I See Red 18+
Chapter 19 - Once is Happenstance. Twice is Coincidence. But in This Case, There Won't Be a Third
Word Count: 16,791
Warnings: smut
Series Masterlist | Full Masterlist
Ever since she found out that Castiel knew about her relationship, Selina had felt nothing but relief. It was nice having someone she could properly talk to about it, which had honestly been a little weird at first as she couldn’t help but feel like she was basically letting an angel of the Lord know about each time she’d gotten laid.
In the beginning she had been a little reluctant about being so open with Castiel about the Crowley of it all, especially given the aforementioned reason – not to mention the personal history between the two of them either. Selina wasn’t sure whether all that was settled or not, although she was assuming it was given that Cas hadn’t shown up during one of their dates to burn Crowley’s eyes out of his socket. But still, it worried her a little.
What worried her more though, was the lingering thought that anything she told him was then going to get repeated to Sam and Dean once she had left the building. Of course, deep down, Selina knew Cas would never do that, not if he wanted to keep the trust that had taken him quite a while to earn from her – perhaps he shouldn’t have greeted Sam for the first time by calling him the ‘boy with the demon blood’, maybe then she’d have grown to like him a little quicker.
However, despite the now incredibly strong trust between herself and the angel, it was something that was on her mind fairly often. To tell the truth it bugged her quite a bit as not only did she want to be the one to tell her brothers the truth, but it also kept reminding her of what she was so blatantly doing.
Selina was well aware that what she was doing was living a lie. That she was spending what was probably the best time of her life so far in the shadows that she was surprised she could still see her surroundings. She didn’t want to live like this, obviously, and she often thought about how it would feel to finally be free but even that didn’t make it any easier for her to want to tell her brothers the truth.
There was still the risk that they’d straight up kill Crowley should they find out what he’d been doing to her, even though she was the one who initiated sex most of the time as Crowley was nothing if not a gentleman. Should that happen, Selina was pretty certain her brothers wouldn’t care that it would crush her entire being in the process as if she knew them, and she did, then they would rather see her suffer for a while than ever allow her to continue dating a demon.
Obviously Selina didn’t need their permission to date anyone, regardless of the colour of their soul, however she would like just a sliver of their blessing towards her relationship. She hadn’t told Crowley, or Cas, this yet but despite how happy said relationship was making her she knew she’d never be fully happy until she was no longer living in secret — although something told her they probably already knew that as she wasn’t shy about walking around on eggshells anytime the topic came up in conversation.
Even Sam and Dean were growing noticeably frustrated with being kept in the dark about her mystery man for so long. They both didn’t like not knowing who Selina was meeting as even though she was perfectly capable of handling herself, and ignoring the fact that she was only ten minutes younger than Sam, she was still their little sister, and it was their job to take care of her.
Any other day of the week, Selina wouldn’t have minded their protectiveness as ever since they’d had that conversation a while ago about them loosening the reins a little, they had, surprisingly, done so. But when it came to her privacy, and the fact that they — meaning Dean — seemed to have tightened the reins again and wouldn’t give up in trying to entice her into spilling the beans about her relationship, she was becoming increasingly pissed off to the point where she had actually snapped at Dean earlier as she got herself ready to go out.
Selina may have been a little harsher with him than she would have hoped but it was really hard to focus on her make-up with him yammering on in her ear about her secret rendezvous with, and to quote Dean exactly, some dude who, for all we know, could secretly be a monster trying to kill you.
As if she wouldn’t be able to tell if a man was a monster after the first date. And even if she couldn't, what are the chances that he wouldn’t have attempted to kill her yet?
Anyway, despite telling Dean to get lost, in a way a lot less kinder than that and feeling a little regret towards doing so, Selina was able to carry on getting ready to go out. She didn’t technically have plans with Crowley, as the last thing she had told him was that she was still out on a hunt and wouldn’t be home for another couple of days, but she intended to see him tonight.
In reality, they’d been home for almost a full day now and she had purposely neglected to tell him that when he called her to check in as she really wanted to surprise him by showing up in his bedroom as he often did to her. She’d never forget the first day she got home to find him waiting for her in her room, with a bouquet of her favourite flowers — black roses — in his hands and a box of incredibly fancy, and ridiculously expensive, chocolates that were straight from Belgium hidden behind his back.
Who knew the King of Hell could be so romantic at times? Not Selina that was for sure. Although she wouldn’t deny, she was thoroughly enjoying being on the receiving end of it and she was really the “honeymoon phase” of their relationship wouldn’t end anytime soon.
Luckily for her though, it seemed to be everlasting as that hadn’t been the only time Crowley had surprised her. He’d done so plenty of times since the day they confessed their love for each other and each time he did he’d have a different gift hidden somewhere within the walls of her room.
Whether it be something fun and cute, like a stuffed penguin that he’d had custom made for her in order to match a very specific penguin she’d seen in a documentary who only had one flipper, which had made her tear up and express how she wished she could keep him safe from any and all harm.
Or whether it be something a little bit more romantic, like candles and rose petals, an extravagant bouquet of flowers, the most gorgeous piece of jewellery she’d ever seen or perhaps a little lacey something he’d particularly like to see her in.
Whatever it may be, Selina treasured it all and it was for that reason exactly that she wished to return the favour. She didn’t have any sort of gift to give him as she wasn’t as well equipped in that department as he was, and she had run out of bottles of scotch to give him from the bunker’s cellar.
Therefore, she was hoping that she alone, mixed with a little one-piece she had hidden beneath her clothes that Crowley had yet to see, would be enough to hopefully brighten his day — which let’s face it, she could turn up looking like a complete mess and still be able brighten his day, but regardless of that, she still wanted to make an effort.
And after spending a ridiculously long time putting in that effort of getting ready, Selina had finally managed to convince Castiel to drop her off at Crowley’s. He’d been a little reluctant at first as lately he’d been shutting her out when it came to Crowley as she kept arguing with him anytime he brought up that she couldn’t keep lying to Sam and Dean about where she was going all the time — as if he didn’t do the same thing for a portion of the time they’d known each other.
However, after a good twenty minutes of Selina constantly badgering him, Castiel gave in and finally agreed to drop her off. Without giving her a second to prepare herself, she might add as before she knew it he had placed two fingers to her forehead, with a little more force than necessary, and sent her on her way.
When Selina opened her eyes, she was now standing amidst the dim lighting of Crowley’s bedroom. The once eerie silence the room held no longer unsettled her as it might have done in the past, not when she’d grown to physically crave it as most of the time it was the only peace and quiet she ever seemed to get in life.
And given that Crowley favoured her room or hotel rooms, she didn’t get to satisfy that craving very much, which is why, once she heard it, it was as though her entire body lightened. She took a deep breath, inhaling the subtle hints of Crowley’s cologne that directed her his way and the second her eyes found him, sitting on the couch with his back to her, any thoughts that had been plaguing her mind swifty faded away and were replaced with nothing but love.
Smiling softly to herself, Selina edged slowly towards him, feeling a rush of butterflies in her stomach as she wasn’t sure what his reaction would be to her showing up unannounced, and she could only hope that it would be a good one.
Although chances are it would be more than a good one as Selina had barely been in the room for ten seconds and already, she could tell that Crowley was stressed. For starters, his shoulders were incredibly tense, to the point where his shirt might have burst at the seams if he flexed anymore. Secondly, there was a half empty bottle of scotch sitting on the table facing him, one which Selina knew he’d only just gotten as one of the last messages he’d sent her had been about how he was waiting to open it until they were together as he thought she might like it.
Guess he couldn’t wait that long, and if anything, it only made Selina that much more sure of herself in hoping that once he realised she was there, he wouldn’t need to rely on the bottle anymore.
Time and time again, Crowley had made it perfectly clear that the only thing that could truly relieve his stress was her. And she didn’t just mean sex. Simply her presence alone was enough to help him relax pretty much all the time, therefore she knew today would be no exception, and so she continued to make her way towards him, until there was nothing but a small part of the couch standing between them.
Before she decided to announce herself, as he hadn’t seemed to notice her yet, Selina glanced briefly over his shoulder just to see what he was doing. And when she did. When she saw that he was, yet again, doing nothing but staring down at a photo of her on his phone, her heart might as well have burst from her chest and landed in his hands.
Right where it truly belonged.
That must have been why he hadn’t sensed her presence yet, Selina thought to herself. Usually he’d have known she was there from the minute she entered his general vicinity and given his current state, he’d probably have been on her faster than a speeding bullet.
However in this case, his mind was so clearly deep in thought, about what she was guessing was her, that he was unaware of his surroundings, which is why when Selina finally set her hands atop his shoulders, he physically jumped. And thank God he hadn’t sent her flying out of instinct otherwise she’d have found herself impaled by a rusty old nail.
She hadn’t even gotten the chance to mutter a single word yet and already Selina could feel the tension leave Crowley’s shoulders as they slowly began to sink, allowing him to easily relax now that she was here. And he knew it was her. He didn’t need to hear her speak, or even so much as look at her to know it was either, as he’d recognise the feeling of those hands just about anywhere.
