Donna woke up with a throbbing pain in her head. She let out a pitiful moan and turned around in the comfy bed. Pulling the blanket over her head, she tried to hide from the offending light.
Wondering how much she had to drink last night, she tried to recal her evening at the restaurant.
With a start she sat up in her bed as soon as she remembered in whose company she has been. The last thing she knew was that the bloody demon had got her sloshed to do who knows what with her.
Frantically she searched her body for any indication of mistreatment, but except for her shoes she was still completly dressed and she was practically unharmed if she excluded her nasty hangover. If she was honest, she didn't even know how someone would feel any different without his soul.
She rushed out of bed to take a look at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She couldn't find any change in her looks neither.
Contented that Crowley didn't seem to have pulled some trick on her, she started to clean last nights traces away.
Standing under the shower, she thought back to yesterday's events. As far as she could recall, for being a demon Crowley had been nothing but a gentleman and great company.
Since the abrupt end of her short marriage she had avoided the company of other people. Most of the time she couldn't stand the thought of other people being all up her grill, wanting to know how her marriage could go downhill this fast and reminding her what a failure she was.
Crowley on the other hand didn't want to know about any of that stuff. He wanted to know what she was about to do next. He was interested in what plans she had for her more likely future now and not what her plans used to be when she still believed in a happily ever after and this kind of distraction felt astonishing good.
The only part that could need improvement were his skills as a drinking mate. It wasn't that he didn't drink as much as Donna, the booze just didn't seem to have the same affect on him as it had on her.
After getting dressed, she wondered how she should spend the rest of the day. A look at the watch told her that it was already to late to drive the five hours down to Miami, so she decided to stay in Jacksonville for another day and continue her journey tomorrow.
The money that her father had left her in form of a winning lottery ticket wasn't anymore as much as in the beginning, since her ex-husband received a good part of it after their divorce, but it was still enough to travel the world without worrying what tomorrow might bring.
Maybe she should go to that fancy restaurant once more to see if the King of the crossroads would await her there again.
Yes, she thought, she wouldn't mind another evening with the appealing demon.
Dressed in a new attire she had waited at the restaurant for two hours before she acknowledged that Crowley wouldn't come that evening.
And he didn't come the next evening or the evening after that.
Frustrated over her own naivity she went back to her former intentions and drove to Miami.
It was a week since she had last seen Crowley, when she was walking along Miami Beach, her feet in the water and a giant sun hat on her head.
Around her, young attractive people were frizzling in the sun, showing of their muscles and cleavage.
She strolled along the water to a more isolated part of the beach, trying to get away from the crowd.
Aside from the turmoil she stopped and looked out into the stunning rich colour of the ocean.
She felt comlpetely at ease as she breathed in the salty air and digged her toes in the sand,the blue stretching across the horizont calming her nerves.
All the more bugged she felt as she sensed someone approaching her.
She turned around and her chin dropped as she saw who was walking towards her but she quickly pulled herself together and looked back at the water.
Closing her eyes she streched her face towards the sun, letting it warm up her skin.
The sound of the waves were the only noise as he came closer silently.
"I hope you have a good excuse for your absence" , she said without facing him, her voice hard as she tried not to show how much she actually had missed his company.
"Kind of", Crowley answered as he stopped next to her.
They stood in silence for a while, Crowley fidgety kicking the ground as the wind blew threw their hair.
Finally she looked at him, not able to keep the teasing smile of her face.
"And? Spill it, where the hell have you been?"
His posture relaxed visibly and he cracked a smile himself as he answered.
"Oh, the usual stuff. Hunting the horsemen, fighting Lucifer."
"An average day , Donna mocked."
"Yeah, an average day in the times of the Apocalypse", he agreed and watched with amusement and irritation as she started to laugh.
"What? You don't believe me?"
She shook her head.
"No, not really. It's hard to believe that the Apocalypse is rising when your having such a nice day at the beach."
"That's the thing about the Apocalypse, you don't notice it until it's too late."
She mustered him, his usual outfit perfectly in shape, with no sign of him sweating under the warm attire.
"So. The Apocalypse."
"Yeah."
"No shit?"
"I'm not kidding you."
They looked back at the horizon, their mood suddenly sober.
"Wait", she said, her eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you fighting Lucifer? Shouldn't you be one of the bad guys?"
"What's that supposed to mean?", Crowley asked offended.
"You're a demon."
"Don't be a rassist! I'm on my own side", he declared exasperated and crossed his arms.
"Okay", she soothed him with her hands up.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude, but you're acting like a Prima Donna."
Without regarding his shocked face she kept on talking, sarcasm filling her voice.
"Please enlighten me why you would want to stop Lucifer instead of promoting Hell on earth."
Crowley huffed before he started explaining.
"Lucifer is an angel."
He could see the confusion in Donnas face and elaborated.
"He fell!"
"Yeah, right." Remembering her religion class she waved a hand and told him to continue.
"A fallen angel wants to bring the Apocalypse and kill all humans."
He speaked very slowly as if lecturing a child and Donna had to keep herself from rolling her eyes.
"If he already hates your species this much, how do you think he feels towards us demons? We're just another kind of insects on his extinction list."
"So you're trying to save the world out of necessity?", she completed.
"You could say so."
"Huh, a nice demon. Who would have thought", Donna mumbled under her breath.
"Hey, I've been nothing but nice to you!"
"You wanted to get my soul! And then you kidnapped me!", she reproached him with a laugh in her voice that told him that she wasn't actually angry anymore.
