As Margot slept on, Crowley was busy planning the night to make sure that everything would be absolutely perfect. Weeks ago, while doing a bit of wheeling and dealing, Crowley had caught sight of a flyer that announced a Masquerade party. It had been a stroke of luck that the party would be held on the night of his and Margot's one year anniversary of her selling her soul to him.
Crowley had already decided what the two of them would be masquerading as and he could not wait to see his beautiful contract in what he had picked out for her. The plan was to wake her before he returned at six in the evening so that she would have time to dress and do her hair and those other feminine things she would need to do before they went out.
Crowley was already smartly dressed in his own outfit, minus the mask of course. It consisted of a blood-red, victorian style shirt with the collar turned up. Over the shirt he wore a form-fitting black waistcoat, the paisley designs only showing up when the light hit it just right and a black overcoat hid the shirt and waistcoat. His pants hugged him in all the right places and he had topped his outfit off with his usual black oxfords. Inside the bag that his tailor had provided him was Margot's own outfit. He could not wait to see her in it.
He stayed invisible so as to not wake the young woman from her slumber and carefully placed the bag of goodies by her bed where she would see it. With a flick of his finger, he zapped her alarm clock so that it would wake her in half an hour. Before he leaves, Crowley bends and presses a light kiss to the top of her head.
The shrill sound of her alarm going off wakes Margot from her dream and makes her bolt upright from her bed. She reaches over and smacks the alarm clock until it turns off and goes to step away when her foot catches something on her floor and she is suddenly tumbling back on top of her bed. Margot curses angrily and whips around to see what has tripped her.
A plain black bag sits there with a note attached to it. Knowing who it is most likely from, the young woman grins and pulls the bag onto the bed with her. Before she digs into it, she pulls the note off and reads through it.
The outfit is for tonight Darling
Be a dear and put it on for me
I'll have your coat when I come for you
Be ready by fifteen after 6
See you soon,
Xoxo C.
Margot flushes from her head to her toes as she reads and rereads the note several times. While they had gone out to some truly fancy places before, Crowley had never done anything like this. She carefully places the note aside and finally digs into the bag. What she pulls out takes her breath away.
The beautiful dress she pulls out is pitch black. The entire back of the dress and the long sleeves are made of intricate woven lace. When she places the dress up against herself, Margot sees that the front skirt of the dress comes up to mid-thigh but then it is swooping down to just touch the edge of her heels. The next thing she pulls out is a box that contains a pair of bright red heels with a small strap that would go around her ankle. She is about to put the bag away when one last thing catches her eye.
Margot admires the delicate metalwork of the red mask in her hand. Thin swirls formed the mask and a fleur de lis stood at the top of the mask proudly. Beautiful white gems were lined around the eyes and along the bottom of the mask where it would meet her cheek. It was delicate and lovely and Margot adored it. She obviously now knew what Crowley had planned for them tonight.
Knowing that she had limited time, Margot sets aside the mask and makes her way to her bathroom to freshen up and do her hair and makeup before getting dressed. She does her normal amount of makeup but adds some blood-red lipstick and a smokey eye look. Finally, she braids the left side of her hair then gathers it up into an elegant, but messy bun. Her long bangs and stray hairs still scattered about are put through the curling iron. Once she is finished, Margot thinks that she has done a rather good job.
Back in her room, she is shimming into the perfectly fitting dress when she encounters a slight problem. Margot had been able to zip most of the dress up, but unless she wanted to ruin her hair then she would need help with the rest of it. She looks at the clock and sees that she still has ten or so minutes left before Crowley gets there. She decided to gather her shoes and mask and go to her living room to wait on him.
As Margot waits she thinks back on her and Crowley's relationship. The two of them had grown close and Margot honestly never wanted to be without the King of the Crossroads. She dreaded the time they spent apart but the excitement she felt when she knew that she would see him overwhelmed any disappointment may feel. Logically she knew what they had could be classified as an unhealthy relationship, but Margot could not bring herself to care.
"Why the long face Darling?"
The sudden appearance of Crowley had Margot jumping and sending the demon an embarrassed glare. He smiled devilishly at her and took in her form lounging on the old sofa. Her slender legs looked fetching where they clashed with the dark dress and he had to stop himself from doing something terribly naughty.
