Author's Note: As always, the very first thing I want to say is how grateful I am for all of the reviews/favorites/follows on this story! I will never stop thanking all of you for your amazing support. Maybe I'm being sappy, but I honestly feel that I've made some true friends throughout this journey so far. So, this chapter is based pretty heavily on Season 1, Episode 16 "Shadow", but I've made a lot of changes to it. Obviously I skipped right over "Scarecrow" so Sam never met Meg, but I'm actually a pretty big fan of Meg (not so much Season 1 Meg, but she definitely grew on me later on in the series) plus she does wind up becoming an important character in Supernatural so I meddled with things and brought her in. You'll obviously notice the changes I've made, but I wanted to bring up the fact that they're intentional and made in order to move the story along a little. I hope y'all enjoy this latest chapter!
"I can't believe you messed with my car. Again," Dean muttered for what had to be the millionth time.
"Oh my god, dude," Sam rolled his eyes. "It took you literally three seconds to fix it! Get over it!"
"My car, Sam," Dean growled. "You messed with my car."
"I got that the first seventeen hundred times," Sam sighed.
"I don't know that I did, though," Jess teased. "Maybe you should say it again? Just to be sure?"
"You mind your business," Dean scolded, but they could all tell there was no heat behind it and they all wound up giving in and laughing.
"Let's go over everything one more time," Jess suggested after a minute.
"There's been two murders in the last two weeks. A middle-aged guy and a twenty-something girl," Dean didn't mind repeating this again. They were all of the opinion that there was no such thing as being too prepared going into a hunt. "At both crime scenes the doors and windows were locked and the alarms were on. Plus the victims were torn apart. Normally I might think werewolf, but..."
"But werewolves or anything else corporeal would've broken the door or window, and definitely would've triggered the alarm," Sam finished.
"So, what are we thinking?" Jess asked. "Demon? Ghost?"
"Could be either," Dean agreed. "I was thinking, since there's three of us, we could split up a little. You two can go check out the dead girl's apartment, I'll ask some questions over at the place she worked."
"What place would that be?" Sam asked suspiciously.
"A place," Dean replied.
"Strip club or bar?" Sam and Jess both asked at the same time.
"Why does it have to be...okay, bar," Dean admitted with a lopsided grin. "C'mon, we can cover more ground if we split up. Makes sense."
"Right, that's exactly why you suggested it," Sam teased. "It has nothing to do with going to a bar and trying to hook up with some hot girl."
"You know me, Sammy. Always a professional!" Dean slapped his brother on the shoulder.
"It's Sam," he corrected. "I'm too eager to get rid of you to argue about it. God knows if I have to hear you complain about this damn car one more time I'm gonna smother you in your sleep. Then I can sell the car on eBay and get something newer, better on gas."
"I swear to god I will haunt you until the day I die," Dean warned. "I don't care what I have to hang onto, I will find a way to haunt your ass and make your life a living hell."
"Stop teasing your brother," Jess cuffed Sam on the back of the head. "You know you love this car almost as much as he does."
"Ruining all my arguments, babe!" Sam complained, rubbing the back of his head dramatically.
A few miles later Dean pulled the Impala up in front of an apartment building. Sam and Jess piled out, got an EMF meter out of the trunk, and checked their pistols one last time before tucking them into their waistbands and waving Dean away. They walked up to the building and pushed the buzzer for the landlord's apartment.
"Can I help you?" a woman's voice crackled through the speaker.
"Um, yes ma'am," Sam answered politely. "My name is Sam. This is my associate, Jess. We're executives with the alarm company. We were told that the police were through with Meredith's apartment, and we were wondering if we might be able to take a look around?"
"Come on in," the door buzzed and Sam pulled it open.
They were met by a short woman glaring up at them with arms crossed.
"Alarm company, huh?" she asked. "Well, I hate to tell you this, but your alarms apparently don't work all that well."
"That's why we're here, ma'am," Jess assured her. "We want to look over the system and see what went wrong. We never want anything like this to happen again."
"This way," the landlady motioned for them to follow her up the stairs. She came to one of the apartments and unlocked it. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would've said it was an animal attack. The way poor Meredith was torn apart...I don't know what kind of monster you'd have to be to do something like that."
"Was there any chance that she maybe let her attacker in?" Sam suggested. "Maybe someone close to her who would've known the alarm code?"
