//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 Shadows: That is NOT A Hellhound // Story: Supernatural: Day, Night, and Shadows // by BioQuillFiction //------------------------------// Crowley had spent nearly a hundred years being tortured in hell as a human soul before finally becoming a demon. His new abilities were, tricky, to say the least to get the hang of, but in hell there are no shortage of… test subjects to experiment on. Finally, it was time for his first true act as a demon. He was assigned to work as a crossroads demon, and by assign he was thrown into a hole and whatever spike he landed on, what was written on it was what he did. He was among other new demons that had been “Selected” as Crossroads demons, above them on a pile of skeletons and some kind of lack oze stood Lilith, the first demon he had been told. In demon form, to mortals, they would appear as smoke, but to other demons and certain creatures, a demon looks like they did as human, only affected by all the torture from before they became demons. Lilith had no marks upon her, as she wasn’t born human and turned into a demon, she was made from nothing. “Alright you all, as you can all guess, humanity is a selfish, greedy little pile of flesh and bones willing to sell their souls for whatever they dream of.” Lilith spoke, and not a single demon dared look away, lest she send them into a deeper pit of hell for eternity. “Many of you I know for a fact are here today because you yourselves when you were human made deals with our more...veteran crossroads demons. Your job is simple, make a deal with a pathetic human, decide depending on the deal how long until they are to die, and if they are alive when said time is up, you shall send the hellhound after them. Now, to your right is the kennels, pick up a mutt and look after it, cause if somehow they die, you are not getting a new one without paying in souls. Now, to work with you.” With that Lilith smoked back to her own section she carved into hell, and Crowley and the other demons marched into the kennels. They were a large cave covered in scat and human remains. Walking in this thilth pile was the hellhounds. While normally invisible to mortals, in hell and to Demons and other non human creatures they had a visible form. They appeared as rabid, mangy labradors, dark, red eyes. There were several hellhounds bitches nursing their pups among the thilth. One after another each demon, Crowley included, picked up a pup. As they were grabbing the pups another demon came into the kennels. The kennel keeper. “Alright, listen up boys, these pups won’t obey you until after you feed them a human, the younger the better.” The Kennel Keeper spoke, his voice deep, and southern. “With each feeding your hellhound will grow up til they are full grown. You’ll know when they are full grown when their eyes start to glow and they obey your every word.” As the demons began to make their leave, the Kennel Keeper stopped Crowley. “Not so fast Irishmen, aren’t you the one who broke into the kennels a year back?” Crowley blew a raspberry. “Well, not gonna lie, I am. Wanted to get a look at the stock.” He admitted. Not mentioning he took a pup and had it already full grown, hidden in the hell of a hunter forever being chased by other hellhounds. “Yeah, well I don’t take kindly to break ins, so guess what.” The Keeper said, taking the pup Crowley had. “Now, you still need something to fetch your souls, so I got just the mutt.” The Keeper laughed, which made Crowley uneasy. The keeper placed the pup Crowley had back with it’s mother and dragged Crowley into the back most area of the Kennel. They were at a large set of doors, warded with symbols that Crowley half recognized. “Now, behind this door is the mother of ALL hellhounds, Ramsey. She tolerates me, mainly cause I keep feeding her, and kills all else who enter. Last month I was given her the corpse of some kid who sold his souls to pass a test for college, heh, dumb shit died from a drunk driving accident. Anyway, I dropped off the body and I saw something in here, and Ramsey was actually nursing the thing.” “Ramsey was pregnant? How?” “No idea, not even sure if it’s hers but she acts like it, she killed that last bunch of hellhounds that entered her many years ago in an attempt to breed her again, so this is odd. But Let me be clear, I’m given you this...thing, because it’s new. Never seen anything like it before, so you are gonna figure out exactly what it is, what it can do, and how it somehow ended up being with Ramsey, or if she did give birth with it.” The Keeper said, poking Crowley in the chest repeatedly. He then placed a hand on the door and the symbols began to shift, then the door opened. There was a lot of loud barking as he entered. There was some ruckus and the Keeper even yelling. Tolerates? That’s Tolerating? Crowley thought as the Keeper came out, an ash grey creature with a…curved red horn...”What?” Crowley said. The keeper threw it off his hand, it landing in