Unexpected Destinies Chapter 101
Title: Unexpected Destinies
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,068
Summary: A hunt doesn't go as expected.
PAST
The house was silent when Dean entered it, but he didn't let that fool him and instead he carefully made his way through it, room by room, taking care to check each one thoroughly before moving on to the next. Since he was alone, he didn't want to give them any chance to sneak up behind him. Not that it was normally in the nature of changelings to do that but he was taking no chances what with all of the unusual occurrences and behavior he'd seen as of late. Who knew what any creature might do these days?
Dean frowned when he finished checking the last room on the first floor and still hadn't found a single thing. He knew for certain that the changelings were using this house as he'd seen them entering it so where were they and why had he yet to hear anything from them? Quietly making his way back to the stairs, he tried to decide whether to go upstairs first or to try his luck with the basement. Both were viable options. The fact that the basement door stood ajar made him weary for a trap but it was also possible that they'd simply been careless in closing it.
Briefly Dean debated his options before deciding to try his luck with the basement first. It would also be the most likely place for the kids to be held as there was less chance of them being seen so even if the changelings themselves weren't there, at least he'd be able to let the kids out. The memory of the last time he'd dealt with a nest of changelings rose to the top of his mind as it had so often since he'd first realized exactly what it was that he was up against here but he shoved it aside. He couldn't afford to think of that as it would only serve to get himself and the kids killed.
Lady luck seemed to be on Dean's side for once as there was enough light creeping into the basement from the few small windows for him to see what he was walking into. And what a sight it was. There, lying in the middle of the room in a large puddle of blood, were the corpses of all ten changelings that he'd identified along with two others that he hadn't. They were all torn apart with blood and gore painting the walls, ceiling and windows, turning the room into a scene right out of a horror flick.
Dean stood frozen in place on the steps as he stared at the scene in shock. This was the last thing that he'd expected to find and he couldn't quite figure out what had happened here. He hadn't seen anything else enter the house while he'd been watching it and he knew that it couldn't be another hunter that had slipped past his guard either. Another hunter would have known to torch the bodies in order to prevent them from regenerating. Though he wasn't sure if these ones would be able to do so, not that he'd take the chance. Only now instead of just torching the changeling mother, he'd have to ensure that the whole basement when up in flames as there was no other way to be sure that he got all parts of the mother.
None of which told Dean who or what had done this in the first place so he took extra care while descending the last few steps. He cursed at just how much of the street light was getting in through the windows as that meant he was that much more exposed to the outside and that it would be harder to get away undetected after he'd started the fire. At least he was on the opposite end of the state from his apartment, but it was something he had to start thinking about now which had never been an issue before.
Once he'd checked the room to his satisfaction, Dean turned his attention to the two doors leading off of it. The first turned out to be nothing more than the door to the washing room which was quickly checked and cleared. The second, however, lead to a small room filled with dog cages, each of which held a small child. Eleven pairs of terrified eyes looked towards him and he was relieved to see that the worst injuries he could spot were some bruises and a split lip.
"Hey, guys," Dean said after he'd checked the rest of the room. "Are you all okay?"
"Who are you?" one of the boys asked.
"I'm a friend and I'm here to get you out. Did they leave the keys anywhere down here?"
"Over there," a girl replied, pointing.
Dean gave a quick sigh of relief that he wouldn't have to pick each and every lock and instead opened the first one and had the kid start to unlock the others. At first he'd feared that he'd have to take the kids out the way he'd come, through the bloodbath and thereby scarring them for life, but then he'd caught sight of the doors to the backyard at the far end of the room. He turned his attention to this while the first kid he'd freed got the others out of their cages. The doors were padlocked together and unlike the cages he couldn't immediately spot a key. Oh well, he'd just have to pick the lock. Part of him wanted to shoot the lock but the younger kids already looked close to tears and the last thing he wanted was to set them off for real. Actually no, that was the second to last thing he wanted, the last thing he wanted was to hit one of them with a ricochet.
"Can we go?" the girl from before asked.
Dean looked over to see most of the kids free and crowding towards the door he'd entered by and which he'd thankfully remembered to close. "No, just wait a moment, sweetheart, this way will be faster." Just a few seconds later he felt the lock give and he quickly undid it and flung open the doors. "There you go."
The kids seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if unable to believe that they were really free, but then the first scrambled for the door and the others quickly followed.
"Whoa, whoa, careful, you'll all get out," Dean cautioned, torn between taking them to the neighbors and staying to take care of the mother changeling.
