HOME PART 3
Both Sam and Dean jumped simultaneously when they heard a loud crash and tumble right outside Sari's room. Missouri turned around when she heard that and walked out of the closet. She looked around briefly and noticed that Alice wasn't in the room anymore. She didn't even remember seeing her leave in the first place. For only a moment, no one dared to say anything or move until Dean spoke up first, finally breaking the eerie silence.
"What the hell was that?"
"Oh my God!" Jenny's voice echoed through the house like nails on a chalkboard. It was so sharp that it made the hair on the back of their neck stand up.
The boys ran out of the room the next second and down the hall right where the stairs were. They saw Alice laying at the bottom of the steps with a large hole in the wall behind her. Jenny was sitting beside her too and was crying frantically, unsure if she was still alive or not
Dean became ghostly pale and his mouth dried up in an instant. "No no no no no." They both practically flew down the steps in two big strides and bent down beside Alice's unmoving body. Dean was careful when he moved her face but stopped when he saw blood flow from a small gash on the side of her head. "Son of a bitch!"
"What happened?" Sam asked Jenny.
The woman was hysterical and weeping. "I don't know! I just heard a loud crashing sound and saw her at the bottom of the stairs." Jenny looked over to Alice's body and felt her stomach turn when she saw the blood. "Oh my God..." she clasped her hand over her mouth.
Missouri was still upstairs and walking slowly through the hallway. Her eyes were weary and she was pale when this strange and disturbing chill flowed through her. It wasn't cold in the room but her body was shaking anyways. Her stomach shifted with unease and her hands were tightly clenching the fabric of her shirt. Something wasn't right with this house anymore. The air was filled with dread even though it wasn't a couple of minutes ago. Dark energy flowed through the house like poison through veins. She could see it now but didn't dare to move or breathe...a dark humanoid shadow moving around just at the corner of her eyes. A creature without a face but with footsteps similar to heavy boots stomping through the hollow halls. Missouri gasped and snapped her head towards the unknown entity of Jefferson Cromwell, yet the corridor was empty and the haunting sounds were gone. Though the feeling still remained.
"Boys!" Sam and Dean looked up and saw Missouri rushing down the steps as if she had just seen a ghost. "You need to get her out of this house right now," she urged them desperately while shaking. "Do you hear me? Get her out right now."
Dean didn't question what she meant and quickly picked Alice from off the ground. "Sam, get the door." They headed for the door and rushed out. Missouri stayed behind for a couple of minutes, not long but long enough to give Jenny some peace of mind.
Dean got a piece of gauze ready and placed it gently against the cut on the side of Alice's head, taping it down to make sure it wouldn't go anywhere. She was still out cold but after everything calmed down they realized that she just knocked herself silly. It didn't seem bad enough to take a trip to the hospital, so they ended up just going back to the motel room and putting Alice to bed for the time being.
He thought his heart was going to stop back then when he saw her slumped down on the floor, so anyone could imagine the relief he felt when he realized that she was mostly okay. "I can't believe the son of a bitch came out in the middle of the day," Dean said through clenched teeth since his blood was still boiling.
Missouri and Sam were sat down with a table full of various herbs that they were all collecting together to put into small pouches. "That Jefferson Cromwell had a nasty temper. I never felt something so suffocating before," she said grimly. "If I didn't know better, I would have thought he was a demon."
"We can't let Alice back inside that house. Jefferson's gonna tear her apart once it gets dark," Sam said.
"You don't have to worry about that," Missouri assured him. "The bump on her head tells me she's gonna be out for a couple of hours. We're gonna have to take the time and purify the house before that monster does anything else."
Dean cocked a brow and picked up some of the herbs to check out. "Is that what all this stuff is about? What is it, anyway?"
"Angelica Root, Van Van oil, crossroad dirt, a few other odds and ends."
"Yeah? What are we supposed to do with it?"
"We're gonna put them inside the walls in the north, south, east, west corners on each floor of the house.
Dean scoffed. "We'll be punchin' holes in the dry wall. Jenny's gonna love that."
Missouri looked up and smirked slily. "She'll live."
"And this'll destroy the spirits?" Sam asked.
"It should. It should purify the house completely. We'll each take a floor. But we work fast. Once the spirits realize what we're up to, things are gonna get bad," she warned them.
Before heading out, Missouri and the boys made sure everything was done and that Jenny wasn't going to be in the house when everything was going to go down. They may be one hunter short but it shouldn't matter. It had to be a quick in-and-out job.
"Sure it's a good idea leaving Alice here?" Sam asked and stood by the door, waiting for Dean to finish packing his bag and grabbing a hatchet.
"You said it yourself. Alice can't go back inside that house without Jefferson killing her." Dean shrugged his shoulders and tossed his duffle to his brother. "Come on. I really don't wanna keep Missouri waiting."
Sam rolled his eyes and walked outside to the car. Dean held back for a bit and watched Alice as she slept soundly and without worry. Thinking about it though, this was probably the best nap she had in months. If he can help it, Dean's hoping they can finally put this long case to rest.
"We'll be back before you even wake up." Dean walked over to the bed and kissed the side of her head. He nudged her cheek a little before heading out and locking the door behind him.
