Infernal Hunt Complete Set

by Holly Evans

  “How does the bond with your master work, exactly?” Quin asked Lysander.

  The hound’s name felt comfortable in my mind and on my tongue; too comfortable. It was unnatural. I needed to find a way to remove the bond and send Lysander back to his home. The smell of lavender mingled with wood smoke filled the lab; a faint golden mist crept along the floor. It pooled behind the books and slipped around the table legs. I eyed it with suspicion; Lysander tucked his feet up and glared at it. His mouth was twisted into something of a snarl, but his indigo eyes smiled. I looked away from him. It was no good getting attached, we’d find a way to send him back where he belonged.

  Quin stood over Lysander. They were a similar build; Lysander had some height on him, but not much. When my dear twin wanted to be imposing he rarely failed; Lysander shrank back a little and pulled his lips back. He was used to dealing with demons, and yet a human concerned him; a smile formed on my lips. He was just another beast after all.

  Lysander finally gave and looked up at Quin, “My ex-,” he spat, “-master branded me a few days after my mother birthed me. He used magic to bind my soul to him; that gave him control over my actions that I couldn’t fight. Evelyn’s bond overrode that, thankfully, and allowed me my freedom.”

  He gave me a soft pleading expression.

  It quickly hardened before he looked back at Quin and said, “Anything else?”

  I smiled sweetly and said, “Do you know how much your hide would bring us on the open market?”

  Kadrix called over, “I’ll pay you a flat million crowns for it, as long as it’s entirely intact.”

  Lysander’s expression darkened, his eyes narrowed and his shoulders stiffened. He smiled and brushed it all aside as though nothing had happened.

  “I’m yours to do with as you please, mistress.”

  The growl to his words sent a thrill through me. I stood and walked away. The mist had thinned, giving the floor a pale golden glow. Elise gave Kadrix a dark look. Her lips pursed and her brow knitted. The elf ignored her entirely, until she poked him firmly in the ribs and pushed him to one side. Kadrix tried to snake his arm around Elise’s waist, but she stamped on his foot and set about sprinkling the powder into the shallow bowl. A small plume of popcorn-scented smoke casually drifted upwards from the bowl. It shifted into a cloud of tiny butterflies. Each one rainbow coloured, they shimmered and fluttered around the lab, bringing a smile to my face. I’d chosen butterflies as my tattoo as a reminder of the fleeting fragility of life; it was supposed to remind me to embrace every moment, every opportunity. I looked over my shoulder at Lysander, who was rolling his eyes at Quin. Maybe the beast was an opportunity.

  “This might hurt, but bear with it, ok?”

  The corners of Elise’s eyes were down-turned, her mouth set in a small, concerned line. I held out my right wrist for her to place the inch-wide silver cuff on. It was etched with complicated symbols that I couldn’t even come close to deciphering. Lysander fidgeted on his stool and kept looking around him while he tapped his foot. Quin stood over him with Kadrix on the other side of him. Quin’s hand rested on Lysander’s shoulder. Just in case. Elise slowly slipped the icy cold silver over my wrist; the ice was quickly chased by a searing heat that shot up my arm and filled my chest. My heart constricted, the room shrank and turned black before everything snapped back to normal as though nothing had happened.

  The silver cuff encompassed my wrist; the engravings, in their smooth elegant script, had a faint white glow to them. I twisted my wrist around, looking at every side of the cuff that now surrounded my wrist. It was a part of me. It would require a grand ritual to remove it. The engravings felt smooth under my fingertip; they tingled with a pleasant coolness that radiated in the back of my mind. It felt right, natural, and that scared me.

  Quin’s hand tightened around Lysander’s shoulder, keeping him firmly seated on the stool. The hound had frozen. His eyes widened, and his jaw tightened. Elise bent before him and slowly wrapped the thin silver band around his throat; it snapped to and shrank to fit snuggly against his light golden skin. He snarled and thrashed against Quin and Kadrix. Elise didn’t so much as blink. She merely ran her fingers over the collar and whispered quiet soothing words until he settled again. I almost fell backwards into the hard wooden table behind me when I felt his presence in the back of my mind. It was like a different entity, foreign sensations that I somehow knew were him. His fear and pain unfurled back there, bringing forward a complementary feeling of guilt within me. He was mine now.

