Marked (Supernatural) [Rogue Trilogy] {2}

34.5 - "Insurance."

34.5 – "Insurance."

"Oh, you've got it!" says Rowena when Sam and I find her later. We left Dean at the bunker. She takes the codex from us, and you'd think we'd given her Christmas, how she fondles the book.

"Is it enough?" Sam asks her.

"To what?"

"To translate the book?" I say like she's stupid. "To find a cure for the Mark."

"Oh, aye."

"Good." I clamp handcuffs onto Rowena's wrists.

"What in the hell is this?"

"Insurance." I smirk. "Comfortable?"

"We had an agreement."

"The agreement stands," says Sam. "You will decrypt The Book of the Damned and find us a cure for our brother. And that is all you will get from the book. We'll burn the book, and then we'll kill Crowley. But until then..."

"I'm your slave? You can't—you can't just leave me here."

"You want out? Hurry up. Get to work."

We know Rowena is fuming when we leave her. I swing my keys around my finger as Sam walks with me to the truck.

"Think we'll find the cure before Dean finds out?" I ask.

"I'm hoping so. You think we won't?"

"Hard to say." I shrug. "By the way, if that witch doesn't do her job, I'll persuade her to do so."

"You can't kill her, Jo."

"I never said kill. Persuasion involves torture, Sam, not death. Any torturer would know that."

"You know, sometimes you scare me, with what comes out of your mouth. You saw something too, didn't you, at the house?"

"Of course I did." I purse my lips. "Whatever we let out, demons aren't immune to it."

"What did you see?"

"Well, part of yours, but then mine branched off. I think we both saw Rowena. That box knows how to fuck people up." I open up the driver's side. "Trust me, whatever I saw would make you..."

"I don't know, Jo. I've been through some pretty twisted stuff over the years."

I chuckle darkly. "Haven't we all?"