Chapter 3-1
1396 Words
Chapter 3
Jason stumbled out of his excruciatingly empty bed before he was even truly awake. Where the hell was that angel? He stalked into the kitchen, and made a bee line for the coffee pot first. Had to wake up if he wanted to find Castiel.
“Morning, Sunshine!” Adam crowed behind him and Jason smacked his forehead into the cupboard door right in front of his face. Adam was a bane to his existence most mornings, but today was even worse.
The f**k was Castiel at?
“Is he always this agreeable just after dawn?”
Whirling around, Jason slumped against the counter, relieved. Castiel was at the kitchen table, massive folded wings shimmering iridescent rainbows over the ink black feathers and framing him beautifully against their darkness, dressed in his scant armor. Damn, how hadn’t he noticed just how short that skirt thing was? The smile though, was the most beautiful sight Jason had ever seen. Yeah, he was sunk.
Danny nodded into his own coffee. “Absolutely a nightmare in the mornings.”
Brothers giggling like five-year-olds, Jason flipped them off and turned back to fix up his coffee with sugar. It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t operate without coffee. For almost sixteen years, necessity rolled Jason out of bed every morning, before the sun rose most days. All to take care of his brothers after their mom died and keep the little farm running. Jason was not built to be an early riser, so his brothers’ oughtta stuff their teasing before he sent them to muck out the horse stable. Asshats.
Jason scowled and dropped into a kitchen chair. “Talk s**t and see what it gets you. Be cleaning the stable top to bottom if I get any more out of any of you.”
His brothers cringed and Castiel laughed, delighted. Levi shook his head. “Not me. I promised to meet Zoey today and I have commissions to finish.” He plucked his morning tea off the table, than stopped in front of Castiel for a moment. “I’m sorry I’m not going to be here to see you off, but it was very nice to meet you, sir.”
Castiel rested a hand on Levi’s bony shoulder. “I thank you for your assistance.” Smiling, Levi nodded and slipped out of the kitchen.
“Okay.” Jason pointed at Adam and Danny. “Why don’t you two get started out in the far left corner of the patch and check for parasites. You know those damn things pop up right as October starts and we don’t need the problems we had last year.”
“Got it.” Right before going out the back door leading to the field, Adam paused. “You’re coming out too?”
“I’m going to see Castiel off first.”
Though a small curl of dread wrapped around his heart, Jason waved Castiel from his spot near the large bay window. “Where is the best place for you to do this?” He c****d an eyebrow. “Actually, how do you do this?”
“Outside will be easiest.” Castiel gently took Jason’s hand and led him out the same door his brothers just used. As soon as they stepped out into the sunshine though, Castiel stopped and turned his face to the sun. It seemed an unconscious move when the glorious black wings unfurled to their fullest, the sheen fractured into rainbow patterns as they soaked up the light. Even Castiel’s grin was radiant. He was a mischievous raven basking in the sun, warming up his feathers before a day of playing.
Jason’s heart clenched. What he wouldn’t give to keep Castiel around. He couldn’t because, without anything even being said, Jason had a feeling that Castiel had no time for a short vacation. Important angel business maybe, or simply angels were not supposed to mingle with humans. Damn, but Jason wished otherwise.
They started off again, Castiel leading him towards the east side of the beige house. The monstrous exterior was smooth, and if the pleased smile on Castiel’s lips was any indication, exactly what the angel seemed to need.
Between one eye blink and the next, Castiel produced a thin silvery dagger out of nothing. A quick s***h across Castiel’s palm and crimson blood welled up out into the cupped hand.
“Wha—?” Instinctively, Jason tried to snatch the knife out of Castiel’s hand, but the angel vanished in just as fast as he’d conjured it. Jason just had to ask though. “f**k are you doing?”
“Blood is the doorway.” Castiel dipped his fingers in the blood, and used the wall as a canvas, painting symbols that Jason found impossible to make heads or tails of. The instant Castiel connected the large circle that enclosed the writing, the lines of blood flashed a silver so bright, Jason had to cast his eyes aside.
A screen of feathers came between Jason and the wall, and he looked up into stunning midnight eyes. “Thank you for your hospitality, Jason.”
This was a part Jason really sucked at and he fumbled for something to say. Eventually, he settled on something a lot less meaningful than he intended. “You’re welcome, Castiel.”
He broke eye contact and swallowed down the gruffness in his throat with a stilted cough. Jason counted on Castiel not reading him at the moment, because he didn’t want to find out if the angel could experience negative emotions, like pity. It was the last thing he wanted to see in those dark eyes. Granted, he would take the look if it could keep Castiel with him, though Jason knew better.
Damn, how had Jason fallen so far so fast over a being he barely knew?
Castiel clapped his shoulder briefly, and Jason fought down a twinge of longing, before he faced the blazing marks painted on the wall. With one last smile in his direction, Castiel pulled away and walked, stride confident, right at the wall.
And smacked face first into the wall.
Unable to help it, Jason chuckled. Castiel flashed a black, indignant glare at the already fading symbols from where he sprawled on the sparse grass. He offered the angel a hand up, still laughing. “Not what you were expecting to happen?”
“No.” Castiel scowled, and his wings stirred up miniature flurries in irritated little flaps. “I was supposed to pass through it. The Gate should have worked.”
“No way was that a gate.”
After a last flap to send the dead grass stuck in his feathers flying, the angel shook his head. “It was not a human gate. This one was designed to render this body back to its base components and send me back to the Rift.”
“I understood none of that.” Castiel looked like he was ready to expand on his original statement, but Jason stalled him with a raised hand. “Don’t bother. I doubt I would get it even if you used small words. Danny and Levi are the brains of this outfit. Adam and I are just the muscle.”
Castiel hummed. “I believe you are not as unintelligent as you think you are.”
“You’ll see.” Jason steered Castiel away from the wall, back into the house. “What the hell happened back there?”
“Unknown.” He stopped at the kitchen counter, leaning on it with both hands, back to Jason so he couldn’t see his face. The pout bled through his tone easily enough for him to hear though. “It requires nothing more than my blood to power it, yet it did not work.” Castiel growled. “No magic that I know of could block the Gate.”
“So, just to be clear. You’re stuck here until further notice?” And Jason really hoped his joy wasn’t noticeable.
“It would appear so.” Finally, Castiel glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Can I impose on your hospitality until I find a solution to this issue?”
“Hell, yes.” As soon as he blurted that out, Jason wanted to smack himself in the face for sounding so eager. “I mean, yeah. Can’t have you wandering out amongst the rest of humanity. Those wings of yours would net you all kinds of trouble.”
“Truly?”
“Humans aren’t used to angels walking around.” That was a serious understatement, but Jason didn’t want to scare the guy. “It’s best to stay put and work on the problem here.”
Silence stretched out for a minute, then Jason did what he was best at and fell back into the practical. “Well, I would offer you a spare bedroom, but Levi took Mom’s room after…Anyway, so if you don’t mind, you can still bunk with me.”
“I do not mind.” Castiel smiled and faced Jason properly. “Besides, I find myself less apprehensive with you close.”
Jason ducked his head to hide the blush on his face. “Okay then, we need to get you clothes, because you can’t be running around in that…That…” Jason couldn’t find a way to say Castiel’s armor was too revealing without sounding jealous or rude, so he moved on. “In that.”
As he led the angel away, Jason caught what he thought might have been a smug smile, but angels didn’t do smug. Did they?
- Writer
