Careful What You Wish For: Season 1.5
The Road Less Traveled
Chapter One
The Blood Diamond
"Come on!" Dean pulled on her hand hard, almost unbalancing her. "Keep up! We need to keep moving!" His breath plumed in the frigid air. Blinking rapidly, he fought to keep icicles from forming on his eyelashes. The woman with him looked over her shoulder, deeper into the dark woods, and fought to keep pace.
Snow and ice crunched beneath their boots. Running through the Massachusetts woods in the winter was not Dean Winchester's idea of fun. Not when there was so much hinging on this escape, on getting out of the woods and back to civilization. She kept flagging; he constantly needed to urge her to move faster. They were still out there. Both of them knew it.
She started coughing, stumbling, tripping over her own feet. Struggling to breathe, she pulled on Dean's hand until he relented. A tree became her solace as Dean released her, and she slumped against it. Fighting for every breath.
"Jessie, please." Frantic, Dean's attention wandered all over the surrounding forest. They had minutes. If that. "We need to keep going."
She shook her head, leaning against the tree. Bright apples of color on her cheeks highlighted just how cold it was out, despite the insulated jacket she wore. Gasping for air, she tried to summon words, but ended up only wheezing softly at him. Waving her hand, she hoped it would communicate that she wanted him to escape. To run.
"No." Dean was firm, pacing a few feet away to get a better look between some trees, then returning to her side. "I'm not leaving you. We are both getting out of here, okay? Both of us. We just... we just need to get to a road, or something."
Both of them froze as snapping, snarling and ravenous yips and yowls rose in the forest. They'd caught her scent again. Dean wished fervently for a damned weapon. Sammy would come through, he reminded himself. Sammy always came through. Squaring his shoulders, he framed Jessie's face with his hands, forcing her to look at him.
"We are going to get out of this, understand? You and me. They're just dogs, right? Demon-possessed, super-powered bloodhounds, but fundamentally they're just dogs." Dean was telling himself that these weren't true Hellhounds on their trail. This was survivable. Especially if Sammy came through and nailed the demon holding the demon-dog leashes.
Jessie laid her chilly hands over Dean's, nodding. Even though the deep breath she took did nothing to steady her nerves, she let Dean pull her up off the tree. Pushing past the burning pain in her lungs was easier thought than actually done, and she could swear the yipping dogs were just getting closer. Getting in better shape would be the first thing on her to-do-list if she survived this. Right after destroying the gods-forsaken blood diamond that was at the center of this whole mess.
One Week Ago
The high-backed oak chair was stiff and uncomfortable. Her grandmother's lawyer had arranged the chairs in a very specific order: Ash, elm, teak, oak. Father, Mother, Elder Sister, and herself, seated in a semi-circle around the wide blackwood desk. Her grandmother's will was a short thing, the only family that had not been disowned by the eccentric old woman were those sitting in the office. They were also the only members of the family who had not turned away from the aulde ways of their ancestors. Jessie traced the carvings on the oak chairs arm, reminding herself that her beloved Gram wasn't gone or lost to her, just on a different plane of existence.
So far, her parents had gotten what they wanted: the family house on the outskirts of Salem, Massachusetts. Becky, her elder sister, was listening as ownership of the antiquities shop in town was bequeathed to her. In her delight, Becky grabbed her sister's hand and squeezed. It's what they'd always wanted, to own and run the shop they'd spent their life growing up in.
"And to my youngest granddaughter, Jessica Fernald, I bequeath the contents of my hope chest. May it's secrets aid you in your life to come." The lawyer laid down the paper and looked at them each in turn.
"Wait," Becky was the one to break the silence. "That's it for Jess? Just... the chest?"
"Becks. It's okay. You'll still let me work at the shop, right?" Jessie laughed as her sister looked incredulous.
"Of course, but... you.. you were Gram's favorite! Mr. Scarlotto, there has to be another page, right?"
"I'm afraid that's it, Miss Fernald. That's all Agatha had provisions for."
Their mother reached across to clasp both of her daughter's hands. "You have to trust that Mom had a reason for everything. Jessie, why don't you go check out the chest?"
Looking steadily at her mother, Jessie sighed. That was code-language for let the adults finish up. Twenty-five years old and she still felt relegated to a child's role. Grudgingly, she pushed up out of the old oak chair and left the study, being sure to gently close the ornate crystal doors behind her. Laying outside the door, Gram's Papillion lay forlorn on the floor. Seeing Jessie, the old dog picked up her head and wagged her fluffy, curled tail.
"Okay, Portia, you can come too." Stooping, she picked up the toy spaniel and cradled the little dog in her arms. Delighted at the attention, Portia wiggled and licked Jessie's face. Just like Gram, Portia always considered Jessie her favorite. Climbing the stairs, Jessie kept a running monologue to the pooch. "You know, I'm not upset that Becky got the shop, and I'm delighted my parents got the house, but I was hoping for, I dunno, something more. Like, maybe she'd ask me to take care of you, or I'd get the car, or something. It's not like Gram stashed a million dollars in her hope chest, right?"