"I need your help," Margot says instead and avoids his question. When Crowley merely cocks an eyebrow at her, Margot stands and shows him the back of her dress that is still partly unzipped. The demon happily steps into her space and brings his hands to her hips. Slowly, he moves one of his hands until it grips the zipper and brings it up to completely fasten the dress. The hand still at her hip squeezes harshly and he relishes the gasp that slips from his beautiful contract.
Crowley pulls her back into him and hooks his chin around her shoulder so that his lips now rest against her throat. This time he does not hold back and presses soft kisses along that pale expanse and trails his free hand up until he is wrapping his fingers around that beautiful neck. The next gasp Margot let out has her bowing back against him and he flexes his fingers around her throat.
The two of them stand like that for what feels like forever, Crowley still gripping her throat and leaving her burning as he presses those feather-light kisses against her. Finally, with one last squeeze of his hand and a harsher kiss against her neck, Crowley lets her go and turns her around to look at her beautifully flushed face.
"Beautiful," He rumbles and if Margot did not know any better she would say that Crowley's eyes had a blood-red tent to them. She does not know what to say in about what just happened and tries to ignore the want curling up inside her.
"Let me get my shoes on," Margot says and pulls out of his space. Now that she is not looking at the demon king, Margot takes a deep steadying breath and quickly slips on her shoes. They make her about three inches taller and now the top of her head comes up to Crowley's hazel eyes. In his arms, he holds a brilliant red coat and she now understands what the two of them are going as.
"Are you my Big Bad Wolf, Crowley?" She asks him and gives him a smile that is far more sultry than she intends it to be. She sees his eyes darken and out of nowhere he pulls out the mask that he would be wearing tonight. The lightweight metal mask was in the shape of a wolf's face colored a dark grey. She could see the fine detailing of the fur and it would cover the majority of his face. Margot thought it fit the demon perfectly.
"Only if I can eat you up," Crowley growled back and Margot laughs nervously. The two of them had flirted before but she felt like this was taking it to the next level. Crowley opens up the coat and Margot quickly steps into it and stays in his space so that he can transport them to wherever the masquerade was being held. She would not ask. Margot trusted him.
The almost too hot sensation came over her and when she opened her eyes, it looked like they were in front of a massive hotel-like building. There were expensive cars everywhere and so many people dressed to the nines that Margot already felt a nervous sweat build in her palms. She had never liked large crowds when she was young and it still carried as she grew older.
"Welcome to Chicago, love," Crowley announced and grabbed her arm to wrap around his own. He led them up to the entrance and Margot had her breath taken away at just how beautiful it was. Everything sparkles and shines and if she could not feel the solid muscle of Crowley pressed against her, she would have thought all of this was a dream.
"It's wonderful," Margot breaths then jumps when the mask she had been holding is suddenly around her face. When she turns to the demon, Crowley is giving her a wolfish smile and she lets out a breathy laugh at her own joke. The two of them make a fascinating visage.
"Surprise, Darling," Crowley announces and sweeps his hand in front of them in a grand gesture. He pulls her impossibly closer and begins to lead her to the back of the room. He lets go of her and takes her coat after pulling off his own to lay in across the back of one of the provided chairs. Margot shivers at the lightly chilled air but quickly warms when Crowley bows at the waist and offers her his hand.
"May I have this dance?" He purrs at her and Margot takes a quick steading breath before placing her hand into his. Crowley pulls her along until they are deep in the other spinning couples and she gasps when he pulls her close to him. His hand grips her hip and her own hand rests against his shoulder.
The two of them make small talk for the first few songs, before silently allowing the music to lead them around the room. They dance through several of the classical songs, and Margot loses herself in Crowley's hazel eyes. She does not notice how close they had come until Crowley's mask bumped into her nose. The light touch startled her enough to pull back to a more socially appropriate distance and allow her to see the dangerous-looking frown on the demon.
"Crowley?" Margot asked quietly and noticed that his eyes had gotten that red tint to them once again.
The demon says nothing but stops dancing to pull them back over to where their coats are laying. He makes her sit and conjures up a glass of champagne that he sits on the table. Margot watches him in confusion and a slight fear that she had done something wrong.
"Nothing you did Margot. I need you to stay right there," Crowley rumbles and begins to walk off.
Margot is quickly out of the chair and has a hand on his arm when he whips around and grabs her wrist. She lets out a small cry at the harsh grip when Crowley tugs her forward and glares down at her.
"I said stay in the damn chair, Margot!" He snarls at her and she has never been more afraid of Crowley until now. He jerks her back to the chair and deposits her into it forcefully. With that, he turns tail and walks away from her to get lost in the crowd.
Crowley marches through the crowd to the last place he had seen the two other demons in the crowd. No other demon but he should have been in his place tonight. When he gets to the other side of the large room, he finds that one of the demons is missing. He grits his teeth angrily and vanishes only to reappear inches away from the demon currently inhabiting a wealthy dentist.
"What in the pit are you doing here Azazel?" He snarls and grabs the man up by his collar to slam into the wall. He had already made sure none of the other patrons would see them and was not worried about someone calling for help.
"Why would I tell you?" Azazel hissed back and shoved Crowley away from him. So it was true. The Crossroads demon had been up on the surface with the other Winchester sibling. A sick grin stretches across his face when Crowley rips off the wolf mask and slings it to the floor. His own mask, a bronze demon mask with horns curling to the ceiling, disappears with a wave of his hand.
"Best watch yourself Crowley, you know what I can do," Azazel sings, and his grin only gets nastier when Crowley simply snarls in his direction.
"Then who are you here with?" Crowley demands and reaches down to straighten his jacket to compose himself. He should not have let the yellow-eyes demon get to him so easily. While he was very powerful, Azazel was one of the princes of Hell. Azazel could send him away with a snap of his fingers.
"Just my wife," Yellow eyes says with a shrug.
Crowley scoffs, knowing that the other demon is obviously speaking about the meat suit's wife. He knew the bastard would not be telling him anything unless he wanted to.
"What are you doing here Crowley? I've heard that you've made a deal with a certain little girl," Azazel taunts and Crowley schools his face into something nonchalant.
"No idea who you are talking about," He says and shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants. He began to feel nervous, however. Very very demons knew about his deal with Margot and he had wanted to keep it that way. Being the sister of Lucifer's vessel, whether Margot knew it or not, had made her a very important piece on the chessboard.
"Ah, well my friend is very interested in meeting her. Think she might have found your little pet already," Azazel says and Crowley feels his body freeze. He needed to get out of here and get Margot to safety.
Crowley goes to teleport away when Azazel snaps his fingers and the King of the Crossroads finds that he can no longer move.
"Ah ah ah," Azazel mocks and strides forward to get into Crowley's face, "Why the rush? You just got here," He circles Crowley and looks him up and down, "All I want is for you to tell me why you haven't nabbed that pretty little soul yet. I can see it all the way from here you know."
"She belongs to me," Crowley spits angrily, "And no one else is to touch her."
"That's where you are wrong there buddy boy. From here on out whatever soul you collect belongs to Him. No more keeping them for yourself,"
A dangerous rumble grows in Crowley's chest and he jerks against the invisible restraints holding him down. He had to get out of here.
Across the room, Margot still sat in her chair. She had thrown her morals to the wind and had downs the glass of champagne right after Crowley had disappeared. She worried for him and herself. The demon had been acting very weird and she desperately wanted to know what was going on. As she waited, Margot had collected several more glasses on her table and was ashamed to say that she was now on her fourth glass when a beautiful woman came up to her table.
She wore a dark blue gown that showed off her figure perfectly with strawberry blonde hair curling around her face. The top half of her face is hidden by a simple black mask with tiny horns that curled up into her hairline. She slid into the chair opposite her and gave Margot a kind smile.
"Hello, I noticed that you had been here for a while and wanted to see if you were alright," The woman says and reaches across the table to offer her hand, "My name is Jewell."
"Margot," she introduces with a small smile, "And I'm fine. Just waiting for my date to get back."
"I do hope that he did not stand you up," Jewell says and Margot is touched by the concern that the woman shows her.
"No I just think he had something to take care of," She says with a shrug and goes back to sip at her champagne. While she appreciated the company Margot would rather not have it at the moment. She did not think she would be the best person to speak with at the current moment.
