Chapter 11 – shadow play

"Damn mutts," the voice rumbled. "You should give them to us. We'll teach them to behave."

I felt a chill inside. I tilted my head to one side and watched Dean's eyes. After all he'd done for me I repaid him by snarling and growling at him: "We're not leaving and you can't make us!"

I knew what was going to happen next. Any moment now that look of shock in Dean's eyes would disappear. His eyes would harden. Dean would stand up, step back, glare at Boomer and me and call out to the unknown voice "You know what? You're right. Fuck it! You can have 'em!"

He'd disappear in a snap of red light and that would be it. Boomer and I would be alone.

With the shadows.

There were twenty of them. We were in the middle of the circle, just like Dean said. I couldn't sense them before, but I could now. I was nervous. Scared, but my nose twitched. Apparently Boomer's nose had a mind of its own too. He lifted his head and scented the air. My hackles raised up. I recognized that foul stench.

Boomer did too.

Howling, barking. Three of the shadows were hellhounds. There was something odd about those snarls and barks. They sounded angry but they underneath I smelled fear musk.

My tail crept between my legs. I felt frozen, uncertain and anxious about what was going to happen. Dean did everything for me and this was how I repaid him? He wanted to keep Boomer and me safe. Why didn't I just let him? I was a bad dog.

Dean stood up.

All right, d-do it! My thought voice shook. Go - go on, l-leave us!

The look on Dean's face softened, even though his body remained alert. Boomer stopped growling and sat there with his head cocked to one side. The pup looked pretty confused.

Dean winked at us. I'm not going anywhere. Guess you're stuck with me.

He turned to face the shadows all around us. I saw the Mark glow fiery orange underneath the sleeve of his brown jacket. "Come on, douchebags. Don't be shy. Who's first?"

The next sound made me cringe. It was a thump. A heavy, ugly noise. Once, then twice. The sound of a club or boot heels against flesh.

My legs nearly gave way. Sense memory of being hit.

All three hellhounds yelped in pain.

"Get in there!"

The hounds came at us.

They weren't shadows anymore. They were big. Bigger than me, but they were skinny. Their ribs showed under their thin, scraggly fur. One was black, one white, the other dark brown.

The white one was the largest. She headed for Dean. Boomer stood up growling. So did I. For a moment the hounds grinned, wide and toothy. Boomer was only a small pup and I guess they figured I wasn't much older.

Big mistake.

I rose up on my hind legs. I grew taller and heavier, just like I'd done before. Boomer stayed on all fours, but he tripled in size.

The white hound charged at Dean. She whimpered in surprise as he grabbed her, lifted her off her feet.

The other two hounds charged in anyway.

Boomer moved so fast he was a blur. He had the grey one by the throat. The hound whimpered. His legs shook. He finally collapsed and rolled over onto his back, belly exposed like a submissive puppy with Boomer's jaws clamped around his throat.

The dark brown one leaped at me. I grabbed him by his neck. Then I slammed him onto the ground on its back. I snarled as I leaned over him. My eyes flashed red.

The hound wet himself. Please, don't kill me...please...

It's funny, but I didn't want to. Kill him, I mean. I stared down at the hound, saw the scar above his eye, his tattered left ear. I saw the way the tip of his nose ws chewed and mangled. He was a young hound, maybe a little older than me, but the damage the two leggers had done made him seem older.

He was a 'good dog' now.

I stared down at him and I realized he could have been me.

I glanced over at Boomer. He held his attacker down but his eyes were locked on me. I didn't kill, so he didn't either. Not yet.

Boomer watched me. I watched Dean.

Dean knelt with his knee pressed into the white hound's chest, his hand loosely at her throat. She didn't pee herself, didn't beg, but the fear that rose up from her smelled thick and rank.

Easy now, Dean whispered inside my head. Boomer heard him too.

I nodded and relaxed, just a little. Boomer didn't release his grip but he didn't kill either.

Dean looked down at the white hound and shook his head. "We don't have a problem with you," he growled. From the way her eyes widened I knew she was seeing his wolf trueform now. "Leave. Now."

He released her and stood up.

She scrambled to her feet and ran away. Boomer let go of his hound. So did I. The other shadows cursed as the three hounds ran at the circle. They knocked over the ones who were stupid enough to stand against them and too slow to get out of their way. The hounds knocked them off their feet, scrambled over them and took off for the lowlands of Hell.

A few feet away the air darkened.

Clap clap clap...

I flattened my ears at the sound.

I growled. So did Boomer.

A little girl faded into view. Four years old with ponytails. She wore a pink and white "Hello Kitty" tee shirt and white jeans. She clapped her hands, but from the nasty smirk on her face I knew she was making fun of us.