"She couldn't have," the landlady explained. "The chain was on the door. Plus I'd seen Meredith come running in on the night she was killed. It looked like she was scared of something."
"Well we appreciate you letting us look around," Jess thanked her.
"Make sure to let me know when you're done so I can lock up," with that the landlady left them alone in the blood-stained apartment.
Sam pulled out the EMF meter, and it almost immediately started to whine. He looked hopeful at first, but then grimaced.
"Power lines," he frowned. "So this could be an actual reading or it could be nothing. Awesome."
"We can look for traces of sulfur," Jess said. "Ectoplasm, maybe?"
"I have a feeling that it wasn't a ghost," Sam shook his head. "For one thing, they're generally bound to a certain area and Meredith and this other guy don't live anywhere near each other. Sometimes they can possess people, but as soon as they leave the person they're possessing they get yanked right back to where they started. I guess it's possible they could tear the person apart from the inside out, though."
"No," Jess considered for a moment, looking around. "I took a class on analyzing blood spatters back at Stanford. Before I decided on becoming a pediatrician, I was thinking about maybe becoming an ME and working with the police. Kind of a 'one thing to another' type of jump, I know. Anyway, it was only one class, so I could be wrong, but I don't think the blood spatter is right. If a person was sort of exploded from the inside out, it would be different. Like, more pooled in one spot with spatters going out in all directions. This, though...I don't know."
"Do you think we can find any tape or string around here?" Sam was looking curiously at the rug. "These spots look different from the rest. Almost organized."
"I'm sure we can find something," Jess felt a little guilty for going through the dead woman's things, but she figured Meredith would probably forgive them, seeing as they were trying to find the thing that killed her.
"Here," Sam turned up a roll of masking tape from a junk drawer in the kitchen.
He knelt down and started connecting the spots of blood with the tape. When he'd placed the last piece, he stood up and moved back to get a better look. Sure enough, it was a symbol of some sort. One he'd never seen before, though.
"What is that?" Jess wondered.
"I don't know, but I bet that when we find out we'll know what we're dealing with," Sam took a picture of it with his phone and then started tearing the tape back up. "Let's walk over to the library and see if we can find anything before we go meet up with Dean."
Three hours later a very frustrated Jess and an even more frustrated Sam wove their way between people in the packed bar. They eventually found Dean exactly where they'd expected to find him. Leaned up against the bar, flirting with the admittedly very hot bartender. A slow grin broke out on Jess's face.
"Watch this," she said to Sam.
Jess sauntered over to Dean and wrapped her arms around him. Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she leaned into him and smiled up
"Hey, baby," she drawled. "There you are! "
"Jess?" Dean's face was a picture of shock. "What..."
"You left your phone at my place when you left," Jess snaked Dean's phone out of his pocket and waved it around in front of his face. Turning to the bartender, she put a "dumb blonde" look on her face and put her left hand in her face. "Can you believe I get to be engaged to this sexy guy? He's a little forgetful, but so damn cute!"
"Jess!" Dean yelped.
"I know, I know," Jess continued with the dumb blonde routine. She could hear Sam gasping for breath behind them from laughing so hard. "It's okay though, sweetheart. Everybody gets forgetful sometimes."
"Excuse me," Dean shot to his feet and grabbed Jess's wrist. Dragging her away from the bar, he finally noticed Sam and fixed him with a glare. Once they were out of the bartender's earshot he whirled on them and hissed, "What the hell was that?!"
"What was what?" Jess asked innocently.
"I was about thirty seconds away from getting her to take me back to her place once her shift was over!" Dean complained.
"Boo hoo," Sam teased. "Jess and I just spent the last three hours trying to research a damn symbol that doesn't even seem to exist. Bobby's working on it too, but even he hasn't found anything yet. Meanwhile, you're hanging out at a bar, hitting on the bartender. Did you even do any work?"
"Picking girls up is a lot of work, thank you," Dean muttered. "Fine. Yes, I asked some questions, but no one remembers Meredith acting weird or anything the day she died or the few days before. She came in, worked her shift, and left."
"Her landlady said that she was running when she got back to her building," Sam told him. "So whatever she was running from had to have happened between here and there."
"Hey, Dean," a girl with short blond hair sauntered up to them.
"Meg," Dean grinned. "This is my brother Sam and his fiancee Jess."
"Awesome," she smiled. "So, I'm getting ready to head home, if you...y'know."
