10 - Broken Glass Complexion

Sam knew he had to keep an eye on Dean for the next week or so, because concussions could have after-effects, and he didn't even want to think about how many shots to the head Dean took while fighting the cult. He wanted a beer, but considering how high Dean was, Sam didn't let him. He expected more of a fight about this, but he left his room to talk to Cas, and when he came back, Dean was asleep. It was probably for the best.

Cas had tracked down the most likely location of the cult, namely a small town in Wyoming named Stone Creek. Cas hedged his bets, pointing out several things that told Sam this made him a bit nervous. He didn't want him and Dean to tackle this on their own; he was adamant he needed to be a part of the team when they took them on. It sounded like Cas was taking this a little personally. Wait until he found out Dean was hurt. He'd burn that entire town down.

Sam agreed that they'd come get him before they did anything. It was the least they could do, and besides, he was right. Going up against an angel, it was good to have one in your corner.

He briefly researched where the naga tunnel might come out, but found no signs it followed town geography at all, and quickly gave up. If anyone could keep that amulet away from the bad guys, it was going to be the naga. He wrote up a report to add to the files back at the bunker, since no one had a lot of solid intelligence on them. At least Sam got to add that it was a lot bigger than you'd think, and probably not evil, or at least not malicious. Protective of what it viewed as theirs, sure, but you could say that about humans too. Despite that, he added a note that they should be avoided at all costs. The fact that it didn't kill him and Dean when it had at least one extremely easy shot was proof of a general benevolence. No demon would have let that opportunity slide past.

Once they got back to the motel, Jenny took off, supposedly to see if there were any cult stragglers - other than her vessel - left in town. It felt a bit like a lie, and Sam got the impression she wanted to avoid him. Why? Because, while he did appreciate the save, and the irony that one of the "pure" easily got possessed by a demon, a counterpoint to their smug beliefs, he still wanted her out of that girl. Yes, she'd made some poor choices, but it might not all be on her. There might be a family obligation here. Still, he'd have to look past the attempted murder thing. And yet ... Sam didn't find it completely unforgivable. She thought they were the enemy; maybe she was brainwashed. How was he to know?

The adults he found much harder to forgive. They were willing to hurt countless people to get to them, which he hesitated to call insane, because even people with mental illness knew a right from a wrong in most cases. It was evil. Maybe when you felt so righteous in your cause, nothing you did in the service of that cause could be wrong? You had to get pretty far up your own ass to feel that way, but Sam had encountered hunters who felt that way as well. If you followed it to its logical conclusion, that was a scorched earth policy, otherwise known as destroying a village to save it. Fucking ridiculous.

Sam checked on Dean again, just to make sure he was okay. He knew there were several schools of thought on treating concussions, including not letting victims of one sleep, although others thought they needed their rest. He figured it didn't matter as long as he kept an eye on him, which probably meant he was in for a long night.

Sam felt restless, so he walked to the corner store, bought some beer, and came back to the motel and climbed on the roof. He knew you weren't supposed to, but he also knew if you were stargazing, it was best to get as high as you could.

This wasn't a big town, so it didn't have city caused light pollution, and it wasn't long before he could see the stars peeking out from the black. The stars were always slightly different, and always beautiful in the same way. He missed doing this.

Sam enjoyed the view for a while, but his mind wandered back to the Darkness, and what they were going to do. He honestly didn't know. He still had no ideas. They would figure out something; they usually did. But what if they didn't?

He idly wondered if he could get the naga in on this fight, and smiled. Now there was a battle he'd paid to see.

Maybe it wasn't great that he slept eighteen hours? But Dean had to admit, he felt a lot better when he finally woke up. He had a really mild headache, like maybe he was starting to go through caffeine withdrawal, but that was easily solved.

Sam was still asleep when he woke up, but rather than wake him - he must have gone to bed super later if Mr. Early Riser wasn't up and annoying him by now - Dean got dressed and went to local coffee shop, where he got Sam his plain black coffee (so boring), and got himself a triple espresso a/k/a crack, because he felt he could use the jolt. While waiting for his coffee, he encountered a familiar figure: a girl in black lipstick, wearing shiny patent leather combat boots and a jacket with far too many zippers. Jenny.

"Haven't swapped vessels yet?" Dean asked.

Jenny shook her head. "What happens with this one when I do? Is she going to go running back to the cult?"

Dean shrugged. "If she does, all she can really do is warn them we're coming. I don't think it'll help."

"Are you sure you don't want me to ..." Jenny made a throat cutting gesture with her hand.

He scowled at her. "No. We don't kill kids."

"She's nineteen. Does that count as a kid?"

"Teen is in the name. Yes. And I expected better from you."

Jenny barked a surprised laugh. "Holy shit, Winchester, have you met me?"

Should he just do it? Yeah, he might as well. Why play the game any longer? "Which one were you?"

Jenny looked back at him, confused. "What?"

"Adnachiel, Eiael, Mendrion, Omael, or Zaazenach? Sam takes copious notes. I bet you didn't know that. I tried to see if I could match up Countess, Jazz, Marquis, Rocket, Sunny, and Jenny , but I realized the numbers didn't add up. Which is curious, but I figured you had an explanation for that."

