Warnings/Disclaimer: Same as in first chapter
Cerberus woke to find the Winchesters and Castiel, stoic as ever, standing over her, the former two looking quite disgruntled, the two humans startled slightly when she sat up. Castiel simply inclined his head,
"Cerberus." She flopped back down from the half sitting position she had achieved at the sight of him, every muscle in her body protesting the movement. Figures she would only ever see the guy when she was hurt, or imprisoned. Couldn't the two of them just have a nice conversation that started with just bumping to each other on the street or something? Castiel oblivious, or perhaps not (you never knew with angels), to her thoughts continued,
"While it is good to see you again, I must inquire as to why you thought such a bold move acceptable?" She stared at him in disbelief,
"You'd rather I'd have let crazy lady over there attack those two in the shed?!" She cried in disbelief, "Though knowing what she came from, I don't really blame her for the crazy part, and I thought my life was bad…" she murmured. Pushing back up she stood quickly, trying not to wince at the ache in her muscles. She slowly started to move towards the kitchen, noticing the faint light of dawn appearing over the horizon. The sound of a gun being cocked behind her had her turning back to face the trio, Dean had pointed the gun at her, though at least it wasn't aimed fatally, just at her legs.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, Sam put a hand on his arm, trying to force the gun back down,
"Dean-" He started but Cerberus interrupted him,
"I'm sorry, I thought it would be beneficial for me to go to the house and get a drink of water to get the foul taste of blood out of my mouth? Because I assure you pretty boy it's not pleasant." She spat venomously. Dean seemed to falter at this,
"Yeah well, I don't have any guarantee other than angel-boy here that you won't harm the people in that house." Castiel looked slightly affronted at this and Cerberus just laughed,
"He's an angel, he's supposed to know what's right and what's wrong." Dean grimaced,
"Yeah, well I'm learning that isn't always true." If possible Castiel seemed to look even more affronted, and though she admittedly wasn't good at reading angels, maybe a little hurt. Though Cerberus knew Dean was at least partially right, Castiel though was not to blame for his brothers transgressions.
"Look, Dean, Why don't we just go in with her, I'm sure the family is going to need help in deciding what to do; that is if they haven't called the cops already." He looked over at her, "Do you need any help?" She glared at him, eyes full of poison,
"I can walk thanks." She spit out, realizing that she was being a bit rude, but she had just gone through hell, well not literally, but the life of that girl was pretty damn close. She glanced belatedly down at her legs and realized they were shaking slightly, well if she couldn't walk on two legs, she most certainly could on four. She changed quickly, causing the brothers to jump.
With an expectant look behind her she started the slow progress to the house, resisting the urge to whimper each time her paws lifted off the ground. Castiel came to her side as they started to walk, the brothers following slightly behind. Quietly the angel reached down and touched her shoulder, a little bit of grace transferring from him into her and healing the ache in her muscles so that she could at least walk normally, though it did nothing to dull the memories. She looked up at him in gratitude and started to walk more confidently towards the house, this wasn't the first time she had been overwhelmed by memories, though it was by far the worst. A few days of rest and sorting through the memories, much as she was not looking forward to that, would solve the problem.
They reached the porch in quick succession. The boys shoes making loud thumping sounds as they hit the wood to accompany the clicking of her toenails. The family looked up as they entered, seeming much the worse for wear, though Cerberus supposed they were handling the situation well considering. The father looked up at them, grief and worry clear in his eyes, something stronger lingered there too though, determination perhaps? Cerberus was too tired to care.
