She didn't tell Sam and Dean at first. She instead waited, seeing if they'd notice the change in her abilities. On her next training lesson, she confidently raced her ten laps, but nothing felt different. She started to feel disappointed until a sudden burst of energy kicked in. Her feet adjusted their rhythm on their own accord and her throat felt less chapped than before. The jogging started to come naturally and she fell into a sprint, racing around the clearing feeling more free and agile than ever. Caterina loved it. She finished ten laps in fifteen minutes instead of thirty and jogged to a halt. Unlike her first day, she didn't fall to the ground in exhaustion. She took a couple second breather and felt fresh as morning air.
She glanced in the men's direction, only to be disappointed that they hadn't seen. She skipped over to them, observing how they practiced their punches and kicks. When they finally looked at her, she grinned. "Ready to fight!"
Sam cocked an eyebrow. "That was fast."
"Don't you need water?" Dean asked.
Her smile didn't falter. "Don't need it. Who's training me today?"
Sam and Dean exchanged a confused glance.
"Okay," Dean said apprehensively. He turned and walked away. "Have fun."
Sam nodded at her and readied his fighting stance. Caterina mimicked him. He threw the first punch. She instinctively brought up her hands as a shield. His fist collided with her and she stumbled, shaking her hands in pain. Sam didn't slow down for her.
He kneed her stomach and grabbed her arm. He flipped her over and she landed with a thud on her back. Scampering up again, she eyed him over and tried to predict his move. She saw his arm flash and jolted to the side until she realized it was a feint. She whipped to the side, narrowly missing his punch. She saw his arms move again and squatted low, aiming a sweeping kick at his legs. His feet danced; the closest to her foot pulled out of the way as his other foot caught hers and stopped her in her spin. She toppled over, but quickly popped up into a standing position. Both she and Sam wore expressions of shock: she'd never done that before in her life!
She didn't stop, though. Taking his moment of surprise to her advantage, Caterina aimed a kick at his gut and caught his arm midway through his attempted punch. She twisted around and leaned forward, effectively flipping the man twice her size over her shoulder.
It wasn't exhaustion that made her collapse to the floor; it was amazement. When Crowley told her she'd be the best, she never expected to literally be better than even Sam in fighting.
Sam recovered quickly, but the look of suspicion and complete shock let Caterina know that he'd finally noticed. "Where did that come from?" His voice had an edge of warning to it.
She smirked. "Am I good enough now?"
Sam shooed away her comment. "Where did that come from? You went from beginner to professional is a half a second." He took a step closer, examining her expression. "What did you do?"
Her smile faltered. "I… I made a deal." She backed away from Sam's dangerous look. "It wasn't my idea, I swear. It was some demon's- I think his name was Crow, Crou, Crowley! His name was Crowley."
"Crowley?!" The change in Sam's expression clearly stated he knew who this Crowley was. "You made a deal with the freaking king of Hell?"
Caterina nodded slightly, frozen in fear. "Was that bad? There were no catches, I promise. I made sure. He just said he'd make me the best hunter ever and I couldn't resist so-"
"Listen to me, Caterina," Sam told her solemnly, "Do not trust that man. He is the sneakiest demon and will find a way to double-cross you." He straightened up. "I'm telling Dean. We have to cut off that deal."
"He said he never breaks a deal. He said my skills will be an investment, that somehow my abilities will help him defeat Golchen." She shivered. "I don't want to be Golchen's soldier; I want to be a good hunter."
"Well, you can be a hell of a good hunter without making deals with the king of the underworld." He turned and stalked toward Dean. Caterina trailed behind, not sure if she regretted what she did or not. For now, she'd rather have Sam and Dean be mad at her and be the best hunter than be Miss Average forever.
"Let me get this straight," Dean paced, "You knew he was a demon, you knew he was the king of hell, you knew he was bad news, yet you still agreed. What made you think that was a good idea?"
Her eyes widened, then faced her shoes. "He said he never breaks a deal."
"He could have been lying!"
Caterina didn't meet Dean's eyes. "I was desperate."
"Desperate for what, huh? To be stabbed in the back?"
"To actually have something going for me. To be good at something."
Dean walked closer. "You mean to tell me you made a deal with a freaking demon just to be good at something?"
She gave a slight nod.
"We were training you! You can't expect to be good at something immediately! It takes time!"
She didn't respond, but silently willed herself to die on the spot. Maybe then they'd see how much it meant to her. A small, warm tear threatened to spill out, but she didn't bother trying to blink it back.
Dean threw up his hands. "Great, so now we gotta get you out of this mess."
"Don't," she muttered.
"Huh?"
"Don't bother. I'd rather ride it out." She looked up slowly and stared at him. "I mean, he said he hates Golchen. Why would he lie about benefiting himself?"
It was Dean's turn to be silent. Sam sat in the passenger seat of the car, knowing better than to get in Dean's way. This time, though, he climbed out and said, "She's right. We'll see where this takes us and if it backfires, we'll handle it. For now, let's just see what she can do."
