And Sing of Sweet Surrender - Part Fifteen
You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way
Jess was pacing.
She had gone to Jo’s bar, where she’d been working for a few months now, like she usually did after Jo’s hours were supposed to be done, to get a few drinks together and then head home, walking through the quiet dark winter streets, hand in hand, talking. They talked about anything as they walked through the dark streets of Duluth, taking the long walk back to the Star of the Sea Cathedral a different way each time, just to see what they could find.
But when she’d got there tonight, ready for another trip out, she had been shocked to find that the doors were wide open, and no one was there.
Freaking out more and more as she waited, Jess had tried calling her girlfriend’s cell every chance few minutes, hoping she would pick up. She never did. The worst part was that when she’d looked around, there were bullets stuck in the wooden pillars, and a huge knife on the counter, and blood on the floor, and loose bits of duct tape stuck to the bar. Every sign she knew of someone being attacked, tied up, and possibly injured. This scared her even more, considering the lifestyle they both led, and the demons and monsters and things that they had faced before.
Furious and terrified, Jess bolted with the doors slammed open, whipping her Desert Eagle out of the back of her jeans, pointing it directly at the door and the newcomers.
“Put the gun away, baby,” Jo murmured, voice rough, slumping at one of the tables. She was alone, bloody and wet, muddy and a mess. “It’s just me. I promise.”
“Oh my god,” she scrambled forward, crushing the smaller woman against her chest, hugging her tightly into her collarbone, shaking as she buried her face in the other’s muddy hair, eyes squeezed tightly shut. “What happened, Jo, I was so fucking scared…”
“Demon,” she murmured. “Possessed an old friend, he went nuts…”
“Fuck!” she tugged her closer, alarmed as she crushed the other into her chest. “Are - are you okay?! Did you exorcise him, are you - “
“His brother took him. They’re going to Bobby’s… you remember I told you about Bobby?” she shifted slightly in Jess’ arms, pressing her forehead into Jess’ collarbone, trembling slightly. “They’re gonna take care of him… fuck… he shot his brother and I don’t know… I - I stitched him up and everything, I - “
“It’s okay,” she whispered, hands trembling as she stroked the other woman’s hair, scared.
“I didn’t tell him you were here,” she whispered, voice breaking.
“It’s okay, Jo, I don’t care if the demons know I’m here, I don’t care at all, it’s just you and me, we can take care of things even with them knowing, it doesn’t matter… I - “
“His brother called him Meg, when he was possessed,” Jo whispered.
Jess froze, then started to tremble harder. “Meg.”
She nodded. “She knows we’re here.”
“We need to go home.”
“We can’t stay there,” Jo whispered, crying softly against the other woman’s collarbone, fingers tangled in the other’s t-shirt, holding her closer. “Not if Meg knows we’re here, if she knows we’re in the city, we have to get the fuck out of here, we have to go somewhere, please, we have to go somewhere else… fuck… Jess… I wanna go home. To the Roadhouse, I wanna see mom, I wanna see Ash, I wanna make sure they’re safe…”
Surprised, she stroked the other’s back, gently, and whispered, “Okay.”
“You - you’re sure?”
She nodded, kissing Jo’s forehead, softly. “Jo, baby, you know I will do anything for you. Of course I’ll bring you home.”
“You are not leaving me again,” she said firmly, twisting her fingers harder in the other’s shirt.
“Are you sure your mother won’t… you know, shoot me, the second I try to walk in?”
“I talked to her.” She whispered. “She won’t shoot you.”
She sighed in relief.
“…right away, anyway,” she admitted, flushed.
Jess groaned softly.
“C’mon… please… let’s go home. We need to get… everything. Fuck, your journal wall… I am so sorry that we’d have to leave that… I didn’t mean for - “
“Hey. Demons fuck everything up. It’s time I made things more portable anyway.”
“Okay,” Jo whispered, nodding quietly.
“Now let’s get the fuck out of here before I shoot something myself,” she grumbled, and tugged her girlfriend out of the bar.
----
We suffer mornings most of all
Wake up all bleary eyed and sore
Forgetting everything we saw
(I’ll meet you in an hour at the car)
“I miss the church,” Jo murmured.
