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Part 26:

Summoning rituals were easy.

Sure they were a bitch to prepare for, but they were easy to complete.

"Alright, Crowley," she muttered, dropping the lit match into the bowl on the floor. "You get your ass here quick, and I won't put you through a shredder."

"My my, feisty aren't we?" the familiar, accented voice echoed dimly through the Elysian Fields hotel lobby, now back to its original, decrepit state. When she looked up, the demon was standing before her. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Kae?"

She stood up and looked him in the eye. "The Horsemen's rings. I need both Pestilence's and Famine's."

He arched an eyebrow. "And for what reason would you possibly think I could get them for you?"

"Your previous offer," she said abruptly. "Before Carthage. You said I'd have protection against Lucifer. Word on the grapevine is Cas untied my tubes. That means it's a free for all on my reproductive organs. I can't let that happen. I can't let Lucifer - " she took a step forward. "You give me Famine, and Pesitilence, and I'll take your protection."

Crowley just smiled and held out his hand. One ring lay in the center of his palm. "No. I'll give you Famine's. You and the boys are on your own for Pestilence." and he paused. "The offer for protection is over."

Kae stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"Here's the thing, love. Devil knows I want him dead. His little minions burned down my house - and don't get me started on what they did to my tailor."

"Then why the fuck did I even bother summoning you?" She advanced toward him, lifting up the demon killing knife that Sam and Dean always had on them. "Either you can help or you can't, or you can make a deal - I mean what is it going to cost? My soul?"

"No. I don't want your soul. I don't want anything from you."

He rolled his eyes. "How is it not obvious?" he held up his hands in defense as she came to a halt mere inches from him, holding the blade of the knife in her hand up threateningly. "I make any sort of deal, do anything that displeases Lucifer, and my ass is on the chopping block."

"You're a coward, you know that?" she told him.

"How else could I have stuck around for so long?"

"I'm not stupid. I know you won't give me Famine's ring for free."

He was quiet for a moment.

"There is something I want from you." he told her finally.

"And that is?" she asked.

Crowley grinned.

"You think she made a deal?"

"I know she did. Why else would she go to meet the bastard alone?"

"Dean -"

"I don't like this."

"I know you don't." Sam checked his watch. "She's been gone for almost an hour now."

Dean leaned against the side of the Impala and stared at the ground. A seriously bad feeling was growing in his stomach. Sure he knew Kae could handle Crowley, but this was different. She was different.

Suddenly something hit him on the side of the head and fell to the ground. It was a ring.

"The hell...?"

Sam shoved him and he looked up to see Kae stalking toward them. She looked angry. Combined with the dried blood that still clung to her skin, hair, and clothing, it made her look downright terrifying.

"Kae?" Sam asked hesitantly.

She shook her head.

"I got us Famine's ring. Crowley can help with Pestilence. Says he'll be in touch soon." she snapped before shoving Sam aside and climbing into the back seat of the Impala.

Dean looked at Sam, confused.

"What was that?"

Sam shrugged.

"Nothing good."

Kae didn't speak to them at all during the drive. She stared out the window and didn't speak unless Sam asked her something. Even then, she didn't say much. Dean had determined that going toward Nevada was their best bet, due to an outbreak of swine flu.

In a town just over the Nevada border, a town called Henderson, they stopped for the night and booked two rooms at the first motel they could find.

"Alright I've had it." Dean had spent over an hour dealing with an awkward silence between him and Kae, and Sam, who looked up from his laptop nervously at his brother's declaration, began packing up to head back to his own room.

Kae slammed one of the books she'd been using for research shut. "Had it with what?"

"What'd Lucifer do to you?" he asked abruptly, avoiding the question. "Back at the Fields he dragged you into the ballroom covered in blood."

"Relax. It wasn't my blood." she snapped. "He made me kill the pagans after he checked to make sure you didn't knock me up - which if you had, you'd be dead by now, I'm just letting you know that."

"That's not all." Dean folded his arms over his chest, not even noticing Sam slip out of the room. "He did something else, didn't he?"

"No."

"Kaelyn -"

"No." she repeated. "Dean, just stay out of this -"

"I can't stay out of it, and you know that!" he retorted. "Look, just talk to me okay? Whatever he did -,"

"He checked to see if I was pregnant!" she cried angrily.

Dean stared at her.

"I - What?"

"He put his hand on my stomach and it was like I could feel it inside me - searching," she told him, her voice cracking. "Do you have any idea how that made me feel?"

Dean felt himself at a loss for words. He couldn't begin to imagine how violated Kae probably felt at what Lucifer had done to her. He swallowed the lump in his throat and took a step over to her.

"He didn't -"

"No." she answered. "Consent remember?...And even if I did, he wouldn't do anything unless he was in his true vessel."

Dean waited for a moment before asking his next question.

"How'd you get Famine's ring from Crowley?" Was it his imagination, or did she actually look guilty? "You made a deal, didn't you?" Silence. "Son of a bitch -"

"He doesn't own my soul - I'm not going to hell. Relax." her hand found his and squeezed it gently."but I did have to give him something to get the ring, and his help with Pestilence."

"What was that?"

She sighed.

"When this is all over? My services...as his personal assassin."

Hope y'all liked it! Thoughts? Reviews are welcome. No flames please!