Chapter 17

It took almost an hour for me to gain semblance of coherency. For a while I just sat there with my mouth wide open and a frown on my brow as I stared past the teen into nothingness. A child of each of the three worlds? I repeated over and over like a deranged mantra. Demon, angel and human - the consequences would be catastrophic if the truth got out and as a result it put me in an awkward position. Could I tell Lucius about this without bringing down hell upon the small isolated town? Could I do that without putting my charge and her unborn child in harm’s way?

I mulled these thoughts over and over to myself but I could never come to a direct conclusion, only that the angels already knew about the baby’s heritage. Otherwise, I questioned myself, why would they have sent me here?

“A demon, an angel and a human. Makes it sound like a really bad joke,” I muttered under my breath while thinking that my life had well and truly become a caricature of everything it once was.

“Would you like some tea Ms Holmes?” The teen next to me shook her head and offered me a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I meant Savannah.”

Still half in a daze, I nod my head and allow myself to take in the sparse furnishings of the lounge. It all looked well-worn but there wasn’t anything extra here. Everything looked to be at least ten years old and like the carpet under my feet had been used to the point that the colour had been worn away in well trafficked areas. I could understand considering the fact that it was only her now. There were no parents and obviously no guardians – unless you counted the prison guards that kept the young girl locked away like a pariah.

A shrill scream tore through the air, the sound even permeated through the double glazed windows so loudly that it shook the picture frames upon their hangings. I was dragged from my haze by two small hands grasping my shoulders and shaking me back into awareness. For a moment I did nothing but survey the room with confusion half expecting the television to be on. But there was no sign that there was anything immediately wrong within the room and that was another thing missing from the room – no television.

I opened my mouth to question my charge but before I could get the words past my lips, another piercing scream rattled the windows. My eyes snapped towards the netted window and in the same second, the hair at the nape of my neck stood on end. This is bad news I thought just as a terrifyingly familiar growl tore through the streets and shuddered through the ground.

Shying as far away from the window as I possibly could I felt all of the blood drain from my face. 

“Oh god, why are they here?” I murmured, not even bothering to hide my terror from the nervous teen beside me.

But then, when I tore my gaze from the window and allowed it to rest upon the pregnant teen I felt a sense of duty overtook me. She looked even paler than I probably did and she was hugging her stomach like the simple gesture would protect her unborn child. I knew then, that even though these beasts were here for a reason and that reason was probably her, I knew that I couldn’t let them get to her. There was no way that I was letting someone else become the victim of a hellhound and that was why I pulled back my shoulders, lifted my chin and stared resolutely out onto the streets.

 “Nicole, I need you to lock your doors and then head upstairs. Don’t let anyone in until they’re gone or I tell you it is safe.”

My tone was uncompromising and I left the lounge without giving the teen a chance to respond.

I had no idea why I was even walking out to meet these fiendish beasts that had killed Lucius’ granddaughter but there was something urging me on. A nagging in my mind and heart gave me a responsibility and an insufferable will to defend the powerless against the wrath of evil.

 This is god’s doing, I thought as my hands closed around the door knob and an itching began in my back. It reminded me that really needed to find out the terms of that deal but I knew that would probably never know the true extent of my actions while I was dead.

Stopping within the open doorway, I frowned and shrugged my shoulders at the sensation now rippling up my back. A sharp wind and a light drizzle flew into my face as I stood on the threshold but my only thought was that I hadn’t felt like this in over a year. The self-same itchiness that was crawling up my spine had not been present since Lucius had shown me the words hidden within plain view upon my back. It was almost as if it had lain in wait until a time of great peril and uneasiness to start irritating me again.

Unable to do anything about it at that moment, I chose to ignore it. I took a step out of the house and closed the door behind me, jiggling the wooden frame to ensure that it was shut firmly. Then, surveying the street which was now completely deserted, I stepped forwards only to have my chest arch upwards.

A sharp pain replaced the itching as the flesh tore open. The sensation was uncomfortable like the skin had become too tight and had quite literally torn apart leaving behind an uncomfortable burning. Then, through the fissures, something forced its way out of the gaping wounds. It pushing and pushing until a heavy weight settled against my back.

The sudden extra luggage on my back caused me to teeter on my feet while I fought against the nausea and the loss of balance. Added to that, I could feel trickles of something warm and wet running down my unaffected skin until it absorbed into the waistline of my trousers. As my hand reached back to swipe at the substance, I knew that I would come face to face with my own lifeblood.

Pressing my lips together to prevent myself from emptying my stomach contents onto my shoes, I focused out onto the street and the task ahead. I saw nothing. My eyes burned in the gloomy light and I had to blink several times to clear it. A fog had settled over the street which did nothing to ease the burning at the back of my eyeballs.

“Just great,” I muttered to myself while my hands fumbled at my back to feel the source of discomfort on my back.

At first it was merely a bulging mass, my top pulled so tight over it that my top had become two sizes smaller. Yet, I trailed my hand underneath my top to touch the mass. I froze.

Feathers. Soft silky feathers hung from my back and in disbelief I shrugged my shoulders causing the sound of ripping fabric to tear through the air. Somehow I had grown a set of wings which sat confined underneath my top, begging to be set free. Thus as I flexed my back, the feathery extensions stretched outwards ripping the flimsy fabric along the seams.

“Crap,” I cursed to myself before finding my attention riveted on the sight before me.

I didn’t know how I hadn’t spotted it immediately. Either the fog or the sudden sensitivity in my eyes had kept me from seeing. But right in that moment, I could see and I did not like it one bit. Just a few paces from where I stood, there was a limp and mauled form sprawled out across the road. The person had been torn apart so badly that I couldn’t even tell if they were male or female. And I wasn’t going to get close enough to inspect it either.

It’s now or never, I thought begrudgingly when I had paused in front of the door for just a little too long.

 Tension reigned as I strode down the street with light purposeful strides, ones that caused me to cringe each time the ground crunched beneath my feet. There was more I didn’t like about the situation when I noted how still and quiet the town had become. It was even more eerie than it had been upon my arrival to the desolated town.

I continued to tiptoe through the abandoned roads, walking straight past my idle car and the many still and silent houses. Every nerve within my body was tingling and held taut as I tried to find the owner of the teeth that had torn the poor individual apart. But there was nothing.

I felt bad for momentarily hoping that the hellhounds had left now that they’d had their fill of flesh and violence. But I then shunned the guilt. I didn’t have time for it and in my distraction I had allowed someone to sneak up on me.

Keeping my spine ramrod straight, I listened as grit crunched underfoot and claws scraped against the tarmac. Then, a second later, hot breath brushed against my new wings so that the feathers stirred. I trembled and kept my eyes ahead of me as I tried to think of a way to get out of this situation or at least come out of it on top.

Why the hell did I volunteer for this, I questioned myself as I took in a deep breath to steady my nerves.

Determined not to run away, I spun on my heels before I could lose my courage and face my opponent.  

And there it was - a great heaving slobbering mass that was the keeper of my worst nightmares. I frowned and blinked at the beast before me. How can I even see it? I thought incredulously as I eyed its grotesque form.

The hellhound was a mixture of dog and gargoyle with its twisted and warped features. The creature was large, almost six feet tall so that I had to crane my head back to see of it. I found myself wanting to look away from the beast with its contorted features that held only a drooling snarl as it bared its razor sharp teeth at me. I watched those teeth warily, afraid that if I looked away they would tear into my own flesh.

At the same time, I took note of the beast’s other features in a poor attempt to find a weakness. But I knew that I was no expert, and it would take a genius or an animal expert to figure out a hellhound’s weakness. From its thickly scaled skin that was closer to black armour than anything else and the deadly looking claws that were tapping against the floor there were not any places that seemed particularly vulnerable – or at least there were not easily accessible unless I had wanted to have my arm mauled off.

Growling in frustration, I stomped my foot before me.