Crowley’s hands, then bit his. He hissed at the pain. Whatever it is, it can bite. HARD. The Kennel Keeper closed the doors and the wards on it returned to normal. “I call that little shit Sombra cause it can control shadows, go into them and smoke like us Demons. That’s all I know about it so far.” Crowley looked at the creature, still biting his hand and holding on while chewing. It’s teeth were sharp, like a hellhound, but it was small, had hooves, and it’s mane and tail were moving like they were made from black fire. “First off, get off me!” Crowley yelled, slamming the creature on the wall. It let go of his hand and he grabbed it by the scruff with the other after it fell on the ground. It kept hissing and snarling. “Second. This is not a hellhound! This is a tiny, demonic horse!” Crowley complained. “Yeah, well get together a hundred human soul from deals, or possession and you can buy ya an actual pup, till then good luck with Sombra.” The Keeper said. Crowley grumbled, leaving the Kennels and off his what he considered his “Quarters” which consisted of a small cliff side bone shack  he made himself the week he became a demon. It was just a few walls made from bones, skills, and whatever else he could find, but it was a place he planned on leaving not long after he made it to earth. Which is why he picked this spot in the first place. He traversed most of hell, and in order to escape it, demons had to claw out of it from the ceilings up, and this spot was already higher up by at least eighty feet than any other place in hell. This was a process that could take several years or more depending on what floor of hell you were on. Crowley was in the third, so he estimated at least a hundred years. He dropped Sombra on the ground, and Sombra, rather than bite him, Looked around the shack, found a bone on the floor, and started biting that. “Well at least you act like a dog.” Crowley said, rolling his eyes. “Nevaro, come!” He yelled, as the Hellhound he stole arrived in a whisp of smoke. He had to feed it corpses other hell hounds brought in by the others, but some special ingredients from the lowest parts of hell, stolen from other demons who brought them their time in the lowest parts of hell. With those items, Crowley managed to grow Nevaro to a height of five feet, making her one of the biggest hellhounds around. “Alright girl, we’re gonna finally head up, and we gotta be fast to try and make it up in time from this floor.” Nevaro nodded, then looked over at Sombra, chewing at his bone still. “What? That thing? We’re leaving it.” Nevaro groweld. “What? Don’t tell me you actually want it?” Nevaro nodded. “...What is it about this creature?” Sombra asked, grabbing Sombra by the scruff again. “It’s not one of you, why treat it so...what even is this thing?!” Sombra hissed again, his red horn lighting up with a green/black aura. “Oh shit.” Crowley said as he, Sombra, and Nevaro, all saw black...before appearing in a forest of sorts. Crowley’s body was smoke, Nevaro was invisible, and Sombra...was physical still. “We...are we on earth?!” Crowley looked around, then looking at Sombra. “Well...Looks like you might be useful after all.” Sombra merely smiled wickedly. The trio walked the forest for some time before stumbling upon a house. From a window Crowley could see a man, alone, asleep with a bottle of scotch next to him on a table. Crowley smiled, smoking into the house and down the man’s mouth, He awoke in the person’s body. It was the body of an elderly man, long white beard and balding head, dressed in blue overalls and leather boots. He looked to his side, and saw both Sombra and Nevaro, Sombra on Nevaro’s back. “Now, what are you? No, better question, what year is it?” Crowley went to the door, thankfully he could still move with a human body. At the door was a newspaper that he grabbed and looked at the date. “1863 huh? Wonder what humanity has been up to?” He mumbled. “Nevaro, watch Sombra, I’ll be back. Now...let’s hope I teleport right.” Crowley said, focusing his demonic energy, viewing the hosts memories, and seeing a town two miles from here, and in a blink, Crowley was gone. Nevaro moved Sombra over to the chair Crowley’s host was sitting on. The two looking at each other. “Arf, ruff, *growel*.”[So where did you come from?] Nevaro asked. “*Hiss, hiss, hiss.*” [Don’t know. Woke up with mother. All I remember.] Sombra replied. “Arf, arf, arf.” [Strange. So, what you think of Crowley?] “*hiss.*” [I wanna bite him.] “Arf, ruff.”[Why do you wanna bite everything?] “*(Angery)Hiss.*” [My teeth may be in, but they still hurt. Bitten makes it easier.] “Arf, arf.” [Ah. Teething still. I understand. When I was teething I was chewing on human souls. On top of having flavor, their screams were a nice tune out for the pain.] “*Hiss*.” [Oh, wish I had a human souls to chew on…] “Arf.” [Maybe soon. Might find some random person wandering nearby, kill them for the soul.] “*Hiss.*” [I hope. I like you.] “Arf.” [Same. Not sure why, but I do.]