16. The Reunion (Part 2)

I think it's safe to say I would rather be mucking stalls than be a waitress for the Cassitys.

Two seconds in, and I already wanted to punch Cindy. She just rubbed me the wrong way. Noah Cassity winked at me, and I felt disgusted on the inside. Cradle robber was the first thing that came to mind when I met him face to face. If his wife wasn't the legal age, I would have deemed him a pedophile. Margot seemed to be the nicest out of the Cassitys, and the quietest too.

Unfortunately, due to my slight discomfort with the rich family, it left Sam to do a lot of the work on his own out in the dining room. I hang back, ready to open another bottle of wine. These Cassitys sure do love their red wine. I'd taken a taste once the bottle was opened. It was an acquired taste.

"You feeling okay, Natasha?"

I turn at Ellie's voice. "Yeah, fine. Not used to waking up so early." I stretch.

"It's a huge wakeup call for newbies," she admits with a smile. "Don't worry, you're doing fine. Just grin and bear it for a little bit."

"Is that what you do?"

"Most of the time." She leaves for the dining room. I let my ears travel where Ellie is going, ready to pick up on conversation.

"Al, I'm so sorry about Carl." If I have to guess, that's Margot's voice. "I mean, he was the love of your life."

"Right," I hear Alice say absently.

"Please, she can do better," says Noah.

"Maybe Alice should marry a child-take after her father," comes a high, nasally voice. Yeah, that's Cindy all right.

"Ivanka's not a child."

"Right. She's a prostitute who looks like a child."

"Okay then," I whisper to myself.

"Are you done?" Margot snaps. "Alice is in mourning."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Margie," Cindy retorts. "I didn't see you there-you're too far up on your high horse." Her laugh is nails on a chalkboard to my ears. "Oh, yes, but you are right-we should all take a minute and says a few words about Carl. You first. Was he a good lay?"

"What?" Alice asks.

"Oh, you didn't know? Yeah, Daddy caught 'em going at it in the barn."

"Al, it was before you two got together," Margot says quickly. "I mean, Carl-he loved you."

"Yeah, that was back when Margie was fat and Cin was sober, a long time ago," says Noah.

"Get cancer and die, old man," Cindy says bitterly.

"You first, sweetie."

My ears lose their advantage when Ellie and Sam come back.

"Are they always like this?" I complain to Ellie. Nobody's bound to hear me in the dining room, they're all too busy going for each other's throats.

"More or less."

"How can you work here?" Sam adds as he's opening another wine bottle.

"I love the property, I love the animals, and I tune out the people."

"Smart method," I commend her. Sam heads back out with the freshly opened bottle. "It must pay off since you're still here."

"If you love your job, you make adjustments."

I nod in understanding.

"Hey, Tasha." Sam comes back in. There's something in his eyes that tells me something's up. "Mind if I borrow you for a second?"

"Yeah, sure." I look to Ellie sympathetically. "You'll be okay here?"

"Sure. Go do what you have to," she tells me.

"Thanks." I follow Sam through the kitchen. "Okay, what did the Cassitys say?"

"I'll tell you in a sec, we need to find Dean first."

We find Dean out on the Cassity porch. It still smells like steak, which makes my stomach rumble. I should try and sneak a few bites.

"Did the nutcases start a food fight or something?" Dean asks us.

"No, but I got a name," states Sam. "Crowley."

"Crowley?" Dean and I ask.

Sam looks at me. "You know him?"

"You mentioned him yesterday." I shrug. "Dean told me a little bit about him."

"So Crowley?" Dean tries to refocus his brother.

"That's what they said," says Sam. "Apparently, he swung through town ten years ago, to the day."

"So, what-do you think Tea and Crumpets made these deals and now he's collecting?"

"Or he just sent his dog-told it to go fetch. Dude's King of Hell. Grabbing a few souls-that's got to be below his pay grade."

"I guess. Any idea who signed the dotted line?"

"I have no clue. It's brutal in there."

"You sure nobody's killed someone in there by now?" I ask Sam. "Maybe the hounds don't need to fetch if there's nothing alive to go after."

Dean's phone suddenly goes off. He makes sure to put it on speaker so we can all hear. "Hey, Kev, what's up?" he says.

"Hey, Dean, good news, uh, I think...kind of."

"Don't oversell it."

"Sorry. Um, I found something on the tablet, uh, about Hellhounds. Uh, this mean anything to you-'the dire creatures may be seen only by the damned or through an object scorched with holy fire'?"

"Like with holy oil?" Sam asks.

"It's got to be," says Dean. "We could use a window."

"Or glasses."

"I think we've still got some Jesus juice left in the trunk. All right, I'll take care of the uh, the X-ray specs. You two stay here. Do not let J.R. and the gang out of your sight, all right?"

"Right." Sam leans towards the phone. "Hey, Kevin, uh, you did great, man. Get some sleep."

Dean ends the call, and Sam and I head back inside. Great, so we got to keep them inside the house. With these morons, that's gonna be hard to do. God only knows how unpredictable they'll end up being.

Being that's it's part of my job to keep the Cassitys in the house, I follow Sam into the dining room and take some plates from the table. I do a head count. One, two...only two? Cindy and Alice are still sitting around here. Where'd Margot and Noah go?

