Chapter 4

Something grabbed Dean's attention as the atmosphere in the room changed. "That is all we have, Crowley!" Dean stated.

A little bald man was suddenly in the room again. "Dean, you know what happens when you lie to me." Crowley said, then glanced at Neal.

The brothers seemed undisturbed by the sudden appearance.

"This is Crowley?" Diana asked, drawing attention to herself.

Crowley turned to face her. "Have we met?"

Diana shook her head. "You…you knew my grandmother. She spoke of you, often."

Both brothers shook their heads at Diana, trying to get her to shut up. Things didn't go well when people engaged Crowley.

"Hmm." Crowley said. "I wil get back to you later. There is more than 2 rings missing, Boys."

"Everything was lost in the fire your demons caused." Sam snapped.

"I'll get to you later, Moose." Crowley replied. "Your pretty blue-eyed friend has my attention at the moment."

That got both Sam and Dean moving.

"He's not involved in this." Dean said as he and Sam planted themselves in front of Neal.

The agents didn't know wat to make of this display. They all saw the weapons that Sam and Dean carried, as the brothers moved across the room go get between Neal and Crowley. And, it made them very uncomfortable. But, as much as that bothered them, something told them Crowley was the true threat here.

"Tell the agents they needn't draw their weapons." Crowley said to the Winchesters. The King of Hell have not even looked in their direction, it was like he could read their minds. "They may leave." He continued. "My business is with your friend."

"Neal!" Sam looked at Caffrey. "Is that everything?"

Neal looked at the floor.

"Mozzie may have…."

"Damnet, Neal!" Dean exploded. "Don't even finish that sentence!" The elder Winchester started to pace. "When?...Where is he meeting his fence?"

Neal shook his head. He honestly did not know, plausible deniability and all. Mozzie was just going to make the deal and deposit his half of the money into one of the conman's foreign accounts.

Crowley disappeared before anybody had a chance to say another word.

"He's gone." Dean replied, glaring at Neal. "You know what that means?"

Neal didn't speak.

"That means, Neal, that your friends has a huge red bull's eye on his back." Sam explained.

"He doesn't know what Mozzie looks like. He's never seen Mozzie." Neal stated.

"He has his ways, Neal. And they are very…unpleasant." The elder Winchester said.

"But, he…." Neal stated.

Crowley is THE King of Hell, Neal." Sam snapped as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Lucifer was overthrown, locked in a cage, and Crowley took over."

Peter, Jones, and Diana just stared at the brothers. This was…they didn't even have the words to describe what this was.

Neal opened his mouth, a few times, but nothing came out.

Dean sighed. "I will never get used to that look."

"It sounds crazy. Trust us, we know. But, Crowley didn't come in by any door. He didn't leave by any door. Ask June when you leave. She won't have any idea what you're talking about." Sam stated.

When the agents thought about it, they realized that it was true.

"How do we deal with Crowley?" Neal asked.

"YOU don't deal with Crowley!" Dean said forcefully, looking at both Neal and Peter.

Sam nodded. He shared Dean's fear and wanted to protect his friends. "Just give him what he wants."

"We're federal agents?" Jones started. "We don't' just…."

"It won't end with you." Dean warned. "He'll come after your family, your friends. He will kill your dog." He said, just to make a point to Peter. "Think about it…he took down an airplane! He killed 87 people to get his hands on some rocks!"

Peter just stared at the brothers for a moment, considering his options.

Dean sighed. "We hadn't even…. This was not supposed to happen this way. We just left El's shop. We gave her a message to give to Neal. Then…then we realized…."

Jones and Diana were shocked. How did El fit into all this? How did the Winchesters know Peter's wife?

Neal looked at them for a moment. "I got your message. Then you showed up, and…it didn't make sense."

"We were trying to get you to Hudson Park. It's about a mile from here. Close enough so that you could come and see us. And far enough away, in case a certain agent heard that we were in town and wanted to come and investigate."

"You need to get whatever it is back from the little bald dude, Neal! Like…right now! Crowley can track a scent." Sam insisted.

Diana shook her head. "How?"

"Hell hounds!" Sam replied.

The female agent literally took a step back. "Those are real, too?"

They all looked at Diana on that one.

"I may have seen a dog-type creature with red eyes, once, when I was staying with my grandmother." Diana admitted.

"What exactly was your grandmother into?" Dean asked.

"Voodoo, Hoodoo, Wicca, Witchcraft…she dabbled, pretty heavily, in it all."

"That is a seriously volatile concoction." Sam replied.

"She was careful with it. At least when I was around." Diana stated.

