I can't say that Ghost of Adam was the fic most people request a sequel to, but I did have some people review asking for more and the plot always stuck with me from when I wrote it. So actually within a week of posting I had started a draft of a sequel conversation between Vlad and Crowley and a month later I had the plot that would make it a three-part series. I'm not sure if I'll get around to part three, and I'm certainly busy enough now that I won't have time to write fic for a while, but I really enjoyed finishing this up today and figured I'd at least share part two.
Set between Ghost of Adam and Supernatural's Mommy Dearest.
Enjoy!
Vlad went rigid in his seat at the sudden sound of someone opening his office door.
His secretary always made a point to knock.
As the door opened and the intruder entered at a leisurely pace Vlad cursed under his breath that the particular monitor he had been working on faced the skyscraper's window and forced himself not to turn to identify the trespasser. If they didn't mean to harm him it was better to disguise his (super)natural fight or flight response as an agitated CEO engrossed in his work while he took the time to piece things together.
The lack of further footsteps or wandering hinted that the invader was comfortable, and Vlad's mind immediately turned to the small list of people he had granted permanent access to his office. That meant that most likely the person in the room wasn't human given the types of business he tried to bar mortals from walking in on, and the lack of a call or making an appointment.
The halfa didn't even want to imagine what kind of omens some of his business partners would leave if he made the inhuman ones book through his secretary.
The fact that the door needed to open and Vlad could hear footsteps also crossed all but a small handful of ghosts off of his mental checklist, honestly leaving the billionaire raking over very few options of who would need to disturb him in broad daylight. Of course there was always the slim possibility that it was either Daniel or Maddie was here to finally renounce Jack and join him. Even if they didn't know it, Vlad made sure they were on every access list out of pure fantasy and to subtly hint towards a future adoption story. But Vlad regretfully crossed their names off as a pipe dream. Also for the fact that either of his loves would've yelled for his attention by now.
Unfortunately at an inconclusive loss for who could've decided to barge into his office Vlad decided to turn around before his mystery guest got too impatient, despite their complete silence thus far. Vlad had to admit he let too much surprise color his poker face at the man before him.
"Crowley?" Vlad couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He wouldn't have thought the King of Hell would want to talk to him, let alone on his grounds and in person.
"Hello, Vlad dear." The demon nodded with his familiar Scottish accent, even as he showed no other signs of moving or settling into the office.
After a second a silence to be clear that Crowley wasn't going to say anything further, Vlad couldn't help but ask, "what are you doing here?"
"Not much reason to be here other than to talk to you, love." Crowley spread his arms out as if Vlad's question was really that obvious. "I heard rumors that you had people out looking for me, so here I am. Frankly I'm a bit hurt. I thought after all the time we've spent together we were close enough that if you wanted to see me you would've just asked." The King of Hell still made no move closer to Vlad, and the flirting was familiar enough to Vlad that the halfa could infer that the demon either had an upper edge or was faking it and flying from the seat of his pants. Crowley also hadn't asked why the billionaire was looking for him, which also was a sign that could mean any number of things about their current relationship.
Most importantly, would Crowley be angry enough to come if he knew? And would he be intrigued enough to come if he didn't?
Vlad steepled his hands on his desk next to the phone and eyed the demon. He had all of his scouts trying to sniff out Crowley's headquarters for Eve, and in the spirit of their deal he was all but obligated to call. The Mother of Monsters would want to know her query's location, after all, and she was a dangerous enemy to make. But then again Eve's search was because she was after her alphas, who obviously weren't here, and Vlad didn't want to disturb his human business downstairs or get the carpet dirty…
"I wanted to be sure there'd be no misconceptions about the nature of my current business with you based on those friendly agreements." Vlad said and shrugged, settling that for now he'd see why Crowley came and buy time. "I play dirty during contract negotiation, not execution, so you have no reason to worry I've suddenly gone back on them. Frankly I'm quite surprised you decided to show up." None of it was a lie, there were a few business kinks that could be dealt with best in person, but Vlad was still standing by his internal intent to call Eve once Crowley left.
Crowley nodded. "So dirty, but still honest, polite, and right down to business. I like that about you Vladdie. Glad to see working with that bitch hasn't turned you into another mutt like she normally does.
