"I hate to kill the moment by asking a stupid question," Sam said calmly as he watched Jo, "But why exactly do you hate me so much?"

"And what makes you think I want to answer your stupid question, Sammy?"

"It's Sam," he returned with a confidence he was still trying to gather. "And demons generally seem to be big on monologues, so I figured we could have a friendly chat before you grind my bones to make your bread."

"You're special, Sam," Jo answered slyly.

Sam was starting to understand Dean's apparent need for sarcasm even in the face of almost certain death. It was making him feel a lot better. "Ah, the whole 'you're special' conversation. I've had this one already. I want to know the real reason."

"He has things in store for you and all those like you."

"Don't you people ever come up with anything original? I swear, I've already heard everything that's been coming out of your mouth." Sam was feeling more at ease as he tried to engage the demon in small talk. He was also trying to come up with a plan. But nothing seemed reasonable. The demon had already possessed him and therefore knew generally how he thought. He'd have to do something totally out of character in order to surprise it. He figured that doing something Dean would do was a good idea, but that required weapons, and he didn't have any with him at the moment. What would Dean do to distract a demon long enough to find a weapon?

"He gives us permission to say certain things to you, Sam," Jo went on.

"And you obey out of the goodness of your heart?" he asked, his eyes flicking around desperately for something to get himself out of the situation.

"I obey because he's my father and he loves me!" she suddenly snapped.

Sam was taken aback by her emotion, but decided to play on it. "Oh, yeah, and dear old daddy has gotten how many of your brothers and sisters killed by chasing my brother and me? Let's see, there was Meg, and –"

He was interrupted by Jo throwing herself at him angrily. Okay, so maybe making her mad wasn't a great idea. At least now he remembered why he never approved of Dean behaving this way; it always had the same results. And these results were never good for a weak, unarmed hunter. Wait a minute – a weak, unarmed Winchester. He was a Winchester. And judging from the fact that he was just painfully shoved into the refrigerator, he was now an angry Winchester. That always counted for something. And he was about to show this stupid demon what it meant.

As soon as his back hit the refrigerator, Sam swung his right fist with everything he had. It hit Jo neatly on her cheekbone, and she flew off him. That was going to hurt her later. Oh well. He dove after her and landed on top when she hit the ground. Clearly having the advantage, he hit her again, but she had the extra demon strength, so she easily shoved him off and charged again. Sam could have avoided this hit, but knew the two of them would be getting too close to Dean's limp form for his liking, so he stood his ground as Jo plowed into him. They flew over the counter behind them, landing in a heap on the other side.

"You can't beat me in a hand-to-hand combat, Sam, especially in your condition," Jo panted as she got to her feet.

"At least you're out of breath," Sam gasped back. "That's something."

"This is nothing, you pathetic little imp," she growled as she ran at him.

This time, Sam had no problems sidestepping her attack. He twisted to one side as she came at him. Her hand scratched his back, but he wasn't hurt. Instead, he continued twisting so he could plant his foot in her back. He shoved her into the table and grabbed a chair as she flipped around.

"Careful, Sam," she said. "You wouldn't want to hurt this precious body."

"Actually, Jo and I don't have a great relationship since I tried to kill her, so I don't think it will matter that much in the end."

"You're wrong, Sammy," she continued. "She thinks of you as a brother."

"Well, my brother has tried to kill me before, too, but that doesn't mean we always have a great relationship."

"Enough talk!" Jo snapped.

Sam threw the chair at Jo as she came near him again, but she was prepared for the move and dodged it. And this time, when the two collided, Jo had pulled a out a knife Sam didn't know she'd had. When he saw the glint of the metal, he tried to move out of the way. Jo meant to stab him in the chest, but his leap sideways caused her to bury it in his leg. The agony prevented him from rising again. And stupidity told him to rip the weapon back out, which he did. Pain lanced through his whole body as blood poured from the wound, but at least he wasn't unarmed anymore. Unfortunately, now he couldn't move as well.

Seeing the situation she had him in, Jo backed away and went around the island counter top to where Dean was still lying. "Poor thing," she said, kneeling next to him. "And he didn't even put up much of a fight. Then again, neither did you."

"Get away from him," Sam ground out, using his racing adrenalin to drag himself to his feet.

"But what if I wanted to play, Sammy?" And with that, she cruelly jerked her knee into Dean's side. The crack of a rib could be heard from across the room. And Dean's resulting unconscious groan was just loud enough to reach Sam's ears.

