As soon as Jed had gathered his things, and himself, he started off towards his parked Jeep at he edge of the swamp, a couple of miles away. Crowley watched him go, gave him a little wave when he turned his head back once, Jed considering whether to thank the pair for saving his bacon. But he apparently thought better of it, and continued on.
When he was out of sight, Crowley whipped out his cell, hit a number on speed-dial and waited, nudging the creature with his foot while the phone dialed. Castiel raised his eyebrows at him and Crowley just shrugged. "Gotta be sure, you know?", he mumbled. Castiel just shook his head, peering off into the sky. "What?", Crowley asked defensively. "It's not like anyone has seen one of these things in a billion years. I don't even know if it's supposed to be breathing or not. This, " he said indicating the body with his free hand. "could be perfectly normal for this smelly damned thing for all we know. It could be napping, or regenerating...", he added, showing Castiel a mockingly scared expression. Castiel looked down at the creature again, squinting.
"Do you think that maybe we should burn it, then? Or possibly just behead it?", he asked seriously.
Crowley just rolled his eyes in response, turning away, a frustrated growl coming from his throat. "C'mon, how many rings before somebody picks up the bloody...Oh! Hello, there!", he exclaimed, his voice becoming perky and full of delight. " And who is this? Ah-huh, , " he added nodding a little too vigorously. "And how long, Justin, have we been on my service... , yep. Now, answer me this, Justin, on the desk at which you are sitting, is there a little red Post-It note there? There is. Good, Can you read it for me darling?" There was a pregnant pause, and then some nervous fast talking from the other end. Crowley had squeezed his eyes tightly and was nodding violently again. "Yes, exactly, ONLY TWO RINGS ALLOWED, THEN PICK UP THE BLOODY PHONE! I hate WAITING ON THE BLOODY LINE!", he exploded, holding the phone away from his mouth and screaming into it. "Now, now, Justin. Seeing as to you are new to my service, we are going to call this strike one. I'll only rip off one of your ears, your choice, of course..." Crowley glanced up, and saw Castiel looking at him sternly, his head slowly moving left to right. "Ah, Ok, ok Justin. Justin...Justin? Stop crying Justin. It's your lucky day. You have a guardian angel. And I do mean thatliterally. Now, Justin, I need you to go to work for me, " Crowley shrugged his shoulders, the anger leaving him. "I want you to look up absolutely everything we have by H.P. Lovecraft, and find out, and quickly, I might add, if there is anything mentioned in his writings describing the regenerative capabilities of the Deep Ones, or their hybrids...and, as I stressed Justin, quickly, please. Also, let me know if we have any idea about that cult we're looking for that summoned this thing here in the first place. Quickly, Justin, I mean that." He hung up and pressed another number. This time, it was promptly answered. Crowley smiled. "Tweedledum, Tweedledee, I need you here post-haste. Follow my GPS. Body removal. Possible storage. Oh, and bring gloves. It's a nasty piece of work." He hung up again and let out a deep sigh. "You know, Castiel? Between the Angels killing the Demons, and the Demons killing Demons, and the Winchesters killing just about every other bleeding Demon left, you think the herd would have been thinned out a bit, you know? The weakest culled from the pack, so to say? Well, it isn't true. I still can't find competent help."
This time it was Castiel who smiled sardonically. "Well, at least you have help, Crowley, we Angels have to usually be more self-sufficient."
"Oh please, " Crowley replied, rolling his eyes again." Without that Winchester boy, you wouldn't be able to tell which end was up down here." He smiled at Castiel when he just glowered back at him.
"Touchy, touchy, hmm? So, what do you say, in the meantime, while we're waiting for my overpaid staff to arrive, we discuss our next step here?"
Castiel shrugged, looking back off into the woodline. "We track down the cult that summons this thing every ten years. We already know that it can't manifest itself without being called."
"And you do know what that implies, don't you?", Crowley asked, raising his eyebrows. "This is a cult with extremely dangerous spells at it's disposal. Summoning spells being the least of our concern here. It isn't that far of a leap to think that they might have something that works against yours truly, maybe against Angels as well. It might not be wise to just go charging in, preferred method of Heaven's army or not."
Castiel frowned. "I seriously doubt that they can stop an Angel, and you are hardly just a mere Demon."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, " Crowley smiled tightly. "But I'm really not so sure. Do you know the story of where these things come from in the first place?" Crowley glanced back at the body, watched it for a few seconds, and turned back to Castiel.
Castiel nodded, turning his head to watch the body. "The Old Ones. A vast dark energy that existed before anything. Before God, allegedly. It's said that they literally were the darkness that was there before God came and brought light and order to the universe."
Crowley showed genuine surprise. "And here I thought you Angels were just grunts."
Castiel looked back to him. "Heaven's libraries are more comprehensive than even you can imagine, Crowley. And when us 'grunts' aren't on assignment, or trying to keep the universe from ripping itself apart, we spend an awful lot of time in it."
"Hmff," Crowley considered, rubbing his chin and raising his eyebrows." On our down time in Hell we just have this massive Xbox and Wii room for everyone...you Angels really are nerds..."Castiel frowned, and Crowley laid a hand on his shoulder. "No, no, in all seriousness. The pertinent information in all of the origins of these creatures is what worries me. These things were here before God. They were the entire universe, swirling chaos itself, gathering power unto themselves completely unchecked by order, time or restraint. The absolute power they had is staggering."
Castiel nodded. "That goes without saying. They were extremely powerful. Extremely dangerous."
"Are extremely powerful, Castiel, are extremely dangerous," Crowley replied, raising his eyebrows. "The mere existence of Mr. Smelly here..."Crowley nodded towards the unmoving body once again. "indicates that God never really destroyed them. He locked them away somewhere. Somewhere that even He thought was safe." He paused for effect. "That means..."
"That means that they are strong enough to defy God's will, " Castiel answered quietly, dread rising in his voice.
Crowley nodded. "It also means that even given the opportunity, your Papa didn't destroy them at all...didn't or couldn't..." Crowley emphasized this last, letting it hang in the air between them.
Castiel's eyes widened a bit at that, looking more intently at the creature lying there. "We need to be absolutely sure it's really dead," he said, looking back at Crowley.
"Exactly my point, sunshine. Exactly my point."