Chapter 5 – point of no return

The brother's eyes were hard and cold. He stuck his chin out.

The rumble of my growl was like thunder. It filled me up from head to tail. Blood red lightning flashed in my eyes, My jaws dripped white foam. Orange flames danced from the tips of my coal black fur.

I leaped up. In my mind I could already taste his soft flesh in my jaws.

Dean stepped between us.

I couldn't stop myself in time. My jaws snapped shut on empty air. All my spit dried up. Dean's arms closed around my body. Everything around me slowed down and I knew Dean was holding me not only with his arms but his power too. This wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to hurt the brother. Not Dean. I put both paws against his chest. I squirmed. I tried to get down but nothing I did worked. The fire in my eyes and my fur went cold.

Underneath Dean's right sleeve the Mark of Cain flashed fiery orange. A chair appeared out of thin air next to his brother. The night before I saw that same chair in one of the rooms upstairs.

The younger one jerked back. "Dean?"

"Sit your ass down," Dean snapped.

Well, this was interesting. Sam went rigid. I tilted my head to one side and watched as a wave of force flowed over his body. The energy signature was Dean's. Sam was caught. He didn't want to sit down but he did. Dean made him and held him there in the chair.

The Mark flared up again. We weren't in the living room anymore. We stood in the middle of the backyard by the pool, underneath the midday sun.

"You done?" Dean quirked an eyebrow at me. "Calm down."

I nodded.

"Good."

Something fluttered in the air in front of us. I turned my head, growled deep in my throat.

"Sonofabitch," Dean snarled. He shifted my weight against his chest, cradled my butt in the crook of his left arm. His right arm shot straight out and up, his fingers curled like a claw.

"Aaacckkk-"

The air filled with dark sooty wings.

Dean had a pigeon by the throat. This one was a man. Dark hair, startled blue eyes. He wore a wrinkled tan coat, a dark suit and tie. He was on his tiptoes at first but Dean lifted him off the ground so high his feet dangled. His wings drooped.

"Hello Dean," the angel squeaked. I laid my ears back, lifted a corner of my muzzle and showed him my eyeteeth. He would make a fine chew toy. I don't like pigeons. There's that whole Hell versus Heaven thing, remember?

"Cas," Dean nodded.

"Sam and I...we mean you no harm..."

"No shit." Dean didn't look convinced. He tightened his grip. The pigeon's back arched and his eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"We want to help you..."

"I told you before I don't need your damn help."

"Dean, please..."

"Go home, Cas. And don't ever come back here." The pigeon disappeared, but not because he wanted to.

"Oh, crap," Dean whispered.

"What?" I looked around. I didn't see anything at first. I looked up, over the fence, at the house next door.

The rabbit man was in the second floor window. His eyes looked even bigger than before. He was pale and his mouth was a round O of surprise. He had a pair of binoculars in his left hand. I could tell from the look on his face that he saw everything.

"Oh no." My ears drooped. I wanted to hide, especially when I realized that I spoke human words out loud and he saw my mouth move. His eyes widened.

Dean huffed. "Might as well give him something to look at." He waved at the rabbit. Power flexed in the air all around us.

We were back in the living room.

Sam sat frozen in his chair. He smelled mad, sad and scared all at once. Sadness tastes sour. Heavy. The other two scents are hot and spiky. There was something else about him that caused me to sneeze. I couldn't figure out what it was but the inside of my mouth tasted like metal and the scent made the inside of my nose numb. Sneezing didn't help much to clear my nose.

Dean turned and put me on the couch. "Okay. You stay there."

As soon as my paws touched down I hopped over the side and landed on the floor between the couch and the wall. I didn't want to be out in the open but I wanted to see what was going to happen. I laid down with my head on my paws.

See? Couch, right? I tried to look innocent.

Dean shook his head at me. "I meant on the couch."

I chuffed and looked wide eyed.

"I'm not buying that dumb dog act."

Dean sat down. I still didn't know what was going on. I thought he would have been mad at everyone but he wasn't. Instead he looked at his brother fondly. "Not having a very good day are ya, Sasquatch?"

Sam moved just enough to clench his jaw tight. His hands were fists.

"I get it. You and Cas figured you'd swoop in here, cuff me and drag me off for my own good. But you didn't count on Hershey being here. You got rattled and Cas got sloppy out there in the yard. I sent him back home and you're busted, junior. That's what I got so far. How am I doing?"

Sam didn't answer.

"Can I get you anything? Beer?" A cold bottle of beer appeared in Dean's right hand.

Sam glared at him. His nostrils flared.

"No? How about a burger?" The bottle disappeared, only to be replaced with a cold cheeseburger in a white wrapper. I lifted my nose and sniffed the air.

I thought hard at Dean. Gimme. He doesn't want it.

The burger disappeared.

I didn't get to eat it. Damn.

Sam's eyes were flat and angry. His mouth was a hard thin line. He didn't like seeing Dean use his power.

