Chapter Three : Don't Call me Gracie
Grace rolled her eyes as she laid back on the gray leather sofa her half empty glass of whiskey resting against her stomach. Crowley had been talking for a ridiculously long time now. It had been at least two hours now. She was beginning to think that he was never going to shut up. How long could one freaking contract be ?
She had almost thought that he was joking when he had pulled that scroll out of a drawer in his desk and claimed that it was her contract. She had quickly realized that he was quite serious though when he had opened the scroll and started rattling off legal jargon.
The unrolled scroll reached all the way across the room over his desk, over the sofa, over a coffee table, and finally stopped resting against the closed-door. She had a feeling that the scroll would reach out much farther if the door wasn't in its way.
She let out an annoyed huff as Crowley spoke up sounding far too cheerful. "Now the contract is sealed and no changes are to be made to it unless the contract holder..."
He paused looking up from the scroll only to point a finger at himself. "The contract holder being me, sees it fit to make adjustments to the said contract. Any adjustments made are to be witnessed by an outside source who has no ties or relation to the contract holder or the contractee."
She shot him an irritated look but he ignored it as he continued pointing to her. "Now lets see, subsection K, You the contractee will agree to aid me in any plans that I may have."
"What plans ?" She asked hoping that she could distract him from this stupidly long contract.
"Stopping the apocalypse and Lucifer, darling. I already told you. Remember I stated at the beginning of the contract , the plan has already been put into motion, we're just waiting on the Winchesters to arrive to retrieve the colt." He responded as he finally stopping pointing at her. He reached down taking a sip from his own glass of whiskey.
He sat the glass back down and cleared his throat before pointing a red pen down at the contract and speaking. " Now where was I, oh yes, If these plans are successful the contractee will agree to serve along beside me as queen of hell..."
Grace spoke up interrupting him as she sat up almost knocking her glass out of her hands. "What ?...Did I just hear you say serve as the queen of hell? As in hell...the hell ?"
"Yes the hell, it's the only hell there is. And it's more of a ruling than a serving, but yes. I need someone I can trust to...rule along beside me." He stated ignoring the terrified look that was developing on her face.
"Why don't you find some demon to serve with you...I can't do this...no, no absolutely not, I can't, I wont." She began to panic as she stood up slamming her glass down on the coffee table in front of her.
Crowley sighed as he watched the young woman begin to have a full-blown panic attack in front of him. She was starting to pace a bit. "Darling, do you know what the problem with demons is ?"
She stopped pacing as she shot him a confused look. "You're a demon though...I'm one now, right ?"
"Yes and yes, but we're let's just say...a bit different from the garden variety demon." He stated as he took another drink from his glass.
He spoke up again as he placed his glass back down on the desk. "Demons are...brats really, spoiled entitled little gits, and so stupid...don't even get me started on how stupid they can be. It would be impossible for me to stand ruling along side one for too terribly long. Not to mention if I ruled along beside anyone else but you, they would probably backstab me the first chance they had. You are my only reasonable choice."
"How do you know I won't betray you ?" She asked trying to sound braver and more challenging than she felt.
At the moment she felt as though she was caught in a whirlwind. So out of control and afraid. She longed for her mother's embrace and for the first time in the past two years she regretted ever leaving home.
She had only left her family's farmhouse and moved to the city because she had known that in two years her contract would be up. It would be easier for her to disappear if she was far away from her family.
He gave her a somewhat amused smirk as he heard her attempts to be threatening. It only lasted for a moment before he dropped the smirk from his face and gave her a more serious look. "Because of our contract Gracie. If you break the contract and betray me, then I give your sister back all those tumors I so kindly removed from her body."
"Don't call me Gracie." She spat out as she gave him a look that could only be described as icy.
"Okay, then...Darling it is." Crowley responded not helping but to be amused by her aggravated and somewhat pissed off reactions to him.
Yanking her chain and irritating her was easier and far more amusing than he'd thought it would be. Yes he definitely made a good choice picking her to be his future queen.
He spoke up a cheerful tone to his voice. "Now shall we go back to our reading of your contract ?"
She let out an exasperated huff as she threw her hands up somewhat dramatically before dropping them to her sides. "No !, Just let's just do it later...I'm tired."
He drank the final gulp of his whiskey enjoying the way the craig burned as it went down. Aged Craig was his drink of choice nothing else could even begin to compare.
He stood up from his desk chair as he spoke . "Okay then, Lets go up to our room and get some sleep."
"Our room ? What the hell do you mean our room ?" She asked him. He couldn't be serious.