"Now," the King of Hell smiled. "Will this be a desk or a couches kind of conversation?" He gestured between Vlad's current spot and the two comfy armchairs and glass coffee table by the floor to ceiling windows Vlad liked to use when making business deals over drinks.
"If you already know about my deal with Eve, why shouldn't I just call her up now and tell her the man she's crawling the world looking to kill just walked through my door?" Vlad reached towards his phone and purposefully ignored the demon's questions, still unsure if just talking to him was breaking his word to Eve.
His loyalty, after all, went to the one who offered two of the three things even Crowley always refused.
"Couches it is then." Crowley remarked with a faux-pleasant air as he finally moved from the middle of the office to make himself comfortable in the armchair most facing Vlad's desk.
The billionaire made no move to follow.
"Come now." Crowley said, nestled into Vlad's plush chair. "Don't tell me a pretty woman comes over for one night and she's already got you leashed? If that's all it took I would've started delegating other crossroads demons to start negotiating with you years ago." He paused, then sent a wink. "Or at least I would've borrowed one of their suits."
Vlad just narrowed his eyes until they flashed red.
"Well, I mean the reason I didn't is because I thought you were obsessed with that Fenton woman, Maddie?" Crowley continued as he looked around the room, purposefully ignoring Vlad's worsening glare. "But hey, guess it was just a passing thing. Do you have any good scotch?"
"Why. Are. You. Here?" Vlad gritted out through clenched teeth. Crowley just smiled and continued scanning the room for alcohol, smirking inwardly as the halfa continued to anger.
"What, a demon can't enjoy a good scotch and chat between friends?" Crowley pretended to scoff. "I thought it'd be smart to take some time out of my day to let an important business partner know he was being a moron."
Even though Vlad was still clearly annoyed and stiff, Crowley noted that the half-ghost nevertheless unlocked one of the larger drawers of his desk and pulled out a bottle of forty year old scotch and two glasses before walking over and sitting down across from the King of Hell. Even though the man was still stiff as a board, let it never be said that Vlad Masters wasn't courteous.
"I'll have you know Eve is making this business venture quite worth my while." The man stiffly intoned, and Crowley absently wondered what made the man speak of his business contracts so lightly.
"Despite your jests, I am doing everything I can for Maddie." Ah, that was it, Crowley thought, if there were any two things the half-ghost would always defend they'd be his college love and his pride.
"I'm quite aware of that fact." Crowley said once his drink was poured, right before he grabbed the glass and downed the entire shot. "I may be King of Hell now, but I was a crossroads demon for over 500 years." Vlad politely poured the demon another serving and he again downed it back. "King of the Crossroads, actually. Trust me love, I not only see your desires, I can tell when you already think you're on your way to getting them."
Crowley set the glass down again hard on the glass table and the collision let out a chime like a bell. Vlad stared pointedly at the point of contact, as if debating his manners before finally remarking. "Are you going to continue drinking my finest scotch like it's water? I have a few less expensive brands if you're just after the alcohol."
Crowley glared pointedly at the billionaire. "I have a primordial bitch who practically predates Earth out for my blood and am sitting across from a man who's trying to decide whether or not to send the mutant firing squad after me. I think I deserve a bloody drink!" To Vlad's credit the half-man didn't even flinch.
The King of Hell sighed. "And to think I once considered us almost equals. It's hard to find people I truly enjoy making a deal with, you know. Beyond simply gaining another soul to top the sales chart at the end of the deal and the day. Another businessman in a world full of sheep and shepherds who take their title as something way too Biblical is hard to come by, if you know what I mean." The demon, to Vlad's immense relief, actually managed to sip his third shot of scotch without downing it, and happily remarked that the whole taste was as enjoyable as the burn.
"So you can imagine my disappointment when the one half-human I thought might make humans halfway decent decides to be an idiot and get himself screwed over by Eve and her first mentions of something overly sentimental like 'family.' Trust me, as a hellspawn who's had his mother around for over 700 years it's really not worth it."
Now that his guest had managed to go two sentences without needing another drink, Vlad finally raised his own full glass to his mouth and took a sip. "You know the details of my bargain with Eve?" Vlad couldn't help but raise another surprised eyebrow, this time hoping he could get some information from his visitor, rather than the unintended shock the demon's sudden appearance left him in.
