Chapter Twelve

Thanks to everyone who gave me ideas. I already had one of the ideas written into the chapter already, but you guys helped me figure out what to do with the story. Thank you!

"Okay, so, let me get this straight," began Dean, trying to make his way through the story. He looked at Buffy. "You're a Vampire Slayer." He turned to Anya. "You used to be a vengeance demon for a thousand years until a wish gone wrong left you human." He looked at Willow and Tara. "You two are witches." He looked at Dawn. "You used to be a mystical key that a group of monks transformed into Buffy's sister that a hell-god used to open a hell portal, which turned you human." He turned to Spike. "And you're a vampire that the government put a chip in his head so that he couldn't hurt people anymore."

My God, it sounds like a supernatural soap opera, Dean thought.

Then again, someone might say that about their lives, too. If it hadn't been his life the past twenty-nine years, he would think it was all some dramatic show, too. Sometimes, he was completely amazed at what hunting threw at them next.

"And you're a male Slayer that sold his soul and went to hell—" said Buffy, then glancing over at Bobby, "a hunter who runs an auto shop-slash-hunting headquarters—" she looked over at Sam, "and a guy with demon blood that gives him psychic powers of visions, exorcizing demons and sending them to hell."

"And that was spit balling in a nutshell," said Xander. He chuckled. "See what I did there?"

Dean stared at him. "Hilarious." He looked at Sam. "Well, Sammy, it looks like we found people more screwed up than we are."

"Dean!" hissed Sam.

"No, it's okay," said Willow. "We know we're freaks."

"And proud of it," announced Anya with a giant smile.

"So, you said something back in the nest about fixing the hellmouth?" asked Buffy.

"Fix the hellmouth?" said Xander. "Don't you think we would've done that already if it were possible?"

Dean shrugged. "Well, you don't know the things Bobby does."

"Well, I bet he doesn't know the things Giles does," said Tara.

Dean frowned. "Who's Giles?"

"Buffy's Watcher," explained Dawn. "He's pretty smart."

"I thought she didn't have a Watcher," said Dean.

"Well, he stayed on as kind of her Watcher pro tem," Willow told him. "He used to train her, but then—"

As Willow launched into an explanation about this Giles, that sixth sense niggled at the back of Dean's mind. Knowing this was his chance to test out his theory, Dean quickly looked over at Buffy to find she was frowning and glancing around a little.

So, she felt it, too, Dean mused.

He had been wondering for a little bit if he felt Castiel coming because of the Slayer thing or because of some bond since he'd been the one to pull him from hell. It looked like it was the former of the two.

Buffy looked at Dean to find him watching her warily. "You feel that, too?"

Dean nodded as everyone paused to watch the two of them. "Heads up. Angel coming in for a landing."

"Angel?" asked Dawn, an excited look on her face for some reason.

Dean nodded past them to where Castiel now stood on the other side of the room. They all looked behind them and jumped, backing away from him a little.

"How long has he been there?" asked Buffy warily.

"About five seconds," Dean told her. "This is Castiel."

"The angel that pulled you from hell?" asked Willow.

"Yeah," said Dean.

Castiel nodded at Buffy. "Hello, Buffy. It is good to see you are well."

Dean frowned, stepping through everyone towards Castiel a few steps and pointing at Buffy. "Wait, you…you knew about her…and you didn't tell me?"

"It was not of import," Castiel told him slowly.

Dean stared incredulously at him. "There was another Slayer out there and her gang of Slayerettes that knew exactly what was going on with me, but you didn't think it was of import to tell me?"

"You were already on your path towards her," Castiel stated simply. "I saw no reason to impede."

"Oh, no," said Dean. "It only would've shortened our research by, oh, four months."

Sam stepped forward to intercede before Dean tried to use his strength to hit Castiel. "What did you come to tell us, Cas?"

Castiel turned his gaze onto Sam. "The demons are trying to break a seal."

"Those things that unlock the devil's cage?" asked Xander.

"Yeah," Dean answered quickly before turning his attention back to the angel. "Where?"

"Greybull, Wyoming," Castiel answered, stepping towards Dean. "I'll take you immediately."

"Great," said Dean, motioning Sam and Bobby over. "Lock 'n load, guys."

"Wait, we're coming," Buffy told them, stepping between Castiel and Dean.

"We can handle it," Dean told her.

"Won't it go much easier with help?" Buffy pointed out. "Besides, I wanna see how your team works."

Dean stared at her for a moment before looking past her at Castiel. "Can you take all of us?"

Castiel nodded stiffly.

"Fine," Dean responded.

"Everybody grab weapons," Buffy told her gang, moving to a chest along the wall and opening it.

Inside the chest were broadswords, axes, crossbows, daggers and stakes. Buffy pulled out two stakes and an axe for herself as Spike, Willow and Xander headed in for their own weapons.

Typical amateurs, Dean thought. No clue about half the crazy crap out there in the dark.

Dean stopped that train of thought, realizing that he and his brother hadn't known about the other half of the crazy crap out there, either.

Not important, Dean, he told himself. They're gearing up for the wrong thing.

