by Rue Volley
“Tell me,” he said to her as she wept before him. He reached up and lifted her chin to make her look at him.
“What happened to you?” he said and she shook her head and looked away from him as he yelled out and stepped back from her. He slammed his fists against the stone wall as she ran behind him and leaned into his back, hanging onto him tightly.
“Brutus, you have a future here, do not ruin your chances because of me.”
He turned and held her face in his hands as the tears welled up in his eyes.
“I cannot allow this to be.” He said to her as he walked away from her very quickly and she cried out to him. “You will be killed!”
She them turned as she sobbed and stepped out onto the balcony. She stepped forward and without any sound at all she disappeared from our sight as she jumped to her death below. I stepped forward as Dorin grabbed my hand.
“We have to get to him now.” He said as he pulled me along with him, through naked bodies and moaning. We reached the door and I looked back as suddenly the entire orgy was drenched in blood. I sucked in my breath as Dorin opened the door and pulled me out behind him.
“Where do we go?” I asked him and Dorin closed his eyes for a minute and then grabbed my hand again, dragging me along with him until he suddenly stopped at a door and leaned into it. He closed his eyes and smelled at it and then opened it up. I stood there as I saw him, Gunner, hanging from a cross and crying out towards the sky. We ran in and I looked up to him as he hung there, his hands and feet securely nailed to the cross. I wanted so badly to knock it down and so I ran towards him as Dorin ran up behind me and stopped me from touching the cross.
“This is his trial, you cannot interfere.”
“Then why are we here?”
“To bring him home once he falls, otherwise he will be here much longer than he needs to be.”
“I can’t.” I said as I stepped forward and yelled up to him.
“Gunner, listen to me. This happened so long ago, this is not real.”
He ignored me as he moaned and blood ran from his mouth.
“He is dying!” I cried out as Dorin nodded to me.
“This is his trial, he dies over and over again while Lucifer allows him to suffer.”
“Why would he do this to him? He leads us, he is a Hellhound.”
Dorin sighed. “He is not allowed to love, to be happy.”
“No.” I said to Dorin as I looked up and Gunner cried out as he suddenly slumped and it was then that Dorin ran towards the cross and pushed it down to the ground. It hit hard as I fell beside Gunner and saw that he was not breathing. I looked at the steel through his hand and tried to pull it free, but my fingers kept slipping from all of the blood. Dorin then took over and pulled one out, then the other and finally freed his feet. Dorin pulled him up as Gunner suddenly sucked in his breath and cried out as his heart started beating again. I placed one of his arms on my shoulder and Dorin took the other as we lead him out of the room and into the hallway. He stumbled a few times as his feet bled. I looked down and saw the massive bruising on his legs and then his chest. This had been a horrible death and I hated Lucifer for doing this to him, for torturing him time and time again. I was so upset as we entered the elevator with him that I let Dorin hold him up as I moved away from Gunner and leaned against the mirrored elevator. I glanced over as Dorin spoke to him softly and Gunner nodded to him.
We reached the house and as we stepped out I watched Finna and Ari join Dorin as they helped Gunner walk. He glanced behind him to see me standing there, feeling defeated and completely helpless. It was then that I felt the chill so I turned as Lucifer stood there watching me from the shadows.
“You.” I said as I walked towards him. He stepped out and his face was bloody and beaten. I stopped and looked him over.
“You look like shit.”
He smiled and his lip bled as it had been cut. He hissed and touched it, then he smiled, as he tasted the black blood.
“It seems that I am the only one who knows how ruthless my brother can be.”
“Who, God?”
Lucifer laughed at me.
“El?” he is no more a God than I am. What El is defies imagination; he is a politician of sorts, able to simply sway the masses.”
I shook my head and crossed my arms on my chest.
“You deserve it, all of it. How dare you make him suffer like that?”
“Who, Gunner?”
I nodded to him as he suddenly busted out with laughter. I lowered my arms as I looked at him with disgust.
“Yes.”
He was on me before I could blink and had me up against the wall, his face to close to mine, his stench invading me.
“You seem to be confused.”
“I am not.” I said as he held my face and made me look into his red eyes.
“Gunner suffers at his own hand, oh I am sure it would appear that I am playing with him and the other hounds in this house surely believe the same...but no, Gunner suffers because he wants to, not because I make him do it.”
“What?”
“Yes, you see his sister died because of him, he offered her like a lamb to slaughter. She was taken to the orgy by Gunner, he knew she would be raped and beaten, but he wanted power and she was payment, it was not until the act was done that his guilt got the better of him.”
“No.” I said as he backed away from me.
“Oh no, it would seem you fell for him as so many other women have before. He is a charmer, I know this first hand. He only slightly redeemed himself when he tried to enact his revenge, but revenge is also a sin.” He said as he hissed at me. I ran past him as the tears flowed down my face. There was no way that this was who Gunner truly was, he could not be that man. He just couldn’t be.
“Liar!” I screamed at him as I ran. Lucifer grinned.