Crowley just gave him a deadpan look. "King of Hell and the Crossroads before it. Trust me love, I know the contents of a contract when I see one."
"So you're purposefully sabotaging my arrangement with Eve, then?" Vlad remarked nonchalantly, taking another drink from the scotch.
His guest snorted. "I doubt she'll call it off just because you spent twenty minutes making me comfortable. Given the bargain she got out of this I guarantee you'd have to make her work to call off your deal."
All the comradery between the two, however falsely put on, vanished in the look Vlad sent Crowley. "What makes you so confident she tricked me?"
Crowley couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Let's just say if you were that easy to manipulate with me, love, this building wouldn't be called DALV Corp."
Vlad leaned forward in his chair, the first sign of interest Crowley had seen from the man that afternoon, at least that hadn't involved interest in potentially signing his death warrant. The once King of the Crossroads was glad he was making progress. "What is it, exactly, in this bargain I reached with Eve that makes you convinced she's playing me rather than that she's just that desperate for your head on a spike?"
"Because I know what you want, Vlad, and she's either got something you don't like up her sleeve or is signing away something she can't possibly have. I'm guessing, well honestly if I weren't anyone else I'd be praying, for your sake that you're not dumb enough to fall for the latter, so let's talk things through with the demon's who's probably the best contract negotiator in existence if I dare say so myself and see if we can find this little loophole together, now shall we?"
Vlad pursed his lips. "Now don't pretend to be all sentimental with me. What do you get out of this?"
Crowley just smirked. "The chance to see what my enemy's up and the potential to undermine her in exchange for you maybe getting a loophole of something I have a feeling you'll regret. I could be wrong and Eve may just have a thing for old billionaires, but hey that's valuable information for me too. I have salespeople in Hell, not psychics. Heaven keeps almost as good a monopoly on them as they have on prophets."
Vlad was silent for a minute, twirling his scotch before he cut in with a single word, as if he was simply delayed in interrupting the conversation, "Firstborns."
The King of Hell raised an eyebrow. He was at least eighty-five percent sure there was something he was missing rather than Vlad having just lost it. "Excuse me?"
"Eve doesn't have a thing for billionaires; she has a thing for firstborns. Said that you torturing hers made her feel sentimental over anything else that might qualify." The half-human man shrugged, an odd gesture in the pristine suit and leather chair. "Guess halfas are a unique enough mix to define a new species for her."
"Sentimental, huh?" Crowley took another sip of his drink.
Vlad mirrored his skeptical posture, "You think she was just saying that as a trick? I may not have centuries of experience but I can read when someone is lying to me."
Crowley gave a bitter smirk. "Sorry love, it's just hard for me to visualize the woman threatening to turn all of humanity into bloodthirsty beasts as a species conservationist."
"Well," Vlad twirled his drink, "She did say she'd only goes as far as it took to stop you experimenting on her firstborns." The billionaire sent the demon a teasing look.
Crowley decided not to respond to that insinuation. "Yes, I'm sure that's exactly the words she used. Which raises the more pressing question: she clearly knows you have contact with me, and it would harm my operations if you were indisposed… why didn't she decide to experiment on you?"
Vlad looked at him surprised, "I assume it's out of the respect she mentioned having for me. She said she looks after firstborns."
"Come now, dear, we both know that bitch would only see 'respect' and 'looking after' as giving her all more reason to turn somebody. What did Eve think she could gain that would keep her from deciding to change you and set I trap before I knew you were coming?" Crowley leaned back in his seat, giving himself room to watch the human expressions crossing the normally closed-off billionaire's face as he slowly started to realize he might be just as damned as the demon.
"If it makes you feel better," Vlad hissed through grit teeth, "I can tell you that she was tempted. I wasn't about to start asking the primordial creature at my door why they were deciding to leave me be."
The King of Hell could see the fear warring with obsession in the half-ghost, and knew he just needed to keep it building before he could break through and make the man see reason. "The only thing that would make me feel better, love, is if you could tell me that that primordial creature's dead. And knowing Eve was tempted only makes me wonder what could've compelled her to hold off rather than bite into you like another tender apple." Crowley showed his teeth on the rim of the glass as he finished off his third scotch, and was delighted when the cling it made on the coffee table caused Masters to flinch.