The brothers knew that there was more to it. They waited for her to continue.

"She died the summer I graduated high school. I was actually going to spend some time with her before I headed off to college. I never got to. She passed away. It was a closed-casket funeral, picture of her with all the family, all around." The agent paused. "Nobody would answer my questions. They wouldn't let me see her body." She sighed. "I didn't find out, until years later that the scene was beyond bloody. Her throat was gone. She was…not much in the place was disturbed. Just a thing or two knocked over. But, nothing that would point to a robbery or anything like that. Just my grandmother, lying in the middle of her living room floor…." She trailed off, shuddering at the thought.

"Hell hounds?" Dean asked.

Diana shrugged. "It didn't act like any ordinary animal, whatever attacked her. Granny kept pies, cakes, and cookies around. She had that stuff out, all the time. Nothing was eaten. Whatever it was came in, attacked her, and left. That was what the police told the family."

Jones kept looking back and forth between Diana and the Winchesters. "What the…? That doesn't happen! I mean…."

"The Winchesters deal with some weird…." Neal began

"This does not happen." Jones repeated.

"Actually," Dean replied. "It kinda does."

"All the time." Sam added.

"You're crazy!" Jones retorted.

Dean shrugged. "We've been called worse."

Jones was shocked by Dean's reaction. He had expected protest, something. Their calm demeanor had him really worried. And, another thing finally struck him, they were not, at all what he expected. Cold-blooded killers don't express concern for others. Especially not for people they don't even know. And, also, he had not missed how quickly they had come to Neal's defense, when they felt he had been threatened. Not the actions of cold-blooded killers.

"Okay, so what…what happened to the guy who was just here then? He just…." Jones looked around. "Where id he go? How did he leave? I didn't see him go out the door."

"He's the King of Hell. He can leave pretty much any way he chooses." Dean responded.

Jones opened his mouth, closed it, then said. "The good book does not mention him."

Sam shook his head. "Lucifer ws overthrown by Crowley, centuries later."

"Yeah...um…well, I gotta go. Back to the office." Jones said, looking at Peter. "My crazy tank is full, and the meter is just going off the charts!"

"Clinton, this is…." Peter started.

Jones stepped back and held up his hands. "I don't want to know what this is."

"You're in this, Agent Jones, whether you like it or not." Sam informed him.

Peter sighed. He had not wanted his agents to be a part of this, for the obvious reason, the Winchesters were wanted felons. And two, because they did scared the hell out of him, and he believed their crazy.

"Clinton, I get…this is…weird." Peter said.

"We left weird behind a long, long time ago." Jones retorted.

Peter nodded. "I get that, Clinton. But, trust me, Sam and Dean are legit. They work with some seriously freaky stuff. But…it's all real."

Jones stared at Peter for a moment. The story about El's necklace still on his mind. It was all a bit much.

Jones looked at the Winchesters again. He could read people, pretty well. At least, he thought so. And, he was not getting crazy killer from these two. He didn't' know what to think. But, if Peter…if he believed them. And, Neal, well, he didn't trust Neal on a personal level. But he knew, in Neal's line of work, he needed to develop that sense also, and from what he could tell, Neal's ability to read people was excellent. And it was obvious that Caffrey trusted the Winchesters. And, he couldn't discount the things Diana had said. He had not known this stuff. He trusted Diana; she was as sane as they come. And yet, she believed in this stuff. She had actually seen things, with her own eyes. That counted for something. He just didn't know how all the pieces fit.

They all turned at the sound of knocking. It was June. Neal had promised to watch her little baby so that she could go shopping and run some errands.

"I hope that I am not interrupting, I can…." June said seeing all the people in Neal's apartment.

Neal shook his head as he opened the door wider. The pug ran into the room and went right for Sam, jumping and barking, begging to be picked up.

"He'll be okay, June." Sam said as he bent down and swept the dog up into his arms.

June nodded and closed the door, leaving Neal to his company.

TBC

END NOTES: I love putting little comedic moments into my stories. I just think that that help ease the tension in those intense scenes. Comedy, I think, is difficult to write, and it actually be funny. So, that said, I am glad if these attempts at humor make you chuckle. This chapter refers back to the 4th installment of this series, 'Under Arrest?' JL

FYI: Mark Shephard played Curtis Hagen on the pilot episode of the USA Network series White Collar. His character was a criminal nicknamed 'The Flying Dutchman,' and it was the first case Peter and Neal worked/solved together. Mark came back in the last season to reprise his role as Hagen. Hagen bribed Neal. Hagen ended up getting killed for his trouble.