“Me too,” Jess sighed softly, eyes half closed as she relaxed as much as she could, leaning against the door of the back seat of their car, Jo laying on her chest, her head resting on her collarbone. “I mean, our bed was small, but it was at least a bed. Now we’re just back to the teeny tiny back seat again, and…”
“It’s not that teeny tiny,” she snorted, but wriggled a little, kissing Jess’ chin. “It’s just… cozy.”
She snorted. “In a tight way.”
“Mm. At least we’re almost to the Roadhouse again, right?”
Jo nodded, quietly, peering out the back window of the back seat at the starry sky over them, quietly. “Honestly, we’re only like two hours away, but… I wanted one night to just us, before we got home, before we had to talk to my mother and try to be normal and all that,” she shrugged, quietly. “Sorry. I know it’s awfully selfish, considering it’s a tiny back seat and it’s my mother we’re going to see, but still… I wanted some time with you.”
“Aww… I want time with you, too,” Jess laughed softly. “I would have rathered that we would have had this time together in a bed, but still.”
She laughed, softly, and shifted so that she could straddle the other’s thighs, bending slightly so that she was able to still sit up in the car, with the fabric covered ceiling just brushing the back of her head. “My mother won’t kill you, babe, I promise.”
“Mmm… she better not. But she probably also won’t let me share a bed with you.”
“She doesn’t have a choice about that one,” Jo grinned. “I’m an adult. I can sleep with whoever I want.”
Jess snorted. “I’m sure she’ll love that answer.”
“Relax, Jess,” Jo ordered, grinning as she rocked her hips back and forth slightly, teasingly. “My mother is going to love you. Maybe not right away, yeah, and who can really blame her considering you’re the naughty, naughty kidnapper that somehow managed to pervert her perfectly normal daughter - “ she grinned when Jess snorted derisively at that - “But eventually one day, my mom will come to love you too.”
“You’re sweet,” she snorted, again, trailing her fingers up the other’s thigh.
“I try.”
“Mmhmm. But just in case your mother does shoot me in the morning… wanna fog up a few windows?” Jess suggested, wiggling her eyebrows.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Jess laughed.
She was not laughing however, the next morning, as she reluctantly stepped out of the car, slamming the car door with the look of a woman walking to the gallows on her face. “Are you really sure you want to go home?” she asked, nervously.
Jo glanced back at her, rolling her eyes. “Yes, Jess. We’ve talked about this.”
“I know. But bullet wounds hurt, you see…”
“Come on,” the younger woman said stubbornly, taking Jess’ hand in hers and tugging her towards the building, then in through the wooden doors of the Roadhouse. Still keeping a death grip on her nervous lover’s hand, Jo bellowed, “Mom?! Ash? I’m home!”
A moment later, the door to the kitchen opened, and Ellen stepped out, looking surprised. “Jo, is that you, I - what is she doing here?”
Jess swallowed.
“We talked about this, mom,” Jo said firmly. “Jess is fine. She keeps me safe.”
“I don’t want her here,” she crossed her arms, glowering at them both.
“I can go…” Jess started.
“No,” Jo said firmly. “Mother.”
Ellen heaved a heavy sigh, and muttered, “Just like John’s boys, I sweat. All right. Hello, Jess.”
“….hi Ellen.” She murmured, cheeks flushed.
The woman considered the pair of them seriously, then said, finally, “So my daughter tells me that she thinks she loves you.”
Jess’ eyes flicked to Jo first, who was bright pink.
“Hm.” Ellen frowned again, then said finally, “You can sleep on the couch.”
“Mom!” Jo squawked.
“The answer is no, young lady,” she pointed at Jo for a moment, then headed back into the kitchen.
“I’m an adult!” she called at her mother’s retreating back.
“Still a no!”
Jess laughed weakly. “Wow.”
“Shut up,” Jo grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, grumpy.
----
Pain on pain on play, repeating
With the backup makeshift life in waiting
Nightmares weren’t new for Jess. Sadly, she’d sort of gotten used to waking up with them. Honestly, it was weirder when she woke up in the morning and realized she’d had none. She’d even resorted to hex bags under her pillows, to see if she could get some relief, but apparently reliving your past in your sleep wasn’t the same thing as just having bad dreams caused by a jumbling of the days events and eating a pastrami and rye sandwich before bed. She often wondered, mostly idly, if other hunters had the same problems, too.
