Chapter Eight

As Dean and Sam watched, Jaenelle paced around the room, rubbing the demon-mark on her wrist with vigor, almost as if she could rub it off her skin. Dean was worried about her not only because the demon was somewhere in the vicinity but also because she was acting crazy. Her eyes were wild, roaming around the room as she paced.

"Jaenie, calm down," he said as he moved over to her and placed his hands on her arms. "We'll protect you."

Her troubled eyes shot up to his. "Yeah, see, that's where my problem lies. What if you can't protect me from it? This is unlike anything you've faced, Dean. How can you be so sure you can defeat it that easily?"

"I never said it was going to be easy, Jaenelle. But no matter what, Sam and I will protect you."

Her eyes lost its wildness and she smiled at him. She raised a hand to caress his cheek. "I know you will." She lowered her hand and stepped out of his reach. "But maybe I'm not going to let you."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Jaenelle laughed harshly. "Oh, come on. It's after me, not you."

Realization dawned on him. He stepped closer to her and held her arms tighter than before. "No way, Jaenie. No freaking way. You're not leaving here just to protect us. We're in this together."

She shook her head. "No, Dean. This time it's my turn to protect you. It's only after me. If I stay here with you, it'll kill you." She stared at him icily. "I'm not going to stand here and let that happen," she growled.

Dean glared at her and tightened his hold on her even more. "Jaenelle, you're not doing this. When you go out there alone, without protection, you'll die."

"It's better that I die than all of you!" she shouted.

Shocked, Dean stared at her. He appreciated her thought of wanting to protect him, but he couldn't see it working. He was not letting her out of his sight until this thing was over. If he had to knock her out in the process, so be it, but he was not going to let her do such a stupid thing.

"Jaenelle," Sam spoke up, "Don't be foolish. What can you do that'll stop the demon?"

Jaenelle glared at Sam. "Give myself up. Anything to keep all of you safe."

Sam shook his head. "No, Jaenelle. Dean's right. You want to protect us as much as we want to protect you, but this is not the way." He looked down at the bags of salt that Jaenelle had dropped. "We can't make a circle around the house anymore, but we can make a circle around ourselves. It won't get to any of us that way."

Jaenelle glared at them defiantly, shrugging Dean's hands off her and placing her hands on her cocked hips. She kept looking from one man to the other, then finally sighed. Picking up one of the bags, she mumbled, "Fine. But don't blame me when you get killed."

"Oh, trust me, honey," Dean said with sarcasm in his voice, "If I get killed, you're the first person I'm going to haunt."

She glanced over her shoulder at him and smirked. "I'd just like to see you try." She motioned to them. "Now get your butts closer and let's make this circle."

Dean snorted but moved over to her. He let her do the work of making the circle, all the time watching her face. It was set defiantly and he knew it was only a matter of time before she tried something that could endanger herself. She kept mumbling to herself under her breath, making him frown in confusion.

When she moved to close the circle, he grabbed her hand. "Get in, Jaenie." He'd noticed she'd been shifting her body so that she was outside of the circle. If she closed it before she got in, she was stuck outside of it.

Jaenelle groaned. "Damn you and your perceptiveness, Dean."

Malachi snorted. "Please. He's not letting you out of his sight, Jaenie." He moved over to her and smacked her on the back of her head, making her yelp. "Now get the fuck in here and close the damn circle."

Jaenelle blinked at her little brother, shocked. "What did you just say?"

Malachi grinned. "I said 'fuck'. Big whoop. Close the damn thing."

With a sigh, she did just that. She'd encompassed most of the room in the circle as Sam and Damon had moved the couch into the middle of it.

Ending the circle where she'd begun it, Jaenelle filled the last gap with salt. "Tell me I did that widdershins," she pleaded as she looked at Dean.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Widdershins?"

She nodded. "Counterclockwise. It helps empower the circle."

Sam looked at her with an amused look on his face. "You seriously put too much research in this."

Jaenelle shrugged. "I've learned to be prepared and yeah, I might've gone overboard on the research, but in the end precaution is the best defense."

"That's true," Sam said with a chuckle and suppressed a shiver thar ran along his spine. He'd been feeling flustered up until a second ago. Instantly, he knew something had changed.

Jaenelle frowned and shivered. "Is anyone else freezing cold?" She wrapped her arms around herself and started rubbing her arms to warm herself. When she looked at Sam, he saw the realization in her eyes just as it clicked with him.