"Absolutely," Dean put his arm around her waist. "Mind if we pick this back up tomorrow, guys? It's not like we can do anything more at this point anyway."
"You're hopeless, Dean. Completely hopeless," Sam rolled his eyes. "Go. Have fun. We'll get a room at one of the nearby motels. You know how to find us."
"See ya!" that was all Dean needed to hear.
Meg's apartment was only a few blocks from the bar, so she and Dean walked back. As soon as they entered her apartment building, she pushed Dean against the wall and started kissing him. They had just made it up the stairs and into her apartment (in about three times the amount of time it should've taken) when Meg's phone rang.
"Damn," she whined. She glanced at the caller ID and looked at Dean apologetically as she answered it. "My brother. What is it...are you sure...okay, see you in a few. Dean, I'm so sorry. I have to go. I can't really explain, but I have to leave. Next time, huh?"
"Uh, yeah," Dean shifted uncomfortably. "My car is back at the bar. I can drive you if you need."
"No!" Meg answered, almost too enthusiastically. "It's a family thing. No offense."
"None taken," now he was starting to feel suspicious. What woman gets a call from her brother and immediately gives up a night with Dean Winchester? Granted, there was a first time for everything, but still. "Seriously, it's no big deal. I'll just head back to the bar."
"Great," Meg led him towards the door.
Just before he left the living room, Dean saw something that put every single one of his hunter instincts on alert. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before. Then again, he had been sort of otherwise occupied. He let his eyes dart around the entire room quickly, taking in the pictures all over the place. Meg wasn't in a single one of them. Most of the pictures were of a girl with long brown hair. In most of them she was with someone, but she was in every one except maybe two.
"See you around, then," Meg said when they got back outside and she started walking in the opposite direction of the bar. Dean took a few steps in the direction he was supposed to be going and ducked into a doorway. This could be nothing, but his years of experience were telling him that it was something. Once he was sure that Meg was far enough ahead, he started tailing her.
Sure enough, she had only gone about six blocks when she looked around suspiciously and snuck into an abandoned building covered in graffiti. Family thing his ass! Dean made his way quietly into the building and came to a locked door. He considered picking it and taking the stairs, but decided at the last second not to. If Meg was going to this much trouble to be secretive, he didn't want to run into her. Instead, he peeked into the elevator shaft and, seeing that there were enough hand and footholds, started climbing. Reaching the top, he peeked through the doors.
Meg was standing in front of some sort of altar, talking into a bowl filled with blood. What was weirder is the fact that she was saying the word "Father" into it. With one last "yes, sir," Meg blew the candles on the altar out and left the way she'd come. Dean pulled himself the rest of the way out of the elevator shaft and crept over to it. Prominently in the middle was the symbol Sam had texted him. The one that had been in Meredith's apartment.
"What the hell is this?" Dean wondered. He looked at the other things on the altar, hoping to get some sort of clue. There was a book lying open, and he paged through it. It only took a few seconds to find what he was looking for. A page on how to summon and control something called a daeva. Apparently it was some sort of ancient shadow demon. Armed with that much information, Dean figured he'd pushed his luck enough for one night and made his way out of the abandoned building as quietly as possible.
He bolted back to the bar and wasn't really all that surprised to see that the Impala was still where he'd left it. He peeked inside for a second, just to be sure, but he didn't see Sam or Jess. Sam, the freakin' human Sasquatch, tended to be pretty easy to spot in a crowd, so he was confident that since he couldn't see him, Sam and Jess weren't there anymore. Dean did allow himself a smirk. Apparently his nagging had sunk in. Otherwise, Sam most likely would've taken the car. Snagging a phone book and looking up the first motel in it didn't take long, and only a few minutes later he was pulling into the parking lot. He noted with some satisfaction that it would only be a quick walk from the motel to the abandoned building.
"I figured it out!" Dean burst into the room after getting an extra key from the guy in the office.
"Jesus, Dean! How do you always do this?!" Sam demanded. "Don't you believe in knocking?"
"I will after this!" Dean obediently covered his eyes. Of course he would walk in on them having sex. That was just rubbing salt in the wound at this point. If this had been during their teenage years he would either be peeking between his fingers or just wouldn't have covered his eyes at all, but Jess was different. She was actually important to him. "In my defense, you could've texted me or left something on the door or seriously anything."
"We expected you were going to be busy for a while!" Sam snapped.
