Years have passed. I don't measure time just by dates any more, but by events. Milestones. I know 90 years ago he stormed heaven again, not to get the angel tablet, but to visit some friends. I got to fuckin meet the Winchesters, and then some. They talked for hours, Crowley apologized for Rowena, saying she had acted out of fear and grief, and that they had finally, kindof, repaired their relationship. They had no idea that she was there, secreted away in one of Crowley's red prisons. I know that Robert Singer, go figure there are a lot of people with that name, was the most suspicious of Crowley. I know that we left heaven with most of them still up there. I know he has a date circled in 5 years to go back up. I know that every person who has wronged him, or done right by him, is on his bucket list. I know that Robert Singer is on it, with a star next to his name. I have no fucking clue what that means. I half hope that means he is replacing me with him. Half hope it doesn't. Kinda hope I'll have another long term roommate. Kinda hope I don't cuz I wouldn't wish that on anyone who didn't want it.
I know I haven't seen Cas in over 80 years.
I know that the last attempt at a coup in Hell was… 70 years ago. I know that 43 years ago was the last time Crowley had found a renegade demon safe house on earth... and that every single one of those demons no longer existed. I know that about 50 years ago Rowena had agreed to have the details of the contract removed from her very soul. Ripped out surgically and destroyed by Crowley. I know that 50 and half years ago she had been captured by angels and Crowley had gotten there just in time to see his mother tell them she'd prefer being torn apart by her own son to dealing with them. I know that he now had tea with his mother monthly. I know that no one who isn't signing it has read the contract since, just in case. I know that the NDA on the contract is twice as complicated as my own and involves teleportation.
I know that 60 years ago he could keep 6 full souls with ease, 30 years ago he could keep 8, and now 10. I know it always takes three more than his threshold to get him super high. I know that when he did that he always put me in a jar. I know that when I went back all those souls were gone. I know that I had stopped feeling fear about such things a long time ago. I had stopped feeling fear in regards to nearly anything Crowley would do to me a while ago. Unless he actually tried I just had a low constant buzz of apprehension. Fear was boring after all, he could get fear from anyone.
I knew that 140 souls had gone to some 500...and then 1000...and then 5000. They seemed like big numbers, but they were still nothing compared to the amount in Hell, or the amount in Purgatory…I know that he has over 20 phylacteries with bits of soul hidden around the world and that those get changed every year. The live ones he has contracts with change every half a year.
I know that for three months he's been researching why his smoke is red, why his true form was a bit different.
I know he's found nothing. Neither has Rowena.
I know the angels' last assassination attempt was at least over two years ago. I know that he hadn't tried to eat an angel yet, but it was on the bucket list.
I know that three years ago he had contacted a reaper and paid them to tell him about the location of the gate from Purgatory to Hell. I know that he had tried to eat that reaper when they refused, and failed. Horrible indigestion, if you can call it that, because the reaper just ceased to exist. Just left a hole in his smoke suddenly. I know that two years ago he had finally gotten the information, from Billie, in exchange for not killing her reapers and cutting back on the souls on earth a bit. I know there was a contract. I know there have been a few date nights since then, that I have not been allowed on.
I know a year ago he started going into Purgatory, and boy were there a lot of monsters not happy to see him. Seven months ago was when I learned that vampire souls somehow feel bloody. I know he keeps close to the exit in case a leviathan shows up. I know leviathan is on his bucket list. After angel. After alpha. I know he's smart enough to wait a very very very long time before he tries any of them. Except Dan who is at the top of the list.
Dan, from his hired hunters, was on the list for a very different reason. Dan he wanted to hire again, posthumously, to lure monsters closer to the entrance he used. Forever.
I knew Dan agreed to it eight months ago, in return for the assurance that Crowley would let him use the exit to Hell whenever he wanted, just so he could stop running. He promised; no farther than the other side, and to stay near the gate to guard it when Crowley wasn't there.
Crowley had agreed. He also posted a Hellhound there, and two at the end of the hall. Just in case. Because no one but him went down there anymore. After all, he needed to protect his plans. Keep it quiet. It was a large plan, dangerous. If it got out he was planning on doing what Castiel had, just slower...There could be more trouble from the angels. So he was going to go slowly, and quietly.
He had gained something in the Empty, something dangerous.
Patience.
He walks down the hallway and pats one of the Hellhounds on the head. It growls in reply, a happy growl, one I could recognize as different by its higher pitch.