"Perhaps it was merely that she can't guarantee it will work on half humans. Didn't want to cue you in to her movements if she wasn't going to succeed."
"I didn't need her to tell me about your conversation, dear." Crowley gestured to the room around him. "And she didn't do anything to stop you from talking to me that a claw wouldn't do better. How come she didn't kill you? Left you alive to do her dirty work instead."
Vlad scoffed at the implication. "She said she didn't need me to fight to uphold our deal, that she didn't need me to do anything. Her original offer was just for me to not be involved." The billionaire stared at his own half-full glass rather than Crowley's empty one as he spoke, and if the King of Hell had just met the man even he might not have noticed just how much the half-ghost was rattled.
"That's telling me that maybe she was afraid you might turn the tide." Crowley couldn't help the growing excitement.
"No," Vlad shook his head. "I already had too low a chance of being dragged into things to warrant her risking going out of her way and mention plans to me." The billionaire took another sip, his eyes still jumping to Crowley's despite his mind being distant and calculating. It reminded the King of Hell why he still considered this human executive one of the few businessmen as sharp as he was.
"She wasn't interested at all in our joint affairs, and she didn't raise up a single business action I had taken on my own, despite my initial suggestion that that was why she had come." Masters continued. "She had no signs of fear or apprehension that might come with a pre-emptive strike when she came in, and I doubt she was hiding it given my ability to see through some of her earlier facades."
Crowley couldn't help but look a bit skeptical. "And if she's just a good actress?"
Vlad just glared. "Even inhuman, I should get some idea of her intent. She seemed more longing... hateful when the discussion came to you, and giddy in a few moments in-between, but nothing suggesting fear should the conversation go wrong, and mostly a sense of longing. Almost all of the conversation ignored business or war, it centered on our ideas of family."
The King of Hell smirked. "She brought up Maddie then, didn't she?"
"She did." Vlad looked above Crowley and out of the window. "She said that in her eyes Jack and Maddie having worked on the portal that turned me half-ghost made us all family. She called me an orphan, and said it was her responsibility to bring me the Fentons to reunite us, and that I didn't need to do anything in return."
Crowley helped himself to another glass of scotch, ignoring Vlad's look and shaking off the polite host offering to pour it for him. "She called you an orphan and still didn't see the need to turn you?"
Vlad paused. "She said being a firstborn already made us family. That she'd protect them by extension if I wanted. That a couple extra humans kept safe meant too little to you."
"A couple extra humans…" Crowley echoed, then twirled his drink with a chuckle, "And there we have it."
"Have what?"
"Her loophole. Tell me, Vladdie love, did Eve ever mention Danny?"
Vlad suddenly paled as if he had lost his human half, "No."
"That's strange." Crowley remarked, noting the billionaire's growing discomfort and choosing to keep things slow. That in the very least should teach Masters better than to work with a known enemy of his. "It seems to me like she would be interested. Jack and Madeline Fenton also built the portal that changed him, and are well, his parents, yet Eve didn't bother to mention him."
The man bristled like he had found a comeback. "She did mention Jasmine either! That doesn't mean-!"
"Ah ah," Crowley wagged his finger, "But young little Jazz is human. Great and powerful mother Eve came all the way out to visit you at night because she found your new species fascinating, and talked all the while about family but didn't bother to mention that her protection applied to the only other one of your kind."
Vlad's mouth opened again, and Crowley seethed. He didn't need to help the man through another futile denial. "Just because she didn't mention Daniel's species-"
"She doesn't care about species, she cares about firstborns!" Crowley shouted, and watched as one of the most powerful part-humans on Earth went silent. "She knows you're a businessman, Masters, and took the time to see you, to make a contract with you, because she apparently considers you the only firstborn she doesn't have a maternal duty to and wanted to play. She took the way to get your consent to as you said stay out of the way because she's just buying favor for when she does something that you won't like.
