Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Now probably wasn’t the right time to remind myself I sucked at playing hide and go seek. Like, I seriously always got caught, which could actually work to my advantage.
I needed these two assholes to come at me one at a time, then I could—
Awoo. Bark. Snarl.
My eyes widened. Hold on a second. Did I hear dogs?
Tom yelled out. “Hope you don’t mind if we make this a little more entertaining for those watching my CrypTube Channel. I set loose some hellhounds who’ve not been fed in a few days.”
Not to be outdone, Belial hollered, “It’s not the smelly canines you should worry about, but the imps.”
What the fuck was an imp?
I found out a second later as one literally dropped out of the air and landed on my head. Claws wrapped around and pulled my hair. Wings flapped wildly. And was that a tail thrashing my back?
I reached up and yanked it from my scalp, wincing in pain as it took chunks of hair with it. The thing in my grip hissed and thrashed until I smashed its wiry body against a crate enough times it stopped moving. My killing it, though, acted as a signal.
Screeching filled the air as did the ominous flapping of leathery wings. Add in the canines howling and barking and I had a real problem. One of the threats could be more easily avoided than the other, though.
As a hellhound came barreling for me—with its red eyes shining bright as a blood moon—I leaped and grabbed hold of a crate. I hauled myself upward just in time. The dog leaped and snapped its teeth but couldn’t reach my flesh.
“Ha,” I exclaimed. “Not so tough now, are you?” Taunting the rabid hellhound might seem odd, but it did much to help my confidence. I’d temporarily solved one dilemma.
Instinct screamed and it sounded a lot like my gym coach—Duck, you idiot! I crouched abruptly and the imp aiming for me missed—unlike those rubber red missiles used in dodgeball, the sound of which still haunted me.
The imp that flapped past, hovered, and let out a squeal to its friends. The warehouse ceiling might be shrouded in shadows, but I still spotted movement and, more ominously, heard the imps coming.
A lot of them.
I leaped to a higher crate while at the same time snatching from midair the next flying monster.
It hissed and thrashed but proved no match for my strength.
Holding it by the clawed feet, I swung the imp and batted another out of the air.
And another. Look at me, managing to strike moving objects, unlike my short-lived stint trying out for softball.
I was feeling pretty good about my odds until I got mobbed!
A cloud of imps descended all at once and surrounded me in a vortex of sharp and ripping claws and snapping jaws. I punched. I grabbed. I punted. But all the fancy—and awkward—fight moves in the world couldn’t have stopped one of them from latching on to my arm with needle-like teeth.
“Fucking ow,” I yelled, which did nothing to remove it. I wanted to tug it free, but my hands were busy fighting off others attempting to bite. The imp chewing my arm left me with only one real choice to counter its attack. I ducked my head and chomped.
I’ll admit to feeling a certain repugnance at biting squirmy, leathery flesh. But it worked.
The imp squealed and let go. As for me, I licked monster blood from my lips.
Tasty. I’ll admit what followed next lacked finesse.
Blame my suddenly roused hunger. I could only imagine the healing of my many wounds threw my body into blood craving overdrive because I urgently needed to drink.
Needed it so badly that I somehow, with an ease that seemed impossible, began plucking imps from the air.
Snare, bite, suck, toss, grab a fresh one.
Apparently, an effective tactic because before my hunger subsided, I ran out of imps to feed on. My growling tummy protested the end to our impromptu buffet. Then again, imps weren’t the only living things around. I glanced down and licked my lips.
Hellhounds stood on their hind legs and their front paws scrabbled at the crate I stood upon. Five by my count. Five big burly bodies with rapidly beating hearts and coursing blood.
I retained enough wits to know I shouldn’t jump down among them. However, what if I leaned down and grabbed one by the scruff?
A big, muscled, and vicious dog proved harder to handle than an imp.
The weight of the hound was much greater, not to mention the beast was stronger and more capable of fighting.
Its jaws snapped in my direction, clamping shut with the strength of a steel trap.
Thankfully not on any of my limbs, but it came close.
It glared at me. It drooled. So did I, though.
Once I had it atop the crate, I wrapped myself around the writhing wiry body and I didn’t miss when I bit. I did, however, gag and spit.
“Ew.” Not all blood was made the same. Where the imp blood proved delicious, Hell hounds had a much more acrid flavor. Rather than drain the creature dry, I ended up squeezing its neck until it snapped and it went limp.
One down. Four more to go. I grimaced at the sight of the leaping and snarling dogs—it reminded me why I preferred cats.
Before I could continue taking them out, a rustle in the air lifted my head. I saw the threat too late to stop it. Belial slammed into me, his size, along with the momentum from his wings, flinging me from my vantage point.
I hit the floor hard, caught under his weight, lying there for a stunned moment.
A moment too long, as it turned out.
