March 6th, 2020
Ouray, Colorado

"You're going to survive this, I promise." Jack couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face.

"Yeah, you can say that. You haven't been stuck with Will for the last month. I'm bored, and I miss you, Jack."

"I know, but it's not safe for us to be around each other right now. We'll attract monsters like nobody's business."

"Not true. I've come up with some really powerful spells. I could probably protect a whole stadium full of people like us. Please, I'm begging you. If you won't take me on a job or anything at least come and spend a few days. I feel like I'm getting punished," Marley complained over the phone.

"Look, I'll try, Mars. But I can't promise anything. There's some crazy shit going on, and we've been called out to a job. But I'll do whatever I can to convince Ash to take a trip out to see you."

"Yes! You're the freaking best, Jack!" She practically squealed in his ear and he could hear the smile in her voice. It was worth whatever he was gonna have to do to get Ash on board too.

"Yo, Jacky! You ready to hit the road?" Ash's voice floated up from downstairs.

Pulling the phone away from his ear, he called back, "Yeah, just a sec!" Into his cell, he said, "Mars, I gotta go. I love you, stay safe."

"Oh, don't worry, I've got Boy Scout Will over here making sure I have zero fun whatsoever."

Jack sputtered out a laugh. "You'll be fine. See ya later."

"Yeah, yeah. Love you, Jack." They ended the call as he headed down the stairs his backpack hanging off his shoulders. Ash was waiting for him at the bottom with Lee and her mom, Georgia. Haru had been out on the road restocking and providing maintenance for all the safehouses their family owned and operated across the country for the entire week that Ash and Jack had hunkered down at the compound.

"You boys watch out for each other. It's a dangerous world," Georgia mentioned as soon as Jack's feet landed on the last step.

"We will," Ash promised stoically.

Georgia didn't look so convinced, though. "You've got five more months until my grandbaby is born, and you better be there for that."

"Mama, chill out," Lee said before her mom could continue ranting at Ash, like she'd been doing the entire time they'd been at the compound. Lee reached out and wrapped her arms around Ash, as much as she could with the baby bump getting in the way. "Just do your job and get your ass back here soon, okay? I have a lot to do around here, a lot of scared people to protect. I could use your help."

Ash scoffed, pulling out of her embrace. "You mean a lot of monsters trying to seek asylum?"

"Monsters and humans, darling. Do we really need to have this conversation again?" Lee smiled brushing back one of her dreads, while Jack gathered up all of his and Ash's stuff and started for the front door, hugging Georgia as he passed her.

"No, no. I know how it'll go anyway. I'll call you later, babe. Thanks for everything, Georgia."

"Sure thing, kid." She said something else to Ash, but Jack was already out the door and heading for the Blazer, whistling for Keala, who came running just a few minutes later.

"So, where're we headed again?" Jack asked lightly, feeling more like himself than he had in weeks.

"Buddy of Dad's an old gun for hire, Tom Horn, called me last night about a job out in Olympia, Washington. It's about a twenty hour drive from here. Enough time for you to read up on the area. Will texted me some things to look into a few days ago, and I'm pretty sure Olympia was one of the locations."

"Huh. Don't think I've ever been that far out northwest before. Might be cool." Jack sat back, picking up his sketchbook and getting back to work on one of the drawings he'd started during their time at the Lockwood compound. A little more than halfway through their drive, after Jack had fallen asleep, he woke up suddenly to Ash turning the music up as loud as it would go.

"Hey!" Jack shrieked and Ash burst out laughing, but there was something serious about his expression. "You're a dick."

"I had to, man. You were having a nightmare or something."

Sitting up, Jack shuddered, thinking back on what he could remember, which wasn't much. "I talked to Dick."

"You say that like it's totally normal to talk to super dead ghosts in your sleep." A worried frown settled on Ash's face, while Jack just shrugged absently. "So, what'd he say?"

"We have to go to Mission Hills, Montana. A girl needs our help."

Ash's head snapped in his direction. "Right now? That's in the complete opposite direction. I'm not doing that."

"He was pretty insistent. He mentioned one of the Interstate Blues members. The Winged Devil, I think." Jack sifted through his hazy memory of his discussion with Dick Grayson. He didn't want to try too hard to clear it up, though, because it meant tapping into his gifts with communicating through the veil. The less he did it, the more himself he usually felt.

"The Winged Devil, huh?" Ash switched lanes and pulled off at the first exit they came across. "Fine. Might as well exterminate the last of those assholes. You said Mission Hills?"

