31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Author's note, please read: I have rewritten (tweaked) the last section of the previous chapter, because even though I didn't intend something, it was coming out that way. I know it bothered a few people, and once it was pointed out to me and I came to realize I would need an author's note to make things clear, it really began to eat at me. Therefore, I've changed it a bit in the hopes that it will work better. If you read the previous chapter shortly after I posted, you might want to go over that last bit again.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 31

When Dean found his eyes on the bag of blood for the third time in fifteen minutes, he swallowed thickly and forced his gaze away from it. Maybe it was pointless, but he would put off that hunger for as long as he could. Until he died, if he could manage to work it.

He just needed some distraction.

"So, what's your name?"

The vamp who'd turned him gave him an amused smirk, his eyes going from Dean to the bag of blood on the table and back again. For a moment Dean was pissed, as he realized that the guy knew he was trying to keep his mind off the 'food' and he strained against the ropes around his chest. They didn't want to give, but he heard the chair creak ominously.

"Boris."

Dean stopped struggling and looked up at him. "You're kidding."

The guy went from giving the chair a concerned look, to smirking and shaking his head. "No." He shrugged. "Old vampire, old name."

"How old?" Dean asked, willing to play along. "I mean you, not the name."

"600 years, give or take."

Dean blinked, both impressed and a little freaked. "How come someone so old is working for someone else?"

Boris leaned against the table and rested his hand a couple of inches from the bag of blood. "What do you mean?"

Dean pulled his gaze away from the blood and focused on the guy's face. "You mentioned me being… better looking than my picture. Somebody had to give you, that picture."

Boris sighed. "Yeah. Don't know why he wanted you turned… but I can't complain about the results." Dean felt his skin crawl as the vampire looked him over.

"The guy got a name?" Dean asked, trying to keep his voice light.

Boris gave his captive a deep look, and then shrugged. "What the hell. Said his name was Crowley."

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Shadow Cas went down on one knee as he attempted to reach around and pull the stake out of his back. Vaguely, he was aware of Crowley dismissing the demon who had done the actual staking. When he looked up, the King of the Crossroads was standing over him, semi-gloating.

"Why?" Cas gasped out the question.

Crowley's smirk lost some of its twist. "Sorry, nothing personal. Just couldn't have you rushing in and saving old Dean. Went to a lot of trouble to get that little pain in the ass turned."

"It was yo..?" The rest of Cas' question was lost as he figured it out. If Dean were to die as a vampire, then he would be slated for neither Heaven nor Hell. The first seal would be safe again, for a time. "Interesting, meeting a demon that's trying to keep the first seal safe. That doesn't want to help break Lucifer free of his cage."

Crowley lost his smirk completely. "You're a smart one. Good thing you won't be telling anyone about it."

Kaseva gave him a gasping huff of laughter. "Only by choice."

Crowley backed up as the darkness of the god's being was suddenly lit up with flashes of lightening. He ducked behind his desk as an electrical charge leapt from the form in front of him and introduced itself to each piece of electronics in the room.

Everything went dark.

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His vessel, Jimmy, was actually a very flexible man and Cas could augment that ability if needed. Even so, pulling a very long wooden stake out of his back was awkward at best. Now he understood why Loki used doubles so much.

Once he had the thing out, he burned it. He didn't want to risk leaving any of his blood behind.

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Crowley poked his head up from behind his desk and tried to find a shadow formed pagan god in a darkened room. Something that was near impossible even with a demon's ability to see better in the dark than a human.

Ducking as a burst of light flared into being, he attempted to 'pop' out of the room. A quiet sound of surprise escaped his lips when the move was blocked and he found himself still crouched down behind his desk. Apparently not only had he not killed the god, but he'd pissed it off and it was more powerful than he'd realized.

"Don't suppose we can talk about this?" The demon asked hopefully.

"Depends." He heard a voice say. "How well will you be able to speak once I pull your skull and spine out through your nose?"

Crowley had to take a moment to visualize that. He really didn't like it.

"Look, you can't want Lucifer walking the Earth any more than I do."

"No, but that doesn't mean I'll let you harm the Winchesters."

Crowley stood up slowly with his hands in a yield position and looked around for Kaseva. "I'd be happy to never go near them, but if Hell gets old Dean back in its clutches…"

"It won't."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he's mine!"

There was some very thick silence after that statement.

"By that, I mean he's my chosen warrior on Earth." Kaseva's deep, power filled voice clarified.

"Of course."

The lights sputtered back to life and Crowley looked around, but couldn't see anyone in the room with him. At least, not until he remembered to look behind him.

The shadow god stared up at him from the desk's chair.

"Your choice is simple. Tell me exactly where Dean Winchester is and I will let you live."

"Really?"

"Yes. I may not like you, but I'd rather see you as King of Hell than Lucifer or any of his groupies."

"You ah… You know about that little plan?"

"Yes, as do my most trusted followers."

Crowley really hoped that last bit was a lie, except it didn't sound like it was and anyway, he couldn't risk it.

"Okay then, let me get you that address."