He knew that he really shouldn't leave the corpses for any longer than absolutely necessary, but it still didn't feel quite right letting the kids go out on their own like this even if help wasn't far away. A tugging at his jeans made Dean look down and he found a really cute little redheaded girl standing there.
"Thank you," she said.
"Your welcome, honey," Dean replied with a smile, crouching down to be at her level. "But you'd better go with the others now, I'm sure your parents are missing you."
The girl looked outside before giving him a quick hug. It was over even before Dean realized what had happened but it made him smile even more as he watched her race off after the others.
"Aw, now wasn't that just so cute you could be sick?"
The voice had Dean whirling around and bringing the flame thrower he held up and ready even as he knew that it wasn't the right weapon for there, standing in the middle of the room, stood Crowley.
"Bravo, mate," the demon continued, clapping. "Aren't you just the hero of the moment?"
"Crowley," Dean growled, hands tightening around the flame thrower. It might not be salt or Holy water, but it would still cause the demon a world of pain. "What are you doing here?"
"Me? Why helping you, of course. Didn't you like my gift in the other room?"
"That was you? But how-" Dean began but then his breath caught in his throat and he felt ice flood him as he realized the answer. "Hellhound."
"Yes, I had my boy take care of them for you."
The amount of adrenaline that was being dumped into his system nearly made Dean ill but also hyper alert and his ears strained for any sound that might give away the beast's location. He was pretty sure that a flame thrower would be useless against a hellhound, but he was definitely going to try and use it. That and he always had the Jewel of Abel on him these days and it wouldn't hurt to at least try using it. Hey, it had struck down an archangel, right, so why not a hellhound?
"Relax, mate, I'm not here to kill you," Crowley stated. "You're not worth the trouble it's taken to track you down just for that."
"Yeah? Then where is it?"
"He is back home."
Since he couldn't find any evidence to the contrary, Dean figured that Crowley was speaking the truth, for the moment at least. Well that and if the demon had really wanted him dead, he would have let the hellhound loose on him by now.
"Why did you kill the changelings?" Dean demanded.
"Because I knew that you wouldn't listen to me until you got those kiddies out of here."
Okay that was true and Dean frowned before he remembered what he still had to do. "What makes you think I'll listen now?"
"Harsh. But I did just help you out."
"I could have taken care of it. And you still haven't told me what you want, Crowley."
"Information."
"To paraphrase slightly, what makes you think I either have it or would give it to you?"
As it seemed like the demon really wasn't going to try anything just now, Dean stepped past Crowley into the main room of the basement. There he started to take apart the flame thrower so he could splash the gas all over the place.
"They're already dead," Crowley drawled, amused.
"I like to be sure," Dean stated, checking his work before pulling a match box out and lighting one.
"So why didn't you do that with Lucifer?"
The words came just as his match hit the gas and fire roared to life. Dean turned sharply to look at Crowley only to find the demon right beside him and then the world shifted and changed around him. It felt like his whole body was taken and squashed through a far too small tube only to pop out again on the other side. Nausea swelled within him and his sense of balance deserted him completely. All he knew was that one moment he was standing in the basement as it went up in flames and the next he was somewhere else. Where he wasn't sure, only that he wasn't in Kansas anymore and that he was puking his guts out all over Crowley's shiny five hundred dollar shoes. The latter gave him a childish satisfaction even as his hand dived into his pocket for the Jewel. Looks like he'd get to test whether it worked on demons or not.
Crowley's cursing of him and his family stopped abruptly when Dean twisted around enough to bring the glowing Jewel of Abel to bear on the demon without getting up off the ground.
"Easy now, Winchester," Crowley said, hands up in plain view.
"What the hell was that?" Dean demanded.
"Teleportation, demon style. It normally doesn't affect humans quite as badly as this, but I should have known that you'd be a little different what with those angels you hang around with."
"Where are we?"
"Arizona, don't you recognize it?"
Now that he felt a little better, Dean focused on the scenery behind the demon and found that Arizona was indeed a distinct possibility. What with the red rock and all.
"And speaking of angels, I have to admit that I'm surprised, Dean," Crowley continued, all suave confidence now though Dean did notice that the demon kept an eye on the glowing jewel in his palm. "I'd never have pegged you for the type to dig the whole interspecies thing. And with Castiel no less."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Nice try, but his stench is all over you. My hand also still burns from touching you."
"That'll teach you to keep your paws to yourself. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't just blow you away."
