The Hunter Chapter Nine

It was two months later and Dean and Jess were still protecting Sam from the Yellow Eyed Demon. Azazel had been sending a constant stream of demons, spirits and other evil creatures to kill Sam but they had so far managed to fight them all off. They were constantly on the move, never staying in one place long enough to be spotted by Azazel's minions and it was beginning to wear them all out. There were some days when all Dean wanted to do was crawl into a bed, fall asleep and never wake up again but he knew that was not possible. Until they were able to get their hands on the Colt and kill Azazel they had to keep moving.

He glanced over at Jess who was fast asleep. She always looked tired now and it was apparent that she had lost weight. She was pale and drawn but she never ever complained. He admired her for her ability to keep going even though he knew she wanted to stop too.

He looked in the rear view mirror at Sam in the backseat, who was staring blankly out of the window, not really paying attention to the passing surroundings. Dean never would have thought it but he was really glad to have Sam back. He hadn't realised how much he had missed his little brother until now and it felt good to be hunting with him once more.

For the most part Sam had been quiet. He wouldn't talk about what had happened over the last two years with The Yellow Eyed Demon and killing all the psychics and for that Dean was a little glad. He was slowly beginning to let Sam back in his life and starting to trust him again and if he was honest with himself he would take that over knowing the truth any day.

It was harder for Jess, Dean knew that. He could start to forgive Sam because he was his brother and he would forgive him for anything but Jess had been in love with him. She had given him her heart and he had broken it into tiny pieces. She hadn't even looked at him for the first week and refused to speak to him for several weeks more after that but now they had a tense understanding, they only spoke about business and anything else was buried deep and never to be spoken of. It meant there were a lot of uncomfortable silences between them with Dean trying his hardest to bridge the immense canyon that had developed. It wasn't the most ideal situation but it was the only one that seemed to work.

"You okay?" He called back to ask Sam.

"Huh, what?" Was the reply.

"Are you okay?" He repeated.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired," he explained. "All this is really starting to wear me out."

"I know what you mean. I think we all need to stop and rest for a while but we can't until you're safe."

"I know," he said. "I wish this was all over. I wish I had never listened to them and escaped when I had the chance. I wish I had never left that night," he stopped and sighed. "But wishing wont change anything will it? I can't ever go back and change all the bad things I've done so I have to try and make up for them."

Dean didn't know what to say so he changed the subject. "There's a motel coming up, maybe we should stop for the night."

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Dean gently shook Jess awake once he had checked them all in and they made their way into the room. In order to keep Sam safe, they all shared one room which made things very difficult. Firstly, space became an issue when three people attempted to stay in one room and secondly, Jess' refusal to speak to Sam made the air very thick with tension. Jess immediately shut herself in the bathroom; just as she did every night, leaving Dean and Sam in the main room.

"She's never going to talk to me again, is she?" Sam sadly asked.

"I think you just gotta give her some time. She needs to readjust to you being here again. You did break her heart."

"I know and I am truly sorry for that but I don't know what I can do to make it right."

"Maybe I should talk to her," Dean offered. Sam gave a small nod and Dean crossed the room and knocked on the door. "Jess; it's Dean, can I come in?" He waited for a minute before he heard the lock turn. He opened the door, walked in and closed the door behind him. He pulled her into a hug and said, "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine," she told him, not really convincing him. "Really, I'm fine."

"That's why you locked yourself in the bathroom?"

"It's nothing I can't handle. I'm just having a hard time with Sam here."

"I know it's hard for you but you two need to get along for now. It's hard enough fighting all these demons to protect Sam without you two at each other's throats all the time."

"I'm sorry," Jess sighed. "I really am but I just don't trust him."

"I'm not asking you to, I'm just asking you to be civil to him. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, sure I can," she smiled and gave him a gentle kiss.

"Good, now I'm going to go and get some food, you stay here and look after Sam."

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Jess stayed in the bathroom for a little while longer before leaving to face Sam. She found him sitting on the bed flicking through the television channels but not really paying attention to what was on. He glanced up when he heard her close the bathroom door.

"Hey," he gave a soft smile. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied, a little harsher than she intended and immediately regretted the tone.

"Jess we really need to talk about this. I can't stand the way you've been treating me."

"Well you should have thought about that before," she retorted angrily.

"I'm so sorry for the way I've treated you," Sam explained. "I hate thinking about the way I hurt you and I hate that you hate me."

Jess was taken aback by this. "Sam, I don't hate you," she quietly told him.

"What?"

"I don't hate you," she said louder this time. "I never hated you; I wish I did because that would be easier to deal with. I love you and I always will love you, that's why this hurts so much. You broke my heart," she confessed as tears began to fall down her face. "The whole time me and Dean were looking for you all I wanted was for you to show up and tell me that everything was going to be okay but you never did."

"I am so sorry Jess I really am."

