I walked into the bunker to see Sam and Dean talking. My phone rang before I could say a word. I answered. "Hello?"
"Hey, Ness. Jody Mills."
I smiled. "Sheriff Mills. Hey, Jody. It's been..."
"Forever, I know. Uh... I got a bit of an oddball to pitch your direction."
"Shoot."
"A small town I cover outside of Sioux Falls. Only crime to speak of being the occasional cow tipping. Then last week... four people go missing."
"All right, so, what makes you think this is our kind of weird."
"I've got a witness who says he saw someone lift an SUV to nab a girl last night."
I looked at Sam and Dean. "Looks like I'm going back home. Or, close enough, anyway." Sam and Dean looked at me in confusion. I smiled a small smile. "You two can come with, if you're up for it."
~~~~~~~~
Dean drove us up to Casey's Great Plains Diner, parking net to Jody's truck. We got out of the car.
Sam and Dean embraced Jody.
I embraced Jody, smiling. "Sheriff. Laying off the blind dates, I hope."
Jody pulled away, giving me a half-hearted look. "Yeah, you bite your tongue, girl."
I smiled a small smile.
"Hey," Sam told her. "So?"
"So, car was right over there, ass over teakettle," Jody answered. "Now, normally, if somebody would tell me that one guy lifted an SUV, I'd tell him to take a flying leap, but after what I've seen..."
"Nothing's impossible," Sam finished.
"Uh-huh," Jody answered.
"And this matches up with the other missing how?" Dean asked.
"Well, four abductions, strong evidence left at every scene, literally," Jody answered.
"So, first vic was a pastor?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Jody answered. "Door of his study was punched in. And then, the next two? An engaged couple."
I looked at Sam and Dean. "Locked bedroom window was ripped open."
"Yeah," Jody agreed. "And then we have our waitress here with the topsy-turvy ride."
"Any other connection among them?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Jody answered. "They were all members of Good Faith church here. My, uh, my church group back in Sioux Falls was in a tizzy over it."
I nodded in amusement. "Hmm."
"What?" Jody asked.
"I didn't peg you for a churchy," I answered. "I mean, you weren't one when I knew you."
Jody looked down. "Yeah. You know... zombies taking your family kind of makes a higher power seem relevant."
"Jody, are you sure you're, uh, ready to jump back in the fray?" I asked.
"This wackadoo stuff keeps coming," Jody told us. "More I know, better armed I'll be."
"Okay, so, we have, uh, missing church folk and super strength," Sam told us. "Maybe angels harvesting vessels? Could be a Buddy Boyle type thing."
"Wha--Angels?" Jody asked. "You're joking."
"Don't get your pants on fire," Dean told her. "They suck."
"You said there was a witness," I told her.
"Yeah, well..." Jody trailed off, shrugging. "More or less."
~~~~~~~~
Sam, Dean and I were sitting at a restaurant booth.
Jody and a homeless man joined us.
"Okay, Slim," Jody told him. "My friends here want to talk to you about the missing girl."
"Honor," Slim told us. "Her name was Honor. Nice girl. Always left me meatloaves."
"Mm," I hummed.
"Slim, why don't you tell us what you saw that night?" Sam asked.
"I heard a big noise, got woke, and there's somebody over there lifting a car up, like this," Slim explained, lifting his hands above his head.
"And did you happen to see who it was?" Dean asked.
Slim lowered his arms, shaking his head. "I was too far. But I saw a light go off."
"A white light?" I asked.
"Blue," Slim answered. "Blue like fire. But not. There she was--she wasn't there."
"Could you think of anything else?" Dean asked.
"No," Slim answered.
"Okay," I told him. "Well, Slim, thank you for your time."
I took out my wallet, handing Slim a $20 bill.
Slim took the money, standing, walking away, leaving.
"Okay," Sam told us. "So, no white light."
"No angel," Dean told us. "Has anybody talked to the victims' families?"
"It's next on my list," Jody told us.
"Okay, and you said that they were all part of the same church," I told her.
Jody nodded. "Mm-hmm."
I looked at Sam and Dean. "Ready to get your worship on?"