"As far as anyone knows, you and I are lovers. The story is that I took you as a lover two years ago after that deal on the crossroads. That's the excuse as to why I only gave you two years. Couldn't live without you for longer than two years. It was difficult to get everyone to buy that little story since I haven't taken a lover on in centuries." He explained as he walked out from behind his desk.
She backed away from him moving behind the sofa as though he would charge at her at any minute. "There's no fucking way I'm sharing a bed with you."
"Darling we really have to work on that vocabulary. The future queen of hell should really have a more...broadened sophisticated set of language skills." He said rolling his eyes.
"Fuck you." She blurted out ignoring his jab at her choice of words.
He smirked looking amused as he spoke up. "Well as far as anybody knows you and I have already done that plenty of times. We are in love after all."
Grace said nothing in response. Crowley watched her give him a look of pure hatred as she crossed her arms over her chest.
She finally spoke up after a few minutes of silence. "I'll just sleep down here on the couch."
"Afraid that's not possible. After all how is anyone going to believe that we're so in love if we aren't sharing a room ? Besides do you really trust my staff to leave you...alone, if you're down here all by yourself. Trust me my staff...well they aren't the most pleasant demons you'll come across" He argued ignoring the fact that she was still looking at him like he was the scum of the earth.
She remained silent trying to stick to her decision to sleep on the sofa but soon realized that he wasn't going to leave her alone until she gave in.
She rolled her eyes letting out a sigh feeling completely reluctant as she spoke. "Fine."
She didn't have time to walk away from him before he snapped his fingers causing them to reappear upstairs in an opulently decorated bedroom.
Crowley's love for the color black extended up to his bedroom, black sheets, black pillowcases, a black comforter on the king-sized cherry-wood bed. The headboard was decorated with an intricately carved lions head. The room had high ceilings and large colonial style windows covered with heavy black curtains. The walls were white, but the paintings on the walls all had the same main color scheme, black. The figures in the paintings were somewhat dark and frightening, they were hellish to be honest.
She sighed noticing more strange symbols. She was dying to know exactly what these symbols meant but she was way too irritated to ask Crowley. So she shoved her curiosity back down and kept an icy demeanor.
Grace looked away from the symbols and shot Crowley an annoyed look as she made her way over to her suitcase. She really wished he'd quit doing that. It made her feel dizzy and so out of breath when he teleported them.
She smirked as she pulled out a ragged looking holey pair of gray yoga pants and the baggiest faded t-shirt she could find. If she was going to be forced to share a room with him she might as well make herself look as unattractive as possible.
She went to the bathroom to change. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun before she stared in the mirror. She smiled satisfied that she looked horrible enough, before she went back to the bedroom.
She felt her cheeks flush as soon as she left the bathroom. Crowley was wearing nothing but a pair of silk boxers, black of course,...and he looked...good, fit, hot...oh crap. She would use the excuse that she hadn't had a proper boyfriend or even a one night stand in such a long time, but she knew better. He was attractive and the sight of him made her ache a little bit.
The realization that she found him attractive caught Grace completely off guard and it freaked her out a little bit to be honest. Her embarrassment and sense of attraction was quickly replaced with irritation when she noticed that he was aware that she had been checking him out.
Crowley smirked at her noticing her flushed cheeks and lusty gaze. He spoke up his voice far too husky. "See something you like Gracie ?"
She stood there speechless for a moment as she tried to regain control of her wondering hormones. She averted her gaze away from the light trail of dark chest hair that disappeared below his boxers as she did her best to shoot him a hostile look. She spoke up her voice harsh. "Don't call me that. Only people I like get to call me Gracie."
Grace didn't give him a chance to respond before she took ahold of the comforter and yanked it off the bed.
He spoke a little bit surprised that she had caught him off guard by taking the comforter. "What are you doing?"
"Sleeping on the floor. There's no way in hell I'm sharing a bed with you." She stated grabbing a pillow from the stack of fluffy pillows on the bed.
He recovered from his surprise as he spoke up trying to regain the upper hand. "That won't be very comfortable Gra...Darling."
She shrugged ignoring his protest not helping but to be a little happy that he had corrected himself before calling her Gracie this time. "I'll deal with it."
She placed the pillow on the ground before she did her best to cocoon the comforter around her as she laid down. She frowned when she noticed that he was right, the floor was horribly uncomfortable and cold so cold.
She took in a deep breath knowing that she couldn't give in. The bed may be comfortable but if she laid in that bed she would be laying beside him.
She did her best to sound perky as she spoke up. "Goodnight Crowley."
When Grace woke the next morning she was pleased to find that she was all alone in the bedroom. She got up ignoring her tired aching body. Her lower back was throbbing and her neck was stiff. She felt like crap.