"Oh, look," Cindy says, a glass of wine in her hand. "Daddy's drunk and armed. Must be Christmas."

Sam and I look out the window. I nearly drop the plates and everything at the sight of Noah and Margot, armed, walking outside in the dark. I fast-walk to the kitchen, drop the plates and whatnot as quickly (and neatly) as possible before hauling ass outside after him.

"Hey!" I shout to the armed Cassitys. Neither of them acknowledge me. Damn stubborn people. "Hey!"

Out of nowhere, I see Sam in the corner of my eye. I grimace slightly as he runs right past me. "Hey, hey, hey!" he says quickly as he and I catch up to Margot and Noah. "Where are you going?"

"Wherever I damn well please," Noah snaps. "The wolf that killed my son-in-law-he's a man-eater, got to be put down."

"Doing this for Carl," says Margot.

"Okay, just-just hold on a second," I plea.

"No, going now," Noah grunts.

"We'll come with you."

This stops all of us. Sam is giving me the most severe look that I have ever seen on his face. Noah looks pissed and confused, as does Margot.

"You know anything about hunting, either of you?" Noah demands.

"A little bit, yeah," Sam answers.

I'm a little peeved when Margot hands her rifle over to Sam. There's no spare for me. What is my knife gonna do against a Hellhound? Well, if I somehow get attacked, I can fend for myself up close, provided I'm well enough to do so.

"Let's do it," says Noah.

"You should have just stayed in the house with Alice and Cindy," Sam scolds me out of the corner of his mouth.

"I had a better reaction time than you did!" I hiss at him. "Why would I want to stay in there anyway? I'm one word out of Cindy's mouth away from throttling her."

"You don't even know what we're up against."

"A Hellhound, Sam," I deadpan.

"What makes you think that is gonna do you any good?"

"If I can get close enough-"

"Trust me, it's better to be as far away from possible from them than to be staring them in the face."

The people armed with guns have the barrels pointing to the ground. I keep my trusty weapon at my side. Since Hellhounds are invisible to those who aren't going to be kibble, I have to be ready should something go awry and the target becomes me. Sam sticks close to me while Noah and Margot take lead.

Hair rises on my arms as a rumble of thunder rolls in the distance. Not again. Not now. My fear of thunder can't take me out of this now. I need to be vigilant. I need to be at the top of my game.

Margot makes an adjustment and moves to the side of Noah. As we trudge through the woods, I barely hear it. Snap. I spin around, knife out in front of me for protection. Sam is at my side, rifle up and ready.

"You heard that too?" I ask him.

"Yeah."

"Think the mutt is following us?"

"I wouldn't put it past it. Come on."

I take a lingering look behind us before I rejoin Sam. We're alone now, as Margot and Noah didn't seem to acknowledge losing us; they're so keen on their hunt for something they don't understand. I move aside some brush so I don't cover myself with bugs from making contact with it.

I gasp aloud as I see a barrel of a gun staring me in the face. Dean isn't the one behind the trigger though, it's Noah. I grab the barrel and shove it down, out of my face.

"Watch yourself," I snap. "If you'd pulled that, you would have killed me!"

"Me? You should be watching yourself, the both of you," Noah snaps. "Where's Margie?"

"We thought she was with you," Sam says honestly. I begin to look around in the dark for the missing person of our party.

I take off towards her scream the second I hear it. Though I'm far shorter than the men, my legs bring me to the small clearing first. I stumble back, knocking into Sam on accident, as he and Noah take in the scene I'm watching.

Margot is on the ground, screaming bloody murder, as her clothes and skin are torn into. The worst part about all this?

I can see the Hellhound.

It's got a strange colored hue to it, telling me that this isn't something from this earth. It's barking and snarling is what keep me away from helping Margot.

BANG. I watch the bullet strike the hound in a nonfatal spot. It yelps in pain as I see the blood fly from the wound.

"Oh, my God!" Noah screams. "No!"

"Get back to the house," Sam urges. He has to grab Noah and push him away. "Go! Move!"

"No!"

I completely ignore Sam and Noah; I can only see the hound. It limps from where Sam has hit it. Its malicious eyes are now stuck on me, making me frozen to the ground. I only clutch my shank tighter from the fear. Another clap of thunder sounds.

Past the hound, I see Margot, throat torn to shreds, bathed in her own blood. Another victim terminated. If I don't do something, I'm next. Just because I didn't make a deal doesn't mean that I can't become dog food.

"Max!" I faint hear Sam call out to me. I can't tear my eyes off the hound. "Max!" I feel an arm start to pull me away, out of the clearing. I'm absentmindedly following where the force is pushing me, back into the woods. "Max, come on!"

"Margot-" I rasp. "She-she..."

"We can't do anything, it's too late."

"Wait, hey, hey!" I bellow as Sam sweeps me off my feet into his arms. I don't object, actually adjusting myself, holding onto Sam as tightly as he has me as we run back to the Cassity place. I close my eyes, taking deep breaths. Hellhounds are supposed to be invisible.

How come I saw it, clear as day?

**If anyone picked up on it, I couldn't stand Cindy. At. All. So, who better to channel that through than Max?

Oh, and, yeah, I threw in a little riddle for you to solve. How can Max see the hound?

Closest guess/exact guess will get that chapter dedicated to them when the time comes.**