by Holly Evans
“Please.”
His voice was barely above a whisper; the single word hung in the air.
Elise said calmly, “Evie... do the kind thing.”
Her eyes never left the face of the man; he couldn’t have been more than thirty. He had his whole life ahead of him, yet his eyes had already taken on a mildly glassy quality. He had given in. Whoever had done that to him, had stolen his life.
I knelt down next to him, his eyes never leaving Elise’s calm face as she continued to stroke his hair. Her elegant fingers ran through his thick hair as though he were a little boy that she was staying with through a mild fever. His body tensed, preparing to try and shift again. His back began to arch, his face started to twist and contort with pain. I slit his throat before he could have known what was happening. He died with a small smile on his face; I hoped that he found peace. Elise gently placed his hand on his chest and closed his eyes before she stood, her hands balled into fists.
“I don’t know who did this, but they will pay. They are playing with things that are far above them, they are ruining lives.”
I was a little taken aback by the passion and fury she exhibited. I hadn’t seen so much emotion from her since we were young. It vanished in the blink of an eye. Her calm visage replaced the anger. We had already buried one abomination behind her church, no words needed to be spoken to understand that this one would receive the same respect. They were beginning to become a regular occurrence in the city. The first had appeared out of nowhere when I was trying to find Quin after the coven had kidnapped him. Since then, two had shown up at Elise’s church. Both had died at her feet.
Lysander had pressed against the back of my mind while Elise conducted the burial rites; his concern was almost palpable. I did my best to push him away, to mentally wrap his corner of my mind in black fabric and keep him out. Once the abomination had been suitably buried and respected, Elise led me through to her living area and made white tea; it was an hour before she finally spoke.
“My lady has confirmed that the second hound could open a hellmouth. He would require a great number of sacrifices, and some help, but it can be done. This all appears to have been planned ahead, therefore we can assume he has some help at least. That means we need to move quickly, he could have the hellmouth open within two weeks.”
The news hit me like a freight train. Part of me had assumed Lysander was full of shit, that perhaps his master had hoped, but nothing would come of it. The confirmation from the moon goddess was an entirely different thing.
“Are the abominations related?”
Her lip curled but she looked down and away, calming herself, before she said, “Not directly. Someone is trying to play at being a god, but we must focus on the more pressing matter.”
I squeezed her hand gently, looking for comfort from her as much as trying to offer it.
“This isn’t quite what I expected, when I became a priestess. Was that so naive of me?” she said quietly, a tear tumbling down her cheek.
I pulled her close, her small frame fitting between my arms with ease. I didn’t know what to say to her, there were no words of comfort. We were facing a disaster unlike anything before, false platitudes would only make things worse. She pulled back from me a little. I brushed away her tears with my thumb. She looked to delicate and fragile, her white hair tousled and falling around her porcelain face. I wanted so badly to offer her support and strength as she had done for me so many times before.
Taking a deep breath, she formed a smile and said firmly, “We will win this. Whatever it is.”
I smiled back at her, trying to find some courage and faith. “We will.”
I hoped that I’d find the strength and information I needed to believe my own words. And quickly.
Twenty-Two
Exhaustion had sunk into my bones and consumed my thoughts; the sun had already set by the time I growled at the sticky lock on the front door. Two voices came from within my home, two male voices. I opened the door and shrugged off my leather jacket before I recognised the second one. Lysander.
Quin grinned at me from the far side of the room. “Lysander’s moving in, isn’t that awesome?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. I must have misheard him. My dear brother wouldn’t have been so stupid, so foolish, as to allow his curiosity to override his sense like that. Lysander walked over to me, a slight sway to his hips, a playful smile on his lips.
“Where else was I to live? You’re my mistress, you have certain... obligations to look after me.”
I looked past him to Quin; the grin remained plastered on his face.
I smiled sweetly at Lysander. “We’ll get you a nice kennel and put it in the front garden area.”
His lips quivered, threatening to break into a broader smile. Those bright blue eyes sparkled with merriment. I hated him.
I crossed my arms and said, “Have you at least provided some useful information on the other hound and its plans?”
His face fell; a flicker of amusement and pride formed within me.
“There will be a number of sacrifices, and the city needs to be enveloped with a sense of fear. He will target innocents first, then he’ll require magical blood. A fae, a witch, then finally something infernal.”
Quin practically bounded over. “Let’s eat. I’m starving. We can talk about the other hound over food.”
I glared at him. His curiosity was overwhelming the weight of the situation. Taking a deep breath, I pushed aside the desire to shake Quin and tell him about the threat we were under. I reminded myself that he wasn’t stupid, he knew what was going on, he was just coping with it through cooking and curiosity. Personally I preferred to use my blades to calm my nerves, but we all had our own methods. I couldn’t complain too much, given how I benefitted from his cooking. I returned my attention to Lysander, who had his hands tucked in his jeans and that playful smile on his pretty mouth. It wasn’t appropriate to be considering how I wanted to trail my finger along those lips, or down his tightly toned chest. His smile widened and his eyes danced.
I ground my teeth and focused on pressing against his presence in the back of my mind. I mentally instructed him to shift down into his hound form. His eyes darkened, the smile slipped from his face, before he shifted into his hound form. The large black hound refused to look at me. He lay down with his head drooped on his front paws in the middle of the living room. I walked around him and headed for a shower, ignoring the feeling of guilt that squirmed in my stomach.
Quin kept looking pointedly between me and the hound while he was serving dinner. He made a point of setting a third place at the small table, and dug out a spare chair from somewhere.
The hound hadn’t moved; his head remained down on his paws, with his tail tucked around him.
“You’re bonded to him, Evie. You shouldn’t be so cruel.”
The hound pricked an ear at that, a little hope blossoming within him. I pursed my lips and raised an eyebrow at Quin. I didn’t see an issue with the situation.
With a heavy sigh I placed the cutlery on the table and said, “Lysander, you may shift if you please.”
Quin looked far too pleased with himself. A bounce formed in his step and a broad grin spread across his face; I shook my head and took the seat opposite Quin. Lysander helped Quin serve the food, a smile firmly fixed on his face again. He sat between Quin and me; his eyes drank in every detail of the meal before him. I had to wonder if he’d eaten a normal meal before. Images of rotting meat and brutal kills slipped into my mind. I decided I didn’t want to know.
“Thank you, Quin, this looks delicious,” Lysander said.
I nodded and agreed as I bit into the Italian pasta. The cheese-laden cream complemented the slightly tart ham wonderfully. Quin really should have been a cook. Conversation didn’t really start. Everyone enjoyed their food while lost in their own worlds. Once the food was done, Quin finally seemed ready to discuss the situation at hand. I curled up on the sofa. Lysander settled on t
he floor near my feet in his human form.
“Lysander, how easy would it be to stop the hound from opening the hellmouth?” I asked.
“We just have to kill him,” he said as though it were as easy as slicing bread.
Quin and I passed a questioning look between us; hellhounds were supposed to be difficult to kill.
I said as softly as I could, not wanting to upset Lysander too much given I was stuck with him, “And how would we go about doing that?”
He fidgeted and tried to press back against the bond between us. Quin sat in the armchair while we waited for Lysander to stop fighting his mental restraints.
After much growling and squirming, he finally said, “A weapon formed by something celestial, another hound, or an infernal weapon.”
I ran my fingers over his silky dark hair and purred, “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
His shoulders tensed as he growled at me, but it took on a softer tone where he clearly appreciated the softer contact. The contact had come so naturally. I reminded myself that I’d have done the same with a domestic dog.
Quin stretched and said, “I’m sure Kadrix can arrange something, he’s very skilled and has the best magical inventory in the city.”