“Always.” he hissed as he licked his lip and faded into the shadows.
Chapter Eight
No One Is Free
Gunner slept for days. I sat by his bed and watched him, refusing to believe in what Lucifer had said to me. If Gunner suffered, it was at Lucifer’s hand and not his own. I could not accept that the man I found myself falling in love with could have been a monster, he would never hand his sister over to be beaten and abused as she had been. There is no way, so I pushed Lucifer’s words aside and believed in the only thing that I could now, that Gunner was the man I believed him to be. He was an amazingly unselfish person who had killed out of anger and revenge for that of his sister. We all make mistakes, we all pay for them and unfortunately all of us here paid more than others did. We were right on the edge of salvation and I didn’t know if we would ever be set free, but we would certainly try the best that we could.
I heard the door open behind me and saw Dorin step forward. His eyes looked over Gunner’s body and then settled on me. I stood up and walked to him as he stepped back and I followed him back out of the room.
“We have to hunt tonight.” He said to me as I glanced back at Gunner.
“He is not ready.”
“He won’t be coming, it will just be us.”
“What? We can’t hunt without him.”
Dorin smiled at me. “Do you think we cannot do this without him? He has been like this many times before and the fight goes on Halo.”
“How many?”
“Too many to count.” He said to me and turned to watch Gunner lying still in the bed.
“Fine.” I said to him as I reached out and closed his door as quietly as I could. I then turned as he stared at me.
“What?”
“You need to get over this.”
“Over what?” I said.
“Being all distracted with him.”
I started to walk and he jerked my arm back and I pulled it from him as it angered me.
“I am not distracted.”
“This will get you killed and not a purgatory death, a real death.”
I looked at him as his words star
ted to anger me. “What’s the difference?”
“A real death means you are gone forever, no coming back, no more chances.”
I shook my head and walked back to my room. I slammed the door behind me as his words bothered me almost as much as the ones still lingering in my mind from Lucifer’s lips. I then tried to shake it off as I walked to my closet and stepped in, ready to suit up and kill some beasts. I definitely need a release.
***
“Fucking hold him still!” Finna yelled out as Ari tried his best to wrestle a seemingly small 14 year old boy still. I lowered my goggles and then saw it as it truly was, as the vampire hissed and spit. It suddenly darted and Ari lost hold of him as Finna rolled her eyes with a stake held up above her head.
“Damn it Ari!” she said as they both ran after him and left me alone with Dorin in the street.
“This is it tonight? Just one small vampire?”
“Vampires are not easy.” Dorin said to me as I realized I may have insulted him.
“I didn’t mean it that way, you are a badass of course.” I said as he smiled at me.
“Halo.”
“Movies really have ruined it a tiny bit…”
“Halo.”
I stopped talking and looked him over then continued on. “You know, you are so pretty that you could be a vampire in a movie.”
He then knocked me aside as the vampire came running towards him, Ari came running back around the corner and Finna followed closely behind.
“I told you to hold him still!” Finna yelled and Ari rolled his eyes, trying to ignore her as usual.
I pushed myself up and watched as Dorin took a stronger stance and then pulled a wooden stake from his jacket. He then crouched down as the vampire sped up and lunged at him. Dorin spun as he rose up and rammed the stake straight through the bottom of the vampires chin and up out the top of his head, Ari and Finna stopped running as they saw Dorin do this. He then leaned up and whispered something to the vampire as he jerked it out and slammed it into his heart. The vampire screamed, a terrible sound that rose up and cracked a couple of car windows, it also set off a car alarm and I watched as the vampire started to change into dust, it rose up into the night sky as Dorin stepped back and watched it, almost looking like he was saddened by it.
“Well good catch.” Ari yelled out to him as Dorin nodded and glanced over at me. I just stood there wondering how he could kill his own, but I quickly swallowed it. I mean I had killed “my own” to, when I killed Travis. It was no different to Dorin. Beating heart or not, he was still a Hellhound, as was I.
***
We sat at the table and ate. I tried my best to eat as I watched Ari and Finna eat like …well, they eat like Vikings, all messy and loud, spilling drinks and everything. Dorin eyed both of them as they quieted down. “You need to loosen up Dorin.” Ari said as Finna kissed him on the cheek and they decided to leave us sitting in the large dining room at the table alone. The candles were lined up and down the middle, each one lit and the only source of light in the room. I took a bite and then sat back as I chewed. Not so much hungry as just needing to eat. I know it would seem that we don’t need food, but we do. Food is just something that fuels us as we spend a ton of energy when we hunt. Dorin had nothing on his plate, but he did have a glass filled with what I will pretend is red wine, even though I know it is blood. He took a slow drink and enjoyed it, maybe a bit too much. He placed his glass down and watched me chew. I swallowed and then took a drink from my glass, careful to smell it first. He grinned and leaned back in his chair.
“I would not slip you any blood, if that is what you are thinking.”
“I never said that.”
“But you thought it.”