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A few other members of the nest, most of them on the fugly side of vampire, were slowly coming out of whatever cubbyholes they'd been hiding in. Dean didn't enjoy the bug under a magnifying glass feeling he got as they checked him over. A couple of the better-looking vamps gave him jealous glances that somehow made him even more uncomfortable than the other's intrusive ones had.

Boris smiled. "Your new family." His hand moved out in a sweeping gesture, taking them all in. He picked up the bag of blood and dangled it in front of Dean's face. "Ready for this now?"

Dean shifted away from it as much as he could. "No."

The vampire shook his head. "I'll force feed you if I have to."

"I'm not eating… and they're not my family."

Boris had grabbed at Dean's hair to pull his head back, when the screech of a padlock being pulled from the door by a crowbar made everyone in the place cringe.

Then Sam Winchester kicked the door open.

Boris' reaction was automatic. "Get him."

Free from Boris' grip, Dean immediately threw his whole self into breaking free. The ropes were strong, but the chair had had enough abuse. With an application of vampire strength and a twist of his body, Dean snapped the back of it away from the seat. Standing, the ropes loosened enough that he was able to shove them off over his head before working to untie his legs from the rest of the chair.

It was about then that he realized that Sam hadn't come into the building after his dramatic non-entrance. However, every vampire in the place was trying to get out of the warehouse to go after him.

Dean blinked, because suddenly they were all trying to come back in.

Horrified, he watched as the Impala burst through the warehouse's corrugated metal siding. Vampires went flying everywhere. Sam braked and hauled on the wheel, swinging the car around in a half circle to a stop it with the passenger side door, inches from Dean's hand. In the space of one breath, Dean was in the car. "If you've hurt her Sammy…"

"Yeah, yeah." He hit the gas and drove back out of the hole he'd made in the building. The vampires had more sense this time. They got out of the way.

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"What took you so long?" Dean asked as he kept an eye on the vampires chasing the car.

"This place is blocks from where they took you. I'd still be looking if it wasn't for Cas."

Dean glanced towards his brother and flinched slightly as he realized that he could hear Sam's heart banging away as if a demented drummer was playing it. He took a breath to speak and nearly choked on the blood smell coming off of his little brother. He swallowed and focused on the vamps that were still chasing them.

"Dean, did they…? Whoa." Sam stopped the car as every vampire behind them suddenly dropped to the ground. He twisted around in the driver's seat so he could see out the back window.

A quick look at each other and the brothers got out of the vehicle. Keeping an eye on the downed vampires, Sam popped the trunk open and they each pulled out a machete.

Once they got close enough to them, they could tell that the vamps were paralyzed rather than dead.

"It's almost like they were all given a dose of dead man's blood." Sam carefully poked at one of the vampires. Weakly it attempted to hiss at him.

"Essentially, yes."

Dean swung his machete towards the voice before he could stop himself. Thankfully, something else did.

Cas gave him a questioning glance and then let go of his arm.

"Dammit Cas, you can't go popping up like that. I could have…"

The angel gave him a small smile. "Your reflexes are faster at the moment, but they're still not faster than mine."

Sam pulled in a startled breath and Dean could swear he felt his heart sink at the lost expression on his brother's face.

"Dean?"

Dean turned away, unable to bring himself to look at Sam. Burying his emotions, he turned to practical matters.

"Cas, did you do this?" He indicated the downed vampires with a wave of his machete.

The angel nodded. "Yes, as soon as they crossed the wards I caused the blood each vampire had recently consumed to become poisoned. Essentially, it became dead man's blood." He gave Dean a piercing look. "I am glad to see that you have not given into that hunger."

Dean laughed humourlessly. "Yeah, well. Not sure how much longer I can hold out." He looked at the machete he was holding and licked his lips. "Uh, guys…"

"No Dean." Sam's voice was harsh and Dean looked up to find his brother glaring at him. "Neither of us is going to kill you."

"How did you know I was going to ask that?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Like it wasn't going to be the first thing out of your mouth. Now sit your ass down on the hood of the Impala while Cas and I take care of the vampires and then we'll go back to the motel so Cas can fix you." He gazed hopefully at the angel. "Right?"

Dean felt his heart lurch back into place and his whole body twitched towards Castiel. "Can you?"

"I..." He tilted his head, looking Dean over with a frown. With a blink, his face cleared. "Yes, I believe I can. Your body is already trying to reject the infection. There's a good chance you might have been able to fight it off yourself, given enough time."

Dean narrowed his eyes at him. "This is more of that Paladin stuff, isn't it?"

"I… think so, yes."

"Damn, I'm never going to be able to get rid of that chosen warrior thing, not if it keeps being this useful."

Cas just smiled.

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In the end, Dean did help with one of the vampires.

Boris could hear his nest mates and fledglings dying around him, but couldn't move to stop it. As he stared up at the sky, the hunter that had driven the car into the nest stepped into view, blocking the stars as he looked down at him.

"Dean."

His newest fledgling joined the hunter in looking down at him. There was a good deal of hate in those eyes. Worse, there was pity.

Haltingly, Boris managed to get words out past his partially paralysed throat.

