Sam and Dean glanced at each other. As if sensing their unease, the massive dog halted two paces from them. Tilting its head, its liquid golden eyes blinked curiously.
Hesitantly, Sam reached out his free hand. 'Uh…'
The hound held his gaze as it lowered its nose. The cold, wet circle rested gently in his palm. Then, to the absolute astonishment of both hunters, the giant hound began wagging its tail.
A smile twitched the corner of Dean's mouth. 'Looks like you made a friend.'
'We made a friend,' Sam corrected with a laugh. His expression grew serious. 'He saved both our lives today.'
The hound yipped and dropped into a playful crouch, its bushy tail still waving excitedly from side to side.
'Aw, can we keep him?' Sam joked, gently giving his brother more support with his shoulder.
'No dogs in the car,' Dean reminded him pointedly. 'And, anyway, what the hell would we feed it with?'
Sam gave him the puppy dog face.
It was such a younger brother moment, Dean couldn't help but grin. But when he tried to chuckle, crimson trickled down his chin. His mouth twisted with pain and he let out a soft groan. Blood was still running freely from his bared chest, now staining the hems of his shirt even though it hung open.
Sam caught him as he crumpled. Both Winchesters ended up in the dirt, Sam holding Dean's upper half so that most of him didn't hit the ground. Panic set in, flooding through Sam's chest as fast as blood was pouring from Dean's. There was no way in hell Sam could haul his brother's ass back to the Impala at the reserve border. There were miles to cover … and they didn't even have a map.
A now-familiar snuffling made Sam look up. The massive black dog whimpered softly and padded closer.
'Hey can you,' Sam started, then wondered if he was going crazy. Supernatural though it was, why would it be able to actually understand human speech? Dean moaned, a shiver of agony sweeping through him.
Sam pressed his lips together. I have to try. 'Can you do what you did for me? You know –' Sam gestured to his own throat, shuddering at the memory of no air in his lungs.
The hound puffed a breath through its nose and shook out its fur. At first, Sam began to think that he'd been right: supernatural creature didn't equal human linguistics. But although it couldn't seem to speak in reply, the giant dog began lowering its muzzle to Dean's forehead.
Before Sam's eyes, the savage claw marks in his brother's flesh began to close up and vanish. The anti-possession tattoo became whole once more, and there weren't even any scars to show it had ever been rent. Within moments, all that was left as proof of Dean's near death experience was lots of dried blood.
The hound withdrew. Dean sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes. For a moment he gazed up at the late afternoon sky, then he focused on Sam. 'I have a killer headache.'
Sam laughed with relief. 'Dude, be glad that's all you've got.'
Still sprawled ungracefully across his brother's legs, Dean stretched out an arm. The giant dog gently pressed its nose to Dean's wrist before flicking an ear and prancing away. It paused and looked back at them as if waiting.
'Are you gonna get us out of here?' Sam asked.
The dog's tail wagged as it danced a few steps backward. Part of Sam felt guilty – they had done nothing to warrant everything the creature had done for them. It had saved both brothers' lives twice.
'We'll buy it a really big steak,' Dean said, glancing at Sam with a knowing look. 'Let's just get back to the car.'
'Right.' Sam nodded and carefully scooted backward on his ass.
Dean got up slowly, one hand to his forehead. 'God damn, I never want to hunt one of those things ever again.'
'I –' As he moved to point toward the Nalusa Falaya's corpse, Sam's throat closed over. 'Dean,' he said hoarsely. 'Look.'
Dean did. 'Son of a bitch…' he whispered, eyebrows raised.
The scrawny dark body of the Choctaw monster was gone.
The brothers shared a glance.
'Come on, mutt,' Dean told the massive hound, 'Sniff out our guns like a good boy.'