Twenty-One – The Cemetery

Once the group got to the cemetery, Sam parked the Impala a ways away so Bela nor her help would spot it. They had to keep the element of surprise if they had a chance of this plan running smoothly.

"Okay. Cas, Meg, and Crowley are probably already in position," Charlie noted. "Jody and I will take one side of the cemetery, you and Sam take the other side, Jess. Jo will be waiting further back, ready to help whoever."

"Did we ever discuss a signal?" Jessica wondered aloud. Prior to this, she didn't think that one was ever established.

"Huh, I guess we didn't. Well, I think we'll know it when we see it. Hopefully that signal isn't Bela ripping out Crowley's innards or decapitating him."

"That's...awfully grim, Charlie."

"Hey, better it be him than any of us."

The five split out into their groups, Sam and Jessica side by side as they headed for the open cemetery. Moonlight shone like a spotlight down on the place, almost as if it knew what was about to go down.

"If things go wrong, you run for it," Sam told Jessica.

Jessica looked at him strangely. "What?"

"I mean it. If things get real bad, you gotta save yourself."

"Um, that's not in the plan. Is this because Cas brought me back? Look, Sam, it's too late to turn back. Running away is being a coward, and I am not about to be a coward." A soft breeze blew through the two's hair. "I may not be an expert like you or Dean with this stuff, but my lack of knowledge isn't going to make me run from this."

"You're definitely not the Jess I knew back at Stanford."

"And you're not the Sam that I knew back at Stanford. I guess that makes us even." Jessica squinted her eyes in hopes that she could get a glimpse ahead. She saw figures moving that didn't look like Cas or Meg. Jessica put her arm out to stop Sam. "She brought company."

"Crap. She did. That's Alex."

Jessica's phone buzzed in her pocket. Four in total. Dean, Alex, Claire all watchdogs, was Charlie's text. Don't get spotted.

"She's already here, then," Jessica murmured. She looked around, searching for any cover she and Sam could utilize to get closer. She saw only headstones, and none seemed big enough to hide their tall bodies. "We need to get closer."

"We can't without being seen, Jess."

"Then we take it one step at a time. We might have to cram our bodies behind tombstones." Jessica grimaced. She wasn't fond of the idea. We can't just hang back and wait for someone to die to jump in.

As stealthily as the two could, they found tombstones close to each other and crouched behind them. Jessica peeked around hers, noticing the back of Alex's head. Further away, she could see Crowley, and the back of who she assumed to be Bela Talbot.

Thanks to the open setting they were positioned in, conversation lofted to her ears.

"I'm glad someone recognizes what I'm doing here," Bela drawled in her British accent. "I don't know why nobody's done this before. It solves all our problems." The demon woman turned her head slightly, to acknowledge her help. "Snatch a few hunter bodies, have them take out their own people. It's kind of ironic when you think about it." She turned her attention back to Crowley. "I can't have been summoned here just for you to praise me, though I do appreciate the flattery."

"Your work produces results, I won't lie," Crowley said. "You're valuable, Ms. Talbot. I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if I had a beta, someone who could command demons when I'm unable to."

"And you believe that's me?"

"I don't do interviews often, love. Being king, I have a lot of duty to uphold, so I can't spend my time doing the dirty work. Hunters threaten our way of life, and as much as I'd love to be crunching their bones in my fist, I just don't have the time."

Bela started to circle Crowley. She put a hand against his shoulder. Jessica saw Sam tuck himself back behind his tombstone—Not Alex had turned around to search the area. Jessica quickly pulled herself back against her hiding spot.

"The offer is tempting, but don't think this means I'll be calling you 'my king' or anything of the sort. I'll take orders as long as I agree with them."

"You misunderstand how employment works, Ms. Talbot. This isn't a co-ruling thing, you are not at my level."

Bela scoffed. "If anything, you're not on mine. You see, Crowley, I thought this was an opportunity for me. I couldn't believe it! The King of Hell, reaching out to me. Wanting to partner up with me. But then I had to wonder...you turned around awful quickly from looking at me with a sour look on your face to offering me a job. I can see right through you, and I can see that there is no real offer."

"Sam!" Jessica whisper-shouted as Not Alex grabbed him from behind his tombstone, flinging him out into the open. Shit.

