Chapter 8! Thank you so much to all of my followers/favorite-ers/comment-ers! I love hearing what you all have to say; keep the comments coming!

xoxo Zabby

"Tessa? What are you doing here?" Dean asked, releasing Jo and pushing her ever so slightly behind him. Ignoring Dean's protective gesture, Jo stepped forward to get a better look at the new figure. Dean rolled his eyes; he should've known trying to shield Jo from any kind of confrontation would be pointless.

"Relax, I'm not here to reap anyone. Promise," Tessa replied, holding her hands up in a peaceful gesture. Jo frowned; the woman sounded so…familiar.

"Who is she?" Jo hissed, her eyes never leaving the strange woman standing a few feet away.

Before Dean could explain, Bobby and Sam flew outside (well, wheeled outside in Bobby's case), guns raised and ready to attack. Dean held up one hand to stop them from shooting. "Who the hell are you?" Bobby demanded gruffly, his eyes darting suspiciously between Dean and the mysterious stranger.

Tessa turned and flashed Bobby a small smile. "You must be Bobby. My name is Tessa; I'm a reaper. I'm just here to explain. I swear I only want to talk. I have some answers for you…" Tessa began, slowly approaching Dean and Jo. "It's nice to finally meet you, Joanna," she said, turning towards Jo. As the newcomer spoke, Jo realized why her voice sounded so familiar.

Tessa was the Voice.

"You're the-you're the Voice?"

Tessa nodded. "Yes."

"Wait, what?" Dean asked, frowning mildly at the women beside him.

"She's the Voice, the one I've been hearing in the hallway," Jo answered, her eyes warily scanning the woman's face. Dean looked at Tessa with a confused look on his face.

"Joanna and-"

"Jo," Jo said, cutting off Tessa's explanation. "My name is Jo."

Tessa nodded and gave Jo a small smile before continuing. "Jo and her mother weren't meant to die in Carthage; they were meant to live for many more years. Unfortunately, I was only able to rescue Jo…" Tessa said, pausing to dart a sympathetic look at Jo. "I fear that our system is corrupt. There have been far more unplanned deaths in the past two years than there have ever been and my colleagues are completely ignoring the natural order. I figured that someone needs to do something about it, so I took Jo."

"Why did you take me to the hallway?" Jo inquired.

"It was the only safe place I knew. I use the hallway to find out who I need to reap and to navigate the country. Each reaper has their own private hallway and I knew no one would be able to find you there. I truly am sorry about some of the things you had to witness…"

"So those people in the windows, they were all about to die?" Jo interrupted incredulously, her mind flashing back to the little girl she'd seen in one of the first doors.

"I'm afraid so. I don't have a glamorous job."

Jo nodded slowly. "How do we get Jo to stay?" Dean asked anxiously, his usually calm features obviously displaying his worry.

Tessa's eyes wandered skyward as she considered Dean's question. "Honestly, I don't know. Certainly Death would be able to resurrect her, but we haven't heard from him in years." Noticing the look in Dean's eyes, Tessa hastily added, "But even then he might not be willing to bring Joanna back."

"Didn't Lucifer bring Death back?" Bobby asked.

Sam opened his mouth to reply, but Jo cut in. "Wait, I thought you killed Lucifer."

The tension was palpable as Jo looked between the two Winchester boys. "Turns out there are five creatures the Colt can't kill, and old Luci's one of 'em," Bobby answered. Dean shot him a grateful look before his eyes flashed back to Jo.

"So, you died for nothing," Dean muttered under his breath. Jo's back stiffened, the only indication that she'd heard Dean's statement.

Deciding to deal with Dean's overwhelming blame later, Jo turned back to Tessa. "So, how do we get Death out of Lucifer's hands?"

Tessa shrugged. "I'm not sure about that either. As a reaper, I can find his location, but I still don't know how to free him from Lucifer's grasp."

An eerie silence settled over the group for a moment before Dean spoke, his voice hoarse. "What if we put Lucifer back in his cage, would that free Death?"