"It's gone?" he asked her, not believing what he was feeling. She nodded her head once. "Why would it go away now when it was so close to you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it got side tracked."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Side tracked? It was coming for you. Why would it go somewhere else now?"

"Hell if I know," Jaenelle answered as she flopped down on the couch. "I'm not all knowing, Sam. Yes, the demon is after me and left its mark on me, but that doesn't mean I can actually get inside its head. I'm just saying what I think is going on. I'd be more surprised if I'm right than if I'm wrong."

Dean looked from Sam to Jaenelle. "What the hell are you two talking about?"

Malachi raised a hand. "I second Dean's question."

Jaenelle gave them both an apologetic smile. "Sorry." She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I don't know why, but I sensed the demon coming, right? I have no idea how or why, but now I also know that it's no longer coming here."

Malachi stared at her incredulously. "Okay, you're starting to really freak me out, sis."

She smirked at her brother. "Join the club."

Dean sat down next to her, resisting the urge to touch her. "So you can sense this demon?" he asked.

Jaenelle hesitated, but nodded. "I guess you can say that."

"Maybe it's because you're wearing its mark," Damon spoke up, surprising everyone.

Dean stared at Damon then blinked and looked at Sam. His brother shrugged. "What makes you say that, Damon?"

Damon shrugged. "Wouldn't it make sense that way? Jaenelle isn't psychic so she wouldn't pick up on it that way, but she does have its mark on her. Maybe it's some kind of connection between her and the demon."

"Wow, dad," Malachi mumbled.

Jaenelle stared at her father. "Since when are you so interested in demons?"

Damon gave his daughter a penetrating glare. "Since you almost got killed by one."

Dean's mind tumbled around the information until he came across something that didn't make sense. He laid a hand on Jaenelle's arm and turned to Sam. "You said you felt it, too?" he asked, pushing away the question that he really wanted to ask. But he'd get to that later when this was all over.

Sam looked uncomfortable for a second before nodding his head. "Yeah. I felt it."

"What does that mean? If Jaenelle really has some kind of connection with this demon because of the mark, then why did you feel it, too?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't know."

Dean made a sound low in his throat and stood up. He walked to the edge of the circle and with his boot scuffed away some of the salt, opening it.

"Dean!" Jaenelle yelled. "Are you crazy? Maybe I'm wrong and it still is here. You don't just open a circle without knowing if it's gone or not!"

Dean glared at her over his shoulder as he walked out of the circle. "It's gone," he growled. "Otherwise we would've seen it already."

He walked over to Sam's laptop and tapped a few keys to make the screen come back to life. When he saw that Sam had just accessed the site he'd wanted to go to, he typed in a few keywords and pressed enter.

"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam asked as he walked across to him.

"Researching," he answered gruffly.

"But we don't know what to look for. What are you going to do? Google demon and see what pops up?"

He shook his head. "I'm looking for that mark."

Jaenelle walked up to him. "My mark?" she asked.

"Yeah. Sam, I swear, you had that mark up on the screen and you didn't even read what demon it belonged to?"

Sam looked embarrassed. "We had more pressing things to deal with at the time."

Dean raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Like what?"

"Getting me drunk," Jaenelle mumbled.

"And then she started telling us about the demon, you took her to her room to probably fool around, Sam and I were going to research but stopped when he felt the demon coming and we had to get into a protective circle," Malachi rattled off.

Dean paused, his fingers hovering over the keys. "Good point. But we didn't fool around." He started to move the mouse when his eyes picked up on the symbol on the screen. "Ah, here we go." He moved the pointer towards it and clicked it. The webpage made a slow transfer from the small picture to a larger one. It was the one they'd seen before.

"Yeah, that's it," Jaenelle said as she looked down on her wrist. The burn on her wrist looked a lot like a lick of flame, just like the picture on the screen.

"What kind of demon does it belong to?" Sam asked as he squatted down next to Dean.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Dean said and clicked the back button. He read over the text surrounding the picture and frowned. "This isn't right," he mumbled.

Jaenelle leaned over his shoulder, looking at the screen. "What does it say?"

"It says here that this demon is incorporeal." He moved his head and he found himself looking at Jaenelle's profile. "You said it had a body."

Jaenelle nodded, but he could see her confusion. "It did. It looked like a demon that you see on Buffy. You know, ugly and demonic."

"Describe it to me."

Jaenelle let out a breath. "Its eyes were red, a kind of burning red. Its skin was varied in places. Black, red and orange. The closest I can come to describing it is hardened lava. And it had claws with long nails. I'd say about three to four inches?"