But just to be on the safe side, as his judgement was severely clouded these days, Crowley glanced a little to his left just in time to confirm what he already knew was true, and to see Selina lean forward in order to press a soft kiss to the side of his neck.
“You won’t need a picture anymore, I’m here now,” she whispered, kissing him again and hearing the soft thud of what she was assuming was his phone hitting the rug after he’d allowed it to slip from his grasp.
“Thank Feathers for that,” Crowley exhaled in relief, knowing fully well that it was Castiel who was responsible for bringing Selina here and perhaps he should think about sending him a gift basket as thanks. “Because you have no idea how badly I need you right now.”
“If the tension in your shoulders tells me anything, then I do,” Selina replied softly, pressing one final kiss just above his shirt collar before she reluctantly pulled away from him and began to round the couch.
Once she was close enough to him that he could reach out and touch her, Crowley did, taking her hand and pulling her gently towards him in order to speed her along. Smiling warmly over his eagerness, Selina was quick to place herself atop his lap, feeling how Crowley’s arms wrapped tightly around her waist the very second he was able to.
She shuffled a little to reposition herself and once Crowley was sure she was comfortable and had gotten her legs settled at either side of his, he wasn’t shy about showing her just how badly he truly needed her – in the form of a kiss that literally took her breath away.
“I thought you were still working a case?” Crowley said, allowing Selina a chance to get her breath back as he grazed his fingertips over every inch of her face in order to assure himself she was truly here.
“I lied,” Selina confessed, watching his eyebrow lift out of curiosity as his movements come to a slow stop. “We’ve been home for about a day, but I wanted to surprise you.”
At that, Crowley’s face softened and he smiled, “then consider me well and truly surprised.”
Pulling Selina in for a second breathtaking kiss, Crowley dropped his hands and slowly began to move them up the curve of her waist, feeling nothing but the softness of the hoodie she wore instead of what he really wanted to feel — the softness of her skin. This caused his face to tighten a little out of minor frustration as yet again, Selina had opted to cover her body with clothes that were two sizes too big for her.
Nevertheless, he said nothing. All that truly mattered was that she was here with him, and instead he drew his hands back down her waist and attempted to try and find his way underneath the material without any added assistance. Only when he finally managed to slip his hands under the hem of the hoodie that he had a sneaking suspicion was Sam’s, he wasn’t met with her skin like he’d hoped, but yet another source of clothing.
And this time, he decided to say something.
“Darling, really with all the layers?” He sighed out a little, not wanting to seem openly annoyed or frustrated with her as Selina could never do anything to make him feel that way, even despite her apparent likeness for coverage.
Right now though, he just couldn’t help it. Especially after the day he’d had, which left him in no mood to fight with her unnecessary layers in order to feel the warmth of her skin. He had no idea whether there was some kind of reasoning behind Selina’s likeness for baggy layers but he could only hope he didn’t bother her by bringing it up, as he really needed her here with him right now and didn’t want to do anything that might make her want to leave.
To his relief though, all Selina did in response was smile – in a way that told him she had very much done this on purpose and it was like she had been waiting for him to finally say something about it. She dropped her hands from around his neck, gripping the bottom of her hoodie and in one swift motion she pulled it off, revealing the rather slinky negligee she had hidden underneath it that caused Crowley’s eyes to widen almost instantaneously.
“I told you,” Selina murmured, leaning forward to brush her lips across Crowley’s and feeling the sudden way he increased the tightness of his hold on her, “I wanted to surprise you.”
Forcing Crowley’s hands away from her hips, much to his dissapointment, Selina lifted herself off his lap, feeling the softness of the rug between her toes as she hadn’t even bothered to put shoes on when she left the bunker as they’d have only slowed her down. She then shimmied out of her sweats and, as easy as flicking a switch, Crowley’s mood changed within seconds and by just looking at him, you never would have been able to tell that he’d previously been so stressed that he’d actually considered retirement.
“Like what you see?” Selina asked flirtatiously, taking it upon herself to climb back onto Crowley’s lap and she wasn’t at all surprised to be met with the slight tightness to his pants underneath her – which basically answered that partially rhetorical question without the need for words.
And so did the simple look on his face as had this been a cartoon, then she was fairly certain that his eyes would have turned to hearts and would be currently popping from his sockets. Not to mention his jaw which, had this been like the psychokinetic case she’d worked not long ago, she’d have had to pick up off the floor, and probably would have had to put his tongue back into.
“I must be dreaming,” Crowley said blankly, too enthralled by Selina and the mere beauty that she possessed to allow any other semi-coherent words to pass by his lips.
Selina said nothing in response. Instead, she simply leaned back a little and allowed his lust-filled gaze to cast over the entirety of her partially covered body. She didn’t think she’d ever get tired of seeing the way he looked at her. The way his eyes filled with so much happiness. So much care. So much love , that it seemed as though the entire world around him had faded to black and the only thing left for him to see was her.
“Yep, definitely dreaming,” Crowley murmured in a daze, watching the smile that rose on Selina’s lips – one so warm that it could melt even the coldest of hearts. She leaned in, kissing him tenderly and blindly feeling around for his hands, which once she found, were quickly placed upon her thighs.
“You’re not dreaming,” Selina whispered, her voice as soft as the feeling of her lips on his. “You told me yourself that demons don’t dream.”
“This one does,” Crowley confessed, grazing his hands slowly up the length of Selina’s thighs and he knew she had more than likely narrowed her eyes in question as he had, indeed, told her that once. But that was then, and this was now, therefore he didn’t stop to look at them. Nor did he say anything to answer them and instead slowly leaned in, brushing his lips over every inch of her face he passed on the way to her ear, where, once he was there, he whispered softly into, “and he only ever dreams of you.”
With another smile capable of melting Crowley’s heart as though it were a glacier in the penguin documentaries she loved to watch, Selina used her hand to gently shift his face back in front of her, about to pull him in for the kiss of a lifetime before she suddenly halted. She repositioned her hand, drawing her thumb down the side of his eye and with one brief, barely noticeable had it not been for his capability of reading her, nod of her head, Crowley blinked and the entirety of his eyes clouded over with Selina’s newfound favourite colour.
Now it was her turn to stare. Deeply. Affectionately. So lovestruck that Crowley was surprised her heart was still in her chest, he could hear it beating so hard. He’d never had someone look at him the way she was. Not in his human life and most certainly not in his demon life. He never thought he would either, as who could ever love someone capable of such heinous crimes that he’d committed throughout both of his lives. He always thought he’d spend his days alone, without ever experiencing what being loved felt like and for the majority of his life, he’d been sort of okay with that idea.
But then he met Selina.
Crowley would never admit this aloud, even now, and nor did he know how to explain it but the day Selina walked into his home. The day he handed her the Colt, forgetting how she tried to shoot him with it seconds later, he knew his life had changed. And he knew it had changed for the better.
Did he know then that this is where they would be now? Absolutely not. But there had just been some little part of him that changed that day. Some small part of his darkened soul that had brightened. That had told him that perhaps there was more to life than simply being a demon. It had taken him a few years, a few battles and about seven vials of human blood to finally realise that but in the end he was finally here. He finally had that one thing that was so, so much more valuable to him than even his own life was and if he could, he’d be making damn sure he never, ever let her go.
Crowley blinked again and his eyes returned to normal. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t noticed the slight downwards tug of Selina’s lips when he did as knew how much she’d grown to like them. She asked to see them pretty much anytime they were together, as according to her they were the real him . The him she’d fallen in love with.
But truthfully, Crowley had been feeling less like his demonic self lately and more like his human self. Not his Fergus human self that is, but the Crowley one. The one Selina herself had created and the one whose eyes he truly wished for her to fall in love with.
“If it wasn’t for you,” Crowley began, his voice so utterly quiet that Selina had to tuck her hair behind her ears just to be able to hear him. “I’m not sure whether I’d still be here.”
At that moment, Selina instantly regretted having heard him as she was fairly certain her heart had severed right down the middle. She shuffled closer to him, until her knees were pressed right up against the back of the couch and once she felt the coldness of the leather she lifted her hands, taking Crowley’s face gently within them.
For a moment, Crowley wasn’t sure what she might have said. Whether she’d have said something vague and philosophical, or whether or not she’d have simply told him not to talk like that, he wasn’t sure. But he was prepared for either. However, the second her lips parted and that husky voice of her’s met the air, he quickly found himself less prepared to hear two short words than he’d ever been in his entire life.
“Me too,” Selina whispered, her lip wobbling briefly as she swallowed the thick lump in her throat. She didn’t exactly want to spoil the mood by confessing her deepest, darkest secret, but given that Crowley was the only one who could understand her, she felt as though the moment was right. “Ever since I got back from Purgatory I’ve felt lost. Like I stepped into a world I don’t fully understand. A world I don’t fully belong to. Part of me thinks it’s because I never should have made it out of Purgatory. I should have died in there, like… Like I intended to.”
At that, Crowley’s hold on her tightened as his hands ascended up the length of her back, feeling each and every bump of her spine as he made sure she knew she belonged. Not just here on Earth, but here with him — in his arms. He knew words would be better, and in most cases they probably would, but he also knew how incredibly touch-starved for genuine affection Selina was, which is why when it came to times like this, he liked to resort to using his hands, rather than his mouth – because at least that way, she’d hear him.