A sharp whistle and Tom shouting the command, “Immobilize,” led to the pattering of paws and then searing pain as hellhounds gripped me by the ankles and wrists. They held me firmly enough I couldn’t break free.
Belial grinned as he sat up on my body, his thighs straddling my midsection. “Looks like I win.”
“You? My dogs are the ones holding her in place. Told you they’d be more useful than your flying monkeys.” Tom crouched by my head. “Guess that means I get to go first.”
“Fuck you. I’m the one who knocked her to the floor,” Belial interjected. “If I hadn’t done that, your mutts would still be slobbering uselessly.”
How lovely. They argued over who would get dibs on abusing me. I had to find a way to free myself, but those hounds held tight. I stared at the one locked onto my left wrist. Its red baleful gaze showed no sign of anything but hunger.
I was hungry, too.
And annoyed.
And scared.
But also kind of pissed as the assholes who’d killed Cillian stood nose to nose yammering about who got to torture me first.
I stared at the dog, narrowing my gaze, focusing all my attention.
I knew vampires could mesmerize people, but what about animals?
Never mind the fact I’d never attempted it before with anyone, I had to try something hence why I kept my eyes locked with the hound’s, pinched my lips, and thought hard.
Let me go, hairball. I’m not the one you should be biting. I’m not the one who starved you. Why not bite on the one who’s been mean to you?
I don’t know who was more surprised it worked. Me, the confused-looking dog, or the panicked Tom, who suddenly had a dog snarling in his direction.
“What the fuck, Saber! Immobilize.” Tom uttered a piercing whistle.
Saber growled, a deep and rumbling noise.
Belial snorted. “Looks like your dog thinks you’re a tastier treat.”
“Saber, heel. I said heel!” Tom’s high-pitched command didn’t stop Saber from leaping at the satyr. It caused a chain reaction that led to the other dogs unlatching their jaws from me to join their hairy brother in harassing Tom.
I was free!
Kind of. I still had Belial to deal with.
While Tom screamed as his savage pets turned on him, I faced off against the dark fairy. Pretty sure I could have handled him if that mother fucker hadn’t pulled out a sword. Not just any sword. His weapon rippled with black flames.
He pointed it in my direction and hissed, “I think the time for playing is done. You’re turning out to be more trouble than your likely mediocre cunt is worth.”
Was it wrong to be offended by his use of mediocre? Then again, I wasn’t about to offer to prove I could be epic. “Don’t you be whining now. You’re the one who started the bullshit,” I huffed.
“And now I’m going to finish it,” he yelled, swinging with his blade.
The sharp edge narrowly missed me as I dove to the side.
I hit the ground—hard and without finesse in case you wondered—rolled—not intentionally but because I had no idea how to land—and smacked into a crate.
I pushed myself to my knees and only barely managed to flatten myself in time as the blade flashed past, slicing into the wooden box and getting caught.
It proved to be a short-lived reprieve as Belial planted a foot and yanked his sword free. In the process, he created a decent-sized hole that spilled soccer balls. The orbs bounced all over and proved enticing enough for one of the hellhounds to take off chasing one. Aw, just like a puppy.
A blade-brandishing Belial stalked for me. “I am going to enjoy disemboweling you.”
“Have to catch me f—” I slipped as my foot hit something spongy—dead imp—and threw me off balance. Being naturally clumsy, I couldn’t recover and I fell.
Again.
This time, though, instead of hellhounds pinning me spread eagle, I had a smirking dark fairy kneeling on my chest with a sword tip pressed to my throat.
“Any last words?” he asked.
“Hasta la vista, baby.” Yeah, I gave him my best Terminator voice, because what else could I say when I saw who came to my rescue?
I watched in fascination as lips latched on to Belial’s neck and pierced the flesh. His eyes widened. He gasped. His body stiffened. But Belial didn’t even fight. He stood still as his life’s blood was drained to the last drop and his body released, folding like a rag doll to the floor.
Ding dong, the fairy’s dead.
I smiled at my savior. “Thank you for saving me,” I gushed. I’ll admit, Sophia would have never made my list of people who might come to my rescue. Yet, when I’d seen her silently appear behind Belial with a finger to her lips, I’d never been more relieved.
Sophia’s nose wrinkled as she glanced around, her gaze stopping only for a second on the hounds chewing on Tom’s corpse. “What a mess. I should have known those two couldn’t be trusted to handle you.”
I blinked. “Er, what?”
The beautiful vampire smiled with a coldness the Antarctic couldn’t have matched. “Surely you didn’t think those bumbling idiots managed to plan this all on their own.”
“Tom said he wanted revenge.”
“Which made him eager to volunteer. As for Belial, he owed me a favor.”
“You had them kidnap me, but why? What did I ever do to you?”
“You exist, and that is insult enough.”