Chapter 9
He'd changed.
He'd changed the moment he touched that spear, and Jo was worried. And she wasn't the only one. She could see the worry lines on Sam's face, saw Bobby watching Dean even more than before. He hardly slept anymore, never came to her room to just sleep beside her. When he came he needed her with a desperation that simultaneously aroused her beyond measure, and made her sick to her stomach with anxiety.
He'd started to drink excessively again, his hand wandering to a bottle of Scotch more often than to a bottle of beer. He'd drunken that much liquor before, but ever since he'd stopped fighting against the feelings they shared, he'd hardly been drunk.
Not to mention that he didn't want to talk about it. At all.
In typical Dean fashion he tried to ignore the problem, tried to hide the tremors in his hands, the constant sheen of sweat covering his face. He avoided any unnecessary contact with other people, stopped going hunting, worked on Bobby's cars or his baby.
That's where she found him, under the hood of the Impala, probably fine-tuning the motor or checking the oil. Things he'd checked up on only a few days earlier, she was sure. But Dean was Dean.
"When was the last time you slept through the night, Winchester?" she asked as she leaned against the passenger door.
"Stop fussing around, Jo," Dean replied, pulling his head out and reaching for a rag to clean his fingers of the oil. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not," Jo said firmly, leaning forward to put her hand on his. "Would you please stop lying? At least to yourself and me?" He finally looked at her then, and for a brief second he let her see the fear he was feeling, but then the shutter fell over his eyes again, and he shot a lopsided smirk in her direction. But she didn't want herself getting distracted, her thumb skimming over the back of his hand as she told him, "I can see it, you know. I can feel it. You're anything but fine."
She expected him to deny it again, to shrug it off. But instead his eyes suddenly turned a shade darker, and she knew where this was going. Damn him for being able to arouse her with only a glance, and she let out a groan when he stepped before her and pulled her into his arms, his mouth crashing down on hers. He was smelling of oil and male sweat, the faint smell of his cologne mingled in the mix, and her core clenched painfully.
"I'm gonna show you how fine I am," he murmured against her lips, and then he whirled her around, pressing her against the car, tilting his hips forward so that she could feel his hard length against the small of her back.
"This is not why I came out here," she breathed, closing her eyes as his hand wandered under her shirt and up, cupping her breasts, his fingers closing around her already hard nipples and twirling them around.
"You want me to stop?" he asked, his hands trailing back down her stomach, starting to work on the buttons of her pants.
She wanted to say yes, knew that having sex wasn't the answer, but he wasn't the only one who needed this; she needed it too. So she just shook her head, and moments later her jeans and panties were shoved down her legs, and she heard the telltale clinking of his belt buckle.
A shiver raced down her spine as his rigid cock brushed against her ass, and she bit her tongue when she realized he would take her like this, not even letting her step out of her jeans. She could hardly spread her legs, but it was enough for him to push inside of her, and they both groaned when he buried himself until the hilt with one hard thrust, and her hips rocked back against him on their own volition.
He let out a deep growl, one hand slipping under her shirt and pushing her bra up so that he could knead her breast, while the other curled around her waist to keep her steady as he slammed into her. Again, and again, and again. Each thrust seemed to come harder and faster, hitting her even deeper, and she pressed her forehead on the roof of the car as his hand left her breast and slipped lower, his fingers starting to work her clit hard. A moment later Dean pulled her up towards him, tilting her head so that he could kiss her harshly while his cock still slid in and out of her, and she was so damn close, every fiber of her body screaming for release, and then she was there, her walls fluttering around him as wave after wave crashed down on her.
The shivers still ran through her body as he pushed her down again and through the open window until half of her upper body was inside of the car, before he grabbed her waist with both hands and started to hammer into her in earnest. The frame was digging into her stomach painfully, but she pressed one hand against the seat and the other against the dashboard, knowing it wouldn't take him long to follow her, and only seconds later she felt him stiffen, his hips jerking forward one last time as he came.
He didn't say a word when he slipped out of her and helped her up and back into her clothes; he only pulled her into his arms at the end, burying his face in her neck, and she just wished she could do more for him than just being there whenever he needed her.
This was going on long enough. It was time to ask Castiel for help. Maybe the angel knew of a way to destroy the connection between Dean and that spear.
-/-
"It's what I feared," a voice spoke up behind her, startling her.
Her mind caught up a second later, and she whirled around, eager to hear what Cas had found out about the spear, and she slapped her hand against the angel's chest for good measure before she reprimanded him, "Castiel, don't sneak up on me like that."
"I'm sorry," he replied ruefully, "But I've confirmed my suspicions. The spear Dean touched is the Spear of Destiny."
"And what exactly does that mean?" Dean asked as Cas sat down at the table.
"It's the spear that was used to inflict Jesus's wounds on the day of his crucification," Cas explained, his eyes not meeting Dean's as he spoke, causing a feeling of dread to settle in the pit of Jo's stomach.
"And?" Jo asked, stepping behind Dean and curling her fingers around his shoulders.
"It has great powers." Castiel shifted on his chair, finally looking up to meet their gazes before continuing, "You can close the gates of Heaven and Hell with it."
"Seriously?" Dean blurted out, his body tensing under her hands.
"Yes," Castiel said, nodding in affirmation.
"You mean forever?" Jo inquired, not believing it was really possible. "No one can get in and no one can get out?"
"No, you can still get in," Castiel explained. "But no one could come back to Earth. No demons from Hell, and no angels from Heaven."
"But there is a catch, right?" Dean pressed, leaning forward. "There is always a catch."
"There has to be a sacrifice."
"What kind of sacrifice?"
"A human sacrifice."
"You mean we need to kill a human being?" Jo asked, her fingers tightening even more around Dean's shoulders, probably leaving bruises behind.
"Not exactly," Cas stated, his eyes flickering up to Jo before returning to Dean's, and a flutter of distress flitted over his face. "The one who touched the spear has to die for it to work."
"No!" Jo shouted, feeling her heart plummet into her stomach. She would not lose him. Not now. Not like this. "No, no, no, no, no. We're not gonna kill Dean to close the gates of Heaven and Hell. No!"
"He'd actually need to do it himself." Cas kept on talking, clearly adamant to get it all out. "The spear has to be coated with the blood of Jesus, and then it has to be pushed into the heart."
"But we don't have Jesus's blood." Jo said, a wave of relief surging through her body. "So it wouldn't work anyway."
"But you can get it, Cas." Dean pushed back and stood up, walking around the table towards the bottle of Scotch sitting on the counter. He screwed it open and took a big gulp before he turned around to face the angle again. "Isn't that so?"
"I could."
"Dean, no!"
Jo rushed around the table and stepped in front of him, raising her arms to cup his face between her hands and pull his head down so that he had to look at her. But the moment his eyes met hers she knew she stood no chance. He'd been a hunter his whole life, had lost too many people to monster, and if he could stop it all - if there was a way to close the gates of Heaven and Hell - he would take it.
Jo saw the irrefutable determination in his eyes; there was nothing she could do or say to change his mind, and with that realization settling into her mind she knew she would lose him.
And her heart broke into a million pieces.
