Infernal Hunt Complete Set

by Holly Evans

  She shook her head and dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “No. He said he was sorry over and over. He said he wasn't coming home."

  Elise glanced to us. Quin gave a small shrug. We worked very hard to make sure that normal humans didn’t know about the supernals, yet that poor woman’s heart was breaking; we had to do something.

  Elise smiled at the woman and said softly, “I’m a priestess, we follow the old ways.”

  The woman swallowed hard, her eyes widened a little.

  “We suspect that a witch was involved with your husband’s problem,” Elise continued.

  The woman’s hand trembled as she began dabbing at her eyes once more, her breathing becoming quicker and shallower.

  “Why would a witch harm my husband?” she choked out.

  I chewed on my bottom lip. I wanted to know the same thing. They didn’t usually cause harm unless there was due cause. She clearly didn’t know much of anything about witches; there was unlikely to be a grudge there.

  “We’re not sure. Did you husband deal with such things?” Elise asked.

  The woman shook her head furiously. “No, no, he was a good man.”

  Elise smiled and sipped her tea allowing the woman a moment to calm again.

  “I’m sure he was a good husband, Mrs. Perlová. Evelyn and Quin are experienced with witches,” she said.

  “We work to keep the city safe from witches, to help people like your husband,” Quin said.

  The woman took a long deep breath and nodded.

  “I do not have more information. I am sorry,” she said.

  I stood and knelt next to her and took her hand. “We'll do our best to help him."

  She sobbed and nodded her head enthusiastically. “Thank you, thank you. I was so worried, he never came home from work two weeks ago. I do not know if this is better. To know he is... a monster."

  She gulped down a fresh set of tears.

  Quin said, "Do not fear, Mrs. Perlová, we will make sure that your husband finds peace."

  “Thank you. All of you. Thank you."

  Elise said softly, “Is there anything else you can tell us?"

  She shook her head. “All he said was that he was so sorry. We were married for thirty years. We met as children, there was never anyone else."

  I squeezed her hand; my heart was breaking for the woman. I couldn't imagine the pain she must have been feeling.

  Once she'd run out of tears to cry, she smiled and said with a quiet laugh, “He always promised that he would leave this world in an interesting way. He got his wish."

  I smiled and admired the strength she was displaying. We left with heavy hearts and yet more questions. The abominations were becoming more frequent, and we still had no idea what they were or where they had come from. As Quin had said, they started showing up while he was kidnapped, which matched the timeline for the new witch coming into the city. She was strong enough to terrify Serena, but could she really be strong enough to turn a human into an abomination that seemed much like a broken lycan?

  Quin had taken Elise to talk to Kadrix about the abominations; I was in no mood to deal with the elf, so I returned home with hopes of achieving a state of focus that would allow me to find the hellhound. I needed to do something, to get an answer. Everything was swirling around in my mind. I needed to create some order from the chaos.

  Pacing around the living room wasn’t conducive to focus, and the hot shower didn’t do me any good either. The lotus position wasn’t as magical as I’d hoped, and that put me back at square one of pacing. Some sense of calm finally washed over me, but it was burst by a stabbing sensation of fear. It was him. I knew it. I latched onto the fear in the back of my mind and tried to mentally drag it forward, to get something from it. It felt absurd, but I ran with it. I had to take whatever little thing I could.

  I ran out the door and allowed my feet to carry me to what I hoped was the location of the hound. The colourful apartment buildings blurred as I focused entirely on the sensation in my mind. I turned down a narrow road and emerged near what I struggle to call a park, a large-ish patch of grass with a flowerbed thrown in the middle. I jogged up the steep steps and started looking for the hound. Something pulled me up the alleyway with the weeping willow on the corner.

  My heart was pounding in my ears as I searched the alley, looking for those indigo eyes. Hundreds of scenarios flashed through my mind. The fear was building in my mind. My mind conjured up darker images, his body bloodied and broken. I emerged at the end of the alley and caught sight of what I thought was him. Dark jeans and a black shirt, broad shoulders with thick black hair. It was worth a try. Whoever he was, he was walking at a quick pace and kept looking around him almost frantically. He ducked down another alley with more steps. I jogged up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. The fear in the back of my mind spiked, then vanished when he turned to face me.

  Some of the colour had left him, his mouth was locked in a tight line, but it all slipped away when his gaze settled on me. I stepped up to him and put my shoulders back, I stepped forward again trying to push him back against the wall.

  He stood firm, a small smile playing over his lips. “Evelyn, darling.”

  I hated the way butterflies formed in the pit of my stomach when he said my name. He was a damn hellhound. The fear formed in the back of my mind once more when he looked over his shoulder. Matyas and the others were jogging down the alley towards us. The hound leaned against me trying to push past me. I placed a hand in the middle of his chest and gave him a dark look, I wasn’t letting him go anywhere. His heart was racing under my palm, sweat was starting to form across his forehead.

  The fear finally evaporated from my mind when Dimitri said, “Evelyn. What a surprise.”

  The sarcasm and aggression dripped from the words. I stepped sideways to glare at him; the hound turned to stand far too close to my side.

