***Hello, helloooo! Here's Chapter four! After this chapter there will be a lot more Crowel (my name for Crowley and Jewel)! This chapter is kind of the transition into the main plot line. ANYWAYS, thank you again for all who have read, reviewed, followed, and favorited! I appreciate it loads and it keeps me motivated to get these chapters out fast! Unfortunately, I still do not own Supernatural or it's characters. I only own Jewel and my other OC's! Happy reading!***
Chapter Four
*Crowley's POV*
Keeping his eyes trained on the woman's sleeping form, Crowley takes in Jewel's terrified sobs and intermittent screams. He's sure she is reliving her time on the rack through her dreams and he takes a step forward to try and wake her when he remembers the last time he tried to wake her from her terror-filled slumber and grimaces at the memory while looking at the deep scratches on his hand. Turning away from her, he tells two demons to keep watch on her for when she wakes up and to not lay a finger on her. Then he was gone.
Walking through the doors into his "lab", Crowley sees Castiel sitting on his slab and tries to push his thoughts of Jewel out of his head as he holds the jar in his hands out to Castiel.
"You purgatory power-shake, Monsieur." Crowley continues as Castiel takes the jar from him, "Half monster, half virgin." There was a long pause before Castiel spoke but then only to mutter a "thank you". Crowley turns around, sensing the tense mood.
"You seem even more constipated than usual, maybe get you some Colonblow?"
"I'm renegotiating our terms" Castiel replies, looking Crowley square in the eyes.
"Is that so? What terms do you propose?"
"You get nothing; not one single soul."
"Can't help notice, seems a bit unfairly weighted." Castiel remains silent so Crowley speaks again, "Castiel, you wouldn't dare. I brought you this deal."
Castiel finally speaks, standing up and turning to Crowley, "You think I'm handing all that power to the King of Hell? I'm neither stupid nor wicked."
"Unbelievable" Crowley mutters to himself and turns around to face Castiel.
"Have you forgotten you're the bottom in this relationship?"
When Castiel replies, his tone is eerily calm and serious,
"Here are your options: you either flee, or you die."
"We made a pact. Even I don't break contracts like this."
"Flee... Or die."
"Boy, can't trust anyone these days." Crowley mutters more to himself before leaving.
*Jewel's POV*
Blinking her eyes open, Jewel takes in her surroundings. The room was dark and it took a minute for her eyes to adjust. The walls were dark, perhaps a dark brown or red and the windows had heavy curtains over them, blocking out most of the sunlight. The room was decorated lavishly and reminded her of the rooms in castles she would read about as a little girl. Everything seemed to be made of heavy dark wood with intricate etchings. Sitting up in the palatial four-poster bed, she felt as if she was going to be swallowed up by the pillows and overly stuffed comforter. She got out of the bed, noticing she was no longer in her bloodstained clothing and instead in a blue silk nightgown. What the hell. Someone dressed me? Thinking back to her time being tortured, she remembered she had been taken out of her clothes before it all began. Clenching her eyes closed, she felt a solitary tear escape but quickly wiped it away as the door to the bedroom opened and a woman stepped inside.
She appeared to be in her mid-thirties and was very nondescript, if Jewel had to guess, she would have taken her for a librarian. That was until her eyes flashed black. Jewel took a step back, trying to create as much distance between her and the demon as possible. The woman smiled and stepped closer before holding her hands up in a sign of surrender.
"I'm not here to hurt you, kid. I was told by the boss to keep an eye on you. I heard you moving around and decided I should keep a watch on you from inside the room. This is how things are going to go. YOU don't try anything stupid, and I wont feel the need to disembowel you. Got it?"
Narrowing her eyes at the demon, Jewel stared blankly at her for a moment before responding.
"No, how about I tell you how this is going to go. Who the hell are you? Where the hell am I? And what has happened to me?!" The demon chuckled, seemingly amused by Jewel's panic.
"You can call me Michelle. You're here because that's what the King wants. And frankly, I'm not required to answer questions from the likes of you, kid. Now if you value your well-being, you'll back the hell off." Jewel glared and felt anger and frustration fuel her, guide her as she took strides towards the demon and try to stand straight to appear taller as she gave her best 'don't fuck with me' look.
