Non Timebo Mala: Chapter 21
Chapter 21
The second attempt at freeing Anya of her enslavement had gone far smoother than the first and by the time Dean and Sam found their way back to Anna’s house, Dean was feeling pretty pleased with himself. Sure, he’d been captured the first time around and Castiel had been forced to save him but at least this time he could waltz in as the victor. Dean could already imagine the joy on his lover’s face when he finally laid eyes again on his surrogate mom and it tugged up a smile on the corner of his mouth as he hurried to the shop entrance. He’d lost some blood during his fight and was tired from the whole ordeal but his pace quickened nonetheless in his eagerness to be back at Castiel’s side. He shot a celebratory grin back at Sam who shook his head. His brother couldn’t hide his own smile though. Despite Sam’s reservations over trying to sneak Anya out again so soon after the last horrible attempt, the whole thing had gone off without a hitch. Michael hadn’t been home and they’d found Anya quietly cleaning the steps out front so they didn’t even have to go inside. She’d simply bundled herself in a cloak and then followed them out into the city.
It seemed ridiculously easy considering their luck so far but Dean was happy that at last things were going according to plan. His joy was short lived however as he knocked on Anna’s door. He’d expected Castiel to be the one that answered but instead the door was yanked open by a short man with sharp hazel eyes and a scowl on his face. “Well it’s about damn time,” the man snapped at them before turning and storming back to his recently vacated seat at Anna’s side. The young woman’s wrist was tightly bound in a wrap and she was favoring it, cradling the injured arm to her chest. She looked up at Dean with a mixture of anger and sadness. There was something very wrong with this picture.
Anya pushed past Dean and rushed into the room. Anna and her mysterious companion cheered slightly at the sight of her and hugs were passed around as if the trio hadn’t seen one another in a long time. “Master Gabriel,” Anya crooned, hugging the man with the hazel eyes.
Dean vaguely remembered Castiel mentioning a brother with that name and the familiarity he showed toward Anna seemed to suggest that this was indeed the same Gabriel. The thought of Castiel made Dean look around the room expectantly and he felt his heart start scrambling in his chest when he caught no sight of his lover. “Where’s Cas?” he asked as calmly as he could. He had a horrible feeling he was about to get an answer he didn’t want and he prayed silently to the gods that he was wrong.
Anna closed her eyes and leaned on her uninjured hand, pulling herself from Anya’s embrace. “Taken,” she said with a surprising amount of anger, “by Michael.”
Dean stopped breathing for a moment. The world couldn’t be this unfair. He’d just finally gotten everything right. Castiel had been safe, his mother was now free, and no one would have been able to hold anything over his head. They were supposed to live happily ever after now in each other’s arms. Dean scowled. “What do you mean ‘taken’? Why the hells would Cas go with that asshole now? He knew we were getting Anya. Why didn’t you stop him?” he said a little louder than he meant to.
Anna glared at him. “I didn’t say he left with Michael,” she reiterated angrily, “I said he was taken and I DID try to stop him.” She lifted her injured wrist and Dean stared at it, feeling his anger rising to a boiling point.
“He…he took Cas?” Dean ground out. His head hung to his chest for a moment and he felt guilt rise like bile in his throat. He’d left Castiel here alone. He should have taken Cas with him and then they all would have been safe and on their way out of the city. Instead, the miserable bastard that dared call himself Castiel’s brother had come and taken the young man with him by force. The very idea made Dean’s gut wrench and his shoulders tightened with the anger bubbling up inside. “Took him where?”
“To Azazel’s,” Anna said bitterly.
The minute the words left her mouth, Dean realized he’d already been expecting that answer. It didn’t make him any less angry to hear it. “Sunnuva BITCH!” he yelled, his fist finding a spot in the doorframe with a sickening crack. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wood, his hands knuckle white around the edges of the frame as he tried to calm himself. He was going to skin Michael alive for this. They’d come so close to being home free.
“He came with Azazel’s men,” Anna continued quietly, “I couldn’t stop them. I tried…” Her voice broke off in a whisper and Gabriel leaned over to give her arm a firm squeeze before finding his feet.
“Ok, you two, let’s go,” the older Novak said with authority. Dean shot him a questioning glare. “Or, you know, you can stay here and have your emotional breakdown,” Gabriel added dryly, “But I’m going to get my little brother back. And if you want my blessings on continuing to nail Castiel, then you’d better pull it together and come with me.” Sam made an unpleasant face at the crude reference while Dean drew back and looked over this odd newcomer in surprise. The man wasn’t much on size but there was something commanding about his presence that said he wasn’t someone to mess with lightly. In light of all that he’d been through thus far though, Dean was far from impressed.
