"Now that's just great", Dean muttered, as they entered into the bidding area. He seemed to be still little grumpy because he had to leave his knife to the security guards.
"Just… let's stay calm", Sam said to him, tough he was just as dissatisfied as his brother.
When Kevin had called them after getting invitation to the auction where the inte called Demon Tablet would be sold, they had been suspicious: Who would have guessed that there's auctions held by monsters? Anyhow, they had quickly formed a plan: Let's get in, allow Kevin to memorize the Tablet and scram before the auction even starts.
The Plan had been good: sadly, it had also been easily prevented.
"Okay, plan B…", Dean started, but was interrupted by a purring voice.
"Oh, there actually was plan A?" Crowley asked, smirking smugly at them.
"The Hell you're doing here?!" Dean grumbled, but the demon bothered to pay no attention to him.
"Oh, Kevin – how have you been?" he asked. "And please, stop staring at me like that! Didn't I return you to dear old mommy here in a one piece?"
"Stay away from my son", Mrs. Tran spitted out and shot murderous glare towards Crowley, who brushed it off with a shrug.
"Oh, please – it's not like he's in my tastes!" he said, before turning back to the brothers, smirking. "Speaking of tastes… have you boys been in contact with dear old Bobby recently?"
"Not your business, Crowley", Sam answered.
Crowley opened his mouth to argue, but then they heard a squeaking noise. Crowley's smirk lost it's edge as he turned around to see the newcomers. "Hello, father… Aziraphale. Good to see you two."
"F-Fergus… what a, uh, pleasure to see you here", stammered the blond man who Sam recognized as the angel Aziraphale. The other man beside him, who he thought was called Anthony-something-Crowley – and who just happened to be "their" Crowley's father - , had his mouth hanging open for a moment before he gathered his nerves and said, "Yes, quite a surprise." It was clear that neither of them had expected to meet the King of Hell here and they weren't as pleased by it as they tried to look like.
It was also clear that Crowley noticed that too. "Oh, come on - they have the Demon Tablet here for sell! Did you honestly expect that there wouldn't be bidders from both Hell and Heaven here trying to buy it?" Was it Sam's imagination, or was Crowley sounding a little bit… offended?
"He's right", Aziraphale admitted. "I saw Samandriel previously."
"Oh, I - I see…" Crowley the Older said and smiled little apolitically. "…So we'll be rivals about this, then?" he asked, and was really looking kinda upset about it.
"Seems so", Crowley answered offhandedly. "The looser will bring wines, next time", he then continued, and that seemed to ease the tension since other Crowley now smiled more freely and sat down beside his son, and Aziraphale soon did the same. He saw the Winchesters and smiled warmly at them.
"Ah, Dean and Sam Winchester! What a coincidence to see you here, too. What brings you -" he stopped talking as his eyes fell on Kevin. "Oh… oh, dear… You're here for the Tablet, too?"
"Damn straight", Dean answered.
"Oh." The angel looked rather miserable. "…Then I have to apologize, but I… we absolutely cannot let it fall into any sides' hands – neither Heaven's, Hell's nor even human's."
"But why not?" Sam asked, little confused. "Wouldn't closing the Gates of Hell to be best for the Heaven, too?"
Aziraphale shook his head. "Those Tablets weren't meant to be used, ever! They're… How should I put this…"
"They are assurance", other Crowley continued. "Like a nuclear weapons. Something that both sides are just as weary to use, since the consequences would be too terrible to imagine. That's why the Demon Tablet was given to Az while I'm the only one who knows the location of the Angel Tablet."
"Cold War, again", Crowley the King of Hell muttered, only to be reprimanded by his father.
"And you know all this quite well, Fergus, since I've explained it to you before! It pains me to go against you in this, since I'm your father and I love you very much, but I wont let the fragile balance between Heaven and Hell to fall apart and drag this world into a chaos and destruction just because your childish hunger for glory."
Crowley's face went bright red. "MY CHILDISH-!"
"Did someone mention chaos?" new voice interfered. It belonged to the tall person with a cunning smile and a body shape that made it difficult to say if they were male or female. They also had interestingly mismatched eyes: The right eye seemed to be blueish green, like forest's shadows, but sometimes the shade of blue darkened to that of a stormy sea. The left one was reddish brown, like leaves of fall foliage, but then colors started to swirl around like there was an forest fire caught inside his orb.
The eyes were mesmerizing to look at, and Sam managed to tore his gaze away only after he heard Crowley the Older's incredulous voice, moaning, "Not you, too! Please tell me you're not after the Demon Tablet, too!"
Newcomer seemed little startled. "Demon what-now? Oh, please – I'm not interested trinkets like that! No, I only came here to buy back that stupid hammer which that stupid oaf, Thor, has managed to lost again."
"Oh, I know what you mean", Crowley the Older said as he looked pointedly towards Aziraphale.
The angel blushed. "You know very well, that I didn't purposely pack the Demon Tablet into the same box with those books I sold away! It was pure accident!"
"That's exactly what they mean by "losing things", Az… By the way, shouldn't your brother be here, too? It's his hammer, anyway", Crowley the Older continued as he turned back to the newcomer.
