Graceful Jack (Supernatural)

Chapter One

Some might call this a family outing. It was something to lift the spirits. It was meant to be an easy win for the Winchesters and their friends. It was just four men and a car without a care in the world as they drove off into danger. There were supposed to be no strings attached. It was supposed to be a lazy weekend away and then a monster dead. They hadn't had so many easy wins lately, so it was nice to have an easy call. Taking this monster out, it was going to be a walk in the park.

With Dean driving, Sam sat in the front seat. As the younger Winchester brother tried to read aloud, he turned down the music, much to the dismay of the elder Winchester. Jack and Cas happily sat in the back. Cas didn't quite believe this was going to be so open and close because the past dictated something else. Jack, on the other hand, was just happy to be out. Since his death experience, a rite inside this clan of friends, Jack had been stuck inside. It didn't help that one of his cases involved a necromancer bringing back her ex-boyfriends. Though, Jack did find her pretty.

Sam turned down the music. "Hey now," Dean called.

"Another body just showed up," Sam reminded.

"We'll get there when we get there," Dean responded, turning up the music. "Don't mess with the jam." He went back to singing off key.

Sam went back to doing research with an idea of what was coming next, but he couldn't remember when was the last time he faced these creatures. Even then, they had everything they needed in the trunk of their car.

The black beauty raced down the back country roads in the dark, nearing the lit up city on the hill. It was a large enough town, not enough to be much of a city, but there were enough people that random men showing up dead wasn't a shocker. Situated on three interstates, people showing up dead wasn't even a rare occurrence. What made this odd was that males were showing up dead, not hookers or tweekers.

Pulling into a rundown motel on the outskirts, the Winchester gang set up shop in one of the dingey rooms. Brightly colored walls of rundown wallpaper tried to make the motel room just a bit more cherpy looking. It didn't work. The old beds with metal springs creaked with every movement, and Dean knew his back wasn't going to hurt in the morning after sleeping on that. However, on a relaxing weekend, maybe sleeping wasn't what he was going to do be doing on the beds.

Taking the table in the motel room, Sam laid out his notes on the case. Originally caught back at base, Dean had taken this case off of one of the newbies. It was something they could've dealt with, but when was the last time they had a case of a succubus? Dean couldn't remember, and this was a good start to getting Jack back on his feet. There were monsters out there to hunt.

Dean kept a watchful eye on Jack, which all of them did. Coming back from the dead wasn't easy. All of them knew this. And now that a part of Jack's soul was gone, the old worries about Jack gnawed at Dean. He had seen the kid do some amazing things, but what might happen if he just snapped? The world wasn't a good place-- getting worse by the day-- and with Michael... Dean didn't want to think any more about it.

"So, some of the bars where the men were taken were just up the street from here," Sam said.

"Great," Dean grunted, "in the bad part of town. No one would know." Dean had gotten a good look at some of those bars, and damn. He just needed to careful not to take home a succubus.

Eagerly, Jack asked, "What's the plan?" He had many ideas in his head how they were going to find the succubus. They involved elaborate traps and pulleys, like he had seen on Scooby Doo. He wished it just wasn't walking in and hoping they were going to get in the snare of the succubus.

By Dean's face, though, that was exactly what they were doing. "Get into party mode, kid. We're going dancing."

Oddly enough, Jack had never gone dancing, so this was a first for him. This was going on his list, and it was something to check off having done it. However, he quickly realized that they weren't in fact going dancing. Only walking down the cold and windy street, Jack came to realize that he naively thought Dean actually meant dancing. Dean then had promise Jack they would go dancing at some point. Depending on how long this took, it would've been sooner rather than later.

Intending to take the Impala down the street to the bars, they barely made it to the car when they heard a scream ricocheting off the motel. The four males stilled, looking around, measuring their surroundings. A light breeze ruffled Sam's hair as he reached for his gun. The scream seemed far too high pitched to be a male, but Dean had a pretty high pitched scream too.

Another scream echoed off the motel, coming from an alleyway off to the side.

A grin spread across Dean's face. "Let's go hunting."

The alleyway, like all other alleyways, was dirty and dark. It screamed somewhere you didn't want to go at night. Overflowing tin trash bins wasted away on the sides. Some of the garbage blew into the center. The smell crept up and made Jack sneeze. As Sam and Dean walked down the alleyway with their guns out, their feet trampled and crushed the trash underneath them, creating a wake of noise. The screams had come and gone, leaving since beside the breeze.

Jack whispered, "Where is everyone?"

Sam and Dean glanced toward each other, but neither of them had a response.

Taking the rear was Cas, and he had his angel blade out. He didn't trust this being easy. Nothing was easy anymore. If the succubus was hiding in the alleyway by the hotel, well, that was just too easy. Even if Dean wanted a win, Cas was still hesitant.

As the rest of the group went on, he paused, listening carefully to the surroundings. Something didn't feel right to him; it felt, as if, they were being watched. Cas didn't much like that feeling. Spinning around in his tan trench coat, he found a woman behind them, small and petite. Her face was round, and she didn't look much like a predator at all.

"Ah-ha," Jack screamed from behind Cas. "Got her!"

Jack scrambled forward, but Cas stepped in the way. Nothing about this woman screamed succubus, especially as she wasn't trying to lure them. She noticed the weapons in front of the pack. Her own gun was drawn at her side but pointed toward the concrete ground. Sam and Dean stepped next to their friends, guns hovering and ready to be aimed and shot.

The woman smiled pleasantly. "We already called dibs on the succubus." She would've preferred if they backed off.

Jack whispered, "What does that mean?" His face wore confusion.

Sam, always the peacemaker, stepped forward. "Could you use some help?"

The woman sighed. "We do need bait."