If there was one thing that Jezebel dreaded it was going to church.
…Which meant Jezebel dreaded most days.
Teen girls who all gossiped under fake concern and giggled in condescension while they preached the fruits of the spirit - kindness, compassion, humility. Boys who pretended to be gentlemen, but would look up your skirt if given the chance. Adults who sneered at you from over their nose because so and so heard this or that about who?
Thursdays were especially worse considering the girls had no guys to compete for attention so their attention was drawn to whatever they could. And unfortunately Jezebel was a normal victim.
"Bella!" Jezebel winced as her walk to the kitchen was paused by her sister. Her sister made her way over with a grin over her face and Jezebel wanted to run. But before she could bolt, her sister had her in an embrace. "I haven't seen ya all day! Why do you leave so early?"
"So I don't have to see or talk to y'all." Jezebel drawled out with a hard stare once Liza pulled away and even though her sister's smile waned slightly, the blonde didn't waver. "What do you want?"
"I-I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Liza responded quietly while grabbing her hands in front of her. "You just went through something... traumatic a-and you shouldn't be alone."
"Oh so it's fine for me to be alone any other time?" Jezebel snapped with her arms cross.
"N-no, it... just you always seemed to like bein' alone so I thought you'd want your space." Liza pleaded with wide eyes and Jezebel only rolled her own. "Bella—"
"You're right. I like bein' alone, so do me a favor and leave me alone." Jezebel snapped while careful maneuvering closer to her sister and with a shove to the arm, Jezebel pushed the blonde out of her way.
While Liza was quickly surrounded by her friends glaring Jezebel's way, the young rebel made it a point to lightly push people out of her way instead of moving around them. Even though there were indignation shouted at her and thinly-veiled hateful comments made towards her, Jezebel steeled herself further until she made it to the kitchen.
She slumped forward with a heavy heart and wiped her face with the palm of her while looking down at the silver cap of the flask in the palm of her hand. No reactions and she had touched a good number of folks...
With a glance around she was miraculously alone and rushed over to the tea pitchers. Jezebel divided the holy water into both the pitchers with a nervous glance up at the doors. If anyone saw her they'd accuse her of malice and not only would she be punished but the tea would be remade and Dean would be—
...since when did she listen to adults?
Jezebel's face shriveled up at the thought and stared at the empty flask with disdain. The only adult she cared about was her aunt and then these jerks—
"What are you doing?"
Jezebel's hand flinched into her hoodie and swiftly turned around to see her 'mother' at the entrance of the room staring down her nose at the teen. Her hair was perfectly curled, lips tenderly coated in red, and today she work that dumb shin length red and white dress.
It was 30 degrees out!
"Summoning Lucifer." Jezebel replied sarcastically as she grabbed a cup from the counter and poured herself a glass of tea. Her mother scoffed and Jezebel tried not to look uneasy while the woman walked to the counter to stare her down. "I'm gettin' a drink, what does it look like I'm doin'?
"You know the youth ain't allowed in here." Jezebel knew that she meant her because she just watched Loretta Jones come out of here with a cup minutes before. And the pause was filled with the pouring of a drink and Jezebel maintained eye contact while she took a sip of the too-sweet liquid.
She paused when she tasted the drink, swished it like mouthwash a couple times, because she wanted to see if she could detect a holier taste—
"Get out of the kitchen." Margret Abel demanded with a point of her manicure towards the crowd. Immediately, Jezebel threw her hands up and began walking to the door, but as soon as her back was turned the teen rolled her eye.
And her hand grabbed the knife in her hoodie.
"What makes you interested in the history of my church?" Jack asked in confusion from his pristine leather chair. The brothers sat on a real leather couch in front of the pastor and both had a glass of water perched on front of them. "Pardon me if I sound harsh, but I don't understand how this may pertain to the murder of those poor girls."
"Call it more of a selfish interest." Dean shrugged before gesturing to the taller brother casually. "My partner is very spiritually involved and loves to learn all about local churches. Especially one with such a beautiful history and family." Sam's cough had Dean hiding his smirk into his drink.
"Really?" Pastor Jack asked and Sam smiled with a nod of his head. Instantly the pastor seemed to perk his head up and a smile blossomed across his face. Within a minute two pamphlets were given to the brothers and they were quick to look it over. "My grandparents built this together with their very own hands at God's command."
"So God himself like... spoke to him?"
