Someone put a hand over my mouth, hard. My eyes flew open, and I was staring into the blue eyes of a blonde woman. I started to struggle away from her, but she shoved a knife under my chin and I froze, terrified.
"Jessie," she said. "Sam's little orphan. Where is he?" I shook my head. She pressed the knife harder against my neck. "You don't know or you won't tell?" she purred, lifting her hand so I could speak. I took a breath and swallowed.
"I don't know," I said. I was too afraid to say anything more. She shoved her hand back down hard on my mouth.
"That's all right. If you're here, he'll be back soon enough," she said, smiling. "Tie her up. Make sure you gag her, too. Wouldn't want her Daddy Warbucks to have any warning."
A man came around from behind her and yanked me out of the bed. He tied my hands behind me with rope and put a cloth in my mouth, tying another cloth over my mouth to keep it there. He tied my ankles together and ran a rope from my wrists to my ankles so that I couldn't get them back in front of me. He pushed me down on my rollaway, covering me up with my blanket like I was sleeping. They left me there and took positions in the room with a clear view of the door, but where they wouldn't be seen when Sam came in. The guy was behind the door and the woman was off against the wall.
I'd no idea who they were. I'd never seen either of them before. Apparently, the woman knew who I was. How could I get out of this? I needed to warn Sam but I was trussed and tucked. The bonds holding me were tight. I was scared.
I wished for the gazillionth time that I had more control over my abilities. If I did, I'd be able to use just a little bit of fire to undo my bonds or to leave a signal for Sam outside the window or something. Instead, if I tried to light anything on fire, I'd burn the place down, and all the people in it, except me, of course. I didn't want to kill a bunch of innocent people.
Instead, I wiggled around until I could reach my ankles with my hands behind me and started working the knot. It took forever. I wasn't good with knots to begin with. I swore that as soon as this was over, I was going to start learning how to better control my fire and how to untie knots without being able to see them. I'd practice constantly.
I'd managed to untie the rope that went from my wrists to my ankles when the door opened and Sam stumbled in, obviously drunk. I started making noises around the gag and tried to sit up to warn him, but the guy jumped him. The woman joined in and Sam identified her after a second as Ruby. She told him that Lilith had tortured her in hell and then had given her another chance if she killed Sam. Sam told her to do it, bracing himself for the impact. Ruby pulled back the knife and went to stab Sam. I screamed into the gag.
She plunged the knife into the chest of the guy who was holding Sam back. The demon inside the guy died, the body falling to the floor. Ruby told Sam to grab his keys because we needed to go now. She stalked over to me and untied me, pulling me to my feet. "Grab your stuff," she told me.
I looked at Sam. He looked stunned, staring after Ruby like he was trying to make sense of things. "Sam?" I asked in a small voice, uncertain what to do. He nodded at me, so I shoved my stuff into my bags while Sam did the same. Ruby helped him. Still wearing just my PJs, I followed them down to the Impala. Ruby got in the front with Sam, and I climbed in the back, flinging both bags onto the floor. Sam started driving.
Ten minutes later, Ruby was giving Sam crap for not thanking her, implying that she had done all these things in hell to make it up to Lilith just so she could get back out and return to help Sam. Sam was mad, that kind of angry that's cold and calculating. He wasn't buying a thing she said. He told her that if she couldn't help him get Dean out of hell, then he didn't want her help. I almost cheered.
Sam pulled over and told her to get out of the car, that he had no use for her. He told her to let the secretary she was riding go or he'd send her back to hell. Ruby threw back her head and black smoke flew out of her mouth. I shrieked and pushed myself into the corner of the car behind Sam to get away from her.
The secretary was alive but unconscious when Ruby was gone. Sam checked her pulse and drove her to the nearest hospital in silence. He dropped her off at the emergency room and got back in the car.
"What now?" I asked him.
"Now," he said, "I drive far away from here and you try to get some sleep."
"Are you ok?" I asked. He nodded.
"Go on, honey. Lie down and see if you can sleep. I'll wake you up when we get somewhere safe."
I pulled the blanket that we kept in the car over me and lay down on the backseat. I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before I asked, "Sam, where were you?"
Sam sighed. "I just had some things I needed to take care of, honey. Everything is ok."
"But, you wanted Ruby to kill you. You told her to. You didn't even try to stop her," I said, softly. Sam's jaw tightened a little, but I couldn't read his face. I could only see the side of his head.
"I went to talk to a crossroads demon," Sam said, "to try to trade places in hell with Dean, but he wouldn't take the deal."
Fear flooded me. "You were going to leave me here?" I asked, tears rising to the surface.
"No, honey. I was going to trade places, get Dean back so that you could be with him, and then I could take his place," he said. "It was stupid. I didn't want to leave you. I wanted to save Dean."
"Is that why you were drunk?" I asked.
Sam nodded once, sharply. "I'm here for good, though. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to take care of you now. Ok?"
I thought about that. "But if Ruby had killed you…" I said, the panic not yet gone.
Sam sighed and said, "Sometimes when you're sad, you do stupid, self-destructive things. That's all that was. I'm sorry, Jessie. I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere."
I sat up and climbed over the front seat, bringing the blanket with me, and curled up against Sam. He put his arm around me.
"Promise me," I said softly. "Promise you won't leave me here all alone. Promise."
"I promise," Sam said. I looked up and saw tears in his eyes. "I'll stay and take care of you."
I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him. He hugged me back as he drove. Then he tapped my shoulder. "Put your seatbelt on," he said.
I smiled, fastened the seatbelt, and pulled the blanket back over me as I leaned against Sam.