Crowley was good but Dean still caught the instinctive flicker of the demon's eyes as Crowley glanced down at the Jewel of Abel. It was clear that the demon didn't know what it was and therefore couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not, which was a good thing as he didn't know either. There was a very good chance that the Jewel of Abel would do absolutely diddlysquat against a demon and he had nothing else other than his gun and a regular knife. He hadn't been expecting to go up against a demon during this hunt after all.
"Like I said before, all I want is information," Crowley stated.
"Information on what?" Dean demanded.
"Lucifer."
"What about him?"
"What happened?"
"What do you mean, what happened?"
Oh yeah, he was definitely getting to the demon, Dean could tell. If there was one thing that he'd always been good at it was pissing people off and regardless of what Sam had to say about it, that was a definite talent. It took skill to irritate people as quickly and easily as he did. The longer this took, the more he'd be recovered from whatever the hell had just happened. He was already feeling a lot better, but his stomach still wasn't quite back to normal yet and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stand still if he got to his feet just now. He'd rather wait a little longer than sway back and forth and thereby make himself look weak.
"What I mean is that after you two Hardy boys did something nearly a year ago it had appeared like the Apocalypse was over," Crowley began angrily. "Lucifer was gone and everything seemed to be settling back into place. But then the next thing I know, all the rules are changing and now there are rumors that Lucifer's back though no one seems to know what's going on and apparently there's some other angel involved called Samiel or something."
"Simiel," Dean corrected as he tried to decide how much to tell the demon.
His first thought was to just leave Crowley in the dark but the demon had helped them out in the past he knew for certain that Crowley wanted Lucifer out of the picture for good. Whatever else the demon might have on his agenda, getting rid of the devil was definitely the number one as Crowley wanted nothing more than to save his own neck. Also, as small as the possibility was, if there was even a chance that Crowley would be able to convince other demons of his point of view then he had to take it. Forcing Lucifer to split his attention between them and a rebelling demon faction would be a huge tactical advantage, even if the demon rebellion was nothing more than a minor nuisance, it could buy them precious time.
"I don't care who that is," Crowley spat.
"Oh you should, 'cause she's an archangel," Dean replied.
"An archangel?"
"Yep, one who chose Lucifer's side during the rebellion and who was locked up afterwards."
"I assume that Lucifer freed her?"
"That would be my guess."
"And how the bloody hell is he back anyway?" Crowley demanded. "I thought you two Hardy boys took care of him?"
"We shoved him back in his cage."
"And?"
"And it didn't hold."
The truth but seriously lacking in detail. That had always been his father's advice when it came to lying or trying to distract someone from something you didn't want them to know about. Dean had always found it particularly useful.
"So he's just back out again? That doesn't match up with the reports I've gotten."
"That's 'cause Cas and I managed to perform a ritual that prevents him from taking a human vessel," Dean explained.
"I don't suppose that's permanent?"
"Nope."
"Of course not."
"Was there anything else?"
"Yeah, what are you planning to do next?"
"That's for me to know."
"It's my neck on the line here as well, cupcake."
"My heart bleeds." That earned Dean a dark glare but he simply smiled. "Unless you've got something else to offer?"
"Not at the moment."
"Then we're done here."
"Wait, how do I contact you?" Crowley demanded.
Dean was very tempted to just tell the demon that he didn't, but Crowley had proven useful in the past and given how fruitless their research had been as of late, he didn't think that they could just afford to ignore anything. "You got a mobile?"
"I was afraid you'd say that, yes I have a cellphone."
"Give me the number," Dean said, pulling his out with his left hand and entering the information. "Here's mine," he continued, sending a meaningless text. "How'd you find me this time anyway?"
"With a lot of effort. Your brother was far easier to find and I'd hoped that you'd join him eventually but you had to be difficult."
"I aim to make life as hard as possible for demons," Dean replied, trying to mask just what effect those words had on him. "What, didn't feel like talking to Sam?"
Crowley snorted. "And give him the chance to try and rip my head off? Not a chance."
Well that at least was a relief. Now that he felt better, Dean got to his feet and used the opportunity to take in more of his surroundings. "Was there anything else?"
"Not unless you want to tell me what you're up to?"
"Nope."
"Not even a hint?"
"Goodbye, Crowley."
"I take it you'll catch a lift home with lover boy?"
Dean sent more energy into the Jewel instead of answering and Crowley was gone in an instant. Muttering darkly to himself, he waited a few moments to be sure that the demon was really gone before he opened his cell once more.
"Hey, Cas, can you come pick me up?"