"Good boys. I'll bring you both treats later." He passes between them and they move back together, sitting and filling the entrance to the hallway. Dan is waiting at the end.
"Crowley. We gotta problem."
"A problem? Leviathan?"
"No, they can't leave through this door.." This was news.
"Explain."
"Saw a dragon the other day. Real dragon. The first ones. It saw me, it saw the gate. I couldn't have stopped it if I wanted to, but it didn't give me the time a day. I managed to get up the courage to ask why. Didn't even know if that thing could talk… It could fucking talk. Said she had no interest, and nothing but what was once human, or what don't belong there, can fit. Well, and reapers."
"I'd say that's good news. So what's the problem?"
"Vampire found it… one by tha name a… Bernard LeBlanc...but you'd probably know him by-"
"Benjamin Lafitte… Bollocks." Crowley looks at the red stone floor and thinks for a second. "So, what's the fanger want? Out? To not be on the menu?"
"No. For you to stop." At this Crowley narrows his eyes. I had a theory, but it needed to be confirmed.
"Why?"
"Because you're takin away all the things he fights. If there is nothing left to fight…"
"He could fight the dragon."
"Crowley...Leviathans and the old dragons fight, to stalemates. They are fucking huge. Ain't no one fighting a dragon but a leviathan." Crowley frowns. The heart wasn't that big.
"How big are they?"
"Depends on how old they are. Dragon's don't stop growing."
"So depending on the when they died I-"
"No. Crowley. The dragons didn't go extinct, they left. They moved to Purgatory. They ain't dead. Why do you think the leviathans fight them? They still made of real meat." Dan points at the door. "That, wouldn't a fit the claw a' the one I talked to. Only reason I could talk to it was cuz it changed shape." Crowley stares. This was a lot of information that he didn't know. Things that weren't recorded anywhere. Things people didn't talk about. I was elated. My theory from when I was fucking 10 was right, well for dragons. It wasn't that there weren't big monsters, it's that they left. And they were the best dragons. They were fucking D&D dragons. I can feel Crowley pause, and then pull all the information I knew about dragons out of me.
It was a lot of information. I was kinda obsessed when I was a kid….and a teen...and when I was an adult...and now. Dragons were fucking awesome. I wondered if the ones here resembled the Japanese or European d-
Crowley cuts me off with a jolt of pain. This was not the main point. Benny, aka Bernard, was indeed a problem. I'd say why not let him into Hell, but it sounded like he enjoyed it in Purgatory… or at least the lack of bloodlust. At this Crowley cocks his head slowly and then nods.
"Take me to him."
"What?"
"Take me to Bernard. And go find that dragon. I have deals to make."
Bernard looks similar to Benny. Dirty coat, mid build, beard, slight accent. He was however African American and had shorter hair.
"Crowley ah presume?"
"Bernard. Nice to meet you. It appears we have a problem." Bernard approaches and Crowley holds up a finger. "Ah ah, let's keep this civil, and distant."
"Fine by me. You ahr here so ah assume you ahr not tah enthused with my proposition."
"Not really. You see, you're quite happy being here, fighting, not being hungry, running around. I am quite the opposite."
"Ah can see that. Nice suit."
"Yes, it is. And I don't like to get it dirty. " That is true. Crowley could fight with the best, but he didn't like doing it all the time, and he liked to design the arena himself before going in the ring. And that ring usually wasn't a big forest. "So. What can I give you to make this situation ok?"
"Yah mean besides one a us dyin? Ah don't really see much. Yah see, that's what Ahm here ta do." Bernard circles Crowley, staying the same distance, but definitely preparing an attack. Crowley doesn't follow him, just stands still.
"Really? You… do know What I've been doing to the souls here?"
"Yeah, ah do, got it outta Dan there with a bit of...persuasion. And Ah win either way. One way, Ah get to fight forever; other, Ah get tah rest. Both sound good tah me."
"So, what you really are, is suicidal."
"Can't be suicidal when yah are already dead."
"I beg to differ. So. Out of respect for one Dean Winchester, I will give you a chance to leave, and a promise that I will always leave at least 10,000 souls here for you to fight with." Bernard pauses.
"That seems like an awful lot for you tah let go."