September 12, 1995
Alice's throat locked up and the world began to spin with every last breath of air inside her leaving. She clawed at the cold arm attached to her neck but his skin was like stone. Jefferson's spirit didn't budge and his facial expression was flat and uninterested. He watched with darkened eyes as the color drain from Alice's face and her struggles ceased. He wasn't able to kill her though when Aiden pushed his hand right through his head and caused him to disappear instantly, releasing Alice.
Aiden waved his hand that had an iron band wrapped around his finger. "Ha! Iron ring, bastard!" His laughter turned into painful wheezing with a large grin still stretching far across his face, bruised and bloodied from fighting Jefferson.
The lock on Alice's throat was released and she could finally breathe without Jefferson's cold fingers wrapped around her throat like a noose. She laid on the floor and about hacked her lungs up until she felt Jenna's hand on her back and heard her shivering and worried voice.
"Oh, my child! Are you okay?" Out of all three of them, Jenna was in the worse condition. She could hardly walk anymore with the number of bruises on her body, along with the ones that had yet to heal when Jefferson was still alive.
"Son of a bitch was trying to strangle me," Alice coughed while Jenna helped her up. "Why the hell is he still here? We salt and burned the bones. There should be nothing left!"
"How should I know!" Aiden shot back hysterically. "He's just stubborn, I guess." His bruised face hardened and his eyes quickly scanned the room, counting down the seconds they had until Jefferson came back. "We're getting out of here. Now!"
Jenna turned pale in an instant and she didn't move. "But he's attached to me. He'll come back no matter where we go."
"Then we'll figure something else out!" Aiden reached his arm out and grabbed Alice, shoving her in front of him and towards the door. "Gran, come on!"
Jenna looked absolutely frightened and clenched tightly to the front of her shirt, shaking her head. "Aiden! He's not gonna stop. It's only going to be putting you and Alice in danger!" She shuddered deeply when a cold chill swept through her body and left her feeling hollow. She knew that Jefferson would be back any moment now. Coming to hurt her family. Just like he used to hurt her. She didn't want that. No one deserved that.
Aiden and Alice hobbled down the long hallway towards the exit when Jenna swiftly moved to their right and shoved against them hard. The siblings knocked into each other and fell right through the open bathroom. Jenna slammed the door shut on them and moved a heavy piece of furniture to block it.
"Gran?" Aiden grabbed the knob and pushed against the door. It wasn't moving though and he realized instantly that she had locked him and Alice in the bathroom. "Gran! Jenna, what are you doing! Let us out!" he screeched and pounded on the door like a mad man, panic taking over his body when he figured out what she was trying to do. "Jenna!"
"I'm the one he wants! I'm the one he's attached too! I don't want him to hurt anyone else." Jenna pleaded to them. They could even hear the heartbreak in her voice as she began to weep. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me!"
"Open up this damn door!" Alice's voice pierced louder than a tornado siren. "Jenna! Open the door!"
"Jenna!"
Jenna plugged her ears with her hands and backed up to the living room. She could still hear the muffled screams of her grandchildren...but Jefferson's heavy footsteps were so clear and distinct that it immediately made her heart go into overdrive. She could recall that same sound when he would come home drunk or angry. Sometimes even both. It always felt as though he was trying to drink his memories away.
STOMP!
STOMP!
STOMP!
Jenna sucked in a deep breath when the world fell silent, a shadow at her back that carried winter and hellfire. She closed her eyes and didn't open them back up, mumbling continuously under her breath for Alice and Aiden to forgive her.
Aiden slammed his hand against the door one more time before stopping to look around. "Ally, toilet bowl cover! Gimme!"
Alice limped over to the cover and lifted it off the tank and passed it to her brother. Aiden slammed it against the door with all his might and broke a good size chunk from off the wood. He kept at it and stopped after a minute when he made a hole big enough for at least Alice to slipt through. He was far too big though.
"Can you get through?" Aiden asked and gave Alice a boost up towards the hole.
"Yeah. Just give me a second to check up on Jenna and I'll open it." She placed one foot in the crack and wiggled her young body through. She fell through and crashed over the table Jenna had placed in front of it and tumbled onto the floor.
"You alright?" Aiden called back and stuck his head through the hole. "Hurry and go!"
Alice pushed herself up to her tired legs and staggered through the hallway and into the living room. It was strange because everything was oddly quiet now. The chill was gone too and the flickering lights had ceased. She felt her stomach drop and just stood there in the hall...staring at Jenna's body that laid in the middle of the room. Her skin had become gray and her eyes were wide open. Her hand was laying on her chest with her fingers pointed upwards towards her neck that had strangulation marks coiled around it.
Colors of black and gray filled Alice's vision and the world became calm with an odd static noise buzzing in her ears, but that may just be her heart that was thumping out of control. A sharp gasp rose from the back of her throat and her knees buckled from beneath her. Alice slid down the wall and sat there with her sharp blue eyes turning to glass and shattering. "Jenna...?"
Alice woke from the hazy fog of her dark mind and panted as if she was low on oxygen. Not only that, but the room was dark too with only a dim orange light coming from the lamp to her left. She eased her breathing when realizing that she wasn't in the house anymore, much less stuck in the past.
Dean was sat down at the table and looked up when he heard Alice rustling around. "So she lives." He smiled with ease.