"There is nothing YOU can do to me that would be worse than what I've already gone through. So frankly I don't give a shit if you're not 'required' to give me answers. If you don't want to answer then get the fuck out of my way so I can leave. This bedroom is a bit too Bram Stoker for me, thanks." Jewel shoved passed Michelle and was maybe two steps away when she felt the woman's hand wrap around her upper arm and the demon pull her towards her.
"You listen to me you stupid bitch, you think what happened to you in HELL was bad? Avin was just getting started on you. I could do much worse things to you so how about YOU don't fuck with ME? And you aren't going anywhere, whore, I WILL hurt you so don't push it. Just because you are the King's new pet doesn't make you're irreplaceable or untouchable."
"Actually, I believe that's exactly what it means. Now I believe I said not to lay a finger on her? I believe those are five fingers. Tsk tsk. I thought you were a better listener, Michelle." Jewel felt like she may faint as she saw the man who used to be in her dreams. The man who was now in her nightmares. He grabbed Michelle by the hair and flung her down before disappearing with the demon altogether. Jewel ran for the door but a hand was on her shoulder before she could try the knob. Whipping around, she stands before the King. Her mouth goes dry and she is rooted in place by fear.
"You're-you're the King...The King of Hell." Jewel tried and failed to keep her voice from shaking and the man smirked at her.
"Yes, that would be my title but for the purposes of this conversation, you can just call me Crowley. Much simpler. Though I wont complain if you'd like to call me your King." She could have sworn he winked at her as he guided her to a black winged-back couch and pulled her down to sit beside him. Jewel cringed and scooted to the end of the couch, leaning against the armrest.
Looking over at her, Crowley placed his hands in his lap and Jewel couldn't help but notice that the man looked tired. A tinge of concern wafted through her mind but she beat it down.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, unfortunately for you, I don't have much time or patience to deal with them."
"What? This is YOUR fault. Make the time to answer them!" Crowley fixed her with a glare.
"Listen, pup. You aren't in a position to be copping an attitude with me."
"You said I had five years! I got like two and a half months. I thought your crossroad demons were supposed to be true to your deals?"
"We ARE true to our deals. HOWEVER, most of the people we make deals with don't go and charge into a house with demons in it with only a knife in hand. Most of them have a grain of intelligence and care for their personal well-being. I can guarantee you wont die from illness. I can't guarantee or protect you from demons especially if you decide to run head first towards them."
"But that's not-"
"Fair? I know, Ducky. Unfortunately that's the way things are. Destiny and all that." Jewel was silent for awhile then looked over at Crowley.
"So, I'm dead? How? How am I here? Where was I where all tha-" her voice cracked and she took a few deep breaths to keep from crying before continuing, "that place you took me from? Why was I there? My body was so battered but I don't have any wounds now. I'm just so confused." Jewel put her head in her hands and had the urge to cry but didn't want this demon to see her tears.
There was tense silence in the room and it forced Jewel to look up finally, thinking Crowley could have just left. She saw him standing in front of a small bar on the opposite side of the room, pouring him a glass of liquor.
"You want anything?" He offers, bottle still in hand. Jewel simply shook her head, not trusting herself with words at the moment. Crowley mutters something that sounds like 'suit yourself' before walking back over and sitting on a matching winged-back chair across from her. He took a large drink before beginning,
"So as for your myriad of questions, let me try to give you the brief rundown before I leave-"
"Where are you going?" Jewel quickly interrupts. Crowley gives a crooked smirk.
"Why, Darling, sounds like you'll miss me." Jewel blushed at her question and how it did sound like she'd miss him, she tried to remind herself that this was far from the truth.
"No. Just curious." she mutters to herself and Crowley grins wider.
"As I was saying before being interrupted by your delicious concern and I would like to add that I love the curious type," this time she was sure he winked before continuing, "I hate to be the one to break it to you but yes, you are dead. You're here because well as you said you had five years before you were sent to the pit," he saw her confused look and elaborated, "the pit is hell, where you were when you were being tortured. That's what you had in store for you. When a person makes a deal with a crossroads demon, we collect the soul and it goes to the pit to be tortured and twisted until it breaks and either becomes the torturer or they become a demon. As for why you aren't all slice-and-dice anymore is because well, I'm the King of Hell and I healed you. Aren't I such a swell guy?"
"You never mentioned the whole 'eternal torment' in our deal."
"It's hell, darling. What did you expect?" Jewel sat quietly, not having a rebuttal when another thought struck her.
