Blood and Chocolate ✓

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

The trip to the witch's shop was short and filled with a constant exchange of quips between Dean and Gabriel. As headache inducing as the bickering between Gabriel and Dean could be, it was also highly entertaining. Their share of a defense mechanism led to a plethora of jokes that always contained at least one Sam liked. Also, maybe Sam was just going crazy—it wouldn't be the first time—but he sensed that the stream of barbs and movie references was Gabriel and Dean's way of bonding.

Dean pulled up to a shop with a purple roof and bottle-shaped sign with the words "Little Shop of Potions" in cursive that hung over the glass door. A heart was painted on the top of the door, and through the windows rows of bottles could be seen lining the shelves inside.

"Don't do anything stupid," Dean said as Sam stepped out from the Impala and shut the door. The window was rolled down a few inches so Sam could still hear him.

"Same to you." Sam nodded and stuffed his hand in his pants pocket as he turned and walked a few steps away from the Impala.

"Bye, Daddy!" Gabriel shouted childishly.

The Impala's engine roared as Dean stepped on the gas and peeled away from the shop like Gabriel had threatened to marry him to the devil.

Sam shook his head at Gabriel's antics and headed toward the shop, only to be stopped when two arms wrapped around him and pressed him against a much smaller body. "Finally! I thought he'd never leave."

Sam cast a wary gaze. People were walking up and down the sidewalk, and embarrassment wrapped itself around Sam. He wasn't the most publicly affectionate person in general, but with Gabriel he was even more reserved. Having grown up in a macho-attitude environment, it was difficult to be so open about going against the grain, even if he had some experience in that field due to his insistence on going to college—but then college wasn't about getting oneself involved with an angel.

The arms around his waist tightened and fingers splayed across his abdomen, applying a light amount of pressure to the hard muscles hidden under Sam's suit. "C'mon on, Sam. If you stay like a statue, I am going to climb your back like a monkey and suck on you neck like a vampire." Gabriel's body slid up a few inches against Sam's as he raised himself onto his tiptoes. His breath ghosted the back of Sam's neck. "Of course, there's always your earlobe too. You're a little sensitive there, aren't you?"

A thrill of anticipation shuddered through his body, but Sam extracted himself from Gabriel. He huffed as he let his hand fall to the small of Gabriel's back and pushed him toward the potion stop. "Case first."

"If you can hold out that long." Gabriel grinned wickedly as he wiggled his eyebrows at Sam.

"You're overconfident." Sam held open the shop door for Gabriel, the little bell above it tingling as Sam did so.

Gabriel sauntered into the shop, winking over his shoulder at Sam. "No, I'm just aware of my animal magnetism and sexual prowess. Trust me, you ain't got a chance."

Sam rolled his eyes, choosing not to comment as the overwhelming scent of sandalwood incense assaulted his nostrils. Bottles of every color in the rainbow plus more, decorated the walls. A glass case containing faux leather bound books that were intended to look ancient blocked off a portion of one of the walls. A register sat at the corner of it, but there was no one to man it. Sam looked around the room and noticed a square hole cut out of one of the walls. Through it he could see a kitchen like space where a woman in a pink apron hummed as she worked.

Sam reached for his badge in his pocket and cleared his throat.

The woman paused in the middle of grinding a bowl of herbs and looked up. She blinked owlishly at Sam.