Dean seemed not to notice. "You came bearing gifts so I figure ponying up some grub is the least I can do. There's a pair of silver handcuffs engraved with devil's traps in your right front jeans pocket. And a silver flask of holy water in your left. For me? I'm flattered. No, really, I am."

Sam's eyes softened, became large and round. That reminded me of the way we pups would look when we were in trouble with the adults. I'm harmless, that look said.

"Dude, I'm not buying the puppy dog eyes either." Dean's eyes narrowed. "And what's this?"

The front of Sam's shirt ripped and then pulled open.

I leaned forward with my ears pricked. Watching the brothers was better than watching television. He had sigils on his chest. They were dark blue. I'd never seen anything like that before.

I sneezed. Then I sneezed again.

Dean glanced at me. He turned back to his brother with a smile. "Nice tats. Looks like Hershey's got a nose for whatever the hell that is on your skin. I don't know what it does and I don't intend to find out. I've got you stuck in that chair with demon super glue." He tapped his forehead with one finger. "Nice trick, huh? If you wanna talk, then we can talk. But if you sprout Latin when I unfreeze you I'll kick your ass so hard and fast it'll make your head spin. Blink if you're gonna behave yourself. "

Sam blinked.

"Okay then. Let's hear it."

Sam took a deep breath. "Dean, this isn't you. None of this is. The powers you have. Living with a hellhound—"

I lifted my head and growled at him. The way he said 'hellhound' sounded nasty.

Dean flicked a glance at me. Stop that.

I grunted. But I shut up.

"Duh. Thanks for the newsflash, Captain Obvious. He's a hellhound. So?"

"So? Don't you remember being dragged down to hell by one of those things? How could you let something like that into your house?"

I gave Sam another dirty look.

Dean sighed. "I remember. Hershey's not that hound. He wasn't even born then. He's Juliet's son. And I'm not Crowley's bitch."

My ears went up. He knew all along who my mom is?

Dean didn't notice my reaction. I closed my mouth and laid my head back down.

"You're not in your right mind," Sam grated out. "And I won't stop trying to bring you home."

Dean slowly rolled up his right sleeve to expose the Mark of Cain. "This isn't going anywhere. Ever. I've learned to live with it. You can believe me or not. I don't give a damn which. I'm not broken and I don't need to be fixed."

Sam's face twisted up again. He hated the sight of the Mark just like he hated me. His sadness turned to fear and anger. I could smell it on him, so strong it made my teeth ache.

He glared at Dean. "I'll never stop trying."

"Yeah," Dean said quietly. "I don't think you will."

"What are you going to do?"

"Do? For starters I'm gonna send you home."

"I'll come back. I'll always come-"

"Goodbye, Sam."

Sam vanished. I wasn't sorry to see him go.

Dean leaned forward with both elbows on his knees. He scrubbed both hands over his face, through his hair and down his neck. He stayed that way as he stared at the floor, then he slowly sat back.

The chair disappeared. It went back where it belonged.

Dean was quiet. I'd never seen him that way. He was always moving, always talking. He was lively. Not this time. He sat there with this blank look on his face. I couldn't read him. I didn't get anything from him at all. I'd never been around a demon like that.

Or a human, for that matter.

I jumped up on the couch. I padded over and sat next to him. Then I climbed onto his lap.

Well, only my upper half fit, but that was okay. I'm a very large hound, remember?

I didn't say anything. I thought about asking him why he picked me up that night. I didn't. Maybe there was time for that later. Right then I sensed that I needed to be quiet. Maybe he needed me just as much as I needed him, when I was afraid and he was there for me.

Dean didn't say anything. We just sat there. His walls were up. I felt him breathe in and out. I laid my head on his knee. And I waited.

I felt his sadness first. It leaked out a little at a time in a rough whisper inside my mind.

I wanted to tell him.

I had no way of knowing if he even knew I was there. I didn't say anything.

He wouldn't have believed me...

He was completely open to me now.

When the Mark brought me back it twisted my soul. A month later my soul decided to fight back. It didn't twist up all the way.

I listened.

I wanted to die but those sonsofbitches wouldn't let me. I was out of my head. Sick. Delirious. I lived on the streets for months.

Dean's eyes were unfocused, as though he saw something that no one else could see.

No one but me. I couldn't tell where he ended and I began. I didn't care.

We wandered the streets together. Shaggy. Ragged, wild-eyed. Hiding from people. He didn't understand what was happening to him. His eyes turned green one moment, black the next. He howled as the pain overtook him. I howled too.

And one night he tried to kill himself. He sat out in the rain.

Just like I did the night he found me.

We sat out there together, out in the open. It was a parking lot somewhere. The wind shrieked and the rain from Heaven came down. Lightning lit up the dark sky overhead as bright as day.

Dean was soaked to the bone. The rags clung to his body. He knelt there with his head down, soaked to the bone. Waiting.

The Mark of Cain on his right arm glowed like a burning ember. A bright white orb pulsed slowly beneath his chest. I couldn't understand what it was at first. His ribs were a cage around it. Then I realized that the light was Dean's soul. It darkened every other heartbeat, but it never darkened completely.

