Vinnie's face twisted, and she ran towards me full-tilt. Stepping back in surprise, I heard Dean's pistol cock behind me.

"Dean, no!" I said, starting to turn when Vinnie careened into me, throwing her good arm around my neck and conking me in the head with her bad one. My arms wheeling to keep my balance, we fell to a heap on the ground as she clutched me, sobbing.

"I thought you'd never come back," she cried, burying her head in my shoulder. I tried to untangle myself from her limbs but after only a second, I gave up and wrapped my arms around her, my head raised awkwardly off the dirt floor.

"I said I'd be back," I said, stroking her hair.

"But it was so long," she whimpered.

"I'm sorry," I said, turning my head to shoot Dean a black look. "It wasn't up to me." Unperturbed, Dean raised his eyebrows at me, his jaw set. I dropped my eyes. "Vinnie, you're squishing me."

Vinnie struggled a little to raise herself off me, rolling off me onto her right side and pushing herself up with her arm to sit with her legs criss-crossed next to me. "Then who was it up to?" Vinnie asked as I sat up and pulled my legs under me, too.

"Me," Dean said, his face pained. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "She practically killed herself trying to get away."

"That's Dean," I said, pointing at him. I twisted around a little to find Sam on the other side of the woodshed, tucking his pistol into the back of his jeans. "And that's Sam. What happened to your arm?" I asked, my stomach in knots.

Vinnie looked down at the cast. "Gabby broke it knocking me across the room after you left. After the doctor put a cast on it, she…" she swallowed hard, her voice shaky. "She b-beat me… with that rod every day for a week, but she made me hide it, made me keep working…" She shook her head, trying to clear the memories. "Where's Bree?" she asked, her voice only a little calmer.

I dropped my eyes to stare at my knees, swallowing against automatic tears. "She didn't make it." I had to whisper around the lump in my throat, the guilt in my stomach. "She died from the gunshot wound in her belly, and we wrecked the car trying to get to the hospital. I hit my head and couldn't even set a fire for a while." I looked back up see her face crumpling again. "I'm not sure if I'm back to one hundred percent now…"

Vinnie burst into tears again and threw herself at me. "Jessie, I'm so sorry, it was all my fault."

"No, it was mine," I cried, hugging her as we both sobbed.

"Ok, enough with the waterworks," Dean said, pulling us apart and to our feet.

"Dean," Sam started, moving to stand next to Dean, but Dean just ignored him.

"We're here to do a job, right?" Dean looked at me and I nodded, wiping the tears from my cheeks. He looked at Vinnie. "We're here to kill that bitch and get you home, right?" Vinnie nodded and ran her sleeve under nose. "Crying is not going to help."

"What is going to help," Sam broke in, his voice softer and kinder than Dean's, his eyes wide as he looked at Vinnie, "is if Vinnie can tell us if anything has changed since Jessie left." He tilted his head a little.

Vinnie looked confused. "What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes at Sam. "Why don't you just tell her the plan and see what she thinks of it?"

"Jessie, quiet," Dean growled.

"You're being too vague…" I started, but when he raised his eyebrows at me, I shut up.

"That's one. Go sit on the stump," he said pointing towards it, despite the fact that I'd shut up. I sighed and turned to trudge to the stump, plopping myself down onto it and resting my head on my hand with my elbow braced against my knee. Duct tape, I reminded myself. Duct tape.

Vinnie watched the exchange with wide eyes and then looked back at Sam, whose puppy dog eyes hadn't changed. "Um," she said. "Well, Gabby doesn't trust me anymore. I mean, she can't, right? I let her priestess escape, the one who would assure her success, and only left her with me, a worthless…" Her voice cracked. Sam set his hand on her shoulder and leaned down further to meet her eyes.

"It's ok, Vinnie. It's ok," he assured her. "You're not worthless. We need your help. We can't do this without your help." Looking into his comforting eyes, Vinnie seemed to get control of herself. She straightened up, pulling her shoulders back and raising her chin. She gave a curt nod. Sam smiled at her. "What else? Does she still have dinner with you most nights?"

Vinnie frowned. "Yeah, she accepts our sacrifices and joins us for dinner, but she doesn't drink coffee while we eat. She just sits there and watches us," she said, shuddering. Sam and Dean exchanged a look.

"Great, that means we have to go with the second plan. I told you we should have just taken care of this at Bobby's. It would already be over…" I said, sitting up straight. Dean's head snapped to the side, his eyebrows low as he glared. Heat flushed through me. "Sorry," I whispered. He held up two fingers, and I nodded shakily. As he turned back to Vinnie, I hunched over again. If I screwed up one more time, I was out. I couldn't let that happen.

Sam turned to Dean. "We do have to go with the backup plan."

"What's the backup plan?" Vinnie licked her lips, her eyes lighting up.

"Jessie and Sam are going to sneak into the barn. Jessie's gonna summon Gabby and I'm going to shoot Gabby with the sedative while Jessie's got her distracted. Then Jessie will stab her," Dean said.

Vinnie snorted, flipping her black locks back over her shoulder. "That's stupid," she stated. "Gabby will just fry Sam the second she shows up and suck Jessie's power from her." She shook her head. "She is over all three of you. Believe me, I know."

I refrained from saying anything. See, I could keep my mouth shut.

"You got a better idea?" Dean asked, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

"Yeah, let me help."

"No!" I yelled, jumping to my feet and knocking the stump over.

