Learning Curve, Part One

In this chapter, djinn have the ability to mimic the appearance of others - whether they can physically change their shape, or induce hallucinations in those around them I haven't clarified. I'm also trying to avoid too many fight scene descriptions, because I suck at them, so if you see some inconsistencies, or have any ideas about how an action scene might play better, please let me know. I'm also using the Bunker for the first time, so please let me know if I've got Sam, Dean, & Castiel going the wrong direction, LOL. As usual, I don't own Supernatural or any of the amazing characters… sigh.

Castiel flung Dean to the mat for the umpteenth time that day. He straddled Dean, trapping his legs firmly between his own, and pinning his arms above his head. Dean's face was a mask of male bravado as he leered up at Castiel, but his soul was quiet as was usual when they were in close proximity.

'Dean, why do you insist on going through this? I have been fighting for longer than your species has inhabited the earth. Many of the fighting forms you are familiar with came from my garrison.'

'You may know it, Cas, but I don't know it. And I gotta' know whether or not I can count on you in a pinch.' Dean cocked an eyebrow, and Castiel huffed.

'I believe I have already proven that many times over, Dean, even before you set up these little 'training days'.'

'And you're used to fightin' with angel strength, Cas. What are you gonna' do when ya ain't got no juice, huh Cas?'

Castiel let go of Dean and hopped up, pulling Dean up with him and moving him smoothly against the wall of the Bunker's spare room before Dean could react. He pushed his entire body up against Dean, again pinning Dean's arms over his head. Castiel leaned in close, his face not even an inch away from Dean's. Dean's breath was coming in short gasps again, and his pupils were blown despite the adequate light in the room. Castiel's lips were so close to Dean's he could feel the short puffs of breath over his lips.

'I haven't had to use angel strength for any of this, Dean. I've been running solely off of this body's physical strength and my own knowledge.' Castiel brushed his lips against Dean's, so lightly it almost wasn't a touch. Dean stopped breathing. 'I could have killed you many times over, Dean.' Castiel mumbled into Dean's lips as he secured both Dean's hand in a one-handed grip with his left hand and let his right hand slide down Dean's side to cup his hip. His long fingers moved around to cup Dean's ass, and squeezed. Dean gasped, breathing again. He jerked Dean's hips into his own, pressing himself against Dean demandingly.

'What do you want, Dean?' Castiel whispered into Dean's lips. 'What do you want?'

Sam snapped his fingers at Dean.

'Dean, Earth to Dean, what did you want?' Sam repeated for the thousandth time. God, what was up with his brother now? All he ever seemed to do was sit and stare into space, when he should be working out what kind of monsters they were up against, and how they could beat them.

Dean shook his head and lowered it into his arms on the table. They had retreated to the Bunker, and Dean was seated at one of the main tables in the Vault. The table was covered in scattered papers and various items from their travels. He was glad for the table at the moment. He hadn't woke up with wood this bad since he was…. well, since he was twelve or so. God, this was embarrassing. Daydreaming about Cas when he should be focused on their current job.

He lifted his head and stared straight ahead. He was afraid that if he looked Sam in the eye, Sammy would be able to see his thoughts. And that would be humiliating; having Sammy see him go all moon-eyed over some stupid angel. Dean huffed.

'I'm gonna need you to run into town and see if the library has anything on djinn, Sammy. I know our library is probably better, but we really need to bone up on some of these guys. Maybe the public library will have different information than what we've seen.'

'So you think we're up against djinn again, Dean? We know how to beat them, we've done it before.'

Dean shook his head, irritated. He needed Sammy out of the Bunker. He needed to talk to Cas; he needed Cas. Dean shook his head again. He didn't like needing people, it felt too helpless.

'I know that, Sammy. But we need to keep expanding our knowledge base. There might be somethin' out there we haven't figured out yet, okay? And you're better at research than I am.' Dean smiled up at Sammy. 'Somethin' about how your mind works just puts the right information together in ways it wouldn't occur to me, that's all.' Sammy smiled at this obvious fiction and knocked his knuckles on the tabletop.

'Okay, Dean, if you say so.'

Sammy turned grabbed the Impala keys from a nearby table, as well as his backpack with its laptop from a chair. He jogged easily up the stairs and made his way towards the front entry area.

'If you see Cas, tell him I said hi.' Sammy grinned knowingly and left.

Well, shit, Dean thought. He really thought he'd been cool enough to hide things.

'Shit.' Dean muttered.

'Did you call?' Castiel asked; between one breath and the next he was standing behind Dean's chair, his hands firmly on Dean's shoulders. Dean instinctively reached up and grabbed Cas's forearms. Was it him, or did they feel differently than they had in his daydream?

'Are you really here this time?' Dean whispered.

