Chapter 7

It was early when the boys had awoken to find themselves each draped with a girl. Sam carefully picked up Laura and set her back down on the couch looking out the window.

"Dean." Sam whispered in a dark tone.

"What? I'm comfortable here." He smirked as Dakota stretched across his body and snuggled deeper into his chest. "I mean look at how beautiful she is."

"Dean," Sam turned with a growl in his voice his eyes burning with seriousness. "It was here."

"What?" Dean slid from under Dakota's slumbering body. He went over the window and peered outside. On the edge of the property were the trees stopped where deep large prints faced the house and then turned to head back into the forest. "It was here last night?" Dean growled.

"Last night before I fell asleep I thought I saw glowing yellow eyes in the window, but it turned out to be the candles from the dining table." Sam explained.

"Why is it here?" Dean began to pace the room. "Why is it following her? It took her brother's, it had its meal. Werewolves normally attack random targets."

"Dean." Sam's voice made Dean stop. "Werewolves don't leave those types of tracks. It's usually footprints or shoe prints not pawprints. Either we are dealing with a crazed bear or something entirely different."

"Dakota saw it right?" Dean thought rubbing the scruff on his chin. "What if it's not a werewolf or a bear but a hellhound?"

"And is that stuff really black salt or gopher dust?" Sam countered.

"She said Missouri came to help her." Dean pulled out his phone. "I'm going to give her a call. You try to find any secret you can about a demon deal on any members of the Silverwood family." Dean began dialing the number as he walked upstairs.

Sam sat down near the window after fetching his laptop from the car. The girls still slept and for once he noticed the dark circles under Dakota's eyes. The discoloration in her skin from old bruises. He snuck over to her and carefully inspected her body finding bruises in the shape of claw marks and teeth marks all over her body.

"So, Missouri said that is black salt." Dean came down the stair quietly. Dean stopped to look at his brother. "Dude what are you doing?"

Sam shushed his brother. "Come here." Dean came over and Sam showed his brother his discovery. "Look at her bruises. These are not from falling from the tree. They're-"

"Bite marks." Dean looked closely. His fingers traced over her skin for the small change in texture that would be a scar or previous scab. "Her skin was never punctured. The beast was carrying her. Maybe it was using her as bait."

"Either way, but why didn't it attack last night?" Sam asked his brother heading back to his laptop.

"Dakota said it attacked her on the road when she was alone. Then it attacked her brothers when they went to look for her. They were alone too. Maybe it's us. Maybe we are keeping it at bay."

"The Silverwood family checks out. Nothing like a demon deal." Sam said closing his laptop.

"Maybe a rogue hellhound?" Dean suggested. "Maybe Dakota was to be dinner but before it could eat her, her brothers pissed it off."

"Crowley?" Sam asked.

Dean stared at his phone. He hated calling the bastard, but if a hellhound was hunting Dakota he needed to know for sure. "Come on." Dean lead Sam outside away from the house a bit before he called. The phone rang lowly in his ear until an irritating accent spoke over the line.

"We are not going to make this a regular thing, are we?" Crowley's voice hummed over the phone line.

"Listen here you son of a bitch," Dean's voice growled menacingly. "You need to get your ass here now. You hear me? Now, not later, not tomorrow, now. Or so help me god I will hunt you down and-"

"Alright no need to get testy." Crowley said in front of Dean holding his phone. The well-dressed demon hung up. "Now what is so important? I was in the middle of something."

"We think one of your hellhounds is hunting some friends of ours." Sam explained.

Crowley cocked an eyebrow at them. "And what makes you say that?" Sam pointed at the ground behind Crowley where the tracks laid imprinted into the dirt. Crowley walked over to the prints and crouched down inspecting them. "As far as my memory goes there's no one in this hell hole under contract and all my hounds are locked up. I don't know if this should be a relief or not, but those are not hellhound tracks. I guarantee it."

"Then what is it?" Dean growled.

Crowley stood up looking around the forest as the wind blew past them. "Nothing I have ever seen, but the energy it left behind is old. Very old. Whatever this thing is I want to part of it." Then he was gone.

"Damn it." Dean growled.

"How do we kill something we don't know what it is?" Sam asked walking back to the house.

"One thing is for sure," Dean said following his brother. "We can't leave those girls alone. One of us will have to be with them at all times." Dean looked up to see Dakota and Laura staring right back at him from the window. "Shit."

*Dakota's Pov*

Sam and Dean came back inside of the house and I stood there staring at the pawprints on my property.

"Dakota- "

"How long?" I asked. "How long where those tracks there?"

"At least overnight." Sam admitted.

I bit the inner part of my cheek trying to keep calm. My nightmares were still going to haunt me. They were following me, and I was putting everyone else in danger here. "You all should leave." I said keeping my back from them. "Just get as far away from me as possible."

"Dakota…" Laura's voice cracked.

I held my arms tight around my stomach. "I've already lost one family. I won't lose another." My heart was breaking to push them away.

"Were not going anywhere." Dean's voice growled from across the room. "We are going to stay here and fight it."

I scoffed at him. "What us? You mean two FBI agents, a waitress and an amateur hunter? You might as well start digging our graves because we don't stand a chance!"

"Were not FBI agents." Dean said lowly.

I turned around to look at him. Both looked at the ground avoiding my eyes. "What?"

"I said we are not FBI agents." Dean explained. "We are hunters. We hunt things like that beast, ghosts, demons, werewolves and other things. Sam, he is my brother."

Laura let out a squeal of betrayal sitting on the window seat covering her mouth with tears in her eyes.

"Our names are Sam and Dean Winchester," Dean went on. "We came here to investigate a werewolf killing."

I took a step back. "You lied to me?"

"Only in parts." Dean tried to play it off with a smile, but when I didn't respond his smile faded. "We only hid who we really were to protect you. Normally we do our job and shut up about it but, this time it's gotten a lot more complicated."

I swallowed the lump in my throat blinking back the tears. "How?"

Dean walked over to me. "Because we don't know what's hunting you. Some sort of werewolf. A very old one. Maybe the first." He tried to put his hand on my shoulder and I stepped back. He looked hurt at my motion.

I shook my head staying back. "Until this thing is dead I'm going to stay away from all of you. Hunters or not I can't tell you what that thing did to me and I don't want it to happen to you."

"We think the only reason it hasn't attacked again is because you're not alone." Sam explained. "As soon as you're unguarded it will attack."

It wasn't fair. My whole life I've been tortured by the monsters I thought were just my imagination. I lost my parents last year and a week ago my brothers and now when I'm finally happy and smiling again? I'm being hunted like some sort of meal. With tears welled in my eyes I bolted upstairs into my room and slammed the door locking it behind me. I dove into my bed curling into a ball and cried.

"Dakota." Dean knocked on the door.

I didn't answer him as I sobbed.

"Dakota open the door." Dean sounded irritated. "Last chance Dakota."

"Just go away!" I yelled.

I curled so far into myself my muscles hurt and I felt every bruise and sore spot that beast laid on my body. I heard a clicking noise before my door swung open and Dean waltzed in closing it behind him.

"How did you-"

"I break into places for a living." He said sitting at the edge of my bed. He pulled me into his arms as I cried into his chest.

"It's not fair!" I wept.

"I know love." He rubbed my back holding me tight as I ruined his shirt with my tears.

"I finally get to be happy and now that thing has to ruin it!" I clung to his body my nails slightly digging into his skin. "It's not fair."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Laura." Dean whispered in my ear. "I swear I'll find a way to kill it."

I curled up on the bed slipping from his arms and just wept.