Chapter 20

Crowley

I was never one to do favors for anyone except myself, but this was the first time in my exquisitely long life that I was accepting of helping others. It was still for my own personal gains, but what sort of demon might I be if it wasn't for my own benefit.

Grace Winchester was very persuasive.

I left the sigils around my house as I left, ensuring that it would be exactly as I left it when I returned. It was nice to have a holiday home, especially since I would be returning as King of Hell when the Winchesters took care of Delilah. I saw potential in her, and it was a shame now that the Angel of Deception herself was taking the route she was: abducting any of the Winchester children, the Gatekeepers, was something none of us would have ever considered as a possibility. The risk was simply too great. Dean Winchester would come hunting, and that was something none of Big Bads wanted to be a part of. Now that his wife, full Nephilim, no less, was leading this brigade…well, Delilah's death was not the distant future. The future was now.

She had been a fun little plaything while she had been subservient, and I supposed it was entirely my fault for introducing her to a coven of powerful witches…she got a taste of power and she enjoyed it. Since then, well. It's best not to look back at our mistakes.

I sipped my espresso at the tiny little café, watching the giant of a man order a large, black coffee, though it looked like an espresso cup in his monstrous hand. As hunters went, these two seemed to be on the more powerful edge of the spectrum, especially being friends with the Winchester family. The smaller man took his cup and turned to face the giant, nodding occasionally.

"Sitting here, watching, is only going to get you caught," a familiar voice stated casually, suddenly appearing next to me with his trench coat swinging as it hung from the chair below him.

I took another slow sip of coffee and set the mug down, lifting an eyebrow and continuing to watch the hunters from across the café. "Getting caught, though not my intention, would not matter," I replied, not looking at the angel. "You forget: I'm on your bloody side this time."

Castiel leaned back in his cushioned chair and sighed, sounding more human than I was used to.

"It seems that you've been keeping company with the Winchesters for too long, angel," I continued, finally glancing at Castiel. "Or maybe," I added, a wry grin on my face, "you spent too long in Mrs. Winchester? They do have that affect on you." Turning, I let a slow sigh through my nose and smiled gently, remembering. "I got a taste of Serendipity and just haven't been able to shake her from my mind."

The angel didn't take the bait, "If you're on our side," he began, "then you're on our side until this is done. Going back to Delilah will only get you killed." Castiel turned to stare at me, his blue eyes boring into my skin, "Grace will make sure that you stay dead, this time."

"The Nephilim has nothing to worry about," I answered, sighing heavily. "No one seems to remember that I have more at stake than anyone here. Permanently opening the Gates would be detrimental to my business plan. I need Everett Winchester alive, not to mention his sisters and their control over the other three Gates."

Nodding, Castiel stared at the hunters, who had taken seats across the room. "Our job this time is to keep her on this ethereal plane," he said. "If she jumps, I have no doubt that Grace will chase her, but the others would not be able to follow. We have the most power here."

Picking up my cup, I took another sip of the lukewarm drink, making a face, "Keep her here, don't open the Gate. Keep everyone alive." I smiled, "Riveting." Putting my finger to the side of the cup, I changed the position of my hand, holding the tiny cup by the handle once more as I reheated the espresso. "After this job is done, we go back to how things were."

Castiel turned to stare emotionlessly at me, "How things were?"

"The next time I see you or any of the Winchester clan, all bets are off. If any of you step into my general direction without my expressed permission, I will not hesitate to defend what's mine."

Rolling his eyes, Castiel turned back to the hunters. "You do your job, we'll do ours. Stay out of our way and it won't be a problem."

"Deal," I replied, taking a sip of the nearly boiling liquid. "Where is your girlfriend? Thought you two were inseparable."

"Lucia is not my girlfriend," the angel replied. "She's tending to things in Heaven before the Winchesters arrive. She will come when she's needed."

I smiled to myself, watching the giant hunter attempt to get up from the table without knocking it over. He seemed to be stuck in the tiny metal chair, and the other, smaller hunter was smiling as he held the chair by an armrest, attempting to pull it off of the large man's backside.