Two days later, she could beat Sam and Dean in any fight, hands down.
"Can we go after Golchen now?" Caterina asked, glancing around at the busy street. Was it smart to talk about this in public?
Dean stares straight ahead. "That's not a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Because we don't know where he is, how guarded he is, or what his real objective is," Sam answered.
"Can't we ask Crowley? He hates Golchen and besides, his real objective is taking over Hell. Duh."
"So three humans against an army of demons?" Sam retorted. "I don't think so."
"No, the three best hunters on earth, the current King of Hell, and your angel friend I never met against a couple of rebels," she corrected.
"Look," Dean said, "All we need to do is to protect you and get rid of that instant mumbo jumbo stuff you've got going on. I don't give a crap about who the King of Hell is."
"I don't like Golchen," she answered, "and now I can protect myself. I'd rather keep Crowley as the King of Hell."
"See, this is the issue," Sam argued, "What did Crowley really mean by 'an investment'? For all we know, he could be using you as a special weapon instead of Golchen. You can't trust him, and even if you were Golchen's weapon, he might not need you if he's already scaring Crowley."
"I can take down Golchen," she protested, "I took down both of you in two seconds flat."
"That's not the point," Dean stated. They walked into a diner and he pushed Caterina in ahead of him. He smile flirtatiously at the waitress serving them.
"Your daughter?" the waitress inquired.
"Nah, my niece. His daughter." Dean motioned to Sam. Sam and Caterina exchanged an amused look. The waitress grinned.
Outside and around the corner, a pedestrian stared after them. He pulled out his cell phone and dialled 666. After a few rings, the man on the other end picked up.
"Hello? This is Hell," the voice answered. "I'm going to be busy in a few minutes. What do you want?"
"They're buying it," the pedestrian said. "They're slightly suspicious about you, though. The girl is rooting for you, but the other two don't care and don't want to go after either of you just yet."
"Thank you, Miguel," the voice noted. "You may continue your original business."
"Nice talking with you, Crowley," Miguel responded as the phone clicked off.
Back in the diner, Caterina excused herself to the ladies' room. Once she was out of sight, the King of Hell popped into her place.
"Hello, boys," the demon chirped. "Happy to see me again?"
Sam and Dean jumped in their seats and swiftly clutched their knives. "The hell did you do with the kid?" Dean hissed.
Crowley shrugged. "I gave her a little, shall I say, booster."
"Booster, my ass! What did you tell her?"
Crowley blinked innocently. "She didn't tell you?" He leaned closer, as if guarding a secret. "She wants to be stronger. She wants to be appreciated and she wants to be someone worth something. I simply gave her what she wanted. Now she's the best, isn't she?"
Sam scoffed and Dean retorted, "Nonsense. Why would she not feel appreciated? She's part of our family."
"Caterina? I wouldn't be so sure. She may be a Winchester, but she doesn't think of family the way you do." He spat out the word like it was poison in his mouth. "She has greater priorities than saving you two sorry bags of bones."
Sam gritted his teeth. "Why are you here, Crowley?"
The demon's expression changed from contempt to cheerful. "To check on my two favorite Abbadon-slayers, of course!" When their stony expression didn't change, he added, "I'm seeing if you have a head start on mauling that rotten carcass who's trying to hijack my kingdom."
"Didn't we just help you defeat Abbadon? What, can't keep your followers under control?" Sam laughed humorlessly.
Crowley gave him an impatient look. "Just saying, you wouldn't want him taking my place. There'd be chaos."
"Oh, let me guess, there isn't any now," Dean taunted.
"I hate his guts. He was one of my finest trustees. We had a lot of business deals and I actually somewhat trusted him!" His face contorted into anger. "Then he had to go and form his whole mutiny. Mutiny! Can you believe that?"
Dean chuckled and twirled his fork. "How about you leave before I stab this into your brain?"
Crowley froze, analyzing their expressions, and promptly transported himself back into his mansion.
"Mutiny!" He laughed. "I should be in Hollywood."
He sat down in his office chair and called, "You can come in now."
The mahogany doors opened dramatically and a crisply-dressed Golchen stepped in.
"How's the plan going, Crowley?" he grinned wanly.
"Peachy. Have you got all the ingredients?"
Golchen pulled out a chair delicately and lowered himself into it. "Demon soul soaked in seventeen angels' grace. Check. Feather from Lucifer. Check. Dinosaur scale. Check. Heaven and Hell's greatest foe. We've got that covered, don't we?"
"They're buying it. They don't like you and I have no doubts that they'll fall in our trap. Go on."
"Blood of an angel/demon hybrid. Still got it, Crowley?"
The King smirked. "Of course. Still in working conditions since we got it fourteen years ago. Is that all?"
"You know it. Are we ready for Part Two?"
"Execution? Yes, I can say we most definitely are." Then the two evil masterminds smiled and shook hands.
"Then, what are we waiting for?"