Chapter 14: Make a Deal Keep It

From the Journal of Bobby Winchester

We were set to leave for South Dakota not long after that, as soon as we gathered the requisite provisions and made a few new knives from the dead Hellion. Our preparations had taken us about a week. A strange and quiet week. I had anticipated Crowley being angry with me for killing the Hellion, but I'm not sure he had been. I caught him, sometimes, staring at me. Narrowed and intense eyes. I had occasionally made that same stare in my youth, usually at puzzle books my father bought for me when I couldn't make those little pictures go 3D.

I was in the kitchen, making the last warm meal I would have until after South Dakota. Privately, I was making what was probably my last warm meal. I was standing at the stove, muttering to Mary. I shivered. I could feel someone, someone real and breathing and not a ghost that lived in my head. I looked over my shoulder and jumped. Crowley was standing there, not a foot away from me, just staring at me, his eyes were dark and focused. I jumped.

"Crowley, what the hell?"

He didn't react, just kept his level and even stare.

"Crowley, stop it."

He didn't. He continued staring at me, brow pressed together, unmoving.

I turned to face him completely. "Crowley!" I nearly shouted.

He blinked turned to walk away.

"Crowley, stop."

He didn't.

I took a few steps, beating him to the door and put out my hand, "Damnit, Crowley, what the hell was that about? You just creep up behind me, stare at me, and swoosh of when I ask you about it?"

He fixed me with an angrier version of the stare he just relieved me from. "You baffle me."

"Huh?" I tilted my head at him, the side of my mouth pulled up in confusion.

His look intensified again and he took a step toward me until he was in my face, a few inches away. "Why aren't you tearing into that Hellion right now?"

I blinked, "…because he's dead."

"Yes."

He took a step forward, I stepped back. He was looking straight into my eyes. He reached his hand up and touched my cheek so lightly he nearly didn't touch it. As though I was made of crystal and I could break at the slightest breath.

"You killed it."

"I was there."

He furrowed his brow, "Why did you kill it? It's the reason your family is dead. It's the reason you spent your entire childhood alone…the reason we are so hopeless. Don't you want…" he trailed off. He was breathing rather harder than he should have been just standing there.

"What? Don't I want what?" I took another step back, he followed me again. I was feeling uneasy.

"Revenge. Don't you want revenge? Didn't it feel good to put a knife in its ribs?"

I looked at him for a long time. It hadn't felt good to kill him. The first one had felt good, the one that I had killed to save Crowley in New York. It felt good to know how to kill them, to know I didn't have to spend the rest of my life as toothless prey. It had felt good to have it dead, relieving. No more screams and no more dangerous, hungry beast in my haven. But to actually kill it hadn't felt good. I shrugged. But I didn't' really know how to answer him, so I didn't.

I looked at him for a long time then said, "Do you think the Hellions ….care about each other?"

The intensity of his gaze disappeared and was replaced by confusion. "What? I…I haven't considered it. Does it matter?"

"Answer me."

"They killed each other for food."

"They were starving, that isn't an answer."

"No, I don't think they care about each other. They enjoy murdering, Bobby."

I bit my lip and looked at him, "So do you."

He looked at me oddly, "You don't want revenge, do you, Bobby? You just want to save the people who are left." Then he stepped back and gave me a forced chuckle. "Are you sure you're Dean's daughter?"

XXXXX

From the Journal of Bobby Winchester

It was an odd way to travel. Well, it was a very practical and normal way to travel, it was odd seeing Crowley traveling like we did, in rough and sturdy clothes, strapped with knives and provisions. I had trimmed my hair again, short enough that you couldn't get a grip on it, looking feminine was not nearly as important to me as not being dragged around by a hair handle.

And thus prepared, we set out for South Dakota. I felt odd about the trip, I had always wanted to see South Dakota, where Old Bobby had lived. But I had never envisioned walking into a den of this caliber of monster. Monsters half of whom we didn't have any idea how to kill or hurt.

