Chapter 8
Aiden
O ne minute we’re having a nice walk through the woods, and the next thing you know, some random guy tases Fluffy.
Only Fluffy isn’t fluffy anymore. He’s all… fiery.
He’s standing over the guy, who’s pressed to the ground, and he’s growling, and he’s freaking huge, and he’s literally got flames licking along his back.
I’m just standing there like an idiot trying to process what the hell just happened. Fire Fluffy turns around to look at me, stops growling, smiles at me with a doggy smile, and wags his tail. In the next breath he’s looking back at the guy and growling again.
Ok, then. Fire Fluffy is friendly. At least to me.
I probably should have been scared of Fire Fluffy, because, you know… fire. And growling. And really big teeth. Aside from the split second where I was worried about Fluffy because he’d been tased, I really wasn’t scared. Which was kind of amazing.
Now what the hell was I supposed to do about Fire Fluffy and random taser guy? It occurred to me then that I had my phone. I pulled it out, and I dialed Liam. I don’t know why I dialed him and not Q, but I did.
“Jude’s on his way,” Liam said without even waiting for a hello. “Are you ok?”
“He turned into Fire Fluffy,” I said stupidly. Because, yeah, I was feeling a little shell-shocked.
“Are you hurt?” Liam asked.
“No. Some guy tased Fluffy, and he turned into Fire Fluffy,” I said again.
I swear Liam muttered “Lucky” under his breath, then he said, “Yeah, that’ll do it.”
I heard footsteps then, and I turned around to see Jude running towards me. Only it hadn’t been long enough for Jude to get here. At least I didn’t think so. Maybe I was in shock?
“Jude’s here too fast,” I said, and then I hung up the phone before Liam could even answer.
Jude wasn’t even panting or out of breath. He stopped in front of me and looked me over, totally ignoring the growling fire dog on top of the strange guy.
“You ok?” he asked me.
“He turned into Fire Fluffy,” I said again, because somehow my brain just wasn’t wrapping around that fact.
“Yeah, he does that,” Jude said, like it was perfectly normal.
He walked over to the pair, and Fire Fluffy stepped off the guy. Then he was just Fluffy again, sitting there and wagging his tail.
Jude did something to taser guy—I couldn’t see what—and I knew he was unconscious by the way his body went lax.
“I don’t suppose you’ll change and fill me in on what the fuck happened?” Jude said to Fluffy.
Fluffy shook his head. Like, the dog shook his head no.
Jude huffed, and Fluffy trotted over to me, leaning against my leg. I automatically reached down to rest my hand on his fur, and Jude just looked at us and huffed again.
“I guess that means I get to drag this asshole back, then. Lovely,” he grumbled.
Then Jude slung the guy over his shoulder and started walking back down the path, like this was all perfectly normal. Fluffy gave a grumble, and I followed Jude, because what the heck else was I supposed to do?
Jude walked fast, always a few feet in front of me. He kept turning to check on me and smiling, though, and I had the sense that he was purposely not walking next to me.
Probably so I couldn’t ask why Fluffy had turned into Fire Fluffy. Because that wasn’t normal.
“You turned into Fire Fluffy,” I said to Fluffy. He looked up at me, and I swear he grinned. “I didn’t know you could turn into Fire Fluffy.”
He just bumped gently into my leg, and we continued walking. We were back at the house really quickly, and I didn’t know if it was because I was trying to keep pace with Jude’s speed-walking or if I was just too lost in being shocked to gauge time correctly.
“Oh, this is gonna be fun,” Jude said, delighted.
I had no idea what he meant until we turned toward the front of the house and I saw the police cruiser in the driveway.
Oh. Oh, no. This could not be good. Because taser guy was still hanging over Jude’s shoulder, and although Fire Fluffy wasn’t currently fiery, I had no idea if he would get fiery again.
Josh, Sebbie, Q, Toby, Dexter, and Liam were all gathered on the front porch talking to the sheriff. Because of course it was the sheriff.
“Hey, Walrus!” Jude called out.
Everyone on the porch turned to us, and Q actually face-palmed himself when he saw Jude carrying a guy over his shoulder.
“Jude, what the fuck?” Toby asked, looking slightly panicked.
The sheriff just raised his eyebrows as we walked up to the porch, though.
“What’ve you got there, Jude,” the sheriff asked, surprisingly calm for someone looking at a guy carrying an unconscious man.
“Oh, this is just some random guy who tried to kidnap Aiden, so we’re gonna bring him down to the torture basement to find out what he knows,” Jude answered, smiling.
The faces of everyone behind the sheriff were actually comical—everyone looked horrified and shocked.
The sheriff was looking at us, though, and he just sighed.
