Dean woke up to a hand on his back and blue eyes in his face. He jerked back and almost fell off the bed.
"Cas?" He breathed. His heart was racing, and the dream came back to him in bits and pieces. Flashes of light, warped voices and intense, searing heat.
"Dean? Is something wrong?" Cas asked, searching his face. Dean looked wildly around the room, checking for anything out of the ordinary. Sam was standing at the foot of his bed with a concerned look on his face, and there were feathers all over the floor.
"No - no, it was just a nightmare." He looked away and studied the sheets, which were soaked in sweat. Again. Great.
"Do these happen often?" Castiel had straightened up, and was now looking at him with his head tilted. Sam crossed his arms.
Dean looked between them. "No." When their expressions didn't change, he said, "Well, not until recently, I guess." He rubbed his face with a hand. "Look, will you two just drop it? They're just nightmares. I'll be fine."
Sam snorted and shook his head, then walked over to his bag and pulled on some pants. "When are we ever fine?" But his words were lost on the two who had locked eyes. If Dean heard Sam's heaving sigh, he didn't comment on it.
After a shower and breakfast, the trio made their way to the Charvin Psychiatric Center.
"So who are we looking for?" Dean asked, walking up the steps to the white three-story building.
"Uh, well. I was thinking about just interviewing the members of the staff." Sam said, a few feet behind him. Dean paused at the door and looked at him.
"What? You have any better ideas?" Sam snorted.
"Well, I was thinking we could have the bloodhound with wings over there check the rooms for the herbs that you need for hex bags." he turned around to nod at Cas, but something behind the angel caught his attention. His eyes widened and his face paled, save for a small blush on his cheeks. Sam followed Dean's line of sight, but all he saw was a 1981 custom dark blue Pontiac Firebird.
"Okay I know that's a really nice car Dean, but we have work to do and that doesn't involve you getting a boner from staring at a Firebird." Sam sassed.
Dean looked at Sam and then back at the car. His mouth opened and closed a couple times while his eyes flickered between his brother and the Firebird, before he blushed and finally turned around and pushed open the door. At the front desk were two men dressed in suits with their backs facing the brothers. Sam immediately straightened up, but Dean just cleared his throat and called out, "Jake?"
The man hanging back turned around. He had tousled dark brown hair and prominent eyebrows, angled nose and full lips, with five day old stubble and the beginnings of a goatee.
"Dean!" When Jake saw who it was, his face broke out in a grin and he strode forward, shaking hands with Dean and pulling him in for a pat on the back. He was the same height as Dean, and when he pulled back, he left a hand on Dean's shoulder.
"Long time no see!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah, I saw your car outside and couldn't believe it." Dean grinned. Oh. So that explained his reaction to seeing the car. Well, it explained some of it. Sam was getting the feeling that there was more to the story.
Jake let his hand drop and turned around and called out, "Hey Garth, look who it is!"
The smaller hunter turned away from the front desk and took in the sight before him.
"Sam! Dean! What are you guys doing here?"
"I guess we could ask you two the same thing." Sam said. He stuck out a hand for Jake. "Sam Winchester."
Jake stepped forward, took it and shook. He turned to Dean and raised his eyebrows. "Well, Dean, I knew you had a brother, but I had no idea he was that big." He winked at Sam, who turned to Dean, who had his hands in his pockets and was studying his shoes, blushing like crazy. Yep. Definitely more to the story.
"You two know each other?" Garth asked, gesturing to Dean and Jake. Sam looked at his brother expectantly.
"We- uh, we worked together on a case quite a few years back." Dean supplied. Jake nodded. "Wendigo, wasn't it?"
Dean chuckled. "Yeah, I was like what, 22? Somewhere around the time Sammy left for college. What were you, like, 24? 23?"
"23, yeah. Remember when the dude, like, went and .. ?" He gestured about something with his hands, and Dean laughed.
"Yeah, and then he .. and then it was like-" He also did something with his hands and both men laughed, absorbed in memories.
Garth looked at the two with a confused smile. "So - Dean, Sam, you gonna introduce us to the guy in the trenchcoat over there?"
Dean looked behind them to see Castiel hanging back, his head tilted.
"Hey Cas, c'mere." Dean waved his hand towards the small party. Cas tentatively stepped forward, and Dean placed his hand on the angel's shoulder. "This is Castiel."
"Hello. I'm an Angel of The Lord."
Both Jake and Garth's eyebrows shot up and the brothers sighed.
"Cas, how many times do we have to tell you? You don't just tell people you're an angel." Dean said.
Castiel tilted his head even more and stared at Dean. "I assumed, because of your body language and the way you greeted these two men, that they were hunters and therefore had knowledge of the existence of the supernatural."
"Yeah, well, you shouldn't assume … " Dean trailed off. Sam rolled his eyes and cleared his throat.
"So, uh, Jake, Garth, what are you guys doing here?" Sam asked again.
"Well, we think we're hunting a witch. Someone's been turning people into cats." Garth answered, Jake's eyebrows still raised at the hunter and his angel.
"Cats?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Four people have gone missing and all of them had relatives here, and all of the relatives have been visited by a different stray cat. Two of them are saying that the cat is their missing family member." Garth answered.
"Huh." Sam turned to Dean, who pointed a finger at Sam and said, "Don't even start. You didn't say anything about relatives and cats that sneak around psychiatric wards."
Sam rolled his eyes.
"So what are you three here for?" Jake asked, eyes flickering towards where Dean's hand was still on Castiel's shoulder. Dean let his hand drop and he shoved them in his pockets.
"Well, we're here for a witch, too. Someone who's been strangling people with their own scarves." Sam said.
"And trying to kill me with hex bags." Dean added.
"I guess that means we're teaming up." Jake said with a small smile.
Dean looked around the small waiting room. The only nurse there had her back turned to them. "Yeah. Okay, Cas, you go invisible girl and check every room for hex bag ingredients. You know what they smell like, right?"
Castiel nodded and disappeared. Garth and Jake were staring at the space where Cas had poofed.
"So, where are you guys thinking about starting?" Dean asked the two hunters.
"We were going to go interview the patients who were getting visited by the cats. And possibly some of the staff." Jake answered. Just then, there was the soft sound of the fluttering of wings and Castiel popped up right next to Dean. Jake jumped and reached for his gun, but Dean stopped him.
"Woah there tiger. It's just Cas." The angel turned to Dean.
"Dean, the smell of the ingredients you described were strongest in room 209, in the West Wing."
"Awesome." He turned to the rest of the group. "How about me, Jake, and Cas go check out room 209 and Sam and Garth go interview the … cat patients?"
The rest of the group nodded and split. Cas put his hands on both men's shoulders and took them right in front of the door. Jake stumbled and looked around, looking pale.
"Ah, welcome to the pleasures of Angel Airway." Dean chuckled. They were in a deserted hallway, one that reminded Dean of an apartment building. It must be one of those supervised living quarters that they have for mentally unstable people that want to be able to interact with the real world, he mused. Which was perfect, because that gave her the chance to plant hex bags wherever she pleased. Jake straightened himself up and knocked on the door. No one answered, so after looking around for a security camera, Jake bent over and got out his lockpicking kit.
Dean felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. It was Cas, who had two fingers up to his temple and was frowning about something.
"Yeah, Cas? Something on angel radio?" Dean asked. Castiel nodded.
"I must leave. I will return as soon as possible, though."
Dean nodded. "Yeah, okay. Be back soon." Castiel disappeared.