“But when I took on the trials, I thought it would fix that. I thought it would purify me,” Selina began, dropping her hands from Crowley’s face and instead beginning to slowly unbutton his shirt, as regardless of their conversational topic, she didn’t intend to end the night anywhere other than beneath him. “I thought it would be my second chance at a new life. That it would be our chance at new lives. When in reality, it would have been the exact opposite.”
Meaning Selina would be dead, Crowley thought to himself. And honestly, he probably would have been too. Whether by his own hand, or by Sam and Dean’s when they took Selina’s death out on him, he wasn’t sure. Either way though, he wouldn’t have lasted long as there’s no way in hell, pun fully intended, that he would have wanted to relive life as a human – especially when the only person that could have ever truly loved him would no longer be in it.
“But as it turns out… I was right along,” Selina said softly, glancing down in order to watch her own fingers undo the last button on Crowley’s shirt before she slowly began to graze her hands up the length of his torso. She followed them intensely with her eyes, then just as she crossed over the rapid beat of his heart she added, “I got my second chance…” and when her eyes finally met his, “And you got yours.”
“Why darling, I believe that’s the sappiest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Crowley teased, because if he didn’t cover his true emotions with humour then he was highly certain he’d have crumbled beneath her as she’d just summed everything he was feeling into one simple sentence.
“Oh, shut up and kiss me already,” Selina chuckled softly, because of course Crowley would respond with nothing other than pure wit. She didn’t mind though. She knew how hard it was for him to confess his feelings verbally, so she was more than happy to let him express them physically.
And boy did he know exactly how to do that. The man was practically a wizard with the way he used his hands and his mouth that the majority of the time Selina was ready to plummet over the edge of complete and utter bliss before he’d even taken off his belt.
However this time, with the mere way in which Crowley was kissing her. Slow. Intimate. With the utmost gentleness as though he were afraid that if he went any faster she would break, things already started to feel so, so much more different than any other moment had, that an orgasm was actually the last thing on Selina’s mind right now.
All she wanted to do was feel him. Each and every part of him that he offered her, she wished to treasure. His hands – that were ever so slowly caressing every single inch of her body that he could reach in their current position, sending waves upon waves of shivers up and down the length of her spine. His lips – which were still working themselves against her own, slow and steady as though he were savouring the taste of her and to her surprise, was leaving her more breathless than anything heated and passion driven ever could.
But most importantly, his heart.
Crowley was holding her so tightly, so firmly against his naked torso that she could feel every single beat of it beneath his chest. The way it was steadily increasing the more intimate they got told her more than his words ever could and it was in that moment. That one, specific moment in which his heart skipped a beat the second she placed her hands on either side of his neck that Selina knew. She knew she’d found that one thing worth living for and she would be damned if she ever let anything take him away from her.
“God, I can’t get enough of you,” Crowley exhaled, using his firm hold on Selina’s thighs to lift her from his lap just enough that he could shift his position in order to begin gently lowering her back onto the couch.
Only when Selina’s back finally hit the soft surface, expecting to feel the cool leather beneath her, she was instead greeted by the softness of silk. More specifically, the silk sheets of Crowley’s bed, as it appeared as though he’d taken it upon himself to move them there as he knew Selina wasn’t a fan of couch sex as she always ended up sticking to the leather due to the amount of sweat he caused her to produce.
Although she didn’t think that would have been too much of a problem this time due to the addition of her lingerie that Crowley had no intention of removing. Nevertheless she still appreciated it, and to tell the truth she’d have been happy with being placed just about anywhere as she wasn’t even remotely focused on anything other than the touch of Crowley’s skin against hers.
And it appeared as though Crowely was in the exact same boat as mere seconds after their move to the bed, he lifted himself from her just enough to slide his arms out of the shirt she’d unbuttoned for him and throw it aimlessly aside. He then wasted no time in lowering himself back onto her, keeping mindful of how much of his body weight he allowed to fall on her as he pressed his lips to one particular spot just below her collarbone.
The one that she was particularly sensitive in and that not only caused such addicting sounds to roll off her tongue but that could also unravel her quicker than any other form of foreplay ever could. At the same time, his hand travelled slowly down the curve of her waist, feeling the small goosebumps that lay partially hidden beneath the mesh fabric of her negligee.
Upon reaching the hem Crowley delved beneath it, doubling back on his past movements and ever so slightly increasing the pressure of his grasp. His hand continued to travel up the length of her thigh, caressing it softly. Squeezing it gently, yet firmly enough that when he reached the top a deep, pleasure driven moan escaped through Selina’s parted lips, causing her to arch her body against his even more and stopping him from completing his path as with a reaction like that, he knew true and well where she wanted his touch to go next.
From that moment on Crowley’s mind fell into such a daze that a meteor could have struck the asylum and he wouldn’t even have noticed. He would have simply carried on as he was doing now – working his mouth leisurely up the length of Selina’s neck, leaving a trail of fiery kisses along every part of her skin that he passed and feeling the slight coolness to the chain of her necklace which he could only hope to tell her the truth about soon.
Eventually, he reached her lips again, whereupon planting his own firmly against them, he slid two fingers slowly inside of her, causing such a sweet sounding moan to work its way up her throat and escape into his mouth.
Had this been any other day, that sound would have caused Crowley to swiftly pick up the pace. He’d have gone harder, giving Selina every ounce of speed and friction he knew she liked. He’d have teased her. Dragged her to the brink of her orgasm before throwing her right back down the ladder again until she was begging for it.
But this time he wasn’t even thinking of any of that. Hell, he didn’t want any of that either. He didn’t want dominance over her. He didn’t want to add to his own pleasure by having her roll over and submit to him. All he wanted was her. In any shape or form, all he ever wanted was Selina and by the depth in which she dug her nails into the skin of his shoulders, and the lack of encouragement for him to move faster, it was blatantly obvious that she was on the exact same page as he was.
Parting from his lips in need of oxygen, Selina couldn’t help but let out a breathy babble of swear words, as despite the lack of roughness which she was used to and very much favoured, Crowley was easily bringing her to such heights that she wasn’t sure whether she’d ever be able to reach them again. And all with his fingers, which had never felt better and at this rate, she couldn’t wait to experience the rest of him as in her mind, it was like that first night all over again.
Only a thousand times better.
Arching her torso off the mattress as much as she could, Selina slid one hand around the back of Crowley’s neck, threading her fingers through his hair in order to help bring his head as close to her as she was able. She pressed short, yet deeply heated, kisses along the length of his jaw, making her way towards his ear – the lobe of which she couldn’t help but tug gently at with her teeth before breathlessly whispering,
“I want to feel you.”
At that, Crowley removed his fingers from inside her and made fast work at undoing his belt and pants. He didn’t even bother taking them off fully, nor did he try to tease her either. Instead, he went right to sliding himself into her at a pace so incredibly slow that had this been any other day – any other moment – Selina would have made some witty retort about starting without him if he didn’t hurry things along.
Tonight however, neither of them were in any rush to speed things along and as slowly as he pushed himself in, Crowley dragged himself back out, savouring the moment thoroughly as in all his long years he’d never felt anything quite like this before. He lifted one hand, pulling the front of Selina’s negligee down and allowing her breasts to spill over the edge as he leaned further down into her, relishing in the dulcet tones that left her lips in response to each zealous stroke he gave her.
The roll of her breasts over his chest with each of them was like heaven in itself, feeling those hardened nubs mixed with the coldness of her piercings was almost enough to make Crowley lose control. However, he didn’t. He couldn’t . Not when he wanted to feel each and every sensation for as long as humanly possible, therefore, he continued to thrust his hips at a slow and steady pace.
Neither of them were quite sure how long they stayed this way, nor did they really care as it was about as close to heaven as either of them ever wanted to get. And when it inevitably ended, after throwing them both into such an earth-shattering, toe-curling orgasm they knew they’d more than likely never be able to replicate, they still couldn’t seem to want to part from each other.
Crowley had rolled off her, but that was about as much distance as Selina allowed him to get from her before she pressed herself up against his side, feeling his arm drape over her the second she settled comfortably. She’d never had sex like that before. Such intimate, love-filled sex that left her questioning whether or not she’d ever actually enjoyed sex before, or whether she’d simply imagined that she had.
Obviously she had enjoyed sex in the past, otherwise she never would have wasted her time by having it. But there was just something about sex with Crowely that felt inherently better than any sort of stranger sex, or friends with benefits situation she’d ever found herself to be in.
For the majority of her adult life, Selina had never fully believed people when they told her that being intimate with someone you truly love just once , could be a thousand times better than any number of one night stands she could have possibly ever had. Why would she? She’d never been in love before now and to her, sex was just sex.
However, after tonight, she found that she was quickly starting to rethink everything she thought she knew about sex and that perhaps… Perhaps those people had been right all along as the more she thought about it, the more she was certain that she would never be able to bring herself to be with anyone, other than Crowley, ever again.