So there she sat on the Harvelle’s living room couch, in the small apartment over the bar, slowly turning the pages of the Daemonology book. It was funny, no matter how much outside research she did, she always seemed to come back to this book.
Turning the page past Leviathan - the green eyed demon - she glanced up at movement in the doorway.
“Morning, Jess,” Ellen said softly, wearily.
Blinking, Jess closed the book, and pushed it aside, standing. “Hey, Ellen… sorry, did the light wake you…?”
“No, sit down,” she waved away the concern, stepping into the room herself and settling on the end of the couch, sighing softly. “Just one of those nights where no one can sleep, I guess.”
Jess nodded, watching the other.
“Sorry about… earlier. The hard feelings.” Ellen shifted slightly, clearing her throat awkwardly. “It’s just that Jo is my baby girl. I’m kind of protective. Over protective.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” Jess murmured, “So am I.”
“I’ve noticed,” she smiled, folding her hands on her stomach, considering Jess quietly for a moment, then bolted up again, heading into the little kitchenette beside the living room, bending to dig into the fridge, and offered Jess a bottle of beer before sitting beside her on the couch. “It’s the only reason I’m willing to be… all right with this.”
“Thanks,” Jess murmured, flushed, relieved to hear that as she took a long pull of the cold beer, relaxing.
“Mm.” Ellen sighed, staring off into space for a few moments.
“She’s a great woman, Ellen.” Jess said softly.
“I know. Scary, huh? She was my little girl only yesterday, and now… now she’s a big strong tall woman, and I just… it sprung on me, I suppose.” She sighed softly, sipping at her beer. “And not only is she a big brave woman, but she’s gone and fallen in love. With another woman.”
Jess glanced at her, frowning slightly. “…is it because I’m a woman?”
“…no,” she admitted, considering that thought. “No. It’s not because you’re a woman. That sure caught me off guard though, believe you me. Had no idea my girl was into… well, girls.”
“I don’t think she always has been,” she admitted, flushed.
Ellen snorted.
“What… s’true.” She shrugged, smirking slightly as she drank. “But I’m glad that even part of her did, because… she’s my everything.”
“I know.” She nodded, looking over at her, smiling softly. “Except that you left her for seven months.”
“Did she ever tell you why?”
“No,” Ellen considered that, frowning slightly.
“The demons told me that if I was there, around here, she was in danger.” Jess admitted. “So I wanted to make sure that she was never in danger by being far away from her, if I could be. I’ve warded myself as much as I can - I have anti-possession tattoos, I’ve been blessed by some of the most blessed priests in the nation, for awhile, I even drank nothing but holy water, hoping to just make myself as warded as I could be. But I just… I was never sure if I’d done enough to save her.”
“She’s my baby girl, Jess, but I have taught her well.” She frowned slightly, drinking another deep swallow of her beer. “Jo can take care of herself.”
“I’ve learned that.” She murmured, smiling at the woman. “It’s… good. Because…”
“Because what?” she asked, frowning slightly.
“Do you believe in angels, Ellen?” Jess asked softly, peeling the label off of her beer, then she took a deep swallow of it, trying not to be jittery.
“I’ve never seen one,” Ellen considered that. “But I’m open to the idea that they might exist.”
“I’ve met one,” she whispered.
Shifting forward on the couch slightly, to consider the other woman, she asked, “Really?”
“Mmhmm. Woman named Anna, apparently she’s an angel. And… yeah. She’s an angel. All terrifying power and awe and majesty. Scary as fu - hell. Scary as hell. But she… saved me.”
“From?” she asked, frowning slightly as she considered her.
“Hell.”
“I’m sorry?” Ellen frowned, brows furrowed.
“Hell.” Jess said again, and tugged the overlong sleeves of Sam’s old sweatshirt off her hand so that the other could see the handprint scar on her wrist. “I died two years ago, Ellen, and I was thrown into hell because the demon who killed me thought it would be funny. Or something. And then this angel, Anna, took me, and hauled me out of hell. To - to save someone from the same fate.”
She swore, shaking her head as she considered the other woman. “How do you save this person?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, softly. “But I have to save him from hell.”
“Just don’t hurt my baby girl.”
“Yes ma’am,” she smirked slightly, then jumped when the phone rang. “Shit, that scared me!”
