November 2
Sam watched the darkened miles fly by as Dean accelerated his Baby.
He'd surreptitiously listened to the voice mail Jessica had sent him several times just to hear the sound of her voice. That sweet female tone saying that she loved him. He'd thrown her a little by disappearing on no notice with his brother- a stranger to her- with no word as to where they were going or when they'd be back. She didn't sound angry in the voice mail. He didn't think there'd be too much damage control to perform when he returned. She was too good to him. Too good to be true, really. He missed her. Even with only a few days separation, he could feel himself pining for her.
As for his part, Dean looked tired and reflective. Sam announcing that he wanted to return to Stanford instead of following Dad's trail to Colorado had taken the wind out of his sails.
They'd been driving in silence for a half hour- each lost in his own thoughts.
There was an easiness to the way they interacted with each other. A way of being together that worked even with no verbal cues between them. They instinctively knew what the other was thinking. What the other needed.
Except with this.
Dean didn't understand that as familiar as this foray with his brother had been- Sam needed Jessica. He needed Stanford and normalcy. This case had reminded him of how much he hated the adrenaline spike of horror when shit went sideways. How much he hated the bumps and bruises and sore muscles. How much he hated feeling like one of them or both of them was going to die.
He wanted to go back to his own life. He'd always regret on some level that Dean couldn't seem to be a part of it- but for the first time he could remember, he was content. He was secure. He was... happy?
He wished with all his might that Dean could feel that way. Content and secure and grounded. That was his wish for his brother...to find some semblance of what Sam, himself, had found.
He wished him Love.
November 2
The Demon Brady tucked the silken white slip into the inside breast pocket of his coat and entered the bottom floor of Sam's apartment building.
The Winchesters were heading back. He could sense it. He knew that Sam would not skip out on the interview he had set up for Monday.
They'd just miss the electrical storm caused by the demonic ritual Brady had performed to ramp up his powers. The ozone was still strong in the air. It actually felt like there may be another one gathering.
He breathed it in, tasting the power. Feeling the high that came from knowing he was about to let out every part of his nature that he'd locked down for most of his stay in Tyson Brady's body. He was going to hurt that pure, innocent girl. She was almost like a virgin sacrifice being sent to appease an angry volcano.
Tale as old as time... Beauty and the Beast, he thought wryly.
Brady climbed the staircase and knocked on the door.
He heard Jessica call "Just a minute!"
She opened it and smiled warmly, clearly a little surprised to see him. "Sam isn't here. He should be back tomorrow."
Brady nodded. "Hey, can I come in?"
"Sure." She swung open the door. The smell of baking chocolate chip cookies hit his senses.
"Oh that smells awesome!" He replied, not having to fake the enthusiasm. Who didn't love cookies?
"I'm making some for Sam. They're his favorite." She turned her back to him to walk to the old stove. She put on an oven mitt and took out a tray. "If I leave these in for like a minute too long, they burn, you know?"
"Oh, I know." Brady replied, eyeing her ass in the fitting pair of cut offs she wore. Her tanned legs strong and lithe. He wanted them wrapped around him.
"Burning a batch is such a...waste." he said, trailing the last word.
Jess set the cookies on the stove top to cool and slid in another tray, noting the little egg timer she had going on the counter. "It really is."
"So where is Sam?"
She turned around and took off the mitt, her face open and innocent. "Would ya believe his brother came into town."
"Dean?"
"Yeah! His brother Dean!" She snorted. "Do you believe it... after all this time? I was starting to feel like he was a figment of Sam's imagination."
Brady walked over and poked his head into the fridge to grab a beer.
Jess sat down at their little bistro table.
God she was beautiful. Almost angelic at times with that glowing skin and blonde hair that caught the light like spun gold. He wondered how often Sam was buried in her and felt unworthy. Like he was an earthbound creature and she was divinity.
Brady popped the beer can open so hard he broke off the tab. He tossed it into the sink with a little aluminum jangle. "How'd that go?" He asked, taking a sip.
"Well it was a little...awkward. ...kinda weird...he broke into the house in the middle of the night so it's not like I had much warning to get an impression of him. He said their dad went missing off on a binge drinking hunting trip." She tilted her head, her big blue eyes suddenly sad. "This sounded like it was a recurrent theme."
