A Beautiful Crime

Each step I left behind

Each road you know is mine

Walking on a line ten stories high

Say you'll still be by my side

If I could take your hand, oh

If you could understand

That I can barely breathe, the air is thin

I fear the fall and where we'll land

We fight every night for something

When the sun sets, we're both the same

Half in the shadows

Half burned in flames

We can't look back for nothin'

Take what you need, say your goodbyes

I gave you everything

And it's a beautiful crime

'Beautiful Crime' by TAMER

A/N: I own nothing except some original characters and arcs, Supernatural is owned by CW. Feedback is appreciated. The first few chapters will be slightly AU, the story will become completely AU from 'Dream a Little Dream of Me' (S3 E10). Some of the lore will be changed to make sure there are no plot holes. I plan to rewrite all the seasons following S3 eventually. There have been changes in Bela's backstory as well. Happy reading.

Prologue ('Bad Day at Black Rock')

'Turn around'

Bela Talbot stared at those words for a second, written on a cheap, yellow, post-it note with a logo at its corner, which was stuck below the screen of her now-disabled security system. Had the Winchester brothers found her that quickly? Her question was answered when she heard the sound of a gun being cocked beside her.

She immediately whipped around, pointing her own gun at the eldest Winchester, who was staring at her stonily, quite unlike the man she was flirting with at the restaurant.

"You left without your tip," he quipped, still unsmiling as he stared at her.

Bela nearly pouted as she stared at Dean Winchester, who raised his eyebrows. She hadn't managed to get a good look at him in the diner since she was busy stealing the rabbit's foot from his tall-as-all-hell brother, and she had to accept now, that the Winchester gene pool was really quite generous.

Dean's voice broke her out of her thoughts, "You're gonna give it back," he said, backing away into her living room, his gun held aloft.

Bela followed him predatorily, it took her a second to realize he was talking about the foot. She smirked at his arrogance, "Sweetie. No, I'm not," she said patronizingly.

Dean was now in the living room, his gun still pointing at her, trying to be calm, "Yeah, we'll see. Bela, right?"

Dumb question, considering he was standing in her living room and talking to her at the moment, but she decided to play along with him.

"That's right. Dean," she said, stressing his name slightly.

"You know the thing's cursed, don't you?" he said, obviously referring to the stolen rabbit's foot.

"You'd be surprised what some people would pay for something like that."

"Really?" heavy disbelief laced in his voice.

"There's a lucrative market out there, a lot of money to be made," she said, raising her eyebrows.

Dean's disbelief turned into surprise as she said those words, amusing Bela, "You hunters with all your amulets and talismans you use to stop those big, bad monsters. Any one of them could put your children's children through college."

Dean's surprise quickly turned into disdain as she completed her speech, he sneered at her, "So, you know the truth? About what's really going on out there, and this is what you decide to do with it?"

Bela's playful mood vanished instantly when she heard the scoff and disapproval in his voice, she didn't know why but she felt an inexplicable need to prove to him that she didn't necessarily like what she was doing, that she didn't have a choice, that there was nothing else in her life except this. The sudden onslaught of the usually locked-up emotions left Bela speechless for a second, allowing Dean to continue.

"You become a thief?" he asked smugly, pretending to pull a face of disapproval.

Bela schooled her shocked expression into a neutral one before replying to him, "I procure unique items for a select clientele."

"Yeah, a thief," he said knowingly.

"No, a great thief," she corrected, emphasizing the word 'great', and smirking at him.

Dean looked at her critically before sighing and lowering his gun slightly, gesturing with it as he spoke, "My brother, he," Dean hesitated before continuing, knowing that it wasn't going to do much good anyway, "He touched the foot, and when you took it from him, his luck went from," he gestured wildly, but Bela interrupted him before he could continue.

"I know how it works," she said condescendingly, also gesturing with her gun now.

He looked at her closely, "So then you know he's gonna die unless we can destroy it?"

Bela wanted to snort at him, did he really think she cared in the least what happened to his brother? But she decided to toy with him as she pretended to look apologetic and concerned when she answered, "You can have the foot."