"More like inspired him. Like when He sent Gabriel to Mary or when He spoke to Moses through the burning bush." Jack corrected with a wave to his wall where a photo of the church hung. The front of the beautiful church encompassed by the in-ground stone work with the sun shining on the windows gave the building an ethereal appearance. "How can someone look at this beauty and think it not to be inspired by our Lord?"
"I-I agree." Sam interrupted whatever smartass response Dean had opened his mouth to respond with. "It says here your grandfather was the original pastor, followed by your father, and now you? Do you mind me asking what happened to your father?"
"Of course, it's only natural to be curious." Jack chuckled as he grabbed the small photo frame on the coffee table beside him and handed it to Sam. "My father Joseph was a good man, but he passed into God's arms back in 2002. He was out on his daily morning hike when he had a heart attack. My mother and him were like peanut butter and jelly, she passed two months later."
"Right. I'm sorry for your loss."
"Awe, it's alright." Jack smiled kindly and Dean shifted in his seat. "They're in a better place than we are. Mom used to say she sometimes thought this was hell and we were payin' our dues." Dean flinched and Sam was quick to laugh with the pastor in distraction.
The conversation gave up nothing. Another hour later of the same repeated nonsense from the website and pamphlets, but none of it added up with the journals from Rachel's. So after they had said goodbye to the pastor they made the walk towards the hand-made church.
"No screams." Sam spoke up once they made it to the building and looked into the window curiously. "No laughs either."
"Well, at least not from spitfire over there." Dean muttered as he stared at the circle of girls laughing together - except for one. "She really is the life of the party."
As if on command, the girls stared at the woman who seemed to be the leader of the show and that was Margaret Abel. They could just barely make out her voice as she clapped and gestured to—
"Stand up and change seats if you have more than two sisters!"
And a few girls got up, but to their surprise so did Jezebel with a huff as she pushed a couple girls out of her way. The teen earned some stares and grumbles, including her own mother seemed to find the rebel annoying.
"Change seats if your bedroom has pink in it!"
Once more Jezebel joined the group in changing seats, pushing a few aside and flopped down with a grumble. And she continued to do this each time even if the prompt didn't include her.
"Change seats if your favorite food is pasta!"
"...if you like to hike!"
"...if you want to go to college!"
"...if you're a middle schooler!"
"Is she stupid or something?" Dean whispered in incredulous awe as no one bothered to correct the girl or change her mind... and she had no shame in lying through her feet. "Maybe she just likes to cause trouble."
Sam didn't disagree, but even as the group finished their game and prayed out, he couldn't help but take in the way she frowned at each person in the circle. As soon as everyone lifted their head and began to happily mingle, Jezebel bolted away from the exit and pressed her palm annoyingly against the back of another girls next.
"Jezebel! You witch!" Julia growled after the rushing girl.
The accused teen scampered away and the brothers were quick to meet the girl up front. With an offer of a ride to her aunts - and a threat to keep her skateboard off the seats - the three piled into the Impala without another word.
"You really like to stir up trouble, huh kid?" Dean asked with a glance at the teen through the rear view. She answered with a scoff and instead thrusted her palm over the middle cousin to show the cap inside her hand. "Did you lose the flask or something?"
"No." Jezebel snapped while being out the flask with her other hand and returned its cap with huff. Sam took the silver object and examined the empty container precariously.
"...each time you pushed someone you had the cap." Sam called back to the small circle on Jezebel's palm. "That's..."
"Stupid, I know..." Jezebel sighed out and crossed her arms dejectedly.
"No, that's really smart actually." Sam reassured with a smile to the girl behind him. Jezebel seemed caught off guard at the compliment. "You were testing for shifters." The teen shifted awkwardly in her seat and refused to look in their direction. It felt as if her face was on fire.
"Yeah, well... everyone drinks the tea... and if they didn't, like Carol and Sage... I spilt salt on them accidentally, so the only way I could check for the other thing was, well, that..." She couldn't stand the eyes on her. It was suffocating, they were judging. Their gazes were creeping over her skin and threatening to consume her from the inside out with a painful grip over her insides—
"It's no big deal!" She snapped angrily, loudly, defensively. "You would have done it too! Aunt Rachel too! Even Liza would have thought of somethin' better than harassin' a bunch of girls who already hate me and confirmin' their dumb thoughts about witchcraft-wieldin', evil, sadistic Jezebel!"