Jeez, what did he have to be cranky about? At least he hadn't been shut down completely. They'd had a solid hour and a half from the time he'd left the bar until now. He had no sympathy.
"We're decent," Jess announced a moment later.
Since they lived in such close quarters "decent" meant something a bit different to them than it would to most people. To most people it would be embarrassing and uncomfortable, but Dean wasn't at all surprised when he uncovered his eyes and Jess was moving across the room in her underwear and the Smurfs shirt she'd been wearing the first time he met her. It was her preferred sleep shirt. Sam, not surprisingly, was still in bed with the covers pooled in his lap.
"What happened to Meg?" Sam was still scowling at him.
"That's what I have to tell you," Dean took the beer that Jess offered. "Meg isn't what she seems. The thing we're dealing with? A daeva. Meg's got an altar in this old, abandoned building that she's using to summon and control these things. I didn't want to hang around too long, in case she came back, but I figured I had enough that you could look up more about them."
"Me?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "Why do I need to research them?"
"Because," Dean explained. "You're my geek-boy little brother. It's what you do."
"I haven't been your 'little' brother since I was sixteen," Sam grumbled, finally getting out of bed. "Fine. What did you say these things were?"
"The book said it was a daeva," Dean repeated. "I guess it's some sort of ancient shadow demon. Whatever that means."
Sam tapped at his computer for a few minutes. Jess walked behind him and put her arms around him and her chin on his shoulder. He reached up unconsciously and took one of her hands. Honestly, he didn't know how he'd survived without Jess. She just made everything about his life better. Even hunting, which he'd come to hate with a passion, wasn't so bad as long as she was here. Of course, it was also about a hundred times more stressful, but there was no doubt that Jess could more than take care of herself on a hunt.
"Here we go," Sam finally announced. "It looks like a daeva, or shadow demon, is exactly what it sounds like. It's a demon that can only be seen by its shadow. They're violent, even by demon standards. That altar you saw is used to harness their power and bind you to them, but it's almost never been used before."
"Is there anything in there on how to kill them?" Dean asked.
"No," Sam said after a quick scan. "My best guess would be to destroy the altar, though. If they're not bound here anymore, they have no reason to stay."
"Let's do it, then," Dean reached for their weapons bag.
"Hey, whoa, hold on," Sam slapped his hand away. "Dude, did you not hear a single thing I just said? These daevas are dangerous. More dangerous than what we're used to. Plus we'll be dealing with Meg, who has to be some sort of powerful witch or something in order to have the ability to bind these things. I'm kind of partial to not being ripped apart, so let's take a night and get some rest."
"I think Sam's right," Jess agreed. "It's been a long day. Not all of us had a nice, relaxing night at the bar."
"Hey, I worked," Dean argued. "I'm the one who figured out what these things are! Not to mention getting not one, but two phone numbers from hot girls."
"One of whom happened to be a crazy daeva summoning witch," Sam pointed out.
"And you actually did only get one number," Jess added. "The bartender never gave you hers."
"We don't know she's a witch," Dean reminded them. "I mean, she's most likely a witch. Or possibly a demon, I guess. I'm still counting the bartender as a win, though! She was about to give me her number until you started hanging all over me. She could've been my soul mate, for all you know. You're gonna feel bad if she was."
"Soul mate?" Sam laughed. "Dean, you don't even believe in soul mates."
"Doesn't matter!" Dean insisted. "Either way, I don't think we should wait. Who knows when Meg is gonna send these things out to kill someone else? If we wake up tomorrow and hear that someone else was torn to shreds we're going to feel like crap."
"Why do you have to be so damn reasonable sometimes?" Sam wondered. "Fine. What do we know about protection from demons?"
"Bobby says that iron will repel them," Dean thought about it. "I don't think that's going to do us any good, though. You can't exactly fight a shadow."
"So we go in with a little bit of everything and hope for the best. Great," Sam groaned.
"Let's get ready. We're on the move in ten," Dean dropped into the professional, Marine-like mindset that Dad had drilled into him. He started loading and checking his weapons, and saw Sam and Jess get dressed and start doing the same. He hesitated, but only for a second. This decision was going to make him pretty unpopular, but it was still the right one. "Jess...you're on the bench for this one."
"Excuse me?" Jess fixed him with a glare that would've had most people in a puddle on the floor, begging for forgiveness.
"Dean's right," Sam agreed, earning himself his own icy glare from the love of his life. "I don't want you on this one either, babe."
