The Howl
Rowan's heart continued to pound against her rib cage as she tried to locate Crowley in the bunker. She wasn't even sure where she was going; it was like her feet knew where to carry her. She turned into the kitchen and froze.
Crowley was pouring a bottle of liquor into two glasses. The whiskey was done and that seemed to be the scotch. He casually glanced at her and raised a glass.
"Drink with me, Chickadee." He said and her feet carried her forward despite the fear caught in her throat, making her unable to utter a word. She took the glass as he watched her, a slight smile spreading on his lips.
"Did I – um – my dream, I mean. Did I – um…" Rowan said, lost for words as Crowley stepped closer to her, watching her with that smile. His body was in her personal space and he was well aware of that.
"It wasn't quite a dream as it was astral projection, am I right?" he asked and she met his eyes, seeing that mischievous glimmer.
"It felt so real." Rowan said and he continued to stare at her, still making her heart pound hard and fast. Perhaps it was a mixture of panic and lust. "The chains and handcuffs, the table, the symbol…" she added, seeing it in her mind as if it wasn't just a dream. It wasn't just a dream.
"All you, Chickadee." He said and gently placed a hand on her hip, inching towards her, nearly closing the gap.
"I released you." She said, her voice so soft it was nearly a whisper.
"You kissed me." he said and his eyes dropped down to her lips.
Rowan set her glass of scotch on the counter, and then took his, setting it down too. She looked back into his eyes and before she could utter a word, he closed the gap between them, pressing his mouth to her, his hands cupping her back thighs, lifting her onto the counter, nearly knocking back the glasses of scotch. He pushed through her legs, holding her tightly against him as he held onto her hips.
Her legs wrapped around him, her arms around his shoulder, fingers entwined in his short hair. His tongue was hot against hers, their kiss so overwhelming that she felt starved of oxygen like she had done to him. But she didn't want him to stop.
In that moment, her mind flashed back to her astral projection, as if unlocking another forgotten memory. When she ruled in Helheim, she remembered how she could appear to the dead. She was a beautiful woman and then, at will, project herself. Her projection would appear as a ghostly, but vivid, creature very much like the dead in her realm. Her pearly bones were revealed through disintegrating tissue, blended in with healthy flesh.
The pictures depicting Hel in those books made her look half undead like a rotting zombie, but that wasn't her only image. Rowan understood now. She could walk the earth and the realm of the dead. She could be in two places at once, always a keeper of death. She was Death.
Then, she could see how she had appeared to Crowley; a ghostly apparition, radiating a strong aura of power. It was surprising to see that he wanted to kiss a face like that.
A ringing broke her concentration; it was her cell phone. Rowan pulled it out of her pocket, Crowley breaking their kiss, only to kiss her neck, his warm breath making her skin prickle with goose bumps.
"Hey." She said into the phone.
"Hey Rowan, we're on our way. Is there anything you want us to pick up?" Sam asked and now she couldn't concentrate on her conversation with Sam while Crowley was busy kissing every inch of her neck, his hands stroking her thighs.
"No, I'm good." She replied, trying to sound normal, her free hand still around Crowley's neck. She really was. Maybe Crowley was distracting her with kisses so she wouldn't realize that he only helped her so he could help himself. Maybe he liked her like she liked him. It didn't matter at the moment.
"Alright, well, we'll be there in a couple of hours." Sam said and she smiled as Crowley pulled the neck of her shirt down passed her shoulder, and then slipped off her bra strap, so he could kiss her shoulder.
"Okay. Bye." Rowan said, hanging up on Sam. She placed her phone on the counter, and then slipped her hands to his suit jacket, popping his buttons. She slid her hands under his jacket, feeling his chest.
Crowley's hands lifted her shirt and as he broke his lips away from her skin, she helped him tear it off, throwing it behind him. His lips resumed kissing her skin, but he traveled down to her collar bone, his lips tenderly and hungrily grazing her breasts sitting in her bra.
She tilted her head back, closing her eyes as she smiled, enjoying his touches. She didn't feel concerned with the Winchesters currently on their way home. She couldn't feel the world around her and didn't care to. Rowan just wanted Crowley's lips on her skin.
However, the world wasn't about to let her get lost in his embrace.
A sharp piercing howl erupted outside the bunker making it sound faded, as if it was far away, but she knew it was close. It was a howl that made a shiver run down her spine, as if she recognized it. Even Crowley stopped to listen. When the howl erupted again, he pulled his face away from her chest, looking into the doorway of the kitchen as if he might see something appear.
Rowan looked at him, at that distant gaze in his eyes. He didn't seem to know what that howling could be.
"Is that a Hellhound?" she asked, already anticipating what his answer would be.
"No." he replied casually, then glanced at her. "Could be something you know." He added and she swallowed hard, nodding slightly. She didn't want to say it out loud because a part of her still felt like this Norse Mythology bit is insane.
"Fenrir, the wolf." She replied, looking at his suit jacket like all she wanted to do was feel his body pressed up against hers.
"Your brother." He corrected, taking a glass of scotch and taking a sip. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Just like a brother to ruin his sister's make-out session with a smoking hot demon." Rowan said, getting a little smirk out of Crowley as he placed the scotch back on the counter. "I guess he'll want to speak to me." she said and he met her eyes, a dark glimmer in his.