Alice squinted her eyes to try and see him better before feeling a throbbing pain coming from her head. "Damn. My head hurts," she muttered and pressed her hand to the piece of gauze, only now noticing that she was drenched in sweat. She slept for a good few hours but she looked more exhausted than ever before. Her words were slow and she could hardly keep her eyes open.
"Well...you did leave a pretty good-sized hole in the wall back at Jenny's place." Dean tried to make light of the situation but Alice didn't even laugh. She didn't even crack a grin, doing nothing but silent staring like her mind was somewhere else.
"How you feeling?" Sam asked. He was sat on the bed to her left and looked like he was getting ready to sleep too until Alice woke up.
"Bad headache and covered in sweat," she said dryly.
Dean cocked a brow. "Nightmare?"
She didn't answer that and kicked off the covers and headed to the bathroom. "Jefferson... He was the one who shoved me down the stairs. Saw his freaking face and everything..." she muttered behind the closed door and turned the sink on to splash some water on her face. She tore the gauze off, and sure enough, there was a nasty cut right at the hairline that was darkening with age. It may look ugly now but at least it was a sign that it was healing. "Scared the shit out of me." She ran her hand across the gash and flinched.
"Hmm. Well, you don't have to worry about him anymore," Dean called back.
Alice paused and quickly turned the water off and opened the door. "What do you mean?" She thought she misheard him but that wasn't the case with the way the boys were looking at her. Dean was relaxed but Sam appeared to be worried. For her, and another reason.
"Missouri purified the house while you were out," Sam explained to her.
"Yeah," Dean followed. "We really couldn't burn his body so we had to think of something else. Stuck a pouch of herbs in four corners of the house and everything just stopped."
"Missouri said it was over."
Alice felt beside herself and didn't know what to say or think. She wanted to be happy but that wasn't it. Nor was she angry either. It was like her mind had totally shut down but her body felt anxious, a pit of denial forming deep in her stomach. Nothing felt right and tension crept up her back like cold hands reaching out. She didn't know what to say at first until this one question popped in her mind that she decided to go with first. "What about Jenny?" she asked and continued to stand in the doorway like a stiff statue.
"The place was a bit of a mess after everything was said and done but...she seemed fine," Sam assured her.
After that, not a single word fell from Alice's mouth. Her hand was on the knob and her mind was still trying to desperately reboot itself so she could function like a normal person again. The uneasiness never passed and she really couldn't believe that it was over. In a blink of an eye...her long mission to take him down was over without her even realizing it.
Was Jefferson really gone?
Steam escaped through the bathroom door with the shower set to high, drowning out the boys' snoring as they sleep through the night without worry. That was the chance Alice was waiting for. She pretended to take the shower and only used it as white noise to try and lull the boys to sleep while she got dressed in the bathroom. It was a little trick she used on Aiden or herself whenever they would go through fits of insomnia. The high pitched ring of the shower and the tapping water was surprisingly soothing and it always seemed to work. Good to know that it worked on Sam and Dean too. After making sure the coast was clear, Alice stepped out of the bathroom and left the motel the first second she got.
She didn't trust herself to take the Impala and risk the wrath of Dean, so she decided to just walk since her bike was still parked at Jenny's place. It wasn't far so she wasn't really worried about the distance. It gave her time to think things through and finally wrap her head around the problem. Believing that Jefferson was gone could be a possibility but something still didn't feel right with her. In the past, they have thought about purifying him, just like the boys did, but that wasn't always a solution. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it wasn't and things only got worse. No method is a guarantee because some spirits are stubborn than most. She didn't doubt Missouri's claim that the house was empty, but this was Jefferson they were hunting. A man who was a former hunter. A Cromwell hunter, just like her. It just didn't seem that simple for him to just...disappear.
After a couple of minutes of just mindlessly walking in the dead of night, she stumbled across the neighborhood and saw her bike in the distance. It was untouched and glowing like a red beacon, and right across from that was Jenny's soundless home. She walked up to the door and hesitated at first before knocking. It took a couple of seconds but she heard footsteps on the other end, light ones with no heavy boots following close behind.
Jenny opened up and was taken back to see Alice on her doorstep."Alice?" She said before noticing the gash on the side of her head. "How are you feeling?"
Alice smiled awkwardly and ran her hand gently across her wound. It still hurts but it wasn't as bad as before. "Turns out, my heads as hard as a rock. I'm not worried, but can I come in for a minute though?"
Jenny looked uneasy about that request since it was the middle of the night and her kids were already asleep. "Alice...it's pretty late."
Alice's voice shifted a bit and turned grave. "Yeah, but...I need to check out your basement really quickly." Her sharp blue eyes looked like they were glowing with mixed emotions.
"Why?"
"Because you said you heard scratching, right? I just need to see what was going on down there. See if Missouri or the boys missed anything. It'll only take a second," she promised and tried to lose the awkward smile to make it more genuine.
Alice was never someone to take no for an answer, so reluctantly, Jenny opened the door all the way and moved to the side to invite her in. Nothing felt off about the house the last time she was in it and there wasn't a lingering feeling of dread and coldness either. Her throat wasn't locking up and she didn't feel as if she was suffocating anymore. That wasn't entirely the point though. She figured that Jefferson must've been in the basement for most of his time here, but she's puzzled about why there were scratching noises. It made her wonder what he was doing down there. Out of sight and all alone with his thoughts.
