InsaneJournal

WHO: Glory and Crowley
WHAT: The King of Hell vs. the Hell God
WHEN: Sunday, June 12; around noonish
WHERE: Eden (Crowley’s casino)
RATING: V for violence!
STATUS: Complete. Open to Parker if she wants to find him.

Time was running out, Glory was sure of it. She didn’t know how she knew. She wasn’t on the same sort of schedule she’d been on back in Sunnydale so, really, time shouldn’t be doing anything but ticking along as it always did. However something told her that time was getting shorter and, if she was ever going to get her Key and get home, she needed to do it now.

Unfortunately, none of the mortals had proved very forthcoming thus far. In fact, for reasons she really could not understand, they continued to blame her for everything and refused to even acknowledge that they were the ones who were not living up to the deal she’d offered them. As far as she was concerned, they were to blame for all of this. If they would just hand over the Key already, she wouldn’t have to hurt anyone else in the city. Yes, there was the risk of causing all the walls of reality to collapse and thereby creating pretty much absolute Hell in the little bubble known as Colligo but Glory seriously doubted whoever ran the show in this place would allow that. No one who had created a small pocket universe of their very own was going to let it literally get ripped asunder by a glaring loophole created by a bunch of goody-goody monks who really needed to focus less on her and more on things like fashion sense and proper hair care.

But no. The humans had to keep being all... human and it was seriously starting to annoy her. Which is why she decided to switch up her tactics a bit. Not that she had any allies with the non-humans in the city either, not counting her minions of course, but she did know that a demon was much more self-serving than any human could ever hope to be and she highly doubted that the self-imposed ‘King of Hell’ would be an exception. Of course, considering he was the King of Hell in his own reality, Glory highly doubted her typical threats of torture and death would really have much of an impact but she was nothing if not resourceful and she was pretty sure she could find some way to sway him to her way of thinking.

And if not, well, she was already feeling a bit peckish and she was pretty sure he’d make a tasty enough meal.

Hopefully, though, it wouldn’t come to that, she thought as she made her way up the stairs leading to the casino that Crowley owned and operated. When the door didn’t open immediately for her, she sighed heavily and rolled her eyes in a melodramatic way. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” she muttered. “That’s just rude.”

Then she simply punched the glass as hard as she could, shattering it into thousand of tiny pieces, and stepped through the remains of the door frame into the casino. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” she sing-songed as she continued her casual stroll through the lobby as though she hadn’t a care in the world.

Crowley saw her on the security monitors, and his first thought was that if Spencer were around she wouldn’t have gotten thought so easily. but Spencer wasn’t around, and there she was, strolling through the lobby of his casino as if she owned the place. Crowley clenched his fists and growled outwardly at the security monitors.

He was glad at least Parker wasn’t on the premises at the moment. She would flip out at the sight of the hell god, and with good reason. But also with disastrous results. Losing Spencer upset the balance of things, but losing Parker to this bitch would really really really piss Crowley off, and Crowley knew when it came down to it, he was no match for Glory.

King of Hell was technically a self made title. He’d decided that was what he’d call himself, and back home? He had the juice to back it up. Even here in Colligo, he had a decent standing. But whatever hell Glory came from, it didn’t take more than a second for Crowley to assess that she was considerably stronger and more powerful than he. And as he watched her make her way through his casino, he knew she was going to destroy him, because he was not going to give her what she wanted.

He hastily scribbled a note on the back of a faxed piece of paper. He didn’t have much time, so he kept it short. Parker, I never wanted it to come to this. Everything in the safe is yours, and if you don’t know what it is, give it to Cas. I am sorry, but you must understand I can not give her that key. You’re the most important person in my life, and I would do what I can to protect you. That means not allowing the bitch to destroy the world around you. I love you. He signed his true name, with a sweeping flourish of the pen, then shoved the paper in the top drawer of his desk. Looking up to the monitor, he could see that Glory was nearly at his door.

