A black Impala came to a stop in front of the dorm house. Dean Winchester turned off the engine as his taller brother got off from the passenger side. Before Sam entered the dorm house, he peeked his head through the window.
“Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?”
“Yeah, all right.”
Sam gave the door another tap before turning around. That was when two gunshots exploded from the dorm house above.
“Oh my god!” Sam immediately turned and dashed into the house. This was bad! There was a ninety percent chance the gunshots came from his room, which meant either Jess had to shoot someone, or she was being shot at. Either way, something must’ve gone terribly wrong.
Dean moved out of the car as quickly as possible, but he was a few seconds behind his brother.
Leaping above multiple staircases at once, Sam quickly found himself in the room he and Jessica shared. The door was broken through by force. The lock, ripped straight off. Sam felt his heart sink. This was no common burglar. Whoever did this was too strong to be a human being.
Another gunshot rang out. Sam quickly put the door behind him and ran into the living room. What he saw made his eyes widen in fear and fury alike.
A familiar figure was holding onto Jessica by the neck and pressing her against the wall. Jessica struggled. Her handgun that alerted the Winchester brothers of what was going on laid fell the floor, not that it could’ve helped much if Jess was still holding onto it.
Sensing Sam’s presence, the man turned around and faced the Winchester.
“Brady…” Sam’s voice trailed off when he saw his friend’s black eyes. “Oh no.”
Brady turned around to face Sam, in the process releasing Jessica. Finally! You’re finally here! Praise Lucifer! As hard as it was to believe, the Demon was almost in tears. Who knew putting up an act was this difficult? Pretending to be trying to kill someone and then failing was hard enough by itself. Doing that to someone who could rip him apart limb by limb was even tougher.
If the being inside Jessica killed him on the spot, Brady doubted his boss would turn on Killian for that. His death would be meaningless.
Now, all he had to do was engage Sam Winchester, and then be defeated and forced to flee. Should be easy, right?
What he didn't know was that his opponent was as full of doubt as he was.
On the other side, Sam was growling. He has never faced a Demon before. Demons were an especially nasty type of monsters. They wanted nothing but to cause pain and misery. Their incredible strength, ability to possess human beings, and imperviousness to conventional weapons made them especially dangerous, even to hunters. But he had nowhere to back off to.
His girlfriend was in danger. Even now, she was on the ground, motionless.
The two crashed into each other, and Sam felt like he might’ve underestimated himself. The Demon punched hard, but Sam was able to hold him at bay. That was when Dean came in through the door and tackled Brady from behind.
The two rolled across the floor. Using the opening, Sam quickly ran to Jessica to check her out.
“Jess! You alright? Are you hurt?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jessica whispered, struggling to stand back up. Sam patted her all over to make sure she wasn’t injured. He was going to take Jessica out to safety when he heard Dean groan behind him. A single glance to the side told him Dean was already pinned to the wall.
“Can you walk?” Sam asked.
“Yes.”
“Go! Get as far away from here as possible!” He told Jessica before turning around and engaging the Demon. Now, that was a terrible idea. He didn't know how many Demons were out there, and if Jessica really ran out, then a second Demon could walk up to her and claim her life. But the younger Winchester has completely lost his cool when the love of his life was so close to death.
Jessica nodded slowly. If Sam looked into her eyes for a few more seconds, he would see guilt. Thankfully, he never did. As the Winchester brothers fought hand-to-hand with the Demon, Jess turned to Killian in doubt.
“I still think this is a bad idea, Kil. I really don’t like lying to Sam. I feel like I’m betraying him.”
When Jessica regained control of her body again, she was surprised to realize Demon Brady was still alive and moving. This was really uncharacteristic of Killian, but as she barely dodged the Demon’s attacks, Jessica was told what Killian’s concerns were.
“Relax, Jess.” Killian reassured once again. “Look, you want Sam to tell you the truth about him and his family, right? And maybe you want to follow him on his hunting trips to keep him alive? Then we need to let him know that he has no other choice but to tell you the truth. I can deal with that Demon quietly, but then what are the chances Sam will keep putting up the act like nothing’s wrong?”
“Pretty high.” Jess slowly stood back up.
“Exactly. Dean Winchester can come into your house in the middle of the night and drag Sam off to a hunt just like that. If you don’t take drastic measures, Sam may keep quiet forever so he wouldn’t scare you.”
“I really hope you are right, Killian.” Jessica watched as Dean took a punch to the nose. Blood dripped down. She slowly stood up. Honestly, as brutal as the beating by Brady looked like, she wasn’t injured at all. She credited that to Killian, but in reality, it was because Brady was more than slacking off.
Sam told Jessica to run, but Jessica had other plans in mind. She quietly grabbed onto the pistol again, sneaked to behind Brady until she was able to shoot a bullet right through his head.
Even a bullet to the head couldn’t stop a Demon, but the Winchester brothers didn't know that, and Brady has been looking for an excuse to get out of this mess the moment the fighting started. He pretended to be wounded by the shot, took a few steps back, and felt his back hit the wall.
Dean and Sam got back up. Both were somewhat bloodied. Dean glanced at Jessica. Her decisiveness to shoot to kill frightened him and destroyed any intention he had to flirt with her in the future. Even Sam seemed a bit surprised at how easy it was for her to fire a bullet into another person’s head.
He always knew Jessica was a badass, but this was really impressive.
Sensing the look on their face, Jessica shrugged.
“What? I love my Second Amendment rights.”
Brady opened his mouth, ready to eject out of this meat suit. He was done with this. Inside Jessica, Killian frowned. There was still one more part of the plan! A flash of red appeared in Jessica’s eyes. Only Brady saw it, and the Demon knew his mistake.
He turned to Sam. The bullet still in his brain.
“Sam Winchester, Yellow-Eyes sends his regard. You may have saved your girlfriend now, but her time is limited. Sooner or later, she will burn the same way your whore of a mother did!”
That was enough to piss off both Winchesters.
“You!” Sam stepped forward and raised his fist in an attack stance, but it was already too late. Brady opened his mouth and ejected a black smoke out of his body. That was the true form of the Demon outside of a meat suit. Sam and Dean stepped back, shielding Jessica with their body. They have never seen anything like this before. In the grand scheme of things, they were still early in their path as hunters. They could only watch as the smoke left the house via the window.
Finally, Sam turned back to Jessica. A guilty look on his face.
“Look, Jess, we need to talk.”
The three left the dorm room and went downstairs. As they left, just for a brief second, Killian took over Jessica’s body and gave Brady’s body one last apologetic glance. The Winchester brothers didn't know that, but Brady used to be a living, breathing human being. A Demon possessed him and used his body for all sorts of evil while the soul inside simply watched helplessly.
Killian didn't want to kill him, but he had no choice. Brady has seen the entirety of his deal with Azazel. The Demon would keep his mouth shut, but the human wouldn’t. He had to die.
Killian had to admit he didn't enjoy this one bit. Yes, he was a warrior. Yes, he has slain lives beyond count. But most of his kills were on the field of battle where they wanted him dead as well. The idea of being trapped in your body for years, not able to move a single muscle as a complete entity uses your body to commit evils made Killian shake.
And if his plan was to continue, then billions would suffer the same fate. Demons didn't possess humans the same way he possessed Jessica. With Jessica, he was careful and protective, but when a Demon was done with a human, the human would be lucky to spend the rest of their lives in a hospital.
This was enough to make Killian rethink his plan, briefly.
Was it worth it? Condemning billions to endless suffering...for victory?
The answer was yes.
He was a soldier. His task was simple. Protect his people. Defeat the enemies. And now, that could only be accomplished by special methods. He had to do things he looked down upon before. He had to kill people he would never lay a finger on back in the days.
All for the sake of victory.
As Killian retreated, Jessica took over the body again. She didn't sense anything off as she followed the Winchester to the door.
