Better Be Home Soon

Chapter 5

Juliet was just cresting a rise when she felt it, miles ahead and out of sight; an infernal transmission was going back to Hell. She cocked her head and wondered, while plodding wearily on in the Winchesters' Gasoline-Metal, Gunoil-Leather-Cheap-Denim-and-Flannel wake, what such a communique could possibly herald.

Thirty minutes later and miles further down the road, she had her first inkling of Hell's returned response.
The aether rippled, heaving under the throes of demonic transportation, and Juliet felt the unmistakable presence of a Knight of Hell clawing its way up out of the pit. The invasion came from far ahead, out towards the susurration and surge of the ever-churning ocean, in the direction of both the infernal transmission, and where the Winchester's scent trail seemed to lead.

Remembering the fractious boasts of The Knight's supporters from Hell, Juliet found herself unable to parse whether this new occurrence might herald good or ill for Papa. But she knew enough to realise that changes were afoot. Whatever plans the Moose and Squirrel had for that third trial to shut the gates of Hell, or to make Papa mortal; they were likely to go down soon.

Juliet forced her aching legs on with a renewed burst of speed.

Just as her nose started to catch the Never-ceasing-Salt-Brine-churned scent of the ocean's waters, Juliet felt the earth tremble beneath her abraded paws.

Moments later, a wave of pressure swept past her. It tugged forcefully at her coat and made her ears stream out behind, flapping like flags in a hurricane. From the buffeting pressure wave and the charged particles blowing past her lolling tongue, Juliet knew some kind of collision between Heavenly and Infernal powers had just taken place up ahead.

Greater fear for her beloved master drove her relentlessly on.

Miles ahead, right by the edge of a shallow inlet, lay a small wooden church. Beside it was parked the black muscle car Juliet had been chasing for days. The building looked abandoned, but even from her current distance, which shrank the church down to something postcard sized, her glowing red eyes caught the tell-tale shimmer of divine sanctification.

As she watched, a roiling black cloud of demonic smoke rose up into the sky, then plummeted back down to hammer relentlessly on the small clapboard church. From the formidable size of the cloud and the sheer force of power exerted, it was apparent that the infernal presence attempting to breach the church was none other than the Knight of Hell.

It had been a slim hope, but it appeared the Knight was trying to rescue Papa after all. Juliet both saw and felt the moment when the church's holy providence collapsed. The Devine protection cracked and shattered like fragile glass under the repeated blows from the Knight's attack.

Minutes passed, marked only by the Hellhound's thudding paws. Then, far off in the distance, through the bijou windows of the matchbox scale church, Juliet caught sight of an astonishingly unexpected flare of holy fire, heard a shriek of demonic pain and fury. Caught a waft on the winds of immolated meat-suit.

A column of black demonic smoke shot up out of the church's rear and into the sky; fleeing like a scolded dog towards the western horizon.

Somehow, the Winchesters had defeated a Knight of Hell. Juliet's fears for her master's wellbeing and all of Hell doubled while she hastened resolutely to close the gap between herself and the church.

Within two miles of the church now, Juliet's desperately straining ears caught the sound of the Moose's voice muffled and broken by distance, she could barely make out that he was chanting something. Something that sounded and felt like an exorcism.

"Exorcizamus te, – immundus spirit -, hanc a am redint —, lustra."

The words reached her in the wind making Juliet lay back her ears with a snarl. Her stride faltered in perturbation.

She expected to see a roiling column of Papa's distinctive red smoke boil into the sky from the church in response. But none came.

Could the brothers Winchester truly have a way to kill the King of Hell? The thought was too horrific for Juliet to even start to comprehend.

Then, the wind from the north brought the beloved scent of Sulphur-Cologne-Scotch wafting over Juliet's lolling tongue and up into her olfactory cavities.

Whatever else was true, Papa was definitely alive now and in the church. Whatever the Moose's blasphemous spell was trying to accomplish; it was occurring right at that very moment.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, one of the Heavenly Host appeared, by its side stood the familiar form of Dean Winchester, the Squirrel and Righteous Man.

Juliet's hackles rose in response to the unexpected threat. Tired as she was, she bared her shark-like teeth and let out a guttural snarl which splattered the road with a thick spray of foamy drool. Almost as if the angel had been intimidated by her show of aggression; as quickly as it appeared, the angel was gone, tossing the words, "Dean, I'm not wrong. I'm going to fix my home," over its shoulder. Before rising with a sweeping rush of its dimension spanning wings. The angel shot upward, back towards heaven.

"Cas!" the Squirrel cried after the angel's unexpected retreat; voice strident with dismay; but the angel was gone.

The Hunter straightened his shoulders and strode into the church.

Finally reaching the church herself, Juliet followed the Hunter, pushing through the splintered door of the church. Padded discreetly through the vestibule, trying to avoid making any noise which might give away her presence.

Inside the main body of the church stood the Moose. An open wound in his hand spilling out both blood and an ocherous incandescence, which scorched Juliet's nose with an overpowering and hackle raising reek of Divinity.