"Dean thinks that everything can go back to the way things were between you," she continued, "He believes that he can trust you and you won't double cross us but I don't."

"Do you love Dean?" Sam had to ask, it was a question that had been burning inside him ever since they had found him.

"Honestly? I don't know," she answered. "I don't think I could ever love him the way I loved you but maybe that's not such a bad thing because look where that got me. Maybe one day I will love him but at the moment things are just too complicated. Are you mad that we're together?" She asked.

"I'm not mad, I have no right to be but that's not the reason. I just want to be happy and if Dean makes you happy then that's okay."

"He does make me happy," she told him. "And after all the pain you caused me it feels good."

"I understand," Sam smiled shyly. "It's all my fault," he admitted.

"No it's not all your fault," she managed to smile back. "Just most of it is. Besides if you hadn't of gone missing then I never would have met Dean so I guess it isn't all bad."

"Hey, I miss anything good?" Dean asked as he opened the door carrying food and wearing a strained smile.

"No," Jess hurried over and helped him. "We've just been talking."

"Not about me I hope."

"Maybe a little," she squeezed his hand. "I promise I'll be civil around Sam," she hesitantly told him.

"Thank you."

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Several more days passed before they found any more leads on Azazel's presence. Everything had been quiet which unnerved Dean to no end. At least when demons were attacking he knew what to expect, this just had him on edge and it was beginning to drive him crazy.

"I know where he is," Sam announced suddenly one morning, hurrying from the bathroom. He seemed agitated and panicked.

"What?" Dean asked, confused.

"I know where he is," Sam repeated.

"How do you know?"

"I had a vision. I saw him; he's planning something. We have to go now."

"Okay, just calm down for a second."

"Calm down? Didn't you hear me? We have to go and stop him."

"We need a plan first, we can't just go barging in there without one, it'll be suicide."

"But we can't just stay here, we need to act now, kill him and then it will all be over."

"But he has the Colt, Sam," Dean argued. "He holds all the cards and if we just show up there he will kill us as soon as look at us."

"Fine," Sam sulked. "What do you suggest we do?"

"Talk this through calmly and rationally, come up with a plan and then go hunt the son of a bitch down."

"When did you become less gung-ho about hunting?" Sam said; the anger he felt at Dean insisting on waiting dissipating rapidly and he managed a smile. "You were always shoot first and ask questions later."

"Maybe I'm getting wise in my old age," Dean smiled back.

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The plan wasn't perfect but it would have to do. Sam had volunteered himself as bait; he was going to distract Azazel while Dean and Jess hunted for the Colt. None of them thought it was a particularly good plan but it was the only one they could think of that didn't get them all immediately killed.

Sam left Dean and Jess sitting on the car as he went to confront Azazel. Neither of them felt like speaking at all and Dean had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He just knew something was going to go wrong.

"Are you okay?" Jess asked quietly. She looked how he felt. She was pale, fidgety and she couldn't stop shaking. Her breathing was very shallow.

"You wouldn't believe me if I said I was fine would you?" Jess shook her head. "I'm not okay. I feel like this is all going to go wrong."

"Me too," she confessed as she scooted up the seat and leaned into him; enjoying the feeling of his arms around her. "I wish this was over."

"I do too. I just want to sleep without being in fear for my life. I could sleep forever."

"I don't even remember what a good night's sleep feels like."

Dean looked out of the car window and saw a flashing light. It was Sam's signal. "You ready for this?" He asked Jess.

"No," she replied.

"Me neither. Come on," he gave her an encouraging smile as they made their way to the house.

Dean was seriously unnerved at how quiet it was. There was no sound at all and it was deafening. Neither of them spoke as the searched around the house for the Colt but there was no sign of it. Dean had the feeling that Azazel had it in his possession then it would be up to Sam to get it. They certainly weren't.

"Well, what do we have here?" A voice came from behind Dean and he immediately recognised it. It was Meg.

"Damn it," he replied before slowly turned around. He saw Jess do the same.

"We've been expecting you two," She smiled, her eyes never leaving the pair of them. "Don't worry; they will be here in just a minute. They're just finalising the details."

"They?"

"Yes 'they'," A middle aged man walked into the room Dean assumed was Azazel followed by Sam. He had a malicious grin spread across his face, Dean was disgusted.

"This was a trap," he said.

"Of course it was. Do you really think that Sam was going to go back to you? After all we've done for him."

"They helped me realise my true potential," Sam grinned.

"You son of a bitch," Jess yelled. "I'm going to kill you," she launched herself at Sam but he easily grabbed hold of her arms and held her tight no matter how much she struggled against him. "Let go of me," she demanded.

"No," he said nuzzling her neck. "I forgot how much I enjoyed holding you."

"Let her go," Dean begged.

"Tie them both up," Azazel instructed. "You still have one more psychic to kill and he'll be here soon. Then you can kill them both."