39. The Blackbird Motel

Rain follows us as I drive Charlie to the Blackbird Motel in the night.

Lightning strikes, thunder claps, but it doesn't faze me any. Nothing really does at this point. Charlie has the radio going, singing under her breath to any of the songs that play through the stereo.

Charlie gets checked into the motel. The hairs on my arms stand on end, like someone's close. Someone's watching. I want to take a look around, but I remain near Charlie just in case.

The feeling doesn't go away, even as I sit on the bed in the room.

"Ezekiel...seven letters," Charlie mutters to herself. She's glued to her computer. Rain pounds against the window of the room. "Seven represents the seeker. Okay. Okay. Saints represent groups of letters that represent numbers...that stand for concepts represented by...Oh, wow. I might be a genius."

I leap off the bed, hovering over Charlie's shoulder. "Did you crack it?"

"I-I might have."

"Charlie, I could kiss you right now."

I stand straight at a loud pounding on the door. Charlie startles under me. She looks up at me, and I shush her with a finger to my mouth.

"I know you're in here, Miss Asimov," says an unfamiliar voice. "You have it. I want it."

"Charlie?" I whisper. "What's going on?"

"T-they found me." She hastily gathers the computer, and all her notes, in her arms. I grab her arm as she tries to scurry into the bathroom.

"Hold on, Charlie. Who found you?"

"The people who think the Book of the Damned is theirs. The Stynes. How many are after me?"

"I don't know." There's more loud pounding on the door.

"Open up!" the voice shouts.

"We're stuck," Charlie whispers.

"Okay, I've got a plan," I say, grabbing Charlie's arms. "You go find cover. I'll take point so when whoever walks in, they won't see me because of the door. We'll lure them in, and then you let me do the rest, okay?"

Charlie nods. All the color has left her face. "J-Josette?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm so glad you're here."

I nudge her towards the bathroom, pulling out the angel blade I've had for a while now. "Go hide."

"W-what if something happens to you?"

"Well, do you have a weapon on you?" She nods. "Then you go down fighting if you have no other choice and they corner you. Now, go."

Charlie flees into the bathroom, and the storm outside is picking up. I put myself against the wall, and the door opens, nearly smashing into me. The wind howls, and the door is left open. My grip tightens on the blade. I blow out a breath. Kill, don't maim. We don't want him walking out of this alive.

A figure steps into the room, dripping wet. The most notable feature is that his arm is bleeding and is a stump. The fuck is this guy? Already, he's not human. But he doesn't seem like a creature that goes bump in the night.

We both hear the loud smash—Charlie killing her computer. He steps towards the bathroom, and I find myself following behind him mutely.

"You're gonna give me what's mine," he hisses towards Charlie. "Mine and my family's."

"Think again, bastard," I murmur. I battle-cry and lunge, throttling him to the ground. He hits me hard with his stumpy arm, sending me off him and into the bed. "I would say I'd give you a chance to walk out alive, but"—I chuckle—"that's not my intention." I flash my demon eyes.

"Aren't you new?" he cackles. "We're gonna have some fun."

I push myself from the bed, and I and the stranger attack each other. He's as swift and strong as me, but he bears no black eyes. He's not a demon. What the hell is he? A strike across my face sends me towards the nasty weather outside. Lightning cracks, and past the attacker, I see Charlie, who's got her huge knife with her.

"Let me guess: you're gonna say you've got the book," he purrs.

"Nah," I say, swiping at him. "The book ain't here, asshole." With a cry, I shove the angel blade through his stomach. No expression of shock goes onto his face. In fact, he doesn't look like he's even aware he's got an angel blade right through him.

He smirks, and now I'm a little worried. "Thanks. I could use a weapon." I scream as he rips my blade out from his stomach and slices a deep cut into mine. "I'll make sure to use it to kill your little friend once I'm done with you."

Feeling a burst of power, I fling the guy up at the ceiling. He rains down, along with some of the ceiling as they both fall. I go to him, bleeding from my stomach, ripping at his hair, punching him in his face. I relish the bones crunching under my knuckles. All this guy does is laughs.

"I can do this all night," he says. I yell as the angel blade catches me in the right shoulder. I reel and get a vicious uppercut into my chin. It feels like an elephant has just crushed my skull as I find myself on my back. "Time to say goodnight."

Just as the blade is about to come through me and end me for good, I see two tiny arms around the guy's neck. He roars, bucking, as Charlie fights to stay on him. My head is pounding, and my world feels pretty fucked up right now.

"Charlie!" I scream as I see her go flying into the bathroom. The guy is panting heavily as he moves in after her. My eyes close as I hear the noises of a fight going bad from the bathroom. Get up. Take him out. Finish him. Kill him. He's not immortal. But a stab to the stomach didn't even make the guy flinch.

How the hell is he supposed to be stopped?

By the time I'm even halfway up, I feel my head yanked on, and I'm dragged across the floor, into the bathroom. The smell of blood is fresh in here.

