Heroes and a Hellhound: Book One

by Eleanor Rousseau

“Oh. Nevermind.”

  “Didn’t you check to see who it was?”

  “I don’t have your number saved.”

  Okay, I was slightly offended by that. “We could use your help. Jason’s gone missing.”

  “Did he get himself trapped in a painting?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’m not really sure what insight I can provide.”

  “Well, there’s a large portal… we think he’s been dragged into it.”

  “And you want me to help with the memorial?”

  God, she was difficult. “No, we’d like you to help us get him back. Obviously.”

  “You want me, a relatively sane individual, to hop into a portal to you-don’t-know-where to face you-don’t-know-what in order to save Jason?”

  When she put it like that, it did sound like a lot to ask. “Can you just please come over here?”

  “I’m already here.”

  She tapped me on the shoulder and I just about jumped out of my skin.

  “Terra texted me saying there were bacon-wrapped sausages,” she said.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You don’t like bacon, and you don’t eat.”

  “No, but I forgot to buy Pete’s tinned food,” she said, gesturing to the dog at her heel.

  “Here you go, boy,” Terra said, cracking open a Tupperware box. Pete’s tail wagged but he didn’t go to her, he just glanced up at Nevaeh.

  “Go on, have your snacks,” she said, waving him away.

  His tongue hanging out, he trotted over to accept the treats. Nevaeh turned to the portal. “I have a plan. I just need a length of rope, or something.”

  “I’ll take a look around for something,” Juliette offered. She came back a minute later with an extension wire. “Will this work?”

  “It’ll do.” Nevaeh took the socket end and handed me the plug. “This way, you can pull me back if I’m gone for too long.” She nudged me closer to the portal and stood at my side, then she gave me a serious look. “Okay, so, whatever you do, don’t let go of your side of the wire.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Sure, I won’t-” My words broke off as she gave me a firm shove and I tumbled through the portal. I sat up, slightly stunned. In hindsight, I should have known she’d pull something like that.

  I appeared to be in a large cavern. The wire disappeared into the portal which, thankfully, remained open. I pushed to my feet, just in time to feel a tug on the wire. I let it pull me back through the portal.

  I glared at Nevaeh.

  “Give me your phone,” she instructed.

  Still scowling, I handed it over.

  “One minute’s passed. So, in the pocket dimension, time moves at the same rate it does here.”

  “There was a chance that time would move differently?” I demanded.

  “Wow. You were going to let me go in there without even knowing I could come back in five seconds or five years? That’s messed up.”

  I rubbed my hands over my face.

  “On the bright side, it seems like we’re safe to go in. It apparently doesn’t open into a ravine, or above a lava pit.”

  I really needed her to stop talking now. “You are a horrible person,” I told her.

  * * *

  Nevaeh -

  You might wonder how it’s possible for someone to play superhero during the night and normal university student during the day, especially since I didn’t exactly go through pains to hide my identity. It helps that I tend to half-ass both aspects of my life. Being a hero is easy when you are an immortal with one or two supernatural powers at your disposal.

  I was also good at pretending to be interested and alert, even when my mind was on darker, more interesting pursuits. I mostly implemented that particular handy little skill at university, and if ever called upon I could also nod wisely and usually blurt out something relevant to whatever was being asked. That skill I also used during meetings of our little hero club.

  However, on occasion, I still missed the mark, which is why when the troll said that to save Jason, the person could not cannot have an impure soul, I’d volunteered.

  My friends all stared at me. “What?”

  “He said whoever goes through there needs to have a pure soul,” Rosa pointed out.

  “Oh, maybe not me then. I’ve had sex in at least four different positions.”

  Dee frowned at me, then shook her head. “Yeah, you’re probably out.”

  “The one who enters must be-” Oh, the troll was still talking. “-unburdened by worldly concerns.”

  “Anyone have a jar?” I asked.