"You should. He might have the answers I don't have." Crowley said and she gave him a disappointed smile despite feeling reassured that he really did like her and not just so he could escape his bindings. "Don't worry, Chickadee. You don't have much time to sit and contemplate." He added and she nodded.
He slipped away, his hand extended, her shirt flying into his hand. He turned and gave it to her, watching her as she slipped it over her head.
"What about you?" she asked, watching him reach for the scotch, drinking the rest. "Are you going to leave?" she asked and he placed the empty glass down on the counter.
"No." he said, which surprised her.
"I don't understand." She said and he glanced at her, giving her a small smile.
"I've got some business here. And I can keep them away from you." Crowley said, referring to the Winchesters, which made a small sad smile appear on her face. He really liked her. He stroked her cheek as if to cheer her up. "You can lock me back up before you leave." he said and drank the second glass of scotch, nearly in one gulp.
"I hope you had enjoyed your few minutes of freedom." Rowan said and he placed the empty glass next to the other one, grinning as he looked at her.
"Every second." He said as she slid off the counter. With a smile, she turned and walked out of the kitchen, Crowley walking beside her.
"So, that symbol. I've been meaning to ask, what is it?" she asked as they turned down the corridor.
"A Devil's Trap." He replied. "Makes a demon useless." He added and when she glanced at him, he blinked and what she saw, didn't shock her, but seemed to confirm what she had seen before. His eyes were a crimson red.
"Sexy." She replied and he blinked his red eyes away with a grin.
"Seems we have that in common." Crowley said, his voice low in a whisper and his eyes fell heavy on her. Without warning, his arm wrapped around her and pulled her in, kissing her neck. She let out a slight laugh, especially when he got handsy on her, dropping his hand to her ass.
"We have quite a bit in common, I believe." Rowan said, pulling away from him and giving him a playful glare as he grinned with delight.
They walked into the room where he was held captive. She glanced down at the Devil's Trap, not sure how she would fix that, until Crowley stepped beside her with a large stick of white chalk. She took it and watched as he sat down in his chair, exhaling like he didn't really want to resume his imprisonment, but was willing to do it for her. She could have kissed him. She'll have to kiss him.
She began touching up the Devil's Trap with the white chalk as Crowley began cuffing one wrist. Once the sigil was done, Rowan cuffed his other wrist, and then clasped the chains back to how they were around him, even his feet which she hadn't really noticed before, but a flashback of her astral projection proved it. Well, it seemed she still had a bit of amnesia.
"Just like old times." Crowley said, looking at her with a slight grin. Yeah, he really didn't like being chained up again.
"Yeah, you liked that." She said, his grin widening. Rowan leaned over, giving him a long kiss that told him how much she wanted to stay. She pulled away and grinned at him. "Something to remember me by." She added and he smirked at her, but it wasn't the kiss she meant. She cupped his groin, surprising him. Her lips twitched into a dark grin as she locked gazes with him.
"Handsy." He said and she let out a small laugh.
"Like I said, something to remember me by." She replied and pulled away. "So, see you later, whoever finds the other first." She said and began walking to the large doors that had remained opened ever since she met him.
"A contest I'll win, I assure you." He said and she turned, gripping the doors, staring at him with a smile.
"We'll see." Rowan said and closed the doors. She searched the shelf beside her for the lock, putting it through the door handles. She locked the bolt and stood silently, looking at the door. She pressed her hand up against it. She didn't think she'd feel this way when she first walked in. She told herself she wasn't going to trust him, that she was going to remember not to underestimate him. And here she was, missing him already because she fell for him.
She walked away, knowing her brother was out there, waiting for her. She wasn't going to take her things or her cell phone. Maybe she'd come back, maybe not; but all her possessions just didn't seem to belong to her anymore. Not only that, but she was Hel, a goddess, even if she didn't feel like one. What would she need with things like a cell phone?
However, Rowan did take her purse and her iPod. Those were important enough to her.
She reached the foyer with the spiral stairs that led up to the heavy looking front door. She climbed those stairs and once she got up top, tried to open the door with that large turning handle like old submarines. It wouldn't budge; it was too heavy. She clenched her jaw, irritation and determination building up, but wasn't enough to open the door.
Rowan stood back and focused on the door. She was Hel. That stupid door was going to open. She stared at the door, staring at how still it was, how staring at it didn't do any good.
"Fuck!" She snapped and the door creaked as it opened, as if someone had turned that large circular handle. She walked up to it, turning it which was much easier now, and swung the door open.
She stepped out of the bunker, on ground level, which seemed like a pretty deserted place, a small forest surrounding the bunker. A perfect place for hunters that go around calling themselves federal agents. She turned and shut the door behind her, hearing a click, as if the door locked. Rowan walked away, not hearing or seeing anything around. She walked down the trail and once it began to curve, she could see a black car without a driver.
Then a twig snapped and when she looked to the forest by the car, she could see a wolf, his fur white and gray.
But this wolf was much larger than she had ever seen. That was because this was no ordinary wolf. She knew this wolf and by the way he stared at her with dark eyes, he knew her.
This was Fenrir, her brother.