Disclaimer: Don't own anything except original characters. All material (c) to respective owners. I write these for fun and make no profit. They're just random plot bunnies that live within my strange mind.
A/N: A little older of a story that I've had for a bit, I finally got around to working it out into chapters and publishing.
Chapter 1: Meetings
Bella Whitney was your typical bookworm back in her college years and worked her entire life in the small shop she had built in a less then usual traveled area in London. The shop was known as Bella's New Age, which was just a fancy term for books revolving around modern day witchcraft, Wicca, and other subjects pertaining to the focus of the unknown. Bella had always been known as an odd sort and liked the seclusion she got with the odd reputation, she wasn't a gorgeous bombshell, or a model but was far from ugly, she was more of a quiet beauty that avoided the spotlight at all costs. Bella was somewhat tall with waist length wavy blonde hair and dark blue eyes that stood out against her pale skin and soft youthful appearance.
She was mistaken by many to be no older then eighteen or so but was twenty-three and known to be the oddest in her community, living above the store and not going out much. She had always been a sort of loner and disliked having to fit opinions of others and found that many who showed interest in relationships would eventually find her personality too high maintenance but it never really bothered her, she had no qualms with eventually becoming a lonely old cat lady and liked the idea secretly, but refused to share it with those that knew her too well. That morning Bella had opted for a dark blue sweater and black bellbottom jeans leaving her hair loose about her shoulders and sipping at her coffee reading over one of the more recently delivered books to the store on to her dislike black magic.
She had always despised black magic and anything that come with it, but sadly it was partially in demand and many people found magic as a fun and games thing, never taking it seriously. Bella had been a practicing witch since she was eight years old and had learned a great deal about all sides of the subject, she loathed the idea of these books tainting her store but found that the demand ruled out over her personal likes, especially if she wanted to keep her home and life comfortable. Suddenly after about twenty minutes of being engrossed in the book and several annoyed thoughts running a muck in her head, she paused hearing the tinkling of the bell over the door of the shop and sighed.
The shop wasn't overly large, but housed enough books, shelves and other storage facilities for the books to make it overly crowded, it reminded one of an overstuffed closet ready to explode upon opening it. The only spare space in the whole store was the large glass counter in the front where Bella did business and which housed the rarer harder to find volumes she sometimes sold or purchased from other customers, the floor was wall to wall dark green carpet and not the easiest to keep clean during the bad weather days but she managed with good old fashioned hard work. "Interesting." She noted slowly closing her book observing a thin nice looking man pause at the front of the store as though he wasn't sure if he was in the right place. He was tall slender, chiseled features with neat dark hair with silver streaks giving him a sort of distinguished look, he wore brown pants and a medium green shirt with darker green tie under a knee length brown coat, his dark eyes were concealed for the moment behind silver rimmed glasses and he appeared to be shuffling idly through a canvas bag.
"Can I help you?" Bella questioned carefully placing the book aside and sipping the hot coffee still in hand. "He's rather cute, then again most are at first." She thought bemused with the stranger who appeared to register whom she was addressing after pausing briefly in his search.
"Not at the moment." He ignored the keeper of the store sighing finding the paper he had written some information on and realized with a frown he had just inserted his foot, so to speak. "Smart move." He thought noting the quirked brows of the now appearing to be annoyed woman.
"Rude much." Bella thought shrugging and returning her attention to her coffee following his progress through the store suspicious of him now and his less then desirable attitude. "He could use a personality change." She muttered under her breath glaring at the tall figure and sighing irritably feeling offended by his simple ignorance. Bella had long since returned her attention to the book ignoring his slow approach to the counter and briefly giving him a once over seeing he had nothing of importance and basically ignoring him.
He smirked already suspecting his actions had annoyed the keeper. "I would like to inquire about a book; I've just returned from a rather…unpleasant trip and am in search of something to help make my life a bit less complicated." He offered noting her blue gaze studying him for a long moment before placing the book down. "Black magic?" he inquired gazing at the title of the book and raising a brow.
Bella glared briefly at the book before shrugging. "Don't touch the stuff, just doing research." She then crossed her arms and observed him for a moment. "Title?"