The master bedroom would soon become her parents room. They'd be happy to move out of the condo and into the house. It wasn't grand, or huge, but it had everything her mother wanted: a garden, a garage, a dedicated altar space, and running through the backyard was one of the most powerful leylines in the form of Strongwater Brook.
Depositing Portia onto her grandmother's neatly made bed, Jessie knelt before the cedar hope chest at the foot. The dog curiously hopped from the bed, to the lid and sniffed around, helping Jessie inspect it. Rattling the knobs on the bottom, she figured that the drawers were fake and just decorative, but was surprised as one of them gave a little. It seemed to be locked, but she couldn't figure out how. Shooing Portia off the lid, Jessie began to dive through the contents. Like most hope chests, it contained linens for the most part, heirloom blankets that had been quilted by her grandmother, or perhaps even her greatgrandmother. At the bottom of the chest, folded inside a linen garment back was her grandmother's wedding dress, an elaborate thing of ivory satin and lace adorned with pearls. Reverently, Jessie laid it aside. There was slim-to-no chance of her ever getting to wear it. It would go to Becky first. At least Becky already had a fiance.
Rooting around in the bottom of the chest, she tried to find some secret latch or button that would release that bottom drawer. Portia whined at her for attention, pawing at the open lid.
"Look, give me five minutes, babygirl. I just wanna see if this thing will op- aha!" A springy section of the bottom clicked downward, but instead of opening that mysterious bottom drawer, it revealed another secret compartment nested into the bottom. Inside, lay a bundle wrapped in white silk. Lifting it free, Jessie found it surprisingly heavy. Whatever was in the bundle was nearly the size of her fist.
Portia whined again. This time, Jessie ignored the dog, engrossed in carefully unwrapping the object. "Holy shit..." she breathed as the silk fell away.
Blood red and indeed the size of her fist, Jessie was staring at an uncut gemstone. At first, she thought it must be a ruby, but as she turned it slightly, she found the color was nearly perfectly transparent. She could see her hand, refracted and distorted, through the other side. A diamond? A red diamond? The longer she stared at it, the more she got the impression that it too was staring back at her. Startling, Jessie looked to her left, having sworn that someone just whispered in her ear.
Footsteps on the stairs heralded her elder sister's arrival, with Becky calling up after her. Hastily, sloppily, Jessie rewrapped the gem, seized with a sudden urge to keep it hidden. Stowing it back in the secret compartment, she pressed the lid into place.
"Hey, Mom and Dad wanna know if you'd like to stay here tonight, so they can start prepping the condo for sale? Mom doesn't want to leave Portia alone." Becky beamed as she practically floated into the room. Pausing by the pile of fabric outside the hope chest, she paused and leaned down to touch the garment bag. "Oh, wow, is that?"
"Yeah, and you'd better wear it when you and Mason jump the broom." Jessie laughed, as a way of offering it over to her sister. "And of course, I'll stay."
"Seriously? Are you sure? Gram gave you everything in there?"
But Jessie could see what it would mean to her sister. After a second affirmation, Becky reverently gathered the garment bag up. For a long minute, it looked like Becky would cry, but instead she stood there, patting the garment bag like she would have pet Portia. In the quiet, it seemed weird, but just before the moment got awkward, Becky leaned over and kissed her sister's hair.
"You are the absolute, most awesome, wickedly cool, best sister in the universe." Turning, Becky ran down the stairs, calling for their parents. Jessie was left, sitting, staring at the chest, pondering the giant diamond hidden in the base. What was it? Why was it so well hidden? Contemplating the box, Jessie figured answers might be in the locked drawer, and resumed her search to find the locking mechanism.
Present Day
"Yes! The road!" Dean crowed as they slogged through a snowdrift. Being taller, he broke the trail for Jessie, turning once his boots hit solid pavement to help her slide down the embankment as well. She was shivering, but hadn't complained since her momentary breather. The baying of the demon-dogs had faded off behind them, but the two had left a trail even a blind person could follow through the snow.
The road offered cleaner and easier travel. Bare pavement meant that their tracks would be less easily seen.
"You still have that damned thing?" Dean suddenly asked, as if he were afraid she'd dropped it on their flight.
Nodding, Jessie patted the zippered front pocket of her jacket. "They're... not gonna let us go with this." She reminded him through gasps. "Mammon... is greed, and avarice.. they want it."
"We're going to destroy it, and kill him, before they get to it. Sammy will come through."
"You have an awful lot of faith in your brother." Mutually, they picked a direction and started walking, away from the demon-dogs, trying to be as fast as possible, but needing to catch their breath again.
"He's never let me down." Dean flashed her a grin, then sobered up. "Sorry." He'd forgotten. Her sister was possessed. Her parents were possessed. Hell, even that cute little Gizmo-looking dog was possessed. Had been possessed.
He still felt bad for punting it.
Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, Dean pulled her close to his side as they walked. He told himself it was for warmth. "We'll save them, Jessie, I swear. You too."
He heard a car coming, and automatically stuck his thumb out for a ride. Anything to put more distance between them and those demon-dogs.
