Sorry for not having posted chapters in such a long time. I haven't even written new chapters (my last one was Chapter 67…) and it's killing me. I wanted so badly to finish this story, but I didn't meet my deadline (which was before September…). So sorry. I hope this doesn't discourage you from reading my story.

The song here is "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin

Black Dog

Gavin was walking down the path that turned into the sidewalk, smiling and feeling full of life. This was a strange world. He was an outsider that didn't belong anywhere, but for the first time, he was starting to feel like he belonged somewhere. Since meeting Kelley, she made him feel alive and he was actually starting to like this new world.

She wasn't reserved like the girls he had known. There was no protocol of courting like he had known. All he had to do was talk to Kelley; ask her out on a date and a relationship was forming. There's not even an obligation to meet her parents before courting her! He had read in magazines that people could get married within hours of knowing each other. Lifestyles in this time was so much different that the ones in his time. How could he not start liking his new life?

He was feeling so confidant. He had a job at a local grocery store, a nice apartment and a bike to get around town. He never thought he'd be this happy, especially since meeting his father and shortly being dumped in an unknown area that he later discovered to be outside of New Haven, Massachusetts. That sucked, he didn't know anything or anyone. His father just dumped him and forgot about him.

Yes, his father. The King of Hell that wanted him to remain alive, but still didn't love him enough to have close by. He hadn't seen his father again since being dumped and he wondered if that was such a bad thing. The best thing his father had done was keep these Winchester brothers from putting him back in the past and then leaving him alone.

Then Gavin stopped, contemplating if he was being hypocritical. Then he shrugged it off and returned to his apartment. It didn't matter. He turned on his radio and played the cassette player, listening to a mix tape of what he came to understand to be Classic Rock. It was so interesting that although he didn't quite grasp the concept of it, he liked it. It's a sort of trendy music. And yes, he learnt the word "trendy" and he liked using it.

Then, at that moment, a familiar voice made him freeze in place.

"You actually live in this filth?" asked the voice. Gavin turned around and he was filled with a mixture of dread and hope as his father glanced around, looking disgusted at the half torn wallpaper, stains of the walls, half torn carpet and old furniture that even a homeless person might pass up.

"It's got potential." Gavin said and his father met his eyes with an expression of disgust and confusion.

"As what? A meth lab?" Crowley asked and Gavin frowned with confusion.

"What's a meth lab?" he asked and Crowley rolled his eyes like he always did when he thought Gavin to be a moron. "Never mind." He said, trying to convince his father that he was not a moron. "Why are you here?" he asked and Crowley glanced at him with a difficult expression to read.

"What, not happy to see your own father?" he asked and Gavin took too long to respond, not that his father took any offense. "Met a girl, I see." Crowley added and Gavin shifted from one foot to another. "Yes, I know. What you don't know is that she's got commitments elsewhere." He said and Gavin balled up his fists as a spark of anger ignited. He was so angry that all of a sudden, his father shows an interest in his life only to pull the rug out from under his feet.

"I don't believe you." He said and Crowley's expression didn't change. "She's not the type that would be married and fool around." He added and Crowley looked annoyed. Worst, was that his father seemed to be contemplating something. He always did that, like using sarcasm was more fun, especially when Gavin did look like a moron.

"She's a crossroad demon." Crowley said with a slight pause, making Gavin feel like a sarcastic remark was on the way. "Ask yourself why she's around you, my son." He said and Gavin's fists began trembling. If his father saw his rage, he didn't care.

"Why are you doing this? You don't want me to be happy, is that it?" he asked his father and the past came flooding toward him. All those times his father would beat him; beating out his hopes and dreams for a better life. Now that he had one, his father was here telling him his date was a demon that had a hidden agenda.

"She's using you to get to me." Crowley said and Gavin, despite his rage, couldn't resist a disgusted chuckle. Only then did Crowley frown as if he was surprised that his son was growing a backbone.

"It's always about you, isn't it?" he asked and Crowley's frown relaxed into that difficult expression again.

"I'm King of Hell, so yes." He said and Gavin laughed again.

"No, no it was always about you, even when I was a child. You were such an absent father that –" he began, but Crowley raised his hand, stunning him into silence.

"Save the tormented childhood lecture." He said and Gavin closed his mouth, clenching his jaw as his fists trembled again. "Believe me, Gavin; she's not after you for your good looks." He said, obviously in a condescending tone or voice rather than giving a compliment. He could imagine his father making that all about himself like usual by saying that it was a glimmer of his own good looks that he had passed down. "That you clearly inherited from me." Crowley added and Gavin couldn't resist a chuckle. Yes, there was the arrogance.

"I refuse to believe you." Gavin said and Crowley glanced at the apartment again. He probably wanted to hit Gavin for his insubordination, but Gavin secretly hoped that his father admired it. However, he highly doubted it.

"Fine, but I'm not taking chances." He said and then snapped his fingers. At that moment, Gavin looked at his father with confusion and glancing around the apartment, wondering if his father tried to make the walls more appealing.

Then he heard the growl. He looked around, but couldn't see what was making that noise.

"Relax, it's just a Hellhound." Crowley said and Gavin glanced at his father with a dropped jaw.

"Just a Hellhound?" he asked, unable to wrap his mind around that. Was his father trying to kill him?

"Demons will try to get to you to get to me. Rocky will attack any demon that makes an approach." He said and Gavin's face paled. "So, don't worry about feeding him." His father added.

Suddenly, he was so angry at his father that he was in a state of disbelief. He didn't know what to do or say, but as he looked at his father, part of him wondered if his father did love him.

Why prevent him from going back into the past where he will die? Why summon a Hellhound to protect him against demons? Before he could ask, his father vanished into thin air, leaving only an invisible Hellhound that had now gone so silent that Gavin was afraid to move.

Maybe life was better off without his father's presence. He was still struggling with an opinion on the matter.