Dean looked like a surprised puppy because he really seemed to have bought her act, which was what made her next words about ten times harder to say since the expression on his face made her feel guilty for the first time in ages.

"Really?" Dean spoke before Bela could get the rest of her reply out, his voice hopeful, but cautious, almost expecting a trap.

Her eyes snapped back to his with a scowl, she was angrier with herself than him. Why on earth was she even considering another person's feelings all of a sudden? It wasn't like she even knew the brothers, and they were just hunters who in Bela's opinion were just trigger happy thugs but killing monsters instead of people. Although she had met a few hunters who were different, Bobby Singer being the best example. Her thoughts were interrupted as her eyes suddenly caught onto the amulet he was wearing and she tilted her head slightly. It looked ancient and she knew just by looking at it that it would be a lot more valuable than some rabbit's foot.

"Not so fast, tiger," she said haughtily before gesturing her gun towards his chest, "I can give you the foot in exchange for that."

Dean looked down at where she was pointing at and his eyes widened as he saw the object of her attraction, "Are you crazy? I'm not giving you that," he said backing into her hallway this time.

"It's either that or 1.5 million," she simpered.

Dean smirked again, "Nice, I'll just call my banker," he lost his smirk, his expression darkening as he continued, "And how'd you find the damn thing anyway? Stuck up in that storage unit in the middle of nowhere."

Bela merely turned her head towards the ancient ouija board, which she had collected when she first came to the States, "I just asked a few of the ghosts of the people it had killed. They were very attuned to its location."

Dean was now standing in the hallway again, looking at her with disgust written all over his face, "So, you're only out for yourself huh? It's all about number one?"

Bela felt her blood boil again at the accusation, who was he to judge her? He knew nothing about her or her past, and she even offered him an exchange. Besides, she had learned nearly a decade ago that the only person she should care about should be herself. But the frustration inside her refused to be silenced.

"Being a hunter is so much more noble? A bunch of obsessed revenge-driven sociopaths trying to save a world that can't be saved?" her accent sharpening with anger.

Dean raised a single eyebrow, "Wow, aren't you a glass half full?"

Bela smirked again, "We're all going to hell, Dean," she took a moment to check him out openly before continuing, "Might as well enjoy the ride."

Dean smirked at her, catching onto the innuendo, almost smiling, "I actually agree with you there."

Bela raised an eyebrow, she didn't really mean anything by her statement and she wondered for a moment whether Dean Winchester was really gonna try and screw a woman who didn't mind letting his brother die, but he wasn't finished yet.

"Anyhoo, this has been charming but uh look at the time," he said swaggering away from her.

Bela's confusion must've shown on her face because Dean smiled smugly again before pulling something out from his pocket. Bela's eyes widened as she saw him dangling her rabbit's foot by his hand. He had somehow nicked it while she was distracted.

"Guess you're not the only one with sticky fingers. If it's any consolation, I think your offer was truly generous," he said sarcastically before bolting out the front door. She considered shooting him, but strangely couldn't find herself to do so. She knew she was heartless and uncaring, but she hadn't outright killed anyone yet and didn't plan to dirty her hands. Besides, he had the protection of the foot as well.

Bela let out an angry snarl before shouting after him, "I will find you, Winchester."

Bela grit her teeth, she needed that rabbit's foot, Luke was not someone she wanted to be on the wrong side of. She ran to her window just in time to see Dean's black Chevy hit the road. Somehow, she knew it wouldn't be her last meeting with the Winchesters.

Dean Winchester expected to hear gunshots when he ran out of the apartment, but was surprised when all he heard was a voice, "I will find you, Winchester," he nearly smirked at that, she wasn't a killer after all. He was getting really good at reading people.

He got inside his shiny, black Chevy Impala 67, with a smile on his face and the rabbit's foot tucked safely inside his jacket. He started the engine with a rumble and tore out of the exit, entering the road again and finally heaving a sigh of relief. He only hoped his little brother hadn't set the motel room on fire yet.

