Purgatory Line

"hello, this is reality callin', wishing you'd pick up the phone."

"hello, this is reality callin', wishing you'd pick up the phone. it's okay, you're gonna be alright, you don't have to suffer alone. it's hard but you've got to answer me." - reality calls - chris ray gun

content warnings: graphic descriptions of violence & blood, mention of death, descriptions of physical/mental/emotional abuse, mentions of parental death

Jude whipped around with her sawed off in her sweaty hands when she heard the branches snapping behind her. Desmond had given her a direct order - don't move, shoot whatever shows up and if the bullets don't kill it then cut its head off. Her breath stuttered in her chest as the shadow of a man approached her.

"Who are you?" Her voice was hard and solid, unlike the thoughts whirling in her head. A man, tall and screaming authority, was standing in the shadows a few feet in front of her. The full moon did nothing to her visibility. She couldn't see him. "Answer me or I'll blow your fucking head off." Jude snarled, her voice gnarled and twisted into something like anger.

"I am Castiel, angel of the Lord." She bared her teeth at him, taking several quick steps toward Castiel. Jude went through the steps in a flash: she doused him with holy water and then ran a salted knife over the palm of his hand. "I am not a demon, child. I am here to hunt a nest of vampires with my team." Jude's eyebrows raised and she cocked her shotgun. He was a little too rigid and to-the-point. She didn't trust it.

"It's my hunt," She growled, "So fuck off., Castiel supposed angel of the Lord."

"Such vulgar language for a child." Castiel cocked his head, looking confused. Jude hesitated, but her trigger finger was itching. She had more pressing problems than the angel - he wasn't alone. Jude could see them because they weren't exactly small, per se. But, they were valiantly trying to sneak through the shadows behind Castiel. Jude looked between them and the man in front of her, trying to figure out who was the lesser of two evils. Eventually, Jude settled on her ability to physically bring the man in the trench coat down, relying on her shotgun for the other two men.

Jude kept her voice low, but called out to the men. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you, boys. I don't miss when I take my shots, and this is my hunt."

The men approached her and, damn it, they just seemed to get taller. Jude cursed herself for drawing attention to herself instead of just shooting the damn men. The shorter of the duo had damn near a foot on her own height, and the other one had nearly a foot and a half. Jude locked her knees and jaw, mostly so they didn't shake. "Names. Give 'em to me."

The shorter one gave her a cocky grin. "How do we know you aren't some Fae, tryin' to steal 'em?"

"I ain't askin', bud. What are your names?" Jude moved her finger to the trigger, teeth bared and ready to shoot. "I suggest you start talkin'. There aren't salt rounds loaded into this fuckin' gun, so it'll do a lot more than just smart for awhile." The man raised his eyebrows and looked to his partners. Jude ignored him when he called her feisty, but mostly because the other man raised his hands in surrender.

"We're Sam and Dean WInchester. That's Castiel." He had a placating look on his face, like he knew she would shoot if given the chance. Jude couldn't deny, she really wanted to shoot them. She wasn't sure if it was the order that Desmond had given her or the fear of being so outnumbered with only a shotgun in her hands. Jude wasn't sure which was Sam and which was Dean, but together they made Sam and Dean, and that was enough for her. She knew of the names, but not a lot. The names were whispered in the Roadhouse by other hunters and sometimes even by Ellen and Jo, themselves. "What's your name?" The taller brother tried to smile at her, but it ended up being more of a grimace. Jude grimaced right back, clenching her teeth together.