  “What do you want, Dimitri?”

  He walked up to me, his shoulders back. His hands ran over his barely concealed blades. The other two were close behind him. He stopped barely a step in front of me. He was only a few inches taller than me, but he tried to make the most of it as he pushed his chest out and looked down at me.

  “You keep showing up around this beast.”

  He glanced at the hound.

  I shoved him backwards and said, “This beast is mine. The bounty is mine. Now run along and deal with the shades; I saw a group of them on the bridge last night. Surely you can manage to remove a few shades...”

  I ground my teeth together. We were playing a dangerous game, and I was not going to lose.

  Viktor had narrowed his eyes at me. “It is very convenient how you show up with this creature.”

  “What exactly are you trying to say, Viktor?”

  He bared his teeth in a mirthless grin. “You were always too good, Evelyn. You and your brother always had an edge.”

  I went toe to toe with him. “That’s because we train hard and have more than half a brain between us. Now stop wasting my time and leave me to my bounty, else I will cut your balls off and shove them down your throat. Understood?”

  Matyas grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him backwards. “Leave her, Viktor. We have more important things to be dealing with.”

  Viktor spat something in Russian before he turned and left with the other two. I ground my teeth together and watched them leave.

  When I turned around, the hound had his arms crossed and a large grin on his face.

  “Well now, you’re quite a little firecracker, aren’t you?”

  I restrained the urge to punch him in the mouth. “You’re coming with me. Hound.”

  He pursed his lips and said mockingly, “Is that all I am to you?”

  I smiled sweetly and said, “If you’re a very good boy, you’ll be a nice pair of shoes and a pile of cash.”

  He laughed at me and made a sweeping motion with his arm. “Lead the way.”

  I desperately wanted to ask the h
ound the hundreds of questions that raced around my mind. Instead, I sat next to him on the tram on my way back to Kadrix’s. He leaned that little bit too close to me, the small smile refusing to leave his lips. I was torn between wanting to wipe it off his face and put him in his place as a supernal beast, and trailing my finger along it. I’d texted Quin with the news while we’d waited for the tram to arrive. The tram was packed with people, many of whom kept glancing at me and the hound. Not that I could blame them; he was rather striking. I caught more than one woman looking him up and down, drinking in every detail as though forming a mental composite ready to pull up for a more private moment later. He loved every second of it.

  The architecture couldn’t hold my focus; not even the view across the river towards the great iron bridge could pull me away from the moment. An older woman kept huffing and sighing melodramatically; we both ignored her. My phone vibrated with a text from Quin asking where we were. I could almost feel him bouncing at the prospect of meeting the hound. We were only one stop away. The scent of hot metal and petrichor invaded my space, and I could feel his amusement tickling the back of my mind. That only served to infuriate me further.

  The tram emptied at Malá Strana. People spilled out onto the square and went their separate ways, each studiously ignoring everyone around them. I kept a close eye on the hound as we stepped out into the square; he remained practically glued to my side. Suspicion bubbled within me. He’d gone from slipping into the shadows to being attached to my hip. I walked as quickly as seemed reasonable to Kadrix’s lékárna; once again, it was quite busy. We stepped into the hallway, and I breathed a sigh of relief at finally being able to speak freely. The hound growled when he stepped through the doorway. I glared at him. He muttered under his breath but remained close.

  When we stepped out into the main workshop area, I pointed at the only free stool. “Sit.”

  “Yes, mistress,” he purred.

  Kadrix and Quin bounded over to us. The elf circled around the hound, a grin plastered across his face as he scribbled notes down into a leather-bound journal. Quin stood in front of him and looked him over, drinking in every detail. The hound remained still and laughed softly. I wanted to shoo them away, but I could understand their curiosity; hellhounds were a rarity.

  “How old are you?” Kadrix asked the hound.

  He pouted and said in a deep, gravelly voice, “Now, now, that’s a little rude don’t you think?”

  Kadrix huffed and stood a little taller.

  Quin asked, “What do we call you?”

  The hound smiled and brushed some imaginary lint off his jeans.

  I rolled my eyes and stepped forward. “Answer them.”

  He gave me a sly smile. “Yes. Mistress.”

  The knowledge that he was trying to get a rise out of me didn’t ease the growing anger at him and his attitude.

  He looked at Kadrix and said, “Old enough.” Turning to Quin, he said, “Marrok Lysander.”

  Kadrix scribbled something else down. “Marrok is your rank, correct?”

  The hound sat a little taller. “Correct.”

  “Why did you bind us together?”

  I had to know. I’d been dying to ask him that since he’d completed the blood bonding.

  The corner of his lip quirked and he said, “Because that was the only way to stay on this plane, to be joined with my mistress. The one who brought me here.”

  My heart stopped.

  “The ritual,” Quin said quietly.

  I perched on the closest stack of books, ignoring the dark look Kadrix gave me.

  I looked at Quin. “We both spilled our blood in the circle, but... there was no sacrifice.”

  Elise put her arm around my shoulders. “It’ll be ok, Evie. My lady has plans for this.”

  I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Panic wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

  I asked no one in particular, “What am I supposed to do with him?”