"Whoa, whoa, guys," Dean told them. "That's quite the arsenal, but it isn't gonna do much. These are the possessing kind of demons, remember? Not the hack-n-slash monster kind."

"Right," said Buffy, putting the axe back but keeping her trusty stakes. "What works on those, again?"

"Iron, salt, holy water, devil's trap, exorcism, Sammy here," Dean told them with a head tilt towards his younger brother.

"Can he kill them?" asked Willow. "Or is it just the sending them to hell thing?"

"No, I can't kill them," said Sam. "Not yet, anyway."

"Yet?" asked Dean. "You saying you're getting more powerful?"

Sam nodded slightly. "I think so."

"So, does that mean you're, uh…" began Dean, not wanting to tell the others about his drinking demon blood thing.

Sam nodded. "I kind of have to. It's the only thing that helps."

Dean nodded slowly, not really liking that answer. But at least his brother was being honest with him for once. If this had been a year ago, Sam would probably be lying through his teeth right about now. After all, he had kept a lot from him during his search for a way to break Dean's deal. But now, the two of them were communicating. Maybe they could be brothers again, after all.

"I'm not saying I like it," Sam continued. "But…you do what you have to do, I guess."

Dean nodded. "Alright. But don't leave me out of the loop. Anything happens, I'm the first one to know, okay?"

Sam nodded back. "Definitely."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Xander.

Dean and Sam looked back over at them and spoke at the same time. "Nothing."

"Well, I have a few of those things," said Buffy, going back to their earlier conversation. "Now, we got an arsenal of demon killing-slash-hurting weapons."

"Oh, and we got this thing," Dean added, pulling Ruby's demon-killing knife from his jacket.

Buffy gave the knife an admiring glance. "Wicked. What's it do?"

"Kills demons," Dean told her. "Useful as hell."

"Nice," said Buffy, pulling some bottles of holy water from the chest, passing them out along with a few daggers. "So, what? Castiel's gonna…fly us there?"

"Teleport, actually," Dean told her.

"Actually, the process of the transportation is a manner of flight so swift the human eye cannot perceive it and simply interprets it as teleportation," Castiel explained.

The Sunnydale gang stared at Castiel's blank, monotone voice and dictionary-like explanation while Sam, Dean and Bobby simply shook their heads fondly.

"Okay, let's do this," said Buffy as she, Willow, Spike, Xander and Anya gathered around them and making sure everyone was touching.

"I'll stay with Dawn," Tara told them, heading over to the couch where Dawn was sitting.

"Bend your knees," Dean warned them as Castiel reached towards Dean's forehead.

In a split second, the nine of them were standing in an alley behind a building. The Sunnydale gang all reacted like Dean had expected: with cries of shock and surprise…all but one.

Anya shrugged. "That was much better than when I used to teleport back in my demon days."

"We can move through time and space very smoothly," Castiel responded. "Angels have much more power than demons."

Anya frowned at him. "Was that condescending? I think that was condescending! I resent that! What, just because you have a halo makes you better? Demons can be beneficial members of society, you know!"

"You are not a demon," Castiel stated. "You are a human. I have no quarrel with you."

"But you just—" began Anya.

"Anya, it's pointless," Dean told her. "Let it go."

"So, where's this seal we're supposed to stop?" asked Bobby.

Castiel led them out from behind the building, standing and staring at a funeral home across the street.

"Okay, then, what's the seal?" asked Dean.

"There is a demon inside," Castiel told them. "You must stop him."

Spike frowned at him. "That's it? Stop a demon? What, an all powerful angel can't do that himself?"

"The building has been layered in Enochian warding script," Castiel told them. "I cannot penetrate it."

"Angel proofing?" asked Sam, scanning the building but seeing nothing. "Where?"

"They are special symbols that are only visible to angels, demons or human spirits," Castiel answered.

"Okay, so, we go in, catch the bad guy and kill him before he breaks this seal thing," Buffy simplified. "Problem solved."

"Hold on a minute, Xena," said Dean, wanting to stop the trigger happy Slayer. "What's the seal, Cas?"

"The seal is broken by the death of two reapers under the solstice moon," Castiel explained.

"That's tonight," Willow told them.

"Wait, reaper?" asked Xander. "As in, Grim-comma-the?"

"No, not the Grim Reaper," Sam explained. "There are dozens—hundreds—of them. They don't cause death; they just usher your soul to the other side."

"Okay," said Dean. "Two reapers held hostage by demons." He smirked at the others. "Piece of cake." He started towards the funeral home as the others began to follow.

"Dean."

Dean turned back to Castiel, the others stopping with him.

"The demon holding them is very powerful," Castiel informed him. "Very dangerous."

"Okay…" muttered Dean, not sure what Castiel was telling him; all demons were dangerous if you didn't know what you were doing.

Castiel leveled a fierce stare at Dean. "It's Alistair."

Dean's eyes widened as his gaze shot over to Sam, who shared his alarmed expression. Dean looked back at the funeral home, the mission ahead of them taking on a whole new meaning.

"What is it?" asked Buffy. "Who's Alistair?"

Dean continued to stare at the building that held his torturer. "Really bad news."