“You wanna come down to the torture basement and help? We won’t kill this one, because he’s not a bad sort. We’ll just carry out a little light torture for information,” Jude said, smacking the guy’s ass.
He actually smacked the unconscious guy’s ass. I was sure I looked horrified, too, because the sheriff turned to me.
“I don’t know how you put up with this prankster,” he said to me, and then he walked down the steps toward his cruiser while we all stared.
“You sure you wanna leave, Walrus? We could have fun! It would be a great first date!” Jude called out.
The sheriff ignored him, waved a hand at everyone, and got in his car. He started to pull out, then rolled down his window to call out, “Stop calling me Walrus!”
“Coo Coo Kachoo!” Jude shouted back, and the sheriff pulled out, probably a little more quickly than necessary.
I had gone insane.
That was the only explanation. I was still trapped in my kidnapper’s room and had created an alternate universe in order to distract myself from my boring existence. Or maybe I was in the bakery and I had fallen and hit my head, and this was all some kind of fever dream.
“What. The. Fuck. Jude!” Toby cried out.
Jude just smiled, walking up the steps with the unconscious guy. “Isn’t he cute? All gruff and grumpy. Why was he here?”
Josh turned red at that and mumbled, “I better go.”
“Do you really think your dickhead boyfriend called the cops because you were out?” Toby asked, looking outraged.
Josh just shrugged. “I don’t know, but you guys have no neighbors, so who would have called in a noise complaint? He’s really pissed. We had a pretty big fight. I probably shouldn’t have gone out.”
“Still, that’s fucking petty,” Q said.
“Eh, it could’ve been this guy,” Jude said, jostling the guy on his shoulder.
Sebbie rolled his eyes. “That’s right. Your next murder victim.” He obviously didn’t take Jude seriously, either, because he turned to Q and Liam. “The offer still stand to drive us home?”
“Of course,” Liam answered.
They walked down the steps toward one of the cars, and Jude called out, “Just light torture!”
Josh and Sebbie just waved, getting in the back seat while Q and Liam got in the front.
And off they drove, leaving Jude, me, Toby, and Dexter.
“What the hell happened?” Dexter asked, looking at the guy on Jude’s shoulder.
I thought that taser guy should probably be getting heavy, but Jude acted like carrying him around was like having a sweater draped over his shoulder. Then everyone was looking at me, because yeah, I was the only one who actually did know what happened.
“He was looking for me,” I said, because he had asked for Alden Astor. I hadn’t heard that name in a long time.
“Ahh. We’ll get the details out of him,” Dexter said, looking slightly gleeful. “You gonna help, Atlas?”
Atlas? I turned to look behind me, but there was no one there. I’d heard about their reclusive brother, only I’d never met him. Then I realized that Dexter was staring at Fluffy, who was baring his teeth at Dexter.
Jude looked at me, then at Fluffy, then at Dexter. Then he gave a fake laugh. “Ha ha. You mean Fluffy.”
Toby looked confused. “Atlas can turn into a dog and not just a hellhound?” he asked. Then he started mumbling to himself and walked into the house.
“He’s plotting, so I better… yeah…” Dexter said, pointing over his shoulder and following Toby inside.
Jude turned toward me, and I swear he gave Fluffy a sympathetic look. “Yeah, I’ll just leave you two to… talk… or whatever.” Then he bounded up the stairs and into the house behind Dexter and Toby.
It was just me and Fluffy left outside, and I wandered toward my house, not looking at Fluffy, who bumped occasionally into my leg.
Fluffy. Fire Fluffy.
Atlas?
I unlocked the door and stepped inside, and Fluffy came in. I shut and locked the door and went and sat on the couch, and Fluffy came and sat in front of me.
“You’re not a dog, are you?” I asked. “I mean, I guess you’re a dog, but you’re not just a dog.”
Fluffy panted at me. I took that as a yes.
“Will you change?” I asked.
Fluffy took a step back, and then he was Fire Fluffy again. He was bigger, and there were flames on his back, and he was beautiful in a sort of scary way, even though I wasn’t afraid of him.
Then he was Fluffy again. Only…
“Your name isn’t Fluffy,” I said.
He growled at me, not showing teeth or anything, but I knew he was disagreeing with me.
“It isn’t. It’s Atlas. You’re Atlas. Dexter called you Atlas,” I insisted, like saying the name so many times would make it real.
Fluffy—Atlas—growled at me, then panted, then growled again.
What the fuck did that mean?
“You turn into a person,” I said.
Fluffy, or Atlas, came over and rested his head on my knee and whined, looking up at me.
“Are you using sad puppy dog eyes on me right now?” I asked.