~~~~~~~~
Dean and I were sitting in the Good Faith Church's office, across the desk from a woman named Bonnie.
"We hope you enjoyed the tour," Bonnie told us. "Any questions before we get you two registered?"
"Uh, yeah, uh, look, um, Mr. Futchko--" I started.
"Oh, please," Bonnie told us. "Bonnie will do just fine."
"Bonnie," I repeated. "Okay, um... love the church. We do. But... well, we've heard that a few members have gone missing, including an engaged couple like ourselves, and, to be honest... that kind of scares us."
"Let me assure you, with our increased security, Good Faith has never been safer," Bonnie told us. "And those people who have gone missing, well, they are front and center in our prayers."
Dean nodded cautiously. "What a relief. Now, you must have been, uh, close to them."
"Well, we do share the APU bond," Bonnie told us.
"The APU?" Dean repeated.
"Our chastity group," Bonnie answered. "'Abstinence Purifies Us'."
I nodded. "Oh. W--wow. You mind if we sit in on that, maybe see if it's for us?"
"I'm afraid it's members only," Bonnie told us. "I'm sorry, but it can get pretty personal."
"Then count us in," I told her.
Bonnie looked between us. "Well, I'll be a squirrel in a skirt. I'll be back in a jiff with the papers."
Bonnie stood, walking out of the office to pull papers from a large filing cabinet.
Dean leaned closer to me to talk quietly. "A chastity group?"
"Dean, listen, if all the members were in APU, then maybe whatever took them is stalking virgins," I told him.
"And that Slim guy said he thought he saw fire," Dean told me. "So, what are you thinking? Dragons?"
I shrugged. "Mm." I looked up to see Bonnie returning. "Shh."
"All righty," Bonnie told us, handing us each a clipboard. "You can just sign there, and your purification can begin."
I read the paper. "'Purity pledge'?"
"It's a commitment to your virginity," Bonnie explained.
I refrained from making a sound, pressing my lips together, looking down.
"I don't think we can really unring that bell," Dean told her. "You know what I mean?"
Bonnie was a little taken aback. "Oh. I see. Well, if you just ask for God's forgiveness for your sins and make a new vow of chastity, well, then, you'll be born again as virgins in His eyes."
"So, you just hit the 'virginity do-over' button, and all is good with the man upstairs?" Dean asked.
Bonnie looked slightly offended. "It's not a button. And... this isn't just a piece of paper. I mean, this is your clean slate, your chance to be a virgin until marriage."
"Well, you had me at 'clean slate'," I told her. "Let's do this."
Dean and I signed our real names to the bottom of the purity pledges, handing them back to Bonnie.
I had left off 'Winchester' on my name.
"Congratulations," Bonnie told us. "You are both virgins."
Dean looked at me.
I smiled sheepishly.
~~~~~~~~
Dean and I walked into the APU group meeting room.
"Seriously?" Dean asked.
"What?" I asked. "Yeah, this thing is pretty much irregardless to us since we're already..." I didn't finish, showing Dean my ring. "But we had to get a cover to find out what's going on, and Sam's with Jody. Besides, could you see Sam in here?"
"No, not really," Dean answered. "He's nervous enough around virgins and not-virgins, let alone born-again virgins. And believe me, I hate this. And I'm gonna make you pay."
I turned to face Dean in amusement. "And how are you gonna do that?"
Dean seemed to be thinking.
~~~~~~~~
We were sitting in a circle of six women other than me, and Dean.
A blonde woman walked in. "Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Suzy. I thought we'd begin with a silent prayer for our missing friends." Everyone closed their eyes in a silent prayer except for Dean. Dean was still watching everyone. I cleared my throat. Dean quickly lowered his head. "Amen. Now, does anyone have anything that they would like to share?"
"I wrote a new piece of verse," a woman told us. "It's called 'Sex is a racket, and God's ball is in your court'."
"And we would love to hear that, Tammy," Suzy told her. "Later. Why don't we hear from our new friends? Ness, what brought you here to reclaim your virginity?"