"Black Temple: The Shadows" he clasped his hands thoughtfully observing her expression seeing her eyes widen at the title before observing him suspiciously. "Heard of it?"
Bella paused uncrossing her arms and standing. "Unfortunately…I wouldn't sell a copy let alone own one." She commented warning in her voice already disliking this stranger a great deal with his all too cocky attitude and annoying smug look. "Who wants this book?" she knew her curiosity was getting the better of her but at the mention of the black arts book she didn't rightly give a damn.
"Oh…I'm Dean Corso, you are?" he asked smirking at the now even darker look he was receiving watching her blue eyes narrow and noting her hand move to her hip. "I'm going to get an ear full." He noted not really caring at the moment finding the strange keeper oddly entertaining.
Bella knew that name all too well, he wasn't exactly known for being a nice guy and she already disliked his attitude. "Didn't offer to say…if you must know, Bella Whitney." She then clasped the phone ringing beside her, her gaze never leaving the less then appealing rare book dealer, better known as a swindler to some.
Dean's smirk only seemed to grow at the name which made her slightly wary before her attention was distracted by the person on the phone and she returned to her own little business world. "Alright, now that I found you how do I get you to help." He wondered already knowing she disliked him and finding that to be a small glitch in his goal to get the help he needed. Dean could have kicked himself for the moment until he started to think over the situation, he was by far from stupid and could easily work things into his favor if he really needed too. There were several things Bella didn't know about Dean Corso, especially his past dealings with a certain book of the devil and how he had managed to return from the ninth gate somewhat the same and different in many ways, she was about to find out he didn't take no for an answer and would find herself in the middle of something she would eventually regret.
She placed the phone back on the counter and ignoring Dean walked around to the far side of the bookstore to the tarot section, she then started to browse over titles feeling the skin prickling on the back of her neck. She knew he was watching her and could feel his gaze penetrating her very being, what she didn't understand was why she was sensing more to him then met the eye, she did not like the dark feeling that appeared to come from him it was more so…evil then she would sense on anyone and it unnerved her, but she was not afraid of him either. Bella finally found the tarot book her customer had wanted and went to the desk filling out the forms for pickup for the girl that worked for her on her off days.
Dean thought carefully his gaze studying her for a long moment getting the feeling she wasn't going to acknowledge him until he gave her a reason too and smirked lowering his gaze to her quickly working hand writing out a receipt. "Alright so I'm not exactly known for my wonderful personality, could I at least ask you some things about the book?" he noticed her pause in her work and glance him over with a dark look.
Bella already got enough of a bad vibe from Corso did she want to talk with him too? "I'm busy…go do research like everyone else." She muttered ignoring the rather sour look that crossed his face before tucking the book away and answering the phone again.
Dean Corso took the hint and left her to her work for the rest of the day. For about a week on an off he kept re-appearing in the shop to continuously annoy Bella and kept asking about the information she knew about the book, but she never budged. Another week passed with the same results and growing more so fed up with his smug arrogance then anything else she finally decided to cave, if only to get him the hell out of her store and life. Bella sat at the counter concentrating on some orders that she needed to have out by the end of the week; she was sipping at a cold coffee wrinkling her nose at the bitter taste before giving up on it and resorting to her soda that sat at her side.
The familiar sound of the bell announced his presence long before he did and glancing at her watch she rolled her eyes glaring at the same present smug look that always was on his face. "Right on the dot, he's been coming in here everyday an hour before closing." She noted studying her watch that told her it was five p.m. She sighed in aggravation wondering how he had managed to get her to let her guard down before she walked toward the back hearing him slowly following after her, which had become another habit to annoy her since his recent introduction and constant curiosity toward a book which she wished was literally burning in hell. Making her usual rounds seeing no one was in the store browsing but the two of them she started to order things for closing deciding it would be wise to close early that day just to get the thorn in her side out of her life, known as Dean Corso.
Dean paused back at the front of the store noting her getting around for closing and allowed himself a satisfied smile already suspecting he had worn on her last nerve. "Closing early?" he questioned reaching into his bag and frowning thoughtfully before realizing he had forgotten the book he needed her help on. Yes he had the specific book he had inquired on and knew that it was probably wise to keep it to himself until he could convince her to assist him in some way, but forgetting the book back at his current flat was not his intention. "Maybe having her on my turf will make this less complicated." He thought ignoring the fact he had forgotten the book and starting to light a cigarette.
