Dearest Readers,

I hope you are enjoying this story as much as I am! Dayum these characters are just too much fun to write. And as we start getting more and more into the relationship between Persie and Dean, we start to learn more about them, too. Namely, watch out for more characterization points on Persie in this chapter, because boy oh boy they're just gonna build.

Let me know what you think about where I'm going with her character- and let me know what you think I might just be revealing next ;)

XOXO Ally Layne.

Holy Water

Chapter 27: The Art of Saving the Winchesters

Dear gods, she was pissed.

Persephone Jackson, raven hair running down her back in wild waves while wearing PJ's and cozy socks, sat on a stool at the kitchen table, frowning at the cellphone in front of her.

"Persie, honey, what're you doing out here?"

She turned around in the chair to see her mom standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking at her in worry. "Oh, hi mom."

Sally looked at her, then looked at her phone, and immediately knew what was going on. "That Winchester boy hasn't called back, yet?

She sighed, looking down at the phone again. "No, neither of them have."

Her mom moved to sit on the stool next to her. "Well, it seems the tables have finally turned, my dear."

Her eyebrows raised, turning to face Sally quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Well, considering it's normally me who is waiting by the phone to hear about an update from you, I find it quite… opposite, to what I'm used to."

"Sorry for not calling more often, mom," Persie muttered, before crossing her arms and looking at the phone again. "If this is half as bad as what you go through as my mother, I can't imagine living like this every day."

Sally shrugged. "It's not like this every day-" she paused. "Well, it was when you went missing that one time. And when you go on those insanely dangerous quests. Those are usually the nights I stay up and wait for a sign, a phone call… anything to know you're okay."

She leaned her shoulder into her mom's. "Love you, mom."

Her mom smiled. "Oh, I love you too, so much." She placed a hand in her daughter's hair, running her fingers through the waves. "I knew what I was getting into, when I had you for a daughter, Persephone. And every moment I have had the pleasure of spending with you, I knew that you were far too special for just this meager world of ours."

She blinked. "What?"

Sally chuckled. "I knew you would amount to unimaginable things, only because you are too kind and loyal for your own good, little fish of mine."

Persie blinked.

"So when you sit here, staring at the phone… I wonder what I would do if I had your powers, speed, and strength, mixed with that immeasurable tenacity, when I was in your shoes when you went missing," Her mom furthered. "And I realize that if I were you, I would do anything and everything in my power to protect the ones I love."

A small tear fell from the corner of Persie's eye. Without a word, Sally wiped it away with a swipe of her thumb.

"You are far too strong, darling, to be sitting here." She smiled. "And if I had your powers, I hope you know I would've found you no matter what."

Persie hugged her, breathing the pear scent that was just her mom. "I know you would've found me. I never doubted that."

Sally smiled at her oldest daughter. "You are one of my greatest treasures, little fish." She wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes, this time. "Now go save the man you love-"

"Mom!"

"Or whatever, but make sure you're back in time for breakfast."

Persie looked at her intently. "Will you make blue pancakes?"

She laughed. "Of course, I will make blue pancakes. Who do you think I am?"

They both laughed and shared one more hug. "Love you, mom."

"Love you too."

Persie stood up with a new purpose, grabbing her phone and heading to the bathroom just in case she got a call back in the meantime.

Quickly turning on the faucet, forcing it to spray up and into a large waterfall with her power. Then, she threw in a golden chakra smiling at it disappeared into the water, speaking, "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Nico Di'Angelo."

The scene changed.

"Oh gods, oh gods-" She immediately covered her eyes.

"Wha-Persie? What the fuck?"

"Put some clothes on!"

.

.

.

Seph was going to be so pissed.

Dean was hyper aware that being tied up in a chair, back to back with his brother who was just starting to wake up out of whatever haze he was in, was not exactly what Seph had wanted for them.

He was also aware that she was definitely going to tell him the dreaded "I told you so."

And he wasn't going to have any ground to stand on because she happened to be right.

The house was still annoyingly decorated in Christmas decor, which was really doing a good job in throwing him off. Never again would he see snowmen or snickerdoodles in the same way.

"Dean?" Sam grunted. "You okay?"

He moved his neck around, trying not to groan at the crack that came out of it. "Yeah, I think so," he said, turning his head to try and get a view of his younger brother.

Sam let out a sigh. "So, I guess we're dealing with Mr. and Mrs. God." He paused. "Nice to know."

"Yeah," Dean said, before pursing his lips as the Anti-Clause's themselves walked through the door into the kitchen.

"Ooh, and here we thought you two lazybones were going to sleep straight through all the fun stuff," Madge, currently dressed in an ugly red Christmas sweater, joyfully spoke.

Her "husband", Edward, walked through the door just behind her, though he was wearing a blue Christmas sweater.

Everything about this was unnerving.

"Miss all this?" Dean asked, watching as Madge walked around the table they were strapped down next to. "Nah, we're partiers."

Edward stalked around the table, peering down at the Winchesters as he took another huff from his pipe. "Isn't he a kick in the pants, honey? You're hunters is what you are."