Because he totally was. He was staring up into my eyes, head resting on my leg, and he looked fucking sad. I put my hand on his head and couldn't help sliding my fingers through his fur.
We sat like that for a few minutes, and I felt some of the panic start to fade. I hadn’t even realized how upset I’d been. Because that guy had said my name—my old name—which meant I’d been found.
Then there was the whole Fire Fluffy-Atlas thing. The guard dog wasn’t a guard dog. He was a person. Or… I don’t know what he was. Not human, obviously. I thought about all our interactions, and I realized I should have known something was weird. He had always seemed to know what I was saying. He was never on a leash, and no one seemed concerned about him or claimed him as their dog. He had been there whenever I needed a walk, and I trusted him.
Maybe that was why I didn’t want to think about him not being normal? On some level I must have known—I had wondered if he was a hallucination, after all.
I’m not sure if this was better or worse than a hallucination.
I didn’t hear the car come back, but I heard Q giving Liam hell well before they reached the house. I almost grinned. Why be outraged when Q could do it far better than I could?
He slammed the front door open, stalked in, and pointed at Fluffy.
“You!” he yelled.
Liam followed him in, shutting the door and giving Fluffy a dirty look.
“You have been sleeping in my bed and you didn’t tell me you were Atlas? What the fuck? What the fuck is that bullshit? And why the fuck do you look like a dog?” Q ranted. He turned to Liam then, pointing at him. “Can you turn into a dog? Did you not tell me you could turn into a dog?”
Liam put his hands up and looked almost afraid of his boyfriend, which was kind of funny.
“No! I just have my hellhound form. Atlas was raised by wolves, so he adopted a new form as a pup in order to have a pack,” Liam answered.
Q and I both stared at him.
“Are you fucking serious?” Q asked, staring at Liam.
“We all tried to have other forms, too, when we first met Atlas, but even he doesn’t know how he did it. A survival mechanism, I guess. I swear I don’t turn into anything else,” Liam answered.
“Not about that. Oh my god,” Q muttered, turning and looking at Fluffy.
I looked down, and Fluffy was totally giving Q sad puppy dog eyes now. I smacked his side. “Stop that,” I insisted.
He looked at me and grinned.
“You were seriously fucking raised by wolves?” Q asked.
Fluffy panted.
“That means yes,” I said.
“Well, fuck. I can’t really yell at him now, then,” he said.
“Plus, I told you when Aiden first mentioned a dog that we didn’t have one and it was probably Atlas,” Liam added.
Q looked mad again then, turning and pointing a finger at Liam. “I thought you were fucking with me! Because when I saw Fluffy, he sure as fuck didn’t look like a hellhound. You neglected to mention he had another form.”
Liam started to open his mouth, but Q cut him. “And you also didn’t say anything when Fluffy came over. You called him Fluffy!”
“Well, he is Fluffy,” Liam said, like that made perfect sense.
“No, he’s not! He’s fucking Atlas!” Q cried out.
“Well he couldn’t be fucking Atlas, because he is Atlas,” Liam reasoned.
“That’s what I just said !” Q shouted.
Dear god, it was like a comedy of errors. Q was pissed, Liam looked confused as hell, and Fluffy was just resting his head on my lap like this was all perfectly normal. Liam looked over at him and raised his eyebrows.
“Care to help me out, Fluffy?” he asked.
Fluffy bared his teeth at Liam. I took that as a no.
Apparently Liam did, too, because he sighed. Then he said, “Atlas is… a little feral. He likes to stay in his other form a lot of the time. His other form liked the name Fluffy, and he adopted it. His hellhound is Fluffy, but his person is Atlas.” Liam shrugged then, like that was perfectly normal.
Q just stared at him. Then he grinned a total evil villain grin, and I couldn’t wait to see what was coming. “Does that mean I get to name your hellhound? How about it, Pookie? Snookums? Buttercup?”
Liam looked a little more appalled with each nickname, and I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped.
It seemed to break the tension. Q sighed, and Liam went over and pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry, my little hellcat. Fluffy didn’t want me to say anything, and I thought you would realize.”
Q grumbled a bit, but he hugged Liam back. They broke apart, and he looked back at me and Fluffy. “Why doesn’t he change into a person now, though?” he asked.
“Because Aiden isn’t ready for him to,” Liam answered, like it was the most normal answer in the entire world.
Q’s mouth opened in surprise, and I’m sure my face matched his. I looked down at Fluffy, but he wasn’t giving me sad puppy dog eyes. He just looked knowingly at me.
Maybe he was right. I wasn’t sure I actually was ready to meet Atlas yet.
Fluffy was my friend and companion, and people… Well, people weren’t always safe.