Dean groaned as the sound of his phone ringing woke up him. He reached blindly out to the side, grabbing it off the table and bringing it to his ear. "What?" he muttered.
"Get up, I found us a case," Sam's voice greeted him.
"This early? What time is it?"
"Dean, it's noon." Dean could almost hear the eye roll through the phone.
"Oh... well, crazy night last night."
"Yeah, you've been having a crazy night nearly every night for the past two months."
"What can I say? I'd better live it up while I can. There's no telling if I'll be coming back the next time I die."
"Just meet me in St. Louis, Missouri."
"Sure thing." He hung up the phone as he pushed himself up.
He had been staying at Crowley's most nights for the past couple of months, and honestly, he was surprised that Sam wasn't more suspicious. Or maybe he was, and he just wasn't saying anything about it. Either way, for once, he was actually pretty happy with the way his life was.
"I will do as I bloody well please!"
Dean's head snapped to the door as Crowley's yell echoed in the hallway. Well… mostly happy, at least. There was always something that could be fixed.
Crowley stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
"How's your mother this morning?" Dean asked knowingly.
Crowley just glowered as he walked over to sit on the bed beside Dean. "How do you think?
"What is it this time?"
Crowley was silent for a couple of seconds. "You," he muttered without looking at his boyfriend.
"Me?" Dean asked in surprise.
"She's on her tenth rant of 'he's a hunter, you can't trust him. What kind of image are you setting?' It's like listening to a broken record."
Dean felt his stomach clench and he hoped that Crowley wasn't seeing any truth to her words. "Sounds lovely. So, when do I get to meet her?"
"Hopefully never. I have a feeling that one of you will end up killing the other, and I have no desire to see the outcome of that fight. You may be the best hunter in the world, but she is not to be underestimated."
"Well, I have news for you, Crowley. If it turns out that she is trying to hurt you, there is nothing that will stop me from killing her."
Crowley grinned slightly, touched the Dean's idiotic tendency to risk his life for those he cared about extended to him. "But if you get hurt, that will not end well for anyone."
Dean hesitated a second. "Do you trust her?"
"I don't trust anyone, least of all her. But she has uncovered a couple of traitorous demons, so…" He shrugged. "Things seem to be heading in the right direction."
Dean was far from convinced, but he wasn't going to press it. He knew that Rowena was a tough subject and he really didn't have time to get into this discussion right now. "Well… I actually have to head out. Sam's on a case and he needs my help." He got to his feet, grabbing some clothes out of the closet that he now basically shared with Crowley.
"And I don't suppose that you're up for a little chat with moose, are you?"
"Definitely not," Dean muttered as he pulled on his shirt.
"I'm getting really sick of this, Dean."
"I know, but… this is the best my life has been, basically ever. And if Sam finds out, he's going to go ballistic. I just want to enjoy this for a little while longer before breaking the peace."
Crowley sighed. "Fine. We'll continue sneaking around, then."
"Thank you." He finished getting dressed and walked over to give Crowley a peck on the lips before heading out the door.
When he and Crowley had first gotten together, they had agreed that no one else could know about it, but a lot had changed since then. Now they both wanted a more solid relationship, and if Dean was honest, he was tired of sneaking around too. But telling Sam was easier said than done. He had played through possible conversations in his head several times over, and no matter what, it always ended with Sam never speaking to him again.
Dean had made it to the ground level of the house and was heading to the garage, lost in his thoughts, when he heard a voice speak from the hallway to his right.
"So," a woman spoke in a Scottish accent and Dean knew immediately who it was before he turned to see the witch that he had only ever seen once before. "You're the hunter who has been poisoning my son's mind."
Dean scoffed. "Poisoning his mind? I think you've got that backwards. You're the only one doing that."
Rowena took a few steps towards him, her lips pressed into a thin line and her chin held high. "It's Dean Winchester, isn't it? The same man who held a gun to my head. I have to admit, I had not expected that." She gave a small sigh that Dean thought was a bit dramatic. "Does my son know you tried to kill his mother?"