Jenny tried to poker face him. It wasn't working. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Winchester."

"Should I get Cas on the phone, ask his opinion?"

She closed her eyes and huffed a sigh through her nose. "If I was an angel turned demon, why the fuck would I risk encountering you guys again? You have an angel with you, for fuck's sake."

"Because you wanted revenge for your friends. And for some reason, you were warning me."

She shook her head, and leaned against the counter. "Ridiculous. Why would I warn you?"

"I don't know. But they really had a hard on for me after the Mark of Cain business. You had to know that. We had no idea they were coming for me. But you did."

She glared at him. "Angels aren't benevolent. They're fucking assholes. Except Castiel. I mean, he had a big asshole streak in him, but ... he felt more than the rest of them, that was for damn sure. I heard stories. Some of the bigger assholes would make fun of him behind his back. Soft-hearted is the same as soft-headed to an angel."

"Which one were you?" Dean asked again.

She rubbed her eyes. "Eiael. Shit, following Lucifer was so fucking dumb. But I was tired of taking orders that made no sense, for a God I never saw. I mean, blind obedience wears on you after a while."

Dean scoffed. "Preach, sister." He never tried to explain it to Sam, but doing everything their Dad said was how he was keeping Sam alive when they were kids. He had to believe that, because otherwise he would have had to admit he didn't know what to do, and felt lost and scared most of the time. But sometimes he wanted to push back, to stop, to ask Dad if he had a genuine fucking plan or was just flying by the seat of his pants. He didn't, though. Not a lot. He knew now he should have, but it no longer mattered.

She attempted a smile, but it collapsed almost immediately. "Yeah, you would know, wouldn't you? Maybe that's why I liked you. You kinda get it."

"You know, Cas would probably be glad to see you."

She shrugged and shook her head. "I know. But I don't think I can face him again, you know? I was lucky the first time. He was mostly mind controlled by Bacchus, and I wasn't around long after he came back. I was afraid he'd know who I was, even though I knew logically that wasn't possible."

"We all make mistakes," Dean said. "Ask me about the Mark of Cain. But all we can do is learn from them, and try not to fuck up so badly next time."

She stared at him a moment. "You getting philosophical in your old age, Winchester?"

"Old? I'm not even mid-life crisis age. Unless you're going by hunter years, then I'm fucking ancient. How old are you?"

"A lady never tells her age. You should know that."

"Are you a lady?"

"Today. Maybe not tomorrow."

His coffee order came up, and while he grabbed Sam's, Jenny grabbed his, and took an uninvited sip of it.

"Hey," Dean protested.

She bugged her eyes out slightly, and handed it to him. "Jesus Christ. Is that a lethal amount of caffeine? You and your brother couldn't be more different."

"He like his coffee utilitarian. I figure if it ain't rocket fuel, what's the point?" Dean wondered when she tried some of Sam's coffee, and figured it didn't matter. Maybe she bugged Sam much like she was bugging him now. "By the way, are you gonna explain the sixth name?"

"Oh. Sunny is - was - an actual demon. One of the few that was nice to us when we first ended up in the pit. Sunny was kind of weird for a demon."

"It happens. I've met some weird angels too."

That teased a small smile out of her. "You be good to Cas, huh? Don't break his heart. And tell him I'm glad he escaped Heaven. This last century or so, it's lost its fucking mind."

"It seems like everything's lost its mind." He took a sip of his coffee. Yeah, that was a punch of caffeine right between the eyes. Perfect.

"That is the ultimate curse of existence," Jenny said, looking at the street outside the coffee shop. There was nothing remarkable going on out there, so Dean figured she was thinking of something and letting her gaze wander. "If you live long enough, you live to see entropy eat everything."

"Holy shit, that's dark."

"I'm a demon. We don't do happy." She reached into her coat pocket, and pulled out a folded piece of paper, which she held out to him.

He had to put one of his cups down on an empty table to take it. "What's this?"

"Where Nevaeh is staying. Maybe you and Sam can drop in, see if you can talk some sense into her after I'm gone. Or at least make sure she doesn't off herself for being impure enough to be possessed by a demon."

That was remarkably considerate of her. Sam would be glad for this. Dean nodded, and slipped it in his pocket. "Maybe you being a former angel will make it better."

She scoffed. "It shouldn't. I think we're worse than normal demons, because we know what the other side was like."

"Do you miss it?"

"Heaven? Fuck no. I don't miss Lucifer either. He was a gigantic bag of dicks."

"The fucking biggest," he agreed, having another fortifying sip of his coffee. The last lingering fog in his head was clearing nicely.

She kissed him on the cheek, and said, "Say bye to Sam for me. And tell Cas -" she said something in Enochian, but he had no hope of understanding it, or even getting a solid grasp on the syllables.

"You know I can't say that," he protested. "What does it mean?"

She smiled. "No gods, no masters."

He smiled in return. "My new epitaph."

"Fuck yeah. Take care of yourself, Winchester. Try not to get possessed by any more ancient evils."

"Working on it," he told her, as she walked out the door. She headed down the street without looking back.

Dean wondered if they could save Nevaeh from this stupid ass cult, and if it would all be worth it if they could.

Sometimes you could only save one person, and that had to be good enough.

The End