Chapter 102
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,068
Summary: A hunt doesn't go as expected.
PAST
The house was silent when Dean entered it, but he didn't let that fool him and instead he carefully made his way through it, room by room, taking care to check each one thoroughly before moving on to the next. Since he was alone, he didn't want to give them any chance to sneak up behind him. Not that it was normally in the nature of changelings to do that but he was taking no chances what with all of the unusual occurrences and behavior he'd seen as of late. Who knew what any creature might do these days?
Dean frowned when he finished checking the last room on the first floor and still hadn't found a single thing. He knew for certain that the changelings were using this house as he'd seen them entering it so where were they and why had he yet to hear anything from them? Quietly making his way back to the stairs, he tried to decide whether to go upstairs first or to try his luck with the basement. Both were viable options. The fact that the basement door stood ajar made him weary for a trap but it was also possible that they'd simply been careless in closing it.
Briefly Dean debated his options before deciding to try his luck with the basement first. It would also be the most likely place for the kids to be held as there was less chance of them being seen so even if the changelings themselves weren't there, at least he'd be able to let the kids out. The memory of the last time he'd dealt with a nest of changelings rose to the top of his mind as it had so often since he'd first realized exactly what it was that he was up against here but he shoved it aside. He couldn't afford to think of that as it would only serve to get himself and the kids killed.
Lady luck seemed to be on Dean's side for once as there was enough light creeping into the basement from the few small windows for him to see what he was walking into. And what a sight it was. There, lying in the middle of the room in a large puddle of blood, were the corpses of all ten changelings that he'd identified along with two others that he hadn't. They were all torn apart with blood and gore painting the walls, ceiling and windows, turning the room into a scene right out of a horror flick.
Dean stood frozen in place on the steps as he stared at the scene in shock. This was the last thing that he'd expected to find and he couldn't quite figure out what had happened here. He hadn't seen anything else enter the house while he'd been watching it and he knew that it couldn't be another hunter that had slipped past his guard either. Another hunter would have known to torch the bodies in order to prevent them from regenerating. Though he wasn't sure if these ones would be able to do so, not that he'd take the chance. Only now instead of just torching the changeling mother, he'd have to ensure that the whole basement when up in flames as there was no other way to be sure that he got all parts of the mother.
None of which told Dean who or what had done this in the first place so he took extra care while descending the last few steps. He cursed at just how much of the street light was getting in through the windows as that meant he was that much more exposed to the outside and that it would be harder to get away undetected after he'd started the fire. At least he was on the opposite end of the state from his apartment, but it was something he had to start thinking about now which had never been an issue before.
Once he'd checked the room to his satisfaction, Dean turned his attention to the two doors leading off of it. The first turned out to be nothing more than the door to the washing room which was quickly checked and cleared. The second, however, lead to a small room filled with dog cages, each of which held a small child. Eleven pairs of terrified eyes looked towards him and he was relieved to see that the worst injuries he could spot were some bruises and a split lip.
"Hey, guys," Dean said after he'd checked the rest of the room. "Are you all okay?"
"Who are you?" one of the boys asked.
"I'm a friend and I'm here to get you out. Did they leave the keys anywhere down here?"
"Over there," a girl replied, pointing.
Dean gave a quick sigh of relief that he wouldn't have to pick each and every lock and instead opened the first one and had the kid start to unlock the others. At first he'd feared that he'd have to take the kids out the way he'd come, through the bloodbath and thereby scarring them for life, but then he'd caught sight of the doors to the backyard at the far end of the room. He turned his attention to this while the first kid he'd freed got the others out of their cages. The doors were padlocked together and unlike the cages he couldn't immediately spot a key. Oh well, he'd just have to pick the lock. Part of him wanted to shoot the lock but the younger kids already looked close to tears and the last thing he wanted was to set them off for real. Actually no, that was the second to last thing he wanted, the last thing he wanted was to hit one of them with a ricochet.
"Can we go?" the girl from before asked.
Dean looked over to see most of the kids free and crowding towards the door he'd entered by and which he'd thankfully remembered to close. "No, just wait a moment, sweetheart, this way will be faster." Just a few seconds later he felt the lock give and he quickly undid it and flung open the doors. "There you go."
The kids seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if unable to believe that they were really free, but then the first scrambled for the door and the others quickly followed.
"Whoa, whoa, careful, you'll all get out," Dean cautioned, torn between taking them to the neighbors and staying to take care of the mother changeling.