"What do we do now?" He asked, Dean and Sam looked at each other for a second, and then to Castiel who was standing off to the side,
"Well," Sam replied after the other two seemed unwilling to respond, "You can explain most of this without mentioning our involvement, Just say Ted and you went looking for Danny by yourselves while the girls locked themselves in the shed. Tell them that the gun was already down there and Ted killed the brother before succumbing to the wounds afflicted to him, Danny then ran out and you helped him outside." Sam paused here and looked over at Cerberus, who had changed back and was currently gratefully accepting a glass of water from Susan. She looked up at him upon noticing the pause. Understanding why he was stuck, she carefully set the water down after rinsing her mouth a couple times,
"What, you mean I have to take the fall for the girl outside don't I?" At Sam's nod she wanted to punch something out of sheer frustration. Self-defense or no, dogs who killed humans were usually put down. Which would mean she would get taken to the pound, locked in a cage, have to wait until everyone was gone, and then escape in human form. Great. That sounded like such a fun plan when all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep somewhere to avoid the memories still racing at the back of her mind.
"Fine." She bit out at the expectant looks she was receiving from the rest of the company. It looked like she had finally found the Winchesters only to have to leave them again, though she doubted they would have readily accepted her company, they didn't seem to trust easily.
The two looked relieved at that and started to pack up their belongings as the family looked on. Less than ten minutes later they were all outside trying what to decide what to do with the slashed tires. Four tires were wheeled out of the shed that Dean grudgingly admitted could sustain the Impala until they got to the next town, though he clearly thought the rough looking pieces of rubber weren't worthy of his baby. The family it was decided, would seem far more realistic if they walked into the town, after all who did just have four spare tires when they had just moved into the house? And the phone line was still cut. The Winchesters left, Castiel disappearing to some unknown errand, and Cerberus was left locked in the bathroom as the family began the walk to town. After all, saved your life or not, they wouldn't have taken a stray dog with them. Though they did seem a bit apologetic as they closed and locked the door.
Once they had left Cerberus let out a grateful breath and lay down on the towels and blankets they had provided. Resting her head on her forelegs she closed her eyes and started through the grueling process of actually going through the memories she'd gained, not just letting them rush past her in a horrifying blur.
A few hours later the door opened thankfully startling her out of her reverie. A solemn looking police officer looked down at her, an animal control officer standing just behind him. She knew her best bet was to look friendly so she perked up and yipped at them excitedly, tail wagging. The police officer looked behind him and asked the family,
"You sure this is the dog that killed the sister?" At their nods he sighed and looked regretfully down at the non-threatening dog before him. He motioned to the animal control officer who also had an apologetic expression,
"Do what you have to Bill, though I think the little lady should be given a medal, I do know the law." Bill, nodded and moved forward with a leash in hand,
"Hey there girl, you and I are going to go on an adventure okay?" He murmured as he slipped the collar around her unresisting neck. She tried her best to look completely innocent and trustworthy and it must have worked because he flinched and muttered
"Sometimes I hate my job." Before standing up with the leash clipped to her shiny new blue collar,
"Come on, let's go out to the truck sweetie, there's dog biscuits out there if you cooperate." Though the man was talking to her like she was intelligent she doubted he would appreciate it if she actually responded, though the expression on his face would be worth it, it would definitely make this situation a lot more complicated than it already was. She followed him obediently to the truck—hating the feeling of the collar rubbing on the scars on her neck. She nodded respectfully to the family as she passed them, her tongue lolling out in false doggy cheerfulness. The little boy Danny waved sadly at her, and the mother mouthed a 'thank-you' as she clambered into the cage the officer opened for her in the back. Once the door was closed and locked the truck drove off, and she drifted off, lulled by the rumbling of the engine. She would deal with this whole humane society issue when she got there. It wasn't the first time she had been stuck in one since her journey began. Some of her stays in towns hadn't exactly been voluntary after all. It wasn't like the people working there expected the dog in their care to be able to turn into a human with fingers, thumbs, and the intelligence to open the cage door from the inside. This would be annoying but not impossible.
AN:/ To those of you who will worry, There will be more interaction with the Winchesters in the future, I'm not just introducing them and then ditching them. I'm just starting Chapter 13 now, but I will try to work on it more so that I can give you another chapter. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter.