Chapter 21
Toby
O h my dear god in heaven, if Dex had great hearing and could hear conversations in my house from his house , then what the fuck had he heard me say?
It was like a slow motion reel in my head of me talking on the phone about him, of Josh and Sebbie and I staring out the window at him… I mean, ok, fine, I’d called him hot and had probably objectified him quite a bit, but I’d also said he was a serial killer, for fuck’s sake.
“You’re not a serial killer!” I burst out, only… it did not have the expected result. Because rather than everyone looking all reassured and calm, they looked…
Well, Corbin was staring at the ceiling, but yeah—there was nothing up there. Jude had this kid-with-his-hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar look, and Dex was glaring at Jude and looking all disgruntled. And vaguely guilty.
“You are a serial killer?” I asked, feeling unsure for the first time.
And yeah, probably that was a delayed reaction, but I wrote paranormal romance and mystery. I’d grown up reading about magic and shifters and vampires. So my boyfriend set the bed on fire—literally. He was still the same, sweet Dex who was going to protect me, and suddenly all these things had started falling into place, and I almost felt vindicated. Like I wanted to call up Josh and be like, “Ha! It isn’t just my overactive imagination!”
So I figured he was a shifter of some type, only werewolf had gotten a disgruntled snort (I didn’t know what they had against werewolves, but they obviously weren’t of that magical persuasion). Dragon had seemed like a good guess. I was still kind of betting on that.
But now they’d totally thrown me for a loop with the serial killer thing, because they all looked guilty as hell. If they were dragons…
“Do you eat people? Like, virgin sacrifices? I am not a virgin sacrifice,” I declared.
“Oh, we heard,” Jude muttered, and that had Dex reaching over and smacking him upside the head.
“Hey!” Jude yelled, rubbing his head.
“Don’t talk about my Toby!” Dex growled.
“He thinks we eat people now!” Jude argued back.
“Children, can you both shut the fuck up?” Corbin sighed from against the wall, then he walked over and joined us at the table, muttering, “Why the fuck am I the most level-headed one? I was just coming to see the show.”
I was not a “show,” but then I figured from Corbin’s disappointed sigh aimed at Dex and Jude that he probably meant them. At the moment, he did seem to be the most level headed one. Jude and Dex were busy glaring at each other, and I thought they were both growling now, although it was really quiet.
Corbin’s eyes were… also glowing. Ok then.
“Not werewolves. Not dragons, either?” I asked him.
He shook his head no.
“You all kill people?” I asked, because I was still kind of stuck on that.
Dex grabbed my hand at that, pulling me toward him. “But we only kill very bad humans who are hellbound already. It’s like… a public service, you know?”
I looked over at Jude, who was nodding enthusiastically. “Yes, very bad people only. Like murderers and rapists and people who have done really bad shit.”
I looked back to Corbin, who was just staring at me, probably trying to gauge my reaction.
“What if I freaked out and told you I was going to call the cops. Would you kill me?” I asked Corbin.
Dex growled low in this throat, pulling me in toward him. “No one will ever hurt you, Toby.” His grip was tight but not painful, and he was glaring at Jude and Corbin, like they had just threatened me when I was the one who had asked.
“Nah, we don’t kill innocents,” Jude declared.
“How do you know?” I asked, snuggling up into Dex’s side. He really was super warm and cozy. “I mean, how do you know if they’re innocent or not?”
“They stink of rotting souls,” Dex mumbled disgustedly, and Jude and Corbin just nodded.
Ok then.
And, yeah, I mean, I probably should be freaking out. My boyfriend and his… brothers? Or whatever they were, were clearly paranormal beings who killed people. But hey, only bad people! I had the urge to giggle a little hysterically and barely held it in.
Hellbound, they’d said. Fire. Glowing eyes. Another form. Corbin’s weird connection to crows and ravens…
“Demons!” I shouted.
Corbin made a snorting sound, and Dex mumbled, “Nah. They’re not evil or anything, but they’re supposed to be based in the underworld. Not that you’d know it from all the interlopers in Paradise Falls,” he added.
Ok then, not demons. Although they knew of demons, and some lived in town? But that was something to ponder later. If not demons… “Angels?” I asked.
Corbin snorted again, and this time Jude replied, saying, “We are not a bunch of uptight, snotty angels.”
“Not all angels are bad,” Dex added. “We got a couple here who are ok. The oracle’s mate isn’t bad.”
Okey-dokey then. Angels also apparently resided in Paradise Falls, along with an oracle. And I still wasn’t guessing correctly. I felt like it was on the tip of my tongue, like I should really know this. They had fire, they knew angels and demons, they killed bad “hellbound” people, their eyes glowed, and Dex had a habit of growling…
“Hellhounds!” I shouted triumphantly, sure I had gotten it this time.
Dex hugged me tighter, growling in a pleased way, and I looked over to see Jude and Corbin both nodding.
So… my boyfriend was a hellhound.
Ok. I could deal with that.
They were all staring at me now, maybe waiting for panic or something. But panic was not first on my list. I could panic later.
I stood up, disentangling myself from Dex’s arms despite his grumbly growling when I did so. I walked over to the kitchen drawer as they all watched, pulled out a notepad and pen, and came back to the table to sit down.
“I have so many questions ,” I said, starting to jot down what I already knew.
I thought I heard a groan from someone, but I ignored it. They owed me answers, and I suddenly felt like there was a new paranormal series in my future.
By the time Jude and Corbin left, I had pages of notes. I really thought they’d both totally made up the need to go do “moving stuff,” but I figured I had interrogated them enough for now.