"They are fascinating creatures, aren't they?" I asked. "Watching them almost makes me forget how much I hate them."

"You don't hate the humans," Castiel replied, not looking at me. "You hate that you weren't given the same attention as they were."

"I hate that I was one of them," I spat. "Useless. Powerless. Ambitionless. Just thoughts jumbled together into a bloody meatsuit, biding their time until they become lunch for the insects."

The angel turned, narrowing his blue eyes and watching me carefully. "They are far from useless, or you wouldn't be helping a family of them."

"Castiel, the Winchesters are hardly human," I retorted.

He didn't reply, but sat there watching me, just the same.

…

Grace

"Tulley and Santi are in a café outside of town," I explained, "Cas is there too, waiting for us." I took a deep breath, readying myself for the reaction I was about to get out of my sister. "Crowley is with him."

Serra whipped around, her auburn hair falling into her face as she opened her mouth to respond, "Crowley is with Cas?" she asked. "Why? What's he doing there?"

"Crowley is invested because he wants the Gate to stay closed, just like we do," I explained calmly. "For now, anyway. He wants Everett alive, and he's agreed to help get him back to preserve his precious Hell's Gate."

"You know as soon as Ev is safe, that bastard is going to turn on us," Serra muttered, staring out into the forest as it flew by. The sun had begun to set and cast a purple shadow on everything around us. "We should just kill him once this is all over and just be done with him."

I clicked my tongue and changed lanes with Dean as we went around a semi-truck. "We're not going to kill Crowley on this trip. If he comes after us later, sure. We can put it back on the table, but for now, he's got a free pass."

"Ugh," my sister sighed, "who are you?"

"Crowley is the last thing I'm worried about right now," I answered. "How many vials do you have?" I asked, changing subjects completely.

Serra turned towards me, bringing her knee up onto her seat and gesturing to the cooler in the back seat. "I've got eight, total," she began, happy for the change in conversation. "Sammy was looking a little woozy after the seventh one, so I gave up after eight."

I nodded. "We're about to get out of Minneapolis finally, so let's eat again and then we should be to Grand Portage by ten or so tonight."

Serra picked up her phone and dialed Sammy's number, hitting the button to put him on speaker. "What's up?" he asked without preamble.

"We're going to stop again for food once we get out of Minneapolis, and then Grace says we should be where Delilah is by about ten tonight," she relayed the information to the boys as I passed a mini-van with North Dakota plates. "You wanna stop in a diner or should we just drive through somewhere?"

Dean's voice came over the speaker as he answered. "I'm gonna need gas again, so let's just go to a little sit-in place so we can stretch our legs. I don't think I'm built for this straight-through long-distance thing anymore. I feel like I'm clotting and I'm gonna have a stroke."

Grace chuckled and nodded, checking her gas level, "Yeah, I'm gonna need some too," she added. "I'll follow you this time."

…

Serra

We arrived in Covill, the tiny little town where Santi and Tulley were waiting around ten that evening. I got out of the Chevelle and stretched, silently agreeing with Dean: we were getting too old for this. I reached back into the Chevelle for the Twins, putting one in the holster under my arm on my right side, and the other into the waistband of my jeans. I glanced at my sister, who had no weapons, but was hardly unarmed.

"What are you gonna do with the Judge?" I asked, dumping a box of angel bullets into the pockets of my black moto jacket.

"Probably give it to Dean to use if he needs it," she answered, pulling on her own brown leather jacket against the chill in the air. There was no snow on the ground, but if there had been enough moisture in the air, I was sure the skies would open up. "Make sure there're enough angel bullets for him too."

"Yeah, there's plenty, as long as we use different calibers," I replied, tossing Dean the Judge as he approached. "It's your lucky day," I smiled, "you get to use the Judge."

"Ooh," he grinned, "matching set."

Sammy ran both his hands through his hair. "Where are Santi and Tulley?" he asked. "Have you talked to them?"