I buoyed my spirits with the thoughts of freeing their captives. I had been telling the truth when I told Crowley that I didn't relish killing them, but that didn't mean I wasn't perfectly willing to.

I thought of the captives. It was impossible to know how many we would find, if we found any at all, if we could even manage to help them. Would we take them back to the bunker? There could be a small city of them for all I knew. Anyone could be among them. People who knew my father, murders, strapping young men. I wondered if I would be as fond of Crowley if there were other people around to be fond of.

Crowley was quiet for the length of the trip. So was I. I was scared, and I think Crowley was too.

XXXXX

From the Journal of Bobby Winchester

We were outside their encampment. Singer Garage. It was Old Bobby's garage. His home, my father's first home. I thought it had burned down, I thought that's what Dad told me. We were outside of it. I couldn't breathe. I could see three Hellions from here, strong, well fed Hellions. I gripped my knife for support.

At the moment we were underneath an old and broken car, there were many of them, we could crawl all the way to the house underneath them. And that was the plan, we had ditched our bags and were on our bellies, crawling through the oily dirt. Slightly in the lead, I stopped at the edge of a car, this part made my heart stop, getting from under one car to under another. I took a long and precious breath. I curled my toes underneath me, prepared to spring forward and roll to the next car.

The second before I moved there was a crunch above us and the car lowered down on us a fraction. A Hellion was on top of our car. My body went rigid, I held my breath.

Crowley very slowly crept forward until he was level with me. He made eye contact with me and shrugged. We had no idea how long the Hellion would be there, if it could smell us. I imagined its fanged face appearing upside down in the gap between the car and the ground and I thought my heart would rip itself out of my body. I was so close to Crowley I could hear his heart too, hammering.

Slowly, using all my care to keep from making a single sound I reached out and took Crowley's hand. He gripped it like a vice. It was there, under that car with holding his hand, neither of us breathing, that I understood how afraid he was. He was trembling.

The Hellion leapt off the car, we could hear it shake above us, and clawed feet landed hard in front of us. Inches away from my face. Crowley flinched horribly, clenching shut his eyes. My blood was propelling so fast through my body I was afraid I would pass out. The feet disappeared. Exhaling silently Crowley leaned his head against my shoulder in relief. I peered out, I couldn't see it.

"Let's go." I mouthed to him, then I prepared myself again to make the crossing.

He grabbed my shoulder. I looked back, he was rigid. "Bobby," he whispered then scooted forward enough to whisper a breath of a sound into my ear, "Bobby, before we go, I have…a deal for you."

I looked at him uncomprehending and mouthed, "Now?"

"Listen," he breathed, "Please."

I hesitated, my long ago learned distrust of any deals of his. Never, no matter how smart you think you're being, make a deal with him. Dad had said, or something like that. It was the first thing that I had learned about him.

I nodded. We were trapped under a car together in an Auto Shop of Monsters, I owed it to him to at least hear him out.

He twisted his head and looked right at me, "Here are my terms, if I live through this, so do you."

I stared at him for awhile and shook my head in noncomprehension.

He reiterated, "I'm making a deal, Bobby, I keep my deals. And I require those who make them with me to keep them too. So, make this deal with me. If I live, then you do too."

I shook my head, "No way."

He looked like I had punched him. "Bobby!" he hissed at me, but I cut him off.

"It's gotta go the other way too."

He grinned at me and nudged me affectionately, "Are you negotiating? With me?" He whispered.

I turned my head to look at him, "Do you want to make a deal or not."

He nodded and smirked, "It only works if we seal it, kitten."

I shrugged and nodded, I was pretty sure that he didn't have the Hellpower needed for deal making anyway, so whatever ritual he had couldn't be of any harm.

He reached up and wrapped his hand around my collar, I flinched back, unsure of what he was doing. He pulled me forward and pressed his lips against mine. Before I could even react he had released me and begun his crawl across the open terrain. It took me a moment to follow him.