"Light that and I will make you swallow it." Bella warned from behind him making him jump uncharacteristically before he turned seeing narrowed blue eyes watching him like a hawk. She then returned to her work shutting down the store ignoring the curious dark eyes following her every move.
Dean did not like being told what to do and ignored the current threat lighting the cigarette anyway taking a long drag noting her pause in the upper part of the store glaring at him from a distance with a very threatening look. "He will swallow that." She thought starting her way down the upper area of the store just above Dean watching his gaze rise to meet hers. Bella had a very violent temper and had managed to learn to control it to an extent but bluntly ignoring her in her own store was a very bad idea and due to the fact she already greatly disliked him, he was in for a world of surprise. Dean lowered his gaze with a smirk ignoring her annoyed expression and continued to smoke studying the small store as an after thought. She quietly reached around behind her and smiled grasping the water jug for her customers, she then turned back to stare down at Dean noting he was intent on the black arts section of the store for a moment.
Bella slowly lifted out the bottle careful to avoid getting wet and aimed directly for Dean. "I can't make you swallow it at the moment, but this might get my message across." She watched him slowly turn to look up, but instead of giving him the chance to move she let him have it.
Dean cursed feeling the ice cold water cascade down across his head noting his cigarette die instantly at his feet and glared up at the now laughing woman. "That wasn't necessary." He grumbled swearing irritably while attempting to ring out his now wet clothing and smoothing his hands through his hair. "Can you at least offer me a towel?" he slowly rung out the ends of his shirt hearing the giggling fading in the distance aware she had disappeared up a private flight of stairs to the upper part of the building. "This is going to be a hate, hate, relationship trying to figure this damn book out." He noted curiously squishing along the carpet swearing until he come to the stairs leading up to the upper floor and pausing at the private flight in thought.
Bella paused at the door to her apartment above the store and sighed still amused by her revenge. She opened to reveal a very small yet comfortable apartment, off to her right was a large bedroom with the door half opened, the front was the kitchen and off to the side the bathroom, then the large sitting room which served as both living room and office. The main room was decorated in deep blues and black furniture which contrasted against the light paneling that decorated the biggest percent of her home; she then walked across the soft blue carpet to the bathroom catching one of the several towels piled on the forest green counter. She had decorated the room to be at least two colors a piece that either matched or clashed with one another depending on those who saw her home and shared their opinion. She returned to the main room glancing up in time to see Dean Corso glaring at her with a sour expression on his face dripping in the doorway. "Doesn't private mean anything to you?" she wondered sighing figuring she had given him a hard enough day. Bella tossed the towel at him on her way to her room and shut the door behind her ignoring the cursing outside it and stifling an amused laugh.
Dean slid out of his wet coat and dabbed at his dripping face with the towel taking in the apartment before turning to the door which opened revealing Bella in a pair of black jeans and a red sweater before she walked over into the black and violet decorated kitchen shuffling around making coffee deciding to at least attempt to be hospitable. "She's very good at being annoying." He noted watching her again vanish into her room as an after thought and toss him to his surprise a black shirt and jeans that may have belonged to an old boyfriend at one time.
"Dryer is in the bathroom." Bella remarked pointing to the room across the kitchen and noting his puzzled expression before she shrugged returning her attention to straightening up the kitchen and ignoring her current less then welcome guest. "I warned you not to light that damn thing in the store, I don't need a fire." She called hearing the door to the bathroom shut with more force then needed and stifling an amused round of laughter seeing she could easily get on his nerves as much as he did hers.
"Yeah, you're lucky I'm in a good mood." Dean thought tossing aside his wet things and changing into the dry clothes before studying the dryer with a frown and cursing. "I hate these things with all the stupid buttons." He then after a moment pressed a few buttons hoping the machine didn't rip his clothing to shreds, preferring to go to a laundry where someone else did the work for him. Dean opened the door finding Bella standing there with a cup of coffee waiting and a smug look of her own seeing she was getting to him at the moment and winning. He accepted the coffee with a wry look before she shrugged walking back to the kitchen to get her own coffee. "Now she's being civil." He thought narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the coffee preferring a good glass of scotch but shrugging it off seeing she was going over something at her side in a notebook and letting his curiosity get the better of him for the moment.