“Have you eaten yet, my love?” Crowley asked, pulling Selina from her thoughts and causing her to glance up at him at the exact same time as when he tilted his head to look down at her.
He watched as she simply nodded her head. Before a smile worthy of a photo spread across her face and she slowly began to crane her neck up to reach him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips and finding herself so overwhelmed with butterflies over his care for her that she feared they might come to life and fly out her mouth like that one scene from The Possession – which was traumatising to say the least.
“I ate a little while ago,” Selina whispered against his lips, in a tone so breathless she thought she might have needed him to go and get her an oxygen tank nevermind a cheeseburger. “But, uh, if we share any more moments quite like that one… I may find myself in need of refuelling.”
“Is that so?” Crowley said, with a partially crooked smile that spoke about a thousand words as to what he had rattling around inside that head of his. He used his hold on her to bring Selina closer to him, wrapping his free arm around her waist and taking her lips in his, where he was preparing to flip her over and get to work de-fuelling her.
Until a knock at his door scrapped that plan entirely, making Crowley pull apart from her and sigh in a way that had Selina actually feel sorry for whoever was standing on the other side of that large wooden door as chances are, it would be the last time they ever knocked on anything again.
“Sir, I apologise for the intrusion but it’s important,” came the voice of Guthrie, the only one who would find himself knocking on more doors in the future as even despite his badly timed appearance, Crowley would never choose to kill him over it.
“Very well,” Crowley muttered, reluctantly letting go of Selina and shuffling himself up to lean against the headboard. It may have only been Guthrie outside, but he was not about to showcase himself in such a compromising position when he had a reputation to maintain. “You may enter.”
“What?” Selina spluttered out, after having choked on her own spit as she had been fully expecting Crowley to leave the room in order to deal with what it was Guthrie needed him for.
“Relax, darling, he knows,” Crowley said assuringly, hearing his bedroom door start to creak open as he caught a brief sight of Selina pulling the bedsheet up to cover her chest despite already wearing an article of clothing, as she wanted to remain at least a little bit modest in the presence of company, regardless of who it was and what he knew.
“Sir, I have a deal here that requires senior authorisation,” Guthrie said plainly as he stepped inside, crossing the room in a few short strides before holding an old, wooden clipboard out in front of him.
“Isn’t that what Bart is for?” Crowley asked, yet it was more of a statement than a question.
“Who’s Bart?” Selina whispered towards him, rolling her lips and dropping her gaze when her voice caused Guthrie’s attention to fall on her for a split second, as she didn’t exactly want to look him in the eye given the clearly evident scene of what she’d been doing only moments ago.
“Bart is the new King of the Crossroads,” Crowley explained, hearing a quiet ah pass over Selina’s lips in response before his eyes fell back onto his assistant, widening a touch as he added “and the one whose job it is to approve senior deals.”
“Under normal circumstances, that would be correct,” Guthrie agreed, taking a small step forward and extending his clipboard-wielding hand a little more. “However, this deal will require senior- senior approval to go ahead.”
“I see,” Crowley mused, his eyes narrowing as his curiosity piqued greatly. He reached out, taking the clipboard from Guthrie’s grasp and the second he read the words on the page, his eyes widened again and he muttered, “hmm, interesting.”
“What?” Selina asked, finding herself incredibly curious as to what deal could possibly require the King of Hell’s very own approval. She sat up, allowing the sheet to fall from around her as she shifted herself to her knees and just as she was about to peer over Crowley’s shoulder to take a peek at the deal, he tilted the clipboard away from her.
“Ah, I’m sorry, darling,’ Crowley said, glancing to his side just in time to catch the beginning of Selina’s frown form on her face. “I’m afraid this is strictly confidential.”
“Oh come on,” Selina complained, in a tone scarily similar to that of a teenage girl who’d been told she couldn’t attend a house party. “Who am I gonna tell? Kit?”
She made a valid point, Crowley thought to himself. It’s not like she could tell anyone what the deal said without exposing their relationship and she’d already told him plenty of times that she wasn’t ready for that just yet. And sure, she could have told the one person in her life that already knew – Castiel. But Crowley thought that was highly unlikely as he was well aware of her lingering fear that everything she told the angel was then going to get repeated to Sam and Dean.
Therefore the less she told him about their adventures, the more comfortable she found herself being in them and that’s all Crowley ever wanted her to be.
“Alright, I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Crowley exhaled, feeling his heart flutter at how quickly Selina’s frown literally turned upside down as her eyes began to dance with excitement. He turned the clipboard towards her, watching as her gaze dropped and the more she read, the more her eyes ended up about as wide as his had.
“Jefferson Rooney?” Selina said out loud, her brow a little furrowed. “Who the hell is Jefferson Rooney?”
“No idea, love.” Crowley replied, accepting the pen Guthrie handed him and quickly scribbling his signature in the authorisation box. “But come the next election, he’ll be known to the world as Mr President.”
“God, it’s crazy to me the length people will go to for power,” Selina said, shaking her head as she settled back into the mass of pillows that lay scattered on Crowley’s bed. She knew there had probably been a deal made for literally anything she could think of but to find out the future President would only be the President because of one was truly baffling to her as she always thought there had to be some exceptions to what a crossroads deal could do.
Saving someone from a life threatening illness? Sure, absolutely. But using that power to make yourself the President? Surely that had to be morally wrong in more ways than one.
“You’d be surprised at what people are willing to sell their souls for, darling,” Crowley said casually, as having once been the King of the Crossroads, he’d see it all. He double checked the details of the deal, making sure everything was in correct order before passing the clipboard back to Guthrie and slipping out of the bed, where thankfully he still had his pants on otherwise he’d be showing Guthrie a lot more than he planned to. “Just last month we had a father-to-be sell his soul so that his child would be born a boy.”
“Okay now that’s just plain stupid,” Selina muttered, shaking her head again. “Because now his wife and child are going to be left alone when he dies in ten years.”
“We live in desperate times, Selina,” Crowley replied, making his way towards the liquor tray as Guthrie headed for the door now that business was taken care of.
“Oh, and whilst I’m here, sir,” Guthrie said, stopping himself mid-way through opening the door and glancing over his shoulder. “I have reports from Belphagor that Mr Tumblety is causing problems again…”
“Bloody Hell.”
“Shall I go ahead and send him on a… timeout?” Guthrie finished, choosing his words wisely as he wasn't sure how much Crowley had told Selina about how he handles business in the pit.
“Yes, go ahead,” Crowley sighed, filling two crystal glasses with a generous amount of scotch. “But tell him this is his last warning.”
“Very well, sir,” Guthrie nodded, “as you were.”
And with that, he left.
“Who is Mr Tumbl…whatever?” Selina asked curiously, accepting the glass of scotch Crowley handed her with a thankful smile and watching as he climbed back into the bed beside her.
“Francis Tumblety,” Crowley sighed, taking a sip of his scotch as Selina scooted closer to him and reached out to take his hand, lacing her fingers tightly with his and helping remind him that he had something worth living for that wasn’t just punishing unruly souls. “Or as he’s best known in the pit… Jack the Ripper.”
Choking a little on her scotch, Selina coughed, her eyes as wide as they could possibly be without them popping out of her skull. Did she just hear him correctly? Did he just casually drop the name, the real life name or her favourite unsolved mystery? The one she’d actually lost sleep over sometimes after bingeing a documentary series and deciding she must solve the case before she ever thought about sleeping again.
“Did you,” Selina began, chuckling in disbelief and truthfully she was starting to think she’d gone a little bit delirious. As though Crowley had literally fucked her senseless. “Did you just say Jack the Ripper? Like the Jack the Ripper? The infamous. Unidentified. Serial killer responsible for at least five murders, but suspected of eleven, in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. That Jack the Ripper ?”
“Oh Selina, please don’t tell me you’re a fan,” Crowley sighed, as though he were disappointed as she seemed a little too enthusiastic, not to mention knowledgeable, about Jack the Ripper.
“What? No. No, I’m not a fan. I just…” Selina exhaled, running her fingers through her hair as this was quite a remarkable moment in her life and she wasn’t really sure how to handle it. Or how to tell Sam she finally knew who the real Ripper was as all this time he thought it was Edgar Degas despite how many times she told him that theory didn’t make a lick of sense. “I’ve spent so, so long trying to figure out who Jack the Ripper was and you’re telling me you knew this whole time?”
“Of course I do, darling, I’m the King of Hell. It’s my job to know what the souls under my rule are in for, you know that.”
“I know,” Selina mumbled, as he made a fair point. That was his job after all. “But still… You could have told me.”
“You didn’t ask,” Crowley chuckled, finding himself a tiny bit amused over the cute frown Selina had displayed on her face. He reached out, cupping her face gently and feeling how she instantly dropped that frown and started to smile. “I never knew you were into serial killers.”
“I’m not into them,” Selina defended, as she always hated when people worded it like that as it made her seem like some crazy groupie. “I just find them interesting, that's all. I mean, growing up I was told that werewolves and vampires were the only real monsters out there. When in reality the majority of the monsters in the world turn out to be human.”
“Yes, Hell’s serial killer wing is rather full these days.”