Jenny guided her quietly through the house and towards the basement that was poorly lit and musty smelling. The walls were made of stone bricks and were covered with boxes and other odds and ends that didn't have a place upstairs. It was slightly cold too but that was only because they were underground.
Alice stood in the middle of the room and looked around. "Can you do me a favor and check the walls on that side?" she pointed.
"What are you looking for?" Jenny asked, slowly getting nervous with what she meant by that.
She bit the inside of her cheek and muttered in a small voice. "You'll know when you see it..."
They broke off and started to look at the walls and floor of the small room, moving boxes aside and running their hands across the rough stone. Alice was quiet in her search and was actually starting to relax a bit when she couldn't find anything. Her peace ignited like paper and burned up when she heard Jenny's shaking voice.
"Oh my God..."
Alice turned around in a flash and saw Jenny backing away from the wall with her hands over her mouth. "What is it?" she asked.
After removing some of the boxes that were covering a section of the wall, it showed these strange claw-like marks that were etched into the stone, and beside it were names of her family. 'Alice, Aiden, Jackson, and Jefferson'. They all were scratched into the wall with someone's nails and written multiple times. Their names seemed to circle around this single one though that was written bigger than the rest.
The name was 'Jezebel'.
Jenny looked close to fainting. She pointed her finger at the wall and spoke up with a frightened voice. "These...these names weren't here before. I...I don't know who did this."
Alice stared at the wall and turned perplexed, a chill shooting through her skin that pierced her heart with dread once more. "I got a pretty good idea of who..." she muttered and brought out her phone and took a picture. Afterwards, she walked up towards the wall and ran her hands across the name etched into the stone, mimicking claw marks with her fingers. "Jezebel...?"
STOMP!
STOMP!
STOMP!
Alice stopped and sucked in a deep breath when she saw dust falling in front of her that came from the ceiling. She ran up to Jenny and quickly slapped her hand over her mouth to stop her from making any noise. They listened as footsteps moved above them. Heavy and angry. They sounded like they were made with heavy boots like the ones Jefferson wore. The same sound that had haunted her since she was 14 years old. The last sound Jenna heard before she died. "Jefferson never left... He's still here."
"Sam! Wake up!" Sam was abruptly pulled from his dream world when he felt a rough hand began to shake him. "Sam!"
He turned around in bed and saw Dean hovering over him with a panicked look on his face. "Dude, what are you doing?" he yelled at him.
"Alice is gone!" Dean said while pulling his jacket over his shoulder, having to have gotten dressed at the speed of lightning when he woke up and saw that she was gone. "Get up. Now."
"What?" Sam shot up from the bed and looked at the empty bathroom that was dark inside.
"Yeah. And I bet you she went to Jenny's place. Get up! I got a bad feeling about this."
Sari's high pitched scream echoed through the halls as Alice and Jenny rushed upstairs to grab the kids and get out of the house. No one knew were Jefferson was since the footsteps had stopped and there was also the matter about the second spirit that was probably still in Sari's room. Which is why they were rushing to get up there as fast as they could.
"I'll get Sari! You get Ritchie!" Alice screamed like a banshee and hung a left while Jenny took a right towards Ritchie's room.
She ran into the room and saw Sari sitting up in her bed, tears welling up in her eyes and falling down her cheeks. She was screaming at a humanoid spirit walking out of the closet with flames coiled around their body, completely masking their face. It didn't move though and nor did it make any indication that it was going to attack them at all.
"Sari, close your eyes!" Alice rushed up to her and blocked the view of the spirit. Sari closed her eyes and was scooped up out of her bed. They rushed out of the room and left the flaming spirit behind.
Alice moved down the darkened halls just as Jenny emerged from Ritchie's bedroom with her son in hand. They proceeded to the stairs just as Sari opened her eyes. She was facing down the hallway they had just come from and saw something lingering in the darkness. A tall figure who looked like he was entirely made of shadows.
Sari screamed so loud that it made Alice stop. "He's coming!" she cried and held tight to the young woman shirt.
Alice looked over her shoulder and could finally see him. The creature that was once her grandfather. His frame was tall and muscular but it looked like he was dripping with shadows. His hair had strips of gray in it and his skin was pale enough to see blue veins underneath. His eyes were black too and so terribly sunken in that it didn't even look like they were there. Just two black pools that were inflamed. He no longer looked like his old self. Not when alive or when she first encountered his spirit all those years ago. Right now, he was too dark, cold, and angry. He was a shadow of wrath.
This man was a demon...
"Crap." Alice covered Sari's eyes with her hand and turned back around. Jenny had stopped by the stairs and was staring wide-eyed at Jefferson, seeing him fully for the first time. "Jenny, get out of the house right now!" she screeched, snapping her out of her fear.
They ran down the steps towards the front door. It was left open but some unknown force slowly began to close it. Alice immediately put Sari down and ran for the door. She tried to keep it open but it was too strong. Instead, she placed her body between it and the frame and kept it open by pressing her foot against the door. The force pushed against her body but Alice wasn't giving up and used almost all her strength to barely kept it open. Making it just big enough for Jenny and her kids to make it out.
