by Kiki Howell
Which meant that Hades was coming after Samantha to strip her magic and send her ass to the Underworld. Since she had never heard of anything like this happening before she had no clue what to expect. Did they take out their target regardless of bystanders? Did Mystic have a target painted on her back now because she was with her?
Stupid supernatural rules. They were so fucked.
“Nice doggy.” Mystic squatted down. She held out a hand which had a red dog treat in it, shaped like a bone.
Where had she conjured that from? Any witch worth her salt could conjure items within a half mile radius of their current location, but everything around here were local shops.
“I don’t think the hellhound wants a dog biscuit.” Samantha imagined the beast probably ate a strictly raw diet. The way her luck was running? Humans were probably top on that list for favorite doggy treats.
“Shh.” Mystic waved off her comment. “Nice puppy. Want a treat?” She continued to hold out the treat with just her fingertips. Probably a smart idea unless she didn’t care about losing her fingertips.
Ruby eyes glared at them. The hellhound crouched down and one paw started to drag across the pavement. It was one hundred percent a challenge. The sound of those hideously ugly claws scraping the ground, coupled with the look in the beast’s eyes chilled Samantha to every core of her witchy soul.
Everyone always told guys to grow bigger balls if they admitted fear. Apparently, she needed to grow a bigger set of ovaries, because hers just shriveled up to the size of peas.
Mystic forced a smile. “Okay, maybe a dog biscuit wasn’t the best idea. How about a steak puppy? I bet you don’t get those in the Underworld often, do you?” A juicy, red, raw slab of meat appeared in her hands and she dangled the piece in front of the pup.
There had to be a restaurant nearby. And a pet shop. Samantha didn’t think there was anything else close to be conjured so hopefully Mystic had magically drugged that steak or they were dead meat.
The beast obviously didn’t want the meat as he lunged for the kneeling Mystic. Samantha threw herself in front of her, arm extended to protect her face. He latched onto her arm, teeth sinking deep into her bones and she gave a small shriek of pain.
If life was a game the scorecard would read:
Mystic the pet whisperer: zero. Hellhound pup: one.
The thought of her death certificate stating: Hellhound puppy chow made her giggle hysterically before everything turned dark.
Chapter Eight
ONYX STOPPED AT the end of the alley behind Mystic’s shop. A Hellhound was hunched over Samantha’s body. Damn it! Was he too late? He moved around the Hellhound slowly, taking in the situation and trying to get a better look at his witch.
At his movement, the demon dog turned and his eyes tracked him as a long line of drool slid down its muzzle. Onyx saw finally had a clear view of Samantha lying on the pavement. Her eyes were closed and he immediately thought the worst. He noticed a woman he had never met before hovering over her and assumed it was her cousin Mystic. Long black hair was coming out of its bun and she was wearing a hippie skirt from an era he hadn’t seen in a while, the sixties. But, what really caught his attention were the flip flops on her feet. How did she ever expect to run in those?
At that thought, he heard growls and he focused his attention back to the enemy. “Easy, big fella. Let’s do this nice and easy, yeah?” Onyx muttered as he continued to make his way slowly around the giant pooch. He needed to keep his attention off the women.
He chanced a glance at the women and noticed Mystic was standing like a mama bear over her cub and she looked shocked to see someone else with them.
“What do you want? Hasn’t there been enough blood shed today?” She looked riled up and he could almost picture steam coming out of her ears with her fury.
Onyx stopped moving as the Hellhound turned his attention to the woman who had spoken, “I’m not here to hurt you or Samantha. I’m here to protect her from the Trapper that’s after her.” He remembered Vivian in the shop and her parting comment and tacked on, “Oh your grandmother, Vivian, sends her regards.”
Mystic’s mouth curved slightly, “That crazy old bat. Grandma has always been a bit on the wild side. They say Samantha and I are just like her when she was young.” Her smile dropped. A mean scowl crossed her features, “So you’re here to protect my cousin, are you? I’d say you’re doing a bang-up job buddy. Kind of cutting it close on the timing don’t you think?”
