44. Brady (Part 2)

"Dean?" I called out. "Dean, can you hear me?"

"In here, Dak!"

I was about to head upstairs when I heard his voice. I headed in his voice's direction. "Dean?"

"Get it open, now, before I break it!"

"Don't do that," I groaned as I trotted.

My lips pursed at seeing a chair shoved against the door and under the knob. Dean's pounding on the door confirmed it for me. Upstairs, my ass. If Sam didn't leave Brady alive, Dean wasn't going to be the only one to kick his ass.

"Get it open, Dak!"

"Okay, okay, chill out!" I went to the door and removed the chair from its post. Dean swung the door open, a very pissed off expression covered his face.

"Were you in on it?" he demanded.

"Would I have let you out if I was?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You left him alone with Brady?!"

"He said he could handle it!" I threw my hands in the air.

"And you trust that?"

"Y-yes." I cleared my throat. "Yes, I do."

Dean shook his head—disappointed in me, I could tell. "You've got to learn to not trust people, Dak, if you want to make the right decisions."

"Not exactly advice of the year."

"What happened?" Dean bellowed over my head. I spun around to see Sam had come back. I could feel my anger bubble.

"Nothing," Sam reported.

"My ass."

"Dean, I'm fine."

"Yeah?" Dean started to fast-walk down the hall. "You sent Dak in the wrong direction, you lied to her, man! And what about Brady?"

I heard Sam sigh behind me. I was right behind Dean as we turned into Brady's room, to find the demon very much alive. Bloody, but alive.

"Like you said," Sam said quietly. "We need him."

My mouth parted in surprise. I felt a bit of pride swell inside of me. Sam had kept himself true. He didn't finish off Brady. But I'll bet he did a lot to goad Sam to kill him, to do some sort of harm.

"God," came Crowley's exasperated tone. I jumped away as he was pretty close to us, a little too close to my liking. "The day I've had." His dark eyes were on Brady. "Good news. You're going to live forever."

"What did you do?" Brady asked. Is that fear I hear in his voice?

"Went over to a demons' nest—had a little massacre. Must be losing my touch, though—let one of the little toads live. Oops. Also might have given said toad the impression that you left your post last night because you and I are—wait for it—lovers in the league against Satan." Crowley chuckled.

Brady only sighed.

"Hello, darling. So, now, death is off the table. Now you get to be on the boss's eternal-torment list with little old me."

"Oh, no, no, no, no. No."

"Something else we have in common—apart from our torrid passion, of course—craven self-preservation. So, now, why don't you tell me where Pestilence is at?"

All hairs on my body stood on end as a distant howl broke the tense silence. I associated the howling with only one creature. The scars, the areas that had received vicious canines and claws, began to dully throb as a reminder.

"Oh, God, Crowley," Brady howled.

"Was that a Hellhound?" Dean asked.

"I'd say yeah," said Crowley.

"Why was that a Hellhound?"

Crowley groaned, pulling out some sort of coin.

My head tilted. "What's that?" I asked.

"Remember I was telling you about my crafty little tracking device?"

"Yeah."

"Demons planted one on me."

"You're saying a Hellhound followed you here?"

"Well, technically, he followed this."

"Get me out of here," Brady pleaded. "I'll tell you anything you want."

"Shut up," I snarled.

"Okay, well, then we should go," Dean urged.

"Sorry, boys, lady. No one knows more about the hounds than I. You're long past the point of 'go.'" Crowley flicked the coin to Dean, who caught it. He soon disappeared afterwards, leaving the four of us with a Hellhound coming.

"Damn it," Dean hissed.

"I told you!" Sam shouted.

"Oh well, good for you." Now is not the time for sass, Dean! "Luckily, we have salt in the kitchen."

"I'll watch Brady."

"Watch me?" Brady scoffed. "Get me the hell out of here!"

I kept near Sam as Dean ran off to grab the salt. The howling and snarls grew louder. My heart was galloping nervously in my ribs. Not now. Not again. Demons seemed like the inferior fear now compared to the Hellhounds. After my last run-in with them, it's amazing how I didn't get nightmares of them chowing down on me.

At least Sam wasn't being gripped by his fear. He went to Brady and began working on the ropes that held him. My eyes were where I had seen Dean last.

Judging by the loud shattering of glass I just heard, we got some company.

I heard all kinds of noises: wood breaking; loud, vicious barking; the loading of a gun; snarling; yelps of pain; more glass shattering.

"Sammy! Dak!" Dean shouted.

I started to back up as Dean came back into view. He was loading another shell into the gun. I looked at the blank space in front of him, hearing the growling. I could only imagine the salvia the Hellhound was producing. Right now, I wanted to have a gun at my side, or a knife. Some sort of weapon.

Dean flicked a glance our way.

"Salt?" Sam asked. My heart dropped as I heard more menacing growling coming from nowhere. Damn it, he couldn't get to it.

"Damn it, get me out of here!" Brady bellowed.

"Shut up!" the three of us said.

"Great. Just great."

"Hey!" came a new, accented tone. Crowley.

"You're back?" Dean said.

"I'm invested. Currently."

A Hellhound barked.

"Stay!"

"You can control them?" I called down the way. Though I couldn't see Crowley, I could hear him.

"Not that one." Dean was still focused on the space ahead of him. "I brought my own. Mine's bigger." Is this actually happening? Is Crowley gonna save our asses? "Sic him, boy!"

I put my hands over my ears as I heard the awful noises of two Hellhounds fighting each other. The mess they were making I didn't want to see. Dean scrambled back to us, pulling out a small knife to scratch part of the Devil's trap off.

"Go, go, go!" Dean barked. Brady sprung free and was the first to run off. Sam grabbed me, with Dean picking up the rear. I semi-ducked as I heard the fight no longer was contained to the first room it started in.

We burst out into the night, with Brady still in front.

"Go, go!" Dean continued to urge us as we all headed for the Impala. Crowley had appeared beside one side of the car as we all frantically pulled open the doors and not-so-gracefully piled in. The damage being done inside the abandoned house could be heard clearly from where we were.

"I'll wager one-thousand my pup wins," said Crowley. He let out a low chortle as he, too, got into the Impala. With Sam and Dean in front, it left me crammed in the middle between two demons. I put my head in my hands and took in some deep breaths. Crowley's hound is going to win. No Hellhound is going to pursue us. We're getting away. Nobody is in pain.

"You okay, Kota?" Sam asked.

"Being armed would have been nice," I panted.

Dean kicked the car into gear, and we sped away from the Hellhound arena. 

**The gif is one of my favorites ever <3**