  “I can think of a few things...” the hound said.

  I glared at him.

  Kadrix said thoughtfully, “You should collar him, at least. The other hunters will ask questions, and you’ll need some control over him.”

  The hound went to stand; Quin put his hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down again. Kadrix wandered off into the lab mumbling to himself.

  Elise said, “I will help in making the collar.”

  Kadrix pursed his lips and crossed his arms for a minute, but relented with a sharp nod. “So be it.”

  That left me and Quin with the hound while the other two spoke in hushed tones around clattering sounds, pops and crackles. I’d been waiting for the moment to confront him, and all of the questions had fled my mind.

  Quin on the other hand, had no such problem. “You’re supposed to be a hound, why are you in human form?”

  The hound stood slowly, his eyes never leaving Quin who refused to step back. The hound’s face elongated, his bones crunched and muscles tore. It took what seemed like a few agonising seconds for him to change into a large dog. His shoulder reached my hip; he looked like a mix between an Irish Wolfhound and a Rottweiler. Pitch-black fur covered his well-muscled form, with blood-red tan creeping up his legs and marking his chest.

  I tilted my head and said, “Well, I’m a bit disappointed. I’d expected... more.”

  His mouth fell open into a grin just before he burst into flames.

  Kadrix shouted, “Quin! Bottle some of those flames.”

  Quin frantically hunted for a bottle or something to capture the flames while the hound patiently sat in front of me. Bright orange flames flickered over his body; the dark fur was barely visible beneath it, but his grin was clearly visible. His long tail tucked up around his hind legs. The flames brushed along the edge of the books, but left no discernible mark. I was enthralled.

  Quin desperately ushered some of the flames into a beaker and held a small ceramic disk over it. The hound yawned before he changed back into his human form. I was a little disappointed to see his clothes completely intact; I chided myself for such foolish thoughts. He sat back down on the stool and crossed one leg over the other, resting his hands in his lap.

  He leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially, “Do we really need to worry about the collar thing? Couldn’t we just... pretend?”

  I crossed my arms. “No, we could not ‘just pretend’.”

  He pouted at me and glanced over at Kadrix and Elise.

  Quin returned and said, “What was it like in the infernal realms?”

  The hound smiled and said, “What was it like growing up here?”

  Quin paused and looked over at me.

  I looked at the hound. “How could this have happened? Hellhounds are supposed to be owned by demons. I am not a demon.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “No, you’re not, but there’s something in you, Evelyn.”

  “How do you know my name?”

  “You brought me here.”

  I ground my teeth.

  Elise shouted, “You have to keep him safe, that means you can’t throttle him.”

  She knew me too well. Quin and the hound laughed.

  I leaned forward and said, “Safe is a very big place.”

  He leaned into me; the smell of fire surrounded me. “I’m sure we’ll come to some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement.”

  The purr on his words had an undesired effect on my body. I stood and walked away, leaving Quin to throw questions at him about his fire, and how much it hurt to transform between his human and hound forms. Elise and Kadrix were busily pouring what looked like molten metal from one jug thing to another jug thing. I had no idea what I was supposed to do once he was collared. Hellhounds were verging on a myth, they were so rare, and no human had owned one. Quin was talking animatedly while the hound responded good-naturedly. It was too surreal.

  After some pacing, my logical mind finally returned to me.

  Quin was poking at the hound
, who raised an eyebrow at him before he said to me, “You really should call me by my name. I don’t refer to you as the human.”

  I glared at him. “I haven’t said a damn thing.”

  He smiled at me. “We’re connected, darling. I pick up snippets from you.”

  I would not allow him to get a rise out of me. I perched back on the pile of books in front of him and said, “There is a second hound here. How did that happen, and why were you both allowed here?”

  He paled and looked away from me. I felt the fear building in the back of my mind.

  He lifted his chin and looked at me defiantly, “That’s nothing to concern your pretty head with.”

  I continued to look at him as I called over to Elise, “How long until that collar’s done?”

  “Twenty minutes or so.”

  I crossed my arms and made myself comfortable. He lost even more colour from his skin and glanced around the door. Quin stepped a little closer, blocking Lysander’s movements somewhat.

  Lysander brushed at his dark coloured jeans and ground his teeth together for a few uncomfortable minutes before he finally said, “Our master sent us to open up a hellmouth.”

  A cold chill ran down my spine; that would be disastrous for the city. There weren’t enough hunters in the country to deal with that sort of influx of infernal creatures. The city would be lost.

  He leaned towards me and went to put his hand on my knee, a hint of pleading bleeding into his words. “I chose my freedom. I fled him as soon as the bond with you emerged and his control over me shattered.”

  I couldn’t trust such a beast, particularly when it came to matters as grave as that. He may not have even known how to tell the truth; the infernal creatures were notorious for their sadism and trickery. I gave a silent prayer to the moon goddess for patience and strength. I didn’t like leaning on her, but I needed something to help me through the moment. Quin’s eyes had lit up. The prospect of dealing with a hellmouth, of fighting that many creatures and potentially visiting the infernal realm, was a dream come true for him.