"Well, even demons get heartburn occasionally." That wasn't the reason at all, until he himself could take on a leviathan, if ever, he needed them distracted; not here, near his door waiting for him. Also, the amount of souls here would take eons to consume, he hadn't made a dent, not with the 5,000 he had taken. 10,000… that was nothing in the long run, not with the 40 plus million here. And if he didn't want to be noticed, he needed to go slow. So, he had set a limit, 100,000 maximum a year. That was still 400 years. Well, if he needed to wait, perhaps there would be a tipping point and he actually would be able to fight a leviathan. He doubted it, but it was a fun thought. He had a bit of a grudge against their leader. ...And a few others down here.
Again, the fact that he had gained patience, far more dangerous in my opinion than any weapon.
"So, deal?" Bernard circles.
"Does Dean know you ahr doing this?"
"Dean died a very long time ago. It's been years upon years Bernard."
"By your hand?"
"By my actual hands? No."
"But you had some working in it."
"I have my hands in enough pies to open a bakery."
"You know what my answer is." Crowley rolls his eyes and readies himself as footsteps come closer. "Turn ahnd face me so-"
The conversation is interrupted by gale force winds. Three trees break and one falls feet from Crowley. I would have flinched but Crowley just looks up.
A shadow, slightly red, looms above, filling the sky. It comes closer and pressure fills the air as instead of getting bigger...it shrinks. Crowley looks on, confused and intrigued.
"Fuck me." The sound of Bernard's voice is faint under the wind, but still audible.
"It might."
"I WILL NOT." The dragon lands, Dan on its shoulder. It fills the clearing and the ground shakes as it lands. The shimmer of magic is still upon it as it shrinks further so as not to break any more trees. It's still gargantuan. The voice is loud. Not because it is yelling, but because it is just that big. It's European. Not as in from Europe, but that kind of dragon. Four legs, wings, long neck. And scales. Beautiful scales that even in the gray of Purgatory seem to shine red.
"NOT ONLY AM I UNINTERESTED, I BELIEVE THE YOUNG VAMPIRE IS MORE AFRAID THAN SEXUALLY AROUSED." Everyone winces. The dragon blinks, it's eyes amber and glowing constantly, slitted pupils the size of Crowley. It shakes Dan off and he lands with a roll, but in one piece. "Apologies. It Is Hard To Speak To Something So Small in this Size." Dan backs up, facing the dragon, and returns to Crowley. The dragon continues to shrink.
"Beautiful, ain't she." Crowley blinks.
"She?! That's a female? How much bigger was she when you were flying?"
"Females Are Often Bigger Than Males In Many Species. … As for size...I believe you would say I rival the bridge of golden gates." Crowley blinks.
"How... long ago did you come here?"
"After the witches created their own poor imitations of Lilith's kin. Now, I believe you wished to speak to me, little demon."
"Yes, but-" I was also curious as to how she knew of the Golden Gate Bridge.
"Little demon, calm. Talk to me. Entertain me. Before I grow bored." The dragon crosses her forearms and lays them across one of the fallen tree trunks. She is still the size of a large house. "And talk as you would to a friend. I despise all posturing. It grew weary after 1000 years." She pauses and looks at the vampire who is sneaking away. "Young vampire. Return. You shall tell me stories after this one is done. You look like you have much to tell." Crowley blinks. Stories.
"As do I." The dragon shifts her gaze from Bernard back to Crowley as he speaks.
"Very well, but I am a dragon…" She looks at the fleeing vampire and blinks. Bernard flies through the air back to the clearing and falls in a pile of limbs. "I am greedy by nature."
"Naturally." She shifts her bulk and settles a bit more before looking at the three monsters.
"Vampire, wolf. Sit, enjoy the spectacle of this discussion, and we will talk next." Both monsters nod and sit, not sure they are interested in this spectacle, but definitely not interested in being squashed. She returns her attention to Crowley.
"So, little demon, I suppose you want to make a deal?"
"You are quick on the uptake, this should go very smoothly." Crowley opens his coat and removes a contract.
The dragon laughs.
"I will have none of your contracts. I have neither the will nor the want to read such treacherous words again." Crowley pauses, cautious.
"Again. You've signed one before?" The laughter once again fills the clearing.
"Little demon, you fancy yourself King of Hell, King of the Crossroads, the best contract maker." She leans down and her teeth shine, the size of legs and arms. "Why do you think Dragons are synonymous with the devil in so much Christian lore? Hmm? It is not because of the serpent, serpents are mere echoes of us. The saurians were as infinately dumb children. No little demon." Crowley nods and waits, happy to be gaining information, seemingly for free. This dragon either has loose lips, or really does not fear much.
"Please. Enlighten me."
"Little demon, where do you think the first contracts came from? Lucifer had no interest. Pure temptation was easy enough in such an early era and he had no intention of doing leg work for such puny little specks of a reward whose only value was in their destruction." The dragon laughs and the ground shakes with the intensity of it this time. "As if he could walk around! Poor little archangel with his bound feet and clipped wings." At this Crowley raises a brow.
"You don't...fear him?"
"Why should I? He is dead. But, I digress from the point with my amusement. Again, I ask you, where did the first contract come from?"
"Given who is asking, I am assuming I am talking to her."
"Very good little demon." ….What.
"Well, I must say it's an honor, I'd love to show you the changes and strides I've made with your work, but I believe you are completely-"
"Disinterested." The dragon interrupts with a yawn before continuing. "I wrote the original loophole in one of the first contracts; after that, it was easy. I stop when things become easy...or boring. So, speak plainly little demon, of your wants and desires of me, or I will grow bored."
Holy shit. I knew this type of dragon. This was awesome. She was fucking awesome. Crowley nods a couple times, thinking, or pretending to think. He knew what he wanted.
"A deal. Obviously. I want to come here and…"
"Hunt, you wish to hunt little demon. But that is a means to an end. You have goals. What are they? Once I understand you, then we may talk of deals." Now That, was a fucking question for the ages.
"I suppose 'to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women' won't do?" The dragon smiles.
"No little demon, it will not. I am in Purgatory, not under a rock. Do not come bearing bastardizations of quotes to me."
"Well power is always a nice thing."
"Yes, but to do what with, little demon?" I liked this dragon. Crowley did too, just not the questions she was asking. This was a 'what is your purpose' type of question. Deep quanderings that speared the soul, or what was left of it, with their openness and possibility. Crowley didn't like to think about this much. There was always a next step, something to work toward, something to enjoy. If he actually succeeded, however unlikely that was, what would he do? On this question, he actually has to think for a moment. He is humbled before this being. Not because it is powerful, no, that wasn't humbling, but because it understood what questions to ask. Because it could play 'the game' just as well, if not better, than Crowley.
He doesn't know how to feel about that.
"I'd like to do my job, do it well, and then go home; maybe take a blood bath, have a drink, torture some souls. Same as any other average Joe, I'd really like to be able to enjoy my job and a glass of scotch without worrying about being murdered."
The laughter booms and shakes the clearing again. Bernard, who has been quiet and still, falls over.
"Fuck!"
"You're fine. You're dead." Says Crowley, annoyed at the blunt interruption that broke the ambience.
"Little demon, Crowley, what you wish for is security. True security does not happen. Not for gods, not for ants. And yet many yearn for it. The unattainable. But nothing is impossible, so I find it a worthy quest. To attain the unattainable."
"So you will help me?"
"Yes. After you prove yourself to me. It is a cliche requirement I find amusing. But first...What do you offer for my assistance?"
"Stories. As many as you want. The ones you can't get from the crazed denizens here." The dragon looks at Crowley, tilts its head, and nods.
"Very well. I however, shall be the master of this deal. Its terms are mine."
"And what exactly are its terms?"
"While you are in Purgatory, and only while you are in Purgatory, you shall have rental of my soul." Crowley blinks. One soul was not what he was hoping to get out of this.
"That...does not quite seem an even trade. One soul for an eternity of stories?"
"Little demon, have you ever seen a dragon soul?"
"A soul is a soul."
"Incorrect. Dragons should not be a match for a leviathan, we are lesser, smaller than them in their true forms when they wish to be big, and yet, we prevail. We were an experiment by the Creator. Our souls are connected to… the realms'."
"Excuse me?" Amusement glitters in the dragon's eyes as she talks to the King of Hell as if he is a young child at a school lesson.
"Magic, little demon, comes from somewhere. We are connected to it. Why do you think witches require words, and I do not? We require the power that flows through ley lines, dimensions, the vibrating strings of reality, we require that to live. Food, sustenance, it helps strengthen our bodies, speed our growth when we are young, but we can live without it. Without magic, we would cease in an instant. With it… we rival worlds."
"Then….why come here? When you could reshape the world?" She rumbles in pleasure as his curiosity, and the continued chance to tell her own story.
"It grew crowded, we would have disrupted the human's development, and we were as eager as the Creator to see where it went. So, we left. We can watch it from wherever we are. However, it is not the same as holding, feeling the stories. I would like to hold a book in my claws again. Or an apple. Bring me stories, things, to experience. You understand, little demon, boredom and the pain it causes. So, I will loan you my soul, and with it and the others you collect, you will devour nations...and when you have cleaned your plate of those you will destroy the leviathans so I may read in peace until you rival me. Do we have an accord?"