"Get out, get out, get out!" Alice ground her teeth together and scraped her nails against the frame. She knew that if this door closed then it won't open again. Jefferson wouldn't allow them to escape. It would all be over. "GET OUT!"
The boys drove up the street and came to a blazing halt in front of the house with smoke emitting from their tires. They jumped out just in time to see Jenny rushing her kids through the opening below Alice's legs. First, it was Ritchie, then Sari, and finally Jenny. They were out. They were safe.
"Alice? Get out of there!" Dean yelled for her.
Alice snapped her head up and saw the boys running towards the door. Her vision was obscured though when one hand covered her eyes while another wrapped around her neck. She gasped only once before Jefferson yanked her body back into the house, the door closing behind her just when the boys made it to the steps.
Dean grabbed the handle and tried to open it but it wouldn't even twist. He couldn't get in. "Son of a-" He pounded his fist against the door before stopping and taking a step back to think of a better plan and fast. "Sam! Axe and gun in the trunk. Hurry!" he tossed his keys to his brother.
Dean rushed around to the kitchen window to see if he could get an eye on what was going on inside. He jumped out of shock though when Alice's body was suddenly flung against it, cracking the glass and leaving smears of blood when she slid down. Jefferson marched up towards her with his heavy boots stomping against the ground like loud heart palpitations. He leaned down and picked her up by her neck and slammed her entire head into the window, cracking it further and splattering blood all over it. Alice's screams were starting to become muffled and weak with every thud.
"You son of a bitch!" Dean's eyes became ablaze with rage and blinded with red. He screamed loudly at the man but Jefferson didn't even look like he heard him. "Alice!"
Sam came rushing back and quickly passed the axe to Dean and used it too began hacking at the door. His swings turned ferocious with the sound of chaos pressing against his ears and urging him to hurry. He could hear Alice's cries of pain. The heavy thuds. The sound of cracking glass. He could hear it all and wanted it to stop!
Sam hesitated for a split second before grabbing Dean's arm, stopping his wild swing when he made a hole just big enough to squeeze through. "It's good enough. Come on!"
Dean slipped through the door first and ran into the kitchen with Sam right behind him. Jefferson stood near the window with his hand stretched out, his fingers locked around Alice's neck. Her face was covered in deep cuts and there wasn't a surface of skin that wasn't already covered in blood. Her eyes were wild though and her fingers were clawing into his arm, her legs kicking around to try and free herself from his murderous clutches.
"Hey!" Dean raised his gun and pulled the trigger, ripping salt pellets right through Jefferson's spirit body and making him release Alice. He took a second to make sure he was really gone before rushing over. "Alice. You alright?"
Alice moved very carefully into a sitting position and pressed her back to the wall. Her body was quivering with pain and her neck was wrapped with bruises. She picked at the cuts on her face and removed some of the glass shards that had embedded themselves. She flinched when she grabbed hold of one and caused the blood flow to become heavier.
"Alice? Hey. Can you hear me?" Dean pressed his hand to her shoulder, moving carefully up to her neck and making her lookup.
She had a very lazy and weak grin on her lips when she looked and saw his face flushed with panic. "Yeah... I can hear you," she said and looked past him towards Sam who stopped at the doorway, staring at something and looking alarmed. "Sam...?"
They then began to hear the sound of crackling fire while Sam backed up towards them and kneeled down. The fire creature from Sari's closet walked out in front of them and approached slowly, its body still ablaze. Dean raised his gun but Sam quickly stopped him from shooting it.
"No, don't! Don't!" he urged him.
"What, why?!"
"Because I know who it is. I can see her now." He didn't sound worried at all, but surprised and hopeful.
Suddenly, the fire disguising the creature's appearance faded away and unveiled a rather beautiful woman underneath. She was young-looking with long, wavy blonde hair, and wearing a stark white nightgown. She looked at the boys with this incredibly gentle face as they stared fondly back.
Dean's expression softened and he looked in awe. "Mom?"
"Dean," Mary smiled and walked up to them, her footsteps completely soundless. Her eyes then fell to her youngest. "Sam...I'm sorry," she said with tears beginning to well up in Sam's eyes.
"For what?" he croaked up but never got an answer. She only stared sadly at him before her eyes briefly went to Alice. She looked just as dumbfounded as the rest of the boys did.
"Mary Winchester..." Alice muttered softly before her eyes widen, trailing to what was behind the ghostly woman with the room becoming blistering cold.
Mary turned around slowly and saw Jefferson standing at the end of the room. It was almost like he was hiding away in the shadowy corner, but completely expressionless as he always been.
"You get out of my house," she said and began to step towards him,
Jefferson's appearance started to twitch and move around rapidly as this unearthly growl bubbled up from the back of his throat. His mouth unhinged and stretched wide as this demonic screech bellowed out deep from his stomach, high pitched and bone-chilling that no human could've made. For once, Alice was struck with this instant fear and became paralyzed in place as the nightmare man charged at Mary and grabbed her. Immediately, their bodies ignited and soon began to disappear within the flames, Jefferson's screams fading away and becoming nothing but an echo in the room. Nothing but the silence was heard and the boys were just left sitting there, holding Alice closely as the woman remained astonished.
