AN: Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, the next one will be even shorter (gasp) but I promise I'll upload two at the same time next round! Hope you enjoy the story! xxx

~Fen~

Chapter Four:

'What?' Crowley said softly, his voice dangerous. If this girl had been wasting his time…if she'd been taking him for a fool…

'Wait, let me explain!' Athaya said quickly and stood up, putting some distance between her and the irritated demon.

'Let you explain how you've been having me on? What was this, exactly?' Crowley stood up and glared at her, all thoughts of the deal gone. 'A chance to find out all you could about deals, so you could cheat one in the future? You're not happy with the conditions and decided this would be a good way to escape Azazel in the future? Christ,' Crowley ran his hand along his jawline. 'I even gave you that information myself!'

'No. It was none of that. How could you even suspect I would do something so foolish?' She said coldly. Athaya was angry now. Angry that he had so quickly picked her as a crook. She tossed her dark hair over her shoulders and stood up to her full, tall height. 'I don't know what I'm going to ask for yet, because nothing bad has happened. I told you that I'd make a deal before this conversation was over. Well it isn't over yet, is it?' She almost shouted.

'So…you're waiting for something bad to happen?' Crowley was less animated now, as he realised she might be telling the truth.

'Yes. I felt that something would happen before sunrise. Something that would be too much for me to cope with, and so I figured out how to summon a crossroads demon.' She said honestly, her shoulders slumped in defeat. If he was going to kill her, then he was going to kill her. There was nothing she could do about it. A few seconds ago, she'd felt his anger rise enough for him to do so, but now it had lowered slightly; as if it were simmering. But he still felt dangerous.

Crowley felt all the anger seep out of him and he sat back in the chair with a thunk. He shook his head slowly. 'Sorry. I just don't like it when people meddle with me. As you said wisely…it would be foolish.' He saw that the girl was telling the truth. She really didn't know because whatever catastrophe was going to occur hadn't happened yet.

'So…Athaya leant back against a bookshelf, crossing her arms defensively. 'Are we good?'

He stared at her evenly and she returned his gaze unflinchingly. She truly was strange. 'We're good.' He said after a moment.

She let out a sigh of relief and walked back over to her chair. 'Thank god! I was getting really worried there.' As she sat down, she smiled at Crowley and he realised that she had forgiven him.

'Me too. But then I realised you were too smart to make such a big mistake.'

She barked out a laugh. 'Hah. Thanks.' She frowned down at the long parchment and then blinked a few times. 'So…where were we?'

'I do believe we were just discussing the time period terms of our agreement.'

'Ah, yes. I remember. So…whenever Azazel comes to get me…I'll go straight to hell? It's hard to think that that's the preferable option. Going to hell.'

'It is a bit, isn't it?' he said quietly. 'Usually you'd be doing the opposite…'

'But not this time.' Athaya offered and Crowley nodded.

'Not this time…' Then he cleared his head and looked up at her. 'Now…should I fail to be powerful enough…I shall find you…at my nearest…convenience…when…I become so.' He wrote the words as he spoke them and Athaya was glad he was letting her see the deal papers. It made her feel like he trusted her, which was good, since she was trusting him with her life and soul.

'So…that about covers it,' he said and looked up from the piece of paper. 'So just let me know when you do figure out what it is that you want.'

Athaya smiled in gratitude but stopped when Crowley sighed. 'What? What is it?' She asked nervously.

'Nothing…I'm just hoping that I can somehow make this work. It isn't foolproof, you know.' He shook his head, 'I'd understand if you didn't want to go through with it.'

Athaya grabbed his arm and shook it slightly. 'Hey. Listen to me. I know exactly what I'm getting into, unlike your other clients. I know this is a special deal, and one that you might not be able to deliver on for a while, possibly at all – if you can't find me. But I knew the risks as soon as I put that box with my photograph into the ground. This is my own decision. I know that everything will work out fine.'

'How? You feel it?' Crowley asked dubiously.

Athaya nodded confidently. 'I feel it,' she repeated.

Crowley relaxed and sank back into his chair, the seat creaking slightly as his weight shifted. 'So now we wait.'

'Yes…now we wait,' Athaya said calmly and folded her arms on the desk, leaning down to rest her head on them.

'Hey, princess, don't go falling asleep now. You don't want to give me an excuse to call you sleeping beauty, now, do you?'

'Well, unfortunately for me, it's sometime in the early morning. I haven't slept more than two hours in the last two days.'

'Yeesh. On second thought, maybe you should sleep.'

'Nah, I'm fine,' she mumbled into the crook of her elbow.

'Sure. Who are you trying to convince, darling? Me or you?'

Athaya lifted her head slightly to squint at Crowley curiously. 'Speaking of which…you weren't doing a very good job of convincing me I wanted to make a deal with you, king of the crossroads. I would have thought that was your expertise.'

'It is. I just wanted to make sure you completely knew the consequences of your young and impudent actions.'

'Well I do. Happy now?' She asked with a smirk.

'Surprisingly so. I've nearly completed a deal that will hopefully gain me one of the most interesting souls I've ever had the pleasure to meet.'

'My soul? The strange one?'

'Hah. Yes. That soul,' he laughed.

Crowley heard something chirp and Athaya sat bolt upright in her chair. 'Hold on. Give me a minute,' she said and pulled a vibrating phone out of her pocket and held it to her ear. She stood up and walked to the other side of the room, a look of deep concentration on her face.

'Hi…Uh, yeah. It's me. What is it?'

Crowley watched Athaya begin to pace, her slender form making its way back and forth across his carpet. Her expression seemed to darken with every second that passed.

'What do you mean? That's not right. He couldn't have. He was home at few hours ago. I told him to stay put.'

Crowley tilted his head to the side and frowned. What was going on?'

'Where was I? I just went for a walk.' Tears started dripping down her face as she listened to whoever was on the other end of the phone and her voice grew shaky. 'Okay. I'll be back soon. On my way home right now. Just give me twenty minutes.' She gulped slightly and her tone hardened. 'No I can't get there any faster, I'm all the way down at the Point.' The tears were flowing freely now, and Athaya tried hard not to sob. 'Of course I'll phone you when I'm close. Okay…bye.'

Crowley was standing by now. He didn't like the way the conversation had ended.

Athaya put the phone down and turned to him, her face stricken with grief. She took a deep breath of air and her chest convulsed as she tried to keep the sobs in. 'I'm…' She choked her words out with great difficulty. She swallowed thickly and brushed some of the tears away. 'I'm going…to need to sign that deal now.'

AN: Duhn duhn DUUUUUUHN. What was the call about? You'll just have to wait and see...*evil laugh* I do love writing cliffhangers! xx