Jessica jumped out from her spot, firing off a salt round at Not Alex. It hit one of her shoulders and she stumbled forward. Not Alex turned her head, eyes full of nothing but black.

"You morons," Bela snickered. "You—wow, some king, turning away from a fight!" Crowley had vanished.

"He's just the diversion," said Jo, who fired off a round at Bela. It struck her cheek, and if the demon woman wasn't enraged before, she was now.

But the enragement only went as far as her eyes. Her mouth wore a sly smirk, and at the snap of her fingers, Not Alex converged on Sam. Not Dean shot out of nowhere, and Jessica shot a round at him to slow him down from tackling Jo. Jo turned around, and the two began to fight.

"Well, well, who to slaughter first? How about you, blondie?" Bela crooned towards Jessica. From the corner of her eye, she saw Charlie, Jody, and Not Claire enter the cemetery. The two were trying to exorcise Not Claire. "You seem like easy pickings."

"Think again, bitch." Jessica shot off another salt round. Bela didn't miss a step.

As the demon went for her, Jessica smacked her hand away. The two began to throw punches, until Jessica found herself being tackled to the ground. Jo had flown into her, and both had knocked their heads together. The two rolled off each other.

"This is some hot mess of a rescue you have," Bela taunted the two. "I think it's bordering the line of 'suicide mission'."

"Yeah, well, I guess there isn't any other way to go in this line of work, huh?" came a familiar snark of a female demon.

If it weren't for the throbbing in her head, Jessica would have whooped for joy. Castiel and Meg had entered the game.

Jessica and Jo helped each other up as Meg threw an upper cut to Bela's chin. Castiel, his eyes aglow blue, put a hand out. Bela grabbed at her head, screaming as though she was in pain. Jo pushed Jessica aside, just as Not Dean came charging towards the two blondes.

"Go help Sam, I got the charging bull," Jo told Jessica.

Not Dean cracked his knuckles. "Round two, I like it."

Jessica scampered off to help Sam, who was bloody and swollen in the face, as Not Alex circled him like he was crippled prey. Jessica heard the exorcism whisper out of Sam's mouth, but Not Alex popped him, sending him to the ground. Jessica quickly pulled out her recorder, playing the exorcism the gang had recorded prior to leaving.

Not Alex snapped her head around, and Jessica was airborne. But the exorcism still played, and Not Alex was slowly twitching, snarling. Behind her, Sam got to his feet, shouting the exorcism as loud as he could.

"ENOUGH!" Bela bellowed.

Sharp pain burst in Jessica's skull. She kept her grip on the recorder, but she was beginning to see black spots in her vision. Not Alex, at a slow pace, went to Jessica, murder evident in her eyes.

But just as the demon was feet away from the blonde, the dark-haired girl buckled. With a loud scream, black smoke rose from her body, and Alex Jones collapsed onto the cemetery ground. Jessica crawled to the girl, putting her fingers against one wrist. She's alive.

Jessica looked away, though more black was invading her vision. Not Dean had Jo in a chokehold, Jody restrained Not Claire as Charlie shouted the exorcism. Jessica noticed the redhead's nose was bleeding. She dipped her hand under her nose to realize hers was doing the same thing.

To think of it, all except the demons Bela, Not Claire, and Not Dean, bore bloody noses.

She's killing us slowly. Demons can do this?

"If you don't release her, I will snap your necks," Bela threatened Jody and Charlie. Charlie stopped mid-chant, and Jessica really hoped she didn't continue talking. She didn't want to lose the spunky girl. The angry demon scoured the rest of the cemetery. "I know you're asking for death by pissing me off, but I will give you one last chance to let my demons inhabit your bodies. Let them roll the earth in them."

"Yeah, and have us watch from the backseat? Pass," Charlie snapped.

"It's over, Bela," Sam told the demon. "You're outnumbered."

"While that may be true, tell me, how far would you all get before I crushed your throats without putting my hand on you?" Bela raised a mischievous brow.

"Can she do that?" Jessica asked Sam.

"Oh, I've learned a lot, Jessie. I may not have been born a witch, but you learn things in Hell."

"Oh, do you now?" came an accented male tone. Jessica noticed Crowley had snuck his way in to the ceasefire. "Because you're forgetting the most important rule, my darling." He grabbed Bela by the forearm. "Don't boast when you haven't won the war."

The King of Hell thrust a blade into Bela Talbot's heart—or rather, where one once was.