Jo cleared her throat as she pulled a sheet of paper from the folder in her lap. "Your mother died on November 2, 1985; her death and the fire that started in your home that night was deemed suspicious. Not long after, your father was arrested and charged with arson, murder, attempted murder and endangering life. He was sentenced to life for his crimes despite his lawyer's argument the he suffered from PTSD and wasn't fit to stand trial. With no relatives to care for you and your brother, you became wards of the state."
He could feel the anger smoldering in his core as her words slowly sank in. "That's not what happened." Dean growled as he shook his head, unable to accept what she'd just told him. "It was a Yellow eyed demon that killed my mom... that's the reason my Dad started hunting and that's why he raised Sam & I to be hunters. I put a bullet in that son of a bitch myself and I know you don't believe..."
"That yellow eyed demon's name was Azazel." Jo interrupted, pausing for only a moment as Dean looked over to catch her eyes. "And you didn't kill him, a demon hunter did a couple years after your mother was killed. Unfortunately, your dad wasn't the only one accused of a crime he didn't commit. Almost a dozen other people were sent to prison under similar circumstances."
"Why the hell did my Dad end up behind bars then if other hunters out there knew this demon was responsible for..."
"You honestly think a Jury would believe that a demon killed your mother?" Jo cut in, instantly silencing the man behind the wheel. She paused for a moment as she flipped through the pages, the other man's reaction not one she'd been expecting. While her father had always told her that a Djin's victims were living memories that never actually happened, she was starting to wonder just how much of that was true. Unlike other victims her father had tried saving, Dean knew details only another hunter would know. "Your father died behind bars a few years later."
Dean swallowed hard as he tried to stay focused, repeating to himself that none of it was real and that it was all just in his head. He could feel the raw emotion taking hold of him; the anger, frustration, despair... and remembered what Bill had told him about the Djin getting him worked up so it could feed off his emotions and negative energy. All the creature had done was alter a single moment from his past, creating a butterfly effect that resulted in the life he was in now. He sucked in a deep breath, he couldn't let it get to him. NONE of it was real. "What happed to me and Sam after my dad ended up in jail?" He asked.
"After that, you and your brother became Wards of the State." Jo started as she read through the files. "You bounced around the foster care system for a while before social workers decided it would be best to split you up. Sam was adapting well but you were constantly trying to take off with him. Your issues went undiagnosed for years and the last time you saw your brother, a restraining order was placed against you. He was eleven, living with a family of five and you were fifteen, in and out of group homes and living on the streets. You showed up at his school and tried to get him to run away with you, teachers called the police and you ended up back in the system. It sort of goes downhill for you after that."
Dean could feel the lump in his throat grow as she read through the details of his life. Though he knew his childhood had been anything but ideal or normal, it had been nowhere near as bad as the one Jo had just described. "What about Sam? What happened to him?"
She shuffled through the papers for a moment before pulling out the second file Dean had grabbed from her father's cluttered desk. "Sam was adopted into the Robertson family at age twelve and went on to become a police officer like his adoptive father. A couple of days ago, he and his partner were called out to that old factory in Scythe to investigate a trespassing complaint. Police are still investigating what happened once they got there, but your brother was killed and his partner hasn't been seen since."
"It was the Djin, wasn't it?" Dean asked, his breath catching in the back of his throat as the sight of Sam struggling with the creature flashed in the back of his head.
"Dad thought so." Jo was quick to reply. "But the cops are still trying to make sense of a static filled call your brother made moments before his partner shot him dead."
Dean glanced over for only a moment as she shut the folder she'd been holding and set it down on the seat between them. "His partner shot him?" He asked as he made a left turn onto the desolate road that would take them to the sleepy town of Scythe.
"They responded to a similar call the night before, my Dad thinks that his partner was attacked by this Djin and just like you, he got away but this thing's toxins caused everything from hallucinations to memory loss and psychosis. When they responded to that second call, he just lost it. Who knows what he thought he saw when he shot and killed your brother, we're not even sure if he's still alive. Most of the victims that do get away end up committing suicide, I can't imagine the despair this damn creature creates just so it can drain the life out of someone."
Sam swore under his breath as Jody's flashlight hit the ground and went out. It had happened in the blink of an eye and just like Dean, Jody was now fighting with a Djin that seemed to have come out of nowhere. He came to stand but Castiel was quick to pull him back down to the floor.
"Wait." The angel whispered, their eyes catching for only a moment as he released his grip on the other man's arm. "I know this is difficult for you, but we've got to let it take her." He continued, the sound of the struggle echoing in the building.
Sam swore under his breath. He knew the creature would have to get its hands on Jody for them to get the blood of a victim they needed, but sitting back and just watching as it attacked her was hard for him to take. His heart was in his throat as he watched the Djin push Jody up against the wall, its hand wrapped around her throat to keep her in place. "C'mon you son of a bitch." He muttered under his breath, wondering just how much more the woman could take. Though they could hardly see the struggle in the dimly lit building, they both knew what would happen next when Jody stopped putting up a fight and her hands fell to her sides. The Djin reached out with his free hand and pressed it to her chest for only a moment before releasing its grip from around her throat and letting her fall to the floor.
"You keep it busy." Sam informed. " I'll get her out of there." The pair were on their feet the moment the Djin knelt down next to the unconscious woman on the floor. Splitting up to approach from both sides, they snaked their way towards the creature behind whatever cover they could find. Sam was crouched down next to a barrel, waiting for Castiel to make the first move when the faintest sound of something moving caught his attention. He turned slightly to look back at the darkened factory but couldn't see anything among the shadows.
When Castiel stepped out from behind an old forklift with his angel blade in hand, the Djin was quick to get back up. Sam could have sworn it let out a chuckle as the angel took a swing with his weapon of choice. A struggle soon ensued and as Castiel led the creature away from Jody, Sam moved in. "Jody." He whispered, kneeling at her side as he pulled her into a sitting position and propped her up against the wall. "C'mon, Jody." He repeated, checking for her pulse and making sure she was still breathing before pulling the flashlight from his pocket. He turned it on and eyed the red marks around her neck from where the creature had strangled her, before pulling the collar of her blouse down just low enough to see the burn-like mark it had left.
Holding the flashlight against his shoulder, Sam pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and rolled it out on the floor between them. "This better work." He muttered to himself, trying to keep in mind that being used to bait the creature was her idea. He pushed up her sleeve, found a vein to tap into and went to work drawing blood, filling a first vial and then a second one while continuously monitoring her heart rate. He could feel his own heart racing as the sounds of the struggle between the Djin and Castiel echoed in the darkened factory. Pulling the syringe from her arm, he reached for his silver blade and used the side of the weapon's blade to wipe clean the blood that was trickling out, before applying pressure to stop the bleeding. With his silver blade now laced with the blood of a victim, he carefully wrapped up the vials of blood he'd collected and put them in his pocket. "Alright Jody, time to see if this works." He whispered to the unconscious woman as he pulled out the antidote to the Djin's toxin.
Though the antidote had worked for both him and his brother the last time they'd fallen prey to Djin, Sam knew there was a possibility that the cure wouldn't counteract the effects of this particular creature's toxin. He pressed the needle to her arm and gave her the dose he could only hope would snap her out of whatever comatose state she was in. "C'mon Jody, wake up." He whispered, his heart jumping to his throat as the deafening sound of something crashing to the factory floor ripped through the building. Though the sound in its self was ominous because he had no idea what was going on or if the angel was alright, the silence that followed was even worse.
As the echo faded away and the eerie silence filled the void, Sam felt his heart start to race. "Cas!?" He called out in a hushed voice, his grip on the blade in his hand tightening as he got to his feet. Though he listened intently for any reply, there was nothing but silence and darkness in front of him. He glanced back down at Jody for a moment, the effects of the antidote showing no signs that it was working, then looked back towards the darkness. He took a step forward but froze as another ear splitting crash tore through the silence like thunder. It was then followed by the unmistakable sound of a struggle.
"Get her out of here Sam!" Castiel shouted, dodging one punch only to receive another.
Though Sam couldn't see the Djin or the angel, the desperation in Castiel's voice was enough to convince him that something was wrong. "Cas?!" He called out again, his eyes now desperately scanning the darkness in an attempt to pinpoint the angel and Djin.
"There's more than one of them, Sam." Called a panicked Castiel from somewhere in the darkness. "Get Jody out of here, I'll hold them off!"
Sam swore under his breath as he made his way back to Jody, he'd been right all along. This had been a set up and just like Dean, the creature had separated them while a second one had moved in. He sheathed his knife as he knelt down next to Jody and scooped her up in his arms. She was still unconscious, the antidote a bust against whatever type of Djin they were up against. He first headed to the left to get away from the sound of the fight, then started making his way towards the back of the building. He could hardly see more than a few feet in front of him and stumbled about the trash and debris that littered the floor. With the sound of the fight bouncing off the walls around him, he made his way through the maze of idle machinery and finally made it back out the door.
By the time he reached her truck and leaned Jody against it to pull the door open, he felt as if he'd walked a mile just to get there. He lay her down on the front seat and pulled his duffle bag from the floor, digging through it for only a second before pulling out a second syringe of antidote. "C'mon Jody, snap out of it." He pleaded, administrating another dose in hopes it would be enough to counteract the toxin. His gaze momentarily drifted back to the factory as his mind started to race again, Jody was showing no response to the only known treatment he had, Dean was missing for over a day now and Castiel was fighting not one, but two Djin. Things weren't going well. He took two of the vials of blood he collected from Jody and placed them on the dashboard in front her, then grabbed his silver blade still stained with her blood, and headed back to the factory.
The first thing he noticed when he stepped into the building was the silence. He could no longer hear the sounds of the struggle between the creature they'd been hunting and the angel. The wind rushing past him in the open door, tossing dead leaves and random paper around the floor was the only thing he could hear. His flashlight in one hand and his silver blade in the other, Sam cautiously started to make his way further inside the old building towards the far end of the floor where the attack had begun. With his flashlight, he carefully scanned the darkness as he pressed on, looking for any sign of the angel or the creatures he'd been fighting. He came to a stop as he noticed marks on the floor, streaks where the dust had been wiped away by something either sliding or being dragged. He followed the marks to a piece of machinery that had been tipped onto its side and as he started looking it over, the gleam of something metallic caught his eye. He made his way toward it and felt his heart hit the bottom of his stomach when he realized it was Castiel's angel blade lying among the clutter on the floor.