"Well, I guess... sin is what set me on the path that I am on now," I told them. "And I want to find a way to... I don't know, change the path I'm on now, and I think that this is the only way to do so."
"Very good," Suzy told me. "Stay strong. Stay pure."
Everyone else repeated it. "Stay strong. Stay pure."
"What about you, Dean?" Suzy asked.
"Uh, hard to say, exactly," Dean told us. He seemed to be getting an idea, looking at me. "Yeah. Sex has always felt... I don't know, good you know. I mean, really, really good. But, uh... sometimes, it just makes you feel bad, you know?" He smiled, looking wistful and teasing, on the border of taunting, like he knew exactly what he was doing. "But you know, when you get down to it, what's the big deal, right? I mean, sure, there's the touching and the feeling all of each other, my hands everywhere, tracing every inch of her body, the two of us moving together, pressing and pulling." I looked away, trying very hard not to show a reaction, knowing this was his revenge. "Grinding..." Every other girl were starting to shift uncomfortably, some of them wistful and longing. Dean was watching my reaction. "Then you hit that sweet spot, and everything just builds and builds until it all just..." He made an exploding sound. Tammy crushed her paper with the written poem in her lap. I looked at Dean, pressing my lips together, slightly frustrated, slightly amused. Dean smirked. "Yeah. Uh, but the whole thing was just a little too, uh... sticky. So, uh, I got my 'V' card back." He slapped his lap lightly. "The end."
~~~~~~~~
At the end of the meeting, all of the women were putting up the chairs.
Bonnie walked toward me.
"Hey," I told her.
"So?" Bonnie asked.
"So?" I asked.
"How did you like the meeting?" Bonnie asked.
"Oh, I--I--I--I loved it," I told he. "Yeah. Um, you know, I--I couldn't help but think of those who weren't here."
"Oh," Bonnie told me. "Honor. She's my favorite." Tammy was behind Bonnie, overhearing us, getting angry. "Would you excuse me?"
I nodded.
Bonnie walked away.
Tammy walked toward me. "Honor's her favorite? She has no idea what kind of girl Honor is."
"You don't say," I told her. "Tammy, why--why don't, um, why don't you tell me what kind of girl Honor is?"
~~~~~~~~
Dean and I walked into a motel room.
"Two of our vics, Honor and Pastor Fred, did the dirty," I told him, turning to face Dean.
Dean was looking at his phone. "Oh, well, they're not the only ones. Barb Blanton, our missing bride to be..."
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Sam said that her mom said she heard Barb and her fiance in Barb's bedroom," Dean told me.
"Going at it?" I asked.
"Well, she said she heard sex noises, then Barb crying, then Neil telling Barb it didn't count, because it was under 30 seconds," Dean told me. I chuckled. "And then, two hours later, she heard a smash, and saw a flash of light under the door."
"Blue light?" I asked. Dean nodded. "You know, I'm thinking whatever this thing is, it's not going after virgins, even born-again virgins."
"It's taking virgins who break their chastity vow," Dean told me.
I nodded. "Right. So, dragons are off the list."
"Right," Dean agreed.
"And so are about a dozen other things, but this could be about a dozen more, so..." I trailed off, sighing, taking off my jacket. "We should hit the books." Dean sighed. I turned to face him. "Unless, of course, you want to torture and embarrass me more."
Dean smirked. "Hmm, what are you talking about?"
"Come on, Dean," I told him. "You think I don't know what you were doing back there in APU? Wee bit of an over-share, don't you think?"
"I was purifying," Dean told me
"You were paying me back for making you go in the first place," I told him.
Dean smirked, walking closer. "Come on. Don't pretend like you didn't enjoy it."
I smirked in amusement. "I found it frustrating, more than anything."
Dean stopped merely inches in front of me. "Sexually frustrating?"
I pressed my lips together, looking at Dean as if to ask, Really?
Dean gave me an amused look as if to say, You opened yourself up for that one.
I couldn't help a smile. "You just love torturing me, don't you?"
"I would never," Dean told me.
"Okay," I told him. "But you love getting your way, don't you?"
"I don't know," Dean told me. "Why don't you ask me that in... Italian?"