"Jessie! Sit!" Dean pointed at me without breaking eye contact with Vinnie. Huffing, I righted the stump and sat, shoving my hands underneath my butt. "How can you help?"

Vinnie glanced at me and I widened my eyes, pleading silently for her to shut up and just let us do what we do, but she turned away from me. "Look, Gabby doesn't trust me anymore, but she'll believe me if I deliver Jessie to her all trussed up. I've been kissing her ass for weeks trying to get her to trust me again. All you have to do is let me take Sam's place. We go to the barn, make it look like I have Jessie tied up, and then I'll summon Gabby. She shows, I distract her while you guys sneak in and shoot her with the sedative. Same plan, it's just that Gabby won't fry me right away." The guys looked at each other.

"She's got a point," Dean said.

"It'll be easier to get in the barn with her scouting ahead," Sam agreed.

"No, guys, please don't…" I moaned, covering my face with my hands.

"Why not?" Dean asked, turning to look at me.

"You're putting her in danger," I said, standing up and walking over to them. "She could get killed! I thought we tried to keep the civilians safe…"

"I'm not a civilian!" Vinnie retorted.

"Jessie, you remember what I told you about putting her in danger?" Dean asked, his voice soft.

He was talking about how he would put Vinnie in danger in a second to keep me safe. I winced, nodding. Still, it didn't matter. Maybe Dean didn't want to throw me in the path of danger, but I didn't want Vinnie there just as much. "How do we know she's not leading us into a trap?"

"Hey!" Vinnie objected, shoving me.

I shoved her back, just as hard.

"Cut it out!" Dean snapped. We stopped glaring at each other and looked at Dean. "Unless you've got a damn good reason why Vinnie can't help us out, we're going with her plan. You got anything?"

"No," I whispered, glaring at Vinnie from the corner of my eye. She smiled up at Dean.

"That settles it, then," Dean said. "Get your stuff packed up. It's time to move."

Half an hour later, Sam was letting the animals out of the barn while Dean "trussed me up" so that I'd look like I was tied up while still being able to free myself when I needed to. I'd spent most of the time while we were sneaking from the woodshed to the barn chanting duct tape in my head. Now I stared at the small stack of logs on the ground in front of me and worried.

"Dean?" I whispered as he tied my hands together behind my back.

"Do I want to hear this?" Dean asked from behind me.

I glanced at Vinnie, who was pacing in front of the barn doors talking to herself, preparing herself for what she was going to say to Gabby. "Please keep her safe?" I asked.

Dean finished the loose knot and slung an arm around my chest from behind me. He pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll keep both of you alive. I promise." He tugged lightly on the ropes that bound me, then made sure I had enough room to slip out of them. Moving to stand in front of me, he put his finger under my chin and raised my head so I was looking up at him. "You promise me that you'll keep yourself safe too and she turns on you…" he tilted his head towards Vinnie, "you kill her, you hear me?"

I blinked at him, the blood draining from my face. "What?" I gulped out.

"I don't think it's going to happen. She seemed like she was telling the truth, but I've been tricked before or she might have a change of heart. If it seems like she's switching sides, you fry her."

"Dean, she's as immune to fire as I am," I whispered, my stomach screaming. "I can't…"

"You sucked all her fire out of her, right?" he asked me. I nodded. "Then push too much fire into her. Burn her from the inside out."

Tears filled my eyes. "Dean, I can't do that," I whispered.

"And I can't lose you, sweetheart. You promise me, you'll save yourself if she turns." Despite his grim tone, his eyes were reddening with tears. Rock meet hard place.

"Yes, Dean," I murmured.

He closed his eyes and let out his breath, a small, slow smile crossing his face. "Good girl," he said and kissed my forehead. One last time, he checked to make sure that the Stelmužė Oak stake was tucked into my back waistband under my two shirts and coat.

Sam closed the barn door after the last animal had left and joined Dean, who talked to Sam for a moment before calling out, "You ready, Vinnie?"

Vinnie stopped gesturing to herself and dropped her hands to her sides. "I guess," she said.

Dean shook his head. "I'm gonna need better than that. I'm trusting my daughter's life to you."

Vinnie flushed and shook her head. Then, nodding curtly, she strode over to me and met Dean's eyes. "I'm ready," she said.

"How about you, Jessie?" Sam asked.

I checked the ropes on my wrists and the ones hobbling my feet. The stake pressed into my back. My furnace was full. "I'm ready," I said, leaning against the post in the middle of the barn as if I were tied to it.

Dean smacked Sam's shoulder and the two of them headed into one of the stalls, leaving the stall door open just enough that they would be able to get out.

"We have to make sure that Gabby's back is to them," I whispered to Vinnie.

"I'm not an idiot," Vinnie snapped back, nervousness sharpening her tone.

"Ok, girls," Sam said from the darkness of the stall. "You're on."

Vinnie opened her furnace and extended a tendril, setting the small stack of logs on fire. She reached into her apron pocket, pulled out a crust of bread, and tossed it into the fire. She reached into her other apron pocket, pulled out a tiny packet of salt, and tossed that into the fire. She took a deep breath. "Here we go," she whispered to me. Then, in a louder tone, she said, " Sacred Gabija, be satisfied. I have brought you a great sacrifice."

I felt the power pull from Vinnie, her furnace draining at an alarming rate as she shook in place. Then it stopped. Vinnie and I looked around the barn, but there was nothing, and then suddenly, Gabby was there in front of us, dressed in a slinky red evening gown more suited to a holiday party than this filthy barn.

"You called, my high priestess?" Gabby purred.