“It’s a good thing we have him on our side, then,” I said, more to myself than anyone.
Quin smiled, a small private smile.
“Did Elise have anything of use to say?” he asked.
I held his eye-contact and did my best to ignore the mild aggression to his words. I didn’t want to compete with him over friends.
“She’ll help us with the hound situation. Another abomination showed up at her church.”
Lysander rested his head against my ankle when I tensed at the memories of the poor man, the agony on his face. Quin’s face softened in response.
I said to Lysander, “Can you find the other hound?”
He growled, “No easier than you can.”
The temptation to smack him around the back of the head and remind him of his place was strong.
Twenty-Three
I was half asleep when the faint light from the living area spilt over my bed. A weight appeared at the bottom of my bed, the scent of hot metal and petrichor filled my nostrils.
“Lysander?”
He’d been given bedding and told to sleep on the sofa; it was large enough and quite comfortable. His face emerged from the darkness close to mine. Too close.
“I should repay you for your kindness. Mistress.”
The growl in his voice sent a delightful shiver through me. I didn’t like the way my body reacted to him. He placed his hands on either side of my ribs and leant over me, his chest barely inches from mine. He leant closer, his lips almost touching mine, his warm breath teased and promised so much more. I came to my senses and placed my hand on his chest pushing him back firmly. It wasn’t right. We couldn’t. I wasn’t about to take that sort of payment from him, or any other creature. My eyes adjusted to the darkness enough to see the pain and confusion on his face.
“Am I not good enough?” he said, barely above a whisper.
Flickers of images formed in my mind. There was a distinct sensation of pain, accompanied by the knowledge that his old master had been disappointed in him. His brow creased with concern, he bent his legs under him trying to make himself smaller and hide his body from me. He turned his head away from me, losing himself in his own mind. I was lost. I didn’t know what to do with the fragile creature before me; he’d been a pushy shit up until that moment. I pulled the covers up over me, feeling self-conscious myself.
“You will pay me in other ways,” I said matter-of-factly.
His eyes widened a little, a flash of pain formed in the back of my mind. I exhaled slowly.
“I will not take it out of your hide,” I said.
Slowly he uncurled and focused more on me. His hands crept closer to my body once more. His eyes searching my face while his muscles remained tense, a mass of sharp lines and tangled emotions in the darkness. Having a pet was quickly turning out to be exhausting and hard work; there was a reason why I hadn’t had one before.
Against my better judgement I reached out and placed my hand on his, looking into his face as I said, “You will help us stop the hound. Then, if we can’t break this bond, you will continue to help us, as hunters.”
He pursed his lips and began to lean closer to me once more. His head tilted slightly one side, his gaze intense as he searched for something within me. My heart rate quickened as I watched him. The fragility slipped away, his mouth hardened and his muscles began to relax once more.
After a long moment he looked away and said, “No one has cared for me before. I don’t want to be alone.”
Guilt and pain bled into the back of my mind. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and it had been such a long time since someone had shared my bed. Still, he was an infernal beast. I couldn’t take him, and I certainly wouldn’t use him. I began to wonder if, perhaps, there was more to it than that. My mind flitted to the stiletto knife only a foot away to my left, tucked under a decorative pillow. If he was trying something, then I’d be able to reach it quickly; it was whether it would do enough harm that was the question.
“Evelyn, if I was going to hurt you, I would have done so by now.” The bite in his tone took me by surprise. “It is in my best interests to look after you. I made an honest request.”
I hated that cursed bond. I made a mental note to speak to Elise about how to block him from my thoughts. His lips had curled back to reveal his increasingly sharp teeth, even in the darkness I could see how his eyes had hardened. He leant closer to me, pushing.
“This isn’t easy for me either, Evelyn,” he growled, his teeth dangerously close to my throat.