Ellen laughed, and scooped up the phone, frowning as she answered, then listened. “Woah, slow down Dean… slow down…”
Jess blinked, watching the other woman, listening. Funny, there weren’t many men named Dean unless they were little boys these days, having parents who were big Harry Potter fans.
“What, no, Ash isn’t here, he’s downstairs. I took the night off… yes, Dean, a woman can take the night off when she’s the owner of the place… Jo and Ash are running the bar tonight.” She frowned as she listened for a few moments, then glanced at Jess, scratching her jaw. “No, Ash didn’t mention anything… I’ll go see if I can find him, one minute…”
Ellen stood, and hesitated. “No, just hold on a second Dean… Dean?”
She winced, holding the phone away from her ear for a moment. There was some shouting in the background, loud enough that even sitting on the couch beside the woman, who was standing, Jess could hear it. There was silence again, more shouting, more silence, then abruptly Ellen tugged the phone away from her head again. “Shit, Dean calm - what?”
“Ellen?” Jess asked softly, standing, concerned. “Is everything okay?”
The other woman was pale, trembling slightly as she met her eyes, and shook her head.
Jess leaned a little closer to her, and she could hear the panicked man on the other line shouting, “Sam is missing, Ellen! I just walked into the restaurant and there is blood everywhere and Sam is gone!”
“Sam?” Jess repeated, blood draining out of her face.
Ellen nodded, not even really hearing her, focusing on the phone. “There sulfur or anything, Dean, some kind of demon trace?”
“I don’t know,” he was saying, sound absolutely terrified. “I - yes. Windowsills, fuck… sulfur, a demon took him, son of a bitch, Ellen, a demon took my fucking brother! Again!”
“Ellen,” she said again, eyes wide, guts twisting. “Sam? Sam Winchester?”
Ellen’s eyes flicked back to Jess again, and she hesitated, then nodded again. “Yeah.”
“Oh my god.” She slumped to sit on the edge of the couch, eyes wide. Her boyfriend. Her very ex-boyfriend, now. The one she’d gone looking for for so long at one point, the one she’d died because of… apparently, he was friends with her girlfriend’s mother. Well holy fuck.
“Call Bobby,” she ordered, eyes on Jess still. “Now.”
A few moments later, Ellen hung up the phone, and set it on the side table, sitting firmly beside Jess on the couch, shifting closer to her and grabbing the other woman’s hands, holding the trembling fingers tightly in her own, considering her seriously. “You met the boys before?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Jess, what are you hiding?” she asked, seriously.
Looking up, trembling, Jess said quietly, “Don’t tell Jo. Please.”
She hesitated. “What is it, Jess?”
“Sam Winchester. Sam is the man I was brought back from hell to save. The angels saved me from hell to save Sam Winchester.” Her voice caught, and she fought tears. “I almost married him, Ellen. Sam was my boyfriend, and I died because the yellow eyed demon was trying to torture him.”
Ellen groaned softly, closing her eyes. “Oh.”
Jess keened.
“You’re that Jess.” She murmured, considering the other woman, concerned. “Shit. Well, this complicates things more than a little, doesn’t it?”
She moaned, slumping back. “Please don’t tell Jo.”
“You had better tell her.”
She whimpered slightly, and nodded, and finally stood, running her hands through her hair. “Yeah. Fuck. She knows him too, doesn’t she?”
“She’s hunted with them a few times.”
“Nnngh, even better… time to explain to my girlfriend that I used to date her friend. Great.”
Ellen smirked slightly. “Yep. Now I got a boy to find.”
Padding down the short hallway in her bare feet, Jess slipped into Jo’s room, hesitating.
Her girlfriend was laying in her bed, golden hair spilled out around her on the pillow like a softly glowing halo, and she slept quietly, lips parted slightly, eyes closed, eyelashes a dark sooty shadow on her cheeks. She looked like she’d tumbled from heaven to land gently in that bed, like she’d floated out of the clouds. Her chest rose and fell gently as she breathed, and Jess really didn’t want to interrupt her sleep, didn’t want to disturb the sweet sleeper, but she needed to. Apparently.
Crawling into the other woman’s bed, carefully, she lay beside her, wrapping her arm gently around the other’s waist, holding her close.
“Mmm…” Jo shifted slightly in her sleep, half waking as she blinked up at her. “Hi.”
“Hi baby,” she murmured softly.