“Hell has a serial killer wing?” Selina repeated, her eyebrow raised as she couldn’t help but think Crowley was pulling her leg.
“Indeed it does,” Crowley confirmed, and from his tone, Selina knew he was serious. “We’ve got all manner of serial killers and mass murders housed in there. Ted Bundy, of course. Jeffrey Dahmer – he’s a rather popular one amongst most demons.”
“Gee, I wonder why,” Selina muttered, feeling a fierce shiver ripple across her body as she did not want to think about why demons would favour him the most.
“There’s Gary Ridgeway. Robert Pickton. Peter Sutcliffe,” Crowley continued, hearing as Selina would mumble the famous nickname of each of the killers he listed, impressing him with her vast knowledge whilst also worrying him slightly. “Richard Ramirez, he’s one of our newest residents actually. There’s Timothy McVeigh, who as I’m sure you know was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing.”
“Mhm,” Selina nodded, repositioning herself to sit cross legged and resting her glass upon her knee as her scotch went forgotten about.
“I could go on for hours about who is down there but I’m sure you’d be more intrigued to find out who’s not.”
“Wait… You’re telling me there are serial killers and mass murders that have somehow made it to Heaven?!”
“Goodness, no,” Crowley said, much to Selina’s relief. “I highly doubt there’s anyone like that running about upstairs but there are a few missing from the… collection, so to speak.”
“Like who?”
“For starters, there’s John Wayne Gacy…”
“Oh, I don’t know how I feel about knowing he’s still floating around up here.”
“I can imagine it wouldn’t be a pleasant feeling,” Crowley replied, watching as Selina nodded a little in agreement and made a mental note to ask around about any ghost clowns, before he carried on, “let’s see, who else… Ah, of course, perhaps the most famous serial killer of all time… H.H Holmes.”
“Yeah, he’s actually trapped in a ring of salt in a sewer and surrounded by concrete,” Selina said casually, and with a sheepish smile that she couldn’t help but give when Crowley looked at her as if to say now who’s keeping secrets? “What? You read the Supernatural books. You should know that we fought him.”
“I read a few of them. Not all of them.”
“Well you only have yourself to blame then, don’t you?” Selina said playfully, raising her eyebrow and struggling to keep her lips from curling into the smile that so adamelty wanted to present itself on her face.
“I guess I do, darling,” Crowley said quietly, leaning in and wiping that smile straight off her face by kissing her – hard enough that her eyelids fluttered intensely even with her eyes being shut. “You know, if you’d like a tour of the serial killer wing I’d be more than happy to escort you personally.”
“No.” Selina said immediately, drawing back from Crowley’s lips and feeling her stomach churn over the mere thought of going anywhere near Hell – and not because of the serial killers. She dropped her eyes from his, placing her hand on her stomach as she carried on, her voice low and if you listened carefully enough, you could almost hear it wobble, “No, I’m good, thanks. I, uh, I’ve been to Hell once and, uh, that was… that was enough for me.”
At that, Crowley’s heart sank in his chest and he reached out, taking her glass from her lightly shaking hand and setting it, along with his own, aside. He turned back to her, taking both her hands in his and the second she felt the warmth of his touch she glanced back up at him, allowing him to see the pure horror. The pure terror behind her eyes at the mere mention of her being in Hell, which only made him feel a thousand times worse about being the cause of it.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Crowley said softly, his own voice breaking the slightest bit for what felt like the first time ever. But he couldn’t help it. The thought of Selina having to go through that because of his petty vendetta was enough to make him want to hang up his crown forever. “I’m sorry I made you go through that.”
“You didn’t make me do anything,” Selina replied, her face softening as she repositioned herself to sit up on her knees, wanting to be as close to him as she could. She pulled her hands from his, instead placing them on either side of his face as she’d come to learn that that was a comfort for him, just as the many touches he graced her body with were for her.
“No?” Crowley scoffed, trying his hardest to look away from her as he couldn’t stomach looking her in the eyes right now when he had personally contributed to the trauma that was laden within them. “Had I not been petty enough to send Bobby down there…”
“Hey,” Selina cut him off, her tone more serious than he’d ever thought he’d heard before. “I was going to Hell regardless of whether or not Bobby was down there. And truthfully, I’m kind of glad that he was. Not because I wanted him to have to suffer, of course, but because not only did I get to see him again. But because he was the one person I knew would make it easiest for me to walk in there. And it did. It gave me the strength I needed in order to get him out of there… So I don’t want you blaming yourself, because even if it was your fault, which it isn’t, I’m over it now, okay? One hundred percent over it.”
“Can you get over something like that?” Crowley asked quietly, unsure whether he believed her or not as from the look in her eyes, it was almost as though he could see the fire and brimstone that lay hidden behind the love she was trying so hard to keep front and centre.
“I did… and even if I hadn’t, I’ve learned not to hold grudges against people who’ve wronged me in one way or another because if I did, I wouldn’t have anyone left… And believe me when I say, I want to have you. So erase those thoughts from your head,” Selina said, drawing gentle circles on Crowley’s temples with her thumbs and watching as his eyes lightened and the tension in his shoulders seemed to loosen.
She then dropped her hands from his face and leaned around him in order to lift their drinks back off the bedside table, handing him the one with the most left in it and taking a sip of her own just to steady her nerves and despite what she had said, sometimes the topic of Hell could unsettle her greatly and she really wanted to forget about it as quickly as possible.
“And drink up,” Selina continued, placing two fingers to the bottom of Crowely’s glass and gently lifting it closer to lips because trust her, he’d need it. “Seriously, drink up. Because I have a list of unsolved mysteries that’s about the size of that deal you tried to get me to sign once, and trust me when I say, I’m about to ask you so many questions about them that you’ll wish you never told me who Jack the Ripper was in the first place.”
Crowley knew better than to doubt her on that and so he drank up, refilling his glass at least six times in the space of time it took Selina to finish asking him about the first unsolved mystery on her list – which was whether he knew were the Lost City of Atlantis was and when he told her he did, the way her eyes lit up made him pray he knew the answer to each of her questions because that was a look he wanted to memorise forever.
However, as time carried on he may have underestimated just how many questions she had about specific things she wanted to know. During the small moments she took to breathe, he even tried to kiss her in order to attempt and move things along but that only seemed to encourage her more.
It’s not that he wanted her to shut up, obviously, as he could listen to her talk about the things she was passionate about for the rest of his life if he could. It was more so that she intended to go off the rails a little… okay a lot as what had started out as her discussing theories on what happened to Amelia Earhart had somehow turned into the likelihood about whether or not the Megalodon still existed.
It disappointed Crowley greatly to tell Selina that they no longer swam in the depths of the ocean but he quickly managed to distract her by offering to go and get her food, as she had literally been talking for so long that her stomach had started to rumble and she was going a little hoarse from using her voice so much. But that’s nothing a cookie dough milkshake couldn’t help and after demolishing a double cheeseburger and some chilli cheese fries, Selina got right back to asking Crowley who really killed JFK.
And it was not Lee Harvey Oswald.
When the time came to head back to the bunker, Selina was so full of knowledge that she didn’t quite know what to do with it all. She wanted to tell Sam, of course, as he was as big into unsolved mysteries as she was and she knew it would kill him to learn that she knew the truth about literally everything when he didn’t.
But she didn’t exactly know how to tell him everything without potentially exposing her relationship with Crowley. So instead, she opted to tell him about the one, single mystery, she knew all too well that he’d most want to know.
Only, before Selina could get a chance to even see Sam, as he was already out for his morning run by the time she got home which made her realise she had literally been talking all night long and she was surprised there hadn’t been a part of the night where Crowley told her to shut up and go to sleep.
Although, he did spend the whole time staring at her as though she were his entire world so it was probably safe to say he didn’t mind it one bit. And honestly, he probably preferred it over having to waste half of the time they had to spend together with her fast asleep next to him – not that he didn’t love that either as the way she would nestle herself next to him and stay there the entire night was one of the fondest memories he could ever ask to have.
But still, he was probably a little grateful to have gotten more quality time to spend with her in a conscious state of mind.
Anyway, what Selina had to deal with before she could tell Sam the identity of the infamous Jack the Ripper, was Dean – who was the first person to come strolling into the kitchen after Crowley had dropped her off at the crack of dawn and kissed her like they were to be apart for months, which actually gave her the energy she needed to deal with Dean as chances are this wouldn’t be fun.
“Morning,” Selina said quietly, peering over the edge of her extra large cup of coffee as Dean came to a sudden stop in the doorway of the kitchen, his Adam’s apple noticeably bouncing as he swallowed thickly.
Guess he hadn’t expected to see her home yet as not only was he not prepared to deal with the aftermath of her snapping at him, but he also hadn’t had a chance to get dressed yet. He was still wearing his hotdog pyjamas, which, if you remember correctly, he liked to keep at a safe distance from Selina when she was drinking coffee as the first, and last, time she had worn them, she’d spilled it all over them and it took him forever to get out the stain.
“Morning,” Dean greeted back, with minor hesitancy and with his eyes slightly squinted from the light of the kitchen mixing with the fact that he wasn’t fully awake yet. He shuffled further into the room, subtly using his old Men of Letters robe to cover the majority of his pants in case Selina decided to seek revenge for him having annoyed her by throwing her coffee all over them again. “You, uh, you’re not gonna snap at me again are you?”