  Elise knelt before me. She took my hands in her own and said, “This is going to take a little time, Evie, but there are some things you should know.”

  I swallowed hard and tried to push his pain and fear back away from my conscious mind; he refused to look at me.

  “I adapted the usual collar design a little, I made it more... modern.”

  Kadrix muttered something at her.

  “This means that he cannot lie to you; the collar makes that a physical impossibility.”

  I smiled. That was comforting.

  “However, you also can’t lie to him.” My stomach dropped. “You can control him, though, although I would hope you wouldn’t feel the need to. You can call him to you, and force him to change if you wish. The control his demon master had over him was too much; I ensured that Kadrix didn’t give you the ability to override the poor creature’s will and morality, such as it is.”

  I nodded in understanding.

  “And how do I do that?” I asked.

  She squeezed my hands and stood. “You will feel him in the back of your mind; you can use that connection to will him to do what you wish. That same presence means you’ll feel each other’s emotions. You’ll be able to block that over time, but it will take time and practise. So be prepared for that.”

  They’d thrown me in at the deep end. Quin’s eyes danced; he had a broad grin on his face that was matched by Kadrix’s.

  Elise offered me a small smile. “Why don’t you try while we’re here safe?”

  I looked at Lysander who kept his eyes low and his head drooped. I focused on the presence in the back of my mind and willed it to change into the hound form. His head lifted a little, he looked at the door to my left before I pushed harder. With a heavy sigh his face contorted, his bones snapped and muscles tore as he took on the hound form. He lay at my feet with his head on his front paws and his tail tucked up around him. I could feel his misery in the back of my mind; the guilt was welling up within me.

  Elise smiled at me and said, “I’m proud of you, Evie.”

  Kadrix shook his head and made a shooing gesture with his hands. “If you don’t mind, I do have other customers.”

  Quin shared a meaningful look with him and I wondered what the sacrifice had been, for the collar. Kadrix shooed us again, and I stood.

  He said brusquely, “Don’t fret, Evelyn, my payment was the hound’s fire. I know you were worried sick about how I was going to pay my bills.”

  I gave him my sweetest smile and said, “I’m glad to hear you can continue to live in the lap of luxury, my dear elf.”

  With that, I patted my thigh to summon the hound and walked out of the lab with Elise at my side. Quin remained behind, no doubt to have some alchemy lesson. The hound held his head low and dragged his feet a little; the misery sat heavily in the back of my mind. He’d hoped for freedom, and yet there he was, collared once more. Elise and I sat on the edge of a statue. The hound flopped at our feet with a heavy sigh.

  A playful smile burst across Elise’s lips as she said, “Has Kadrix claimed the kiss from Quin yet?”

  I hadn’t dared ask; it was an odd subject. Kadrix had demanded a kiss from Quin in return for helping me find him when the coven had kidnapped him. I had no choice but to agree to it, despite the fact I’d have quite happily offered him a kiss myself. Elise’s eyes danced at the implied question and potential there. Quin had always been firmly a ladies’ man, yet there was no denying the way Ka
drix looked at him. I gave a small shrug and tried to focus on more pressing matters. Quin was happy, and that’s what counted. The more important question was, what were we going to do about the other hellhound?

  The hound’s misery had eaten at me until I sent him away to run in the park. Elise was oddly calm about the second hellhound; I began to wonder if perhaps it was all melodrama and nothing more. I paused to watch the pink and lavender sky above the red rooves and the bright green buds on the trees, desperate to erupt. I hoped that we’d have a day of full sunshine soon; the city looked spectacular when it exploded with colour.