He – that's what Sam decided to go by – snorted scornfully. "Thor? He got stuck by security guards; refused to give up of his armor. You know how he is…"
Sam couldn't hold is tongue any longer. "Wait a second – Thor? Norse pagan god?"
Mismatched eyes turned to meet his. "What? You know him?" he asked.
Once more Sam felt entrapped by those swirling vortexes of colors. "No, I – um – I know about him. We've met pagan gods before…"
"Oh – I see", the man said and turned away. Sam felt little dizzy. "Well, whatever you have heard about that brute, the reality is ten times more messy, bloody and bothersome. And my name", he continued, "is Loke. You're allowed to use it."
Sam stared at him and he could almost hear Dean's blood-pressure growing up. "But – that's impossible!" he exclaimed. "We have met Loki, he – We saw him dying!"
Loke shrugged. "It must have been one of my aliases – or Gabe. It's been a while since I've heard about him, so that's possibility – but then, he's not that easy to kill. After all, he's –"
"- Archangel Gabriel", Sam finished. "And yes, he died; Lucifer killed him." It still made him feel guilty, what had happened.
"Oh. What a pity", Loke said, rather indifferently. "He was a nice fellow."
Aziraphale had gone pale. "Gabriel is dead?!" he whispered. "How did no one ever tell me that?"
The other Crowley hesitated for a moment before pulling him into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Az", he muttered. Sam noticed, that even their Crowley – who had been sulking after being called childish by his father – was looking at the angel with little sympathy on his eyes. Those three seem to be chummier than I thought, Sam wondered.
He was interrupted by Dean, who then pointed towards the stage; the auction was starting.
Beau stood up and smiled at the audience. "Ladies, gentlemen, and… other, welcome to this once-in-a-lifetime event." Then he seemed to hesitate a moment before looking at Loke, adding, "Is it possible for You to keep the, um, mayhem under Your control during the auction?"
Loke grinned, and now Sam could see the small puncture scars crisscrossing his lips. "I can promise that if I slip, you will be the first to know."
"Ah, em, that… that should be fine…" the beau stammered before he couched a little and showed the first item. "Our first item, the amulet of Hesperus. Let's start the bidding with, um, three tons of dwarven gold?"
Sam looked at Dean, who was also staring at him. Three tons of gold? And they only had their hacked credit cards, 2 000 dollars and a Costco membership.
This is not looking good… "Time for plan C?" he said weakly.
"Our next item up for bid, the hammer of Thor, Mjoelnir."
"A finger bone from the frost giant Ymir", a mousy-looking old man offered.
Sam could hear Loke snorting loudly, "Oh, bitch please…" before he said, loudly, "The eye of Odin, freshly fished from the Well of Urdr."
Beau turned to look at the old guy, lifting his eyebrow.
"Uh... the bone and, uh… 5/8 of a virgin", he added, lifting a paper pack that looked suspiciously… bloody.
"Odin's eye and Gramr, the sword of Sigurd", Loke bided. He flashed toothy smile towards the old guy, who seemed to shrink back.
Beau smiled. "Sold", he said, looking clearly relieved now that Loke had got what he wanted. He's are afraid of him, Sam realized. They all are. But why…?
He was interrupted again by Dean, who slumped to sit beside him. "Plan C tanked. Now what?"
"Maybe you should try plan "D" for dumbass", Crowley suggested.
"Our next lot, the Word of God… capital "G" – very old, very rare."
All of them straightened up.
"Three billion dollars", Crowley bided offhandedly, making Sam whistle quietly.
Samandriel had also stood up. "The Mona Lisa", he offered.
"The real "Mona Lisa", where she's topless", Crowley added, making Sam lift his eyebrow. The what?
"The Dialogue of the Saviour", Aziraphale bided. "Only two copies left, and this is the readable one."
"Vatican City", said Samadriel, throwing a disappointed look towards the other angel.
"Alaska", Crowley shot back. Sam rolled his eyes.
"Palin and a bridge to nowhere? No, thanks", Beau rejected.
"All right. The moon", Crowley admitted.
"You're bidding the moon?" Dean asked, looking dumbfounded.
Crowley seemed to be ready to clarify, but Aziraphale spoke over him, "The Seal of Solomon!"
"Ah. I'm sorry, gentlemen. It seems that our reserve price has not been met. So in order to stimulate the bidding, we're going to add an item to this lot…" he said, pointing his finger at Kevin, "…Kevin Tran, Prophet of the Lord!"
"No!" Mrs. Tran shouted, as Kevin disappeared from his side and reappeared again on the stage, in chains and terrified look on his face. Sam and Dean made a move to stand up, but were pushed back down by guards.
"Mr. Tran is the only person on Earth who can read this tablet, which makes them a perfect matching set", Beau presented.
"No, stop! I'll give you whatever you want", Mrs. Tran begged.
"Good effort, Ms. Tran, but I'm afraid this is a little out of your price range…"
"My soul."
There was a complete silence, and Sam could hear Loke loudly whispering, "Oh, things just got an interesting turn…"
"If it's souls that you're after, I can give you a million souls", Crowley remarked.
