Dark Paradise
So because I had Lana Del Rey playing when I was writing this, I picked one of her songs for the title. It sort of works. Dark Paradise would be a good way to describe a few things here.
Reviewer Response:
Adaddario: Well keep those fingers crossed for a good ending and we'll see what I can pull off.
AuntMo: Would you expect any different from me? Lol.
Four Months Ago
Holly laughed and squirmed. Dean glanced up at her as he kissed her stomach, his fingers running lightly over her sides. He smirked and chuckled, watching the joy and calm in her face. This whole move had been a great idea. He glanced momentarily at the boxes still in the room. They were unpacking slowly, very very slowly, but that was fine. There were a fair amount of distractions that were far more interesting.
"Dean..." Holly moaned, making weak attempts at grabbing his hands.
"Baby, you know what that does." Dean muttered. Holly grinned as she finally grabbed his hands and pulled them up. His body followed and he laced their fingers together, holding her hands down against the pillow on either side of her head.
"Did you ever imagine this?" Holly whispered, blue eyes looking between green.
"Not exactly this but...had a few fantasies." Dean replied. He groaned lightly when Holly wrapped her legs around his waist and rubbed against him. "Damn Holls.." He dropped his head to her shoulder as she laughed lightly.
"Tell me." Holly urged gently. For a moment there was silence. Her thumbs rubbed at his hands as her left foot dragged slowly up and down his leg.
"One of the stormy nights that Sam was working and you were with me." Dean started, mumbling against her shoulder. Holly tried to wiggle a hand free but he didn't let her. "We were kinda like this...and...you had your birthstone ring on your hand." He lifted his head and looked at her left hand, watching the light from the lamp catch on the engagement ring. Holly tilted her head and watched him carefully. "And I just...started imagining things were real. That we weren't just...fucking around. You were my girl and all."
"Dean..." Holly muttered, fading off as she wasn't sure what to say. Dean looked at her and when they're eyes locked, he smiled. Holly blinked and then grinned. She got her hands free and grabbed his head, pulling him down to kiss him. She nudged him over onto his back and rolled with him. They both groaned into the kiss when she sank onto him. "I love you, you know. You've literally saved me...so many times."
Dean sat up, looping an arm around her waist and holding the other behind him for balance. He held her hip, keeping her still rather than letting her move. Holly looked at him, hands holding his head, fingers gently running through his short hair.
"If I didn't already do it, I'd propose right now." Dean muttered, bringing a laugh from his girl. He looked her over, taking in the scars that littered her body, reminders of her past abuse. His eyes zeroed in at her stomach though, just looking at it. She watched him again, curious under his gaze. Something set off in her mind and she tilted her head.
"Do you want to try?" Holly asked, surprising herself as much as him. Dean's eyes shot up to her, confused for a moment, until she pulled his arm off and rested his hand on her stomach. At which point, his eyes widened slightly, uncertain. "I could...go off the pill...you know I'm a big fan of the trying."
"Are you sure?" Dean asked.
"You want a family so badly." Holly reminded him. "And...we do so well with Carly. Honestly, I think we'd make some fucking gorgeous children." Dean laughed slightly, nodding his agreement. "I can't wait to see you play daddy."
"I love you so damn much." Dean growled out just before he grabbed her head and brought her in to a fierce passionate kiss. He thrust his hips upward and Holly moaned, willingly starting to move again.
SLTD***SPN***SLTD***SPN
Present
"So how does it feel, Sammy?" Zachariah asked, examining a knife. He tilted his head and looked to where the younger man was chained, arms up and stretched out to the sides. Sam's feet touched the floor and his knees were bent as he tried to keep himself from relying just on his arms. He knew the second he did that, his shoulders would pop. As it was, he was pretty sure one of his legs was already broken. Sam turned his head slightly, bloody and bruised, one eye swollen as the good one glared lightly at the mallet sitting on the floor. He looked down at himself. His vision was blurred but he didn't need clear sight to see that his torso was fairly mangled. He was certain at least one rib was broken.
A flash of a red glow alerted him to the fact that Zachariah had a flame. Which meant he was going to get burned. Sam found an odd irony in the whole situation. He could get stabbed, cut, smashed by a mallet, and not make a noise. But getting burned did it. Just smelling his own skin burning, feeling the searing hot heat, the only way to escape was screaming. Sam tried to steel himself anyways as he watched Zachariah come closer.