  Juliette rooted around in her bag for a moment before coming out with a mason jar. Damn hipster. I took the jar and unscrewed the lid, then I glanced down at my forearm, grimaced, and sank my fangs into my own flesh.

  “What the hell?” Rosa yelped.

  I didn’t suck. After all, it would be super weird to drink your own blood, akin to biting off your own finger. But I didn’t need to. Having my fang dig into flesh was enough to draw out the soul inside.

  I waited a few more beats before tugging my fangs free and spitting my soul out into the jar. I eyed it curiously for a moment. It was a rather pathetic little thing. Mostly souls glowed with a radiant golden light but mine just had a weak silvery shimmer to it. What was the deal with that?

  “What the fuck did you just do?” Juliette demanded.

  I screwed the lid back on and offered her the glass. “Here, hold my soul.”

  “Okay, why did you do that?” Dee asked.

  I shrugged. “He said they needed to be pure, he didn’t say they needed to be pure good.”

  “Can you even, like, live without a soul?” Rosa asked.

  I quirked a brow at her. “Yeah, no problem. Look at the poor thing. I’m probably better off without it.”

  “Aren’t people supposed to go evil without a soul?” she added.

  I rolled my eyes. She’d probably been watching Supernatural again. “Guys, I’m already evil. I’m a hellhound; souls are my bread and butter. I will be fine. Just don’t let anyone drink my soul.”

  “Wait, someone could drink your soul?” Juliette asked, looking horrified.

  I laughed. “Yeah, if a demon did it they might get high, they’d have some weird-ass visions. It would probably drive a human mad, eat away at their own soul until it was all that’s left. Hound souls are unique. They’re the only kind you can consume even if you already have a soul.”

  ‘Cause they were what I liked to refer to as a ‘halfa’, as in, half a soul. Given we were only part human, I figured we only had part of a soul. But I didn’t often contemplate the impact of my diminished immortal soul, because I had an immortal body, too.

  “Anyway, your questions are inane and boring. Let’s do this.” And I stepped into the abyss.

  * * *

  “I was so hoping it would be you, hellhound. You want the mortal back, correct?

  I nodded, though the answer seemed obvious. Why else would I come to this shit hole? The guy had freaking pig monsters guarding his labyrinth. Apparently, he couldn’t spring for the man-bull hybrid. He was like a poor man’s Daedalus.

  “I’ll release him, but first I’ll be needing something from you. You are the spawn of a demon, you must feel the pull of darkness, the blood lust, the thrill of violence, the—”

  I raised a hand. “I’m going to stop you right there. I’m on board.”

  There was a pause. “What, really?”

  “Sure, why not?” Idly, I licked the blood from my blade.

  “Oh, I had a big speech ready.”

  I shrugged and pointed at him. “Save it for the next demon-spawn.”

  “So, you’ll commit acts of evil in my name?”

  “Yeah, I’m all for it. I love acts of evil, just ask my husband. Can I go now? The others will be waiting.”

  “Um, sure.”

  Jason stepped forward, though he still appeared to be in a trance-like state. I almost reached the gatewa
y at our backs when the crazy kidnapper guy said, “Wait! How will I know you will keep your word?”

  I shot him a look. “You know hellhounds are incapable of lying to those with hearts of pure evil,” I said seriously, as if that were obvious.

  He cackled victoriously and I actually blinked, surprised he had bought that. It was total bullshit. I could lie as well as anyone—better, in most cases. “Then go, wreak havoc and let the people know of the new world order where chaos reigns supreme!”

  “Sounds good. Will do.” I walked out with zombie Jason and muttered under my breath, “Nutcase.”

  * * *

  Jason blinked out of his daze the moment we stepped back outside the portal but I was too busy licking blood from my blade to pay him any mind. It tasted just like the stuff I got from the butchers. Curious.

  Jason gasped. “Oh my God, that was the worst experience of my life.”

  Drama queen.

  “It felt like he had me trapped in my own head for days, weeks even. I’m so damn parched.”

  Fucking Jason-

  My mind registered the danger a moment later but it was too late to prevent what happened next.