I smirked. "Tu ami ottenere il vostro modo, no e vero?"
Dean nodded. "Si." He pulled a piece of hair behind my ear, placing his hand on my cheek. "Io ti amo."
I was only slightly surprised. "I love you, too. You learned to say that in Italian just to impress me?"
Dean shrugged slightly. "Forse."
"Now you're just showing off," I told him.
"Like you love to do," Dean told me.
I smiled. There was a moment of silence where we just looked at each other in amusement, smiling. I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him passionately. After a moment, we pulled away, remaining close. I leaned my head against his, raising my gaze to meet his. Dean pulled my shirt over my head, letting it fall to the floor. I pulled his off, letting it fall to the floor. Dean unbuttoned my jeans, lowering them and his own to the floor. I pushed him lightly onto the bed, crawling closer, taking one of his hands in mine, interlocking our fingers, putting them back on the bed above Dean's head. Dean raised his head to meet me with a kiss, laying his head back on the pillow. I sat back, running a hand through my hair, sliding my bra straps off my shoulders, unhooking it, removing it. Dean slid in his hands over me, pulling me closer, rolling me onto the bed, kissing me deeply.
~~~~~~~~
Dean and I were dressed, starting to go through research.
"You know, I like... that a whole lot better than... this," Dean told me, sitting down next to me.
I smirked in amusement. "Of course you do. But we have a job to do, and while I already miss that..." Dean smiled. "We gotta get this done before somebody else gets taken."
Dean sighed. "All right."
I started to look online. I could feel him looking at me, looking at Dean.
Dean kissed me for a moment.
I pulled away, smiling. "Dean..."
"Okay, okay," Dean told me. "We had our fun. Work it is."
A flash of blue firelight burst through the door, soaring toward us, pushing us back, making us fall unconscious.
~~~~~~~~
I woke up in an underground room somewhere, noticing Dean next to me. "Hey. Dean." I shook him. "Dean. Hey, come on. Dean. Dean!"
Dean jerked awake. He looked around in confusion. "Where are we?"
We looked around to see three other people, two girls and a man.
"Hell," the man told us.
Dean and I slowly stood.
~~~~~~~~
The two girls were Honor and Barb.
The man was Neil, Barb's fiance.
Dean was on the ladder, trying to push open the tightly shut trap door.
"We tried," Neil told us. "There's no escape."
"Are we gonna run out of air?" Barb asked.
I pointed to the vent in the wall. "I don't think so. Somebody wants us to die nice and slow."
"And then it's gonna take us," Honor told us. "Just like it took Pastor Fred."
"What took him?" Dean asked.
"We couldn't see, exactly," Honor told us. "It--it was so bright. I--it was like it was on fire."
I sighed. "Dean. Come here." Dean climbed down the ladder toward me. "I saw it at the motel room."
"You know what it is?" Dean asked.
"I think so," I answered. "Vesta, Roman goddess of the hearth."
"Who the hell is that?" Dean asked.
"Well, in ancient Rome, six virgins were dedicated to this chick every year," I explained. "Their main duty was to tend Vesta's hearth."
"Wait," Dean told me. "So, fire is connected to virginity?"
"Yeah," I answered. "The girls had to be pure because fire is the symbol of purity."
Dean raised his eyebrows. "Huh." He felt along his pockets. "Son of a--"
"What?" I asked.
"She took my phone," Dean answered. "Luckily..." He pulled out a second phone. "I keep a spare." He held the phone over his head. "Come on, bars."
"Okay, as long as Vesta's fire was kept lit, Rome received a good harvest," I told him. "The virgins had to stay celibate for 30 years. If they broke their vows, they were buried alive." The others couldn't hear us. Honor looked toward us curiously. Neil was watching Honor creepily. Honor noticed, looking at him suspiciously. "Vesta was surrounded by a blue halo of light, which she could control at will to disorient, to maim, and oh, yeah, to kill."
Dean sighed. "Of course." His phone beeped with signal. He laughed, making the call. "Sam! Sammy! Hey, listen to me. I'm--" We heard a train whistle in the background from outside. "Underground."