“I might,” Selina replied dryly, taking a sip of her coffee and wishing Crowley had told her to shut up and go to sleep as not only was she exhausted, but her throat was sore from all the talking. “If you keep hounding me about the guy I’m seeing, that is.”
“Come on Cat, you can’t fault us for being curious about the guy,” Dean said in defence, heading for the coffee pot in order to fill his own extra large cup as he had a feeling he might need it.
“I don’t fault you for being curious, Dean,” Selina began, following him with her eyes and waiting until he’d taken a seat facing her before she continued, “But as my brother, I expect you to respect my privacy when I’ve already told you, multiple times, that I’m not ready to broadcast my relationship to the world.”
It was at times like this, where she was yet again repeating herself, that Selina was fairly certain Castiel wasn’t opening his mouth about things he shouldn’t be. Because if he had. If Dean knew the truth about her relationship, then there’s no way in Hell he’d be this adamant on finding out all the juicy details as he would more than likely be off planning on exactly how he could kill Crowley without causing Selina too much grief.
“That’s the part I don’t get though,” Dean replied, taking a sip of his coffee and ignoring the deep sigh Selina let out as, here we go again. “I mean, if you’re happy with this guy, which I can tell that you are as I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile as much as you do now, then why do you want to keep living your life in the shadows?”
The question was valid, Selina knew that. It was one she asked herself often, yet the only difference was she happened to know the answer. Whereas Dean… Dean just wouldn’t understand.
He wouldn’t understand that the love she had for Crowley was real. Nor would he believe that Crowley loved her back, despite his own words only seconds ago about her being happier than he’d ever seen her before. He wouldn’t understand what it feels like, to be so afraid to come out of the shadows because you don’t know if your relationship would survive being out in the open.
Or worse, whether the other half of your heart would survive as chances are, there’d be a long line of people ready and willing to relieve Hell of its King.
“Dean please,” Selina said quietly, and with a slight crack to her voice that softened Dean’s face entirely. “I’m asking you to drop it, so please… Just drop it.”
“Alright,” Dean said softly, lifting himself from his stool and rounding the table to take a seat next to her, where he instantly wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
He knew he was being pushy, lord knows he did, but he couldn’t help it sometimes. He was her big brother. It was his job to look after her and just knowing that she was out there with some guy he didn’t know? Well that bugged him an awful lot and perhaps he’d been gotten a little too carried away in trying to scratch that itch.
“But whatever it is that’s bothering you, and don’t even try to deny it because I know there’s something you’re not telling us,” Dean added, the last part specifically when Selina went to open her mouth, no doubt in a lie-filled protest. “Whatever it is, you know you can talk to me about it, right?”
“Right,” Selina smiled, yet deep in her heart she knew that smile was a lie as this was the one thing she simply couldn’t talk to him about, especially since he was the thing that was bothering her. Or more so, his reaction to her news was what was bothering her.
Every single time she so much as thought she was ready to tell him, she got so nauseous she wasn’t able to eat for an entire day. And Dean was starting to notice this, Sam too, which may have been why Sam had started to mind his own business and why Dean was so easy to sway this morning.
Not to mention how he’d backed down the minute she asked him to and didn’t keep arguing with her until she either stormed off or told him to get lost – in a way a lot less nice than that and with a hell of a lot more swearing thrown in.
Deep down, Sam and Dean both knew there must have been something to do with her relationship that she knew they wouldn’t like. Why else would she be so adamant to keep it from them? It obviously had to be something serious, yet no matter how hard they tried to think about what it could be, or how many obvious moments were thrown right at their face as to who it was – as let’s face it, why else would Crowely have been so distraught over thinking Selina didn’t trust him anymore if he wasn’t the one she was seeing?
Despite all that though, neither of them could quite put their finger on it and at times, Selina was wondering just how long it would take before they figured it out for themselves. And whether that would have a better outcome than her telling them directly.
At that moment, when Selina was actually considering asking Dean how he’d feel to find out her mystery man was of the supernatural variety without actually telling him who, or what, he was, Sam walked in, making her forget all of that entirely and jump to her feet.
“Sam, guess what,” Selina said all giddily, which was surprising for not only Dean, but for Sam as well as before she’d noticed his presence, he couldn’t help but think she’d been about to cry.
“What?” Sam asked, his brow furrowing as he leaned back against the metal counter and flashed a questioning look towards Dean, who had nothing more to offer him than a shrug of his shoulders as even he was puzzled over her sudden change in attitude.
“I know who Jack the Ripper is,” Selina replied, practically shaking with excitement as now that she was home and away from Crowley who apparently knew everything, she was starting to realise how big of a deal this actually was for her to finally know his true identity.
“What?” Sam repeated, astounded to say the least as he straightened from the counter. “Who? And… And how?”
“Well, after Lola, you know the bitch who tried to kill me because I tried to close Hell, or whatever,” Selina began, waving her hand lazily as she couldn’t quite remember the lie she told her brothers as to why Lola had wanted her dead. All that had mattered to her at the time was clearing Crowley’s name and thankfully Sam and Dean had no reason to suspect anything other than the lie they’d come up with. “Anyway, after that Crowley asked if there was anything he could do to make it up to me…”
“And so you asked him who Jack the Ripper was?” Sam questioned, as off the top of his head he could think of about a thousand different things Selina might have asked Crowley for first.
“I was listening to a podcast about him at the time so… yeah. And besides, is there anyone better to ask than the King of Hell?”
“I mean, when you put it that way,” Sam agreed, with a slight shrug of his shoulder as like he’d said, she had a point.
“So who was he?” Dean asked, as he wouldn’t admit it aloud but he’d actually been rather curious as to who the infamous Ripper really was after years of having to listen to Sam and Selina argue back and forth over suspects. He personally favoured the theory that it was Royal, whereas Sam thought it was some painter with a fondness for ballerinas and Selina always thought it was a woman.
“Francis Tumblety,” Selina told them, to which their brows dropped so deep they had creases on their foreheads. “Yeah, I was surprised as well. But the more I think about it the more it makes sense as the way he butchered those women seemed sloppy and…”
“Like the work of a medical quack?” Dean finished for her, a little humorously as that term had always amused him.
“Exactly,” Selina nodded, sinking back down onto her stool before she passed out from exhaustion. It seemed that no amount of coffee could make up for her lack of sleep and she knew she was getting far too old to be pulling all nighters anymore.
“Did you ask him who the Zodiac Killer was?” Sam asked curiously, and hopefully, as he headed towards the shelf that was supposed to be thier pantry but was filled with nothing but cereal and cat treats.
“I did not,” Selina said with a sigh. She knew there was something she’d forgotten to ask Crowley last night. “But the next time I’m attacked by revenge seeking demons, I’ll be sure to ask him that.”
“Next time you’re attacked by revenge seeking demons,” Dean began, standing up to grab a box of Crunch Cookie Crunch from the aforementioned ‘pantry’ and digging his hand inside in search of the decoder ring, “Crowley will be too dead to answer, so you might wanna ask him soon.”
Selina didn’t reply. Instead she sank further into her seat, overwhelmed with nausea as she watched Dean pull the decoder ring from within the small cookies and begin to fiddle with it, his brow furrowing as he hadn’t quite figured out how they worked yet even though this was his forth box of the cereal this month.
Dean may not be mindfully aware of it, but it was comments like that, ones which were a clear threat to Crowley’s life, that were the reason why Selina didn’t want to tell them anything about her relationship with him. How could she? If her brothers were so eager to kill Crowley over a few rouge demons attacking her then she didn’t even want to think about what they would do when they found out he’d been sleeping with their little sister.
It didn’t matter that Selina was thirty years old. That she was a grown up. That she was perfectly capable of making her own decision, not to mention perfectly capable of protecting herself if need be. It didn’t matter that she was relatively skilled at reading people and knew, for a fact, that Crowley would never purposely put her in harm's way. They simply wouldn’t accept it.
Hell, Sam and Dean had just started to accept that she was friends with Crowley, but to find out they were a couple? To find out they were in love? That would only end badly – meaning Selina would find herself locked in the dungeon under the suspicion that she’d been brainwashed and as for Crowley… She’d like to think her brothers would kill him quickly and get it over with, but if she knew Dean, and she did, then he would absolutely use some of the skills he’d picked up in the pit to make sure Crowley “got what he deserved”.
And when that was over, she had no doubt in her mind that he would kill him, and that Sam would let him.
Speaking of Sam, he was the one to pull Selina out of those dreaded thoughts when he suddenly mentioned that they’d ran out of cat food, meaning they were in for a hell of a time when Kit woke up as he’d more than likely meow until they gave in and fed him cereal – which gave Selina a perfect excuse to get out of the bunker and walk to the store.
Within that short period of time where she’d been drowning in fear of her relationship’s revelation, she’d grown to feel a little claustrophobic within the windowless walls of her home. And this wasn’t the first time she’d felt like this either.