  Hellhounds were a fabled beast, something that hunters spoke of in reverent, hushed whispers, much like the demons that controlled them. There had been rumours of hunters of old keeping them, but they were nothing more than rumours told to small children. Yet there I was. They had said that only those with demon blood could bond with a hellhound. I was a purebred human hunter. I wondered how the old hunters had owned the hounds and what had happened to them. I idly traced the engravings on the bracelet, barely realising what I was doing.

  My life was changing, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do about or with that. My hound had said that his bond with his ex-master had shattered when he came to this plane, that he was able to stay due to a bond with me. I rolled the idea around my mind; that would suggest that someone else was bonded to the other hound. I chewed on my bottom lip. It wasn’t a huge leap in logic to believe that the witch responsible for the ritual was bonded to the hound.

  I’d been trying to contact the hunters to get as much information as possible. Someone, somewhere had to have some answers. Quin was too busy looking for answers elsewhere. The sky dispelled any trace of the sunset, the pink losing its grip on the horizon in favour of the blue with a smattering of stars. The hunters had ignored my texts and phone calls. They were petty fools with egos that should have gotten them killed years ago, yet they were all I had. I gave the gate a small kick as I leaned on it to open it; my mind wandered of its own accord, touching on the varying topics and situations I’d found myself in the middle of. My chance of an easy quiet life had very definitely evaporated.

  Quin had a rather large smile on his face when he bounced into the living room. I’d been stretched out on the sofa feeling out the presence in the back of my mind, the hound. My hound. I hadn’t figured out what I was supposed to do with him. Did I treat him like a pet dog? A particularly large and snarky pet dog? There were too many questions and not enough answers. I knew that I had to figure the bond out so that it worked in a way I could live with. Elise had told me that I could hide my emotions from him. I planned on figuring out how to do so as soon as possible. I didn’t like the idea of him knowing me so intimately.

  “You have a hellhound, Evie! You own a hellhound!”

  I laughed softly at him. His enthusiasm bubbled up through his very being. I was glad one of us could be happy about the situation. I was still quite sure that it was a disaster, but I was trying to look on the bright side. I chewed my bottom lip and wondered how much of his happiness had come from Kadrix. He adored exploring new things, but the elf had clearly had an impact on him.

  Once he’d started cooking some food he turned to me, his brows knitted. “Where is the hound? I had more questions.”

  I shrugged and lay back on the sofa. “Running, probably around Strahov Park. I told him not to harm anyone, his misery was insufferable.”

  “Misery?” Quin asked absent-mindedly.

  I sighed. “He’d hoped so desperately for freedom.”

  “Ah. Well, he’s a hellhound, he was born into slavery, he’ll adapt. Anyway, you’ll give him a better life than a demon.”

  I looked at him pointedly. “You sound as though I’ll be keeping him.”

  There had to be a way to return him to wherever he came from. The fae could come and go from the fae realm, as had been demonstrated by the pixie taking Christian there. I saw no reason why I couldn’t return the hound to the infernal realm. He wasn’t meant to be on our plane, and my role in life was to keep the supernal community balanced and hidden. He went against that.

  He looked at me aghast. “You can’t send him back! You’re the first human in decades, possibly centuries, to own one. We could learn so much from him, from you...”

  I glared at him. “Quin, you are not experimenting on me.”

  “Well, it wouldn’t be experimenting per se...”

  “Quin...”

  He flashed me his most charming grin. “Of course I wouldn’t, sis.”

  I huffed and returned to trying to block the presence in the back of my mind.

  The hunters had of course answered Quin. The city was old-fashioned in its gender roles; the hunters weren’t usually as bad, but I had clearly upset them somehow. They remained suspicious of my connection to the hound. I hoped that the suspicion wouldn’t evolve into something more bloody, I wasn’t ready to become one of the hunted. We arranged to meet them somewhere quiet, a small park not too far away. We needed to gather information; Elise was researching the possibility of the second hellhound being able to open the hellmouth. It seemed absurd. As far as I was aware, it would take a full coven of strong full-blooded witches to pull off such a feat. Even then, it was hardly a small task. Lysander couldn’t lie, though, so we had to cover every angle.