He leaned back in his chair, feet propped up on the desk. He felt no nerves, and he would not simply remove himself from the office before she arrived. He’d stay and face her, and show her that while she was stronger than he by an unmeasurable power, he would not sacrifice Dawn, not the town in which Dawn lived.

It didn't take Glory long to locate Crowley's office. Once she had, she simply gave it a slight shove, damn near knocking the door of its hinges as it flung open to allow her entrance. Wrinkling her nose at the furniture – it was expensive, sure, but it definitely lacked any real flair as far as she was concerned – she stepped inside. Her hands went to her hips, a smile spreading across her face.

"Hey there," she greeted him without any preamble. "I have to admit, this was all a lot easier than I thought it might be. I mean, sure, it kept me from completely ripping the place apart but would it kill you to offer a bit of a challenge, here? You're kinda giving your kind a bad name." Not that his sort had very good names, at least not by the definition of the word. Then again Glory really didn't care. She just found it was a lot easier to fill the gap between 'busting into someone's office' and 'eating their brain if they didn't cooperate' if there was a bit of conversation first. Violence was nice too of course. Glory certainly had no issue with the physical stuff. It was part of what had earned her such a fearsome reputation in her own reality, after all, and you had to be pretty keen on the beatings and torture to earn yourself a name amongst other Hell Gods.

"Sooo," she drawled the word out, running her finger absently along the edge of a chair as she sauntered closer to him, "You know why I'm here. And you don't look half as stupid as the others in this city so you know I'm not leaving without it." Dropping down into the chair across from his desk, she crossed her legs and smiled once more.

"Now you can just tell me what I want to know and I"ll be on my merry little way," she suggested. "Or this can get messy." She paused, then giggled a little. "Personally I hope you go for that option. These mortals are absolutely no fun anymore."

Crowley dropped his feet to the floor with a deliberate, if impotent, thud. He rolled his eyes at her, simply because it made him feel better for doing it. He knew it would have no effect on her. He wasn’t going for effect. He figured he only had a few minutes left before things got dicey, so he was going to do whatever the hell he felt like, no matter how trivial it seemed.

“Well, Gory,” Crowley said, amusing himself by deliberately leaving the L out of the hell god’s chosen name, and Gory seemed more appropriate anyway. “We both know I’m not telling you what you want to know, so have at it. Go on, then. Give me your best shot.”He kept his voice dead pan, not a trace of emotion to be found.

“You think the lowly humans were fun. Wait till you see how stoic I can be.” While he spoke, he erased all knowledge of where Dawn might be from his mind, so she couldn’t pick it out. Crowley stared at Glory, and yawned. He didn’t particularly care what she did to him. Any physical pain would belong to the vessel, more than himself. Sure he’d have to endure it, but he doubted she could dish out anything worse than what he’d been through before.

There was little doubt in Glory's mind that she was an absolute expert when it came to torture. She'd made it her business since, quite literally, the beginning of time and had gotten damn good at it. However she also knew torturing Crowley would do no good. Sure, she might eventually get a reaction from him, but she sincerely doubted he would be in any condition to tell her anything of use afterward. However, unlike her, he had weaknesses that expanded beyond the physical realm. Better yet, he had connections.

Laughing lightly, she sat back in the chair and clapped her hands once in delight. "Oh, aren't you precious!" she all but cooed. "You think I'm actually going to torture you? Really?" She scoffed, shaking her head before her smile turned positively deadly. "I mean, what would be the point of wasting my time on a fellow professional when that sweet little blond girl that's so fond of you would break so much easier?"

She leaned forward a bit, lowering her voice as though revealing a big secret. "And between you and me? I am going to love making her scream." She sat back again, shrugging slightly. "Of course," she admitted as she studied her fingernails idly, "there's a pretty good chance she's going to die even if you do tell me where my Key is but, hey! That's life!" Her gaze snapped back up to Crowley, the smile still firmly in place.

"But I'll make you a deal. You tell me what I want to know and I promise I'll make it quick. It's not much but, well, you play the cards you're dealt, right?"

