Title: Love Hurts
Rating: R
Summary: Jess makes hell ready for its king. For immortal_jedi for the sammessiah Antichristmas Exchange.
Pairings: Sam/Jess, referenced Sam/Ruby
Warnings: What do you think happens in hell?
Word Count: 800

Jess is good at listening, and when Brady says she needs to die to make way for the king of hell, Jess listens. She fights, too, but Brady's fucking telekinetic, so fighting doesn't do her much good.

Jess burns.

Sam leaves. Mom and Dad collect everything of Jess's that survived the fire. Jess tries to talk to them but they can't hear her. Sam comes back. He can't hear her either. Sam does something with little bags of herbs that drives Jess away.

Jess falls.

Then it's all knives and chains and whips and pain. Never a bit of it touches Jess; she's a spectator only. Several years in, she asks why, several times, and only once does she get an answer, from a demon calling herself Ruby: her safety is important to the king of hell.

If that's so, why did one of the servants of hell kill her?

Because he was following the orders of the regent, is Ruby's answer. Because the king isn't ready to take up his crown.

When Jess hears who the king is, she almost dies laughing, because the idea is so absurd. Sam the king of hell? Sam moves earthworms from the sidewalk to the grass so no one will step on them.

Maybe....maybe if Jess makes hell into somewhere her sweet gentle Sam can rule.

Jess knits herself into the fabric of hell. It's like a living thing, almost, with blood and bone and heartbeat, and she's grafting herself to it, siphoning off the power to feed herself. It's unpleasant—it's downright painful—but it's the only way. Sam needs his kingdom to be ready for him when he comes.

Sam also needs to be safe while he's preparing himself for his kingdom. Jess sends a minor demon, Emily by name, to investigate Sam's circumstances, and Emily returns with the news that Sam's home is his brother's car, now that he's left Jess's apartment. Jess sends Emily back to weave the power of hell into a protective spell on the car.

Jess needs to learn everything the demons know. One of the things demons all know is how to endure pain, so Jess orders Emily to pick up a knife and come for Jess with it. Emily refuses. Jess orders again, putting the strength of her bond with Sam into it. Emily takes up her tools.

Jess rises from Emily's table, stronger for the experience. Jess takes Emily with her when Jess picks out a soul new to hell, someone who murdered little kids in life, for Jess to learn to inflict pain upon.

There's all sorts of pain. There's the sharpness of a blade, the dullness of hunger, the heat of burns and of freezing, the ache of being separated from a loved one: Jess needs to know the feel of them all. Jess needs to know how to use them all.

For all that Emily is the only demon who dares touch Jess, and that only under orders, Jess is becoming a demon as surely as the rest of them. This is good. Sam isn't a demon, never will be: demons will follow Sam more easily if Jess and Ruby and Emily take the lead.

Jess carves a corner of hell into Sam's throne room. The décor is very tasteful: blood-red walls and black granite floor, a simple seat made of bone. Ruby reminds Jess that Sam won't like it, not at first. Jess pouts and remakes the throne into something marble and cushioned with velvet, suitable to a person of inherited rank topside.

Sam isn't ready to claim his throne. Not yet. That's what Ruby is for. Jess shows incredible restraint by not killing Ruby, but she's useful: she shows him how to tap into his innate abilities and his subjects' power.

The day's finally here. Jess picks up a blade and a whip, puts on a leather corset and miniskirt and knee-high boots, an outfit she's worn before when Sam knew her, though not with the sense of authority that it gives her now. She's queen of hell, by mating and by rightful claim, and she intends to show it.

Jess marches her army of demons up to surround Lucifer's cage and slices open the material the cage is woven from. The cage is like a living thing, with blood and bone and heartbeat, and Jess uses all her acquired skill to open the cage far enough to let Sam out, then, when he protests, his baby brother as well. Jess sizes up the brother and decides he'll make a fine lieutenant; first he has to realize the need of the education Jess took upon herself. Then Jess turns to Sam. "My king," she says, kneeling at his feet. "My blade is at your service." It's a bit melodramatic, but it'll do.