The car stopped in Rachel's driveway just in time for her shouting declaration to end and she wasted no time scrambling out. Jezebel slammed the door behind her which woke up Dean from his shock.
"Oi! Don't slam the door!" He order loudly and Jezebel continued to march her way to the house. "Hey, hothead! Stop and look at me!"
She did.
She spun on her heel with a fiery gaze and a knife as a tongue while she raised her arms to her side violently and yelled back.
"You can't tell me what to do!"
"Don't slam someone's car door!" Dean responded aggressively with a finger pointed in her direction.
"Fuck you, old man!" Jezebel screamed out wildly and made a pitiful strike forward to the air in front of her with her skateboard. "I'm tired of you and all the other adults around me thinkin' they can order me around without givin' a damn!"
"Listen—"
"No!" Jezebel screeched and turned towards the taller brother who had made his way slowly over to the melt down. "No! I ain't listenin' to you. I don't even know you guys! I just found out all those stories are real and I'm gettin' blamed for deaths!" Jezebel threw the skateboard down and shoved her palms forward to show the two brothers.
"They think these hands strung up five girls all because of my name and mother!"
Sam noticed the continued rage in his brothers tense posture and was quick to make himself the focal point as he calmly brought himself closer to Jezebel with his hands out.
"Jezebel, listen. Please, just hold on a second." Sam said softly and Jezebel's hands returned to her sides in a fist but her gaze remained on the ground. "Hey, I think... I think you might be feeling a lot right now, yeah?"
The teenager allowed a snort, but Sam took it as a yes.
"I know you aren't... used to this world and I wish you didn't have to know it. It's scary." Sam admitted.
"I-I'm not scared!"
"I never said that." Sam held his hands up in peace and Jezebel simmered down. "This town has treated you like shit for a while now and now we're throwing in real, life threatening danger. The things you're feeling are coming out, but when we say we're impressed we mean it."
Quietly the teen looked up through her squinted eyes and examined the tall, neck-breaking man in front of her. He had a puppy dog quality to him that reminded her of Liza in a stupid way. And she scrunched her nose up at the thought of her sister.
"We're sorry that we made you upset." Dean's indignant noise was met with a harsh glare from Sam. "But what you did was actually smart. I never would have thought of it."
"...really?" Jezebel asked quietly and Sam nodded earnestly. "Oh."
There was a pause before Dean finally sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The kid was frustrating and it had been a while since he had to deal with someone who didn't take orders well.
Well, that wasn't quite true.
She listened rather well. Didn't even question the task besides asking about safety. In fact, Dean would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little happy about—
"What?" Dean asked confused.
"...I said I'm sorry I slammed your car and yelled at you." Jezebel grumbled and looked away. "I guess I'm what they call insecure." She waved mockingly in the air.
"Are you three just gonna stand there like idiots in a hurricane or are y'all gonna get your behinds inside?" A loud voice from the front porch drew their attention. Instantly, Jezebel was running into the house and the brothers hesitated. "Come on. We don't bite."
Sam was the first to move but Dean was the only one to grab the abandoned board and carefully brushed off the dirt on his way to the steps. Once inside, the eldest Winchester carefully set it against the wall in the foyer and made his way inside where Sam was already explaining what today brought them.
And Dean... Dean was... what was he doing?
"Aunt Rachel, I'm gonna go for a ride." Jezebel told her aunt when she came downstairs in a new outfit and shoes. Still dressed down, but more comfortable for riding. "I'll be back by dark."
"Alright, be careful and tell Moe I said hi."
"Shut up!" Jezebel snapped without any of the what form before as she scurried to the back door. Rachel snickered deviously the entire time.
"Moe?" Dean asked with a raised brow. "Boyfriend?"
"Imaginary friend." Rachel correct with a smirk. "Jezebel as a kid always claimed to be talking to her friend Moe. He was her favorite Three Stooges member growing up."
"And why would she be seeing Moe?"
"It's like a way for her to cool off." Rachel explained before gesturing to the journals from her grandfather. "Kind of like writing a diary or talking to a therapist. It helps her consolidate her thoughts and just calm down."
"Huh, think Curly might be available for Dean to talk to sometime?" Mocked Sam. "I definitely know a few times when he could calm down."
"Sammy!"
Rachel couldn't help the small laugh at the oldest brother's expense with the younger joining her - albeit louder - and Dean was stuck grumbling under his breath like a petulant toddler.
"Bitches."