He gave a roll of his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Found out about it months ago. Said he wouldn't have blamed me if I'd offed you."
"Are you trying to tear us apart, is that your goal? Keep him away from me? Keep him weak?"
"Crowley will never be weak. Although, you do raise an interesting point." He took a step forward. "What do you want from him? You're trying to drive him away from his demons, away from me, get him to rely solely on you; I can see that, plain as day. But to what end?"
"How dare you accuse me of trying to hurt my son," she spoke in a low, dangerous voice. "You have no right. I am merely offering him guidance, as any caring mother would."
"Yeah, but you're not a caring mother, are you? You're just some bitch using your son to get what you want."
"And what, pray tell, am I using him for?"
"I don't know, but I will find out."
"You mean you will come up with a lie. Because I can certainly see what you are doing. You want the King of Hell wrapped around your finger because that will make your hunting easier. Get him distracted, kill all the demons you want, and then when the time is right, kill him. It's a fine plan, but I won't let it happen."
Dean lunged at her, forcing her up against the wall with his forearm pressed against her throat. "I don't know who you're trying to fool here," he hissed. "I think you and I both know which of us is playing Crowley, and it sure as hell ain't me."
"You're trying to turn a boy against his own mother."
Damn, Crowley really did have a point about her being a broken record. "I'm trying to protect him. I will protect him. The only thing stopping me from killing you right now is him, but the second his half-trust in you wavers, that's it."
"You claim to care about him, and yet you're plotting to kill his mother."
"You know what? I'm done with this game. I don't know what you were expecting to accomplish here, but nothing can make me question my feelings for Crowley, least of all you." He brought his arm down and stormed away from her, to the garage, before he could lose his temper completely.
Rowena glared after him, but her lips were curling up slightly into a smug smile. "And that's all I needed to know," she murmured under her breath before turning and walking upstairs to Crowley's room. She stopped outside the room and knocked twice, her expression distressed as Crowley opened the door.
He had known that Dean wouldn't knock if he had decided to come back for whatever reason, but Crowley was still disappointed when he opened the door to see his mother standing there. "What do you want?" he demanded.
"I just thought you should know," she started as she walked past Crowley, into the room. "Your hunter boyfriend just slammed me against the wall and threatened to kill me."
Crowley turned towards her, his expression blank other than a raised eyebrow. What had Dean been thinking? "Is that all?"
"He threatened to kill me!"
At that, Crowley laughed, pacing away from both the door and his mother a few steps, before turning back to her. "Mother, if he had wanted to kill you, he would have done it."
"So you're just going to stand by as he treats me like this?"
"Well, I'm assuming that you did something to provoke him."
"I did no such thing! He just saw me and came at me, yelling at me for putting doubts in your head, which I hope you now see, I was perfectly justified in."
Crowley was still unfazed. "All I see is what I knew would happen if you two ever met. There's a reason I told you to keep your distance."
"He doesn't care about you, I could see it in his eyes. A mother knows these things."
"I'm done listening to this," he snapped. "Go find some other way to occupy yourself, other than making my life miserable."
Rowena sighed. "Must children always view their parents as a burden?" She started back towards the door before she stopped to look back at Crowley. "By the way, your operation in St. Louis has caught the attention of a hunter."
That got a reaction out of him. "What? How? I specifically designed it to go unnoticed!"
"It's because your demons are incompetent!" She spun around to fully face him again. "They lack discipline! I keep telling you, but you won't listen."
Crowley just groaned, running a hand over his face. He did not want to deal with this right now.
"If I were in your position, I would have all the hotels the hunter is likely to be staying at attacked – slaughter everyone. Or… I have a few tricks I could pull."
Crowley hesitated. "Who is the hunter?"