As is the blood weeping down the walls. As is Charlie lying unresponsive, covered in her own blood.

I don't feel any shock register, only anger. Only frustration. Only a burning passion to murder the son of a bitch who's other hand I want to rip off right now.

"Some bodyguard you make," he hisses, throwing me to the red-tinted flooring. I yell as I feel the angel blade strike into my back, repeatedly. A worse pain than being lashed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you wanted me to kill her. A monster like you wouldn't defend her, now, would you?" I receive a vicious kick to my mouth. I spit out some fresh blood. "What held you back from doing the job yourself, huh? Too scared to finish it?"

I lunge for him, pathetically. He hits me with his stumpy arm, sending alarm bells ringing in my face.

"If I were you, I'd stay down."

My body shakes as I try to pull myself up. My body is bleeding, stinging, and the pain is only growing. My blood is mixing in with Charlie's on the floor, making it seem more like something out of a horror movie than ever before.

"A token of my mercy." He tosses the red angel blade down at my trembling hands before he saunters out. I gasp in pain, buckling from the intensity of it. I cringe, feeling memories of Hell come crawling back to me.

This pain I feel right now is mild compared to what Hell had in store for me. That place made wounds hurt so much that the feeling became permanent. Demons after demons, some posing as my brothers, some as my mom and dad, all tricking me into believing I was free. Feeling like my body was being ripped apart at the seams. Being in such pain to the point where I begged for mercy, begged for death even though it was the reason why I was in Hell.

I look at the red blade. This Styne, whatever he name is, basically gave me an invitation for a rematch. For me to kick his ass and send it to Hell without hesitation. I'm weak. A demon, weak. I look up at Charlie, at how her body, once full of life, is void of it now.

Feeling the burn in all my limbs, especially the wounds, I pick the angel blade from the bathroom and shuffle out, leaving a blood trail in my wake. I move zombie-like until I'm in the middle of the storm, rain, wind, thunder, lightning, and all. My blood is mixing with the rain now.

The Styne is nowhere in sight. Vanished, like a ghost.

In the midst of my pain, I hear the familiar purr of a 1967 Chevrolet Impala enter the motel parking lot. I wheeze out a chuckle. It was only a matter of time.

"Jo!" I hear Sam yell. I barely acknowledge him when he swims into my vision. "Hey, Jo! Jo!" His hazel eyes frantically search my face. "What happened? Where's—where's Charlie?"

"Sam!" Dean shouts. Sam looks past me and drops his attention from me like I'm nothing. They're probably running into the motel room to find Charlie. Soon, they'll see her dead body. What will they think? That I killed her? That one of the Stynes got to her? That I tried my best to defend Charlie, but failed?

Numbly, I turn towards the open motel room door. Cas, if you can hear me, Charlie's gone. Dead. But am I sorry that I helped her escape? Fuck no. She cracked the code with this breakout. She did what she could without Rowena's help.

This Styne I faced is most likely not the last. Time to do a solo hunt. Time to do research. Time to plan the Styne line extinction. But I'm not sure my wounds will let me do so right away. Even for what I am, they're healing slower than normal.

Sam is the one to step out first. He approaches me, soaking himself to the bone. The rain masks his tears, but I know he's been crying. Charlie meant something to Sam and Dean.

"What happened, Jo?" he asks me. I look at my younger brother and see him when he was little, when he would ask questions in that small voice of his that had yet to hit puberty. How hurt he was that made him seem innocent. "You were here, weren't you?"

I sniff, nodding. "I was." My body is twitching from the cold drops now.

"Did you...did you do this?"

"You think I killed her?" I'm not too surprised by this accusation.

"No, I-I don't believe that." But yet his face betrays him. Like some part of him does believe it.

"Then why did you ask?"

"I just...I don't know anymore, Jo." Beads of water fly from Sam's hair when he runs his hand through it.

"Dean in there with her, still?"

"Yeah."

"I better make myself scarce, then."

"Why?"

"Well, knowing how our brother works, he'll find someone to blame that's not the real killer. First best option is his demonic little sister." I snort. "I'll, uh, see you two back at the bunker. Unless you want to ride back with me?"

"No, I-I'm good, Jo."

I nod. "Okay then. Sam, I didn't do this to her, I swear to you. I tried to keep her safe." But all I seem to do is bad instead of good. Using my powers has the opposite outcome that I want. "I just want you to know that."

Without another word, bloody angel blade in hand, I stalk off to my truck, where I won't have Charlie beside me, singing off-key to the radio. 

**[dabs eyes with tissues] It was not fun writing this, especially since I had to have Jo...well...you get it.

RIP Charlie </3 The writers killed you off for shock value, which was such a low blow that it disappointed me. A character's death helps the plot along. But yours...yours didn't. You were a fan favorite taken too soon, and we all wish you could come back even though we know you can't.

What will this mean for Jo and her brothers now? I mean, Sam and Dean didn't see what happened in there. All they have is Jo's word on it.**