That made the Mark angry. It glowed brighter.

Maybe I should have backed off then. I didn't. Maybe if I had none of the bad stuff would have happened.

The fur on my hackles rose up stiff and painful. We weren't alone out there. I wasn't fast enough to move out of the way. My head jerked hard to the left as I was hit. I went down hard. My back legs went numb, but I could still feel the ground underneath my paws.

"You damn mutt."

I blinked the rain out of my eyes.

The woman was there. She was just as big and broad as I remembered. My insides grew cold just looking at her. Her trueform darkened the air around her human form. Her horns were short and broken. Her true face was a long pointed skull dotted with holes. The club in her hand was iron forged in hell. One end of the club ended in a long jagged hook. There were bits of dog flesh and fur caught in the cracks that ran from end to end. I knew some of that fur and blood was mine.

"Get your ass over here and kneel, hound. Now."

I whimpered at first. For a moment I was just a pup again. She was the mistress. King Crowley sent me topside so she could train me. I was a rotten no good hound and she would help me become good and useful. They knew better than I did, didn't they?

"Come on! Get over here. I don't have all night."

Maybe I would have slunk over to her like a whipped dog. Maybe.

But then I glanced at Dean. He was still on his knees a few feet away. His face and eyes blank and unseeing, but he was still the brightest thing there. He was kind to me. He never mistreated me.

Maybe...maybe I deserved that more.

I growled at her as I lurched to my feet.

Her smile stretched ear to ear. Too many teeth in that smile. "Good. We were hoping you'd do that."

Another blow came from the opposite direction. I hit the ground again. White hot pain bloomed inside my chest as the flesh on my side opened up. I couldn't catch my breath.

There were two of them. There always are. I knew their names, but I couldn't speak them out loud. Good dogs don't do that. Good dogs come when they're called, they fawn over the ones who beat them.

I wasn't a good dog anymore, but I still didn't want to name them.

The other one stood over me. She was just as wide as the first one. They were definitely mother and daughter. Her trueform looked the same, but her flesh smelled Bad. Worse than brimstone and sulfur. Dark oil oozed from her vessel's skin.

I backed up, snarling.

"You think you deserve a good home?" the woman laughed. "Really? With him?" She pointed the club at Dean. "You're a bad dog. Always have been, always will be." She swung the bat at my head. I leaped aside, then turned and grabbed the shaft with my jaws.

She smiled. "Got some fire in you, huh, pup? I'll put it out. Just like I did before. But first we're going to take care of your precious Knight over

there."

I jerked around. The daughter stood behind Dean. He was still lost in his own world. He didn't see any of this. We were separate again.

"Say goodbye to your good life, mutt."

The daughter swung her club. She used the hook end.

"NO!"

I knew I was too late even as I leaped forward. The crack of bone was as loud as the thunder overhead. Dean's head lolled over at an unnatural angle. His neck broke. Long splinters of shattered bone tore through his skin. The Mark went out. So did his soul light. Thin dead smoke and streamers of dim white light seeped out of the tears in his skin.

The daughter backed up just as I slammed into her and sank my teeth in her arm. Her flesh tasted just as nasty as it looked but I sunk my teeth in as far as they could go. I shook my head back and forth. I was going to kill this bitch. I was going to rip her apart limb from limb and then set the pieces on fire.

The daughter fell backwards onto the rain slick pavement. I was on top of her. Thunder rolled overhead and she screamed laughter.

The other one cracked me across my back with her club. Rage came up out of me and the air around me blazed with fire.

"Hershey?"

I didn't recognize the voice. My teeth sawed into her flesh, deeper and deeper. I growled and I snarled and I burned red hot. They hurt me. They hurt Dean. And I was going to hurt them back.

"HERSHEY!"

The voice vibrated with power.

(...it's okay, it's all right...)

I'd felt that before. The power I mean, but I couldn't think straight. I tasted blood, and I wanted more of it. I wanted to see both of them scattered in pieces all over the ground.

(...wake up...)

Whatever this was pushed deeper inside me A feeling of calm rolled over me, through me. I didn't want that. I wanted revenge. Blood. Murder.

(...dude, you gotta wake up...)

Everything inside me shut down. I didn't want it to. I growled and shook my head over and over again, but the urge to kill faded slowly away.

"Hershey, wake up. Damn it, wake up!"

I opened my eyes.

I saw Dean.

"You're safe." The tense expression on his face softened. He nodded at me. "It's okay."

He'd calmed me down, brought me back. But it wasn't okay. Something was wrong.

His skin was bruised and red with burns. A long gash went down the side of his face. It just missed his eye. His clothes were torn, the edges singed black. I smelled smoke in the air.

The bad ones were gone. I hadn't attacked them. I never did.

Slick wet copper and fire flooded my mouth. The points of my teeth scraped against broken shards of white bone.

Dean's blood. Dean's bone.

I held his severed right arm in my jaws.

TBC this week.