She groggily made her way over to her suitcase pulling out a pair of dark blue jeans, a navy tank top, and a pair of matching pink undergarments.
She slipped into the panties and the jeans quickly before she slipped on her bra. She thankfully managed to snap her bra closed as the bedroom door opened.
She turned a little startled at first until she saw him. She rolled her eyes as she spoke up. "It wouldn't kill you to knock you know."
Crowley was taken a little off guard as he spotted her lack of clothing. He let his eyes fixate on her pink lace covered breasts not helping but to enjoy the view.
He shut his eyes for a moment grateful that she hadn't caught him gawking at her cleavage before he opened his eyes and spoke up attempting to sound uninterested. "This is my bedroom."
"But isn't it our bedroom now ? Since we are lovers and all, honey" Grace stated snark clear in her voice.
He smirked a little amused by her snarky response before he completely changed the subject. "So you're going to make a few crossroads deals today."
She frowned as she shoved her navy blouse over her head and tried to adjust the stubborn fabric around her waist. "Crossroads deals ?"
"Yes. You see that was how I got away with collecting you myself and all, letting you avoid the rack. The lie of you being my lover wasn't enough for you to avoid the rack. The excuse is that I'm supposed to be taking you on as a student...teaching you the ways of the crossroads. It's our cover for what we're really planning." Crowley responded.
She sighed completely uncomfortable with the idea of having to do this. It was just so wrong. Dealing with desperate people.
She had been there. That was after-all how she'd gotten herself into this whole mess, being so desperate for help, so desperate that she was willing to sell her soul to Crowley.
Grace remained silent as she pulled a brush out of her bag and began to run it through her stubborn tangled hair.
Crowley spoke up staring at what she was wearing. "That outfit won't do."
"Pardon ?" She asked not having any time to even protest before he snapped his fingers completely changing her entire outfit.
She glanced down at her suitcase seeing that the outfit that she'd just been wearing was now sitting folded neatly on top of the suitcase along with the brush that she had just been holding.
She felt her cheeks flush as she realized just how exposed she was. She was wearing a tight strapless black cocktail dress that made her figure very noticeable. It was knee length and the fabric was chiffon and silk. It was so low-cut that she was almost sure that if she moved the wrong way then her breasts would pop right out of the dress.
She spotted herself in the mirror realizing that her makeup was quite dark, smokey dark eyeshadow and wine red colored lips. At least her hair had been left alone. It was left laying loose, thankfully free of tangles.
She frowned down at the tall black pumps that she was currently wearing. She never wore heels this high. There was no way she would be able to walk in these.
Grace tried to step forward stumbling as she tried to gain her balance. Crowley frowned before snapping his fingers leaving her barefoot. "No Shoes then."
She nodded her head almost tempted to thank him, but then again she really didn't want to thank him for this outfit. She felt so overexposed.
"Now all deals are sealed with a kiss." Crowley said as he admired her new look. The dress brought out her curves in the best way possible.
"Okay." She said wondering why he was telling her this. After all she already knew this from the fact that she'd already made a crossroads deal with him.
Crowley moved towards her getting a little too close for comfort as he spoke up . "So kiss me then."
She glared up at him before letting out an indistinct slightly anxious noise. "No way."
"Come on now. It's just an example, to see how you manage. Pretend we just made a deal and now you have to seal the deal. We have kissed before, though this time I would prefer that you don't slap me." He tried to convince her.
She rolled her eyes as she leaned up giving him an innocent peck on the lips. "There happy. Now lets go."
He took her by surprise by chuckling a bit, before he spoke. "No not good enough. Kiss me like you mean it. Put some passion into it."
Grace frowned wondering how in the hell she was supposed to manage any passion for a guy that she could barely stand.
Yes it could be worse she thought, she could be stuck for all eternity with a guy who wasn't...what attractive...oh crap she really thought he was attractive. What the hell was she thinking ? She had to have the beginnings of Stockholm syndrome started up here.
She let out an anxious sigh before she leaned up gently locking her lips with his a little unsure of what to do at first. She deepened the kiss as she reached up an placed a hand on his cheek. He returned this kiss just as deeply as he wrapped his arms around her waist keeping her pressed close against him.
They kissed for a long while. Grace hated to admit it but she felt herself leaning a little too enthusiastically into the kiss and enjoying it a little too much.
She pulled away refusing to look him in the eyes. She stepped back out of his embrace as she attempted to clear her throat and sound unintrested. "There."
Crowley had to blink for a moment a little thrown off by just how much he had enjoyed that kiss. He shook his head trying to ignore the fact that he wanted to do that again and again and again...What was wrong with him ?
He spoke up trying to hide just how much he had enjoyed that kiss, as he snapped his fingers . "Let's go."