I stalked through a darkened alley outside the bar where Crowley and I had set up home base after ditching out of the Bunker several weeks earlier. Sensing a presence behind me, my lip curled up in a smirk.

"We can do this however you want," I addressed them, turning on my heel to peer at the shadows. "Don't be shy, now. I sure could use the competition."

I waited another moment as a figure stepped away from the shadows and into the light.

"Well, all you Abaddon groupies are the same, you know that? You, that douche that jumped me at the gas station, you just can't accept that the queen is dead, can you?"

"Maybe we just can't accept that a bitch like you was the one who killed her," the demon snarled at me.

"Ah," I nodded, still smirking. "Yeah, that's got to hurt, doesn't it?"

I reached back to draw the First Blade out from beneath my jacket and the demon's eyes flashed black. As he lunged at me, I swung the Blade, easily killing him before he had the chance to do any damage. I pulled the First Blade out of his stomach, letting the body drop to the ground of the alley. Rolling my neck and shoulders, I stepped over the dead body and stalked out of the alley.

⁘

"Where have you been?"

"Why do you care?"

Crowley glared at me as I took a seat next to him at the bar and flagged down the barfly for some shots.

"Perhaps you've forgotten, but that insufferable husband of yours and his brother are still trying to track us down," the demon king snapped. "You can't just go off to do whatever you feel like doing all the time. That's how we become exposed and they find us."

"Mind your blood pressure, Crowley," I purred, downing a shot. "You already put out the order for the demons to stop showing up when they call. If they haven't made any progress already, I doubt they will any time soon."

Downing the last shot, I pushed off the bar and stood up.

"Stop worrying so much."

With that, I walked over to where several men were playing pool.

"Mind if I join you, gentlemen?" I asked.

The two men holding pool cues snorted at me while their friends watching all laughed.

"Why don't you run along and let the professionals play, little lady," Brute One dismissed me.

"Oh, come on," I smirked, reaching into the cleavage of my dress and pulling out a wad of cash. "I'll make it worth your while."

I pulled off two hundreds and placed them on the edge of the pool table. Brute One looked over at Brute Two and then they both shrugged.

"Here you go," Brute Two handed his cue to me.

I smiled, taking the cue as Brute One pulled out his wallet and also placed two bills on the edge of the table.

"Ladies first," he told me.

"Well, alright," I shrugged.

After setting up the balls, I got in position to break, leaning forward to show off my cleavage a bit to the guys and letting the hem of my skirt ride up my thigh a bit. Once I knew they were distracted, I made my shot, sinking two solids. The guys gawked as I repositioned myself in order to sink one more and then purposefully missed a third shot.

"Your turn," I told Brute One.

He sank four of his balls on his turn before missing a shot. We continued for a few more minutes until the only balls left on the table were one of mine, three of his and the eight ball. I easily sunk my one and then nodded to the far left corner pocket.

"That one," I said, lining up the shot.

All the men gathered nearby held their breath as I easily sunk the eight and then gathered up the four hundred dollars.

"Thanks, gentlemen," I smiled, turning on my heel and walking off.

I could practically feel the anger radiating off the group behind me as I made my way back over to Crowley.

⁘

"You sent those demons to kill me?" I asked.

"To keep you sharp," Crowley corrected.

"Really?"

"If it wasn't for me throwing demon chum your way, what do you think would've happened? The Mark needs to be sated. Otherwise-"

"Otherwise, I turn into a demon," I finished, taking a swig of beer. "Yeah, yeah. I sort of got that six weeks ago."

"Just trying to help," Crowley shrugged.

"You lied."

"Who do you think you're talking to? Does the tin man have a sheet metal Willy? Of course I lied."

"Okay," I scoffed, standing up to leave.

"Hey, sit down. Sit."

I just stared back at the demon, not complying with his request, and he sighed.

"I needed to keep you sharp for our future, about which we need to talk," he said quietly, glancing around the bar.

"Our future?"

"Our professional future. How to put this? If I have to spend one more night in the fetid petri dish of broken dreams and B.O., I will cut off my own face."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, sitting back down. "'Cause I'm good. Hell, I'm great."

"Really? How many suicide wings can you eat? How many one-hit wonders can you karaoke to death?"

"Okay, see, the deal was, we howl at the moon- no time stamp, no expiration date."

"We've howled. We've bayed. But now it's time to accept what we are and go back to work."

"Pass," I picked my beer back up.

"Think of it- the King of Hell, Eleanor Winchester by his side," Crowley stressed. "Together we rule. Together we create the perfect Hell. And all this that's bloomed between us never ends. We're not ending the party. We're just moving the party. Out with the club circuit, in with the stadium tour."

He stood up to go, and then paused as if remembering something.

"Oh. Did I forget to mention I talked to Squirrel earlier?"

I spun around on my barstool, fixing him with a glare.

"What?"

"Yes. Uh, apparently, he and Moose haven't stopped tracking us down. He got my text from the cell of that demon you stabbed in blah, blah, blah. It was- words were spoken- emotions. I realize, in retrospect, perhaps too many words, too many emotions."

"He traced the call," I translated.

"My bad," he shrugged. "I guess he'll be here by morning- the latest."

"You sold me out. Well, that's just lovely."

"I don't know what's going on with you. I truly don't. But I've had just about enough of it. Sold you out? Try 'doing you a favor'. Everything I've done for you for the past six months- the Mark, the First Blade, midwifing you back to health, offering you a seat by my side- has been a favor, a gift, whether you see it or you don't. Take the night. Decide. You know where to find me."