The visual image that gave Dean was bad enough for his stomach to contract. "Okay, evil ass demon. I get it." He started reading the text again and paused as his eyes read over something. "Ah, shit."

"What?" Sam asked. "What is it?"

Dean took a deep breath and read aloud, "The fire demon, known in Latin as Ignis Everto, takes over bodies that are close to its victim. Its essence then transforms the host's body, making it look like the true form of the demon before it became a mistified power."

Silence extended over the room. After a while, Jaenelle whimpered and backed away from him. He turned his head to look at her and saw a look on her face that he couldn't describe. He stood up and walked over to her, but she backed away from him. Realization hit him as he searched her eyes. "Damn," he muttered, pulling her into his arms.

"Bodies that are close to me," Jaenelle mumbled against his shoulder. She lifted her head to look at him and he wanted to do everything in his power to get rid of the fear in her eyes. He saw her blink away tears. "It doesn't say anything about the bodies being dead or alive, does it?"

Dean looked at his brother and with a look told him to check it out. Sam nodded and took Dean's place behind the laptop, his eyes searching the text. There was silence for a few minutes as Sam read and Dean kept holding Jaenelle, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He wondered why demons wanted her so badly, why they went after the people she cared about.

"It doesn't say anything about the hosts needing to be dead," Sam said and looked over his shoulder at them.

Jaenelle whimpered again and fisted Dean's shirt in her hands. "This can't be happening," she whispered. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and he could feel tears sliding down her cheeks onto his skin. He raised one hand off of her waist and started to caress her back through the fabric of her sweater.

"Jaenie," he spoke softly, "You'll have to tell us what it is you're thinking. I can only guess. Please. Talk to us."

She sniffled but kept her face buried against his neck. "Sondra," she whispered.

He closed his eyes when he realized his instincts had been right. When it first came to her, the demon had taken possession of Jaenelle's friend Sondra. Maybe it was still in possession of her, but Dean didn't want to know. It was bad enough that two of Jaenelle's friends had already fallen victim to the demon.

"Sam, go over the papers starting three days ago. Look for bodies that have been burnt beyond recognition. Maybe it took control of more than one person," Dean told his brother. He wanted to do it himself, but he had to take care of Jaenelle first.

"Sure," Sam replied. "What will you be doing?"

Dean scooped Jaenelle up into his arms and looked at his brother. "I'm going to take care of Jaenelle." He switched his gaze from his brother to Malachi and Damon. "I want you two to set up a circle around the house. It's better to be safe than sorry."

"Are you going to give her whiskey again, Dean?" Damon asked nonchalantly.

Dean frowned at the older man and shook his head. "No." He started heading toward her room again but stopped near the hallway. "Sam," he called out, "Go to the car and get the shotgun. Load it with rocksalt and bring as much as you can carry inside. Yell for me when you need me." He didn't wait for his brother to reply. Instead he made his way over to Jaenelle's room with her still in his arms.

He kicked the door open and laid her down on her bed. For a few seconds he looked down on her as she cried, then moved over to the door to close it. Kicking off his shoes again, he climbed onto the bed and lay down next to her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close against her. Whimpering, she moved her body against his, waking up a part of him he'd been pushing to the background since he first saw her again. The hunger inside him, the need to be with her, overwhelmed him. He knew he couldn't do anything about it, knew it wasn't the right place or time, but he couldn't stop needing her.

"Dean," she murmured, nuzzling his neck. Her breath tickled his skin and he shivered.

His heart pounding ferociously in his chest, he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. He expelled a shaky breath while he kept holding her tight, wishing desperately for a different time. When she lifted her leg to have it rest on his hips, his body tensed up. She moved her body so she was straddling his waist, her hands roaming over his shirt covered chest. "Jaenie," he mumbled, gently taking hold of her hands.

Jaenelle bent forward, capturing his lips with her own. He moaned at the feel of it after waiting for two long years. She felt like a piece of heaven to him, a piece he wasn't allowed to have. Reluctantly, he pushed her gently away from him and gazed into her eyes in the dim light. He shook his head. "This isn't the right time, Jaenie," he whispered, holding her face between his hands.

She frowned at him and shook her head, making him release her. "It never is," she replied in a whisper. Then she bent forward and touched her lips against his again.

His body shook from the sheer force of the kiss and the way Jaenelle sat on top of him, moving her hips against him. He moved his arms so he could entwine his fingers in her hair and pull her closer to him, tilting her head so he had better access to her.