'Yes, Dean, I am really here.' Castiel grabbed a fistful of Dean's short hair and pulled Dean's head back, kissing him thoroughly. Abruptly, Dean broke off the kiss and pulled Castiel off balance, flipping Castiel over his shoulder and onto his back on the tabletop. Papers scattered everywhere, and Dean pulled a knife from who knew where and put it against Castiel's throat.

'You ain't Cas, you son of a bitch,' Dean growled. NotCas smirked.

'You got that from one li'l ole kiss? Well, don't that tell all?' NotCas taunted, his voice holding an unfamiliar Southern twang as he did a shoulder stand on the tabletop to wrap his legs around Dean's shoulders and throw him off balance before hopping lightly from the table.

The poison from the djinn's kiss began to take effect, and instead of fighting NotCas, Dean slid to the floor, arms scrabbling uselessly at the papers on the tabletop on the way down. Dean's knife clattered to the floor, and he was unconscious by the time his head hit the floor. The djinn picked him up easily with one hand, tossing him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, easily navigating the stairs back to the Bunker's front entryway.

It was a good thing he'd decided to drive into town and approach the Bunker as Castiel – he figured at the very least, the Winchester boys would have facial recognition software in the security cameras by now. He smiled to himself – it was always nice to have confirmation that his mimic skills were so flawless.

Making his way quickly out the front door, NotCas dumped Dean in the back seat, started the car, and sped down the driveway. He knew he didn't have much time to get out of there before the angel showed up, no doubt called here by Dean's lustful thoughts.

The djinn quirked a malicious smile at that thought as he sped away. He had no worries about Dean coming around anytime soon. He'd packed extra juice into the poison in his saliva with that kiss, altering the potency and chemical makeup just to make sure Dean stayed down for the count and lost in his pretty little dreams of Castiel. The djinn twisted another malicious smile and gunned the engine as he rounded a turn; in fact, Dean may never wake up again.

As the djinn was racing down the road with Dean, Castiel blinked in to the Vault, right behind the now upended chair Dean had sat in. He took in the scattered papers, the knife on the floor, and the upended chair. He blinked into the entranceway, looked around, and took a deep breath. Castiel then blinked back to Dean's upended chair at the table in the Vault, and took another deep breath. The faint scent of djinn was there in both places, and a new variant of djinn poison still lingered.

Castiel cursed in Enochian. The djinn had altered the poison's makeup, increasing the potency as well as the sedative and hallucinatory side effects. Enochian curses filled the air again as he blinked quickly through the Bunker, knowing he would not find Dean. When he could not even find Sam's ever present backpack, or the Impala keys, or the Impala out front, Castiel hauled out his cell phone.

'Yeah?'

'Sam, we have a problem.'

'What kind of problem? Where's Dean?'

'Sam, Dean is the problem.'

'When is Dean not the problem, Cas?'

'Dean is gone, the Vault is a mess, and I smell djinn.'

'Well, shit…. I'm on my way back home. Dean sent me to do homework at the library, and I actually think I may have found something. See what you can find on the camera feed until I get there. Dean had them installed everywhere a while back; I thought he was being a little paranoid, but it looks like it'll come in handy. I'll be there as soon as I can.'

Castiel ended the call, pocketed his cell phone, and headed for the Control Room. Once there, it took him a few minutes to find the relevant camera and wind back the footage. It looked like he'd only missed Dean by a quarter of an hour at the most. Castiel cursed in Enochian again and watched the footage. It looked as though Cas/djinn had blinked in behind Dean, kissed him, and then Dean had freaked out, flipping Cas/djinn over his shoulder onto the tabletop before the poison finally took effect. Cas smiled to himself; Dean knew his kiss. Why did that make him feel warm inside? The footage tracked the Cas/djinn as he slung Dean over his shoulder like so much meat and strode right up the stairs and out the front door. Castiel cursed again – the djinn had excellent mimic skills to be able to fool the facial recognition features of the security programs.

Castiel was able to find footage of the front drive that showed a clear picture of the djinn's vehicle, and even the tag number. Castiel grimaced; undoubtedly the tags would go to a stolen vehicle, and the vehicle that now showed up on the footage would probably be ditched somewhere fairly soon. Castiel wasn't even sure if they would stay local or not. His best guess was that they would not; Lebanon, Kansas, was a very small community, outsiders would stand out like a sore thumb around here. However, the djinn's ability to mimic others meant that they might be able to pass as locals for awhile. Unfortunately, Lebanon was also centrally located to two Interstates and several favorably sized communities not too far away. Castiel shook his head, irritated. How were they going to track Dean and the djinn?

Knowing that djinn tended to choose abandoned buildings for their nesting sites didn't always make things easier. In the Midwestern United States, defunct economies meant that entire parts of towns could be abandoned. Castiel found a spare computer in the Control Room and went to work narrowing down possible djinn nesting sites in the area. It was a good thing they had all decided to track down the locations of known djinn nests after their last encounter.