"Broke into your house. What an asshole."
"Kinda...but...Sam...Sam needs family." She said with her usual good nature. "It's good. I think they'll reconcile."
Brady studied her. "What do you think of him?"
She shrugged. "He's nothing like Sam. That's for sure." She traced a nail across the table absently. "But I want him to have family. I know he loves his brother."
Brady nodded. "That he does."
He settled across from her at the little table and took a sip. Their eyes met for a moment and he saw Jessica have a flash of something uncomfortable in her eyes before she looked away. Some gut sense that prey got before the lion springs. Women were taught to ignore that danger sense, shove it away to be polite. Brady knew that Jess, being a nice girl, would brush that little internal warning aside.
"So what did you drop by for?" The timer pinged and she got up and took out her second batch.
"Ah, bored..." Brady replied. "Wanted to see if Sammy could come out and play."
She set the tray on the counter and her hand slipped. She hissed as it touched the side of her wrist. "Ow! Dammit."
"Better run that under cold water." Brady offered helpfully.
Jessica turned on the tap. "I'm such such a clutz sometimes."
She ran her palm under the stream until the pain subsided and she shut the water off. "Barely stings. I think I got lucky."
Brady stood up and meandered into the living room doorway. He noted a book open on Sam's antique desk.
"What are you reading?" He asked, heading over.
Jess followed him. "Hamlet."
"Ahhh." He settled in the chair and read the paragraph that the student copy was opened to:
But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.
He paused thoughtfully and took another swig of beer. "The only way to heaven is the steep and thorny path."
Jess shook her head. "You're such a cynic. Although I'm apt to agree sometimes." She paused and glanced around the room. "Are you cold? It's freezing in here."
Jessica crossed her arms and walked over to close a window.
The wind had picked up outside with the sound of trees being lashed as the second storm of the night blew in out of nowhere. Jess looked up in time to watch a jagged streak of lightning split the sky. "Wow!"
The lights flickered off.
"Powers gone." Brady flicked his lighter on so they could see their surroundings. "You have candles around?"
Jess tipped her head. "Ummm. I'm not sure."
She pulled out her cell to use the light of it to see and it beeped and the screen went black. "Seriously? This was a full battery, I swear."
Brady didn't bother to conceal his black eyes in the darkness. "Strange things happen during storms. I hope you have the laptop unplugged. Power surge will toast everything."
Jessica went into her bed room to look. "No... it's unplugged."
The lighting lashed and lit up the sky again Brady could feel the power coursing through his veins. He felt elated. Jessica walked back out eyes straining in the darkness. "Tyson?" She asked, trying to ascertain where he was.
Brady slid up to her silently in the dark. He stood next to her, reveling in the feel of the heat coming off her skin near him.
He took her arm and she startled. "Right here." He said, "don't trip."
"Same goes for you. I wonder how long the power..." the lights flicked back on abruptly.
Brady smiled. "See? No time at all."
"Oh shit. I forgot to turn off the oven. Hang on. I'm gonna end up blowing us all up."
"That would be a shame." Brady said with irony. "Wouldn't want to burn down the apartment."
"No," she said "I definitely wouldn't."
"You ever think how horrible it would be to die in a fire?" He asked, his tone still casual.
Jessica grabbed a spatula and started to take the cookies off the tray one by one to stack on a plate.
She popped a cookie in her mouth. "It would suck." She replied around chewing. "You have to pray the smoke inhalation gets you first, you know. And that's not fun either."
"You can smell the flesh sizzle. " Brady replied.
"Ewww. Tyson, I'm eating. Shut up and have a cookie." She popped her head around the corner and tossed him a cookie.
He laughed at the unexpectedness of the move but managed to catch it in one hand. It was still soft and warm so it crumbled in his grip. Reduced to its parts. Butter and sugar. No matter what something appeared to be when you combined the ingredients, the sum was still merely what went into it. People seemed like light and life but really, when you squeezed them hard enough, they simply crumbled into nothing more than meat and bone. Or ash.
Brady took a bite of the his wilted cookie. It was sweet and soft and so warm.
Just like Jess.
