Chapter Two. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
The brothers' drive to the pet shop had been a drive built upon sullen silence. Even if Castiel had popped into the backseat as he often did unannounced, the brothers would have barely noticed. Dean was thinking about the pointless exercise they were about to undertake. He was justifying his actions by telling himself he was not supporting Sammy's deprived childhood wish, but much rather he was doing this as there were no available cases in their current area; Wyoming. On the other hand Sam's mind was envisioning how much richer their lives would be if they had a working dog by their side. Surely it would not only make a great asset on their cases, but having a furry non-human companion around might be very therapeutic for the both of them. After all the horrors they had witnessed, having a canine around could add a sense of normality to their abnormal lives. I mean surely everyone at some point in their lifetime must have owned a pet, even if it was an imaginary one!
Pulling up outside the pet store Dean parked the car and stroked the wheel fondly.
"Dean. What's wrong?" Sam looked at his brother with a mixture of confusion and concern for his brother's well-being. He loved this Impala way too much for it to be considered healthy.
"It's just. The thought that soon my baby's upholstery is going to be covered in some flea-ridden mutt's hair." Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's complaints and quickly opened the door of the Impala and got out.
Sighing, Dean gave the wheel a final stroke and even went as far as planting a quick kiss on it before he exited the car. He entered the shop glumly, trailing after his brother, whose eyes were lit up like some kid in a candy shop. However, Dean's eyes soon matched his brother's but for a completely different reason. His eyes had locked on to the pet stores assistant's plump bosom. Her fiery, shoulder-length hair swept around her beautifully crafted face. Her rosy cheeks could be compared to dumplings and her lips were crimson red. She looked more like a model than a pet store assistant and Dean thought she looked out of place amongst the filthy kennels.
Walking over Sam smiled politely and Dean flashed her a charming smile. His eyes analysed her tight-fitting, red shirt with a starched white collar. A gold name tag was pinned to her uniform it read: Annie.
"Can I help you boys?" Annie asked as she stood behind the counter in a relaxed manner. Dean grinned and coolly asked,
"Yes, ma'am are you by any chance for sale?" Sam shot Dean a 'you are seriously an idiot' look and felt like he was even blushing slightly at Dean's brashness. Smirking Annie responded calmly,
"Sounds like someone needs a muzzle! Or a cage."
Sam thought 'I wonder how many men have come in here and ended up hitting on her?'. However, Dean did not falter and this light quip seemed to encourage him further. Sam quickly interjected before Dean could act,
"I apologise for my brother miss. Were here to purchase a dog. More specifically a hunting dog." Dean continued to grin at Annie, completely incapable of holding a normal conversation. Annie contemplated this for a second and then in her light Southern drawl she said,
"Well we have guard dogs, not really hunting as such. What about El Diablo?" Annie questioned as she led the boys to a kennel that contained a beige coloured Chihuahua. It yapped loudly and Dean wrinkled his face at the diminutive dog.
"I've seen bigger cats than that thing!" Annie giggled at Dean's bold humour, but she quickly regained her composure and asked,
"He could retrieve birds for ya." Annie explained enthusiastically. She had a soft spot for the little guy. Sam smiled and politely responded,
"Actually the type of things we hunt are bigger." Annie's eyes grew wide in surprise and asked curiously with a hint of shock in her voice,
"What type of game exactly are y'all hunting?" Dean answered gruffly,
"What's the biggest hound you got?" Annie grinned and said,
"Great Dane, but he is very temperamental." Dean was about to tell Sam it was a lost cause, but Sam asked,
"Can we have a look at him?" Annie smiled and said brightly,
"Sure thing sugar. Follow me," She led them down a long passageway to the end of the kennels and they noticed immediately a dark shape at the back of it. "Here he is, Fang".
Immediately the dog lunged at the front of the mesh and began barking aggressively. His jaw exposing yellow-tinged fangs. Dean and Sam both jumped back in unison, whilst Annie stood stock still and wagged her finger teasingly at the monster of a dog. Still beaming all the while.
"I see why you call him temperamental. This mutt needs an attitude adjustment." Dean said with distaste in his voice as he eyed the Great Dane warily. Sam however tried to remain optimistic and questioned,
"Do you have any other large dogs that are less aggressive?" Annie shook her head sadly and replied,
"Nope, sorry can't help you. But out of curiosity. What are your dog whispering skills like?" Dean and Sam exchanged bemused looks and Sam said uncertainly,
"What do you mean?"
Annie explained as she walked the brothers back along the passage to the front of the pet store.
"It's just there are rumours of a large dog roaming around the woods. Chances are it is semi-wild." Dean asked suspiciously,
"How can you be sure of that?" Annie grinned and stated confidently,
"Lots of sightings. Zero reports of killings." Dean shook his head and said with his deep voice,
"Thank you, but we aren't about to risk our skin based on some gossip." Dean headed towards the door, but stopped and groaned as Sam softly questioned,
"Theoretically speaking. If we went to look for it, where would we find this dog?"
