Chapter 9-
"Well care to share your plans with us anytime?" Dean said straightening his spine and looking at the angel.
"I think you should call Crowley." Cas replied very matter of factly.
Sam perked up at the mention of their Scottish whiskey drinking king of hell acquaintance. "You've got to be kidding Cas! After what he did to Dean with the mark? How he tried to use him to garner him more souls for hell? If it wasn't for Crowley Dean never would have let the mark consume him!" Sam yelled.
"Yes and without Crowley he'd also be dead." Cas deadpanned. "And it is his inherit need to use things to his own gain that we need."
Dean and Sam just stared at Cas confused. "And how exactly is that helpful?" Dean spoke up.
"Crowley sets his eyes on this thing and he'll want to own it, use it like he uses the hellhounds. Could you imagine what type of asset this would be to the king of hell?" Cas shot back clearly getting frustrated. "No matter your feelings for him he's our only option unless we let more people die while we sit around in motel rooms twiddling our thumbs and typing on computers until we figure out something else that probably won't work."
Dean and Sam both had their mouths hanging open, seeing Cas get so riled up was a very rare occurrence. "I'm not saying we need to like him or even trust him, but there's no other option." Cas said while looking between the two.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean groaned as he pulled out his phone and dialed Crowley's number.
There were two rings before Crowley's disgruntled voice came through the phone. "Why, oh why is there a Winchester calling me? Have you forgotten how one of you ever so recently tried to kill me?!" Crowley screamed into Dean's ear.
"Listen dick, I'm not calling to reminisce on old times, I'm calling because I think we can help each other out with something." Dean snarled back.
"As I seem to recall every time we 'help each other out' I always end up getting screwed. So excuse me if I'm not jumping at the bit here." Crowley replied.
Dean rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his hair already 100% done with this conversation, "You ever heard of a Snallygaster?"
There was an intake of breath from Crowley's end, "What did you say?" he asked almost breathless.
"You heard me! Have you ever heard of it or not?" Dean was getting very impatient.
"Yes I've heard of it you thick headed moron! I am the king of hell here! Therefore, ruler of all things generally nasty." Crowley puffed out.
"Well do you want to be ruler of this thing then? We have it cornered somewhere and we can't kill it so we were wondering if you wanted a new pet to keep all your tortured souls in line." Dean said becoming exhausted.
"I'm interested." Dean jumped, Crowley was now standing behind him, phone still held up to his ear looking at Dean with an amused expression on his face. "Hello darling, miss me?" Crowley smiled.
Dean held the phone against his forehead trying to regain his composure. "Dammit, why does everyone freaking do that! Can't you be a normal person and not just poof behind innocent people?!" Dean yelled to the group in general.
"Oh Dean-o when was the last time anyone in their right mind would have ever considered you innocent? And what was I supposed to do crawl out of hell and take the next Red Eye out here? Where is here anyways?" Crowley asked looking around, "It smells like unwashed rednecks, to be honest it kind of reminds me of my younger days just starting out as a demon." He said holding his hand to his chest affectionately.
Dean had an eyebrow raised at this statement and then shook his head clearing his thoughts. "We're at an amusement park in Tennessee, now do you wanna help us with this thing or not?"
"Oh, Dollywood?" Crowley said fondly. "Ahh I remember when this place was called Silver Dollar City! Owner sold their soul to get this place up off the ground, guess old Dolly swept it up after I claimed his soul."
"Can we just cut the B.S. and figure out what to do here?" Sam said around clenched teeth barely holding in his hatred for the man in front of him.
"Ah Moose! How I've missed you and the loving way you tried to kill me by working in cahoots with my own mother. How are you?" Crowley smiled.
"Crowley cut the act. Now. What is your plan?" Sam spat back.
"Well where have you gotten my dear pet hidden away then?" Crowley asked looking around.
"The Snallygaster flew off towards the carnival area of the park. We shot at it with bullets with seven pointed stars etched on them, but to little effect." Cas stepped in.
"Well it wouldn't do much to it now would it? Tough impenetrable skin and all?" Crowley replied. "Let's go find it shall we?" he said while walking in the opposite direction.
The newly formed group walked in silence until they came to where they thought the Snallygaster finally landed at. They split up to try to find the ever elusive creature when they heard Sammy whisper yell, "Guys! Over here!"
They all converged around Sam and were looking down at an injured but sleeping monster. Dean held his hand out towards the creature and looked at Crowley, "He's all yours man."
Crowley pushed Dean aside, "It's not a he you insufferable idiot, it's a she, and she's gorgeous." He said while running his hand down the scarred hide of the thing. "Look what you lug heads did to the poor girl, marked her up, poor things hurt."
Dean, Sam, and Cas were just staring at the exchange. Never before had any of them see Crowley get so sentimental over anything not directly involving his own ego. "Umm, need a moment here? Gonna make out with it?" Dean interrupted.