"I did not!", he tried to defend himself. "I did you a favour. And I still want your soul, but I accept your wish to keep it." With a wicked grin and his head crooked to the side he added:"For now."
Donna rolled her eyes and punched his arm playfully.
"How are you gonna do this? Is there any big plan to stop the Apocalypse?"
"You seem strangely composed for facing the end of the world", Crowley commented while she just shrugged her shoulders and pulled a face.
"I have the feeling I've seen worth."
"I bet you did", he answered only half joking.
They walked along the water while Crowley told her everything about his alliance with the Winchester and their plan to find all the four horsemen to get their rings which could imprison Lucifer.
Sometimes Donna interupted him when she didn't understand something though for most of the time Crowley was the one talking and she listened intrigued.
It helped him to exhibit every part of their plan once again and to be able to see it from a different point of view. He felt even more confident about their scheme now.
He was just telling her about the Deal with Bobby Singer, wherein he got the man's soul for the information of Death's whereabouts, as Donna halted him mid speech.
"Why didn't you just tell them where Death is?", she asked in disbelieve.
"I'm still a tradesman! There's got to be something out of it for me."
"And what did Bobby get out of it?"
He starred at her with irritation.
"As I said, he got the location of Death out of it."
"So he can sacrifice his soul for the greater good, but you can't safe the world if there's nothing in it for you?"
"Do I have to explain the concept of demons to you once again?", he started to banter.
"He seld his soul, it should pay off for him too", she insisted.
"He's an old grumpy man. What could he want?!"
"He's an old grumpy man in a wheel chair", she specified starring into his face and waiting for the penny to drop.
"Oh, you think he'd want to be able to walk again!", he exclaimed. "Well, he didn't say anything about that to me."
"You could still heal him."
"Why should I?"
"Just because!", she argumented inefficient. Giving it a short thought she added:"He would be of more use to you if he could fight too."
Crowley complentated it for a moment.
"But the contract's already been made."
"Don't talk rubbish, you could just add it."
"I can't change the contract without the other party acknowledging it."
"I promise you, he won't say no to this new part of the deal. Why don't you just add it and the next time you see him you tell him to stand up. If he does, he obviously wanted to be able to stand, and if he doesn't, he'll stay a cripple for the rest of his life. Which probably won't be much longer anyway."
Crowley sighed defeated.
"Okay, I'll do it. But just so I have one more man standing tall fighting for me!", he clarified as Donna pumped her fist in the air in victory.
He watched her with a glint in his eyes as she stroke her rust-coloured hair behind her ear, smiling broadly. It was a shame that she was wearing a light beach dress, he thought. She may not be as fit as the young lassies playing volleyball further down the beach, but he wouldn't have minded to see some more skin.
He noticed that she was surveying him too and quickly brought his eyes back to her face.
"Ain't this the wrong outfit for a day at the beach?", she asked pointing at his suit.
"I already left my shoes behind", he pouted, looking down at his bare feet. "I feel exposed enough. This is the most casual I've been in a while. Infact this feels like a small vacation. Even the dog enjoys himself."
"What dog?", Donna asked bewildered and looked around for the animal.
"Oh, I've let him run free since I came to you. He's over there."
The demon pointed to the far end of the beach where stones covered the way to the water and no people were lying around, everyone prefering the soft sand.
Crowley blew out a loud whistle.
"Here he comes."
"I can't see him." Donna squinted her eyes as she surveyed the beach.
"You'll notice", Crowley said crypticly and soon enough Donna could see sand whirling up in the air and a trail of giant paws coming closer until it stopped right infront of them and she could hear the pants of a dog.
She watched with wide eyes as Crowley petted the air infront of them.
"This is my hellhound", he said with obvious pride in his voice. "Thought I should bring him. He deserves a treat since he fought off that other pack of hounds that has been following me. You can pet him if you want to."
She gave him an uncertain look.
"No reason to be afraid", he assured her. "He only bites when I tell him to."
Hesistant she reached out to where Crowley's hand was resting comfortable in the air.
The hellhound felt moist and tender, as if she tried to touch the fog from a smoke machine, yet still strangely solid.
"Impressing", she said with a high pitched voice as she pulled back her hand and wiped off on her dress. "What's his name?"
"Dogs like that have no use for a name. They're more feared when they're just called 'the hellhound'."
"Capital 'H' and all", she mocked him. "Yeah, sounds much more frightening."
She shrieked as she suddenly felt something nudging her leg.
"He's just sniffing you", Crowley commented chuckling as she shoved him in the side, telling him that he shouldn't laugh at her, but that made his grin only grow further.
After some banter the smile on his face started to dwindle at last.
"Guess vacations are over", he proclaimed.
"We're heading off to Chicago soon. My source says that Death will be there."
"Ah yes, you and your crew will be facing Death soon."
Crowley shooked his head smirking.
"No, please, don't call them that."
"Sorry, I wanted to say you and your pawns", Donna corrected herself.
"Much better! Well then", he trailed off. With a wink he turned around and walked away, his feet dragging through the sand.
"Oi!", she called after him and looked back, squinting his eyes as he faced towards the sun.
"Be careful!"
"Don't worry", he said with an artificial smile. "The King is usualy the last piece on board that falls."
With a sharp whistle he started walking again. Donna could see the trace of the invisible hellhound following the footsteps of his master until they both vanished in a swirl of sand and the two tracks stopped in the middle of the beach.