By the time the three reached the car, police sirens could already be heard approaching. Four gunshots weren’t something to go unnoticed. Jessica and the Winchesters stayed with their hands up as several police cars drove in.
What happened next was simple. The three told the same story, which was actually pretty close to the truth. Except rather than being possessed, Brady was on some sort of drugs. What? How should we know? Rather than being a tool for a greater evil, he came into Jessica’s room for some other, more human purposes. What? How should we know?
The police weren’t satisfied, but Jessica had the right to defend herself, and the officers had to keep their confusions in their heads and leave the scene. In the end, this case was classified as a simple case of Castle Doctrine in effect.
Much to Jessica and the boys’ satisfaction, Stanford University didn't come after Jessica for having a firearm on campus. The university officials knew if they did, then Jessica could make a whole fuss about how unsafe Stanford was and how she could’ve died. For top universities, reputation was everything.
Finally, the three were ready to sit down for a chat, except Dean didn't quite agree with that. That was why even before Jessica could talk to Sam, Dean intercepted him with a discussion in the bedroom as Jessica waited in the living room.
“Look, Sam, I know you love your girl, but you can’t drag her into this! Do you want her to live the same life like us? Constantly looking over our shoulders? Constantly afraid some monster will jump out and get us from the shadows?”
“I don’t, Dean, but I don’t have a choice! You heard what that Demon said! He said...he said Jessica will die the same way mom did!”
“He also talked about Yellow-Eyes. Do you think…do you think that’s the thing that killed mom? Yellow-Eyes? Is that another Demon?” Dean’s eyes went wide open. “What the hell is it trying to do? First, it killed mom, now it wants your girlfriend dead? What does it have against our family?“
Up until now, even after years of hunting, Sam and Dean still didn't know what killed Mary Winchester.
Given the pain Azazel caused on the family, it was especially tragic.
“It doesn’t matter!” Sam threw his arms up. “All we know is, that thing is after Jessica, and you saw how close that was! If we came back here a minute too late, then Jess…”
He trailed off, imaging what would happen then. Jessica would be killed by the Demon. Chances were, her body would be strung open or put into a spectacular fashion. He would walk home unsuspecting, only to see the love of his life dead right then and there.
Knowing the Demons, Jessica wouldn’t even get a quick death. Demons always loved to toy with their victims.
He sat back onto the bed in guilt. If Jessica really died, then Sam knew he could never forgive himself. He kept secrets from her, and those secrets caused her to die not knowing what killed her or why.
“I’m telling Jessica about us, Dean.”
“Look, Sam…”
“I can’t live with this anymore! I am not going to keep a secret from Jess that may one day get her killed!”
Dean sighed. His brother was determined, a common trait of the Winchester family. Once he made up his mind about something, there was no going back.
“So what do you say, Sam? Telling her the truth won’t stop the Demons from going after her. We should leave her with some other hunter. Maybe Jim? Caleb? Bobby?”
“Depends.”
“Depends on what?” Dean suddenly opened his mouth in shock. “Wait, you’re not saying we let her come on our hunting trips, are you?”
“Well,” Sam’s expression told Dean that was exactly what he was thinking. “Why not?”
“Why not? We’re hunting monsters, Sam! Which part of hunting monsters sounds safe to you?”
“Actually, letting Jess come along may be the best thing for her.” Sam reasoned. “You know as well as I do that we can protect her better than any hunter. Plus, you have seen how good she works with a firearm! She’s no damsel in distress, Dean! She survived a Demon! Not only so, she delivered the killing blow! She can help us in tracking down this...Yellow-Eyes!”
Dean opened his mouth in an effort to form a counterargument, but he realized he couldn’t. Sam was right. It felt safer to have her around them then entrust her to some other hunters they knew. And as long as Yellow-Eyes was alive, those assassinations wouldn’t stop. They had to take the fight to him, and Jessica could help with that.
Now, there was always the concern with putting a friend in danger, but if Sam was the one putting forth the idea, then Dean was in no position to question it.
“Now, let’s just see what Jess has to say.”