He didn’t give me a chance to respond; he stood and stalked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. I cursed him under my breath, I hadn’t asked to be bonded to the damn beast. The idea of treating him like a large dog crossed my mind, surely he’d be far less trouble as a dog. There would be less emotional bullshit involved then, fewer sexy smiles, more fur over those tight muscles. My mind went to forbidden places… I needed a night with a man. Not a beast.
A fist banging against wood woke me up. I buried my head under the blankets trying to hide from whatever dared wake me at the god-awful hour.
“Evie! Stop fucking around, Evie!”
“Why the fuck are you waking me, Quin? I do not love pancakes that much!”
“Dimitri needs our help. Hurry up.”
“Dimitri can fuck himself.”
“Evie, a necromancer has brought back a horde of dead. Get some clothes on, we need to go.”
I threw the covers off and pulled on the clothes closest to hand. I hopped through the door pulling my jeans on when I remembered that Lysander was around. He stood watching me, shirtless. Scars trailed along his ribs, long thin white lines that slithered around to his back.
I looked away as I did my jeans up and growled, “Get some clothes on, hound. You’re no use half naked.”
He gave me a crooked knowing smile. “Reconsidering, Evelyn?”
I glared at him; I needed a man, not a beast.
Quin said, “Evie?”
I shrugged and waved him off as I pulled my boots on. “What do we know about the necromancer and the dead? Where are they?”
Lysander stood a little too close to me as I did up my second boot.
“They’re at the big Olsany Cemetery, it’s only ten minutes away.”
My mind flashed back to the necromancer I’d bumped into when I had to retrieve a finger from a powerful old witch in a crypt there. Serena had insisted I retrieve it so she could make a protective amulet so the new stronger witch in the city wouldn’t kill her. She tried to kill me as thanks. The way the necro’s eyes had roved over the skeleton sent shivers down my spine; the memory of his cracked tongue sliding over his dry lips made bile rise. I tried to focus on more pleasant things. Much to my irritation, th
e image of Lysander shirtless was the first thing to appear in my thoughts. It was going to be a long day.
We practically jogged down the road; I glanced back to make sure that Lysander was still with us. I realised he was in the same shirt and jeans as the day before; he had no belongings. The idea of him remaining in hound form was growing on me. I didn’t particularly want to buy him a whole wardrobe. But then, watching him try all those clothes on...
I chastised myself and triple checked weapons I had on me. Two silver-coated blades, one on each hip, a set of silver-coated throwing knives on my right forearm. The dead were much like normal humans: they were vulnerable to sharp objects and heavy, blunt objects. That being said, the only way to really stop them was to set them on fire, or take their head off. I felt sorry for the families of those who had been raised and hoped they never got word of it happening.
Twenty-Four
The sun was just considering rising when we climbed over the gates to the cemetery and landed on the soft grass. I was glad that there were no humans around to witness the dead rising; that was more emotion and bullshit than I was able to deal with at that time of day. It was deathly silent, the breeze didn’t even dare whisper through the trees. Dimitri’s scream changed that. We ran in the direction of the noise. It was cut short by a large skeletal zombie sinking its fingers deep into Dimitri’s flesh. The other hunter was soon dragged to the ground in the middle of three zombies. He kicked and thrashed against them, but their state of decay didn’t stop them from being far too strong for him. Their skin was peeling from their flesh. Stark white bones glinted in the pale grey light of morning.
I pulled my blades and got straight to work. Quin would look after himself. We were a team, and the hound was a damn hellhound; if he couldn’t take down a few zombies, he deserved what he got. Viktor was on the far side of the large group of some thirty or so zombies; the necromancer must have had quite a bit of power to pull up so many dead at once. The one I’d dealt with previously had seemed frail and decrepit, not much better than those he dealt with. Dimitri yowled with rage, bursting out from the small group; blood dripped from his brow and covered his shirt, but he was fighting. Matyas emerged somewhere near Viktor, with a pair of particularly large zombies battering him, one with what appeared to be a human skull. Zombies were such classy creatures.