"Grace says they're in a little café near the tree line," I replied, dumping bullets into the boys' hands. "There's not much here. They're probably not hard to find."

"Who's not hard to find?" Santi's voice startled me into turning around with my right hand holding the Twin from the waistband of my jeans, aiming at Santiago's chest. "I apologize, Serendipity," he grinned. "I assumed you heard me approach."

Grace giggled and wrapped her arms around Santiago's shoulders as he approached her. "I cannot believe you are alive," Santi whispered into her blonde hair. "It is a miracle."

Nodding, Grace agreed, "I know. It's so good to see you." Santiago released my sister and she grinned at Tulley as he lumbered behind. "Hey, Tull," she greeted. "Thank you for staying."

"It is good to be seeing you, Grace Browning," Tulley answered in his thick Russian accent. "We have followed the witches. They are north, another thirty minutes."

"Can we hurry this along?" an annoyed, accented voice joined them from the dark tree line. "I'd like to spend some more time in my vacation home before taking my rightful place on the throne."

Dean whipped around, narrowing his eyes into the dark. "Crowley?" he whispered. "The hell are you doing here?"

"I'm here to make sure my position as the King of Hell remains intact," he answered, coming into the light pouring from the windows of the café. "We fight together to get rid of that royal pain in my ass, then things go back to normal and we only try to kill each other occasionally. There isn't enough room for another player in our little game, now is there?"

I clicked my tongue in annoyance and turned to stare at my husband. "This goes off without a hitch, maybe I can try and kill him now?"

Grace shook her head. "You don't get to kill him unless he fucks up here or we spend some time apart first," she replied, handing the cooler from the back seat to Sam. "He's off limits as long as he stays on our side."

Crowley smiled contentedly and nodded once. I clicked the safety of my gun on and off as I stared at the demon in front of me. "If you had said that to me about seven years ago, I would have laughed in your face."

"Yeah, well," Grace sighed, "things change."

Sammy moved closer to me, watching the exchange carefully. His color had returned, and I no longer felt badly about bleeding him dry earlier. "Hey," I began, waggling my eyebrows at him. "How about another two or three vials?" I asked flirtatiously.

"No," Grace answered before Sam had a chance to. "You don't need any more and Sammy needs to be on his game. Delilah knows we're coming."

Dean turned to stare at his wife, along with the rest of us. "Oh?" he asked. "How does that change things?"

"We go in, guns blazing," Grace replied. "We're not going to be able to sneak in. She's started the process to open Everett's Gate, but he's not cooperating, so she's already frustrated. We don't need to push her."

"We just need to kill her," I added.

Licking her lips, Grace nodded. "Opening the Gate without Everett's permission is going to take some work. We've got some time, but her frustration might be enough to make it a bit more dangerous, especially for the other witches. I'm hoping she takes most of it out on them first."

Santiago glanced at Tulley. "My motorcycle is in the back of the truck," he explained, pointing over his shoulder. "You drive the truck and I will take the bike, maybe come in through the forest."

Pursing her lips, Grace interjected. "Coming in through the forest won't matter if she can hear us coming. Hold on a second," she took a deep breath and glanced at Cas. "There's a sigil, isn't there? One that hides humans from angels?" She glanced at me and then at Dean. "Maybe if she's concentrating the brunt of her bitchiness on me and Cas, then you guys will have a bit more of the element of surprise."

I narrowed my eyes at my sister, "You just said that she knows we're coming."

"She knows we're coming," Grace repeated, gesturing between Castiel and herself. "Now that we're close, she can sense us easily. She assumes that we're all together, but she has no idea how many of us there are or how we'll attack." Smiling, Grace tilted her head. "If we can block you from her as we come into town, maybe she'll be distracted enough not to lash out irrationally right away."

"Works for me," Dean commented, shrugging. "Either way, we're coming home with Everett." Turning to face me and Sammy, Dean lifted his eyebrows. "Suit up," he muttered. "We're going in hard."