Tainted [Demon!Dean]

Prologue

Prologue

She was sure this was a trap. She was sure that this was another torture method from Hell's finest. She couldn't actually be out of her cell block, that the King himself requested an audience with her. This was unprecedented.

Selina smelled a trap.

The all-too-familiar whimpers and moans of the damned flew through the demon's ears as she was escorted through the dungeons. Some, she swore, were jealous cries. I wouldn't be jealous of me just yet, she thought to herself. This could be another trick of the trade.

Selina hated that she was chained. To her, it was humiliating. As if landing herself in the Devil's den wasn't already embarrassing enough. Each step she took, her chains rattled. What if I'm not meeting the King, but rather I'm being walked to my execution?

She was afraid to ask questions. She feared she wouldn't get an answer, or if she did, it would be a smartass remark. She didn't want this faintest of hope snatched from her.

When the double doors opened, the alarm telling her it was a trap screamed in Selina's mind now. She was not faced with a guillotine or a hoard of hellhounds, like she had expected. Instead, the King of Hell, sitting in his throne, looked absolutely bored with his messenger rattling off events in and about Hell. The King looked two seconds from murdering the messenger.

Though her internal alarm was ringing, Selina felt slightly better. Though...she couldn't be making the best of first impressions. Her clothes were torn and dirty. Her blonde hair was nappy and grimy. She overall felt like she was covered in layers of filth.

"At last!" the King exclaimed, shooing the messenger away. The messenger looked crestfallen by the abrupt command, but he heeded it regardless. The King's beady, dark eyes now settled on Selina.

Selina was afraid to step further inside. It would mean that she believed this was real, that the King wanted to see her. A nudge from her demonic escort made her stumble forward, almost scuffing the cobbled floor with her knees. It's not like my clothes are in pristine condition. In fact, they were a few more torture sessions away from not be classified as clothes, but tattered shreds.

"W-what do I owe this pleasure, m-my king?" Selina groveled, bowing before him.

"Normally, I'd love a good groveling, but you're making it too pathetic. Please, stand up, before you embarrass either of us further."

Selena reluctantly got to her feet. She refused to meet the King's eyes, opting to stare down at her feet. "Again, I ask, what am I here for?"

"Dear child, I have a task for you."

Selina tilted her head and winced. Being called a child was not very amusing. I guess to him I am like a child. I haven't been a demon nearly as long as he has. She picked her head up reluctantly. "I-I don't follow."

"Your brain must be fried, spending all that awful time in the dungeons, suffering through all that torment. I am giving you one chance to stretch your legs."

This still sounded like a trap. Like a faux golden opportunity. "What do you ask of me?" All the bite, Hell had taken it from Selina. Her fight had been beaten and tortured out of her. She could barely remember a time when she said spiteful things to her torturers. It felt like eons ago, when really it could've been a matter of months, or even less.

"I need you to keep an eye on someone. Keep him in line, if you must. I want to be sure he doesn't pull anything stupid or potentially world-ending."

And yet he wants me to carry this out? What is he thinking? The questions hung on Selina's tongue, but instead she blurted out: "And just what would that be? Or, rather, who?"

"Though you've been chained up, surely you would recognize the name Dean Winchester."

Selina tried to piece together anything she could think of regarding the name. She knew her neighboring cellmates sometimes cursed Winchesters for landing them in Hell. She sometimes heard her torturers mutter things about them.

Clearly, this Dean Winchester was infamous to the demon world.

"I might be one of few demons who really isn't aware of the significance of that name," Selina muttered shyly.

"It might be for the best. Dean can be temperamental. He's a hunter, he and his moose of a brother hunt things like us down and kill us. It wouldn't shock me if they mounted their kills as trophies on their walls."

Selina winced. "Your point?"

"My point, dear child, is that you are to make sure Dean Winchester does not do anything that could risk the end of the world."

"Well, then how come I'm not keeping tabs on his 'moose' of a brother, too?"

"Dean is priority. When you find him, you'll understand why."

When you find him. "Are you gonna give me a map?"

"I'll give you his last known whereabouts, for starters. After that, you're on your own. I expect reports, especially if you somehow screw this up."

"Will I be restored in my own body?"

"If your body hasn't been turned to ash, yes."

"With all due respect, why did you pick me? I'm...I don't think I've done enough to earn this, in all honesty."

"You shouldn't question me, love. I don't like it when my demons doubt me. Makes me start to want to doubt myself. Can't have a ruler who does that, now, can we?"

Selina shook her head, her nappy blonde hair blurring her vision. "No, sir."

"Excellent. Do not disappoint me, otherwise, you won't be returning to Hell."

Selina got that message loud and clear: don't fuck this up.