“My mom is gonna kill you if she finds you in here,” she murmured, but smiled as she squirmed closer into Jess, kissing her jaw.
“Actually, she sent me here. Told me to come in here and talk to you… I… Jo. Do you know Sam Winchester?” her voice wavered as she said his name.
“Yeah.” She nodded, rubbing at her eyes. “I grew up around his father, John, and… I’ve hunted with them. A few times. They were the ones I was with when I ran into that serial killing ghost, he was the one who got possessed and attacked me in Duluth… yeah. I know Sam Winchester. Why, do - wait, do you know Sam Winchester? Really?”
Jess swallowed. “I dated him.”
Jo blinked, then her eyes widened sharply. “Oh my god. I never made the connection… you died when a demon tried to hurt your boyfriend… his girlfriend died when yellow eyes tried to torture him… oh my god, you died because of Sam?! SAM?! And you dated him?”
She winced slightly at the horrified reaction. “….yeah.”
“He is nothing like me!”
Jess blinked at Jo, surprised. “Uh… yeah… you are nothing alike. Completely different.”
“So… am I your type, or was he?” she frowned.
She snorted, and pressed her forehead against the other woman’s, just holding her close, kissing her nose softly. “You. Without a doubt, Joanna Beth Harvelle… you are my type. And even though I’m going to hell… until then, you’re mine. And I’m yours.”
Jo laughed softly.
----
It doesn’t hurt me
You wanna feel how it feels?
You wanna know, know that it doesn’t hurt me?
You wanna hear about the deal I’m making?
You be running up that hill
You and me be running up that hill
Sitting at the bar, Jess sipped at a whiskey, sitting sideways so that her left forearm rested on the bar. She watched her girlfriend as she walked around the large room, slipping between the little tables and laughing and smiling as she served the customers. Jess was honestly surprised the other was able to smile and laugh as much as she was, considering how worried she was about Sam. It was still sort of surreal, realizing how they both knew the same man.
But Jo was getting information from the hunters in the bar, if she could, so at least that was something.
Ash darted up beside Jess at the bar, thumping his computer on the bar beside her. She was surprised that it even ran, considering how he treated it and considering that it was barely even in one piece. Flicking it open, he typed rapidly, then swung with a bit of a dramatic flair, flicking his hair behind his shoulders as he looked Jess up and down. “You’re the one, right? Jo’s girl? Sammy boy’s ex?”
She hesitated, then nodded.
“Awesome,” he grinned briefly at her, wiggling his brows. “You two ever think about recording some of yer stuff in the, you know, bedroom? Might make some really good money that way, if you ever wanted to try it.”
“No.” she said, flatly.
“Just something to think about.” He pointed out, then pointed at the screen. “Have you seen this?”
“What is it?” she leaned closer, considering the map he’d pulled up. “Chicago?”
“Something big is coming there, few years from now, it’s a big deal,” he frowned slightly, typing rapidly. Numbers scrolled by on the screen, and she blinked, trying to catch it as she watched, not really understanding what it meant. “I called Dean, to let him know… hope to god he calls me soon, something bad is gonna happen if he doesn’t know about this… looks like all the omens are pointing there.”
“What’s gonna happen in Chicago, Ash?” she asked, frowning as she considered the screen.
Ash’s eyes flicked to her again, then he lowered his voice. “Sam’s a vessel.”
“For what?” she asked quietly.
He hesitated. “Let’s just say… he really needs to not be in hell right now. He needs to be out, he needs to be saved.”
“Ellen said they found him, but he was - “
“I know.” He nodded. “Someone needs to save that kid.”
Jess glanced away from his computer to her glass, then up to the anti-demons symbols above the bar, eyes narrowing at a small cigar box on the shelf there. “Can I take that, Ash?”
He glanced where she was looking. “Yeah, sure.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, rounding the bar, and reaching up to pick it up, coming back to him. Setting it on the bar, she peered inside, relieved that it was blank, and thought back to the ‘layman’s demon lexicon’ she had put up on the cathedral wall, trying to remember every detail of one of the entries. “Ash… who is Sam a vessel for?”
He hesitated. “Well, I’m not sure, but I think he’s - “
There was a crash, and a bottle slammed on top of Ash’s head, and he slumped forward onto the ground, like a rock.
Jess bolted to her feet, gaping at the hunter who had cracked the bottle over his head in horror. “What the fuck was that for? Seriously! He was - “ she halted abruptly.