Sam didn't know exactly what to do. He certainly didn't want to kill Jo, but if it came down to a choice between the girl and his brother, he'd do it in a heartbeat. He just had to get her away from Dean.

"Drop the knife, Sam," she ordered from the ground, her hands slipping around the elder Winchester's throat. "Drop it or I'll snap his neck right now."

The knife slipped from his fingers almost before Sam had a chance to really register the command. It was a reflex to save his brother's life. "Let him go," he choked out, his voice hoarse with fear.

"See how easy it was for me to stop you in the end? Now, you have agree to come with me."

Confusion clouded Sam's judgment. "Come with you? I thought you wanted to kill me!"

"Of course not," she scoffed. "What good would you be to him if you were dead? He has plans for you, remember?"

"Then why did you drag me out into the woods to rip my heart out?"

Jo snorted. "You think that was me? You're an idiot."

Sam's eyes widened as he realised the import of her words. "You mean there's another –"

"Obviously," she interrupted.

"That's really not good," the youngest Winchester said, the words slipping from his mouth before he had a chance to think about them.

"It doesn't matter," the demon retorted. "I'm here now. Who knows where that other one went?"

Beneath her hands, Dean's eyes snapped open – black pools of possession.

"But surely it isn't gone," Sam went on, unable to see his brother on the ground.

"Naturally not," Jo said. "But who cares? Now, agree to come with me, or precious Dean dies."

Sam blanched. "Uh . . ."

And it was in that moment that the demon possessing Dean decided to make an appearance, throwing Jo back like a rag doll. She slammed into the cupboards as he rose, looking down with distaste at her form.

"I have to finish what I started," Dean said. "So you can't have him. He's mine."

"I marked him long before you did," Jo growled back as she, too, came to her feet and they faced each other.

"Uh oh," Sam said softly, looking back and forth between the two.

"I will have him," Dean said. "I have never failed."

"Nor have I."

They silently faced off for a few tense seconds, then attacked each other at the same time. This was definitely a situation that Sam couldn't have predicted. And he had no idea what to do. It was likely that they would not stop until one of them was dead. He also had the fleeting thought that it was strange to have people fight over him. But that thought would have to wait.

He reached down for the knife just as Dean's body flew into the spot where his head had recently been. He stayed bent over as Jo launched herself in pursuit. It was only after they had both tumbled into the living room that he straightened again, trying to ignore the intense pain radiating from his leg. He'd take care of that later. Right now, he had to exorcise two angry demons at the same time. Could one exorcism work for two demons? He didn't know. But at least now he had an idea of what to do to stop them. And he had to do it now, while they were distracted by each other.

He followed them into the room, climbing onto the top of the couch and disregarding the sounds of fighting that blared around him. He was pretty sure he could recreate Solomon's Key up there if he could find something to draw with. Disgusting even to himself, he elected to use the blood that was seeping down his pants. Hey, it was no longer useful inside his body, so he might as well make use of it outside. He dipped a finger in it and started drawing a circle.

Just as his circle was nearing completion, Jo flew into the back of his legs, knocking him off the couch. They both dropped to the carpet, and Jo tripped over Sam as he tried to rise. "Get out of the way," she growled, shoving him away as she ran back to Dean. Sam groaned and got up again, determined to finish. He climbed back onto the couch and continued his drawing. He was almost finished when he heard a horrible sound – or lack of it, rather. The fighting had stopped.

"Dean has some pretty handy skills, doesn't he?" Dean's voice said from below and behind, breathless but alive. "Perhaps I should keep this host for a while."

Sam slowly turned to look, cringing as he saw Jo's motionless form sprawled across the floor, blood coming from many different wounds on her body. His eyes went on until they met the black pools that were currently taking the place of Dean's hazel ones. And the evil grin that crossed his brother's face chilled Sam to the bone.

"Now, about that heart, Sammy," Dean said as he walked toward the younger hunter. "I think that's mine, rightfully earned."

"Actually, it's mine," Sam said as he leapt forward to make the last stroke on the key, placing himself just outside of reach of the demon. But he wasn't sure if his aim was accurate enough. All he knew was that he jumped, felt something explode in his forehead on his way down, heard Dean's voice, surprisingly registered Jo's voice, and then he knew no more as blackness overcame him.

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Note: Okay, so it wasn't exactly what I expected to have happen. Sometimes stories just take on a life of their own, you know? Anyway, I'll see what I can do to fix it. Please keep reviewing!