"And you're pagan gods," Dean added. "So, why don't we just call it even and go our separate ways?"

Edward made it around the two of them and was now standing in front of Dean with a wicked grin. "So you can bring back more hunters and kill us?" He let out a dry chuckle. "I don't think so!"

"You should have thought about that before snacking on humans," Sam bit back.

Madge's mouth dropped at the assertion while Edward looked at him in annoyance. "Oh, now, don't get all wet."

"Oh, why, we used to take over a hundred tributes a year," Madge added, walking over to Dean and leaning down to look him in the eye. "And that's a fact."

He noticed that her eyes were just like dark holes into a pit of nothingness.

How could anyone believe these two are human?

"Now what do we take? What, two, three?" She looked over at Edward for verification.

He chuckled. "Hardy Boys here make five."

Her brows raised as she turned back to the boys. "Now, that's not so bad, is it?"

Dean scoffed. "You say it like that, you guys are the Cunninghams."

Edward pointed at him with his pipe. "You, mister, better show us a little respect."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Or what?" He asked. "You'll eat us?"

The Winchesters both looked over at Ed with fire in their eyes. These were two hunters that were not about to go down so easily, especially not in a kitchen that was decorated like this one. Dear God that would just be downright insulting.

"Not so fast," Ed stopped them. "There's rituals to be followed first."

Dean furrowed his brows.

"Oh, we're just sticklers for ritual," Madge added from Sam's side. Of course the woman/god just had to finish that with a creepy-ass smile that nearly made him sigh in contempt.

"And you know what kicks off the whole shebang?" Ed asked.

"Let me guess," Dean said bitterly. "Meadowsweet."

Madge frowned. "Oh, shucks-"

"Let me guess," he continued as she hurried around the boys to look for something. "You're all out of those wreaths? I guess we'll just have to cancel the sacrifice, huh?"

"Oh, don't be such a Gloomy Gus," she told him as she pulled out two vines of the dreaded meadowsweet, and then wrapped the vines around both of their necks. "There. Don't they just look darling?"

"Good enough to eat," Ed said, sucking his teeth.

Dean scowled. This was not looking good for them.

Seph is definitely going to kill us.

"All righty-roo, step number two," Ed spoke, grabbing a ceremonial knife and a ceramic bowl from their table before walking over to Sam's side.

That's when things started to get bad.

Dean struggled against the restraints. "Sammy!"

"D-Don't!" Sam yelled before he screamed, making Dean go into a frenzy.

"Sam- Sammy! What are you doing to him? Leave him alone, you son of a bitch!"

"Hear how they talk to us?" Ed asked, obviously directed to Madge, who grabbed the bowl that now held Sam's blood and walked the other direction. "To gods? Listen, pal, back in the day, we were worshiped by millions."

"Times have changed!"

Ed let out a dry laugh. "Tell me about it. All of a sudden, this Jesus character is the hot new thing in town. All of a sudden, our altars are being burned down, and we're being hunted down like common monsters."

"But did we say a peep?" Madge asked. "Oh, no, no, no, we did not." Ed added something into the bowl as she continued, "Two millennium. We kept a low profile. We got jobs, a mortgage. We- uh, what was that word?"

"We assimilated," Ed supplied.

"Yeah, we assimilated. Why, we play bridge on Tuesdays and Fridays." She used the knife that was covered in Sam's blood to cut through some meadowsweet and held it up to finish her point, "We're just like everybody else."

Dean glared. "You're not blending in as smooth as you think, lady."

She walked up to Dean and leaned down as she said, "Well, this might pinch just a bit, dear."

She used the knife to cut his arm and spill more blood into the bowl.

Dean let out a yell. "You bitch!"

Madge looked up at him, shocked. "Oh, my goodness me! Somebody owes a nickel to the swear jar. You know what I say when I feel like swearing?" She held up the knife, "Fudge."

"I'll try and remember that!" He exclaimed, shaking his head while trying to relieve the pain that was pulsing from his arm.

"You boys have no idea how lucky you are," Ed said, grabbing some tools off the kitchen counter. "There was a time when kids came from miles around just to be sitting where you are."

Sam looked at what was in his hands. A torture device, not unlike a pliers, looked like it would be able to pull out a nail.

"What do you think you're gonna do with that?"

Ed just smiled at him and grabbed his hand as Dean started to yell in pain from the other side.

"No," Sam started. "Don't- no, do- gahh!"

He had pulled the nail straight from the bed of his finger, forcing him to throw himself back in the chair in pain.

Madge walked over to the mixing ceramic bowl where she carefully dumped the new blood she collected. She smiled when Ed placed Sam's fingernail in there to add to the concoction. "What else, dear?" she asked.

"Well, let's see. Uh, fingernail, blood… oh sweet Peter on a popsicle stick. I forgot the tooth!" He exclaimed, bopping himself on the head in good humor. He picked up a large set of pliers that looked like it was definitely made to pull out teeth.

Dean turned to Sam as best he could. "Merry Christmas, Sam," he panted.

Sam let out a low groan.