The hunter’s eyes were black.
Looking away sharply, she glanced to the side, hoping for some assistance, but the man beside him had stood as well, eyes black.
One by one, men and women around the room stood, eyes jet black.
“Jo?!” Jess howled, horrified.
A gunshot echoed through the room, then another, and Jo burst through the crowd of demons, who didn’t seem to be attacking, but rather just standing there, looking at them. Ellen burst out from behind the bar, pair of rifles in hand, and thrust one into Jess’ hands, then bent to struggle to pick Ash up. “What the hell is going on here… this place is warded to the hilt…”
Jess bent to help her, Ash’s limp body between them. “They’re just watching us…”
“This is… terrifying,” Jo murmured, then tried, “Exorcizamus te.”
As one, each of the demons began rushing towards them, and Ellen let out a shout of horror as they started forward, trying to get Ash - and themselves - out of the crowd and away from the demons. Jess started firing into the crowd, grimly, prepping the shotgun between each round, shoving fresh shells in with a strangely practiced ease. She fired until she was out of ammunition, then began just slamming each one with the stock of her gun, though they just seemed to keep coming.
Snatching salt shakers off the tables, she swung her arm hard, trying to hit each one with salt, and started screaming, “Christo Christo Christo!” just to at least delay them enough to get through.
Somewhere behind them, a fire had been started on the bar, and it started to grow. The door was finally getting closer, and just as it seemed they were safe, one of the demons snagged Ash, and hauled them back away from them.
“No!” Ellen howled, reaching for him, but more demons slid between them and him, and the fire rose even higher.
“Mom, we have to go!” Jo cried, shoving the doors open with her shoulders.
“Ash!” the woman screamed, trying to reach for him.
“Mom!”
Jess hooked her arm around the woman’s waist like a linebacker, and shoved her finally out the door, half tackling her as she forced all three of them outside, then ran as fast as she could towards the car. Ellen looked completely at a loss as she gaped up at the bar, almost catatonic, which was unusual for the usually very together woman. Jo helped Jess, though, digging in the back seat of the car with her, and they both grabbed a sack of salt, and rushed back towards the building, slashing salt in front of the doorways and the windows, forcing those inside to stay there.
Finally, building warded, they retreated to the safety of the car. Jess left it running, just in case they had to flee, but that didn’t seem necessary as they watched the building burn.
Jess slumped against the hood, watching.
Ellen looked too shocked to react. Her eyes were wide and glazed as she watched the flames devouring her home, her business. Her customers. Her surrogate son.
Jo was sobbing softly as she curled into Jess, shaking.
“They came to kill us,” Jess whispered, watching as the flames licked at the worn name ‘Roadhouse’ on the front. “They sent demons to kill us. All because… because Ash knew what was coming. He said… he said he knew…”
Ellen let out a shaking whimper.
Jess closed her eyes, and turned to look at Jo, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. “Jo, baby… take care of your mom. I have to do something, to - to make sure this stops, okay?”
“Don’t leave,” Jo tangled her fingers in the other’s shirt, looking horrified. “Please…”
“I have to.” She whispered, gently disentangling her fingers, and kissing her temple again. “Take the car. Get her somewhere safe. “I’ll call you soon, to meet up with you, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered, face twisting into tears for a moment, tears streaming down her sooty cheeks. “I can’t lose you now…”
“I know.” She whispered, hugging her.
She rounded the car to dig in the massive trunk, shifting items, weapons out of the way as she dug in under the spare tire, making sure she had found everything she was looking for. She had wanted the cigar box from inside the trunk, but the little tupperware bin that had been used for leftover Chinese a few weeks ago was good enough. Tossing in one of the Polaroid’s Jo had taken a few months ago last, she shoved the little plastic bin into the pocket of her sweatshirt, and slammed the trunk shut.
“I’ll call you back in a few minutes,” she promised.
“Kiss me,” Jo said quickly, grabbing the other woman’s sweater as she was about to pass her, looking terrified.
Jess nodded, and kissed her lover firmly, possessively, then murmured, “I promise. I’ll call you in a few minutes.”
She nodded, tears blinding her brown eyes.
Sighing, Jess headed out into the trees, marching down the road as she hurried way from the by now inferno that was the roadhouse, and broke into a run beyond the property line.
