Page 15 of Guarded by the Hellhound (Accidental Monsters #3)
RAIDER
K atherine’s cries echo in my ear as the house collapses on top of me. Instincts have me in Hellhound form before the beams hit the ground, and I howl as fire blazes all around me.
“Come home.”
The fire whispers to me, making me howl again. Come home. Home… Hell! I can see it clearly in the flames: my home, my origin, my cradle. A fierce yearning takes over; one minute, I’m in Katherine’s home, and the next, I’m in mine. Transferred through the flames, back to hell.
With my physical form returning come my memories, and my life comes back to me. My entire past hits me all at once, and for a moment, I black out from the force.
When I come to, I feel the familiar warmth of Hell’s antechamber, and I sense the presence of our ruler, Lucifer.
“Hello, Dagran,” Lucifer says from his throne above me. “Or should I call you Raider now?”
I arch an eyebrow, the cocky son of a bitch technically is my boss, but I don’t really obey him. As long as I bring him enough souls, we have an understanding .
He shrugs. “Well, at least it’s better than Bingo.”
“What do you want,” I bite out, fighting the need to get back to Katherine.
“Well, it appears you find yourself in quite the pickle. You have left your post the past week, only to find yourself being owned by a human.”
“Not owned,” I spit out. The devil is infuriating.
“Ah, but you see, there was a collar and a leash and…”
I growl, loud and menacing, causing him to hold up his hands.
“Okay, okay. You want to go back, don’t you? But you also need to guard the gate. What if we make a deal…”
“I am listening.”
“I will grant you permission to keep up the playing house with your little girlfriend if you continue guarding the gates and bring me a soul.”
“One soul?” That’s an odd request since I have brought him many souls.
“Yes, on top of the ones that I sent you to get. I want one soul every year on Halloween.”
“And who do you want?”
“I will leave that up to you, Raider…” He rises and waves me off. “Off you go, we have visitors incoming.”
I sigh. “I’ll take the deal, Lucifer.”
“Great,” he says. “Now move.”
I grumble, always wanting to have the final say on that one. I shift and start running in the direction of the gates—time to find Katherine and get the Devil his soul.
As soon as I pass the gates, I feel something’s wrong. I sniff. I can smell Katherine’s scent from yesterday, which has me setting off on a run .
When I reach the house, it’s surrounded by first responders, making one thing entirely clear: Katherine is not here. I stick to the shadows so I can overhear the cops talking to the paramedics by an empty gurney.
“She must have walked off. She’s an odd one if you ask me. She has been complaining about a stalker, but between you and me. I’m not sure it’s not all in her head,” the cop says.
Rage boils inside me. I curl my upper lip, taking one step forward. I will rip him to shreds…
“She was badly injured, scared, and distraught. You can’t fake being upset like that. I strongly disagree with you, officer. My patient did not just walk off. I believe someone took her.”
I take a step back. The paramedic is right. She was taken, and I know where to start.
Sniffing around the abandoned gurney, I separate the smells. The smoke covers the finesse, but I can tell somehow Katherine’s scent mixes with that of another human. Darkness consumes the tones, and I know he’s the culprit. He’s the one who took her.
Anger blazes through me as I hear sizzling around me. When I look down, I see scorch marks on the ground. I quickly step back into the shadows, focusing on the task at hand: tracking the stalker.
His scent stands out, and I can almost see it flowing through the air like a black cloud. Kat’s fragrance intertwined. My memory couldn't have returned at a better moment because now I remember that I can be invisible when hunting. And right now, I am hunting.
Racing, I follow their trail. It leads me through the woods behind her house towards a back road where the scents are muffled by a vehicle. Luckily, something as pesky as an automobile doesn’t stop me, and I find myself on the other side of town, where the Halloween carnival is set up .
The sun is setting; people are arriving from all over, gathering quite a crowd. This complicates things, but I will always find Katherine. I focus on her essence, and when my superior hearing picks up a scream from far away, I know it’s her.
I pick up my pace, urgency leading me on as I rush towards the final attraction - a house of mirrors.
It’s closed, and there’s a bunch of people loudly complaining in front of the building.
The owner says something about a rat infestation, but I don’t believe it.
Katherine’s stalker must have had something to do with it.
She screams again, and I forget all about the crowd and barge through the mass to the back of the house. The carnival is situated next to the forest line, allowing anyone with bad intentions to operate with impunity, as there is no monitoring in this area whatsoever.
Katherine’s scent is even stronger here, making me howl before I run towards the back door and barrel my way through.