Crowley blinks. This was going surprisingly well. I liked this dragon. I could already tell and guess at her experience with demons. Teaching, laughing. I could even make a leap in my mind to the connection of red dragon to red smoke. Perhaps she had a claw in that. Oh, with a connection to leylines… my mind soars with possibilities. Crowley just ponders the oddness of having an ally whose interests don't overlap with his. He ponders for a good moment before nodding.
"We do."
"Very good. Now, I believe you would call these… points of interest and stipulations. I have a few."
"Please."
"While you are here, you shall remove your companion from yourself if you wish her to survive." What? How did she know I was here? Why would she want me out? "I have not put my soul next to another's. You may try this, and it may destroy you if I do not word this deal between us correctly, turn you into the energy that makes the world run. It may also destroy a mortal, if such a thing is possible. If it is not, she will surely go mad. So, to keep me company while you hunt, and to keep your 'Chew Toy' safe, she will stay with my body until you are able to protect her from my soul. And if you tire of her, she shall be mine until you wish for her again." What...why? h-How? Crowley feels similar confusion.
"Why would you want her soul? What is it to you?"
"I have felt her since we started talking. She has paid rapt attention to my every word with adoration and spun stories from what she has learned already. She seems a good story teller. And I like stories as much as I like being adored. So, while you are here and you do not need her, she is mine. And if you bore of her, she is mine."
"I can agree to the first part, but the second...may be a problem. We have a contract."
"So? That matters not for what I want."
"Yes, but if I want to end the contract..."
"You mean eat her. Be blunt here little demon. It amuses me how uncomfortable it makes you." Crowley blinks, surprised and a little affronted.
"Eat her...then that would violate our agreement."
"Would it? I find eating someone to be very interesting, not boring in the least. So, would you have bored of her at that point?" I could laugh, cry, whatever. She had spotted the loophole before Crowley. She was right, if he killed me before he bored of me, I was still his. "I wrote the first loophole little demon, so while I appreciate your attempt to make sure we have as honest a deal as a deal between a demon and a dragon can be, I do not need your help. You need mine." Crowley agrees.
"Very well. Any other… points of interest?"
"You shall hunt monthly, and bring 100 books and 10 objects for me to interact with each time. If you ever clear this plane of food, you shall still bring me books monthly until there are none left, which, with the amount humans create, is not possible as long as the world keeps turning. To which end, you shall do your best to ensure their world is safe, so it continues to create and blossom. You should leave some monsters out there to procreate and send new souls here, but that is of little matter. Hmmmm. In fact for your friend here, and my amusement, you shall in fact stick to the deal of leaving 10,000 souls of witches' bastard monsters and Lilith's spawn; if you gain a taste for such fare. I find them chewy." Crowley listens, taking in every word and turning it into the form a contract would take. I am listening to the timber of her voice and the amount of thought that has gone into this in mere seconds. Her thoughts meander and twist upon themselves, and so does what she says. It is occasionally hard to follow, and dense. It is fascinating to listen to.
"Should you run out of stories on this plane at any time, I will send you to the faelands to collect stories there. You will not hunt there little demon; it is a land governed by different laws, and every fae there will know the instant you take a soul. Which will mean you could no longer collect stories for me. Now, most importantly, if you ever attempt to take the soul of one of my kin… You are versed in torture, so let me just say that not only will the contract be, how you say null and void, but you will be too."
"That seems fair."
"Oh, it isn't. You do not know what I can do, little demon, and you do not wish to. Now, your favorite part is over, it is time for you to prove yourself to me." Crowley sighs inwardly. Of course it wouldn't be easy.
"What do you want? One thousand books? Story tellers? Perhaps a live human to play with?" The dragon yawns and lays her head down.
"Those are things you shall be bringing me should you succeed. You shall tell me stories yourself, you have quite a few, and despite how you posture and pretend the persona you put on when your body was alive was just that, a persona; you love stories as much as I. You just enjoy creating them as much as consuming them, while I just consume, and occasionally add a plot point. No little demon, do not provide me with what you have already agreed to give. Bring me... a feather from the angel Castiel, the last living leviathan, alive, and...a pizza."
"...Bollocks."
(Sorry I've been absent. The story isn't dead, I'm just super busy. More on the way.)