Daybreak finally arrived in the shape of a golden sun with not a single heavy footstep to be heard. Alice sat silently on the top step of Jenny's house and used a rag to wipe the blood off her beaten face. Her body was covered in bruises and her bones were aching. Not only that, but her neck felt tight and her left eye had broken a blood vessel when Jefferson attempted to strangle her. Again. She won't say she got off easy but it's better than being dead.
Dean stood by his car with Jenny and shuffled through the old family photos she gave him. He stopped briefly though and looked up towards the steps where Alice was. Ever since last night, the girl had been quiet and hasn't said a word to anyone after Jefferson went up in flames with Mary Winchester. Can't say he blamed her since the whole thing was baffling to him too. Still, that troubling look in her eyes hasn't disappeared yet
"Thanks for this," Dean said and tossed the photos in his car.
"Don't thank me, they're yours," she smiled.
Missouri stepped out of the house with Sam after making double sure there wasn't anything left in it. They didn't want Jefferson to fool them again into thinking that he was gone. "Well, there are no spirits in there anymore, this time for sure."
"Not even my mom?" Sam asked.
Missouri frowned and sadly shook her head, much to Sam's disappointment. "No."
"What happened?" He had to ask since he still wasn't sure. Alice was listening too but didn't turn around to acknowledge it.
"Your mom and Jefferson's spirit, they canceled each other out. Your mom destroyed herself goin' after the demon that Jefferson Cromwell had become." Missouri explained, none to Alice's surprise, at least with Jefferson being filled with so much hate and disdain that he ended up becoming the thing he had spent his whole life trying to defeat. The irony was not lost on her but she didn't laugh about it.
Sam looked puzzled. "Why would she do something like that?"
"Because...even she could tell that Jefferson shouldn't be allowed to exist in this world anymore." Missouri reached a hand up to his shoulder and saw his eyes starting to turn glassy. "Sam, I'm sorry," she apologized abruptly.
"For what?"
"You sensed him here, didn't you? Even when I couldn't."
Sam soon looked puzzled when the facts were laid out for him. He dreamt of Alice dying and he knew that Jefferson wasn't truly gone. But why did he know these things? "What's happening to me?" he pleaded.
"I know I should have all the answers, but I don't know." It was unfortunate and she could understand the fear that Sam must be feeling, knowing something is happening to his body but couldn't explain what it was.
"Sam. You and Alice ready?" Dean reminded them since it was about time to pull out and hit the road.
Sam gave him a wave and began to head towards the car as Alice got up to follow. She was stopped though when Missouri spoke to her.
"Honey, are you going to be alright?" She searched for answers behind Alice's eyes made of cold stone. They were impenetrable, giving off just as much emotion as her voice was. Totally flat.
"Jefferson's dead..this time for good. That's all I can hope for." Alice sighed and reached down to pick up her helmet.
Missouri was baffled for a moment until she moved her hand up and touched Alice's shoulder. A heaviness of emotions lashed out in a split second that was pitch black. Breathing was difficult and the air was thin and dull. There were still fractures of light but those were fading too and the water was gradually rising, murky black water that felt like sticky tar. Missouri was only touching Alice for a second before she couldn't take the suffocating emotions anymore. She pulled her hand away as if she had just burned herself and was now deadly pale and drained.
"Missouri?" Alice blinked a couple of times before realizing what she had done. "You okay?" she asked but stepped out of reach so she wouldn't get touched again.
Missouri breathed in deeply and shuddered a bit but quickly tried to pull herself together. "Don't you three be strangers." She attempted to smile to not make it so obvious but it didn't work. She saw the way Alice's eyes sharpened and bore through her like she was see-through.
"We won't..." Alice drew her words out suspiciously before turning around. She walked off towards her bike as the boys hopped in their car and started up the engine.
Alice sat slouched over in her chair as the dim room wrapped around her. She had dark circles forming under her eyes that were slightly bloodshot from the long hours she'd been awake. Her body was cold and sluggish but trapped in an unending routine of turning the pages of her journal and reading the small text inside. One page at a time, her eyes became desperate and heavier.
Her memories were on repeat from the time she saw Jenny's basement wall that had the odd scratches. Her family names and that one unknown name. Who was Jezebel? Why did Jefferson so obsessively write their names down but made that unknown person the center of attention? Not only that, but the way he wrote her name was weird. It looked like he ran over the same letters a hundred times and dragged them out to made it look wretched and twisted. Alice didn't know how to explain it...but it was like he wrote that name with great disdain.
Oddly enough, Alice had heard the name before but it was only out of luck. There was an entry in the Cromwell journal that mentioned that name. And after flipping through what felt like two hundred pages, she found the entry that only had twelve words written in it:
"I found Jezebel and figured out the truth. It's all her fault!" -J.C.
Back then, neither her nor Aiden knew what that meant and just shook it off. Because of the initials, they both thought that it was Jackson Cromwell who wrote it, their dad. But now...reading it had a different meaning. A meaning that Alice wasn't sure what to make of. She just didn't like it. Jefferson must've written it.
"Who the hell is Jezebel?" Alice mumbled a bit too loudly and looked up to the sound of shuffling sheets. Dean was still asleep and Sam wasn't even inside the motel room. He took the Impala an hour ago to start preparing for tomorrow's trip. Gathering food and supplies that would last them until the next town. He seemed to be just as restless as her.