What was up with the witches in this family? That kind of crazy was all genetics. What had he gotten himself into?
Onyx shook his head once to the side, “She’s still alive, isn’t she? That makes me right on time in my book. Is she breathing?”
Mystic tilted her head to the side, keeping an eye out on the nice doggy from hell and gave a slight nod in the affirmative. “She’s alive. That mutt bit her though and she was bleeding bad. She’s lost a lot of blood. She’ll need to be tended to soon or she could die.”
Onyx needed to get this fight done with so he could tend to Samantha’s wounds. She would not die on his watch. Not after everything he’d done to get himself here. He had to get his little witch to safety and see for himself that she’d be okay.
He lurched forward, no longer caring if the Hellhound pounced. That was all the giant demon dog needed and he lunged forward to take a bite out of him. Onyx turned with lightning speed and met the Hellhound mid-launch. The two-tumbled end over end until they landed against the side of the building with Onyx on top. He punched the hound in the face, hoping to daze it so he could get the women to safety.
He should have known better; it would take a hell of a lot more to stun a beast from the Underworld. If he made it out of this fight alive he would be suggesting to his boss some course in how to take a Hellhound down. He would not take no for an answer. He’d even be willing to teach the class himself, obviously, this was a specialized skill.
Onyx busy fighting off the huge jaws of the Hellhound thought he heard a crash nearby as he and the beast fought over dominance in this fight. He had always been alpha and he’d be damned if he’d lose to a dog from hell now.
The beast didn’t care and the vampire found himself on his back with the demon dog on top, saliva dripping from its muzzle sizzling into the pavement just inches from his face. Disgusting. He was adding tic tacs to essential carry items when fighting these beasts to his future students. At least if they died, the last thing they smelled would be a minty fresh fragrance. No one wanted to die from rancid, melt-your-face-off doggy breath.
The shout Onyx heard behind him brought his attention back to his surroundings as he pushed with all his vampire strength to shove the beast off him. He heard something clatter and slide across the ground, bumping into his knee as he moved to get back on his feet. He looked down and saw a knife glimmering in the sunlight streaming through the cloudy sky.
Mystic must have wanted to give him something to help. “Thanks,” he shouted over his shoulder. “This should do nicely,” Scooping up the blade, he lunged forward and plunged it deep into the heart of the Hellhound at the same time the beast launched at him.
Sticky, hot, wet blood dripped down his arms as the beast finally stilled. It felt like acid. Who knew what their blood was made of, but it obviously wasn’t sugar and spice and everything nice. More like acid, barb wire, and everything evil. He threw the dog a few feet. There was a rumble as the ground opened beneath him, swallowing the damn thing, along with Mystic’s knife. Oops. He hoped that wasn’t a family relic or a favorite ritual knife or something. His wallet couldn’t handle anymore abuse today.
Just as the ground snapped shut with an audible pop, Samantha sat up. She looked around, no doubt spotting blood scattered throughout the alley. “What happened?”
Mystic let out a surprised yelp when she realized her cousin was awake. She had been staring at the pavement that looked as it had before the fight had started. Rushing to her cousin’s side she ski
dded to a stop, helping Samantha to her feet, “Oh Mr. Hot and Hunky was just taking out the Hellhound while you were in la la land.”
Samantha turned to look at the vampire in question, “You took out a Hellhound?” She looked surprised. That didn’t make his manhood shrivel up at all. He might be lean but everyone knew it was always the small, quiet ones to watch out for. He didn’t bother responding besides the arch of his eyebrow for her daring to question his manhood. She should have known after their night together he had strength. How else would he have been capable of all those sexual positions?
She dusted off her jeans and took in the alleyway. Besides the scattered blood pools up and down the alley, everything looked normal. Her hands propped up on hips, “How could you do this to me? I thought you had paid the fine? You told me you were going to pay the fine.” She came up to push a finger into his chest, “Or was that your way of getting into my panties? Because that’s pathetic, Onyx. I don’t care how great the sex was. You need to fix this.”