"Feel better now?" She questioned studying her notebook thoughtfully and tracing over the research she had done on Black Temple: The Shadows. "Don't look much better." She said with a smirk noting his less then pleasant look at the coffee he took a sip of. "Here's what I know…have fun." She then walked around the counter and into her room shutting the door against any further discussion on the subject of the book.
Dean narrowed his eyes at her retreating form and stared down at the notebook seeing more then he thought she could have known on the book and allowing a somewhat dangerous smile on his face. "You do know something about this book, now how do I get you involved?" he wondered aloud studying the various notes on the subject of the book and how it worshipped a less then pleasant place he was sadly familiar with. Dean decided the best way to know the enemy was to learn about the enemy, since she kindly left him to his own amusements he took to nosing around the apartment hoping to find a way of manipulating the woman into helping him, or rather con her into it.
Unaware of how convenient she had made things for Corso, Bella was intrigued by his interest in the book to say the least and a bit concerned as well. She disliked Corso a great deal so far but didn't like people to get involved with things revolving around the less then pleasant sides of magic and she also got the feeling he knew more then he was letting on, he was different in some way but she couldn't put her finger on it. During one of her many trips to local retailers around the area she had bumped into him maybe once or twice but went out of her way to avoid contact with the man and then suddenly he lands in her store inquiring about a book of rather dark magic? She knew it wasn't coincidence, she didn't believe in them especially with the odd sensation she seemed to get around him, it was almost as though he wasn't entirely human. She shuddered at the thought and sat down at her small desk starting to go through her laptop of files she had kept on the book. Bella Whitney was well versed in all things occult, even those she wished she wasn't and at that moment her observations of the 'thorn in her side' named Dean Corso was making her life even more complicated then normal. She was determined to get to the bottom of things or at least as soon as she found out what had crashed outside her room.
"Shit." Dean thought flinching under the sound of a vase shattering at his feet and hearing the door to her room start to open. Dean was about to get caught nosing around her apartment and stood there for a moment racking his brain for an excuse finding to his amusement a small black spider near the stand the vase had once sat. Bella placed her head around the corner of the door giving him a look only to be described as contempt. "Spider." He offered with an all too innocent smile noting her eyes widen briefly before she shuddered at the offered explanation. "Typical female." He noted reaching down grasping the black thing between his fingers with an amused smirk hearing her curse before slamming the door rather violently. Dean was again alone to do his own thing tossing the spider out the open window silently thanking the small creature.
She returned to her laptop again shuddering at the thought of a spider living in her apartment, not caring that a vase now lay shattered in the main room and returning to her thoughts on how Dean Corso made her skin crawl. After what seemed to be an hour or so she noticed it was about eight p.m. and was wondering why her guest had suddenly become so quiet. Bella carefully stood opening the door and glanced out seeing Dean had made himself comfortable among one of the black sofa's in the room and was reading through her notebook, apparently his search into her personal affairs had ceased a while ago, too bad she wasn't aware of it or the danger she could possibly be in. "Clearly I'm not getting rid of him anytime soon." She thought shrugging and walking over to the kitchen noticing his gaze briefly follow her over the notebook before she gave him a dangerous look and his attention returned to the information at hand. Bella called in pizza and started digging around the kitchen pulling out toss salad and dressings, before hearing quiet steps and turning half tempted to toss the bottle of Italian dressing at Dean who stood there with an almost puzzled expression on his face.
"What are you doing?" he asked cleaning his glasses on the black shirt she was currently lending him before his brows quirked studying her less then amused expression.