The Moose; Boy King, Lucifer's perfect vessel, staggered forward towards Papa, who sat shackled down and trapped inside a mended devils trap.

The Moose was rapidly closing the distance between himself and Papa, his bloody, glowing hand outstretched.

Juliet felt it in her bones, whatever was happening, this was the last step to complete the final hell trial. The threat was obvious, and she was still too far away to stop it.

Just then, to Juliet's complete shock, the Squirrel strode toward his brother calling out.

"Sammy, stop!" He walked forward with his hands raised, like someone approaching a spooked animal.

"Easy there. Okay… just take it easy. We got a slight change of plan."

Juliet could not believe either her eyes or her ears.

The Moose, for his part, seemed similarly shocked by being interrupted right at the cusp of the spell's climax.

"What?" he gasped, "what's going on? Where's Cas?!"

The Squirrel gulped and Juliet caught the smell of rancid desperation wafting from the man's pores.

"Metatron lied. You finish this trial, you're dead, Sam."

"So?" The Boy King, Lucifer's one true vessel staggered and swayed on his feet, waving his bloody hand at Papa. He smelled sick, like a creature starved and running only by burning muscle mass. He smelled like he was dying, just as his brother had said.

"Look at him. Look at him! Look how close we are! Other people will die if I don't finish this!"

For the first time since entering the church Juliet truly looked at her master and backed up a handful of staggered steps in burgeoning shock.

Papa was weeping, his face covered with sweat, snot and blood; plastered with a complex cascade of cresting emotions which Juliet had never seen her Master express before.

"Think about it. Think about what we know, huh? Pulling souls from hell, curing demons, hell, ganking a Hellhound!"

Juliet dropped to her belly on the dingy wooden floor upon hearing the Squirrel's words.
Curing demons?!
Her legs no longer capable of holding her, as she realised the true sacrilege of what had been wrought on her beloved Papa.

He smelled all wrong! The scotch and cologne components of his scent might have been obliterated by the Winchesters' shoddy treatment of him, but the undeniable waning of his natural sulphurous aroma was both shocking and starkly obvious. Papa had the smell of humanity about him!

"—We have enough knowledge on our side to turn the tide here. But I can't do it without you," the Squirrel's pleas continued as Juliet's hellhound mind reeled under the impact of the scent of bloody, mortal humanity; twined and mingled with the waning wafts of Papa's demonic smoke.

Then, Papa raised his head, and their eyes met.

His eyes widened with something like shock and horror, slanting over towards the Winchester Hunters with a look that could only be described as pure terror.

"Juliet!" He breathed in a voice that was little more than a broken whisper. "Go, get out of here. Go home."

Juliet whined and crawled forward over the floor, shuddering in fawning subservience. Begging Papa with a lowered head, drooping ears and tucked tail to forgive her delinquency of obedience.

But Papa's eyes trailed sideways once more, focused on the bickering Winchesters; and his jaw bulged dangerously, and his eyes narrowed in fury.

"Go!" He hissed again, raising a shackled hand to point imperiously at the door.

Unable to disobey again, Juliet went, but she didn't go far and she didn't go home, back to Hell.

Whatever her Papa had become, the finely wrought thread of loyalty which bound her to her master could not be broken or frayed, even if his demonhood had been diluted by humanity; Hell was only home because of Papa.

When the Winchesters left, dragging Papa with them. Juliet followed.

She watched and waited, using all her cunning and patience to dodge fallen angels and Winchester wrath.

She watched and waited, when the Squirrel carried his dying brother into a hospital outside Randolph, New York.

Watched and waited, still more, while fallen angels battled, and the Moose became an angelic vessel.

She watched and waited for months, outside the zone of Dizzy-Chasing-tail-Turned-around where the Winchesters had their lair in Lebanon Kansas.

Finally, her patience was rewarded in a warehouse outside Somerset, Pennsylvania, when Papa struck a deal for his freedom, helping the Squirrel rid the Moose of his unwanted angelic infestation.

With the Knight of Hell and her forces closing in, Juliet emerged from the shadows to stand beside her Master and heard Papa hum in gratified surprise.

"You always were my Bonnie wee lass with brains," he told her in gruff appreciation and scratched behind her ears in just the way she liked.
" My Good Girl, never disappointed me yet." And Juliet knew she was right where she belonged.

She was home, by her Papa's side, facing down Heaven, Hell, humanity and everything else that dared to oppose him; and she knew, without a shadow of doubt, that they'd both be home soon.

-/-/-/-

Authors Note: This story was written for the tumblr Crowley Big bang, and was also posted on AO3 under my ID there : Hobbitual_Psychick with art from two lovely artists, I'd love it if you checked it out. I've never written a story and held on to it for so very long before. It was written at the beginning of the year, before covid did a number on my brain and writing, I am still working on my other stories albeit much more slowly.

Thank you to Kathy and BloodForInk and wwxxhh I do really appreciate hearing from you, people like you are the reason struggling fanfiction writers don't simply throw in the towel. ️