"So we're back to babying me every time you two get a little nervous?" Jess asked coldly.
"I don't even want Sam on this one," Dean pointed out. "We're not babying you. This is something none of us have dealt with before, and Sam and I are the more experienced hunters. Plus, we're going into a building with limited access. The fewer people on this hunt, the better our chances of getting in and out stealthily. None of that is babying you. It's all just logical planning."
"Sam!" Jess looked up at him, but his face was just as set as Dean's was.
"I'm sorry, hon," he shook his head. "I agree with my brother. We're not anywhere near prepared enough for this hunt. I'd rather you stay back here and be pissed at me than come with us and wind up dead."
"Wow. This is just great," Jess started to pace back and forth while Sam and Dean continued getting ready. "You two are going to have to start trusting me on the more difficult hunts eventually, you know."
"We do trust you," Dean checked his pistol one last time and tucked it into his waistband. He straightened up and looked directly at her. "This has nothing to do with trust. It has everything to do with being too complicated for someone who's still a fairly new hunter. I get that you're pissed about it, but that's my decision and it's not going to change."
"Who the hell died and made you the boss?" Jess snapped. She knew perfectly well that on a hunt, both she and Sam deferred to Dean, though. They were like a small Special Forces team and Dean was the team leader.
"Sam, let's go," Dean didn't bother to answer Jess. "Move out."
"I'm sorry, babe," Sam leaned down to give Jess a kiss. She wanted to deny him, but she wasn't that pissed. If this was as dangerous as they were claiming, she wasn't going to let him go into it thinking she hated him. "I swear, I'll make it up to you. Stay safe. We'll be back. I promise."
Without any more hesitation, he followed Dean out of the motel room. The guilt over ganging up against Jess was probably going to eat at both of them when they were done, but for now they were in full hunter mode. Dean led the way back to the abandoned building. They were just coming around the corner when Dean grabbed Sam and yanked him back into a doorway. Meg was just slipping back into the building.
"There's an elevator shaft to the right as soon as we go in," Dean said softly. "You go first. Climb up to the top floor. I'll be right behind you. There are shelves and boxes all over the place, so we should be able to get in without being seen."
"You should go up first," Sam argued. "I'm too big. If I slip, I'll take both of us down."
"You won't slip," Dean insisted. "This isn't a discussion, Sam."
He sighed, but slipped into the graffiti-covered building and started climbing up the elevator shaft all the same. Once Dean had his overprotective streak working overtime, it was best just to go along with him. Sam reached the top floor and quietly boosted himself out of the elevator shaft. He could see the blonde from the bar standing at the altar Dean had described. He pulled his pistol and flicked the safety off, waiting until she moved slightly so that the small click wouldn't be heard. Dean pulled himself out of the elevator shaft behind Sam and motioned in the direction he wanted him to go.
They both fell easily into the unconscious way they had of being able to move around each other without saying a word. A glance from Sam. A raised eyebrow from Dean. That was all they needed to communicate. They were dead silent as they slowly crept forward.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to take the stairs boys?" Meg laughed, not even turning.
Sam and Dean looked at each other in surprise. There was no way she could've heard them. Still, there was no point in hiding anymore so they moved closer, guns still pointed at her.
"It might've been," Dean answered. "But I don't make a habit of waltzing right in the door when I know there's a witch waiting for me."
"Witch?" Meg laughed again. She turned to look at them and seemed utterly unfazed by the fact that she had two pistols pointed at her face. "Honey, I'm no witch. I'm much, much worse."
Her eyes went black and she flicked a hand, sending Sam and Dean's guns flying across the room. They both reached for backup weapons, but Meg just laughed again. Dean was getting really tired of hearing her laugh.
"I don't think so," she warned.
Before they knew what was happening, something with sharp claws was on them. One threw Dean across the room where he hit the wall headfirst, while the other sliced at Sam. He managed to step back and avoid the worst of it, but still wound up with three long scratches down his face and arm. It howled in frustration and threw him across the room too. His head slammed into one of the shelves and after that everything went black.
Meg wasted no time dragging the Winchester brothers over and tying them up. Even with the hits they'd taken, they weren't likely to be unconscious for long. Sure enough, she'd only finished tying the last knot a minute or two before Dean started to stir. Moments later, Sam shook himself awake too. Meg leaned back against the altar and smiled widely at them.