Lust overruled common sense this time. His mind was clouded by the scent and feel of her, the way she was rubbing against him. He held her tight against him and rolled them both over so that he was on top of her. He leaned on his elbows as he pulled away from her, looking into her eyes.

As if she knew what he was thinking, she rested a finger against his lips and shook her head slightly. "Shh," she whispered as she traced a finger over his lips.

He turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand. Kissing her gently, he reached down and tugged at the hem of her sweater, exposing the skin of her stomach to him. He slid his hand underneath the black fabric and nearly moaned at the feel of her soft skin underneath his palm.

Pulling away from her again, he moved his kisses from her mouth to her chin and trailed a path over to the nape of her neck. She squirmed beneath him, rubbing herself against his groin which had tightened almost painfully. He gritted his teeth at the movement and kept his attention on the skin of her neck, gently nipping and kissing.

Jaenelle's hands travelled down his back and tugged at his shirt, trying to pull it out of his jeans. He sat up on his knees and pulled her up with him, claiming her lips for his own for a brief moment. Her hands found the hem of his shirt again and pulled it up until she reached his elbows. He raised his arms and let her finish relieving him of his shirt. As she did, she kissed his stomach, his chest, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin.

The shirt finally came off and she threw it away carelessly. He watched her as she reached for the hem of her sweater and pulled it off her, throwing that one away as well. He continued to watch her as she reached behind her back to unclasp her bra, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. This had been something he'd only fantasized about for the past two years, but he didn't want it to happen this fast. He wanted to savor the experience.

He stopped her by kissing her forcefully and pushing her back onto the mattress. One hand travelled down her now naked arm and entwined his fingers with hers while his other hand went to the waistband of her jeans. He fumbled with the button until it popped free and then slid the zipper down. She wriggled her hips until he let go of her hand and sat back on his knees, pulling her jeans down her legs. Once those were gone, he let his hands travel up her legs slowly, caressing the skin he'd only glimpsed before.

Grinning at him, Jaenelle sat up on her knees, her satin-covered breasts pressed against him sending his brain reeling. She bit her lower lip and raised her hands to roam over his chest. She followed the slow and torturous movements of her hands with her mouth, trailing a path of kisses down to the waistband of his jeans. As she continued to place kisses on and around his hipbone, her hands worked on unbuttoning the jeans and pushing them down to pool around his knees. He maneuvered himself off the bed and hurriedly finished what Jaenelle had started. Then he climbed back on and pressed himself against her back.

She moaned softly as he reached around her and took her breasts in his hands, kneeding softly. Her head dropped back to rest on his shoulder. As he teased her by gently massaging her breasts, he lowered his head to nibble at the sensitive skin on her neck. He let one hand break away from her breast and let it trail slowly down her stomach until he reached her panties. She squirmed against him and whimpered softly as his hand went down a little further and started caressing her through the fabric of her panties.

Feeling her underneath his hand made him moan and his erection strained against his boxers. He slid her panties aside and let his fingers play with the tiny hairs in the most private part of her body. His body shivered as he parted her nether lips and caressed her, felt her. He could just imagine what it would feel like to have her heat wrapped tightly around him.

His name left her mouth in a breathless moan as she grinded her ass into him. Even though he knew what she wanted, he couldn't quite make himself to give her that just yet. He wanted to savor this experience. This wasn't some girl he'd met in a bar; this was Jaenelle, the only girl who had ever had the key to his heart.

He released her breast and with that hand pulled down the panties while his other was still teasing her. Jaenelle turned her head so that her lips came in contact with the skin of his neck and whispered huskily, "Please, Dean."

Pulling his hand away from her, he restrained himself while she turned herself around, discarded of the panties completely and faced him. He wrapped his arms around her again and attacked her lips with such intensity that they nearly toppled over. His hands travelled up her back to the clasp of her bra and finally undid it. As the material slid away from her skin, his hands travelled up her arms to her shoulders. With just a finger, he pushed the straps of the bra down her arms until her arms too were completely bare. Then all that was left were the larger pieces of fabric that cupped her breasts. The satin that he'd felt before. He broke away from her gently and dropped his arms to his sides, watching her. She smiled at him and slowly got rid of the bra.

When she was finally completely bared to him, he had trouble breathing. He didn't have enough time to burn that image of her in his brain, because her hands were travelling down his chest again and pulled down his boxers. Wriggling himself free of them and falling down onto the mattress, he threw them away.