The back door slammed open interrupting Samantha. In the doorway was the shadow of a monster. Onyx froze midway to the woman he had chosen to protect. Could that be the Trapper? The same one he had met in Hades office earlier today? Seemed like days ago.
“There’s no more hiding, Samantha. It’s time to quit running and come with me.” Rune’s voice rumbled darkly came from the doorway. Fuck. It was him. Fucking bastard wouldn’t give up.
He watched Samantha’s face pale. Her brown eyes wide and panicked glanced around like a frightened rabbit ready to bolt. Most people had a fight or flight response in situations like this. He imagined his little witch was normally in the fight category, but there was something about this Trapper, Rune, that gave him pause, so he could only imagine how she felt.
Onyx positioned himself between Samantha and the behemoth. “She’s not going anywhere.”
Rune stepped further out into the alley, a shaft of light shining on him and revealing just how huge he really was, “I’m afraid that isn’t one of her options. She needs to come with me. Trust me when I tell you that even if she continues to run she will tire out eventually and I’ll be waiting.”
Onyx stepped closer to the Trapper and pushed the woman he was doing his best to protect further behind him, “She’s not going anywhere with you. I don’t care who you work for.”
He pushed Rune in the chest, hoping to catch him off guard. He should have known better, since Trappers where known to be single-minded when it came to their targets. The Trapper didn’t even waver, much less take a step back as Onyx had hoped.
“Why are you after her? I paid Hades the damn fine so that she wasn’t taken to the Underworld. She was supposed to be cleared of all charges and now thinks that I lied to her.” Onyx said as he tried to procrastinate and give Samantha and her cousin time to run. If he kept the focus on himself, they might have a chance to get to safety.
The Trapper laughed, “I don’t have to answer any of your questions blood sucker, but since I’m in a generous mood, I’ll oblige. I’m after her because of a mark that was put on her from Lucifer. I have no idea why Lucifer wants her. It’s a decent bounty. I’m obligated because I signed the contract so I’m just doing my job. Hades didn’t ask questions but he had no problem with the arrangement.”
Onyx had aligned himself in front of the girls so they could run. Rune would have to get through him before he could get to them. Which meant they could get out and find safety with one of the Witchhouses. Witches had them scattered throughout the US and only magic users knew where to find them. If she could just get to one of those she’d be safe.
He could hear Mystic tugging Samantha down the alley. He heard them duck around the corner of the alley onto the street. He heard car doors opening and he breathed a sigh of relief, till he heard Samantha speaking, “I can’t just leave him here to die, Mystic. We have to do something,” she said
Mystic cried out in disbelief, “Are you fucking kidding me? We need to leave. The vampire can take care of himself, he’s immortal remember?”
He nodded his head agreeing with Mystic. They needed to get out of there and he’d handle this guy on his own. But Samantha wasn’t listening. He could hear that she was already back at the entrance to the alley. Rune gave a smile when he spotted her.
“No, Mystic. I’m not going to run. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him, but he fought a Hellhound for me and now he’s fighting that kitten killer dude. I don’t know what his game plan is, but I know he’s fighting to keep me safe and that’s enough for me.”
Rune lunged for him and then all Onyx could hear was the sounds of fists meeting flesh. Crashing sounds as they slammed each other back and forth into the brick walls. The feel of his face being smashed into the stone behind him, before an upper cut to Rune’s smug face released him. Both were breathing heavy. Grunts filled the air with each punch, jab, or kick. He really needed to spar more. Working at the club had relaxed him a bit and now that was coming to bite him on the ass.
The Trapper stood back, breaking the connection between the vampire and himself, and looked over at their audience. The mountain of a man opened a glittering portal between them and gave the witch standing behind Onyx a wink, “Be seeing you soon, Samantha. More than one way to capture a witch and he can’t watch you forever.”
Rune stepped into the portal and with an audible pop, he and the portal disappeared.