"Am I...am I a demon?" Her voice was barely above a whisper and her hands shook.
"Hmmm, I would say by the whole tears and sadness song-and-dance I'm going to say no. Though it does bear the question of what you are. You're not human anymore. And yet you don't scream demonic fury." Thick silence filled the air as Crowley seemed to become lost in thought, Jewel took this chance to make a plea.
"Just let me go. I wont cause problems. I'll just live my life in peace."
Crowley stared at her with an exasperated expression and shook his head.
"'Fraid not, Ducky. Seeing as I don't know what you are, you're just going to have to be stuck with little ol' me. I'm not particularly thrilled about this turn of events or the fact that I now have to have the likes of you in my company but I suppose we all have our crosses." Jewel stood up, a look of defiance on her face.
"If your pompous ass doesn't want me here, then let me go! I don't want to be here either. I mean, have you even seen this place? It looks like the set of a bad vampire film. It's simple. You don't want me here, I don't want to be here; just let me leave." Jewel made a move towards the door again and in an instant, Crowley was there.
He grabbed onto her arm and whirled her around to face him then held her by the shoulders. She could see the fury in his eyes and she chastised herself for pissing off not just a demon, but the actual KING of HELL. He pushed her against the wooden door and closed his eyes for a moment. When he did finally speak, she could tell he was straining to remain composed.
"I don't think you fully appreciate how pleasant I have been to you. This is a phenomenon that doesn't happen to many so when I tell you not to push me, Doll, you should REALLY listen to that because I will not say it again. You are not to leave. We may not want to be around each other but there isn't another option at this current time. So you're going to be the good little girl I know you can be and everything will be just peachy. You decide to not to listen to me and well, I might just have to send you back to Avin to show you just who is in charge here. Have I made myself clear?" Jewels eyes went wide and she whimpered at the thought of being sent back to hell. She nodded quickly and he released her. Straightening his suit, he spoke,
"Now I have that meeting I told you about. You are to stay here. In this room. You may want to take a shower, you still have quite a bit of blood on you. Your hair looks just dreadful. I'm glad we could have this chat. Kisses."
When Jewel turned back to glare at him, he was gone.
*Crowley's POV*
Crowley didn't know what was making him more angry: Castiel's betrayal or Jewel's mere existence. It was a toss up but he was going to go with Castiel. Time to pay the piper.
Appearing in the lab, Crowley looks at Castiel's confused face and takes in the screams of Castiel's Angel guards.
"Never underestimate the King of Hell, Darling. I know a lot of swell tricks. Now, I think it's time to re re-negotiate our terms." Castiel promptly disappeared and he could feel the Angel's presence behind him. Turning around, Castiel put his hand on Crowley's head and looked at him confused when nothing happened.
"Sweaty hands, mate."
"I don't understand..."
"You can palm me all you want, I'm safe and sound under the wing of my new partner." Crowley smiles smugly as the female appears beside him, dressed in a business suit.
"Hello, Castiel." Castiel's mouth hangs open slightly and Crowley made note of that face for future laughs.
"Raphael. Consorting with demons. I thought that was beneath you."
"Heard you were doing it, sounded like fun."
"You know, Castiel, y-you've said all sorts of shameful, appalling, scatological things about Raphael. I-I've found him, her, to be really quite reasonable."
"You fool, Raphael will deceive and destroy you at the speed of thought."
"Right, right. 'Cause you're such a straight shooter. She, he, has offered me protection against all comers."
Castiel narrows his eyes as he responds, "In exchange for what?"
Looking over at the jar of blood, he answers simply, "the Purgatory blood."
Raphael steps forward, clicking her tongue, "Castiel,you really think I would let you open up that door? Take in that much power? If anyone is going to be the 'new God', it's me."
Castiel looks at Crowley intensely and speaks to him instead of Raphael, "He's gonna bring the Apocalypse, and worse-"
"Hey, this is your doing, mate. I'm merely grabbing the best offer on the table. Now, you have two options: flee, or die" Crowley says the last part in a mocking tone.
Throwing the purgatory blood to Crowley, he disappears.
Crowley grins at the turn of events and opens the jar.
"Time to get ready for showtime." He says to Raphael who doesn't bother to reply. Crowley shrugs it off and dips his fingers in the blood, beginning to draw the sigil on the wall.
