The song here is "The Night" by Heart

The Night

Nikolai could hear everything and, surprisingly, the Mark of Cain wasn't itchy. Maybe his theory was correct; that disorder caused it to itch. Since Crowley was torturing for information, taking traitors out and dealing with them, he seemed to be dealing with the disorder, making the itch decrease.

He pulled up his sleeve and looked at it, not sure whether he still liked it. What if one day he would be like Cain? He wouldn't be like Dean, that he was sure of; Dean was human.

He was disturbed when someone stepped into the hallway and he looked up to see Kelley.

"Hello, Sir." Kelley said and he let out a laugh that stunned her.

"Oh, please don't say that again." he said and she smiled. "Just Nikolai will do perfectly." He added and she nodded. "How you like the job?" he asked and her smile brightened.

"Hector was cold, which was cool, but Nerilla is hard." Kelley said and Nikolai titled his head, not sure he understood correctly. "I so love that the King and Queen saw fit to give me a second chance. I'm a Sergeant!" she said and clapped her hands. Nikolai kept his head titled and then she noticed with a frown. "What?" she asked him.

"Are you really a demon? You're too… happy." He said and slowly she smiled, blinking her eyes black.

"But when I'm angry, I'm crazy." She said and she blinked her black eyes away and smiled innocently at him. He let out a laugh and nodded.

"Good to know." He said and then narrowed his eyes at her. "You didn't come here just to chat with the most dashing Knight of Hell." He said and she arched an eyebrow at him with a grin.

"Wow, Nerilla wasn't bullshitting about your ego." She said and he smirked. "I came for an update on Hector." She said and Nikolai nodded.

"He's good." He said and then lowered his voice to a whisper. "The others are dead and Stephanie's in her cell, mangled." He said and she nodded like she was pretending to care.

"Yeah, thanks. I would like a little more on Hector. Just "good" won't be good enough for Nerilla." She said and Nikolai smirked as he grunted.

"He's got a bruised ego and wants to look good, so he's mad that one of his demons snuck out and misbehaved while he knew shit about it. He's not a problem we have to worry about." He said and looked at her with a playful glare. "Better?" he asked and she smiled.

"Thank you." She replied and was about to turn and walk away, but stopped and turned back to him. "Any update on Gavin?" she asked and Nikolai titled his head at her with an arched eyebrow.

"You really like him." he said and she nodded with a shy smile.

"I know what everyone thinks." She said, losing her smile and looking a little angry. "A demon liking a human? But Gavin is shy, awkward, funny and innocent. I like to dangle promises in front of people that are full of those classic Deadly Sins, but Gavin is a breath of fresh air." She said and her eyes became distant. "I guess he reminds me of what I used to be." She added and that smile slowly began to return to her face, brightening her eyes. "I didn't want to hurt him." she said and when she looked at Nikolai, her eyes became hard. "Does that make me a weak demon?" she asked him and he smiled.

He thought of Crowley and his past blood addiction as well as his relationship with Clara, then having a daughter. He thought of Nerilla and her relationship with Gabriel and then he thought of himself, taking orders from his King and Queen despite that he's the most powerful due to the Mark.

He thought of all the demons that had tormented the Winchesters and who met their deaths. They were cruel and wicked, true demons. Azazel was inspirational. Alastair was the image that all demons aspired to become; he was a rock star. Lilith and Abaddon were the icons of total badass demons. Next, there was Ruby that wanted to be like them. But then he thought of Meg and her secret feelings for Castiel near the end of her existence.

What made a demon true to their wicked nature? What made a demon weak? It was hard to tell. As he looked at Kelley, he started to wonder if there was a new demon evolution, one where they were allowed to care about something. Maybe having Clara as their Queen allowed them to feel a little human, knowing that it was okay.

He wasn't sure, but he still smiled at Kelley.

"You know what kid," he began, making her frown in confusion. "We're the top demons in Hell; we get to make the rules. Crowley and Clara are the revolution that Hell needs; they free us from the demon archetypes. You like Gavin? Good; means you fit in. We all have someone we care about and that makes us strong demons because, for once, we're fighting for something other than someone else's ideology of Hell." He said, surprised at the tone of conviction he had used, and then realized that he had balled his hands into fists.

As he relaxed, Kelley looked at him with a blank expression, but then she smiled and nodded her head.

"I like that." She said as her smiled broadened. Was she going to laugh because it looked like she was about to burst into laughter? However, she just glowed with that smile; indeed a happy demon. Nikolai shook his head and tried to brush the whole situation off.

At that moment, Crowley opened the door to reveal the mangled bodies on the metal slabs, twitching like they were trying to escape, but too much in agonizing pain to move.

"Take these two and lock them up." Crowley said and only one demon whimpered as the other seemed to be choking. Nikolai nodded and grabbed the burlap sacks from the counter, giving one to Kelley.

Nikolai had to teleport them again, which would leave him with a slightly weird dizzy feeling, since he had to teleport Kelley too. When they appeared in the corridor of cells, he opened up a couple and threw the captives in, closing the doors without a word or any emotion.

Kelley looked at him with a smile, like she was having fun being teleported. Nikolai grunted and then brought her back to the torture room. Crowley started speaking the second they showed up and gestured for Kelley to return to the office and then to Nikolai to follow him.

"See you, Nikolai." She said and turned down towards the office.

"Whoever is behind this charade knows to cover their tracks." Crowley said and Nikolai nodded as he listened. "All those demons knew if that Stephanie went into hiding, not to protect herself, but the mastermind." He added and Nikolai could see he was getting frustrated, not that he was angry that he didn't have any leads, but he was annoyed to a point of irritation. "You may do what you please, but I'd prefer you to stay with my girls. I will investigate the last of our captives." He said and Nikolai knew that meant the non-demon being that was brought along with Stephanie and her demons.

"Sure." Nikolai said and walked back to the mansion, not asking why Crowley was doing this on his own. Whatever reasons he had, one had to be that he had an idea who this non-demon could be.