“Nice try,” Crowley replied, careful to keep his voice even, when inside he felt torn to shreds. he hadn’t expected a threat that extended past himself, he hadn’t prepared himself for the possibility of a threat against Parker. He should have expected it, but he’d been self centered, stupid, and careless.

“But no. That blonde doesn’t give a shit about your precious little key, that much is true. But, see. I’ve got so much influence over her, and I’m also not stupid enough to give her information that could be used against us all. You want to kill her? Do it for your own reasons, because me? I’m a demon. I’ve been stringing the girl along all this time.” He shrugged, nonchalant. “She’s good for business. So was the thug, by the way. But at the end of the day, business is business. Thug’s already gone, I’ve hardly got a vested interest in preserving them as a unit, and if you’re going to kill me anyway, what the hell do I care if the casino goes to hell?” He kept his eyes on Glory, his gaze level and unwavering.

Nothing he said was true, but he shut his mind down to the truth. He would do anything it took to protect Parker, but he was fighting a losing battle. He could only hope that Glory’s selfish desires would keep her focus on him, and maybe she’d forget about Parker entirely.

That was not the response Glory had been expecting and, for the briefest of seconds, it showed. However she recovered quickly enough, more than adept at twisting situations to her advantage. "Well," she sighed as she slowly climbed to her feet, giving off the impression of being rather bothered that it had come to this. She wasn't, of course, but playing the part was all so much fun that she really couldn't help herself. "In that case, I guess I'll just have to use you to get her to give me what I want."

Sauntering to his desk, she ran one red colored fingernail along the surface of the wood, causing a large scratch to appear in its wake, until she had come around the desk fully and was directly in front of him. "Because you might be a demon," she rolled her eyes then smiled brightly. "But she isn't. And if she's as loyal as you say she is, she'll do whatever she has to do to get you back again."

Truth be told, Glory couldn't swear that would work out to her advantage. Humans were tricky creatures and taking Crowley out of the equation might push the psychotic blond further into the other camp's corner. But it was a risk she was willing to take because they both knew there was no way on this planet or any other that Crowley was going to tell her what she wanted to know. "So I guess we'll just see how good you actually duped her, huh?" she questioned, crinkling her nose a bit as she grinned at him.

Then, with speed that far surpassed that of most other creatures, Glory was beside Crowley and already pressing her fingers against his temples. The pressure alone was enough to keep most rooted to the spot but she put a little extra oomph behind it this time just in case. "Say bye-bye to sanity, sweetie," she all but cooed as a light began to pour from the gaps where her fingers were making their way through the skin and skull, finally touching at the part of his brain that contained the essence she needed to keep her strength up.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the words were lost as soon as Glory’s hands were on him. He felt a curious tingle, that built up to a fiery heat in record time. He felt closed in, and the noise...the noise was sudden, unexpected, and...crushing. Not so much that it was loud, but that it was constant and unrelenting.

He had all of about three seconds to think about divorcing himself from his vessel, but the window came and went, and he couldn’t remember how to do it.

He could literally feel his mind shutting down. It went in layers, stages maybe. He couldn’t say exactly, but he felt it like doors closing, shutting him off with that horrific screeching. It wasn’t even screeching. it sounded more like bugs. Tiny little bugs, with a thousand pinchers crawling on his skin.

He could hear his own whimpers. Not screams, he wouldn’t scream. He wasn’t even sure he remembered how to scream. He couldn’t think of his own name, he couldn’t think past the noise, the noise, the never ending noise...

Once the deed was done, Glory took a step back to admire her handiwork. She was extra pleased with herself, this time, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why exactly. However it didn't matter. The demon known as Crowley was now nothing more than a shell of what he'd once been, trapped inside a prison within his own mind. Patting him on the cheek, she smiled in an almost caring way before turning toward the door.

"Now you sit and stay," she called over her shoulder at him, not really caring if he listened or not. It would make it easier for others to find him, sure, but if he wanted to go wandering the streets like the other crazy people, she really could care less. So with her heels clicking rhythmically against the floor, she made her way out of his office and, ultimately, the casino, without so much as a second glance.