Alice closed her hands over her eyes and groaned softly. She leaned her head back until she was looking at the wall behind her upside down. She stared blankly at the black corner and was half expecting Jefferson's demon to come rushing out from the shadows. He never did though. She and Aiden had been hunting him for so long that it was hard to believe that he was actually gone. This time for good. Her brother sure would have loved to see that man's final moment and give him one last chaotic laugh and a flip of the bird. She could imagine him doing that and it made her smile.
She popped her head back into place and cocked it side to side until she felt her muscles relax. Her eyes caught a glimpse of her photos on the table and stopped to just stare at them.
Aiden and her dad both had the same goofy grin that no one ever took seriously, while she and her mother shared these sharp and judgmental blue eyes that always seemed to scare the pants off of people. Those thoughts were only memories though. Memories that were frozen into a single burnt image. Single frames of happier times...when her family was still alive.
September 13, 1995
"Hey. Let me do it." Alice opened her hand and flexed her fingers for her brother to hand the lighter over.
Aiden stopped so hard that his body jostled forwards when he was about to toss the lit lighter onto the pile of wood. He cranked his head over his shoulder and saw Alice's outstretched hand, still flexing her fingers at him. "Why...?" he dragged his word out unnaturally long to get his point out. Never had Alice been the one to put the fire to their family members. It had always been him to do it. He did it with their dad, mom, and he was going to do it to Jenna until Alice spoke up...for once.
She didn't say anything and continued to hold her hand out. Totally expressionless.
Aiden rolled his eyes and tossed the lighter in the air for her to catch. "Look. If you wanna do it, that's fine. But why now?"
"It's because I'm done with this bullshit." Her face twisted up into a crude scowl while she tossed the lighter back and forth between her hands. "How many times are we gonna have to do this? I'm done, Aiden. I'm not doing this...stupid routine anymore."
Aiden cocked a brow and placed a hand on his hip. "Sounds like you think I'm stupid enough to get myself killed." He scoffed when he saw the look his sister was giving him. "You know what? Don't answer that. You're gonna end up hurting my feelings." He tried to make it sound as if he was offended but did a terrible job at it. He only did it though to get a reaction from her.
"Grow up."
"Hey, not everyone can be a cold badass like you," he said dramatically and rolled his eyes all the way back to his head. Alice promptly smacked him pretty hard in the arm but it only made him snicker. Which probably pissed her off more.
"Says the guy who was born with a few screws loose. You're too freakin' weird to do this job," she shot back fiercely.
"Then why am I still alive?" Aiden's grin never waned. He leaned in close and jabbed her in the side and made her jump.
Alice opened her mouth and glared but immediately slammed her lips close. Aiden wasn't smiling anymore. His face was hardened up like thick, cold ice. He didn't have his usual goofy grin on his face and his eyes were absolutely heavy. He was serious this time. A rare moment that always stunned her quiet like the dead. It honestly scared her a bit when he became this way.
"Ally..." his voice was unexpectedly deep and raspy. "Why don't you just tell me what you're really thinking?"
Alice opened her mouth and took in the blistering cold September air. It was freezing outside and the chill was only making her cuts and bruises worse. "You really don't get it? We're all we have left, Aiden. I'm not burning you, too." She then clenched her jaw and flicked on the lighter, tossing it onto the wood.
They both took a far step back when red hands reached out from the wood and coiled around the pile, wrapping Jenna's cloth body in flames. Her small framed stature soon disappeared in a pillar of dense smoke. They were no longer able to see her. Her smile faded upon her death and the memories burned up with the rest of her.
Aiden pulled his eyes to the ground and stuffed his hands into his pockets to try and beat the blistering bitterness that the fire couldn't even save them from. Because this wasn't the type of fire that was supposed to be warm. It was a cold one. A mournful one.
The fire popped and crackled but Aiden knew she only did that to hide the sound of her sniffling. He could even see what looked to be tears welling up in her eyes that she quickly hid by rubbing them away. Alice had never been someone to cry and he knew that she hated doing it. It frustrated her more than anything when she couldn't control it. But without, he probably would have never known her true feelings, and he's glad for it.
Aiden elbowed her in the side a couple of times until she finally got annoyed enough to elbow him back. He then reached over and grabbed her by the shoulder and gave her a side hug. "The hell are you talking about? No chance I'm gonna throw my sister to the wolves." He ran his hand up to her head and bobbed it back and forth. "I'm gonna live forever."
As their bodies burned away, all Alice had now were these frozen memories burned into paper. A stupid picture that meant absolutely nothing to her if they weren't with her in the flesh.
Silence haunted the darkroom when a fog rolled in, a thick white haze inside Alice's head that kept her stiffened in place. Slowly, her breathing hollowed and her stomach rolled in all sorts of directions until it twisted up into a painful knot. Her skin felt hot while tears filled her eyes and streaked down her face. Alice felt like she couldn't breathe even though she was taking in multiple gasps of air that made her lightheaded. The room began to shake and she abruptly sat up in her chair, staring intensely at the pictures in front of her as the image began to morph and twist until they weren't her family anymore. They were demons that resembled Jefferson. Alice let out a shriek of horror and felt her legs get trapped under the table and knock it over, sending her crashing against the ground and finally waking up Dean.