He knew that he really shouldn't leave the corpses for any longer than absolutely necessary, but it still didn't feel quite right letting the kids go out on their own like this even if help wasn't far away. A tugging at his jeans made Dean look down and he found a really cute little redheaded girl standing there.
"Thank you," she said.
"Your welcome, honey," Dean replied with a smile, crouching down to be at her level. "But you'd better go with the others now, I'm sure your parents are missing you."
The girl looked outside before giving him a quick hug. It was over even before Dean realized what had happened but it made him smile even more as he watched her race off after the others.
"Aw, now wasn't that just so cute you could be sick?"
The voice had Dean whirling around and bringing the flame thrower he held up and ready even as he knew that it wasn't the right weapon for there, standing in the middle of the room, stood Crowley.
"Bravo, mate," the demon continued, clapping. "Aren't you just the hero of the moment?"
"Crowley," Dean growled, hands tightening around the flame thrower. It might not be salt or Holy water, but it would still cause the demon a world of pain. "What are you doing here?"
"Me? Why helping you, of course. Didn't you like my gift in the other room?"
"That was you? But how-" Dean began but then his breath caught in his throat and he felt ice flood him as he realized the answer. "Hellhound."
"Yes, I had my boy take care of them for you."
The amount of adrenaline that was being dumped into his system nearly made Dean ill but also hyper alert and his ears strained for any sound that might give away the beast's location. He was pretty sure that a flame thrower would be useless against a hellhound, but he was definitely going to try and use it. That and he always had the Jewel of Abel on him these days and it wouldn't hurt to at least try using it. Hey, it had struck down an archangel, right, so why not a hellhound?
"Relax, mate, I'm not here to kill you," Crowley stated. "You're not worth the trouble it's taken to track you down just for that."
"Yeah? Then where is it?"
"He is back home."
Since he couldn't find any evidence to the contrary, Dean figured that Crowley was speaking the truth, for the moment at least. Well that and if the demon had really wanted him dead, he would have let the hellhound loose on him by now.
"Why did you kill the changelings?" Dean demanded.
"Because I knew that you wouldn't listen to me until you got those kiddies out of here."
Okay that was true and Dean frowned before he remembered what he still had to do. "What makes you think I'll listen now?"
"Harsh. But I did just help you out."
"I could have taken care of it. And you still haven't told me what you want, Crowley."
"Information."
"To paraphrase slightly, what makes you think I either have it or would give it to you?"
As it seemed like the demon really wasn't going to try anything just now, Dean stepped past Crowley into the main room of the basement. There he started to take apart the flame thrower so he could splash the gas all over the place.
"They're already dead," Crowley drawled, amused.
"I like to be sure," Dean stated, checking his work before pulling a match box out and lighting one.
"So why didn't you do that with Lucifer?"
The words came just as his match hit the gas and fire roared to life. Dean turned sharply to look at Crowley only to find the demon right beside him and then the world shifted and changed around him. It felt like his whole body was taken and squashed through a far too small tube only to pop out again on the other side. Nausea swelled within him and his sense of balance deserted him completely. All he knew was that one moment he was standing in the basement as it went up in flames and the next he was somewhere else. Where he wasn't sure, only that he wasn't in Kansas anymore and that he was puking his guts out all over Crowley's shiny five hundred dollar shoes. The latter gave him a childish satisfaction even as his hand dived into his pocket for the Jewel. Looks like he'd get to test whether it worked on demons or not.
Crowley's cursing of him and his family stopped abruptly when Dean twisted around enough to bring the glowing Jewel of Abel to bear on the demon without getting up off the ground.
"Easy now, Winchester," Crowley said, hands up in plain view.
"What the hell was that?" Dean demanded.
"Teleportation, demon style. It normally doesn't affect humans quite as badly as this, but I should have known that you'd be a little different what with those angels you hang around with."
"Where are we?"
"Arizona, don't you recognize it?"
Now that he felt a little better, Dean focused on the scenery behind the demon and found that Arizona was indeed a distinct possibility. What with the red rock and all.
"And speaking of angels, I have to admit that I'm surprised, Dean," Crowley continued, all suave confidence now though Dean did notice that the demon kept an eye on the glowing jewel in his palm. "I'd never have pegged you for the type to dig the whole interspecies thing. And with Castiel no less."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Nice try, but his stench is all over you. My hand also still burns from touching you."
"That'll teach you to keep your paws to yourself. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't just blow you away."