Crowley just rolled his eyes, "Be so kind as to give me your demon blade and an angel please." He said while holding out a hand.
"No way!" Sam yelled. "How can we trust you with our two best weapons?!"
"So many trust issues Moose, when will you ever open your heart?" Crowley jeered. "If you want this thing gone you're gonna have to do as I say lads or I could just leave you to it."
Cas stepped forward and held out his blade, "If you try anything, and I mean anything Crowley, I will end you" he growled.
"Does nobody trust anybody anymore, seriously?!" Crowley yelled.
"Nobody has ever trusted you, Crowley." Dean said stepping forward with the demon blade.
"Well now you're just breaking my heart for sport boys." Crowley said taking the knives in hand and turning to the beast.
"I'm going to need your powers there angel-boy. Hold its snout down to the ground as well as you can." Cas moved into position and Crowley looked back to the brothers. "And you two…just…stand there, look pretty, and both of you try not to die like you so often do."
Dean and Sam exchanged awkward looks before leaning back against a building watching the king of hell do his work.
"Heaven and hell converged together to create the Snallygaster, for whatever strange reason God saw fit to do, so a blade from heaven and a blade from hell will reign it in, I doubt anything can kill it, but I can definitely mark it to be mine and do my bidding." Crowley muttered as he started to carve into the monsters flesh.
At first the monster just slept on but soon its eyes snapped open and it began to thrash around, Cas was barely containing it, and soon it would be too much for him. So Dean and Sam ran forward, each grabbing a wing to keep it from flying off with the angel in tow. Cas was holding its snout down as firmly as he could to keep it from moving and to keep it from spraying them all with its signature knock out gas and eating them all as nothing more than a midnight snack. "Crowley, I can't hold him much longer." Cas grunted.
"Yes, yes, muffin I'm working on it." Crowley answered back distractedly.
It was taking all the brothers and Cas had to hold the thing. Suddenly Sam goes flying back, crashing into a nearby carnival themed game of ring toss, all the glass bottles shattering under him. "Sammy!" Dean yelled as he made a move to go over to his brother.
"No Dean! I can hold it down by myself, I need you here!" Cas yelled, his face covered in sweat and scrunched up from the effort.
Dean held still but kept yelling profanities to make Crowley hurry. Then Cas was knocked back on his ass and Dean was standing there, pathetically holding one wing while this huge beast turned its dead yellow gaze upon him. It opened its mouth and yellow fumes to match its eyes starting pouring out of its mouth and Dean started to go down, just before his consciousness left him though he heard Crowley yell, "And, done!" and then it was lights out for Dean.
Dean woke up with the Snallygaster still looming over him, "The hell?!" he yelled trying to butt scoot away from the thing. The monster didn't move though just quirked its head at Dean like a confused dog would, or hell even like Cas does from time to time. Behind the monster he could hear Crowley laughing hysterically, "You shoulda seen your face mate! Thought you'd be a midnight snack, eh?" Crowley said while holding his side.
Dean just rolled his eyes and looked to where Sammy had been thrown, panic rushing through his body, until he saw Cas supporting Sam against a building and healing him. They were all alive. Despite Crowley joking about one of them dying, it was always an ever present fear and concern on a hunt, but they were all okay.
"So," Dean said while standing up and brushing himself off, "what are you going to do with the thing when you get back to hell?"
"Ahh can you imagine the looks on my enemies faces when I confront them with an eternity of damnation with this thing on my side? It will be bloody brilliant!" Crowley said excitedly.
Dean once again rolled his eyes, "As long as the thing stays in hell, I don't care if you ride it around like a pony while wearing a princess dress."
"Oh this sweet girl is never leaving my sight, I'll keep her safe in hell." And just like that Crowley snapped his fingers and he was gone.
"Well that's not a phrase you hear every day." Sam said from Cas' side.
"Yea well let's go tell Dolly her problems solved and get some shut eye before we hit the road, yeah?" Dean said while helping Cas drag Sam to the parking lot.
Dolly was very pleased to hear the news of her now Snallygaster free amusement park. She was so pleased she 'forced' the brothers to take bags full of baked goods, candies, old timey sodas, and of course pie. With the Impala loaded up and about to burst with their goodies they set out back on the road for home, or the closest thing they've ever had to one at least. Dean was lost in his music and Cas was staring out a window when Sam turned to his older brother and patted his shoulder. "I'm really glad we took this case Dean. Got our minds off of everything for a second. And it was kind of nice just being a tourist and letting loose with you."
Dean smiled a broad happy smile and gave a sidelong glance to his brother, "No chick flick moments bitch." He laughed.
"Jerk." Sam replied before settling back in his seat for a long drive home with a smile on his face. Even though tomorrow would probably bring something new and terrible, today was good.