Bella placed out a couple of more of the dressings and then glanced around her apartment for the alcohol getting the feeling she may need it eventually. "I clearly am not getting rid of you anytime soon, so I'm feeding you and then I want to know what the hell you're up too." She then pulled out spiced rum and asked him what poison he preferred pulling out scotch as stated. Dean did not like the fact that she was overly paranoid but shrugged deciding arguing with her would most likely resort in something far violent then a shower of cold water. He glanced around lighting a cigarette almost hesitantly watching as an ashtray was bluntly shoved in his hand and she went over opening a window to let in the warm summer air ignoring the smirk she was receiving.
Dean paused noting her staring at him with a dark expression on her face and wondered what he did this time. "I know you don't like me, the water pretty much was a dead give away…now what did I do?" he took a long drag sitting down among one of the high stools against the kitchen counter and giving her his own dark look, which was only hindered by his amused smirk.
Bella again shuddered disliking the way he was acting and knowing there was more then met the eye to Dean Corso. "I have no reason to like you, you are up to something and I want to know what's so important about that book." She was interrupted in further biting into him when the buzzer downstairs went off and glared at Dean before exiting the apartment to go greet the pizza delivery guy downstairs. She wasn't aware of his dark eyes somewhat changing into an amber form or the smirk that crossed his face upon her exit.
Once outside of her apartment she felt a relaxing sensation starting down the stairs toward the bottom level only pausing for a moment at the wet spot Dean once stood and smiling. Bella paid for the food thanking the guy before turning back to return to her apartment pausing swearing she had seen something in the darkened store glowing amber before hearing a creaking sound and realizing she again had a tag along, the nervous prickling sensation returning to her body following the sound noticing Dean had paused between the top level and her apartment level. "I need to stop letting my imagination run away with me." She noted deciding to swear off the darker part of the occult for a few days and started toward the steps ignoring the penetrating gaze studying her on her way up.
"Take a picture it will last longer." She retorted ignoring the amused chuckle behind her and starting into the apartment hearing Dean behind her, she would have felt more comfortable if he wasn't at her back but kept her comments to herself for the moment.
Silence was golden thankfully during the meal and Bella had time to think ignoring her current unwanted guest, before he decided to disappear to check on his own clothing. She still was unnerved by Corso but something else kept her from bluntly throwing him from her life, she sensed something significant had caused him a great deal of problems in his past and somehow got the feeling he was seeking her help to get out of that mess, she just wished he would stop his manipulative dance and get to the point. "What was that?" she wondered hearing something resembling that of glass being shattered, she then stood walking to her door to go investigate startled when someone caught her arm and whirling to see Dean Corso standing there shaking his head, he had an almost exasperated look on his face at that moment. "What did you get me mixed up in?" she wondered giving him a look of contempt that was wasted and noting he had returned to his now dry former garb.
Dean listened intently releasing his hold on her arm and waiting for further noise indicating something serious, he was greeted with another shattering sound. "There is a back way out of here right?" he saw she was about to go into an interrogation and rolled his eyes stuffing her notebook in his canvas back and grabbing her arm ignoring her annoyed curse walking to her room and shutting the door. "Way out?" he demanded ignoring the look of disdain he was receiving following her annoyed motion to the window off to their right where a fire escape was.
He gave her a wry smile before again grabbing her arm and hauling her outside onto the fire escape like a rag doll before glancing around below for signs of whomever had decided to break into the bookstore.
"I swear Corso if you got me involved in your mess…
"Did anyone mention you're annoying?" He asked cutting Bella off and seeing all was clear before bluntly shoving her forward watching her take two steps at a time him right behind her. "I'll explain later, if you give me a reason to." He muttered ignoring the scowl he received and watching her drop from the fire escape landing rather ungracefully on her back with a groan, he was more agile and landed on his feet. "Smooth." He commented grasping her hand and helping her to her feet glancing around for any sign of trouble.
"I'll give you smooth." But before she could carry out the threat he was dragging her down the alley behind her store heading for a main street to find a cab. "What the hell did you get into and why did you drag me along?" she managed while glaring at him and somehow managing to stay in step with his longer stride.
Dean wasn't in any mood to explain the whole deal he went through with Balkin, let alone how he had managed to avoid staying in hell to begin with. "Not necessary for you to know at the moment. Right now listen to me and things will eventually calm down." He said with a curt nod already knowing Bella would not let him get away with such a vague answer before managing to flag down a cab and basically pushing her into it.