“Oh, I’m going to get Cas back,” he snapped, pointing a finger into Gabriel’s chest, “and I’m gonna kill that sunnuva bitch you claim relation to. Don’t get in my way.”
Gabriel smiled at him. “Maybe you aren’t such a complete waste after all. Good. Cause my brother deserves someone willing to fight for him. Now let’s go. That means you too, tall, built, and fuckable.”
Sam’s eyes grew wide as saucers as Gabriel marched between the brothers and he jumped slightly when he was handed a swat to the ass for good measure on the way out. The Winchesters exchanged shocked looks before storming out in Gabriel’s wake. They hadn’t gone far when Anna caught up to them, falling in step beside her brother with her chin held high. Anya was hot on her heels and took up a position behind the redhead as they walked. “The hells do you think you’re going?” Dean asked.
Anna wheeled on him. “Castiel is my brother, Dean. I love him just as much as you do and I’m going with you. I owe Michael something as well,” she said, flashing her wrist in explanation. Gabriel just grinned and waggled his eyebrows at his sister’s fiery temper and Dean was too angry to bother arguing.
“So what’s the plan?” Sam piped up as they continued on their way.
“The plan is we go in there, get Cas, and kill every asshole who gets in the way,” Dean growled.
“Pretty much,” Gabriel concurred, “Michael lost any footing he might have had the minute he dragged Castiel out of here against his will. We couldn’t touch him when he was just blackmailing us but he actually broke the law when he kidnapped our brother. Far as I’m concerned, he’s free game now, and before you kill him, Winchester, I’m kicking his ass.”
The group made their way up through the city toward Azazel’s home and it was all Dean could do not to break out in a run. He alternately cursed the gods for this situation and begged them to keep Castiel safe. He tried his best not to think about what his love was going through, whether Azazel had harmed him or not, since those thoughts only fanned the panic already trying to claw its way through his heart. He could hear Sam bantering behind him with Gabriel, who apparently was taking delight in flirting shamelessly despite the situation, and he would have been amused to see his brother so flustered if it weren’t for the fact that he would rather everyone just shut up and walk faster. By the time they entered the street where Azazel’s house sat, Dean was well in the front of the group, moving with a single minded determination and a look of utter murderous intent on his face.
He screeched to a halt though when a patrician woman stepped right into his path. She was beautiful, wrapped in a flowing gown with a veil drawn tightly around her head, but Dean had no time for this. He already had the only lover he wanted and right then all he could think about was trying to rescue him. He tried to skirt around her only to find himself blocked again. “LADY,” he said warningly.
“You’re Dean,” the woman replied with a half smile, her eyes raking over his body with open interest.
Behind him, Gabriel spoke up. “And you’re ‘Lady’ Megara.” The word ‘lady’ was curled with sarcasm and a flicker of irritation twitched across the woman’s face. “Azazel’s wife,” Gabriel continued in explanation, “Could you do me a favor and bed your husband better? He keeps trying to fuck my brother.” There was a bitter hostility that passed between the two of them for a moment before Megara dropped her eyes and let out a small sob.
“It’s true,” she said unhappily, “I cannot please him. He’s…”
“Lady, spare me the waterworks,” Dean snapped irritably, “if you were married to that asshole, then I don’t believe any of those are real. What do you want?”
Meg immediately stopped crying and straightened herself out, brushing at the folds of her dress. “Fine,” she said flatly, “I want to help you. I can get you into the house and past the guards.”
Dean gave her a disbelieving scowl. “Right. And why would you want to do that?”
Megara pulled at the veil around her head and Dean heard Anna let out a little gasp. The woman’s golden hair had been cut incredibly short, its locks hacked at so that it stood in uneven tufts. “I want revenge, ok?” she snapped, “I want you to kill that bastard. Now do you want to save your darling Castiel or not? He’s in there. I saw them carry him in, and let me tell you, you don’t have much time. Azazel’s been drooling over getting his claws on your sweetheart ever since he saw him. So what’s it going to be?”
Dean fought down the urge to strangle the woman in the street. “Fine,” he growled, “but if you lie to us, you’ll be the first one I kill.”
Megara smiled as if the threat were a particularly steamy compliment. “Ooo, I like it when you talk rough,” she said mockingly, “Now, I can get you in there but you’re going to need some back up to get back out once Azazel’s men are alerted so someone needs to get the city guard.”
“Yeah, cause they’re gonna get here in time to be a whole lot of help,” Gabriel quipped, “uh, I’m not waiting around out here for the guard while your creep of a husband has my brother.”
