34
Dean awoke to the sound of dripping water and creaking floorboards. His head felt heavy when he tried to lift it and his wrists and ankles felt like they weren't there. He cracked open one eye and groaned when a single light bulb overhead invaded his vision. As he tried to move his limbs he found that he had been securely tied to a chair and the ropes were so tight they were cutting off his circulation. He tried to flex his hands but all that did was cause the rope to dig in painfully.
He looked up as a figure came into his line of sight and narrowed his eyes. It was a young woman, about the age of twenty five, small in frame with curly brown hair hanging down around her shoulders. She wore a plain white t-shirt under dark denim overalls and would have looked like nothing more than a sweet American farm-girl if it hadn't been for the sadistic gleam in her dark brown eyes.
"I got you good," she declared, smiling brightly.
Dean glared at her. "I've had better."
The girl frowned as Hunter came up behind her, wrapping strong arms around her waist. It was obvious these two were a couple, but how he had missed the presence of the girl was beyond him. He cursed himself for not paying closer attention. He really had to stop getting himself into these kinds of predicaments. The chair and ropes thing was getting old. He closed his eyes and silently prayed that a hot poker wouldn't come into the mix.
"I told you I wasn't going to let you stop me," Hunter said quietly. "It doesn't seem like you're going to be stopping much of anything from your position."
Dean shrugged. "Give me time."
Hunter laughed. "You're far from MacGuyver, Dean Winchester. I don't think a paperclip and a rubberband is going to get you out of this."
"You'd be surprised what I can do with a rubberband," Dean shot back.
The girl in front of Hunter smiled sweetly. "Oh, do tell."
Dean sighed in disgust. "So are you going to sit here and bore me to death with your plans for world domination or is there actually a point to all of this?"
Hunter stepped forward and backhanded him as hard as he could, causing Dean to see spots for several seconds and come back up with a bruised face and bloodied lip. He shrugged it off, trying valiantly not to let the psycho couple see any weakness.
"There is no point," Hunter said with a sick smile. "You're stuck here until this whole town is nothing more than a pile of dead bodies. You ruined the book so I'll have to come up with something else. But don't worry, I will."
"Glad to be the monkey wrench in your day," Dean shot back.
The girl turned her head at a sound coming from upstairs. Hunter followed her gaze and nodded shortly to her.
"Go check it out," he told her. "Holler if you need anything."
"Oh honey," she said cheerfully. "It's probably just more dolls for our collection. I've always wanted a pretty blonde one."
Dean's stomach twisted. This bitch must have been watching during Kya's first encounter with Hunter, probably from somewhere in the house. Kya and his brother didn't know about her, they would have no way to suspect that she had any part in this. He was about to open his mouth and try and yell a warning but Hunter beat him to it, shoving a white piece of cloth between his lips and forcing his head down roughly to secure it in the back.
"Uh-uh," Hunter scolded. "No warning the girlfriend."
Dean strained against his bonds but it got him nowhere. He glared at Hunter as the man patted the side of his face in a friendly manner, a taunt that there was nothing Dean could do about the current situation.
Buck shot across the lawn, a black missile with heat seeking capacity at a dead aim for its target. He could smell the older Winchester; his scent was all over the ground near where his car was still parked. The black behemoth hadn't been moved yet.
He could smell his former master, the evil twisted man who was bent on nothing but revenge. His scent was all over the place too and Buck could smell his blood on the grass. It would seem that Dean Winchester had put up a fight. If the dog could have smiled, he would have.
Buck padded around the side of the house, disappearing amongst the shadows as the screen door flew open and the scent of his old master's girlfriend filled his keen nose. Hiding in the shadows Buck growled lowly; he had never liked the woman. She sucked at sharing the love at the dinner table. He never got scraps from that bitch.
The sound of Kya's motorcycle still hadn't reached Buck's ears and the dog was slightly relieved. He didn't want the girl to get hurt; she was by far the nicest master he had paired himself with so far but it had been a long time since he could stand by the side of a hunter.
Buck listened carefully as the woman on the porch walked out onto the front lawn and when he was sure her back was turned he darted up the porch and through the open door, disappearing among the furniture.
Hunter looked to his girlfriend as she came back down the stairs looking slightly puzzled. Dean glared at her, desperately hoping that Kya and his brother did not show up. Although he wanted to be rescued, as demeaning as needing a rescue was, he didn't want them to end up with a bullet in the head.
"I checked the property," the woman told Hunter. "But I couldn't find anything."
Hunter furrowed his eyebrows. "Huh. Must have been a coyote. Don't worry about it, Chelsea. If the girl shows up she won't be much of a problem."
Dean almost grinned behind the gag. It would seem they didn't know about Sam and if they thought that Kya was that easy to get rid of they were sadly mistaken. Each side now had a secret weapon; his companions knew nothing of Chelsea and they knew nothing of Sam.
In complete disregard to his love interest, Hunter turned back to Dean with a sadistic smile on his face and a predatory gleam in his blue eyes.
"If your girlfriend shows up," he said slowly. "I'm sure I could think of a few things to do that wouldn't involve a chair."
Dean struggled against the ropes, his jaw tightening and the muscles in his neck straining with his anger. Hunter laughed at him even as his girlfriend pouted behind him, obviously not pleased with the idea that Hunter had plans to be with another woman, even if that other woman didn't necessarily want to be with him.
Chelsea slunk back up the stairs and Dean watched her go. As soon as she had disappeared he witnessed Buck make his way silently down the steps, eyes glowing faintly in the dim light in the basement. The dog vanished around the corner of the stairs before Hunter turned around and Dean was both relieved and worried at the same time.
If Buck was here, where were his brother and Kya?
