No review to the last chapter? :( Oh well, I hope you're still enjoying this fanfiction though. We are now getting to the point where it gets interesting. Dean finally finds out the truth about Jo. Enjoy! :)


Chapter 07

The road so far…

He was staring a perfect portrait of Joanna Beth Harvelle.

"It's not fair to her! It's not fair to her memory and to the legacy she's carried on!"

"She's out there, killing, kidnapping! We have to stop her!"

"That bitch we met isn't Jo. I know that now. Back then I asked her why she wanted to do the job. For her dad. She told me it was her way of being close to him. That's the answer that black-eyed bitch should have given! That demon implied that Jo got dragged to hell by those hellhounds. I think we need celestial intel."

"He'll fry your ass."

"That bastard owes us."

Suddenly the doorbell rang. All of them walked to the front door and Bobby opened it. Crowley was standing on the doorstep.

"What do you want, Crowley?" snarled Dean.

"I seek asylum. I brought a friend," Crowley told them.

"Why, hello, boys. Missed me?" Balthazar greeted them, smirking.

"We figured you were dead."

"I was … for about two seconds," the angel answered.

"Who brought you back?" Sam inquired, still surprised.

"Well, there's only one entity in this universe that can," Balthazar replied matter-of-factly.

"But isn't Cas God now?"

"He may have some superman powers right now but I highly doubt he became God."


Sioux Falls, SD

"Let me get this straight," Bobby said when they arrived back his place and Dean explained his plan to him. "You want – what?"

"He won't do it," Sam predicted, shaking his head.

"He'd be an idgit to do it," agreed Bobby.

"He doesn't have a choice once he's in here," snapped Dean. "I'm not letting him go until he did it."

"And that's helping how?" Bobby inquired, clearly not fazed by Dean's plan.

The older Winchester ignored him and turned to his brother. "Help me get everything ready."

He went ahead, starting to raid Bobby's stock.

"I told you he's losing it," Sam hissed to their mentor before they joined Dean.


Twenty minutes later all preparations for the summoning were done. Dean walked over to the window with a rag soaked in cleaning agent and rubbed a hole into the angel proofing while Sam performed the ritual. Only seconds after Sam was done a figure appeared in the room.

"Boys, boys, how many times do I have to tell you I'm not your man whore?" Balthazar said, slightly irritated.

"Shut up," Dean told him harshly and walked back to the middle of the room. "You should be grateful. I'm giving you a rare opportunity to pay your debts."

A forced smile appeared on the angel's face. "Oh, in that case…" The smile vanished as quickly as it had come. "Have a nice day."

"You hold him, I clip his wings!" Dean instructed Sam who got ready to stop the angel from leaving.

Balthazar was appalled. "What is wrong with you? You completely depend on angels. First Cassy, then Gabe and now me. What happened? You used to perfectly capable of functioning on your own. But since you're obviously not letting me leave… could you please repair the angel-proofing? I'm not very keen on dealing with more unwanted surprises."

Pleased, Dean walked over to the window to repair the angel-proofing.

"You're edgy today," Bobby observed.

"Yeah, well you have the marvelous talent of always disturbing me when I'm busy."

Sam huffed. "Busy with what?"

"I'm taking a break," Balthazar declared, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh really? From what exactly?" Dean asked, re-joining them.

"Everything. You… the crazy Godfather – especially you. So what exactly can I do for you this time?"

"I need to know if a friend ended up in heaven or hell," explained Dean.

"So let me guess. You want me to take a look around upstairs and see if I can find that friend there? Yeah, not going to happen."

"You owe us for hiding your ass from Cas a few months ago!"

"Why do you think I've been hiding?" the angel shot back. "Hello? They think I'm dead. And I'd prefer to keep it that way. I'm certainly not going to go up there and show them my face just because you lost track of someone."

"That someone's currently out there, killing hunters and kidnapping their children," Sam assisted his brother. "We won't do anything about it until we're sure she just came back from hell. Not in the collateral interest, is it?"

"Isn't there some discreet way for you to get the info?" Bobby asked Balthazar. "Something like a registration maybe?"

The angel scoffed at that. "Heaven hasn't been digitalized yet. It's probably never going to happen, either. They're still in Stone Age when it comes to keeping track of the souls floating around."

"So there is something like a registration?"

"There is but there is no way – "

"Sam, fetch the holy water and a lighter."

Balthazar's eyes narrowed to slits as the fixated the older Winchester. "If they spot me and kill me – again, I swear to… not him that I will be reborn again and haunt your sorry butt," he threatened. "You have to scratch a hole in there so I can get a connection to heaven," he added, pointing at the Enochian symbol.

"How do I know you're not trying to leave when I do that?" Dean inquired suspiciously.

"You can always summon me back, right?" the angel reminded him. "Which would be incredibly annoying and ridiculous so I might as well save us the trouble."

Dean believed him and walked once again over to the window to wipe away some of the paint of the Enochian symbol.

"What's the name of your friend?" Balthazar demanded, closing his eyes and folding his hands as if he was praying.

"Joanna Beth Harvelle."

Next followed a minute of silence in which Balthazar searched heaven for the huntress. Then, suddenly his eyes snapped open in fear and he ordered "Repair that proofing now, now, now!"

Dean didn't hesitate and quickly closed the circle of the Enochian symbol. A second later a loud noise made them all squirm.

"What was that?" Bobby asked alarmed.

Sam grimaced. "I think an angel just crashed into your window. At least that's what it looked like from here…"

Balthazar's gaze met Dean's. "Thank you ever so much. Now I have no desire to leave this house anymore."

Bobby glared at Dean. He was obviously pissed. Bobby wasn't the biggest fan of the angel. He still had a very vivid memory of his last stay…

Dean shrugged helplessly. "What? I thought he'd be more careful. So, what did you find out?" he then added to Balthazar.

"Your friend's not upstairs. I suggest you try it downstairs," the angel answered, pointing first at the ceiling and then at the floor.

Dean closed his eyes, letting that sink in.

"So it's true," Sam said out loud what they were all thinking. "Jo got dragged to hell and returned as a demon."

"I don't believe that," came it from Dean who was rubbing his temple and looked like he was suffering from a really bad migraine.

"Dean–" Sam had had it. Someone had to knock some sense into his brother now. He could no longer deny the facts that were out in front of him.

"You know" Bobby began. "There might be another way to explain all of this."

"Like?"

"The demon could just have had Jo's body re-created and possessed it."

"That would imply that Jo's soul is still in the pit."

"Like when Cas brought me back but not my soul," Sam said, nodding. "It's worth a thought."

Dean, too, liked the idea. He turned to Balthazar.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no," he quickly refused when he realized what the older Winchester had in mind. "Sorry, no can do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dean snapped impatiently.

"What I just said," Balthazar replied. "I already stuck out my neck so far for you. But this, this is too much to ask."

"Can't or won't?"

"To tell you the truth I simply won't. You can glare at me all you want, not going to change anything," he added to Dean whose facial expression perfectly mirrored his feelings. "Look, I don't expect you to understand it." He paused. "When my father saved my life he did it on purpose. I believe it was to stop Castiel. So I'm certainly not going to do anything that might anger him like bringing random people back from the dead. Good thing you never met Atropos. She would gladly take you out herself."

Dean snorted at that. "Don't kid yourself. You're one of heaven's greatest rebels. You said it yourself, you don't care."

Balthazar smiled slightly. "You're right. I'm still same old careless me."

"Then why won't you help?"

"I have my reasons," the angel stated simply.

Dean rolled his eyes, groaning in irritation.

"Give it up, Dean," Bobby said now. "There's nothing to gain here."

"Oh, just because I won't do it, doesn't mean you won't get what you want," Balthazar let them know. "May I remind you that you have other sources of information? One if I recall correctly calls himself King of Hell. Just saying…" he added and casually glanced at the older Winchester to see his reaction.

