and Jeff," Sam went on pointing to the two younger guys.
After the introductions, Jack asked, "So what brings you boys out this way?"
"Hunting," Dean said, simply, eyeing Jack.
"I figured that," Jack replied, leading the group inside. "I meant what are hunting?" Looking over at Sam and giving him a pointed look, he added, "Or is this a social visit?"
"We're after a demon that might know something about the hunters who have come back from the dead," Sam replied, purposely not looking at Dean. "Stella said that we could stay here."
Jack gave Sam a shrewd look and finally nodded. "You can dump your stuff in the fourth floor bedroom."
"Thanks," Sam replied as he and Dean grabbed their things and headed up the stairs. Once in the topmost room, Dean dumped his bag on one of the two twin beds and turned to Sam.
"So what's with the share sessions?" Dean asked after closing the door. "Working with Samuel—yeah, I can get that. The cousins—sure, they're technically blood. But why does it suddenly seem like you know every hunter in the country personally?"
Sam dropped his stuff on the floor and sat down on the bed. "Dean, things are going on that no one understands. Demons no one has ever seen before, people coming back from the dead with no explanation. And when I started to see what was happening I realized something."
"Oh, and what was that?" Dean asked with a snap in his tone as he crossed his arms and leaned against the bedroom door.
Sam looked up at Dean and replied, "Dean, if we hadn't been so closed off about trusting other hunters maybe we could have stopped a lot of what we went through."
"What are you talking about?" Dean asked, not quite sure if he was hearing his brother right.
Sam shrugged and stood up. "I'm saying that every hunter is a resource. For weapons, food, shelter, info. And we never took advantage of it. If we had, maybe we could have found another way to save you from Hell other than Ruby. Maybe we could have kept the seals from breaking."
Dean rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, maybe you're right, Sam," admitted, begrudgingly. With a long sigh he walked over to his bed and sat down while Sam wandered over towards the door. "Maybe we should have asked for help. I mean, I know I don't trust many people other than you, Bobby—"
"Cass," Sam added, looking a bit surprised.
"Yeah, Cass, too," Dean said with a smile. "I actually miss him, you know. Weird as that sounds."
"I appreciate the sentiment."
Dean leapt off the bed and whirled around to see a familiar—albeit slightly bedraggled looking man—figure wearing a rumpled looking suit and a tan trenchcoat. "Cass!" Dean exclaimed and fought the urge to hug the angel. "Where the hell have you been, man?"
Castiel didn't look any different than the last time Dean and Sam had seen him although Dean noticed a hint of a smile on the angel's face as he looked at the two brothers. "It's good to see you, Cass," Sam said with a smile and Dean could tell that Sam was also resisting the urge to hug Castiel.
However, to the surprise of both Sam and Dean, Castiel slowly walked towards Sam and embraced him.
"Cass?" Dean asked, wondering if the look of bafflement and confusion on his face would become permanent.
Releasing Sam, Castiel turned to Dean, an embarrassed look on his face. "My apologies," Castiel said, looking at Sam. After a long moment, he added, "I missed you, too."
Sam's look of puzzlement mirrored Dean's as he looked at the angel's deadpan expression. Deciding to get down to business, Sam grabbed the files he'd shown Dean earlier out of his bag and set them on the dresser in the corner. "So, Cass, do you know what's been going on?"
"Hunters are returning from the dead," Castiel replied, his expression neutral. "The angels are not doing it, and God is still nowhere to be found."
"So no one's been making deals with demons, or working some heavy-duty black mojo?" Dean asked, feeling his annoyance rising. It was strange. When he was with Lisa and Ben he could usually completely keep his temper in check.
"Nothing that we can determine," Castiel replied, looking about the room. "All we know is that certain hunters are being brought back and offered a choice."
"What do you mean 'a choice'?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
Castiel fixed Sam with a look before responding. "A choice either to return as hunters or to walk away and embrace a normal life." Looking at both Winchesters, he added, "I don't know why they are returning."
Looking at the moment as a chance to get the angel's view on the situation, Dean asked, "But the people who have come back… It's really them, right? It's not some sort of demonic trick?"
Castiel looked from Sam to Dean and after a long moment finally answered. "To the best of my knowledge… Yes, everyone seems to be themselves."
"Okay, answer number one," Dean said, moving down the list of questions he'd formulated in his head for when Castiel finally showed up. "Any idea who else might turn up? Mom, Dad… Ellen and Jo?"
Castiel almost seemed saddened as he replied, "There is no way of knowing who has returned and who hasn't as of yet." Seeing Dean's crestfallen expression, he added, "But it is, of course, possible."
"So what's the plan?" Sam asked as he looked at his brother and Castiel.
"We find the demon Samuel sent us here to find," Dean replied, simply. "Then we make the son of a bitch talk."
Sam gave a nod of agreement and noticed that Castiel had vanished. Before Dean could open the bedroom door, he said, "Dean, wait."
Dean turned and gave Sam a tired look. "I really can't take much more news right now, Sammy. What?" But his eye was drawn towards the object that Sam held in his hand. It was the amulet that Sam had given him for Christmas years ago and he'd dropped in a trashcan after Castiel had tried to use it to find God only to find out that God wasn't going to help with the Apocalypse.
Sam saw Dean's look of surprise and said, "Dean, when I gave you this it was because you were the one person in our crazy lives I could always count on. You're my family first. Before Samuel… even before Bobby or even Dad."
"You saved this all this time?" Dean asked, taking the necklace and fingering the amulet.
"Yeah," Sam replied, nodding.
Dean looked at the amulet and then back up at his brother. After putting the amulet around his neck, he couldn't help but feel it was a step in the right direction for things to get back to the way they should be. Grinning, he opened the door and said, "Come on, Sammy. Let's go find us a demon."
Sam smiled and after grabbing his gun out of his bag, he followed Dean out the door.