Page 28 of Hallowed & Haunted

“I’ll turn his blood to ice,” Marta whispers. “I’ll freeze the marrow in his bones until he begs for the mercy he refused.”

She lunges, and the air turns so cold it hurts to draw breath.

But Niillas roars, rising to his full, terrifying height. He meets Marta with a powerful paw strike, and impossibly, his claws catch something solid.

There’s a sound like fabric tearing, a mind-shattering scream, that cuts off abruptly, and Marta justunravels, drifting away like smoke in the wind.

Silence descends again, broken only by the crackle of the fire rising again and Sander’s harsh breathing.

The oppressive cold retreats, leaving behind only the chill of the night.

From somewhere near the door comes a soft whining that makes Sander flinch.

A dog pads into the room, a Finnish spitz with a coat like burnished copper. The dog sniffs cautiously at the spot where Marta had been only moments ago, circling carefully around Niillas, and then occupies a spot by the fire.

“Is she gone?”

“Both of them,” Niillas rumbles. “Never to return.”

Niillas turns, takes a second to scent the dog, before settling down, curling around Sander like an overgrown cat.

“What’s with the dog? Is it…real?”

“A Finnish spitz. Good for hunting. Also perfectly real.”

“But where did it come from? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

Niillas rests his head on Sander’s shoulder, warm and grounding.

“Because the veil between the worlds is thin tonight. It must have slipped through the cracks.”

“You think this is Karo? Marta’s dog?”

When it hears its name, the dog lifts its head and whines.

And somehow the lonely little sound shatters what remained of Sander’s composure.

The terror of the past hours crashes over him like a wave, and a strangled sob tears itself from his throat. Once the dam has broken, he can’t stop. All the fear and adrenaline of the night come pouring out at once, leaving him empty and wrung out and utterly overwhelmed.

“Shh, I’m here. You’re safe.”

But Sander can’t stop. He presses his face into Niillas’ thick midnight fur and finally allows himself to feel everything: the helpless terror of being hunted by fairy-tale monsters turned into reality. The bone-deep cold of Marta’s touch. The certainty that he was going to die alone and afraid in a rotting house while his teammates laughed about ghost stories.

And underneath it all, the overwhelming gratitude for Niillas, who’d risked his own safety to keep him alive.

“The dog might very well be Marta’s, slipped through space and time while the veil is thin. He matches her story, too. Spitz dogs are fearless little barkers.”

Sander sniffles.

“I’m sure he’s hers. She said my hair reminded her of his fur. And look at him…”

“He’s not a threat, though. I promise you that.”

Relaxing against Niillas’s huge body, Sander feels some of his anguish slip away.

“I won’t be able to change back until sunrise,” Niillas says eventually, when Sander’s sobs have quieted to occasionalhiccups, and there’s something almost like uncertainty in his voice. “Does this bother you?”

Sander pulls back just enough to meet Niillas’ eyes. He throws his arms around Niillas’ powerful neck and holds on like his life depends on it.