"You know, I've been wanting to do this for a long time." Christie mused as she back handed Meg. For her part, Meg just laughed as she spit out blood. "You and Hannah...oh wait, no...Holly. You guys made being your friend a nauseating act."
"Oh good, that wasn't just me then." Meg muttered. Christie frowned and punched her again. Meg leaned back in her chains and stared, dazed for a moment, at the ceiling. She slowly tilted her head back down and looked at the brunette. "That the best you got, princess?"
"Oh I'm just getting started." Christie ground out.
"You couldn't torture a butterfly." Meg laughed. "I've screwed people who have hit harder than you. Hell, my little Clarence gets rougher when the day's been hard." She leaned forward when a foot connected to her stomach and she coughed, watching more blood splash out of her mouth. "Christie...this goes without saying...but...you're fired."
"The name's Ruby, bitch." Christie corrected. She grabbed Meg's hair and lifted her head, pushing a knife in her face. "And by the time I'm done. You'll be nothing but a smear on the floor."
"Can't wait." Meg taunted. She locked eyes with the other woman and sneered at her. "Give it your best shot." She spit, laughing at the fact that Christie, or Ruby then, now had blood splattering on her face. The other woman let go of her head with disgust and moved to a tray that Crowley had let her have full of different torturing devices.
SLTD***SPN***SLTD***SPN
She felt...empty.
Was that a possibility?
She was certain she was dead but then she could still see out of her own eyes. The Crowley man was moving around the room. He had pulled off his butcher's apron, covered in blood from God knew what, and had shown himself to be wearing a tuxedo. He had injected her with something, she wasn't too sure what, but she had a good bet that it was some sort of paralysing thing. He was talking to her, telling her about himself, explained how he knew where to find her and everything.
And he explained the past women.
Holly wanted so badly to be unconscious when she heard that. A dozen other women. She remembered one time, long ago, Dean talking about a case with a missing woman, supposedly linking into another similar one. She was going to join the list, at this point, there was no one that could get to her in time.
"You'll see, we'll be happy." Crowley remarked, turning back to her. He straightened out the dress he had put her in and she just looked at him with blank eyes. "There's just one more loose end I need to deal with. Hopefully it shows up soon, I hate waiting." He brushed back her hair then leaned to her and pressed cold lips to hers. Her unmoving state didn't allow for any sort of response but a single tear rolled free from her eye. "I'll be back once everything is taken care of."
With that said, Crowley left the room, the door still slightly open. Holly pulled her concentration to turn her eyes to the door, wishing she could bring herself to it. With the door open, she could hear everything outside of the room better. Hear the screams that came from her friends as whatever torture was continually laid on them. After a while, it was just a female voice that shouted out, the male fading off. The voice was getting quieter though, losing strength.
She wanted to scream herself.
She wanted to yell and break things and hurt whoever dared to hurt her family.
She wanted this nightmare over with.
Holly wondered momentarily what happened to the dozen other women. Did Crowley end up killing them, on purpose or by accident? Did they kill themselves when they could move? Were any of them ever found? She figured not since Crowley was still doing this stuff. She felt so bad for those women now. She wondered if any of them had family, husbands or children. Did any children get orphaned because of Crowley? Well she supposed since Crowley was behind Jo and Ash dying, he had made Carly an orphan.
"You're not him!" Crowley's voice echoed down the hallway to the room and Holly would have perked up in interest by the tone. All she could do was continue to watch the door. The distance from herself to the door was enough to make everything around blurry to her vision, she was barely able to distinguish where it was.
Several loud gunshots and crashing noises rang out. Someone was yelling, directions maybe? Several voices attempted to overpower each other. Something ran past the door and then something else went by but stopped and turned to the room. A person came in and as they got closer, Holly saw it to be a blood covered Christie.
"He left you alone and with the door open?" Christie asked, frowning. She crouched slightly and looked at Holly's eyes. "What does he see in you huh? What makes you so special? You're not even that pretty." Holly just looked at her, being unable to do anything else. Christie reached out and twirled a strand of the blonde's hair around her finger. "He gets tired fast, you know. I'm the only one he's kept...because I don't mind. At least at first." She frowned and twisted the hair into her fist. "I just want him to be happy, you know. Is that so bad? So...I watch him obsess over these women...and then...I help him. Because I love him. But then I get annoyed and he starts getting bored. So I get rid of them. Sure he's mad at first because he doesn't realize he was bored. But then he's mine again for a while longer until his latest obsession comes around."
