Notes: A SuperCharmed [Crossover between Supernatural and Charmed] Story that I started but lost steam on.
Pairings; Castiel/Dean, Leo/Piper, Phoebe/Cole
Prologue:
It was a sleepy morning when the new neighbors rolled into the area, the classic muscle car gaining more than a few looks as it rumbled into the drive of a once for sale home.
A three story Victorian style home, though it had been rebuilt after the Great Earthquake, that had once belonged to an old woman who had died quite suddenly. As she had no living relatives at all, the house and everything in it was listed for sale. As there seemed to be a spate of small disasters and mysterious occurrences in the area, it was for sale cheaply. And nobody was surprised when the renovations began as the house was very old.
Still, no one expected three men to move in; but they seemed decent enough folks. Quiet, unassuming, kind and polite when interacting with outsiders, though the one who always wore a trench coat was a bit odd.
And it wasn't mentioned that the one in the trench-coat and the one with the leather jacket were most probably lovers. It was, after all, the new millennium and San Francisco besides and it just wasn't nice to gossip about the neighbors.
So life went on, people kept an eye on the newcomers, and made them as welcomed as possible.
Yes, nobody was quite sure what to make of the Winchesters.
Part One:
"Still don't see why we're doing this," Dean mumbled as the three, him, Sam, and Castiel, walked up to their neighbors' home.
"This house seems to be the focal point of whatever's going on here," Sam reiterated patiently as they approached, "and Cas's getting some seriously weird signals, and crap info from Upstairs."
Castiel nodded slowly, "Yes, I do not quite understand what I sense from this household."
"Is it evil?" Dean asked sharply, grabbing his partner's wrist and forcing him to stop.
Castiel paused, closing his eyes briefly before replying, "No. It is powerful, very powerful, but not evil. Very good. Very good indeed. It shines with light, though the source or reason is unknown to me. This land has many blessings upon it and the persons within."
Dean frowned but nodded curtly and they continued up to the porch where Sam rang the doorbell.
It took only a minute, maybe two at most, in which time they had arranged their faces and bodies into something resembling cheerful, friendly countenances, before a youngish woman answered the door. She was a redhead.
"Morning," Sam greeted, with a smile, "we're the new neighbors and just thought it's be a good idea to introduce ourselves; I'm Sam Winchester, this's my brother Dean, and his partner, Castiel."
"Oh! Oh right! Come in," the woman welcomed them, standing back and motioning into the house, "I'm Paige, Paige Mathews," she closed the door behind them before moving ahead and calling up the staircase, "Phoebe, Piper. The Winchesters are here."
Within minutes, four people had come down,
"Guys, this's Sam, Dean, and Castiel," Paige introduced them, before pointing out her family members, "This's my oldest sister, Piper Halliwell," she motioned to the motherly looking brunette, who gave a small smile, "her husband, Leo," the rather tall man gave a nod, he was standing behind his wife, "my older sister Phoebe Halliwell," the spritely woman, also brunette, greeted them warmly, "and her husband, Cole." This man, although friendly looking, was rather cool and off putting. His arm was around Phoebe's waist and he was leaning forward rather protectively, as if he didn't quite trust strangers.
They were shown to the conservatory and Piper retrieved some cookies and small talk was made; some history of the houses and neighborhood and such before Paige asked, "So, why did you boys pick ol' SF?"
Sam smiled a small sad smile, explaining, "Mine and Dean's Mom died when I was really little, after that Dad's job made it to where we kept moving around, a week here, a week there, that sort of thing. We, me and Dean, took up the same job, met Cas, they got together, we've finally decided it's time to set down roots. House came up cheap, grabbed at the chance...Don't have jobs yet though, used a bit of money a friend loaned us…"
Piper smiled, "Well, what are your skills?"
Sam sighed, "Well, before I went into the family business I was in law school. Dean's good with cars and drinks so he could probably be a bartender or something and Cas…Cas, what's it you have again?"
"I am a high functioning Autistic, Asperger's I believe." Castiel tried to smile, but came up short, "I'm well able to care for myself and follow instructions but too many choices overwhelm me and I…I do not quite understand normal social cues and customs…I am learning but unfortunately I am a little off and will probably always be."
"That's fine," Dean jumped in, rubbing the back of the man's hand with his thumb, "You're learning, you're doing just fine Cas."
The sisters looked to each other; but Cole made the first move, "And what school were you attending?"
"Stanford."
"Why did you leave?"
Sam winced, looking down at the drink in his hand, "My girlfriend died, in a house fire. Couldn't deal with that and go to school, something had to give so I threw my lot in with family."
Cole nodded, giving an appraising look before glancing at his wife who glanced at her older sister. Piper glanced at Paige and then Leo who both nodded.
"Well," Piper began, looking over Dean, "I do need a new bartender…"
"You own a bar?" Dean asked, surprised.
"No," she replied, "A club, P3. I'm a little shorthanded too, the pervious guy went to prison for something. What drinks do you know how to mix?"
"Mostly the hard stuff, not anything too fruity or girly." He answered, "But I'm a quick study."
"You want the job?"
"Sure."
"We'll head over there tonight and I'll show you around."
Dean grinned, nodding.
"And you, Sam," Cole spoke, "if you're willing, I can call in a few favors, not any big school but I can get you back on track, hire you in my firm."
Sam blinked owlishly, before narrowing his eyes suspiciously and asking, "What's the catch?"