I took a long drink and downed the wine, quickly searching the table for the bottle. Dorin stood up and grabbed it; he walked to my side and leaned down as I held my glass up to him. The flame from the candles making him even prettier than he already was. He finished pouring the wine and lingered for a moment longer until I took a drink and turned to ignore him. He smiled and set the bottle down next to me as he returned to his seat and picked up his glass. He played with the edge of it with his fingertips until a low note rose up from the glass and I watched him.
“So what did you say to him?” I asked as I set my glass down. He stopped fingering his glass and looked at me.
“To the vampire?”
“Yes, you whispered something to him.”
“I said only the truth to him.”
“What is the truth, Dorin?”
“I told him that no one is free.”
I watched as he took a long drink and he leaned up, almost as if he had more to say to me, but with that came the sound of a chair pulling out from the table against the wooden floor. We both looked to our right as Gunner sat down and leaned up, pouring wine into his glass and saying nothing to either one of us. He took a long drink as my heartbeat sped up in my chest. Once he finished his glass he set it down and filled it again. Dorin leaned back and sighed.
“Feeling better?”
“I will after I drink this bottle.”
“You are welcome.” Dorin said as he stood up and walked out of the room. I knew what he meant, but for some reason Gunner never said thank you to him. I wasn’t even going to guess as to why. He took another drink and then stood up as he looked down the table at me.
“Have you been hunting?”
“I have.”
“What have you killed?”
“Two demons.”
“No vamps yet, huh?”
“We killed one tonight, I mean, Dorin killed one.”
“He is good at that.”
I nodded again as he walked the length of the table and then stopped behind me. I sat there as he leaned down and whispered into my ear.
“Don’t you ever follow me to Hell again, do you understand me?”
I nodded again, as I had no idea why he was being so distant to me. It was hurting more than the idea of yelling at him or even asking him any questions at all. He walked back to the end of the table and grabbed the glass and the bottle of wine. Then he left me there, no “Thank you Halo for coming after me, no I missed you or I am happy to be back.” Nothing, but his stinging words telling me to never follow him again. I then took a drink and ran after him as the anger started to settle in. He was half way up the stairs as I ran into the open room and yelled after him.
“I would do it again!” I said as it echoed through the house. He stopped climbing the large staircase and looked back at me.
“I don’t need your defiance Halo, I need your loyalty.”
I ran up to him and stared him down.
“I am not your dog, to simply take orders and follow you.”
“No, you are a Hound of Hell and a protector of humans.”
“Yes and so are you.”
“I need for you to listen to me.”
I shook my head as he started to take a drink. I knocked the glass from his hand as he looked down and then back up at me. He said nothing and walked away as if I meant nothing and it infuriated me even more. He reached the top of the stairs and started to walk down the long hallway and the fact that I needed to run after him was more of a natural reaction than something I thought about. I ran up behind him and he turned, anger in his eyes as he grabbed me, lifted me up and pushed me against the wall. I stared at him without fear as he held me there and then he shook his head.
“You need to do your job and not worry about me.”
“I can’t.”
“You cannot be a Hellhound and do your job?” he said as he studied my face.
“No, I can be that, but I can’t ignore you. I can’t.”
“Halo.” He said in a low tone as he lowered me to the ground. I stood there and then felt as if my passion took over. I leaned up and wrapped my arms around his neck and tried to kiss him, but he pushed me down and away from him and started to walk away.
“So that is it huh? You fuck me and n
ow what? You are bored and got what you wanted so you just need me to kill?” I yelled loud enough for it to echo through the house again. He stopped as I stepped forward and stared at his back.
“You know, I thought you were someone else, something else. Not this.” I said as my heart was breaking.
He hesitated and clinched his fists as his side and then walked away from me, leaving me to back up against the wall and slide down. The tears came, but not out of anger, from hurt. A deeper hurt than I thought I could ever feel.
I then pushed myself up and ran down the hallway. I stopped at his door and placed my hand against it and hesitated but the hesitation quickly faded as my need for him took control of me. I pushed the door open and Gunner stood there, by his fireplace staring into the flames. I closed the door behind me and he sighed as I knew I was intruding, I knew he didn’t want me anymore but my heart could not tell my brain to give up on him.
“Gunner.” I said as I walked towards him. He then rushed towards me and grabbed my shoulders. I was not frightened; there was no reason to be. I had shed the remainder of my fear when I allowed myself to admit the truth. The truth was simple. I looked up at him and my eyes remained clouded in tears.
“I love you.”
He looked stunned and stepped back from me. I straightened my shoulders and wiped my eyes.
“I do, I love you more than anything. I would do anything for you.”
“You don’t know what you are saying.”
I shook my head as he walked back to the fireplace and stared into the flames once again. I stepped up behind him and raised my hand, wanting to touch him and so I did. I placed my hand to his back and he closed his eyes.
“Are you going to say anything to me, anything at all?” I asked him and he opened his eyes again and turned to me.