It’s been happening for a while now, ever since Henry died. Where, around two or three times a month, Selina would desperately need to get out of the bunker for just a few minutes in order to clear her head. She thought it had been getting better lately, after she’d come clean to Crowley about her feelings. But actually it was the exact opposite and if anything, it had been happening a lot more frequently.
Selina knew it was likely because of the deep seated dread she felt about her secret life. She also knew how to stop it from happening – by coming clean to her brothers about everything. But given what Dean had said no more than five minutes ago, she knew there was no way in hell that she could ever do that, and if she had to live with it, then she had to live with it.
Brief periods of feeling like she was suffocating would be nothing compared to what she’d feel should she have to watch her own brothers kill the love of her life. Therefore, she was more than happy to carry on needing an occasional breath of fresh air in order to stop herself from passing out, than she ever would be having to go through life without Crowley.
After a short, roughly ten minute, walk into town, Selina quickly found herself approaching the local grocery store. It wasn’t a big, fancy supermarket chain like Target or Walmart, as Lebanon was a rather small town and didn’t have much in the way of shops, but it always had everything they could possibly need for day to day life.
In fact, Selina had actually been there so many times since they’d discovered the bunker that she was on rather friendly terms with Joel, the gentleman who owned it. He was probably well into his sixties and still a little old fashioned but he’d never fail to strike up a conversation any time Selina would stop in. Whether it be about the weather or something on the local news, he always made time to talk to her.
And he always, without fail, gave her a free Twizzler from the tub on the counter as according to him, she was one of the few people in town who actually liked them.
The bell above the door jingled as Selina pushed it open, feeling the coolness of the air conditioning engulf her the second she stepped inside. She could already hear the faint jazz music playing over the speakers, yet she couldn’t smell the freshly brewed coffee Joel always had ready and waiting for opening hour.
Guess he was running a little behind as when the door swung shut behind her and she turned to glance towards the counter, Selina could see him fumbling underneath it for something, as opposed to sitting on his stool reading the newspaper and eating a donut as per usual.
“Morning, Joel,” Selina called towards him, like she did every morning she stopped in. She watched, waiting with semi-furrowed brows as he peered over the counter towards her and offered her nothing but a head nod and what she could only describe as a grunt.
That was definitely odd, but she didn’t think much of it. Everyone had bad days, even sweet old Joel, so rather than say anything else she grabbed a small basket and carried on further into the store. There were only two other customers occupying the space, an elderly woman Selina had often seen walking her dog around town and a guy she didn’t recognise, but more than likely lived nearby.
Greeting them both with a thin-lipped smile, Selina headed for the back of the store towards the freezers. She’d been craving some ice-cream lately and she always liked to grab it first so that by the time she got back to the bunker, it was the perfect softness for her liking. She stood with her back to the store, drawing her eyes over each of the different flavours, trying to decide between raspberry and white chocolate swirl or chocolate fudge brownie.
Raspberry and white chocolate swirl was strongly calling her name, but before she could step back in order to open the freezer door and grab a tub, that unfamiliar man came up behind her. At first she thought he needed to get by her and so Selina stepped forwards to get out of his way. Only to find that the man also stepped forwards, keeping the miniscule gap between them and allowing her to feel his breath on the back of her neck which sent a rough shiver down her spine.
“Dude, do you mind?” Selina muttered, glancing over her shoulder and catching sight of the unsettling smile he had plastered on his face. She then widened her eyes, as though silently telling him to get the fuck away from her, and to her relief, he stepped back.
It may have only been one step, and that eerie smile on his face was yet to fade, but it was enough for Selina to nod her head in satisfaction and turn back around.
Looking back, she would regret that choice, as the split second in which her fingers curled around the freezer handle and were about to pull it open, that very same guy grabbed a tight fistful of her hair. And before she could react, he lurched her head back and in one swift, inhuman-feeling motion, he shoved Selina’s face right through the glass panel of the freezer.
The first thing she felt other than dizziness was the warmth of the blood that began to trickle down her forehead and into her eyes, obscuring her vision that was already white and spotty. She was then thrust to the side, where her body was used as a sort of battering ram as it smashed through the other rows of thick-plated glass – shards of which she could feel slicing through her skin like butter.
Selina didn’t know what to do. Or if she could even do anything as the more the brutal beating she was taking went on, the more she came to realise that the entirety of the store had been possessed by demons. And she didn’t have any sort of weapon on her person to use against them.
Not a knife, nor an angel blade lay hidden beneath her jacket. Hell, she didn’t even have her gun on her as she’d been too eager to leave the bunker she’d completely forgotten to arm herself.
Although, by the time she had fully realised what was even happening, she couldn't see clearly enough to know who she should be fighting back, let alone actually doing it. For all she knew, had she had her gun, she could have shot an innocent and so instead of trying to save herself, she did the only other thing she could.
She prayed.
It took half a second, and one mumble of Castiel’s name escaping out of her blood filled mouth, for a sweep of air and a flap of wings to appear beside her. The next thing Selina felt was her body hitting the hard tiles of the floor and then a draught of black smoke erupted from around her, tickling her nose with the stench of sulphur before suddenly, it was gone.
Guess the demons who attacked her lacked faith in themselves that they could go up against an angel and live, as they’d had to take Selina by surprise to get the upper hand, therefore they knew they were probably no match for Castiel.
With her head spinning, Selina tried to sit up. Only, her body was in such agonising pain and her mind was as scrambled as the eggs she’d had for breakfast yesterday that all she couldn’t even manage to do that. Her head fell, hitting the tiles again with a thud, and before she could even catch sight of her trench-coated saviour, her eyelids drew shut and everything went dark.
When Selina awoke… however long after she’d passed out, she was in her bedroom. And she could easily tell that she was, if not from the feeling of the mattress from beneath her but because when her eyelids fluttered painfully open, all she could see hovering above her was Kit’s face, his head tilted to the side as he gave the biggest sad eyes she’d ever seen.
Then, from directly beside her, came the one and only voice Selina could ever want to hear right now, “He’s been sitting like that since the moment Castiel brought you here… Or so I’m told,”
Getting up from his chair, Crowley slowly edged his way into Selina’s peripheral vision, gazing lovingly down at her before taking a seat on the edge of her bed. He raised one hand, very gently placing it aside her face and feeling his heart melt when she leaned more firmly into his touch.
“Crowley,” Selina whispered tearfully, coughing lightly the second his name left her busted lips and feeling the blunt, and all too familiar, sensation of another cracked rib – mixed with about a thousand other contusions and abrasions that made the next few minutes complete and utter agony. “Everything hurts.”
“I know, love,” Crowley said softly, ignoring his own pain he felt over seeing her like this. “We’ll get Cas in to heal you soon, I promise, but first… I need to know if you saw who did this to you.”
“I didn’t see them,” Selina choked out, coughing again in an attempt to try and clear her airway as it felt as though her whole lung was lodged in it. “They… They took me by surprise.”
“Did they say anything?” Crowley asked, using his thumb to wipe away the tear that had leaked from her eye as she painfully shook her head. “Okay. That’s okay, darling. All that matters is that you’re safe now.”
“Where is everyone?” Selina asked curiously, as she never would have thought her brothers would have left Crowley alone with her after what happened.
Unless they’d left to go do something and he had snuck in to see her after they’d more than likely threatened him. But then again, he’d been told that Kit had been watching over her, so that wouldn’t really make sense if that were the case.
“They went to the store to check things out,” Crowley told her, gently pushing some of the hair that was stuck to her face back to where it belonged.
“And they let you stay with me? Unsupervised? While I was unconscious?”
“Not without a few minor threats,” Crowley replied, pulling back his collar to reveal a small, and still bright red, knife wound down the length of his throat, which made Selina’s face drop a touch and once again, her stomach was overwhelmed with nausea. “They also left Cas behind. He’s outside the door, no doubt listening to every word we’re saying.”
“I am.”
“See?” Crowley said with a brief chuckle, his heart warming when Selina actually managed to give him a smile despite the guilt she felt like she was drowning in.
“I’m sorry Dean hurt you,” She whispered, as it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out who’d been holding the knife. But hey, at least he hadn’t killed him, that’s something.
Although chances are, Crowley probably had to spend an excessive amount of time under threat of death as he pleaded his case, and even then she was surprised Dean let him go with nothing more than a warning.
“That’s nothing, darling… It hurts me more to have to see you like this so what do you say we bring Cas in so that he can heal you?”
“No,” Selina murmured, shaking her head as much as she could and ignoring how it felt like her brain was sloshing around inside it. “No, I don’t want him to.”
“Selina, you’ve been badly beaten,” Crowley said seriously, ghosting his fingertips along the edge of the nasty gash on her forehead and wondering how on Earth she’d even managed to wake up given the depth of it. “I know you don’t like it, darling, but you need it.”
“I don’t need it,” Selina defended, and poorly as when she tried to sit up and prove her point, she winced terribly and the entire room started to spin. “I’m fine.”
“You are not fine, Selina, look at yourself,” Crowley nodded towards her mirror, which would showcase how absolutely not fine Selina was. If only she would do what he said and look at herself.