Onyx made his way over to Samantha, trying to catch his breath, “It seems to me, you need some protection. Since you won’t listen to your cousin and get out of harm’s way I’m volunteering for the position to keep you safe.” It looked like she was about to speak so he interrupted her, “I took on a Hellhound and a Trapper for you today alone. Don’t push me on this or I’ll carry you off regardless of your wishes.”
He noticed her arm was still bleeding, leaving red drops to paint the pavement below, “We need to get you back to my place so that I can bandage that up before you bleed to death. It would be a shame for you to die after all of the trouble I’ve been through in the last few hours.”
Samantha looked from the vampire to her arm in shock. She hadn’t even noticed that the bite was still bleeding. Mystic caught her as she slumped, suddenly light-headed and weak.
“I think you should go with him so he can take care of your wound,” Mystic told her cousin as they all made their way out of the alleyway.
Samantha nodded, “I’m sorry I brought this to your door.” She grabbed onto his arm and Onyx wrapped her close, supporting her weight. She chanced a glance at him, “You’re my best bet to try and get out of this mess.”
Finally. Someone was finally acting like a logical human being. He hoped the trend would continue.
Chapter Nine
SAMANTHA BIT HER lip until she tasted blood. The bite on her arm from the Hellhound had started throbbing and the blood flow never really slowed down either. She felt a tear slide down her cheek as she tried to pretend the pain wasn’t as bad as it was. Samantha quickly wiped it away before Onyx could see it. Big witches didn’t cry, damn it! Okay, so she might be prideful but she didn’t want to feel vulnerable in front of someone she was attracted to. It made her feel weak. She should be able to defend herself, with as strong as she was with her magic.
Onyx unlocked the front door to his two-story house and placed his hand on her lower back, ushering her inside. He flipped a switch and the interior lit up. She stopped by the front door and glanced around.
Much to her surprise his place looked modern. He just seemed old-school and she guessed she was expecting to see a house from the eighteen hundreds with old, classic, dusty furniture from that time era. Maybe a chandelier and a butler.
The living room was on the left. She could see a few black leather couches scattered on top of a black and cream colored Persian rug. A fireplace unlit on one side of the room with a brick mantle. A few frames with old photographs dotted the shelf. A sleek black modern fan lazily circulated the air. There
was one large chair closest to the fireplace. It was black and it looked like crushed velvet. She could picture herself curled up in it, reading a book and listening to the fire crackling on a cold winter night.
Looking straight ahead, Samantha saw a black carpeted staircase that branched off at the top to the left and right. Turning her head to the right of the staircase, she saw an open doorway that showed a good-sized kitchen and a small hallway, presumably that led to a downstairs bedroom and a bathroom.
He grabbed her good arm and led through the kitchen to the small hallway she had noticed. Surprisingly the kitchen looked modern too. Sleek black appliances from the fridge to the stove to the microwave. The only chrome fixtures she saw was the large kitchen sink. What in the world would a vampire need with such a delicious kitchen?
Onyx still steered her towards the hallway and taking a quick right Onyx flicked the light on in a small bathroom.
“Sit down,” he ordered as he pushed her into a sitting position on the toilet. His disheveled blonde hair lay flat on his head, unlike the first night she met him when it had been spiked at the top. He looked kind of cute like that. She could only imagine how horrifying she looked. She cleaned up nice, but she had no illusions in her head about how she must look right now.
He opened the medicine cabinet. He pulled down a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide, some cotton balls and set them down on the sink. Next, he knelt down and opened the black cabinet under the sink and pulled out the small first aid kit he kept there. She was beginning to see a pattern with all the dark furnishings. He obviously liked the color black.
“This may sting a bit,” Onyx said as he poured some the cleansing liquid onto a cotton ball and started applying it to the bite on Samantha’s left arm.
Samantha hissed, “A bit? That burns like hell!” She tried to snatch her arm back but Onyx’s grip squeezed her wrist like a python. There was no way he was letting go.