"Well, well, the mighty Winchester boys all trussed up," she mocked. "This worked out even better than I'd hoped. My daevas are proving to be awfully useful."
"A demon summoning a bunch of demons," Dean sniffed. "Seems a little redundant to me. So yeah, you got us. What now? You want us to sit around here and look pretty?"
"That's one idea," Meg shrugged. "But no. You're bait. Just like those two people I had the daevas kill were bait."
"Bait? Bait for what?" Sam asked. He already had a pretty good idea of what for, but he wanted to keep Meg talking. He'd worked a small knife out of his pocket and was starting to saw at the ropes around his wrists. A glance over to Dean showed that he was doing the same thing.
"Your father, of course," Meg answered. "He's after someone very important to me and I plan on stopping him before he can get any closer. What better way to draw John Winchester out than by using his children?"
"My god, you really are that stupid," Dean smirked. "We may have fallen into your trap, but there's no way our Dad will. He's too smart for that. When he does come, he won't be caught off guard."
"I guess we'll have to wait and see," Meg still looked smugly confident.
"So this 'someone' who's so important to you," Sam was almost through the ropes. Just another minute or so. "Let me guess. He's a demon, too? Yellow eyes? Likes destroying families and killing women? What's so special about him, anyway?"
"You have your father. I have mine," Meg said, still lounging back against the altar.
"Wait, Yellow Eyes is your father?" Dean asked disgustedly. He thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't want to take his eyes off of Meg just yet.
"Is it so hard to understand that I'd be loyal to my father the way you are to yours?" Meg finally pushed herself up and crouched in front of Dean. He stopped sawing at the ropes around his wrists and quickly tucked the knife up into his sleeve.
Now that Meg had moved, Dean was positive he could see movement. She was right in his face, so he still couldn't turn to look, though. For all he knew it could be those damned shadow demons again.
"I'm protecting my family just like you would," Meg hissed.
"What makes you think we won't find a way to warn our Dad?" Sam asked.
"You won't have a chance," Meg's smile was back. "You don't have to be alive to be bait, you know."
The shadow demons reared up behind Meg again and both brothers started tearing harder at the ropes. They were close, but not close enough. The daevas lunged towards them and they both cringed. Dean was frantic, but not for his own sake.
"Sammy!" he yelled, and the amount of pain in his voice just wasn't bearable. He'd failed his most important mission and his punishment was going to be having to watch as his little brother was torn apart. He yanked so hard on the ropes that he almost expected to hear his wrists snap. He would've gladly torn them both off to get between the daeva and Sam, though.
"Hey!" a shout came from behind both Meg and the daevas, making them all turn. "Leave my boys alone."
Jess didn't give any more warning before she reached for the altar and flipped it, destroying everything on it. There was a split second where they all just looked at each other. Then the daevas attacked. Meg screamed as they started to drag her across the room. She was thrown straight through the boarded up windows and the three hunters heard a sickening crunch as she landed three stories below.
"Oh my god!" Sam was looking at Jess in awe.
"Not a word," she glared at both her fiancee and his brother. She strode over and grabbed the knives out of both of their hands, then moved a few steps away to look at both of them.
"Uh, honey?" Sam asked nervously. "You gonna untie us?"
"Actually, you two are right where I want you for the moment," Jess crossed her arms. "You should both be thanking god that I don't listen to you."
"We are, believe me," Dean offered quickly. "We..."
"I am not done yet," Jess snapped. Both boys hung their heads sheepishly. "That whole excuse about it being something brand new is exactly why I should've been on this hunt with you. You needed all the help you could get and instead you went off half-cocked and almost got yourselves killed."
"Baby," Sam tried this time.
"Still not done," Jess raised her voice above whatever he'd been planning to say. "I can't say it any clearer than this. We. Are. A. Team. That means we're all equal and we make decisions together. You don't get to leave me behind anymore just because you think it's too dangerous. I think I've proven that I'm a good enough hunter to have at least that much respect."
Sam and Dean both fidgeted uncomfortably. They both knew she was right, but they also knew that their protective instincts weren't going to go away that easily. Still, Jess was kind of holding all the cards right now.
"This is the part where you two say 'yes ma'am' if you're interested in saving your own hides."
The brothers looked up, eyes wide. Good lord this was getting worse every second.
"Dad!" they both squirmed.
"Mr. Winchester?" Jess asked.