“You’ll be surprised how fast they’ll move when you tell them that you have the murderer of Flavian Appius…” Megara smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes, “I’m a witness to his confession. Azazel told me what he did. I can personally testify to it.”
The group looked at each other for a minute before Anna spoke up. “I’ll go,” she said firmly, her eyes locked on Megara as if looking for some sign of a lie, “I’m not going to be as much use in a fight.” She kissed Gabriel on the cheek and grabbed Dean’s arm. “Go get my little brother back.” With that, she turned and ran in the opposite direction with Anya close behind her.
“No let’s go,” Dean said as he pushed past her toward Azazel’s house.
“Weren’t you listening? I said you’re never going to get back out with out backup…”
Dean’s arm shot out and he wrapped a hand around her wrist with bruising strength. “You know what else you said? You said we don’t have much time, so you can take me to Cas or I can put you down right here. I usually don’t hit ladies but in your case I don’t think that’s an issue.”
Megara scowled at him but she dropped her veil to the ground and pulled her arm free before hurrying across the road and disappearing down a small alleyway that led between two houses up the street from Azazel’s. Dean hesitated only a moment before following her. What she’d said had him worried and he wanted to get to Castiel as quickly as possible before something happened that he’d rather not think about. He could hear Sam right behind him as they rushed along and he followed as Megara darted into a bath house across the next street. Dean frowned but didn’t slow as he chased her through the steaming rooms. They were followed by the eyes of curious on-lookers who were startled to see a woman, two men in armor, and an orator sprinting through their midst.
They wound their way around until Megara suddenly pressed open a door in the wall and darted down a dark set of steps. The air below came as a shock of cloying, damp earthiness in contrast to the humid fog they’d just run through and Dean welcomed the refreshing change as he descended. “Could you possibly make any more noise?” Gabriel griped at Sam from behind him, “you sound like a herd of elephants falling down the stairs.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t be stumbling down the steps so much if you would stop trying to pinch my butt!” Sam retorted.
“Gabriel! Stop molesting my brother and keep up!” Dean snapped.
“Hey, it’s not my fault it's right there. If he didn’t want it appreciated, he shouldn’t wiggle it in my face!”
“I’m not!” Sam said indignantly, “it’s not my fault you’re short!”
“Both of you shut up!” Dean said in exasperation.
Megara sighed overdramatically. “Gods, this is what I have to work with.” She led them down to a wall that Dean figured must face the street above and then pulled aside a small work bench that was in the way. With a shove, the wall split and a section of it swung open on hinges. It was an ingenious hidden door and had Dean not had it shown to him, he never would have known it was there. The brick had formed a seamless illusion, effectively tricking the eye into seeing nothing but a flat surface, and Megara slipped into the cold dark beyond it. “Azazel had this built when he bought the house,” she explained as she lit a torch on the wall, “he doesn’t know I know about it. He uses it to slip out unnoticed when he wants to do something illegal and doesn’t want attention.”
Dean had no doubts that the tunnel was used more often than anyone might believe. They wove through a set of turns and down a long hall that echoed the street above before the tunnel finally veered left and began to rise. Megara passed the torch to Dean and pressed open a short door at the end. The group spilled out into a storage room and above them Dean could hear the heavy thump of several sets of boots. “He’s probably getting ready to leave town, the coward,” Megara said bitterly, “he knows what they just did is illegal. He’ll want to get your lover out of the city as soon as possible.”
Dean bristled at the words and shoved the torch back into Megara’s hands. “Over my dead body,” he said threateningly, and he marched past her into the house. He took the stairs up two at a time with Megara right behind him and as he entered into the main part of the home above, she yanked on his sleeve and slipped past him to lead the way again, a look of annoyance on her face.
"You're going to get us all killed if you just barge in," she griped before turning and tiptoeing along the wall they had emerged from. She paused to peer around a corner before waving the others on. They made their way from room to room this way, ducking behind furniture and around corners when groups of soldiers or slaves would bustle past them on some urgent errand. Most of the slaves were carting precious goods, giving credence to Megara’s claim that Azazel was trying to leave town.
They were nearing Castiel’s chamber at last when a cry rang out through the house. Dean froze in place, his heart hammering in his chest with that sound. “Cas?” he asked breathlessly. In the next instant he was on the move, heedless of the cries of protest from behind him. He knew that cry, he’d recognize that deep gravelly voice anywhere, and to hear it raised in distress was enough to have Dean leaping over furniture and skidding recklessly through the house in his desperate need to reach Castiel’s side.
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