"Well, he is a moron for leaving such a beautiful young woman all by herself," Jewell admonishes and calls a waiter to their table to pick up two tall glasses. She keeps one for herself and hands Margot the other for when she is finished with her current glass.
"No, that's alright. I probably don't need anymore," Margot tells her and scoots the glass to the middle of the table. She sucks in a sharp breath when the glass is suddenly sliding back to her by itself and she swings to look at Jewell. Her heartbeat goes wild when she finds Jewell's grey eyes a pitch black.
"I insist," Jewell purrs and tips her head back to take a quick drink of her own.
Margot nods quickly and reaches out to wrap her fingers around the delicate stem of the glass. This was the first demon beside Crowley that she had come in contact with. Crowley had told her about how dangerous the other demons were and to stay as far away from them as she could. This had to be why he had blown her off so suddenly.
"I see that you know what I am," Jewell hums in thought. The contacts she had to watch Crowley had been right. The girl's soul was brighter and more powerful than any she had ever seen before. Jewell was young for a demon, but she had seen her fair share so far.
"Yes," Margot says simply. She knew that she was in deep shit and quickly vowed that she would not say anything to the demon.
"Good. Now we can get down to business," Jewell leans forward and rests her hand on top of Margot's own, "I want you to tell me everything that that bastard Crowley has told you."
"He never tells me anything," Margot says quickly and winces when the demon's nails dig into her skin, "I swear, he never tells me about what goes on in hell."
"I find that hard to believe," Jewell hisses and digs her nails into Margot's hand until blood wells up in the crescent-shaped marks, "Our dear Crowley would never skimp his duties for no good reason and I want to know why."
Margot grits her teeth against the pain in her hand and glares at Jewell, "I told you. He never tells me anything. He owns my soul and that is all I know," Which was mostly true. He had come to her several times about how he disliked how Hell was run, but Margot had not paid too much attention to his yelling. She disliked when he raised his voice and had often retreated to her comfy recliner with a book and a cup of hot tea. Crowley would always apologize before he left, however, so Margot never held it against him.
"Listen, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. The way I see it, you tell me everything or I rip that pretty little soul from your body right now," Jewell snarled and slid her hand up to now grip Margot's wrist. The demon dug her sharp nails into the thin skin of her wrist and Margot could not help her yelp of pain at feeling those nails piercing her skin.
"He never tells me anything," Margot hisses at the demon. She hated being so helpless. She wishes that she knew what to do to try and get out of this situation. Where the hell was Crowley at!?
"You lie," Jewell spits and stands from her chair to tower over the human. She goes to yank Margot up and take her somewhere a little more private when a hand grabs her free arm and jerks her away from Margot.
"I think we are done here," Crowley snarls and with his free hand grabs Jewell and begins to burn her from the inside. He grins wickedly as he feels the demon trapped inside the woman flail in fear and pain. He lets the screaming demon burn in the internal hellfire before turning it up a notch and killing Jewell for good. The woman's body falls to the ground with a thump and Crowley quickly lets it go so that he can scoop Margot into his arms.
With a whoosh of too hot air, the two of them are back at her home and Margot is stumbling away from the King of the Crossroads. She looks at him in paralyzing fear as he begins to pace back and forth in her living room. Margot looks him over and finds that his clothing is ripped along his arms and she can see terrible burns beneath them. It almost looks like he had forced his way out of chains.
"Crowley, what just happened?" Margot demands and stands in the way of his pacing so that he would stop.
"What happened is something that will never happen again!" Crowley yelled and reached out to grab her by her arms and pull her into his chest. Her arms automatically go around his waist and Crowley takes a second to just hold Margot tight to him. It had taken most of his strength to get away from Azazel and he felt drained after teleporting both him and Margot back to her home.
He pulls away from her so that he can look at the hand that Jewell had injured and cursed. He would not be able to heal her. Margot lets Crowley lead her to her bathroom and waits patiently as he gets out her first aid kit and begins to doctor her hand.
"Crowley," Margot says and the demon ignores her so that he can focus on wrapping the bandage around her wrist. When he stops and continues to just stare at the white cloth, Margot moves her hand away so that she can reach up and cup his clean-shaven face in her hand, "Crowley. Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not bloody okay. You almost died Margot," He hissed and pulled her down so that she now sat in his lap on the floor of her bathroom. He rests her forehead against her own and holds her tight.