"What the...!" Dean thrashed under his sheets and quickly got them off and sat up at the speed of light. He reached for the lamplight and turned it on but spotted Alice on the floor. Her face was stained with tears and she was dangerously pale and hyperventilating. He didn't know what to do and sat there, stunned at what he was staring at until he came crashing back down to reality. "Alice?" He jumped out of bed and hurried towards her. He touched the side of her hot face and tried to focus her eyes on him. "Hey! Can you hear me? What's wrong? Alice."
Alice reached up to his shoulder and clutched his shirt. She was shaking like crazy and the tears just wouldn't stop. She clapped her hand over her mouth to hold back her muffled cries that sounded like struggled screams. She wanted to scream though. She gulped once and inhaled with a deep shudder before hiding her face in his shoulder.
Dean would've thought it was the end of the world when he heard her sobs that mimicked outcries of heartbreak. It was a sound so foreign to him that he never thought he would've heard from Alice. Her voice was so shrill that it pierced his ears and made them ring. He responded to that by wrapping his arms around her and putting his back to the wall. He ran his hand up and down her back and whispered close to her ear. "It's okay. You're going to be okay. You hear me? You're going to be alright."
He held her there, locked in a death grip, and had no intention of letting go until she stopped. He wasn't sure how long that was going to last though. His eyes drifted to the stuff on the ground and noticed that her phone was still turned on and had a picture on the screen. He saw the name 'Jezebel' on it.
Light flooded in from the window and they could hear the familiar rumble of the Impala pulling into the parking lot. A second later, Sam strolled through the door and stopped at what he walked in on. "What the hell happened?" He looked just as stunned as Dean was.
"I don't know. I woke up and just found her like this," Dean explained through Alice's muffled cries into his shirt.
Alice eventually managed to pull herself together but she wasn't the same afterwords. Her eyes were burned out and exhausted of all life. This time, she was more than willing to go to sleep and face the nightmares. The boys were happy that she was finally in bed since she really needed it, but they knew they needed to talk though, so Sam grabbed Alice's journal and headed outside with his brother.
"This is weird." Sam shook his head and flipped through the pages of the journal to find the one Alice was on. "I never thought I would see her like this."
"You're telling me." Dean leaned over towards the window and peeked in to make sure she was really asleep. By no one's surprise, she was out like a light.
After a few more pages, Sam found Jefferson's entry about Jezebel. "I don't even know where to begin on these notes. As far as I know, Jefferson never wrote anything about this Jezebel person before. It's just this one entry that dates back pretty far." He flipped ahead a couple of times and noticed something odd. "Also...this was the last time he ever wrote anything in the Cromwell journal." He could tell since everyone in that family made it a habit of writing their initials.
"Yeah. I got a hunch about that one," Dean said.
Sam's eyes grew. "What? You do?"
"Do you remember when Alice said that Jefferson wasn't always the way he was?"
"Yeah. She said he kinda changed overnight." It finally clicked for him and he slapped the book close. "And you think this was the cause? This Jezebel person?"
Dean shrugged but seemed pretty confident about his theory. "I'm thinking something spooked him pretty bad. And knowing their history...it must've been something big."
Sam felt his stomach grow sick. "I hate to think of what it was." He leaned against the door and placed the book under his chin.
"Not much we can look at right now," Dean joined him against the door. "And there's about what? A hundred Jezebel's in the world?" He lifted his hands and slapped them down at his side.
"Very few biblical ones though."
"Yeah. But for now...you think we can put this on the back-burner?"
Sam blinked and turned to him. "Why?"
"Come on, man. Did you not see her?" he explained and stepped away from the door. Sam noticed that he seemed to grow a bit anxious. "Alice just had a mental break-down less than an hour ago. I'm kinda worried right now."
"Yeah. I see what you mean, but what do you wanna do?"
"The only thing we can do. We look out for her. Make sure she's not gonna do anything stupid."
Sam frowned and looked away as something itched in the back of his mind. "Dean, I agree with you, but I think there may be more to this," he said and was quite gentle when he spoke, which was off-putting for Dean.
"Like...?"
"I don't know. PTSD, clinical depression, an anxiety disorder. You name it." Sam couldn't help but think a bit further into this. It felt like they were only scratching the surface of what that break-down was about. They been working with Alice for months now and never did she give them any hints that would lead up to this, not until this case came up and her whole attitude changed. She looked vulnerable, for once.
Dean fell silent and turned skeptical. "What? No. That's sounds nothing like our girl." He shook his head.
"Than how do you explain the break-down, huh? She constantly has nightmares about Aiden and I'm sure she has one's of Jenna. Alice has been hard-balling it for years...and I think everything's just now starting to catch up to her."
Dean was stunned for a second with his mouth hung open. "Come on. You can't be serious." His voice was weaker than before. It's not like he didn't believe what Sam said, because something definitely wasn't sitting right with him.
"I'm not saying she has those problems, okay? I just don't think we're seeing the whole picture." Sam was steadfast in his belief that something else was storming inside Alice's head to get a reaction like that.
Dean's chest felt heavy and he struggled to breathe deeply. "Fine, but that still doesn't change the plan," he said and tightened his jaw. "We're gonna have to keep a sharp eye on her for a while."