  I slapped the jar out of his hand, but he’d already taken a sip and a fraction of my soul was inside him.

  “Oh, shit.”

  The glass shattered against the ground, spilling most of my soul out into the open air.

  “Come here, you fucker,” I snarled, grasping at my soul and shoving the pieces into my mouth. I almost gagged, but the sucker went down and then I turned wide eyes on the damn fool I’d just rescued.

  “What? What was that?”

  “It was my soul, you moron, you drank my damn soul!”

  “What the fuck does that even mean?”

  “It means you are fucked, hero boy, and not in a fun way.”

  “Wait, you got most of it, didn’t you?” Dee asked me.

  I eyed the jerk who was now practically a dead man walking. “He got some, but it’s fine. In a few days his own soul will be completely gone, then I can just bite him to get back my soul.” And it would serve him damn right.

  “Gone, gone where?” Jason demanded.

  I shrugged. “I dunno.”

  “I don’t think humans can live without souls like you can, Neva,” Juliette said.

  “Oh no, they definitely cannot. He’s super dead.”

  “Can we make him not die?” she asked slowly.

  “I guess I could leave part of my soul inside him. He’d be alive, but basically my puppet.” The idea did have some merit…

  Jason grimaced. “I’d rather be dead.”

  “Can’t you just take out both souls now, separate them, then each take back your own souls?” Rosa asked.

  I shrugged. “Theoretically, but someone would have to make sure his heart kept beating while I separated the souls.” I glanced at the broken glass on the floor. “And we’ll need more mason jars.”

  * * *

  Of all the people, Jason was pretty low on the list of people I wanted to sink my teeth into. Not because he didn’t irritate me, quite the opposite. Unless I intended to tear someone’s throat out, I saw it as more of a form of foreplay, though I never used my fangs unless I was trying to take a soul.

  Grimacing, I lifted Jason’s forearm to my mouth and bit down. I waited just long enough to draw out every last drop of soul before pulling free and spitting it into a jar.

  “Oh, gross.” He tasted like honour and freaking patriotism. It was enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

  The contents of the jar looked unlike anything I’d ever seen. It was like a silver grey fog was trying to smother a group of fireflies.

  Rosa had already begun CPR when she glanced at me. “Hurry.”

  “Right, yes. I will…hurry.”

  “You don’t know what the fuck to do with it, do you?” Juliette asked.

  “Um, no.” I screwed off the lid and stared inside for a moment. “Damn it, leave it alone and get your ass out here,” I commanded. Predictably, the attempt did fuck all. “Fuck.” I shoved a hand into the jar and was assaulted with thoughts and emotions that were not my own.

  I dropped to my knee. “Fuck!” I could fight this;, my soul might not match a human’s for anything else but it was the hungrier of the two. Fuck the human’s soul, return to me, you dumb piece of shit. The fog buzzed as if agitated by my thoughts.

  I snatched my hand back before I broke under the weight of a human soul. “It’s too much,” I gasped. I couldn’t physically separate the two.

  “You have to do this, Neva, we can’t let him die,” Juliette insisted.

  I felt like my skin was covered in grease, like the soul had stained me. “I don’t… I don’t think I can.” Most days I could say in all honesty that nothing scared me, but I truly hated touching a human soul, and the thought of it made me want to gag.

  “I can’t fucking do it.’

  A sharp smack reverberated through the room and it took me a moment to realise I’d been slapped. “You are a fucking hellhound, Nevaeh, and you didn’t just save him to have him die now. Fix it!” Dee snapped.

  “Son of a bitch!” I snarled in frustration, but then a thought occurred to me. I whistled. “I know you’re nearby, you daft bastard, come here,” I called, glancing around.

  The German Shepherd galloped into the room a moment later, skidding to a stop by my feet.

  “Who’s a good boy? Here, come eat my soul.” I held the jar open and he enthusiastically licked at the contents like it was peanut butter.