Annie contemplated this deeply and quickly scanned the local Wyoming newspaper on her desk.
"I'd wager the deepest part of Wirely Woods. I'll warn you though. Those woods are notoriously foggy and there are lots of caves where the dog could be lurking in. Amongst other critters." Sam nodded his head and politely address Annie,
"Thank you for your time." He gave Dean a glance as he sauntered over.
"It's a pity." He chuckled once and dropped his eyes on to Annie's desk, who asked him eagerly,
"What is?" Dean looked up and smirked,
"That you're not a dog." Annie flushed scarlet and squeaked,
"Excuse me!" Sam could only offer an apologetic glance as he stared at his brother's not intending to be, callousness in irritation, knowing he was powerless to stop it.
"And that I'm not a dog catcher. Because I would snap you right up!" Dean grinned and exposed his tongue for a second as the crinkles on the side of his dazzling eyes waved briefly before disappearing as he waited to see Annie's response. Taking a deep breath she mockingly said with a sweet tone,
"Wow. You really don't need to worry about getting mauled by that dog, cause you probably taste as bad as your pick up lines." Annie flashed Dean a smile and blushed once again as he said seductively,
"Don't make me use a rolled up newspaper on you." Sam could not remain in awkward silence any longer. He grabbed his brother's arm and steered him towards the door,
"Dean! Let's leave now." Outside Dean chuckled heartily and heavily slapped his brother's shoulder,
"You need to lighten up little brother. I still have so much to teach you about the art of flirting" as Dean opened the door and swung into the driver's seat.
Sam mumbled something inaudible under his breath along the lines of he was never intending to end up as corny as his older brother. He quickly walked around and sunk into the leather, passenger seat in defeat. He had built his hopes up so much of finding the perfect hunting dog today. So Sam was a little more than just disappointed. He knew this had been his one shot of finding one as they would have no time when a new case fell into their laps.
Dean turned on his Metallica tunes and began banging his head to the beat. Sam allowed the music to pass through him, but he was not paying it any attention. Instead he kept thinking about the sightings that Annie had informed them about. The more he mulled it over in his mind the more his hunter instincts kicked in. As Dean parked the Impala outside the motel he turned to his brother and said,
"Dean I am worried about those sightings. I mean what if it is something more than just a semi-wild dog? What if it is a werewolf or something like that?"
"You mean something that hasn't struck yet? Or tasted blood."
"Exactly. It might be a young werewolf. After all in some cases creatures can reproduce and." Dean cut his brother off.
"I know all about the birds and the bees Sammy!" Sam huffed and replied,
"I understand that Dean. I am just saying. This thing might be young so." Dean interrupted his brother once again,
"So?"
"We find it and kill it before it has a chance to grow up. Before it can even become a risk and come on Dean we have loads of silver bullets in stock. So it really wouldn't be going out of our way to take care of it." Dean sighed heavily and pinched his fingers lightly around his nose and slowly moved them up and down.
"I don't know Sammy. Maybe you're right. Wait a moment. What if it isn't and it turns out to be that semi-wild dog? What will we do then? It would have been a waste of our time if we find that thing, when we could have been searching for a real case."
"No it wouldn't Dean! I mean we could try and bring it back with us. It could be our hunting dog."
"Sam! You're crazy! We can't bring a wild dog back to our motel. It could kill us."
"A lot of things could kill us Dean. And you are worried about some semi-wild mutt?" Sam raised an eyebrow and Dean felt his blood boil in his veins.
In that moment he knew he had to crush his brother's boyish optimism in order to protect his little brother.
"Whatever we find we are killing, Sam."
"What? No Dean! That isn't right."
"I don't care Sam! We are agreeing to my terms otherwise I am leaving you behind."
"You're unbelievable."
"Yeah well. I am not having you risk our lives for something that is worthless."
"Just because it seems worthless to you. That does not make it worthless to me, Dean" Sam looked at his brother and sulked as Dean clearly switched off. Dean was not going to say anymore on the matter.
Sometimes Sam genuinely hated having an older brother. Especially having one as stubborn and narrow-minded as Dean.
Dean exited the Impala and heard Sam's large footsteps behind him as they entered their plain motel room. Dean began packing his duffel bag with all of the equipment he felt they would need on this hunt. Sam half-heartedly followed suit and began packing his own rucksack.
"Hurry up Sam. We are burning daylight. I don't like to think about spending a night in those woods if they are going to already be foggy." Sam sighed, but raised no complaint as he picked up the pace.
Once they locked up the brothers began the short walk to Wirely woods. Dean with a determination to kill and Sam with a determination to prevent his brother from killing that innocent dog if their paths were unfortunate enough to cross.
I hope you enjoyed Chapter Two as much as I enjoyed writing it. Especially the dialogue :D Please feel free to review any positive or negative criticisms are accepted.