Cole smirked approvingly, "Very good; but no catch. Except maybe long hours and hard work."
Sam looked to Dean and Castiel, Dean also looked to Castiel, and the third man nodded, eyebrow up slightly. Dean gave his approval then, a seemingly careless shrug along with it, and the Sam turned back to Cole.
"Alright, but I want see the contract first."
Cole laughed, a slightly menacing chuckle.
Before anything else could be said, a phone rang.
The Winchesters were ushered out quickly after that.
Piper's smile dropped as soon as the three men left.
"Castiel's not human." Cole spoke abruptly, "Not anything I've seen either."
Leo was muttering under his breath.
"Something you wanna share with the class, Mister Wyatt?" Phoebe asked.
"The name," Leo spoke, "Castiel, I swear I've heard it before. Somewhere."
"The bible?" Paige offered, remembering half-forgotten Sunday school lessons, "There was a minor angel named Castiel, he was a foot soldier. Angel of Thursdays."
"No. Oh." Leo paled drastically, "Oh no. Nobody leave the house." He orbed out.
He came back far too quickly, frantic, "He is the angel Castiel," he nearly shouted, "and the Winchesters are Hunters!"
"You mean Witch-hunters?" Piper gasped.
"No, they hunt anything supernatural; demons, witches, shape-shifters, anything they think is endangering the mundanes," Leo spoke in hushed tones, "and those boys were the intended vessels for Lucifer and Michael themselves."
Cole paled, asking in a near whisper, "You don't mean—?"
Leo nodded, "Those Lucifer and Michael; and here's the thing, they basically flipped off both Heaven and Hell. Sent the two Archangels to the Cage."
"How?" Cole demanded.
"The way my superiors described it, 'planning, sheer stupid luck, some very high friends in very high places, some allies in very low places, balls the size of Jupiter, and bad attitudes'."
"How?"
Leo shrugged, "That's all they would say; they're going to try to get ahold of Castiel to clear things up. But until then…"
"What are you two talking about?" Page demanded.
Leo and Cole looked to each other before Leo sighed, "You see; the magical world is separated by power levels, they're not definitive of course, but it goes something like this," he paused, went to grab a notepad and a pen before continuing as he drew a scale, "First you have normal humans, like Daryl or your father. Normal, ordinary, they can only do some damage if given weapons or training. Then you have humans that can gain power through ritual magic and enchanted items, where Hunters usually come from after a bad run in with something, then humans who gain power by deals with demons, then Witches and Warlocks, you guys." He drew breath as he collected his thoughts, "then Whitelighters and Darklights, we're the support troops for our respective sides, healing, knowledge, so on so forth. Then you get my superiors, the Elders, truly ancient Whitelighters, and their counterparts for the Dark side. Then you get demons and angels and of course they are separated by type and power and level. Even the lowest angels, like Castiel, could wipe the floor with all four of us, at once, without blinking, let alone breaking a sweat. The Winchesters are Hunter Elite; they're the most dangerous men on Earth, and in Heaven or Hell."
"They come from two ancient Hunter families, the Campbells on their mother's side, the Winchesters on their father's side," Cole interjected, "when I was a little boy, my mother would tell me about those families. They are Evil's boogeymen; the monsters under our beds, in our closets, the invisible danger. One minute you're having a good ol' time torturing some innocent and the last thing you see is them. And they don't discriminate; good, bad, grey, if they think you're a threat they will follow you to the ends of the Earth and sometimes beyond to just slaughter your entire line. And for them, everything magical is a threat unless the being proves otherwise, and quickly, because they give no second chances, no last requests, they will end you where you stand as soon as look at you. All that nice knowledge in that little book you have upstairs? Nothing compared to the knowledge they have. I've heard rumors that as soon as the first beings went rogue, the Winchesters and Campbells were created."
"What can we do?" Paige asked as that sunk in.
"My advice, get your affairs in order and try not to spook them," Cole intoned bitterly, "Our covers are probably already blown; that's probably why they're here, this manor, the nexus is like a big freaking Bat-signal to them." He laughed coldly, "Any wards or spells we set, Castiel can just bust through. Hell, they're probably already planning on how to disarm and kill each and every one of us."
Over in the Winchester Manor, they were indeed having a small meeting;
"Witches!" Dean shouted, "I fuckin' hate witches! I say we torch the place and skip town!"
"Dean," Castiel sighed, "I am trying to explain that they are not the type of witches you have dealt with before."
"Don't care! Burn them at the stake I say! BURN THE WITCH!"
"Dean Winchester," gone was the patient angel, here was Castiel with his smiting face on; his human promptly shut up, gulping meekly as the angel continued after visibly trying to get a hold of his temper, "Those witches are the greatest force of good this side of you and Samuel; they are the Charmed Ones."
Sam choked on his beer, sputtering, "I thought that was just a legend?!"
"No, they are very real and very good at what they do."
"And what do they do?" Dean bit out, still experiencing his kneejerk reaction.
"The Halliwells come from a very long, and I do mean long, line of good witches," Sam lectured, setting aside his drink, "Their powers are inborn, not demonic, and they basically Hunt evil things. There was a prophecy regarding three sisters, the Charmed Ones, born to this family, and while they are extremely powerful alone, individually, they are most powerful working in tandem, all three. One will have telekinesis, another can freeze time for minutes at a time, and the third has premonitions of the future and occasionally the past."