"Yeah. But, Ash, I really don't think the Winged Devil will be the issue. I might've run into him back in Ratcliff with Sophia and an Exterminator named, Lucas something. The Winged Devil saved my life."

Ash snorted. "Yeah, right. Wait a minute. You pulled a job with Lucas Redding?"

Jack smirked. "Oh, yeah. Redding. That's the guy. What, you know him?"

"Do I know him?" Ash grumbled. "Worked a job or two with him and Dad a few years back. He's like us and Piper and Charley. All descendants of monster killers. Dad told me a couple of stories about going to gatherings with other Exterminators as kids. It's how he met Kit. Lucas Redding comes from a long line of gruesome, cold-hearted monster killers."

Jack laughed loudly for just a couple of seconds. "On the job I worked with him, he got himself knocked out cold."

Ash chuckled too. "Hey, I think some of the last of the Redding family live somewhere out near Mission Hills or at least that part of Montana."

"Maybe one of those monsters caught Lucas' scent and followed him home. He was poking around their hunting grounds for a few days before we showed up." Jack glanced over at his brother and Ash only shrugged noncommittally.

"Yeah, maybe. We'll see. You wanna switch soon?" He nodded at the steering wheel, and Jack agreed right away. Ash had been driving for half the day already, it was only fair that he take his turn.

A couple miles down the road, Ash stopped at the gas station so they could fill up the car and they both could take a piss, before it was Jack's turn to drive the rest of the way. When they were about an hour out, he nudged Ash awake and tossed him one of the phones from the center console.

"Will you look up something called Redline Security? I'm pretty sure that's where we're supposed to go."

Ash grumbled a few curse words under his breath, but he did as he was told. Pulling up a search bar, Jack glanced over and saw him typing the name in and scrolling through all the results that popped up, before he returned his attention to the long stretch of road they were on.

"Oh, look at that." Ash clicked his tongue. "I'm bettin' you're right, and one of those evil little suckers followed Lucas home. Guess who works for Redline Security? One Bridget Redding. How much you wanna bet she's part of Lucas' family?" With a satisfied smirk, he tossed the phone back among all his others.

"I know how we can find out for sure. Grab my phone and hit number two on the speed dial." He heard his brother snort when Sophia's named popped up, and he made faces the entire time Jack spoke with her over speaker phone, while he remained silent.

She confirmed their suspicions about Bridget Redding, and also added a warning of her own. "Try not to get caught up with her, though. From what Lucas told me, she's not one of us. Oh, and Ash, I know you're there. If anything happens to Jack, I'll hunt you down and rip your heart out."

Ash started coughing and choking on the bite he'd just taken from a sandwich he'd bought at the gas they passed last. "Ugh... Yeah... Uhm... Okay," he choked out, trying to clear his throat.

"Love you, Jack. Bye." She hung up abruptly while Ash was still in the middle of hacking up a lung.

"She... loves you?" he wheezed, sounding shocked, once he could actually breathe normally again.

Jack's face turned bright red, and he felt the awkwardness settle in between them, even though it was just Ash. "Yeah... she does." A stupid smile spread across his lips as the very last rays of sunshine disappeared from the bright, starry sky.

"Huh." Ash sat back against his seat. "I mean, it's obvious you liked her from the start... I just thought... she's the Ice Princess."

"She's..." He couldn't find the right words to describe how he felt about her. "She's the Yin to my Yang."

Ash laughed until his eyes teared up. It was the first time Jack had really heard him laugh like that for a long time. "You're damn right about that," he finally sputtered out, as he started to calm down.

Ash probably would've teased him more, except that they passed a sign welcoming them to Mission Hills, Montana. Population: 27,321. As they drove from one side of the city, clear across to the other, he pulled out a couple guns and loaded them with a few of the bullets he had in his pocket.

"'Kay, monster boy, what're we walking into?" Ash asked steeling himself for a fight.

"I'm not-"

"I was joking. You're not a monster." He sighed loudly. "Just tell me what to expect and how many there are."

"I think this is just a rescue mission. In and out quick. We just gotta try not to attract any attention to ourselves and we'll be fine," Jack responded pulling into an alley to the left of the Redline Security building. "We can just-"

A familiar screeching sound infiltrated his skull for a few seconds, making them both damn sure they were in the right place. Beside him, Ash shook off the crippling effects of the horrible sound that came from those demonic creatures. Jack could just barely glimpse two of them fighting in the parking lot, through the fence that separated it from the alley. The only other time he'd seen anything like it was back in Ratcliff. Monsters usually went after humans, not each other.