Tessa frowned, but nodded. "Yes, that would probably work."

"How would we capture Lucifer?" Sam asked.

All eyes were on Tessa as she spoke. "Well, there is one way…" The woman quickly explained about uniting the rings of the four Horsemen to create a hole into Lucifer's cage.

"Well, we've already got War's ring…"

"Don't get your hopes up; the chances of obtaining all four rings are extremely slight," Tessa warned, noticing the determined glint in Dean's eyes.

Dean nodded slowly. "But there is a chance."

Tessa sighed. "Yes, I suppose there is…"

"How do we find the other Horsemen?"

Tessa sighed as she looked at Dean. There was a fierceness in his eyes that she had never seen before. Tessa held his intense gaze for a moment, trying to tell him with her eyes how futile this mission would be, but, seeing that his look wasn't changing, Tessa sighed and listed the signs that always surrounded the Horsemen. Sam took diligent notes on everything Tessa said.

After filling the boys in on what to look for, Tessa turned to Jo with a sad smile. "It's time for us to go, Jo."

"Wait, can I just talk to Dean for a minute?" Jo pleaded. Following Tessa's nod, Jo grabbed Dean's arm and dragged him away from the group and around the side of Bobby's yard. "What the hell!?" she demanded.

Dean's eyebrows shot up with surprise at Jo's harsh tone. "What?"

"That whole 'you died for nothing' crap!" she screeched. "Dean, I did not die for nothing. Yeah, the plan to kill Lucifer backfired, but don't you dare tell me I died for nothing! I thought we went over this already; I died to save you and I regret nothing, absolutely nothing. If I hadn't shot the hellhound that was after you…" Jo shook her head then added, "If you say something like that one more time I'm going to shove my foot so far up your ass it'll come out your nose, got it?"

Dean smirked, not doubting for a minute that Jo meant every word of her threat. "That's kinda kinky," he muttered.

Jo smiled despite herself. "Yuck, pervy. Promise me though, no comments like that, ever."

Dean rolled his eyes. "I promise."

Jo smiled again as she stepped forward and swung her arms up around Dean's neck. "Good, now kiss me before Mrs. Death makes me go back to that damn hallway."

#.#.#.#.

While Jo and Dean were off doing God knows what around the side of the house, Bobby and Sam talked to Tessa. "How did you know Jo wasn't supposed to die?" Sam asked.

"When a person is on the brink of death, their fate is revealed, as a way to sort of double-check that the person is supposed to be dying," Tessa explained patiently.

"What happens if he's not supposed to be dead yet?" Bobby asked.

"Well, it's pretty rare, but the reaper is supposed to help revive the person."

"Reapers can do that?" Sam asked, his voice filled with an almost childlike wonder. Tessa nodded.

"We can't bring back the dead, but we can influence certain things, heal minor wounds, things like that."

"Interesting…"

Tessa tapped her foot impatiently. "We really should get going… Jo?" she called softly. "Jo!"

"Get on out here, ya idjits!" Bobby bellowed.

A second or two later, Jo and Dean walked back out from their hideout, small grins shining on their faces. Sam's eyes widened when he saw a large red hickey glowing on the side of Dean's neck. "Yuck!"

"Just wanted to leave him a little somethin to remember me by," Jo said with a wink. Dean replied with a quick arch of his eyebrows. Sam held back a gag and Bobby looked rather amused.

"You guys are disgusting."

"We should really get going," Tessa said, interrupting the gang's banter.

"Will we see you again soon?" Dean asked.

Tessa nodded. "Yes, well, you'll see Jo at least. Maybe tomorrow."

Giving Jo one last kiss, Dean watched as Jo walked hesitantly towards Tessa. Just before they were about to leave, Dean called, an unmistakable hint of honesty in his voice, "Hey, Tessa, thanks." Tessa turned and flashed Dean one last smile before disappearing with Jo, leaving the three men to figure out how to retrieve the rings of the horsemen.