Crowley was good but Dean still caught the instinctive flicker of the demon's eyes as Crowley glanced down at the Jewel of Abel. It was clear that the demon didn't know what it was and therefore couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not, which was a good thing as he didn't know either. There was a very good chance that the Jewel of Abel would do absolutely diddlysquat against a demon and he had nothing else other than his gun and a regular knife. He hadn't been expecting to go up against a demon during this hunt after all.
"Like I said before, all I want is information," Crowley stated.
"Information on what?" Dean demanded.
"Lucifer."
"What about him?"
"What happened?"
"What do you mean, what happened?"
Oh yeah, he was definitely getting to the demon, Dean could tell. If there was one thing that he'd always been good at it was pissing people off and regardless of what Sam had to say about it, that was a definite talent. It took skill to irritate people as quickly and easily as he did. The longer this took, the more he'd be recovered from whatever the hell had just happened. He was already feeling a lot better, but his stomach still wasn't quite back to normal yet and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stand still if he got to his feet just now. He'd rather wait a little longer than sway back and forth and thereby make himself look weak.
"What I mean is that after you two Hardy boys did something nearly a year ago it had appeared like the Apocalypse was over," Crowley began angrily. "Lucifer was gone and everything seemed to be settling back into place. But then the next thing I know, all the rules are changing and now there are rumors that Lucifer's back though no one seems to know what's going on and apparently there's some other angel involved called Samiel or something."
"Simiel," Dean corrected as he tried to decide how much to tell the demon.
His first thought was to just leave Crowley in the dark but the demon had helped them out in the past he knew for certain that Crowley wanted Lucifer out of the picture for good. Whatever else the demon might have on his agenda, getting rid of the devil was definitely the number one as Crowley wanted nothing more than to save his own neck. Also, as small as the possibility was, if there was even a chance that Crowley would be able to convince other demons of his point of view then he had to take it. Forcing Lucifer to split his attention between them and a rebelling demon faction would be a huge tactical advantage, even if the demon rebellion was nothing more than a minor nuisance, it could buy them precious time.
"I don't care who that is," Crowley spat.
"Oh you should, 'cause she's an archangel," Dean replied.
"An archangel?"
"Yep, one who chose Lucifer's side during the rebellion and who was locked up afterwards."
"I assume that Lucifer freed her?"
"That would be my guess."
"And how the bloody hell is he back anyway?" Crowley demanded. "I thought you two Hardy boys took care of him?"
"We shoved him back in his cage."
"And?"
"And it didn't hold."
The truth but seriously lacking in detail. That had always been his father's advice when it came to lying or trying to distract someone from something you didn't want them to know about. Dean had always found it particularly useful.
"So he's just back out again? That doesn't match up with the reports I've gotten."
"That's 'cause Cas and I managed to perform a ritual that prevents him from taking a human vessel," Dean explained.
"I don't suppose that's permanent?"
"Nope."
"Of course not."
"Was there anything else?"
"Yeah, what are you planning to do next?"
"That's for me to know."
"It's my neck on the line here as well, cupcake."
"My heart bleeds." That earned Dean a dark glare but he simply smiled. "Unless you've got something else to offer?"
"Not at the moment."
"Then we're done here."
"Wait, how do I contact you?" Crowley demanded.
Dean was very tempted to just tell the demon that he didn't, but Crowley had proven useful in the past and given how fruitless their research had been as of late, he didn't think that they could just afford to ignore anything. "You got a mobile?"
"I was afraid you'd say that, yes I have a cellphone."
"Give me the number," Dean said, pulling his out with his left hand and entering the information. "Here's mine," he continued, sending a meaningless text. "How'd you find me this time anyway?"
"With a lot of effort. Your brother was far easier to find and I'd hoped that you'd join him eventually but you had to be difficult."
"I aim to make life as hard as possible for demons," Dean replied, trying to mask just what effect those words had on him. "What, didn't feel like talking to Sam?"
Crowley snorted. "And give him the chance to try and rip my head off? Not a chance."
Well that at least was a relief. Now that he felt better, Dean got to his feet and used the opportunity to take in more of his surroundings. "Was there anything else?"
"Not unless you want to tell me what you're up to?"
"Nope."
"Not even a hint?"
"Goodbye, Crowley."
"I take it you'll catch a lift home with lover boy?"
Dean sent more energy into the Jewel instead of answering and Crowley was gone in an instant. Muttering darkly to himself, he waited a few moments to be sure that the demon was really gone before he opened his cell once more.
"Hey, Cas, can you come pick me up?"
Chapter 102