Losing Hope | {BOOK 4}

27| The Book of the Damned

"Been waiting for you," I said, taking a sip of beer.

"Puppy," Crowley greeted me.

"Borris. Where's Natasha?"

"Would it matter?"

"Not really. So, we gonna do this?"

"No."

Crowley walked over, taking a seat next to me at the bar and getting a drink of his own. He told me how Rowena had returned to him covered in blood, claiming I'd been the one who hurt her. In return, I told him how it really happened.

"Look, I'm not saying that I didn't want to slice and dice the witch. I'm just saying that that's not how it went down."

"So, she's a liar," he nodded.

"Must run in the family," I smirked.

"Mother says that the Mark is just a curse, can be removed. Of course, she doesn't know how."

"Figures. But I'm good, thanks."

"Who's the liar now?" he asked, taking a swig of his drink. "She says I've gone soft."

"You have," I retorted. "What? Yeah, maybe it's all the human blood Sammy pumped into you, you know? Maybe it's, uh... I don't know. I don't know. But the old Crowley, he would have come in here with hellhounds and demons, and he would have blown the roof off the joint. Now? You didn't want to fight. You wanted to talk. And maybe I've changed, too. Here I am playing Dr. Phil to the King of Hell. Never saw that coming."

"Maybe we're getting old," Crowley suggested.

"Never saw that coming either," I snorted. "What is it, huh? Why you letting mommy dearest tie you into knots?"

"Because... we're family. Blood."

"That's not the same thing. A wise man once told me, 'family don't end in blood,' but it don't start there either. Certainly rings true for me and the boys. Family's there through the good, bad... all of it. They got your back... even when it hurts. That's family. That sound like your mother?"

⁘

Dean looked up as I entered the library.

"Yeah, no one here by that name. Sorry," he hung up quickly. "So, Sam and I've been checking through everything again, double checking and triple checking, and..."

"The Mark is a curse," I cut him off.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"No, Dean, it's a... it's an actual curse."

"What are you talking about?"

"Crowley told me. Or rather, Rowena told him after she tried and failed to kill me."

"What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"The Mark protected me," I shrugged. "Rowena doesn't really have beef with me. She was pissed at Crowley because she thinks he's going soft."

"She's not wrong."

"Yeah, well, after he and mommy dearest got into a fight..."

"Mommy dearest?"

"Rowena is Crowley's mother," I told him. "More about that later. So, then he came and told me what she had said. The Mark is an actual curse. So, anyway. I'm sorry. I probably should've told you that."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," I echoed as my phone rang. "Winchester Accounting. How may I help you?"

"Ellie?"