  Quin had hinted throughout the evening that I should call Lysander back so he could ask him more questions. I ignored him, there was no reason to keep the hound nearby. If nothing else, he was happier when he could run, and that placed less weight on my mind. I didn’t particularly want the hound close by, he was a constant reminder of what had happened to me.

  Breakfast had been frustrating, with Quin asking incessant questions about the bond with the hound. I loved him, but I had too much on my mind to be pandering to his curiosity. I gave him as much patience as I could, but it remained a finite resource. We walked down to the park in a comfortable silence; Elise joined us when we reached the main road. I was glad of her presence. If nothing else, it gave Quin someone else to question.

  She hooked her arm with mine and smiled serenely. It was a little odd seeing her in normal clothes two days running. I’d grown accustomed to her priestess garb. Her pale blue jeans clung to her long lean legs, and her white shirt was simple and elegantly tailored. The calf-length white coat finished the ensemble. She was wearing ice-blue eye shadow. I had to assume that the colour choices were a middle ground with her lady, a small nod of respect.

  “I’ve done a little research and spoken with my lady,” she said quietly.

  Quin’s ears pricked, but he kept his mouth shut, waiting for her to continue.

  “It seems that this other hellhound may be able to open a hellmouth, if he can secure some help. I’d like to hope that the covens of this city have more sense than that, but we can’t be sure.”

  The memory of Lysander’s words bloomed in my mind; he had needed the bond with me to remain here. That suggested that the other hound had a bond himself, potentially with a witch. A heavy weight descended over us. If a hellmouth was opened, we’d lose the city, potentially the country.

  Quin said, “We need to see if the other hunters know anything, perhaps they have a lead we don’t. They’ve been dealing with the shades after all.”

  I simply nodded. The potential situation whirled around my mind, forming a maelstrom of panic and terror. We would find a way; we always did.

  Matyas stood and greeted Quin with a man-hug; he gave a firm nod to me and Elise. Viktor grunted. Dimitri hadn’t bothered to show. The small park was empty apart from us. The water feature hadn’t been turned on yet, leaving the shallow concrete bowl dry and empty. The water pipes burst up at regular intervals, looking lost and bland without the fountains of water flowing from them. We stood near the wooden benches, each eyeing the other, waiting for someone to break. Matyas’ eye trailed down my arm and lingered on the sliver of silver that emerged from the sleeve of my leather jacket. I w
anted to cover it, to hide my secrets from him, but covering it would only draw his eye further.

  Quin opened the conversation, “Do you know of any strong covens who might align with demons?”

  “She killed the strongest witch in the city and drove her coven out. We haven’t heard hide nor hair of the others since,” Viktor growled.

  “She tried to kill me; was I supposed to stand by and allow her, for your convenience?” I spat.

  Lysander’s presence pressed into the back of my mind, the clicking of his claws on the tarmac registered alongside it. He appeared at my side a moment or two later. I brushed my fingers over the top of his head without realising what I was doing, before he shifted back into his human form. I felt his words press into my mind, I felt your stress and anxiety. That made me feel weak, yet I couldn’t help but be grateful for his presence. He stood close to me, his eyes fixed firmly on the hunters. I caught the twitch of Elise’s mouth out the corner of my eye, she was fighting back a smile.

  Matyas stepped closer, his eyes shining. His hand slipped over the long broad knife at his hip. It remained in its sheath, but I allowed one of my throwing knives to slip down against the heel of my hand, just in case.

  “You’re with this hellhound?”

  I smiled. “He’s mine, yes.”

  Both hunters’ eyes fell on the thin silver band around Lysander’s throat, and they passed questioning looks between each other before Viktor said, “You collared it? You managed to claim it?”

  “I did. Any more stupid questions?” I said in as bored a tone as I could muster.

  Matyas sputtered, “It’s not possible.”

  Elise cut in, “It clearly is. Now. Stop wasting time and tell us, have the shades made any mention of a hellmouth? Have any of the covens shown signs of infernal interference?”

  Their eyes hardened.

  Viktor said, “No. The shades have eluded us. The covens won’t speak to us, thanks to that bitch.”