"Oh, right, Crowley," Dean said as realization dawned on him.

"What he's been up to?" Sam wondered aloud.

"I wouldn't be able to tell you. I haven't seen him since you so kindly gave us shelter," Balthazar replied sarcastically with the biggest fake smile anyone had ever seen. "Good times. Well, since I'm stuck here…" He turned to Bobby. "You want to help your V.I.P. guest here with some good stuff, no?"

"My ass," Bobby rejected.

"Oh, well."

Meanwhile, the Winchesters were already preparing the summoning of Crowley. Dean was the one to perform the ritual this time.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, how may I help you?" Crowley asked when he found himself in their midst.

"Don't offer up too much before you know what they want from you," Balthazar warned him. "Just a piece of advice…"

The demon turned to the brothers. "That bad, huh?"

"You want to help us take down Castiel?" Dean asked him.

"Oh, don't listen to him. He's just sweetening the pie for you," the angel chimed in once again.

"Shut up!" Dean snapped at him.

"Well, I consider myself Castiel's opposition. I suppose that practically puts me on your team," replied Crowley.

"Balls. You're just sour because you didn't get your share of purgatory souls," Bobby muttered.

"Absolutely!" Crowley shouted. "I should've never made business with that cheating bastard! You can't blame me for being vengeful." He took a deep breath to calm down. "What do you require of me?"

"I need you to go to hell and search for a soul," explained Dean.

Crowley's reaction was the same as Balthazar's. "Sorry, no can do."

"My point exactly," the angel agreed.

"Why not?" Sam wanted to know.

"I can no longer visit hell."

Bobby raised his brows. "How come?"

"I was overthrown."

"Overthrown?"

"Yes, by that bloody whore!"

"I thought you were King of Hell. Wouldn't that make you the most powerful demon down there?"

"I didn't exactly fight for this title," the demon admitted sheepishly.

"You cut a few deals," Dean figured. "Typical. Doesn't surprise me though. No one would follow you now after the Frankenstein experiments you did with your kind."

"I was doing science!" Crowley defended himself.

"That's what Frankenstein said."

"So who's ruling hell now?" Bobby demanded.

"Her name is Jade."

"Jade?" Sam repeated in a tone that made clear that he had never heard that name before. He checked with Dean and Bobby who shook their heads. And even Balthazar didn't know her.

"No one knows her really," Crowley explained. "As far as I know she has been one of the purgatory souls that were released by Castiel and escaped him."

"So there are more out there?" Sam asked appalled.

"A couple." He shrugged. "But those are low class. Small fish compared to Jade."

"So you basically don't know anything about her except that she's powerful and that you don't want to stand up against her?"

"That's pretty much it. Well, I'm fine. She won't come after me. But she might get angry if you disturb her on whatever quest she's on."

"Do you know what she looks like now? I guess, she's possessing a vessel right now?" Sam asked.

"Um, blond," Crowley mused aloud. "Curly hair… petite… skinny…"

"Wait, what?"

Dean's gaze met Sam's who was obviously thinking the same. Bobby was even one step ahead. He walked over to his desk, rifled through sheets of paper and then held one up for Crowley to look at.

"Does she look like this?"

"Why, yes, that's her!" the demon confirmed puzzled, pointing at the picture. "How did you know?"

"That's the matching body to the soul we're looking for," Bobby told him.

"I see," Crowley replied. "Well, if you want to reunite with that soul, there's only one way to do that."

"And that's?"

"Well, you have to die, obviously," the demon answered laughing.

No one except him found that particularly funny.


Keep Crowley's last words in mind. Someone will take them to heart in the next chapter. Oops, now I spoiled you. Oh well, at least you have something to look forward to :) Can anyone guess who will take those words to heart and what that someone is going to do? The price is another dedication - since that's the only thing I can give you, and a virtual cookie XD

So! New episode tomorrow. Is anyone excited? I'm sure as hell am! I wish you all much fun (though we won't have it) while watching the episode tomorrow!