Christie tilted her head, taking in Holly's paralysed form. She gripped the girl's hair in one hand and her knife in the other and contemplated the woman. The gun shots continued to ring out but slowed down now. Someone was shouting something but the words were ignored and lost on the women.
"Maybe I'll do it early this time." Christie whispered. "I'm not good with competition. And I really hate you, more than I've hated the others." She tapped the knife sharply on Holly's cheek and the blonde felt the fluid run down her skin. "He won't have to know. Well...he'll know...but...it'll be okay. You're just a fad to him, Holly. Plus, when you think about it, it's more like...a mercy thing. I'm saving you, really."
The knife lifted in the air, something moved behind Christie, Her arm jerked down just as there was a bang and everything went still. Slowly, the brunette woman sank to the floor. A figure moved in Holly's line of vision and for a moment she got hopefully, but then her vision focused when the person got closer and confusion overrode her mind before she gratefully lost consciousness.
It wasn't Dean.
SLTD***SPN***SLTD***SPN
Five Minutes Earlier
Crowley walked from the room and made his way to the larger main room, straightening out his tuxedo. He would have to make this quick, he didn't want to get messy. When he got into the room however, he found the door to the outside wide open. He looked around, expecting an attack. What he didn't expect, was a single man sitting in his chair.
"You're not him!" Crowley growled loudly, furious that someone was here who wasn't his target.
"Nope." Gabriel remarked happily. "I mean I am a him but probably not the him you were expecting." He stood up and put his hands on his hips. "And you, Fergus Crowley, are under arrest for a whole shitload of crap."
"Am I?" Crowley asked, lifting an eyebrow. He drew out a gun quickly and fired but Gabriel had dove out of the way just as the man was reaching for the weapon. Three more men came out from different spots and aimed at Crowley. He frowned and turned, firing rapidly, forcing them to scatter. Gabriel and his men took cover and tried shooting out at Crowley but the other man knew the place better, knew where to hid.
"GIVE IT UP CROWLEY!" Gabriel yelled out.
"Zachariah told me about you!" Crowley called back. Gabriel glanced around. "The tricky, trouble making slacker with a sweet tooth." Several gun shots rang out and Gabriel looked to his side, watching one of his officers fall to the ground. "WHERE'S YOUR TRICKS NOW!"
"YOU WANT A TRICK?" Gabriel asked.
Crowley chuckled to himself as he quickly moved his location. He could hear the footsteps of the officers, trying to move themselves to better spots. He saw Zachariah at the doorway and smiled, pleased when the man took out another of the officers. Two down, two to go. He listened as other gun shots rang and used his knowledge of the room to pinpoint the location before he turned out of his hiding spot and fired.
There was silence.
Zachariah walked slowly into the room, keeping his gun ready and eyes sharp. He and Crowley searched the room and found no signs of the living officers.
One single shot rang and Zachariah fell to the floor, a neat little circle in his forehead. Crowley frowned and spun around, blinking in surprise at finding a gun pressed right against his forehead.
"Surprise." Gabriel muttered darkly, glaring at the man. "Good shootout, Crowley, but it just gave me an excuse to do this." With that, he pulled the trigger and watched the man fall dead to the floor. The second officer came out from his hiding and looked at the commanding officer. "Call it in, we're going to need transport for dead bodies and probably a couple ambulances. I'll find the hostages."
Receiving a nod from the Officer, Gabriel took off for the hallway. He moved lightly, not wanting to give himself away in case there was more people. He knew there was a woman to expect and he kept an eye out for her. Hearing a voice, he followed it to a room with a door open and looked in before lifting his gun and firing quickly as he saw a woman thrust a knife downward towards Holly's prone form.
The brunette woman fell to the floor, a bloody hole in her back, and Gabriel rushed forward to Holly. He grimaced when he saw the knife had stabbed into her but was relieved when he saw it having gone in just below her ribs, hopefully missing anything vital.
"Retskirt." The other Officer had run to the room and looked in from the hallway.
"I'm gonna stay with this one, check for the other two." Gabriel ordered. The officer nodded and ran off again.
What he found, he knew instantly would break hearts.
One or two more chapters left to go. Hope you guys stay with me through some sadness. This wasn't meant to be a happy story by any means.