"You must be Jess," John smiled at her, ignoring his boys for the time being. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"Yes, sir. You, too," Jess said a little stiffly. She wasn't anywhere near ready to forget some of the things she'd been told about the man. Walking back over to Sam and Dean, she cut the rest of the way through the ropes.
"Jesus, Dad," Dean walked right up to his father and hugged him roughly. "Where the hell have you been? What the hell are you doing here?"
"After I called to tell you about this hunt, a demon I was questioning let slip that the yellow-eyed demon had a daughter," John explained. "I realized that she was here and figured the hunt was actually some sort of trap. Hauled ass here as fast as I could. I assume she's the one who just took the swan dive out the window?"
"Yes, sir," Dean nodded. "Do you think she's dead? Is it even possible to kill a demon like that?"
"I'm not sure," John admitted. "Normally I'd say no, but whatever those things were that killed her were supernatural too. I guess it's possible."
He turned his attention to Sam, who was standing behind Jess with his arms around her waist. They both smiled awkwardly.
"Hi, Sammy," John finally broke the silence.
"Hey, Dad," Sam looked down at the floor.
"So, uh," John cleared his throat. "We had us one hell of a blowout last time we were together."
"Yes, sir," Sam agreed. Blowout was one word for it. Not the one he would've used, but still.
"I said some things that night," John cleared his throat again and shifted his weight. "Things I regret saying."
"Me too," Sam let a small smile drift onto his face. It was the closest either of them were going to get to an apology.
"It's good to see you again, son," one corner of John's mouth quirked up.
"Yes, sir," Sam repeated. He stepped forward, but hesitated. Yeah, they'd just had some sort of awkward non-apology apology, but he had said some pretty ugly things that night. What if he wasn't fully forgiven yet?
John saw the confusion on his younger son's face and solved it by pulling him in for a tight hug. Dean looked on proudly and went to put an arm around Jess, who was still looking unsure.
"Give him a chance," he leaned down to whisper. "I'm not saying he's perfect, but things got left pretty badly between the two of them and you only got to hear one side of it. They've always butted heads, but they always manage to work it out in the end."
With a slap on the back, John let go of Sam. He took a step back and they both tried to hide the fact that their eyes were slightly wet. Sam made his way back over to Jess and put his arm around her waist too. John couldn't help but smile at the picture they made. He'd seen Jess from a distance when he would go to Stanford and check on Sam, and had always known she was a good influence on his younger son.
"So this yellow-eyed demon," Dean brought up gently. "It sounds like you're pretty close."
"I am," John allowed. "Or at least I'm getting there. I have to believe that if he's trying to distract me and pull me off his trail, I must be close."
"Good, where do we start?" Sam asked, arm tightening around Jess.
"We?" John frowned. He could see where this was going to go. "Sammy, it's not safe for you three yet."
"You can't keep us out of this, Dad!" Sam gritted his teeth. "This demon is something we should be going after together."
"And we will," John sighed. "Just not yet."
"Sammy," Dean warned. He could see where this was going too, although he'd hoped Dad and Sam could keep from biting each others' heads off for more than five seconds. It wasn't like he was thrilled to hear that Dad planned to take off again either, though. "Dad, are you sure? You did just hear Jess's speech back there. You don't think this is along the same lines as that."
This time John hesitated. He had been pretty impressed by the way the young woman had handled his boys and the things she'd said. To be honest, the things she'd said did seem to be relevant in this case too. He was just getting ready to admit that when there was an ear-piercing shriek that sent all four of them to their knees. The daevas were suddenly back and two made a beeline for John while two more attacked Sam, Dean, and Jess.
Sam and Dean instantly pushed Jess to the ground to protect her. One of the daevas slashed at Dean, who dodged back just in time to avoid having his stomach ripped open. Sam yelped and grabbed at his arm, but kept trying to make his way across the room to where he thought his gun had been thrown to. Seeing that all four of the daevas seemed to be ignoring her, Jess scrambled for the small weapons bag in the corner. She had no idea what was going to work against these damn things, but there had to be something. Digging through the bag, she had an idea. There were cries from all three Winchesters and she prayed it would work. If not, she had a feeling they were all dead.
"Shut your eyes!" Jess yelled, hoping they would hear her, but not waiting to find out. She yanked an emergency flare out of the bag, lit it, and threw it towards the nearest shadow. The room immediately started to fill with smoke, but it also filled with light and the shadow demons were forced out.
"Jess!" Sam coughed.