XXXXX

From the Journal of Bobby Winchester

If the crawl from the road to the house had been terrifying, it was nothing to being inside the house. We were without cover, alive only because the room happened to be empty. Crowley was leading now, he seemed to have an inkling where we were going. There were no Hellions, except the one we had seen outside. That concerned me. We were side stepping toward a staircase that led downward. When we got to its edge we could hear footsteps from below.

Crowley reached backwards, I touched his hand, then he began his descent, with me following closely behind him.

It was hard to hear above my heart. It was only safe to assume the footsteps were Hellions, but they could be people too. I could be finding people right now.

I was right in my first assumption. As we neared the bottom of the stirs it became clear that the footsteps were being made by something with claws, the clicking was horrific. I tugged at Crowley's sleeve, making him stop, I could hear a harsh voice.

"Boy," it hissed, "It's been long enough for you, it's time to take me."Crowley and I peered around the corner toward the voice. A Hellion, and from the look of it, one of the first Hellions, still more human looking than they would eventually become, was standing in an iron doorway, its back to us. My instinct was to rush it, stab it down, but we didn't have a weapon. I could only wait. Crowley seemed to foresee my instinct, however, and put a hand out to keep me back. The creature stalked into the room and disappeared from view.

Then I heard it, soft crying, shuddering crying. I stepped forward but Crowley pushed me roughly back and mouthed "Wait."

I could hear those clicking steps and was terrified I was about the hear another human death. There was a flash of light and then, I could only hear crying. I shoved passed Crowley and rushed the room, knife drawn. Inside was an iron crypt, Crowley didn't follow.

I came up short. Tethered to the wall in chains was a young boy, looking no older than ten and not a Hellion in sight. I had seen one go in, where had it gone.

He looked up at me, tears bright on his little dirty face, "Help me!"

His eyes were sunken, his cheeks hollow. "Watch my back, Crowley," I hissed at him then went to the boy, breaking the locks and freeing him. He collapsed into my arms. I picked him up and held him close. His little heart was beating hard. He was beautiful. A beautiful little creature .

"Are there others?" I whispered. His head buried in my shoulder he shook his head. He was bleeding from the wrist. "Crowley," I said turning around, "we have to get out of here."

He nodded, "Come on then, there are demon traps, I can't come in." I quieted the boy.

"Crow, how are we going to get out of here with him? We can't crawl." I came out of the iron room to meet him.

He looked at the boy then up at me, lingering on my arms wrapped around the boy, my hand making soothing circles on his little back.

"I'll go first, get their attention. You come after with the boy. We'll meet up in an hour."

I hissed at him, "Crowley, no."

He scoffed like I was being an idiot, "If you get out alive I can't die."

I frowned, certain that that was an oversimplification if not plainly wrong. "Crowley."

He reached up and touched my face, "Make a deal, keep it, kitten."

Then he was gone, up the stairs and out.

I pulled the boy close, "You have to be really quiet, ok."

He nodded and tried to still his cries. I went up to the porch and looked out. I saw Crowley there, brandishing a knife. I heard him yell, angry and gravely into the sky, "Come out and fight, you bastards!" Shadows were congealing above him. Then he took off, sprinting away, the shadows following him out of my sight.

A slice of guilt went through me, I wouldn't have chosen to trade Crowley for this boy. The boy was a child. I was becoming a monster.

I careened out of the door after him, keeping low and quiet, sprinting out of the junk yard. Not a Hellion was in the sky. Holding the quaking boy I made it all the way out to our rendezvous spot. I stopped there. Set down the boy. And I waited. But he did not come. I was cradling the boy, trying to keep my own distress from overcoming me. I watched where I expected him to appear and gripped the boy as I held him. I whispered to myself harshly as I counted the minutes he didn't come, "Make a deal. Keep it."

AN: Here you are, darlings! So much ACTION in this one! Well, good news for all of you, I'm really excited for the next chapter and thus it will be up SOON!

Also, this chapter is dedicated to Laurie Archer and her new darling of a fic "I Just Want to Be Loved."

Until next time, doll faces!