"You have got to be kidding me! A hunter is about to bring down everything you're working for, anyone else would do everything in their power to attack first! But you're too worried that the Winchesters are involved, aren't you? You caring for that hunter will be the death of you!"
"Who is the hunter?" Crowley repeated in a more dangerous voice.
"I don't know," Rowena said resolutely, crossing her arms.
Crowley's eyes narrowed. "Then I'll go myself and assess the situation."
"You'll assess until it's too late!"
"Goodbye, Mother." He snapped his fingers and was gone.
"So, what's the case?" Dean asked, taking a seat in the available chair of the hotel room that Sam had rented.
"I'm still trying to figure that out," Sam admitted. His laptop was open on the small table between them and his eyes were glued to the screen, reading an article.
Dean raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"There's nothing obviously out of the ordinary going on here, but I got a tip."
"A tip? I can't remember the last time we got a tip."
"I know, I found it weird, too."
"Who was it from?"
"Unknown number – wouldn't give me her name."
Dean's eyebrows shot up. "And did you ever stop to think that this might be a trap?"
"Of course I did," he sighed. "And like I said, there's no obvious signs of a case here, but if you dig deep enough… I think the tip is genuine."
"But how did she even get your number?"
"She said that it was given to her by a friend – could be any number of the people that we've helped. She was probably just too scared to say who she was."
"Fine, so what have you found?" he asked, nodding at the laptop.
"There's this company – Resurrection – that helps failing businesses get back on their feet. From what I can tell, they have a 100% success rate, and they turn businesses around almost instantly. My guess is, ten years from now, CEOs are going to start dying."
"Demons," Dean muttered, a frown pulling at his lips as he turned his gaze out the window. He had known that something like this was going to come up eventually, but that didn't make him any more prepared to deal with it.
"I can't be sure yet, but I'm thinking so. I'm looking into some of the companies it's helped, seeing if they all exhibit the same turnaround rate."
Dean nodded absently, only half hearing what Sam was saying.
"Hey – Dean. You okay?" Sam asked after a minute of his brother staring off into space.
Dean looked back at him. "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine."
Sam hesitated a minute. "Are you going to tell me who she is?"
Dean blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Come on, Dean, you think I haven't noticed? You've been going out every night for how long now? You aren't exactly being subtle."
Dean looked down at the table, not sure if he was glad Sam thought he was dating some girl or not. "When'd you figure it out?"
"About a week in. I figured I'd wait for you to tell me, but I was starting to wonder if you ever would. What's the deal? I want this for you. I've never seen you happier."
Dean smile slightly before looking back up at his brother. "It's just… it's complicated, Sammy. I don't want to mess it up."
Sam studied his face for a moment. "You're in love."
"Is it really that obvious?"
"It is to me."
Sam was looking at him with such happiness and understanding, that Dean could almost make himself believe that it would be okay to tell him the whole truth, that he would just say 'whatever makes you happy' and move on. But he knew that that wasn't how it would go at all, and in the middle of a case involving demons was the worst time to tell him.
"Should we go talk to some of the companies, then?" Dean asked, getting to his feet. "Maybe our whistle-blower is in one of them."
"You go on, I'm going to keep looking into this."
Dean nodded, he had figured as much, anyway. He changed into his suit and started for the door.
"Dean," Sam stopped him, turning in his chair to look at him. "How are you feeling, by the way?"
Dean sighed. "Great, just like every other time you've asked me this week."
"So, there's no…?"
"Sam, the Mark is gone, there's no after-effects. Can't we just take a good thing and go with it?"
"It's not that I'm not happy, I just still don't get why Crowley would go through all the trouble of finding a cure and then not demand anything in return – it's not like him. I'm worried that he might have done something to you."
"With the mark, I was a threat to him. He got what he wanted out of it, and he didn't do anything to me – I would have noticed by now."
"I hope you're right."
