Though he knew that his business practices was mocked by his fellows as nothing more than bean counting, the former Scotsman knew that his methods were perhaps the perfect way to survive in an ever changing world.

Yes they lacked the ambitious planning of the yellow eyed bastard who was always searching for a way to spring 'daddy dearest' from his box.

And yes, they lacked the aspect of audience participation that Alistar had turned into a bloody art form.

But he ran his domain with 2 rules that no being, be they angel or demon, could deny.

The universe was built on the concept of give and take, and that the taker will always receive a reward that is work more than they can give.

Before he assumed his current position as King of the Crossroads, the amount of souls coming in from his department where, unimpressive to say the least. And they weren't exactly souls that were worth bragging about.

Most of them were already bound for the Pit, but the deals merely ensured that they would get there much sooner than originally planned.

But of course, he was different, and that was what allowed him the chance to move up through Hell's ranks.

For not only did he have a perfect record of making a deal every time he was summoned, but the quality of souls ensured that he got noticed.

It was rather ironic really, that a soul that would have been welcome in Heaven, was dragged off to Hell because of their sacrificial nature. But regardless if they had been a mother bargaining for the life of her disease ridden children, or a man who wished to see his village survive the winter after their store of food had been stolen, once they made the deal, their chances of entering the land of those sanctimonious winged bastards literally went up in smoke.

Of course, once he assumed the rather amusing, if slightly misnamed title of King of the Crossroads, he had to put in a great deal of effort in order to get his division of Hell operating to his standards.

It had been tedious, and he had stained more than one well tailored outfit with the blood of some unruly underling, but in the end he had succeeded in his plans.

His red eyed boys and girls had boosted consumer confidence by following the principle of allowing their…clients 10 years to enjoy whatever it was they traded their soul for.

He was quietly, and discreetly gaining all sorts of information and items that would HOPEFULLY allow him to survive the Apocalypse if Azazel ever managed to free the fallen Archangel from his box.

And perhaps most importantly, or at least the one in which not even his most vocal critics could complain about, like Yellow Eye's bitch of a daughter, he managed to end a long standing feud between the forces of Hell and those who somehow escaped a more….interactive punishment for their misdeeds.

It had taken some doing, for most of those spectacle wearing bastards, who for the most part acted like they had iron rods up the jacksey, wanted nothing to do with any card carrying member of the Pit, but in the end he had pulled it off.

In exchange for doing away with the practice of stealing every random soul that took their fancy, Demons would be largely left alone by those whose job it was to both catalogue, and escort the mortal soul to their destination.

But every now and again, the red eyed demon would be forced to deal with the nuisance of having a Demon who refused to adhere to the structure that now dictated how they were to deal with humans.

For the most part, they were rather simple problems to solve since the majority of those who broke his rules possessed levels of intelligence that was somewhat lacking. And like the rabid dogs they were, it was quite easy for him to put down.

The rarer problems he had to deal with, and the ones that caused him the most headaches, were the ones who used his philosophy of 'make a deal, keep it' to their own advantage. For instead of securing a soul that would be turned into another black eyed member of the pit, these demons tended to keep the souls to themselves.

Such a practice had long been looked down on by the ranking denizens of hell, though for reasons that had to do more with fear rather than disgust.

For the process of ingesting a human soul possessed the ability to double the power of a demon, which not only deprived Hell from acquiring yet mindless follower, but also caused unnecessary purging of the ranks.

For such a method, if done regularly enough, could result in a demon gaining enough power to not successfully challenge Yellow Eyes, and the more sadistic white eyed demons who lacked the foresight/opportunity to properly govern Hell, but also the feathered followers of Heaven.

To that end, whenever Azazel discovered that a lowly demon had taken the shortest method to obtain power, the demon in question, along with hundreds of his fellows, would find themselves experiencing a rather extended period of time on the rack, with Alistar and his apprentices enjoying the opportunity to advance their development of weapons that could make even the most hardened demon quiver with fear.

And since a demon could only gain ownership over a human soul if they made a deal, it was usually his 'department' that found itself with a sudden decrease in trained personnel.

Thankfully, now that he had obtained the title of King of the Crossroads, such occurrences were now largely a thing of a past. And while the occasional rumor of rouge demon's reached his ear, he easily dismissed them since no one under his authority would dare to violate the rules he set forth.

And if by some chance he discovered such a thing, well then, that's what the hounds were for.

…

Hello All.

Hopefully you all enjoyed this brief chapter of my new story. The idea's been bouncing around in my head for a while now, so...this is the result XD.

Story will take place JUST after the Book of Circus, but before the events of Book of Murder.

And of course, taken some 'creative liberties' to meld the world of Supernatural with Black Butler. There are not enough Crowley Stories out there, at least those where he's the smug bastard we all know and love, so this is my story to help rectify that/inspire more.

Unsure of when next update will be, I do have other stories XD...but feel free to review since your words helps to shape my ideas XD.

No flames or grammer Nazis please =)

Til next time