Not a great chapter I'm afraid, a bit on the filler side. Had some stuff going on that hasn't really left a lot of energy for writing, but I figure if I keep pushing forward I'll get the good stuff back.
Btw I chose Derby, Kansas 'cause it's a mash up of the boys' birth place and mine. Don't know anything about it but thought the fact there was a Derby there was cool.
Disclaimer: Still haven't won the lottery and bought the rights to the shows.
Dean let his head drop to the roof on the Impala, ignoring the dull throb it illicited in favour of the sun warmed metal against his skin.
Sam hadn't called or texted in over twelve hours.
To most people, family or not, it wouldn't be a big deal. It wouldn't even be unusual. But for the Winchesters it could only mean bad things. This in mind, Dean pressed the call button on his phone for the fifth time in fifteen minutes, his shoulders slumping as it went straight through to voicemail again. Sam's phone was either turned off, broken, or somewhere without a signal. None of the above would be a situation that would make Dean less anxious.
Backing up off Sam's contact, he called Cas' instead. The phone rang a few moments before the angel picked up.
"Dean." The rough voice sounded even more gravelly with the slight static noise from his surroundings.
"Hey Cas, any luck so far?" Dean picked absently and a speck of dirt that had stuck to the car.
"No."
Dean supressed a small chuckle at the angel's one word answer. Another time he might have mentioned it, but right now he had other things on his mind. Like his brother acting weird and disappearing, and the oncoming apocalypse. In that order. "You heard from Sam?"
"No."
"Okay, I just thought maybe he might have prayed for help or something..?" Dean continued, not sure whether he would be more relieved or worried if Sam had prayed to Castiel.
"If Sam had prayed for help I would be with him right now." Cas said, annoyance clear in his tone.
Dean sucked in air. He knew the angel was looking out for him, and for his sake Sam, but hearing that Cas would go to help Sam no questions asked if he asked for help... Just the thought of someone else being there for Sam brought grateful warm fuzzies to his chest, but an angel? One who could pretty much be there wherever and whenever he was needed, and who really didn't have to be, who had more than one reason not to be, in fact... He coughed the tightness out of his throat. "Okay. Well, he's not answering his phone so I was wondering if you could-"
"I can't find him." Castiel interrupted before Dean could finish asking. His level tone held just a hint if concern and Dean felt his heart drop to his stomach.
"What do you mean you can't find him?"
There was a pause for a moment on the other end of the line. "He's out of my reach. Someone or something is shielding him from angelic detection."
"Shit." Dean muttered, his mind instantly jumping to the worst possible reasons for Sam being off the angel radar.
"I will keep trying." Castiel offered, his voice going distant. "I have to go."
And just like that the line went dead.
Dean heaved a sigh at the angel's lack of social decorum and turned to head back inside. Maybe Willow could get a beat on Sam.
As it turned out, Willow was no more able to find Sam than she was able to find Dawn. And if that wasn't a sign of bad things then Dean didn't know what was. In their lives there was no such thing as a coincidence.
They continued with periodic finding spells and Cas dropped a text every few hours giving and asking for updates, but there wasn't really anything to tell one another.
Dean went outside as Willow cast yet another spell, the witchcraft still making him more than a little uncomfortable, but hey, so did making deals and having chats with demons. Didn't mean he wouldn't do it or would stop it. He thumped down onto the porch, legs flying forwards as he threatened to topple backwards, and stared aimlessly at the ground between his feet.
He hated this. He was not only useless, but even more useless than the useless people around him. Castiel's search wasn't picking up anything so far, but at least he was searching. Willow's spells were failing every time, but again, at least she was looking. Bobby was looking up new finding spells in case Willow's just didn't work here at the same time as checking his contacts and the news for information. All Dean could do was sit on his ass. He was neither use nor ornament, just taking up the others' attention with his brooding.
He wanted to do something; to fight, to drag his baby brother back home, kicking and screaming if necessary, and give anything that tried to stop him a kick in the face it'd never forget. But how could he when he didn't even know where his brother was? Didn't have a clue to go on; no dragmarks to follow, no witness to interrogate, no suspect to...
His head shot up.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." He muttered as he stood and pulled his phone from his pocket. He pressed the call button and tapped his foot in time with the dial tone. A noise at the other end told him the call had been picked up. "Ruby?"
A sigh sounded down the phone. "Yeah."
"Where's Sam?"
"How should I know? He left here sometime last night." Ruby answered tetchily.
Dean swallowed down the urge to crush his phone. "What time? Did he say where he was going?"
"I dunno, late. I was asleep. And no, he didn't tell me. I assumed he was heading back to you." The demon answered, concern seeping into her tone. "Why? Have you not heard from him?"
"Not a damn peep. Can you find him?" Dean asked. He hated asking Ruby for help, especially seeing as he was nowhere near convinced that she wasn't behind this, but it was all he had to go on.
"I don't know, I don't have him microchipped. Have you tried your angel bestie?" Ruby's sarcastic tones reached his ear with sickening quality. The sound of her voice was enough to make Dean want to punch her, female body or no.
"Just try, okay?" Dean snapped. "Where are you?"
"Derby, Kansas. Why?"
"Where exactly?" Dean pressed.
Ruby named a motel and Dean hung up. Time for him and the Impala to come into their own.