Dean walked out the door before Sam could argue anymore. He felt like they had had this conversation ten times already. It had been difficult enough explaining to him the first time around that Crowley had come across a cure for the Mark of Cain and was going to help him get rid of it. Sam had been sure that Crowley had been after Dean's soul, at the least, and it wasn't like Dean could tell him the real reason Crowley was helping.
Dean was a block away from the closest company that had been saved by Resurrection, when he heard a voice speak from behind him. "I do love how you look in a suit."
Dean rolled his eyes and turned to face Crowley. "I'd been wondering if I'd see you."
"Where's moose?"
"Back at the hotel, doing research."
"Good. We need to talk."
"You think?"
Crowley sighed. "So, you figured it out, then."
"Yeah." Dean leaned against the wall of the building beside him. "Saving companies in exchange for souls – not bad."
"In today's economy, everybody's desperate."
"Do they know what they're getting themselves into?"
"Of course. They sell their souls of their own free will, just like all the other deals that happen every day without you and your brother trying to stop them. You can't save people from being self-destructive."
Dean nodded. "I know, but… we're here, and I can't exactly not look into it."
"Dean, I need this operation."
"I know. I'll figure something out."
"How did Samantha even find out about it, anyway?"
"He got a tip – and she wouldn't say her name, so don't even ask."
Crowley's eyes narrowed slightly. "Interesting…. Be careful, Dean, there may be more here than my demons."
"I had wondered. I'll call you later, let you know what's going on."
"Thanks." He pulled Dean into a kiss and then vanished.
Dean checked out a couple of the companies, not that he really needed to after the confirmation from Crowley, but he needed something that he could tell Sam. After talking it over, they both decided to check out Resurrection after hours. Dean had his misgivings about it, but hopefully no demons would be there at the time.
"Are you sure you're okay, Dean?" Sam asked, watching him carefully as they cut through an alley.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"Ever since I told you what was going on here, you've seemed off. You don't… you don't feel like you owe Crowley for what he did, do you?"
Why did he have to keep bringing up Crowley? Dean sighed, deciding to go along with it. It was a good cover for now, at least. "The guy saved my life, Sam. And I know he did it for his own reasons, but he could have just killed me and solved the problem just as well."
"So, you want to let innocent people die just because you feel indebted to a demon?"
"Of course not, but we do let deals go on every day."
"Only because we can't stop all of them! Do you hear yourself right now?"
"I thought we decided that people could make their own decisions and it's not our place to stop them."
"No, that was you who said that."
"Well, I still think it."
"Dean – Dean!"
The change in Sam's voice was enough to make Dean spin around to see about thirty people coming into the alley, the majority of whom had black eyes, apart from the handful with red eyes – demons. There was no way that they could take on all of them, especially when Sam was the only one who had a weapon that worked against demons. But Dean did have one thing….
"Split up," he said quickly. "I'll meet you back at the car."
As they both took off in opposite directions, one of Dean's hands was reaching in his pocket for his phone, while the other reached up to the amulet that was hidden beneath his shirt, ensuring that it was still there. It was a gift from Crowley; he had said that it would protect him from all demons' powers, except for his own. He allowed himself a quick breath of relief at the fact that the demons at least couldn't throw him around as easily, but he knew that he was still in trouble.
He chanced a glance behind him as he pressed 2 on his speed dial, seeing that most of the demons seemed to have decided to follow him. Well, that was just great. Had they been able to sense that he was unarmed, with not even any holy water? At least Sam would be okay this way.
He turned his gaze back to the road in front of him, just in time to see the demon who had teleported there, a second before he was grabbed.
"I really wouldn't hurt me, if I were you," Dean warned.
"Oh, I really would," the demon hissed. As soon as the words left his mouth, Dean felt an excruciating pain as a good-sized knife slid into his side. For a few moments, all Dean felt was the pain, not that that was really a new concept to him – with all of the times that he had died, he knew the feeling quite well – then everything went black.
