The Last Bullet

8) Crossroad Blues

"Bro Blackjack is gonna be so jealous," Percy said, holding up his donut. He took a massive bite, grinning at the thought of making his pegasus mad.

"Blackjack?" Sam questioned absently, looking at something on his laptop.

"My pegasus," Percy said. "Rescued him from a crazy guy that tried to kill me a few times. Ahh, good stuff."

Sam looked up, "You have a pegasus?" He shook his head. "You know what, I'm just not gonna worry about it." He moved his laptop so Dean and Percy could see, revealing a mugshot of a grinning Dean. "So much for our low profile. You've got a warrant in St. Louis, and now you're officially in the Fed's database."

"Dude, I'm like Dillinger or something," Dean grinned.

"Dean, it's not funny," Sam said. "Makes the job harder, we've gotta be more careful now."

"Well, what do they got on you?" Percy asked through a mouthful of donut.

"I'm sure they just haven't posted it yet," Sam muttered.

"No accessory?" Dean smirked. "Nothing?"

"Shut up."

"You're jealous," Dean said, and Percy laughed. He choked on his donut and Dean patted him calmly on the back.

"No, I'm not!" Sam said, hardly even shooting Percy a concerned look. The demigod choked so often, they were surprised it hadn't happened already.

"Uh-huh. All right," Dean said, glancing at Percy to make sure he wasn't suffocating or anything. "What do you got on the case there, you innocent, harmless young man, you?"

"Percy doesn't have much of anything either," Sam muttered. He shut his computer, annoyed, and pulled out several pages of research. "Architect Sean Boyden plummeted to his death from the roof of his home, a condominium he designed."

"Hmm. Build a high-rise and jump off the top of it," Dean said. "That's classy. When did he call animal control?"

"Two days earlier."

"Did he actually say Black Dog?" Percy asked,  finally having stopped dying.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "A vicious, wild, black dog. The authorities couldn't find it, no one else saw it; in fact, the authorities are a little confused as to how a wild dog could get past the doorman, take the elevator up and start roaming the halls of the cushiest joint in town. After that, no more calls, he doesn't show up for work, two days later he takes a swan dive."

"Do you think we're dealing with an actual Black Dog?" Dean asked.

"Well, maybe."

"What's the lore on it?" Percy asked.

"It's all pretty vague," Sam passed Dean the Black Dog research, knowing full well Percy couldn't read it. He was also pretty sure that if the demigod could read it, he wouldn't. "I mean, there are spectral black dogs all over the world, but... some say they're animal spirits, others say death omens. But anyways, whatever they are, they're big, nasty."

"Yeah, I bet they could hump the crap outta your leg, look at that one, huh?" He showed a picture to Sam and Percy. Sam glared at him, and his smile fell. "What? They could."

Percy, who had just taken another bite of his donut, choked again at the look on Sam's face.

***

"This room is so posh," Percy muttered to Dean, glancing around. Dean nodded in agreement.

"So, you and Sean Boyden were business partners for almost ten years, right?" Sam said to the man they were in the posh apartment with. They were posing as journalists, wearing suits as they interviewed him.