As he drove, his thoughts reflected back to Bela. He had to spend hours researching about her to find her real name and address, he had tried to call Bobby but then remembered he was already busy with another case. He also didn't really like what he found about her, chiefly because there was only very little to find and most of her past remained shrouded in mystery. Dean didn't like unknown variables since it mostly came to bite him back in the ass. He knew that there would be repercussions for his actions, he had a feeling that Bela Talbot was not someone who gave up easily. Somehow, he knew it wouldn't be the last time he was going to see her.

"Alright," Sam finally spoke when the embers of the fire hissed sharply, the sound echoing around the empty graveyard, "Bone ash, Cayenne pepper, that should do it," he said with finality, nodding to himself.

Dean however was too engrossed in scribbling the scratch cards he had bought, milking as much as he could out of the rabbit's foot, he knew Sam was irritated about it, which only added to the fun in his opinion.

"One second," he replied distractedly.

"Dean-" Sam started exasperatedly, only to be cut off.

"Hey! Back off, jinx," he said, still not looking at Sam or his bitchface.

He gave the card a final blow, "I'm bringing home the bacon," he looked up at Sam and smirked before striding over to his jacket, lying on a nearby tombstone, and putting the collection of scratch cards near it. He proceeded to pull the rabbit's foot out of the jacket and dangled it, the thing still creeped him out if he was being honest, "Say goodbye to wascawy wabbit," he said before dumping the foot into the embers.

It gave a loud crackle and hissed, Dean heaved a sigh of relief and was about to suggest hightailing it out of the graveyard when a familiar voice spoke behind him

"Guess I'm a little late to the party," Bela spoke, walking up to him and Sam. Her hands were in the pockets of her costly leather jacket and she stood with a forlorn expression on her face. She looked at the embers and sighed exaggeratedly.

"Sweetheart, you were never invited in the first place," Dean snorted.

"Thanks very much," Bela scowled at him, "I'm out one and a half million, and on the bad side of a very powerful, fairly psychotic buyer," she looked pointedly at the brothers.

Dean looked at her closely, even though he didn't want to see Bela Talbot ever again in his life, he also didn't want her to end up dead because of him, not that he cared in the least about a lying, thieving bitch like her.

He hesitated before speaking, "Well, if you need any assistance, you know whom to call," He saw Sam's surprised look from the corner of his eye.

Bela snorted and smiled a saccharine sweet smile at him, "Why, Dean, using big words are we?" she simpered.

Dean glared at her, why had he even offered? "Screw you," he said smirking.

"Very Oscar Wilde," she said mockingly.

"Here's an idea, Bela, go away."

Bela leaned over the tombstone, on top of his jacket and smiled at them again, "Have a nice night, boys," she said, throwing the jacket at Dean unceremoniously, who caught it deftly. Bela walked away from them briskly and disappeared into the darkness surrounding them.

Sam and he looked at the foot which was now blackened and burnt to a crisp before collecting their belongings and stuffing them in their duffel bag. Dean pulled his jacket over himself and the brothers slowly started making their way out of the dark cemetery.

"Guess we're back to normal now huh?" Dean spoke, "No good luck, no bad luck."

Dean started as he realized with a flash that they still had the scratch cards with them, "Oh, I forgot! We're at 46000 dollars," he said with a laugh, searching his jacket pockets, "I forgot about the...," his excitement faded and turned to confusion as he couldn't find them, "Scratch tickets."

Both of them turned their heads simultaneously as they heard the sound of a powerful engine of a car down the road, the car honked a few times before speeding away and disappearing from their view.

Sam and he looked at each other as they realized what must've happened and put together the missing tickets and the speeding vehicle which clearly belonged to Bela Talbot.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Dean shouted enraged. He felt even more furious as he looked at Sam, who seemed to be struggling to keep a straight face.

Oh, he was so going to get back at her for this.

Bela smiled to herself as she looked at the scratch cards sitting near the gear shaft of her car, she knew it wouldn't be more than 50 grand which was basically inconsequential to someone like her but it felt just too good to think of Dean's reaction when he would find out.

She chuckled to herself as she saw the brothers arguing about something (she had a few ideas as to what it might be about) and honked obnoxiously before stepping on the gas harder, but all the same, she heard a faint shout, "Son of a bitch."

She nearly choked on her laughter as she drove away. Let the games begin, Dean Winchester, let the games begin.