"You're staying here, Jacky. Keep the car running and don't let Keala out," Ash said gruffly, leaving no room for argument.

"What? That's not fair. I can-"

Ash grabbed his weapons and carefully opened his door, hissing, "I'm not having you going all dark side again when I have to start killing these fucks."

"That couldn't happen," Jack grumbled. "It's just a rescue mission." But Ash probably didn't hear him as he silently closed the car door, and slipped out into the shadows, making his way through the narrow gate to the other side the fence.

After he was gone, the sound of the monsters fighting grew so loud, Jack was worried they'd start to attract public attention, even way out on the outskirts of the city. He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, craning his neck to see what was going on as he waited for them to come back, while he did his best to keep his anxiety in check.

The second he spotted shadows alongside the fence, crouching low, but moving quickly, he sighed with relief and tightened his hands around the steering wheel, getting ready to drive. Ash threw open the back door, and shoved a startled girl inside, jumping in after her as Jack hit the gas and peeled away, speeding as fast as he could down the long deserted stretch of road that would take them far from Mission Hills, Montana.

"What the hell just happened?" Bridget Redding stared wide-eyed through the back window, looking confused and terrified as she continued to clutch her keys tightly in her hand.

"You almost just became dinner to a nasty band of monsters. We've been tracking one of those rogue beasts for weeks," Ash answered, getting situated in the passenger seat beside Jack and clicking his seat belt in.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Jack caught Bridget blinking back tears as her lip trembled a little. "Isaac was protecting me." Disgust crossed her face and slipped into her voice. "He's never done anything but help me."

Jack laughed louder and harder than he had in a while. "Booya! I was right!" Only taking his eyes off the road for a couple of seconds, he smirked triumphantly at Ash. With a giant grin still stretched across his lips, he caught Bridget's eyes, and he thought he saw her flash a quick smile that was gone in a heartbeat.

Ash slumped down in his seat. "Screw you, spirit freak." Annoyance practically dripped from his pores, and Jack figured it was 'cause he'd been itching for a good fight.

"I'm missing something," Bridget finally spoke up from the back seat as she checked to make sure her perfect bun hadn't been ruined in the chaos.

"Oh, shit. Sorry." Jack introduced himself and Ash before saying brightly, "We've come to help."

"Glad we got to you in time, Bridget. Looked like those monsters were having a fight over who you belonged to. I've never seen two monsters go after each other like that before." Ash looked over at the girl they'd saved and reached back to pull a folded blanket out from behind the seat and tossed it next to her.

Bridget huffed, sitting back and glaring straight ahead. "Isaac was just protecting me from that maniac," she defended, her voice cold. "What do they want from me anyway? How do they know so much about me? And while you're at it, how do you know so much about me? Oh, and don't call me Bridget. It's just B."

Jack and Ash glanced at each other, unsure just how much to tell her, before Ash turned in his seat to level her with a grim stare. "Your bloodline is full of the most gruesome monster hunters in history. It goes back generations. They're known for wiping out the purebreds, until the witches brought them back." With a snort, he added, "Lucas must've accidentally tracked one home on the bottom of his shoe after the job in Ratcliff."

B paled. "W-why are they coming after me? I mean, I sorta guessed what my dad really did for a living... But I have no part of it."

"The monsters are preparing for something. They're killing off as many Exterminators and their families as they can before it happens." Jack's voice was steelier than it had been before.

"What?" B questioned, but when Jack glanced back at her, she almost looked like she wished she hadn't spoken.

"Not sure yet. But we have a monster in our basement, and sooner or later he's gonna tell us everything." Ash twisted back around in his seat so he was facing forward again. "So, tell us, B, what's your story."

She shrugged absently. "I worked at a security firm. Not even doing anything cool. And now this. I don't even know anymore." B sat in silence for a long time before she finally asked, "Where are you taking me?" Jack was actually a little surprised it took her so long to voice the question.

"Somewhere safe. If you have a friend you can call to feed your cat, I would." Before she could respond, he added, "If Isaac really was protecting you, he won't be able to hold them off for long, and more will come, so you can't really go back. But trust me, you'll fit right in with the rest of us. It's where you belong." He grinned back at her through the rearview mirror, feeling lighter than he had for a long time.

"Fine," B grumbled, reaching for something in the purse she clutched tightly. "But either of you make one wrong move and I'll castrate you both."

They both laughed loudly at tiny B Redding posing a threat to either of them, as Ash turned up the music, and they all settled in for the half a day's drive back to the Lockwood compound to figure out what to do next.