Plutus, who had mostly sat quietly during the auction, spoke out, "It's not about the quantity, chief. It's about the sacrifice. This little lady's soul is the most valuable thing she has. It's everything. Are you willing to offer everything, Mr. Crowley?"
Crowley looked pissed, and Sam could see very worried look starting to rise on his father's face. "Fine. You win. I bid... my own soul!"
Plutus laughed. "You don't have –", he started, but got quickly interrupted by Crowley the Older, "Oh, no, you don't!"
"Hey, it's my soul; I can bid it if I want!" Crowley said sulkily like a child. Sam felt like someone had just dropped ton of bricks on his head: Crowley… had a soul? Since when? He shared a look with his just as bewildered-looking brother.
"I didn't go through all that false paperwork with Hell to hide the fact that you didn't spent a day in the racks just so you can now sell your very soul away like it's worth of less than nothing!" Crowley's father growled.
"Oh, why don't you let the whole world to know", Crowley shot back.
"Sirs, if none of you have any higher offers…" the Beau started.
"I have!" Crowley the older answered, and took something out of his pocket. "I bid the Mundane Egg!" he said, holding out something that looked like an egg made of amber.
Dean snorted. "Yeah, tastes surely delicious with a crispy bacon", he said, but Sam did notice that the whole room had goon very silent.
"How – Why didn't you tell me you had that?" Aziraphale whispered with reverence.
"You should never but all eggs in the same basket, angel", the demon answered.
"You have a basket full of those?" the angel breathed out.
"What? No, I – You know what? Just forget it, angel", Crowley the Older sighed.
Beau shared some glances with Plutus. "Well – Seems like you have won. Congratulations, Mr. Anthony J. Crowley", he proclaimed.
Crowley the Older bowed gracefully. "Thank you, sir!" Then he saw his fuming son leaving the room. "Well, now he's angry at me", he muttered before turning towards Mrs. Tran. "Now, I have no use for a prophet, so feel free to have him back."
Mrs. Tran looked both relieved and suspicious. "Free of charge?" she asked.
"One teenager is more than enough for me, madam - Manchester's sake, you saw how well I just handled this situation!" he proclaimed, waving towards the door of which the King of Hell had just exited.
Mrs. Tran smiled, seemingly satisfied. "I wouldn't call your son Teenager, Mr. Crowley", she commented.
"Really?" the demon asked, looking sincerely surprised.
"Look, can we just have a look at the Tabled?" Sam asked, once again, as they exited from the Warehouse.
"I'm afraid that I have to once again deny your request", Aziraphale said with a little frustration in his voice. "If a let you take a look, you'll want to use it, and that I won't allow."
"So there's some kind of demon dynamite in it, then?" Dean pressed. "Hey, come on; we're the good guys here!"
"More like nuisances", Crowley the Older muttered. "Let's go, angel; we must get that thing hidden as soon as possible!"
"Yes, of course… I hope we'll meet again, soon!" Aziraphale said before they both disappeared.
Dean kicked a trashcan. "Well, didn't that go just peachy?" he growled.
"At least Crowley didn't get it – our Crowley, that's it", Sam pointed out. He looked around them: most of the participants of the auction had already left. He could see Loke talking to very big, muscular man – Thor, he supposed – before they left, dragging the old guy who had tried to buy Mjoelnir with them. Maybe he should do something; then again, that "five eights of a virgin" had to come somewhere, so the guy probably deserved what he got.
"Yeah, well – But what did they mean by Crowley still having his soul? That should be impossible!"
"It may help if your father is a demon, too", Mrs. Tran reminded. "No parent would let their child to be tormented – even if they're no longer children", she added, brushing gently her son's hair.
"I have to say, I like that older Crowley more than that smarmy bastard that we have", Dean admitted. "Don't we have any guarantee?"
Sam sniggered. "Good luck with that… Can we ride you two to home?" he asked from Kevin and his mother.
"That would be appreciated."
As they rode away, Sam had to admit that even if none of them had gotten what they wanted, things could also had gotten worse – much worse. Maybe we can allow a little draw every now and then, he thought. And knowing Crowley, we'll get our change for redemption sooner or later…
AN.
About the Items I added:
Odin's Eye: Norse god Odin gave up his eye so he could drank from the Well of Urdr (also Well of Wisdom).
Gramr: Sigurd is hero from scandinavian mythology. Gramr is the sword he used when he killed Fafnir, the dragon.
Dialogue of the Saviour: New Testament apocrypha text (c. 150 C.E.). Only known copy was found in 1945 and is partially indecipherable.
Seal of Solomon: A magical ring that could imprison demons.
The Mundane Egg: This one is from Neil Gaiman's craphic novel The Books of Magic #3. The Mundane Egg is very valuable, since one day it will hatch a world.
About Loke:
I took the idea of Loke (another way to write Loki, which I prefer) having mismatched eyes from Helena Waris' book Vuori ("Mountain"), which sadly isn't translated in other languages. The colors of his eyes and how they change are still my own invention. In my verse, Loke is pure chaos incarnated, and he/she has know A. J. Crowley for a very long time - but that would be another spinn-off, in another time.