But she was stubborn. Very stubborn, and it was incredibly clear that she was purposely avoiding having to look anywhere near her mirror as she knew that when she did, she’d be proven wrong. Therefore, in order to get through to her, Crowley did what he had to and for the first time since before the trials, he used his powers on Selina and gently turned her head in the direction of the mirror.
“That’s cheating,” Selina grumbled, but Crowley was in no mood to joke around with her and she could clearly see why. Her face was beat up beyond recognition. Bloody and bruising, with that deep gash taking up the majority of her forehead and being the primary cause of the blood that was still pooled in her eyes.
Even her lips were bust open, split right down the middle and staining her teeth a deep shade of red. And there was even a hoop missing from the top of her ear, having been literally ripped right out of the cartilage.
That was just her face. If the pain she felt told her anything, not to mention the tears in her t-shirt, then her body probably looked about a hundred times worse right about now. And perhaps, on an explicitly obvious level, Crowley was right.
“Look at what they did to you.” Crowley said softly, despite his clenched teeth as he practically seethed with anger over his demons having done this. He then turned Selina’s head back to face him, this time with his hand and when their eyes quickly met, there was a brand new swell of almost light-pink tears resting in hers. “Is your pride really worth suffering through this?”
“It’s not about my pride,” Selina replied defensively, her voice cracking and she did her best to swallow the large lump that rose in her throat.
“Then what's it’s about?”
“It’s…” Selina began hesitantly, trying her best to figure out how to word this without coming across too pathetic sounding. Not to mention desperate. “It’s just… Every single time Cas heals me I forget what it’s like to have been with you… I don’t know why and I don’t know how but I always forget how you made me feel and after yesterday… I don’t ever want to forget what that felt like.”
“You’re acting as though we’re never going to be together again…” Crowley began, feeling a spark of panic start to blossom in his chest when all Selina did was roll her lips as he couldn’t help but feel like that’s what was going to happen. That perhaps this attack had pushed her to the point where she was beginning to wonder if he was really worth it or not. “Is that what this is? Do you… do you think we’re never going to be together again?
“I think it every time I part from you,” Selina admitted, in a voice so shy and quiet that it might as well have sliced Crowley’s heart right down the middle.
At least she wasn’t thinking it for his reason, Crowley thought to himself, but he still didn’t like the idea that she was thinking it at all.
“You don’t need to worry about that Selina, I told you already,” Crowley said softly, shuffling closer to her and taking her hands in his as that was the only way he could guarantee he wouldn’t accidentally hurt her. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You promise?” Pathetic, she knows, but Selina needed to hear it as she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that at one point, she was going to lose him.
“I promise,” Crowley said with the utmost sincerity, watching as Selina’s lips curled into as much of a smile as she could handle. He leaned in, pressing the softest kiss he could manage to them and sensing how she immediately lifted, as though there was nothing too heavy weighing her down anymore as he could still tell that there was. But he said nothing else about it and instead added, “Now will you please, for me, get that angel of yours to heal you?”
“Okay,” Selina nodded, and Crowley couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
“That’s my girl,” He smiled fondly, pressing another gentle kiss to her lips before he backed away and stood up. “I’m going to go check in with those brothers of yours, so why don’t you get some rest, and I’ll call you when I can.”
“Okay,” Selina repeated, absently glancing towards the door when it slowly began to creak open. Her eyes then fell back to Crowley, whose own attention had been drawn to the eavesdropping angel as well before it redirected itself back onto her. Just as she said out loud, and in front of Castiel who she couldn’t care less about whether or not he heard, “I love you.”
At that, Crowely’s face softened as that was only the second time she’d ever said those three little words to him. He then leaned towards her, kissing her once more regardless of the newly present company as just like Selina, he didn’t care and if anything, he wanted Castiel to witness this if not to show him just how real their love truly was.
“I love you too.” Crowley whispered against her lips, and then in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
When Crowley reappeared he was in the store, which was now empty, bar Sam and Dean, who blatantly ignored him as they continued searching around for any clues as to who it was that had tried to kill Selina. They wouldn’t say it aloud, although their actions clearly showed it, but they had believed Crowley when he said he had no idea about who could have done it. His face when he saw Selina lying there wasn’t something anyone, especially Crowly, could ever have faked.
It had been too genuine. Too accurate in the terms that he showed just enough emotion to make it appear real. Had he been faking it, like they’d assumed, then they would have expected him to be a little too angry over it and make a big fuss over trying to figure out who did it. But he hadn’t. He’d been quiet and serious. No witty jokes or retorts. No nicknames for neither Sam, nor Dean, who had been surprised at how easy it had been to push Crowley up against the wall and pin a knife to his throat.
All in all it had been real, which is precisely why they ignored him when he showed up. Had he been faking, they’d have told him to get lost and to leave it up to them. But given that he, for some strange reason, clearly cared about their sister and genuinely wanted to figure out who had hurt her in order to punish them appropriately, they stayed quiet and allowed him to join in in the search for any clues that may lead them to the demons involved.
Approaching the counter, the first thing Crowley saw was a blatantly obvious clue, making him wonder how Sam and Dean ever got anything solved without Selina as it wasn’t like this particular clue was at all subtle. He said nothing about it though, and instead stepped forward to take a closer look at the open newspaper that was evidently stained with Selina’s blood.
In fact, it wasn’t just stained with blood splatter, it had been purposely drawn on with Selina’s blood that it made it a little hard for Crowley to want to pick it up. Nevertheless, the urgency to punish those involved took over and he lifted the page, which the more he looked at, the more he came to realise had been left specifically for him.
The page in question was the crossword puzzle, of which six down and six across was highlighted with a smear of blood. As were their corresponding clues, which when you put all three of those together, you’ve got yourself a very obvious 666. Everyone knew Crowley liked to associate himself with that number and so he flipped the page over, and this time, his eyes were met with yet another message for him, again scribbled in Selina’s blood.
Only this time, it wasn’t just highlighted print and when he saw the words so clearly written out for him, his heart sank right to the floor at what they said.
End it. Or next time, not even the angel will be able to save her.
Upon reading this, Crowley immediately left the store, bringing the note with him and not even stopping to announce his departure to Sam and Dean. He didn’t need them hearing him break as he spewed out some lame excuse as to why he was leaving. He didn’t need them to see him crumble as not only was that note an evident warning, but it was a clear and direct threat towards Selina’s life and even the mere thought about what they might do to her next time was enough to make him want to throw up – and demons couldn’t even throw up, so that only showed just how serious this threat was.
There were only a handful of ways in which a demon could harm a human in order to make even an angel unable to save them, and they were forbidden under Crowley’s rule. They were heinous, unthinkable and despite his own hatred for most of humankind Crowley would never, ever wish any of those unspeakable things on a living soul.
So to hear those crimes being threatened towards Selina made him sick to his stomach. He didn’t know who was responsible for said threat, nor did he know how many wished it upon her so he was at a loss at where to even begin in trying to keep her safe.
Today’s attack had been meticulously planned out, and according to Castiel there had been at least three offenders. But chances are, there were a hell of a lot more involved as unlike the incident with Lola, this had been so well thought out that it was pretty obvious that they were watching Selina.
How else could they have known where and when to find her? She’d said it herself that she usually frequents the store at least three or four times a week so all they had to do was get it right once. And boy had they ever. They’d almost killed her and if it hadn’t been for Castiel, then they very well might have.
Although, the more he thought about it, the more Crowley began to think that this unsolicited attack had been nothing more than a warning, and that they had intended for her to live. Every demon on Earth, bar one or two, had given up trying to kill the Winchesters. For starters, it never worked. They were too good at defending themselves now, and with the frequent presence of their angel, it would only end in the death of the demon who was stupid enough to try and take them out.
Secondly, they never stayed dead, and chances are they’d come back and seek revenge on the demon who’d gotten lucky enough to temporarily kill them, which again, would result in their demise. Therefore, due to a rare spat of common sense amongst the community, most demons stayed away from all things Winchester, and were more than happy to simply carry on doing their jobs.
This just showed Crowley how serious they were over the reasoning behind today’s attack, and it was becoming more and more apparent that they were not at all happy with his current relationship status. He had no idea how they’d found out but if they were willing to risk their lives this way in order to simply send him a message showcasing this hatred, then what else would they be capable of?
What other unspeakable things would they put Selina through just to make their point again? What other way could they brutalise her until she threw in the towel and ended things with him? Crowley didn’t even want to think about that but unfortunately for him, it’s all he could think about. He knew that’s what their game was, to force her to break up with him, but he also knew that Selina was a fighter. She wouldn’t give up so easily and would more than likely happily take beating after beating in order to stay with him.
Once was bad enough. Twice was pushing it, but by his life, there would not be a third.
Therefore, there was only one thing he could think of that was a sure fire way in not only preventing any future attacks, but ensuring her safety completely. He didn’t want to do it, he didn’t want to give up so easily without a fight but he knew he had to. The risks were just too high and Crowley simply couldn’t fathom the idea of Selina going through another traumatic ordeal all because of him.
So he had to do it. He had to break up with her. And worst of all, in order to make it seem believable, he had to make it hurt.
Chapter 20 ->
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