  A moment later the jar contained only a pristine human soul, though it was probably a little dimmer than it should be. I quickly poured it into Jason’s mouth.

  “What the hell was that?” Dee asked.

  I dropped down to sit on the floor. “You know, he’s really not as useless as he pretends to be,” I said and, as if in response, Pete licked at my neck.

  “But… how could your dog even do that? And won’t it now infect his soul?”

  “No, dogs don’t have souls.”

  They all looked at me with varying degrees of horror so I decided to take pity on them. “I’m screwing with you. He can do it because we have a bond. He’s not just a dog, he’s my familiar. I can share some of my powers with him and my soul will see him as an extension of itself, and therefore will not attack him.”

  “So… is that that then? Or do you now need to get part of your soul from the dog?” Juliette asked.

  I shrugged. “He can keep it. He earned it, buddy, didn’t you?” I scratched the canine behind the ears and he looked at me with an expression of pure bliss.

  “Will you be okay without it?” Dee asked, frowning.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure he just got my virtue and sense of compassion.”

  Rosa snorted. “But you’ve clearly retained your sense of humour.” She paused, resting a hand on Jason’s chest. “I think it worked, he’s breathing on his own again.”

  “Woohoo,” I said drily.

  18

  18 - My Motto

  Nevaeh -

  Usually, I hated the fact that I looked like a bimbo-blonde college student, but today my looks would help me kill some folk. Fun. I ran my tongue over my teeth to make sure my fangs weren’t showing.

  I was walking along the side of the motorway, the exact stretch of road where at least two other young girls had gone missing.

  Realising Jason was still speaking into the phone at my ear, I suddenly tuned in. “…so just remember our motto.”

  I nodded confidently. “Kill bitches and sleep with strangers.”

  “What? No!”

  Wait, it wasn’t? I frowned. “Kill strangers and sleep with bitches?” No, that didn’t seem right.

  “No, it’s the greater good; we work towards the greater good.”

  I paused thoughtfully before responding. “My motto was way better.” His wasn’t the least bit catchy.

  “Whatever, my point is; please try not to kill him,
we want him to face justice.”

  What the fuck? “I can’t kill him?”

  “No.”

  “But what if I really really want to?”

  “Just don’t, it’s not that hard.”

  The sound of a car approaching caught my attention. “I got to go, but I feel like the issue is up for debate.”

  “No, no, it definitely is-” I hung up and tucked the phone away in my pocket. Torturing him was such fun.

  The car slowed by my side and the passenger side window rolled down. “You need a ride, sugar?”

  The woman was middle-aged with long curly brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses. She didn’t look like a serial killer, but then neither did I. However, it was a little harder to convince myself that she might be a rapist.

  “Sure. Thanks.” I opened the door and hopped into the car.

  We’d gotten less than a mile when I felt the prick of a needle at my thigh. “Whelp… shows what I know,” I slurred before slumping in my seat.

  Nothing happened then for a long time, so I took a nap. I was jostled to attention when someone dragged me out of the car. I was pretty small but I had ass for days, so the woman probably wasn’t strong enough to lift me. I was betting I’d just found Mr. Rapey.

  I debated whether to kill him right then, but I was starting to get the sneaking suspicion this operation was bigger than we had anticipated. Fun.

  I let myself drift back to sleep. After all, this was my usual nap time.

  When I awoke, I was tied to a bed—one with a mattress more uncomfortable than the one at my student accommodations, so I knew it was shitty. The man was untying my boot and the woman was fiddling with what looked like a video camera.

  “You should have called my husband, he’s really into bondage.”

  The woman started at my words. “You’re married?”

  “Of course, I’d never have sex before marriage, what do you take me for?” I said, deadpan.

  “If she’s married, people will be looking for her soon,” she said.

  “Then we should get started. Help me get her fucking boots off.”

  “Haven’t you girls ever heard of a vagina dentata?” I asked curiously.

  “What the fuck?” Mr. Rapey murmured.