Chapter 2

I walked down the road for miles, never seeing a soul. It was full dark and my ears strained to hear every noise. Was it something innocent or was it a Monster stalking me? My heart was racing and my body was tight with tension.

Finally, I stopped to rest at a clearing close to a crossroads. I knew I shouldn't sit so close to a crossroads, but I was exhausted, the earlier fight and the high alertness taking a toll. I sat with my back to a tree, pulled my knees up, and laid my head against my legs. My side was aching. I jumped a mile high when I heard a voice speak on the other side of the road from me. I realized I had been dozing off.

"My, my. Look who is out here alone... again. That seems to be a thing for you, eh?"

I looked up slowly, knowing who it was just from the voice. I was so not ready to deal with this. "Crowley. What, pray tell, is the King of Hell doing here? Slumming at the crossroads? I would have thought that was beneath you."

"Little birdie tells me that Dean kicked you out. Now, that can't be true, can it? You being Dean's main squeeze and all."

"Fuck off Crowley."

"Now now. Don't be hostile. But I also hear you don't want them coming after you. Not to be able to find you, is that right? I can help with that." He stood looking at his nails like he had not a care in the world. Just an ordinary Demon in a three-piece suit standing in the middle of the road. Nothing new to see here folks.

"Oh really... and I'm sure you want something in return. You never do anything for free. What do you get out of it?"

"Simple. I get to see Dean suffer. I know he will come to regret what he said when he calms down. Especially when he realizes you listened to him for once and left. When he realizes you took him seriously. You would think by now he would have learned to not say things he doesn't mean when he is angry. So, are you interested?"

"I'm not going to hide in Hell. And I'm sure as shit not going to Heaven. So really Crowley, where could you possibly take me that they wouldn't find me?"

"Another dimension. Little known fact, but the King of Hell can travel to other realms. Actually, I have a contact there. Guy named Fury. Runs a little group that calls themselves The Avengers. A bit of a ridiculous name but there you go.  I figure with your fighting skills you could be of some use to them. I bring Fury people with special skills from time to time. For a price of course. I will say, it's quite an... interesting group with unique abilities we don't have here. But then, their monsters are of a different sort. No angels or demons or things that go bump in the night. So, are you in?"

I didn't take long to think about it. It sounded like just the thing I needed. A fresh start with no one on the planet that knew me. And no Dean. 

"What's the catch?"

Crowley looked at me with black eyes as he answered. "You can never come back to this realm. You will be trapped there. And if Dean ever does find his way there and a way back, I'm not so sure you will want to come back. But if he persuades you, just know that every demon on Earth will stop what they are doing and come for you. And they will get you, have no illusions about that. They will bring you to me and I have a special place for oath breakers. Now… are you in?"

I nodded. "I'm in. When do we leave?"

"Now."

A portal opened underneath me and I started to fall. Suddenly there was bright light around me and I saw the ground coming towards me as now I was falling from the sky. Just what I fucking needed. I twisted my body to where I landed on my feet and but fell to one knee, clutching my wounded side. I felt the wetness of fresh blood as I started to bleed through the bandage.

"You son of a bitch!" I grabbed the dagger I always carried from inside my boot and swung at him as I stood and spun around at the same time. He stepped back and avoided the blade... well mostly. I cut his tie in half.

"Now that's no way to say thank you. Wait, you had a bag right? And that lovely sword you fancy?" His wicked smirk had me tensing.

"Shit..." I rolled to the side and came up in a crouch as my bag and blade landed where I had been standing. While the bag wasn't very heavy, dropping on my head from that height would hurt and I was hurt enough right now.

"I wish I had that demon blade. I should cut your heart out for pulling that shit. And my sword had better not be damaged or I will hunt you down and take your head, even if it means going back and taking on every Demon there to get to you."

"Oooh, kitten has claws. I like this one." I heard a strange, gravelly, and hypnotic voice behind me and realized we had an audience. I must have been hurt more than I had thought to not realize people were behind me. I shifted slightly to face them while keeping Crowley in sight. One simply did not turn their back to a Demon, let alone the King of Hell.

  I looked at the man who spoke and I felt my heart speed up as I took him in. Tall with long legs for days, encased in skintight black leather, a well-defined chest also in leather, black shoulder-length hair with a slight curl, intense blue eyes, and the face of a fallen angel. I knew I was in trouble with looks like that. He projected the feeling of strength and danger. I found myself staring, my brain short-circuiting as I took him in. It was a wonder I wasn't drooling. I found myself wondering if he tasted as good as he looked and sounded. 

"Well, thanks for the complement, Mr. Tall Dark and Dangerous. You are rocking that evilicious look. Suites you." I was surprised I even sounded coherent, let alone flirty. I even managed a wink in his direction.

"Who is this, Fury and why is she here? She seems pretty hostile. Gorgeous but hostile." I finally wrenched my eyes away from McSexy and looked at the rest of the people standing around us. The one that spoke was also dark-haired but shorter and had a goatee and some glowing light thing in his chest. He was older but still good-looking.

"She is your new teammate. Give her a chance. As you see, her reflexes are good. She isn't from... here. She can explain more later."

As he spoke, I looked to the man named Fury and saw a black man with an eye patch watching me speculatively as I stayed in my defensive crouch. I trusted no one and with good reason.

"Crowley, cut the bullshit. Where the fuck am I?" I glared at Crowley as I demanded answers. He just smirked at me, and I knew I wasn't getting any information from him.

"Language." A tall blonde man admonished me. He was cute too in a prim and proper sort of way. His blue eyes looked at me disapprovingly.

I cocked an eyebrow at him and gave a slow smirky grin. "My oh my. I didn't realize my grandmother was around. How fucking prudish you are, blondie."

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

I blinked innocently at him. "My mother? No. But I can do quite a few fun things with this mouth if you care to find out. But then it might send your uptight judgmental ass into a tailspin… especially when you end up having to admit you like it."

Tall, dark, and sexy gave a low laugh. I felt a tightening in my stomach and in lower areas at the sound of it. "Oh yes, I like this one very much," he all but purred at me as he licked those full kissable lips of his.

The blonde one scowled at me. "How about you show some manners and stand up and introduce yourself properly. Maybe give us an explanation on why you are here."

"Dude, I don't even know where the fuck here is." I straightened from my crouch and felt blood running down my side, soaking my shirt. I heard several of them gasp as I looked down at my side. Blood was pouring from the wounds I had taken earlier. I hadn't had a chance to stitch them closed and they were bleeding badly from the defensive maneuvering I had to do, thanks to Crowley. 

I looked up and saw McSexy rushing towards me looking very concerned, his eyes a little wild. "Fuck." I managed that one word as the world greyed out and I felt my legs give out as I started to fall. I felt his arms come around me and as he caught me and held me close as everything finally blacked out.