I took the phone, climbing up the ladder to try to get better signal. "Sam, it's Vesta. It's a Roman goddess."
Sam's voice was full of static."Okay, do you know about some way to kill her? A--a weapon or--or something?"
"Oak stained in virgin blood." I could only hear static. "Sam? Sam!" I sighed, looking at Dean. "I lost him."
Dean sighed in frustration, looking away.
~~~~~~~~
Dean and I were talking away from the others again.
"Okay, so if Vesta is going after born-again virgins who broke their vows, sex before marriage, then why'd she come after us?" Dean asked.
I looked at Dean, sighing. "Unless it's not about our vows. Maybe she knows who we really are. She takes us, who does she know who will come running to the rescue?"
"Sam," Dean answered. "Jody."
"And it's an all-you-can-eat hunter buffet," I told him. "I mean, hunters are the reason that the gods are on their way to the endangered species list. Maybe she wants to get some revenge."
Dean nodded barely.
We could hear Barb and Neil talking.
"Don't, Neil," Barb told him. "Please, don't."
"Shh," Neil told her. "Shh."
"Don't what, Neil?" I asked.
"Just mind your beeswax, twit," Neil told me.
Dean walked toward Neil. "Hey. Hey! Listen, we're all stuck down here together. So, you got something to say, you say it."
"Okay, look, whatever that fireball thing was, it's taking the weakest, and I am not gonna be next," Neil told us. "So, the way I see it..." He gestured to Honor. "Her leg's busted, anyway. We serve her up. It could buy us some time."
"Screw you, Neil," Honor told him.
Dean pushed Neil into the wall. "Busted leg? Try a sprained ankle, okay? Nobody's serving anybody up."
"We are under the gallows, all of us," Neil told us. "Give it Honor. It might save the rest of our necks, unless you have a better plan."
"Maybe I do," Dean told him. "Maybe we'll give her you. Oh, what, you don't like that idea? Then shut up."
I pulled Dean back. "Dean..."
Dean let Neil go, looking at me.
~~~~~~~~
Honor and Barb were sitting together.
"You broke, too, huh?" Honor asked.
"Guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was," Barb told her.
Honor laid her hand on Barb's. "God forgives."
There was a banding on the trap door above Dean's and my heads.
Neil started freaking out. "Told you. It's back for one of us. What are you gonna do now? Right you should have listened to me--"
"Shh!" I told him. "Shut up."
We heard Sam's voice. "Jody!"
We heard Jody's voice. "Sam?"
"Dean!" Sam called. "Ness! We're here. We're gonna get you out! Jody, I found it!"
Dean climbed the ladder to the trap door, banging on the door. "Sammy? Sammy! Sammy!"
"Hey, we're here," Sam told us. "We're gonna get you out."
"Sammy, are you still there?" Dean called.
We could hear fighting outside.
~~~~~~~~
Dean was running over the trap door, finding a rusty screw. "Screwdriver, anybody?'
I found scissors in a first-aid kit. "Hey. From the first-aid kit."
I held it toward Dean.
Dean took it.
~~~~~~~~
Dean was working on the rusty screws in the trapdoor.
~~~~~~~~
Dean was still working on the trap door's screws. "Come on, come on, come on, come on."
~~~~~~~~
Dean finally opened the trapdoor, looking outside. "What did I miss?"
~~~~~~~~
The next day, in the motel room, Sam, Dean and I were saying goodbye to Jody.
Jody had killed Vesta, and her arm was in a sling. "Ah."
"Heading out?" I asked.
"Yeah," Jody answered. "I'd tell you three to stay out of trouble, but what's the point?"
I embraced Jody. "Thanks for bailing us out."
I pulled away.
"Oh, what can I say?" Jody asked. Dean embraced Jody. "I'm getting the hang of this."
Dean and Jody pulled away.
Sam embraced Jody. "Drive safe."
"Thanks," Jody told us.
I walked toward the door. "Here. I'll get the door for you."
"Thank you," Jody told me.
I smiled, opening the door, leading Jody out, leaving, closing the door behind us.