"I could have lost you to those bastards tonight,"
"But you didn't and we are both okay," Margot reassures him. He looks stricken and Margot feels terribly for the demon king. She would have never thought something like this would have happened, but she would know better next time. Margot would ask him to teach her how to protect herself against demons. That would come later though, now she had a distraught Crowley to take care of.
"That bitch hurt you," he snarls.
"And you killed her," Margot tells him and scoots closer to Crowley. Her hand tilts his face her way and she leans up and presses a kiss against his cheek, "You saved me,"
Margot gasps when Crowley's hand is suddenly in her hair and his mouth is on hers. The kiss is searing hot and she happily opens her mouth when she fees his tongue against her lips. He maneuvers her so that she is now straddling his lap and his hand tightens in her hair.
Crowley breaks away from that perfect mouth and leans down to lather her neck in hot kisses. He does not stop himself from sinking his teeth into the delicate skin in the slope of her neck. Blood dribbles from the wound and Crowley licks it away before kissing his way back up so that he can dip his tongue back into her mouth.
His hand clutches her tight and he rumbles when Margot gasps against him when he rips the back of her dress open. Margot breathes out his name and it only makes him want her more. He reluctantly pulls back so that he can rip the rest of her dress off of her beautiful body and pulls her back when the ripped mess of black material is deposited into the floor.
"You are mine," He growls against her lips and kisses away from her lips so that he can nip at the sensitive skin of her ear, "Say it. Say you are mine,"
"Yours will always be yours," Margot whispers then cries out when he dives back down to the bite mark on her neck. She feels him lick away the blood that is still slowly dribbling out.
Crowley's other hand rises until he is cupping her face in his large palm and he slowly pulls back to look at her, "As much as I want you, Darling," He whispers and Margot gazes at him with half-lidded eyes. He leans down to press kisses along her cheeks then her lips before pulling away again, "I have to get you somewhere safe. And that means to your brothers."
Margot takes a few deep breaths to calm herself, "Okay, yeah that would probably be best." she blushes when she remembers that she has nothing in but her underwear and shoes and goes to cover herself when Crowley's hand catches her arm.
"Never hide from me," He growls at her, and Margot quickie nods. They take their time standing, interrupted by quick kisses and sharp nips until they are finally standing. Crowley follows her to her bedroom and with a snap of his fingers, two large suitcases appear on her bed.
"Get changed and pack what you need. I must make sure that we were not followed," Crowley orders and Margot quickly nods and shucks on some comfortable clothes. As she packs, she wanders what Crowley will now do. She was sure that neither of them was safe any longer, but she never wanted to be away from the demon after tonight. He had saved her and Margot's love for him had blossomed.
Crowley is not gone long, and when he returns he is back in his usual suit and tie. He stuffs his hands into his jacket pocket and watches as Margot packs quickly, "We were not followed but we shouldn't dally. Who knows who will show up,"
It does not take long for Margot to pack the few things she will need. It consisted of mostly clothes and toiletries. The only thing of interest she carefully packed away was the picture of her and her mother right before she had gotten sick.
Crowley waits until she has zipped the last bag up before coming up behind her and spinning her around to face him. He leans down and presses a light kiss to her lips before pulling back. Crowley hated what he was about to have to do, but it would keep her safe.
"When I bring you to your brothers, I will no longer be able to see you every month. It won't be safe," he tells her and watches as Margot's heart breaks right in front of him. Tears fill her eyes but she says nothing.
Margot understood why he could not come to her. She had pestered him about her brothers and he had vaguely told her that Sam and Dean hunted things that went bump in the night. Things like Crowley. She would be safe with them, but at the cost of not seeing Crowley.
"I understand," she whispers in a broken voice. She gives Crowley a watery grin then reaches up so that she could pull him down for a kiss. It is soft and sad, but it would be one of the last kisses that they would share for a very long time. When she pulls away, Margot takes a deep breath and gives him a smile alight with confidence she did not feel.
"I'm ready."
That smell of sulfur is the only thing that is left in the house the next morning when Pamela comes to check on Margot. She finds nothing that would hint to the young woman's disappearance and the older woman simply cleans up the house then goes home. She knew that Margot could take care of herself. Margot knew where home was.