"Eve doesn't give a damn about conserving humans, halfas, or any other life on this planet besides anything already turned into one of her mutts. And she was so tempted to do so to you, longing as you mentioned to change you again but held off not because of some physiological impossibility but because you were a firstborn. And yet despite all that you don't find it telling that she didn't mention the second halfa, one who she would have none of those concerns about turning, and tempted you with talk of Maddie instead."
The King of Hell watched with all his demonic pride as something in Vlad Masters broke, not too unlike any other soul in the Pit, and breathed in the schadenfreude he raised his glass to his lips. But before he drank he remembered he wasn't a demon for nothing, and let his face curl up in a smirk before he held his glass out to Vlad.
"Let's end this talk of business with a toast, between friends, and then we can move on to a more personal conversation. How's young Danny doing? Catch me up on his life, tell me how good he is with current events. Does he have any idea that other monsters besides ghosts exist?"
Vlad stood, stiff as a board, at the desk by his phone waiting for the sounds of the elevator door to close, signaling the King of Hell's return downstairs.
The ding of the lift was too happy, the billionaire mused, to fit the wretchedness that always seemed to walk through it, whether by his hand or the product of some other monster's trap. The same could be said of the phone's ringing when he punched in the number left to him on a parchment business card.
It took past the third ring for his call to be answered. If it was any of his business partners Vlad would've eaten them alive for their lack of punctuality.
"Hello?"
"Ah, good afternoon." Vlad greeted, trying to find comfort in his lofty billionaire air. "And before you ask my name or how I got this number, let me just tell you that I am Vlad Masters and that I have my ways. Now, can you tell me if I am speaking to Sam or Dean?"
The voice on the other line was clipped. "Sam."
At least he hadn't hung up. Vlad smiled and considered that the biggest win this afternoon. "Ah, the younger Mr. Winchester. Never mind, I think I hear from the echo that I'm on speaker now. Excellent, I won't have to repeat myself."
"What the hell do you want?" The other voice somehow managed to sound even gruffer. That must be Dean.
"Don't worry, I'm not calling to threaten you or to turn you over to the police. I simply heard through the grapevine, as one in my standing does, that you save the world and defend humanity from monsters. We could use more of that in the world and trust me when I say that I am the first to help hunters without imposing any duties or interference." Vlad settled into his desk chair and looked out the window, trying to ground himself in the familiarity of providing another potential ghost hunter with equipment. Of manipulating both sides of a bargain to make sure he won either way. With Crowley thinking he was back on his side and that liar Eve potentially oblivious to the human Winchester's actions…
"I just wanted to call to let you know I've heard rumors of a bigger monster roaming about than even my resources could handle. The Mother of All monsters, you might say."
Vlad heard a muffled swear and the sound of brakes across the line, and then another voice saying directly into the phone, "You've heard about Eve?"
"Yes, in fact I would she has come quite directly to my attention." The billionaire grimaced at how painfully true that was. "Through my considerable network of associates, I have become aware of some of her movement patterns and have even keyed in on a location that I believe she will be targeting. I am not aware of her timetable, but I believe there are numerous civilians in danger there, including a few who I have a personal stake in wanting to keep safe."
There was a slight shuffle through the phone before the other voice, Dean's again, cut back in. "Ok, so why are you calling us?"
"Because it behooves both me and the anonymous associate who recommended you to admit that you are the best at what you do. Sooner rather than later Eve and her monsters will be marching on Amity Park, and I am prepared to provide whatever resources you need to ensure that you are there to stop her."
And if Vlad Masters had to provide the Winchesters with equipment that would make Crowley's business more strained, well, the King of Hell would be in his debt enough for setting the Winchesters on Eve that he couldn't directly call to renegotiate contracts.
"We don't want to be a part of some underhanded business dealings or favor trade." Dean's voice grunted back, plowing over Sam's background chastisements for his attitude. "Tell us where the bitch will be and we'll gank her. Lie to us and we'll come after you."
Vlad couldn't help the smile before he repeated his information on Amity Park and the lie he made up to explain Eve's potential interest in the Fentons. Crowley was right, business with the Winchesters was a pleasure.
Quick end note to say again that I have a vague idea of the third part of the plot continuing with, you guessed it, the Winchesters arriving in Amity Park and basically setting Mommy Dearest in the Nasty Burger. Going with the series naming theme the working title is Son of Eve.