"You think this is over? You can kill all of us, but you're not going to escape what you've become."

"Actually, we can probably fix the vampire stuff." Boris was surprised that the smile Dean gave him was self-deprecating rather than smug. "If it makes you feel any better, you're right. I won't be able to escape myself, because vampires are the least complicated part of my life." Dean's face lost all humour and he held out a hand to the other hunter. The taller man passed him a machete and Boris had just long enough to let out one shaky breath of laughter before his head rolled free of his body.

Dean turned and walked back to the car, not watching as Cas set fire to the decapitated bodies. He crawled into the backseat of his baby and did his best not to notice anything until they were pulling up to the motel.

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"Well?" Dean asked as he sat down on one of the motel room beds. He was more than worried. Not only was the hunger pushing at him like a living thing, but also he felt like crap on top of it. It was as if he'd come down with a super flu, times ten.

Cas tilted his head to look at him and then nodded. "Although you are still fighting the infection, I don't believe we should risk having it clear up on its own." He reached out to Dean and then paused. Looking around he spotted a small, empty trash can which he retrieved and set down on the bed by Dean's side."

"What's that for?" Dean asked, even though he suspected that he already knew.

Cas didn't say anything; he just reached out and touched Dean on the side of his neck, at the pulse point.

Dean sucked in a breath. "Wow… I think that…" His eyes bounced wide and he grabbed the trashcan before emptying the contents of his stomach into it.

Sam hovered over him, concerned. "What's happening to him?"

Cas answered Sam, but kept his attention on Dean. "The tainted blood the vampire fed him to turn him is being rejected. He'll probably spend the next day or two sweating the rest of the impurities out of his body."

"So in other words, I'm going to feel like crap." Dean's voice said, echoing up from the trashcan.

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"Awesome."

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One minute, Crowley was pouring himself a scotch. The next, he was appearing in a grand sitting room that looked to have been decorated by a silent film star.

"Where the hell am I?"

"California."

Turning, he found the shadow god he'd had an interesting time with a few days before. He was even more interesting today, as he was standing between and slightly in front of Sam and Dean Winchester. Crowley attempted a smile and both brothers shifted, their expressions screaming that they wanted to rip a certain demon's head off and shove it up his… well, you know.

Crowley attempted to zap himself somewhere else. When that didn't work, he looked down, not at all surprised to find that he was standing in a devil's trap.

"Bollocks." He pasted a smile onto his face. "So, what can I do you gents for?" His smile grew more strained as he looked at the expressions on the Winchester's faces, so he was rather glad that it was Kas…Kaseva, whatever, that answered.

"We want to make certain that a repeat of the incident with the vampires doesn't happen."

Well, that sounded ominous, especially when he was stuck in a damn circle. Didn't stop him from speaking his mind though.

"And I'd like to make certain that the elder Winchester doesn't end up back in Hell. The fact that the first seal is still intact is a near miracle. One I'd like to see continue."

Cas glanced at Dean, who nodded. They'd already discussed this next part. Dean had to admit, the solution they were about to suggest to Crowley, even if it was bullshit, made him uncomfortable. It also further cemented his and Sam's a not unreasoning dislike of irony while causing them a distinct desire to bang their heads against a wall. However, since Cas insisted that the demon might still have an important part to play in screwing over the apocalypse, they were willing to go through with it, for now.

"The first seal should not be a problem." Kaseva promised.

"Want to elaborate?"

Dean cleared his throat. "I'm his chosen warrior on Earth. When I die, I'm not… I'm not going anywhere."

Crowley looked confused.

Sam frowned at him. "You went and summoned him. Didn't you even bother to look him up?"

"Of course I did. He's Finnish. He can shape shift into a bird and he…" Crowley broke off and turned surprised eyes on Dean. "He eats souls."

"Dean is my chosen warrior. His soul has a place of honour set aside within me. He is not food."

Crowley started to laugh.

"Glad somebody finds it funny." Dean grumped.

The demon went on for a good minute before finally managing to tone it down to a chuckle. A hand wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "Oh, I have to know. Was that an accident, or did you deliberately plan on screwing over the apocalypse?"

Cas frowned. Not that anyone could see it as his form was shadowed, but he did. "Stopping the apocalypse from occurring was always one of my goals." He glanced at the brothers but didn't say anything more.

Crowley shook his head. "Got to admit, when I met you I thought you were oddly lacking in humour for a trickster, but this. You're pulling off the largest practical joke of all time."

"Yeah, wish I'd thought of it."

Every eye in the room looked towards the voice that had just spoken.

"Hey guys, bro… How's tricks?"

Crowley wondered if he should be worried when Sam and Dean groaned and buried their faces in their hands.

"Hello Loki…. Tricks are…fine."

Author's note: Finally, I managed to get Gabriel and Crowley in the same room together.

Have to see how long it takes before Crowley starts to put together the things that don't fit about Kas.

Oh, if you're wondering. Grandma Campbell does have the vampire cure recipe, but I wanted to use the Paladin bond thing for this, so they still don't know about it.