I didn't want to hurt the hounds, but I did want to hurt her.

The girl thing looked like any of the kids I'd seen playing in back yards when I lived on the streets. There was something really off about her. The sulfur scent became stronger. Her eyes flashed black. The air around her filled with a large shadow that shifted and moved. The girl image was just a cover. Her hell stench prickled the inside of my nose.

Dean's eyes narrowed as he stared at her.

"OHHH! I'm a-fraiddd!" The girl thing put both hands up on either side of her face. She tilted her head to one side and batted her eyelashes at us. "Oh please, please don't hurt us! Pleassseeee!"

What faded in beside her...well, I've never seen anything quite like that. Wait a minute. Yeah, I have. Once, when I lived on the streets I found a toy out in the alley. I took it back to my hiding place. I didn't collect much when I was out there, but I kept that. I don't know why. It was a small doll with a potbelly and bowlegs. The plastic was orange and dirty. It had thin wispy hair on the top of its head that stood straight up.

Troll.

A troll doll. Yeah, that was what the humans called it.

This demon's head was bald. He was short. Shadows crawled underneath his skin. Funny thing was (funny-peculiar, not funny haha) his skin was the same dirty orange color of the doll I found.

The troll man laughed. "You spoiled our fun. You three are going to pay for that. We-"

Dean frowned. "Okay, enough of the monologue," he said roughly. The troll sputtered and put a hand on his throat. I pricked my ears up alertly. Dean made him shut up just by thinking about it. Neat trick.

"Let's cut to the chase." Dean sounded bored. "You're related to those two bitches topside. We recognize that stench. You get off on torturing hellhounds and you make money on the side staging dogfights in Hell and on Earth. Did I miss anything?"

The little girl thing giggled. "Such a clever dog!"

The troll jerked as Dean released him. He rubbed his throat as he scowled at us. "You don't have the balls to kill us. What you did proved it. This is what what happens when you Knights try so hard to be good," the troll sneered. "You get weak. Soft. Cain's hiding somewhere playing beekeeper. And you? You're playing house with a couple of four legged rejects."

The shadows moved closer. This was it then.

Boomer and I growled. The ground shook, but they were not scared of us.

Yet.

"Let me get this straight, genius," Dean said slowly, as if he couldn't believe how stupid they were."Just because you haven't seen me slice and dice somebody you think I've gone soft?"

They didn't answer. They charged at us. Every one of them did, except for the girl thing and the troll. They stood back, outside of the ring.

I stood on two legs. I clawed the ones who came at me. Everything was a haze, sights and sounds all blurred together. They hit me with their clubs. The clubs shattered. I didn't feel a thing. Several of them tried to stab me with their knives. The knives broke apart. I didn't realize why until later. I was too busy killing them

The demons bled smoke. They screamed.

They died.

I felt good. All the fear I felt was gone. They couldn't hurt us.

But we could hurt them.

I had my back to Dean and Boomer. I didn't have to look, I knew what they were doing. Boomer ripped into the five demons who tried to corner him. He stayed on all fours, but he was huge now, the size of those bears I've seen on tv. I think you call them grizzly bears.

He bit into them and once he latched onto them he shook his head from side to side like a terrier shakes a rat. They broke when he hit them with his huge paws. They tried to stab him too. Nothing they did worked.

I saw Dean. One moment he was a man, the next I saw his wolf trueform. Seven of them went after him. The biggest demon wrapped his arm around Dean's throat from behind. The others grabbed his arms and legs. They swarmed all over him slashing and hitting at him.

That made me really angry. I tossed the last dead demon of mine aside, turned around and headed that way to help Dean. I should have known better. Oh me of little faith.

Dean rumbled laughter.

The air around him glowed bright red. The Mark of Cain sang underneath Dean's skin. She sounded happy.

The demons blew apart. Must have been a Knight of Hell thing. Dean's power glowed in the air all around us. That was why the knives shattered and those clubs broke in two.

They looked surprised. And then they died. That was pretty funny.

I'd heard a lot of things about Cain. How he could kill with a touch. How he could move things and stop demons with a thought. That was why any demon with any sense feared him so. And these fools thought Dean was weak? That just showed how stupid they were.

The girl thing and the troll backed up. The air around them shimmered and then stopped. They weren't going anywhere. Dean wouldn't let them.

All Boomer and I could do was stare. We'd never seen anything like this before.

"Going somewhere?" Dean called out. He smiled, bright and feral, as he raised his hand and crooked his finger at them. "C'mere."

The girl demon and the troll backed up. The terror that rose up from them smelled worse than the fear the hounds felt.

Good.

They turned and ran.

They didn't get far.

TBC – Next week. Dean makes sure that Crowley has a really bad day.