Ed walked over to Dean, smiled and held up the pliers. "Open wide… and say ah."

He grabbed Dean's jaw and forced him to look up while opening his mouth. He eased the pliers in with Madge looking on in glee.

That's when the doorbell rang.

"Somebody gonna get that?" Dean asked, muffled from the pliers already holding onto a tooth.

The gods looked at each other.

"You should get that," he continued.

Ed and Madge looked at each other again, and nodded with long-suffering sighs. "C'mon," Ed told her, as they headed to the door.

Dean relished in not having a plier about to yank a tooth, his tongue immediately going to try to soothe the spot over.

The brothers quickly got out of their restraints, Dean nearly snickering at how dumb some gods could be. He probably would have, too, if he and Sammy weren't so bad off after a few minutes with the assholes. The Winchesters were hunters, after all.Surely they could've put a few more precautions in place to keep them from escaping.

They quickly made their way through the door, only to hear what sounded like laughing.

"Nico, you really should've made sure they were the right people before you stuck your sword into them."

Dean stopped.

He knew that voice.

"You did say they were described as being overly friendly and Christmas crazy, so of course it was obvious it was them," a masculine voice pointed out.

"But what if they put Sam and Dean somewhere? How are we supposed to figure out where they are, now?"

There was a short pause.

"Oh." Another pause. "Good point."

Sam looked at Dean with a small smile and shook his head. Of course she showed up, his features seemed to say, but Dean was still caught up in the whole she showed up part.

"Dean?!" Seph's voice called out. "Sam!"

"We're in here!" Dean called, moving toward the front door as well.

Immediately, Persie and her cousin, Nico, came into sight. "You guys are okay," she said, letting out a large huff of air. "Thank the gods you're alright." She lunged at Dean, pulling him into a large hug. She pulled away just to scold them. "Don't do that again, you idiots!"

Nico studiously looked at their injuries, eyeing the missing nail on Sam's hand. "That looks like fun," he said, pointing out the wound.

Persie's eyes narrowed. "I told you that you should've waited before killing them, Death Boy. We should've had a little fun with them, first," she seethed, walking over to grab Sam's hand and inspect it. "I would've had a good time doing twice as bad as this."

Dean didn't know how to interpret that statement. However, he knows that she's capable of a lot of things, so of course she'd have experiences walking the line.

He just had no idea how far across that line she was really willing to go for the people she loved.

And that's what she's so afraid of.

"You didn't need evergreen stakes to kill them?" Sam asked as he clenched his finger in faint annoyance. "How'd you work that?"

Nico shrugged, holding out his blade. "This is what I like to refer to as a monster and god killer. Human killer, too, but I usually avoid using it on normal humans."

Dean's eyes widened. "Huh."

"I didn't know how Riptide would work on them," Persie explained, uncapping her pen and revealing her blade as well. "Considering they're in human form, and definitely not the type of god that I'm used to dealing with."

Nico nodded in agreement. "They were a lesser form, that's for sure," he added.

The brothers looked between each other. If those lesser forms of gods were able to easily capture them, then what would it be like if one of their gods went rogue? How would they be able to stop them?

"How'd you know we were in trouble?" Sam asked, looking at her curiously.

She shrugged. "Dean didn't call, and he promised that he would call."

Dean winced. "You mad about that?"

Persie whirled around on him, poking Dean in the chest as she spoke, "Well, I'm not happy that you decided to pull the "Sam and I have been doing this a long time, sweetheart," and the "spend time with your friends and family" crap. You know exactly how to push my buttons and congrats, Hot-Shot, they've been pressed."

He shrugged. "How could I know they'd take us captive?"

Sam ran his non-injured hand down his face. "Come on, Dean. You're just digging a hole."

Dean glared at his brother. "Stay out of it, Sam."

Sam looked at him with both hands in a surrender gesture, before sharing a knowing look with Nico off to the side.

The son of Hades was standing off in the shadows, having sheathed his sword in its scabbard while they were talking, and had his arms crossed. However, his eyes were dancing in amusement and not at all matching his menacing posture.

"You need to realize that sometimes having back up isn't actually a bad thing," she told Dean, looking intently into his green eyes. "And just because you don't want me to throw myself into the fray-"

"Well that's one way to put it-"

"Doesn't mean that I can't help you when you need it," she finished, crossing her arms with a firm glare. "You're not Superman, you know. You are a human, Dean, and it's time you come to grips with it."

Dean grit his teeth. "Oh, Kelpie, I am very aware of just how human I am. I am going to die, we all know it, and my days are tickin'. So if you think that I'm not aware of how close I am to death every morning that I wake up, I don't think you know just how real this is for me."

She swallowed, hard. "Look, Dean…"

He sighed, shaking his head. "Seph, no, I get it."

She placed a hand on his chest softly. "No, Dean. You don't." She closed her eyes, pulling him into a hug. "You're not gonna die because I won't let you."

Dean let out a huff of air as he wrapped his arms around her in return. "Sweetheart…"

"No, Hot Shot," she stopped him. "I'm going to save you."

And in that moment, he let himself be saved.