Jaenelle laughed when he tumbled to the mattress and straddled him. He took in the sight of her and her creamy white skin and the way her hands were travelling over his stomach and chest. She bent forward and captured his lips with hers for a soul scorching kiss until she let go again and sat back. She held a condom in her hands. He had no idea where she'd gotten it from, but he was glad she'd decided to get it. He would've forgotten all about it in the state he was in. All he could think of was her and how good she felt. He wondered if she would taste just as good and how she'd feel wrapped around him.

She sat back, exposing his erection to her eye. She wrapped a hand around his shaft and watched him as she started to move her hand up and down. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back into the pillow. She stroked him and made him even harder than he already was. When she stopped stroking, he snapped his head up, only to watch her as she opened the condom's package and got it out. He kept watching as she rolled it out over him sensuously. Normally he hated condoms, but the way she put it on him was such a turn-on he didn't care.

His breathing grew heavier as she moved up his body to position herself over him and brought him to her entrance. When she slid onto him, he groaned and grabbed her by the waist. She took him in inch by inch, slowly, torturously, until he couldn't take it anymore and raised his hips to meet her. She let out a startled gasp as he slid completely inside of her and filled her.

Dean's hands gripped her waist hard as she started to ride him, rising up high enough so only the tip of him was still inside her and then taking him back in. Her pace started out slow but grew frantic and fast paced, her breath coming out in short gasps. She rested her hands on his chest and her hair fell in front of her face, obscuring her features from him. She started riding him faster and faster, her pace becoming more frantic with each lowering of her body.

He sat up and wrapped his arms around her and without leaving her body, shifted positions so he was on top of her and could take control. Freezing all motions, he captured her lips, demanding she open up to him. She did and he slid his tongue inside the crevice of her mouth, seeking out the warmth he had wanted for so long. As he kissed her, he moved out of her until he was barely inside of her anymore. In answer, Jaenelle moaned through the kiss and wrapped her legs around his waist, trying to pull him to her.

He left her lips and kissed the tip of her nose. "Shh," he shushed her as she kept moaning and moving to have him inside her again. "No need to rush, baby." He touched his lips to hers lightly, letting his touch linger for a few seconds. Then he kissed her gently, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin even though he was hot all over. When she relaxed in his arms and her legs loosened the tight hold on his waist, he moved his hips and entered her slowly.

She arched her back at him, pressing her breasts against him. Breaking free from the kiss, he moved his mouth over to an area he hadn't yet explored with his tongue. Capturing her swollen nipple between his teeth, he tugged gently, causing Jaenelle to fist his hair in her hands and arch her back at him once more. He flicked and licked, tugged and nipped at her breast and moved over to the other one. He moved in and out of her at a leisurely pace, slowly going in, slowly going out, driving himself insane with need. As he played with her other breast, she tightened her hold on his waist, her legs wrapping tightly around him. Her hands travelled up and down his back, her nails scratching his skin. It only managed to heighten his already throbbing need to release himself inside of her.

"God, Jaenie," he murmured against her skin, "You feel so good."

"Mmm," Jaenelle breathed with a smile on her lips. "I love how you make me feel while inside of me."

He braced himself on his hands and pulled out of her. She tried to move her hips to have him fill her again, but he thrust into her forcefully, making her gasp for breath. As he thrust into her again and again, putting more force into his thrusts, he felt the pressure near the pit of his stomach heighten. His pace fast and frantic now that he was nearing his release, he drove himself into her over and over, arching his back so he could fill her completely.

Her breathing came fast and labored, matching his. Her hands that had been grasping his shoulders travelled down to cup his ass tightly and tried to push him farther into her. He groaned low in his throat as he bent his head towards hers and kissed her passionately, still driving himself harder and deeper into her.

"Dean," Jaenelle breathed, "Oh God, Dean."

Hearing his name on her lips like that sent his need for her to sky-rocket. He rested his weight on his elbows as he kept on driving himself into her, pulling almost all the way out and then thrusting back in with force. His pace, frantic and hastened, sped up even more until his vision darkened, stars lit the night sky of his mind and he felt the pleasure that only she could give him. Beneath him, Jaenelle let out a strangled cry and he felt her muscles tighten, tighten, until she rode the waves of her own orgasm.

He slumped down on her, spent and sated, and buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent. Her arms wrapped around him lazily. He felt her heartbeat over the beating of his own.

Rolling off of her and out of her, he felt cold and incomplete, so he reached out to her and pulled her against him, her body seemingly blending with his own. He felt whole now. And with that thought on his mind, he drifted off into a blissful sleep.