Seeing the lunar eclipse starting, Crowley steps in front of the blood drawn sigil on the wall and begins to recite the incantation,
"Ianua magna Purgatorii,
clausa est ob nos,
lumine eius ab oculis nostris retento.
Sed nunc stamus ad limen huius ianuae magnae et demisse,
fideliter, perhonorifice, paramus aperire eam.
Creaturae terrificae,
quarum ungulae et dentes,
nunquam tetigerunt carnem humanam."
Crowley pauses when he hears a whizzing by his head and turns to see Raphael holding an angel blade and glaring at none other than Dean Winchester and Bobby Singer.
With a few waves of his hand, he flings them down the stairs and crashing onto the floor, Dean hitting into a metal cart before hitting the floor.
"Bit busy, Gentlemen. Be with you in a moment." He gives a small nod of the head before turning his head back towards the wall and finishing the incantation.
"Aperit fauces eius ad mundum nostrum,
nunc, ianua magna aperta tandem!"
Crowley stood, waiting for something to happen. After a few moments of nothing happening, Crowley's brows furrow.
"Mm-hmmm. Maybe I said it wrong."
"You said it perfectly," Crowley turns to see Castiel holding a drained jar of blood, "what you needed, was this." Sick realization dawns on Crowley and he quickly starts coming up with an exit strategy.
"I see." Walking to the sigil, he runs his finger over the blood, "And we've been working with," he puts his finger in his mouth to taste the blood, "dog's blood. Naturally."
"Enough of these games, Castiel, give us the blood-" Raphael says, but Crowley cuts her off.
"You- Game's over. His jar's empty. So, Castiel, how'd your ritual go? Better than ours, I bet."
In response, Castiel closes his eyes as a blindingly bright light fills the room. Crowley curses under his breath and covers his eyes, still calculating an escape plan. The light dissipates and Castiel has a small smile on his face.
"You can't imagine what it's like. They're all inside me. Millions upon millions of souls."
Knowing that this situation is not going to go anywhere good, Crowley takes his chance to get out.
"Sounds sexy, exit Crowley."
*Jewel's POV*
Jewel stepped out of the shower and wrapped the large red towel around her, grabbing a smaller towel, she dried her hair a bit before walking to the large sink/vanity. She looked through the multiple drawers before finding a brush. Pulling the brush through her hair, it got stuck on a tangle and she grimaced at the pain. The sensation pulled her back to her time in hell. Avin liked to grab and pull on her hair when he talked to her. Gripping the edge of the counter, the pain of the edge biting into the palm of her hand brought her back to herself. Looking at her reflection she gasped and jumped back, hitting the wall. Her eyes were completely black, just like Avin's... just like a demon's.
It had taken her a long time to pull herself together and finish brushing her hair and calming down. She hugged the towel closer to her body as she realized that (a) she hadn't brought clothes to the bathroom and (b) she didn't have clothes to wear seeing as this isn't her house. Groaning, she stepped out of the room and began to go through drawers and wardrobes, looking in vain for something to wear. Turning up with only men's suits and undergarments she grumbles and decides to put on a pair of the cotton boxers and a button down shirt. At least it beats being naked in front of the bastard.
Quickly putting the clothes on, she stands by the bed buttoning up the shirt and when she turns around she sees Crowley looking at her, a bemused look on his face. Feeling herself grow hot under his gaze, she looks away and wraps her arms around herself.
"How long have you been standing there?" She asks defensively.
"Oh long enough, Love. Long enough. And I must say, I enjoyed the view. Would love to stay and see more but we need to leave." Jewel tried to muster up a glare but she was sure the rosy glow on her cheeks was ruining it.
"Leave? Where are we going? Why do I have to go with you?"
"Have we already forgot our little talk from earlier?" Jewel swallowed a lump in her throat and shook her head.
"Excellent. We're leaving now. Come on, Lydia. We don't have much time." Jewel stayed in place, bristling at her birth name. Crowley sighed and walked up to her, putting a finger on her chin and lifting it up. He leaned down so their mouths were inches from each other and he spoke in a quick whisper.
"Would you believe me if I told you I was just trying to protect you? Keep you safe?" Jewel stared into his eyes, admiring the swirl of green, brown, and amber before shaking her head slightly. Chuckling darkly, he smiled.
"Then you may be smarter than I thought you were. Now we must go."