“So, you guys live for, like, who knows how long, and you used to be based in hell, but ages ago hellhounds came ‘topside’ and stayed, and they have little hellhound babies that carry on their work,” I summed up.
Dex nodded absently. He was at the stove cooking something, and it smelled delicious. He’d found chicken in the freezer and pasta in the pantry, and he was making some kind of creamy, yummy looking sauce to go with it.
“Not a lot of babies, though. My parents only ever had one child. I kind of think hellhounds are born based on the world’s population or something, although we never checked that or anything,” he commented.
I hadn’t asked too many questions about Jude and Corbin’s parents—I thought that was kind of intrusive, but Dex had shared his background. As far as he knew his parents were still alive and hunting, although he didn’t talk with them regularly. He didn’t seem terribly disappointed by that fact, so I tried not to project my own parental insecurities onto him.
I’d gotten the details on demons and angels and oracles—and that last one was apparently Cassius, the coffee shop owner. Who also saw ghosts? So they were real too. And that was kind of creepy, but Dex had assured me I wasn’t haunted, and I didn’t ask how he knew, because I really didn’t want to worry about it.
There was still one question I hadn’t asked though, but I didn’t know quite how to ask it.
Hey, honey, did you chop off a guy’s fingers so I could write my murder scene?
If he didn’t, that would be super weird to ask. If he did… Well, really bad people only, right?
How twisted was it that I thought it was even kind of sweet if he went out and did research for me? I mean, that was sort of romantic in a serial killer way, right?
I wondered for a brief moment if I was having some sort of psychotic break. Could this seriously be my life? Never mind that I was taking this all really well. Sure, writing paranormal novels for years had probably prepped me, but still. I was impressed with myself and my total lack of freaking out. Although I supposed deep down I’d known for a while that Dex was different. I’d been only partly joking about him being a serial killer.
Still, I trusted him completely. Maybe that was beyond stupid, but I felt connected to him. I had faith that he would protect me with his life. I knew he wouldn’t lie to me. At the risk of sounding super corny, I felt deep in my soul that he was good , despite whatever he might do. And he was mine, and I was his, for however long he’d have me.
Which… yeah, was a problem. I hadn’t brought it up, but I was just a regular human. They’d even confirmed that for me when we’d been chatting. Which meant that I had a normal human lifespan, and Dex obviously did not. I would get old and die, and Dex would still be around. For a really long time, by the sound of it.
It made me sad to think of him all alone. Not that he’d be totally alone, because he had his brothers, but still. When I’d casually asked them about previous relationships, they all sort of looked at me blankly, like the idea of being in a relationship was totally foreign to them. So obviously they didn’t normally date humans.
I didn’t know what that meant for Dex and me, but I figured we had time to figure it out, and one worry at a time was enough.
Dex brought dinner over to the table, and it tasted as delicious as it looked. After we’d both had a few bites, I asked, “Were you, um, working earlier?”
“Yes. I called Liam and filled him in before I came over. We got the guy who planted the listening devices, but he had very little info on your stalker. He stalked someone in the past, although we don’t have a name, but Liam is trying to track down who it is. In the meantime, we’ll never leave you alone. And we’ll smell if a rotting soul is in the vicinity,” Dex assured me.
I had my very own supernatural protection team. It was comforting.
“If you need some help with that scene, I also have some ideas for you,” Dex added nonchalantly.
Ok then, I guess that answered that question. Maybe I should be disturbed, but, well, I was a writer; we got inspiration wherever we could. Yup, that was my story, and I was sticking to it. Plus, only really bad people.
I filled him in on my current plotline while we ate, and he added ideas and answered questions. He had some unique new torture methods I could throw in for the evil vampire, although he made sure to not get too gruesome, and he did grudgingly add that his brother Atlas had shown up and had “told him” quite a few of the ideas.
We were in the middle of talking about flaying (kind of gross, and who knew someone could live so long through that process?) when my phone started ringing.
I checked it, saying, “It’s Josh,” for Dex’s benefit.
“Go ahead. I’ll clear the dishes,” he replied, grabbing the plates from the table.
“But you cooked. I’ll clear,” I said as I picked up the phone, saying, “Hey Josh.”
Dex just winked at me and carried on clearing the table.
“Hey,” Josh answered.
“My neighbor is a hellhound,” I gleefully proclaimed. Dex just stopped what he was doing to stare at me.
“That’s nice,” Josh said. “Thinking of a new series?”
Dex was staring at the phone, and I figured he could probably hear Josh’s side of the conversation as well. They had great hearing, apparently.
“Yup!” I said. “They kill people, but only really bad people,” I added.
“That’s cool. I think that’ll be popular. Bad guys who aren’t really bad. Everyone loves a morally gray main character,” Josh replied.
“Yeah. And they’re super sexy with muscles and glowing eyes and all the growling,” I sighed, because Dex was super sexy. “Oh, and Dex is my boyfriend,” I added.
“Oh my god, Toby! Seriously! That’s awesome! Congrats! Give me all the details!” Josh gushed.
I chuckled, “I totally will, but how are you? All ok? You still sound a little… tired,” I said carefully.
“Problems with Rick,” Josh sighed. “I think it might be time to call it quits, but it’s hard. We’ve been together awhile, but things just… they haven’t been good. At all.” He paused, but then he forced a cheery voice and said, “But I don’t want to talk about that right now. I called you for a cheer up, so fill me on your new boyfriend, and spare no details.”
So I filled him in, although I did spare a few details. At one point, Dex’s phone rang as well, and he went out onto the porch to take it, but I knew he wasn’t far.
I was safe. I was protected. I was dating a hellhound. And, if I was being honest with myself, I was probably in love with him as well.
But that bombshell could wait for another day. I think today had been eventful enough.