Jess had no idea how long she ran for, but when she finally dropped to her knees in the gravel roadway in the middle of a field, her lungs were burning and her heart pounding, and she couldn’t smell or see smoke as far as she looked in any direction. Panting, she ended up on her hands and knees in the dusty crossroad, and used the side of her hand to scoop up rocks and dirt, brushing it aside, quickly, until she was able to grab a large rock and haul it out of the ground. Nails cracked and bleeding, she set the Tupperware bin where the rock had been in the hole, and brushed gravel and dirt over it, then stood, wiping her dusty hands on her jean covered thighs.
She looked around, quickly, trembling, and called, “Hello?”
“You called?”
Jess spun, gasping as she looked up at the woman standing just outside the crossroads themselves, thumbs hooked in the pockets of her jeans. She was pale and dark haired, with almost impish features. “Are you - ?”
The woman’s eyes flickered black, and she smirked slightly. “Long time no see, babe.”
“I don’t understand.” Jess took a step back, swallowing. She knew that she had summoned the demon, she knew that it was her that called her, but she didn’t really know how to deal with this. It alarmed her, to be honest.
“I had an unfortunate accident.” She drawled, stepping closer. “Your ex killed my meatsuit. So I took him for a ride, but they got me outta that one, too. So I found a new one. It’s me, sweetpea, don’t you recognize me?” The demon grinned, raising a single brow. “It’s Meg.”
“Oh fuck.” She backed up again.
“Where you going, Jess, baby?” Meg was abruptly behind her, and Jess gasped, startled. “You’re the one who called me here. You’re the one who wanted to make the deal. So do tell. What did you want?”
Jess swallowed. “Sam.”
“Oh really?” she drawled. “Here I thought you’d gone all lesbo, baby… you really want yer Sammy back?”
“No.” She swallowed again, hands trembling hard. “No. I want him alive. And I don’t want him to know that it was me that saved him.”
“Oh?” she frowned, cocking her head to the side, slightly, considering that. They were in contact, a lot of the demons, and she knew that at that very moment, as Jess was standing there in front of her, chest heaving, Dean Winchester was standing in a different crossroads, hands shaking as he demanded the same thing. She considered that, thoughtfully, then smirked. Maybe… maybe two souls. For Sam Winchester? Two might do it.
“Sam needs to be alive.” Jess said again, firmly. “Please. Meg.”
She stepped closer, and purred, as she nuzzled slightly at the other woman’s jaw, “Is that so? What will you give me, baby girl?”
She swallowed. “The usual deal. My soul.” Her voice cracked. “You come take it in ten years.”
“For Sam Winchester?” she barked in laughter. “No ten years. One.”
Jess closed her eyes. She wanted more than that. She needed more than that. She had been hoping to get the ten years that she was supposed to get, because, honestly, a hunter’s life was insanely dangerous. She figured a decade was a long time for a woman in this lifestyle, and that if she took the ten year deal, Jo might never know. But with a year…
But Anna had said she needed to save Sam from hell.
And Ash had said…
It was like a last request, almost.
She nodded, breath hitching slightly as she opened her eyes to consider the black eyed woman in front of her. “Okay. One year. Okay. D-deal.”
“Good,” Meg grinned, then for the first time since she’d met her, kissed her. Hard.
Jess whimpered as the other surged into the kiss, possessive and demanding, claiming all of her, then finally stepped back, sighing softly. “Mmm…” Meg grinned, reaching up to brush her fingertips over her lips. “I told you I was saving that for something special.”
“Fuck off,” she whispered, eyes bright with tears.
“Mmm. Enjoy your year, babe. I, personally, am really looking forward to a year and a day from now…” Meg fingerwalked her long fingers up the other woman’s collarbone for a moment, then tapped the other’s lower lip with her index finger. “I can’t wait to get you back into hell with me again.”
Jess quickly backed up again. “You got your deal, you’re getting my soul. You don’t get me now.”
“Yes’m.” she laughed.
Then Meg was gone, and Jess’ shoulders slumped again, shaking. Finally, she tugged her phone out of her pocket, fingers trembling as she dialed, then held it to her ear. “H-hi babe. Yeah… it’s okay. It’s okay, yeah, I’m… um… at the corner of… um… county roads four and seventeen…”
Part Sixteen
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