"We have to get out of here," she yelled back, covering her mouth and nose with her shirt.
"Where's Dad?" Dean was doubled over, but still trying to look around the room.
"Right here!" John yelled. "Come on. That won't keep them away forever. We need to go."
The four hunters stumbled down the stairs and out onto the street, hacking and coughing but alive. John's big black pickup was parked by the curb.
"You boys look like hell," John said, looking at his sons in concern. They were both covered in gashes from the daeva's claws. Even in the dim light on the street, he could see several on both boys that needed stitches.
"We'll be fine," Dean insisted. "You need to go, Dad. This trap is for you, and we're giving them what they want right now. You're right. It is too dangerous for us to be with you right now. Dangerous for you."
"What? Dean!" Sam protested.
"We almost got Dad killed in there, Sammy," Dean argued. "He can't hunt the demon if he has to be worried about us. You just promise us that when you do find it, we're in on that."
"I promise," John agreed. "I still don't like the way some of those cuts look, though."
"I was pre-med back at Stanford," Jess assured him. "I can stitch them up and make sure they don't get infected."
"You promise to be careful," Sam was still obviously unhappy, but he couldn't deny what Dean had said.
"Only if you three will," John pushed some of Sam's too-long hair out of his eyes.
With a nod, John got into his truck and peeled away. Sam, Dean, and Jess made their way quickly back to their motel. Well, as quick as they could, anyway. Now that the adrenaline rush was fading, Sam and Dean were starting to realize just how beaten up they were. By the time they dragged themselves into the motel room Jess was flitting between the both of them, praying they weren't going to collapse. Neither was in any shape to carry the other and it would be flat-out impossible for her to do it. Her only option would be an ambulance and she knew how that was apt to go over. She let out a relieved sigh as she pushed them each onto one of the beds.
"Take these," she ordered, pulling antibiotics out of their first aid kit. She wasn't planning to wait for signs of infection if she could head it off. She stepped back and looked them both over, appraising. Deciding that Dean was slightly worse off than Sam, she started with him. Most of the cuts she was able to just bandage but two of them, both across his chest, needed stitches.
Sam had fallen asleep by the time she was done with Dean. He sat up stiffly to help her clean up, but she pushed him gently back down.
"Rest while you can," she told him. "I'm going to take care of Sam and then we're leaving. I don't know where we're going, but we can't stay. We weren't exactly inconspicuous on our way back here."
"I'll call Caleb," Dean dragged himself back up. "He's got cabins scattered all the hell over the country. I think there's one in Aiken, about three hours from here. I know he won't mind letting us use it."
"Deano! Caleb answered happily on the second ring. There was only an eight year age difference between the two of them, and they had always been friends. "It's been too long! What're you up to, buddy?"
"Hey Caleb," Dean said tiredly. "Lots to catch you up on. Right now I'm calling to ask a favor. You still got that cabin over in Aiken, Illinois?"
"Yeah, key's where it always is," Caleb heard the tone of his friend's voice and went from happy to worried just like that. "You and your Dad okay?"
"For the most part," Dean wasn't willing to lie outright to the man. "Sam and I got pretty well banged up on a hunt in Chicago. We just need a place to lay low for a few days."
"You know you're welcome anytime," Caleb assured him. "I'll meet you there and you can tell me what-all's going on. Starting with what the hell Sam's doing hunting again."
"Trust me, that's not where you're going to want to start," Dean chuckled, glancing over at Jess. "You don't need to, but it'd sure as hell be nice to see you again."
"I'm already on my way out the door, so don't give me any of your 'you don't need to' crap," Caleb scolded. "It'll take me longer to get there than it'll take you, but I'll be there."
"Awesome, thanks Caleb," Dean said and hung up.
"We'll be ready to go in about half an hour," Jess said over her shoulder.
Half an hour. More than enough time for a nap, Dean decided. He glanced over at his brother once more to make sure he was okay before letting his eyes close. He kind of liked bossy Jess. Not that he wanted her to be bossy all the time. That was his job. Every once in a while wasn't so horrible, though. It was amusing if nothing else. Smiling lightly, he allowed himself to drift to sleep. Caleb was going to kick his ass for him when he explained that he'd been the one to drag Sam back into hunting and had then pulled Jess in too, but it was going to be good to see his old friend again. Once he and Sam were healed back up they'd find another hunt to occupy themselves until Dad called them back in. Sounded like a plan to him.