Chapter 13 – King Crowley's Very Bad Day, part 1

Boomer backed into me. I felt his body shake again, but this time was from fear. "He sent...he sent my pack away..."

"Oh he did, did he?" Dean growled deep in his throat.

The King looked and sounded calm enough, but I caught the hard glint in his eyes, the sharp tone underneath his soft words. "I'm going on ahead. Bring the car in right away."

He was annoyed. I knew the driver was going to pay for this. Didn't matter that the car trouble wasn't her fault.

The driver nodded.

The King never looked in our direction. Boomer was too scared to pick up on that, but I did. "Why can't they see us?"

I forgot to ask the question inside my head. I said it out loud. Neither the driver nor the King heard me.

Dean shrugged. "A Knight of Hell can mess with other demons without touching them. Since I've got one foot in Heaven and one foot in Hell I can take that a little further." He nodded at the King. "They can't see us. Can't hear us either. We're in a blind spot."

That made my ears stand up straight. "Really?"

"Really," Dean said with a grin.

"So, he won't know we're here?"

"Not unless I want him to."

I stood up. I stared at the King for a long moment.

And then I walked toward him.

I felt strange inside. Pins and needles nervous and dead calm at the same time. I knew that feeling. Every single time I ever felt that way I was a bad hound.

Hounds are supposed to be loyal to the King.

I wasn't. Not anymore.

"Hershey?"

I stopped, turned and looked over my shoulder at Dean. He was alpha to me now. Leader of my pack. I felt safe around him. Safe, loved and protected.

If he told me to come back, I would.

He didn't.

Dean nodded. "Make your play."

Any other time the look of shock on Boomer's face would have made me laugh but I wasn't in a funny mood.

I turned and walked towards King Crowley. My claws clicked on the hot black pavement. I sat down next to the King of Hell. He didn't even notice I was there. As I looked up at him my hackles rose up hard and stiff.

I bared my teeth at him.

I wanted to bite him.

Stupid. I was stupid to ever think he was nice. Or that he loved me, my mom and my pack.

He didn't love us. Probably never did. We were things to be used. All those smiles and soft touches were false.

That made me very very angry. So much so my teeth ached. I wanted to bite him.

I didn't.

I lifted my leg on the King's right pant leg. My insides boiled red hot. What came out of me wasn't yellow. It was a long stream of bright red. I shifted my hips so I could spray both legs.

His pant legs smoked and sizzled. They were tattered rags from his knees down. His socks and shoes melted.

King Crowley's eyes widened. He looked down at himself in disbelief.

I lowered my leg and leapt away. I trotted back to Dean and Boomer with a toothy grin on my face.

Dean cracked up laughing. Boomer giggled. When I walked up to Dean he knelt down and held my head in his hands. I leaned into his touch as he rubbed my ears and underneath my chin.

"Dude, that was a good one!"

The King hopped around in place. He shook first one leg and then the other over and over, his face screwed up in a expression of disgust. I didn't recognize the curse words that came out of him. All I knew was they weren't English.

The driver kept a straight face, but the corners of her mouth turned up in a slight smile.

The King whirled around to face her. "Do you see something funny?" he roared. "DO YOU?"

She shook her head. "No sir."

Smoky red rage flared up in the King's eyes. The driver's eyes widened. He meant to kill her and then leave.

Crowley snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened.

His power stuttered, then faded away.

He snapped his fingers again. Still nothing. Dean chuckled to himself. The King glared at his hand as if it was a traitor.

"So what are you waiting for?" he shouted at the driver. She took a step back. "Call the others! Get another car out here!"

The King turned and stalked back to the limo. He walked funny. His rags flapped around his knees and his shoes fell apart. Each step he took left a dark gooey sludge on the pavement. The driver moved to open the door for him and he snarled at her. She backed off.

King Crowley jerked the car door open, sent one last baneful glare at the driver and then clambered into the back seat. When he slammed the door shut the frame bent.

The driver stepped away from the car. She pulled out her cell phone and punched in some numbers.

Dean huffed. "My turn."

Cracks appeared in the road underneath the car. The pavement opened up like a hungry mouth and swallowed the black limo whole.

The driver yelled. She stumbled backwards, lost her balance and fell on her butt.

The ground shook as the limo hit. I sensed the drop was three stories deep. Four loud bangs as all four tires blew out. Metal groaned like a live hurt thing. A cloud of grey smoke and broken silver glass blew out of the hole into the blue sky above.

There was a moment of startled silence. Then out of the hole came a booming echo:

"BOLLOCKS!"

Next week: Crowley's very bad day gets worse.