“What do you want from me? Who do you work for?” I bellowed at the stationary beast, my hands balling into fists at my sides.

I groaned after I had shouted out the useless words. The hellhound wasn’t simply going to answer back. I doubted it could even speak. But my words did manage to serve at least one purpose.

A loud rumbling started up, quickly transforming into a deadly snarl that would strike fear into even the bravest of men. But I wasn’t a man and I had already died once thus I faced the beast off giving it my own feeble little growl. It caused the animal to balk before regaining its threatening stance which was terrifying  because it caused the feral looking snarl to be positioned mere centimetres away from my face.

How I managed to make it through the next few minutes was a blur. One second me and the beast are facing off, the next the two of us have launched through the air. All sound paused in that moment as if nature itself as holding its breath in anticipation.

 I raised my clenched fist and threw it hard and fast into the beast’s snout causing its head to snap to the side and its jaw to snap shut. A rumble of fury issued forth and I had barely touched the ground before the beast, with its heavy lumbering gait, was charging straight towards me. Its eyes were wild as the beast flashed it crimson coloured irises at me. There was nothing to be done but charge it and hope that my smaller frame was enough to slow it down. I however knew that the hope was in vain considering it was like put a child against a car going at sixty miles per hour.

Thus it was with a wince that I pulled back my arm and raised my fist to beat the hellhound in its face once more. The canine-like monster was prepared for me though and caught me about the wrist. With its teeth caught around my wrist, I would have sworn the beast smirked at me if it could before those razor sharp teeth bit down hard.  

A scream tore through the streets and it took me a few seconds to realise that the shrill sound was coming from me. Unwilling to try and wrench free, I forced my arm further into its mouth. Momentary surprise had the overgrown dog backing up a few steps with my violent shove. Then in a reflexive action the hellhound unclamped its jaws when it began to choke. It answered my question as to whether it was actually alive rather than a mere hellish construct as the animal of nightmares was wheezing and hacking as it tried to fill its lungs once more.

Taking in its momentary lapse in concentration, I allowed myself the chance to glance around. A glint out of the corner drew my attention and I soon spotted its source.  There was a broken umbrella abandoned in the gutter only a few feet away and although a pitiful sight, it was the only available weapon within the immediate vicinity. I didn’t even hesitate as I closed the distance and lunged for the feeble piece of metal.

Taking the umbrella firmly in my grasp, I flexed the wings on my back before whipping around when I heard the sound of displaced stones behind me. The predator was circling and I knew that it would all be over if I allowed the beast to get access to my exposed back.  Despite the new appendages, I doubted they would be protected from the wrath of a hellhound.

Our standoff lasted what felt an age, the both of us just circling the other, until the impatience wore on both our parts. The hellhound pounced with its teeth and claws ready for my blood. I rushed forward a step before pushing off of the floor, my legs splayed like I was doing hurdles while I brandished the splintered umbrella like it was Excalibur itself.

We clashed, pained cries issued forth and blood spilt. I could feel the wounds instantly opening up across my chest and stomach causing rivulets of red liquid to spill forth while I grappled to strike the snapping monster. My impromptu weapon was difficult to use however with the bulking mass above me. Thus with no way to get enough force behind my flimsy weapon, I soon found myself pinned and at the mercy of the beast.

The hellhound liked this, a string of thick drool dripping down onto my face as it gave what I could only describe a barking chuckle. It was strange to me that something so not-human could have such human reactions to things.

Terror rapidly overrode such thoughts however as it neared and put its nose to my neck and took a deep inhale. I tightened my fingers around the thin spear of metal that felt warm within my slick grasp and held onto it like a lifeline. Then, as the hulking form above me reared back to finish its job and tear out my throat, I jabbed forwards with the broken umbrella and rammed it upwards with all of my strength.

I felt the heavy weight hovering over me jolt with the force of the thin piece of metal driving itself through the exposed flesh under its jaw and straight up through its skull. The metal shone with a blue light under my palms causing the eyes of the hound went wide and then withered as if they were being destroyed from within. The pair of us paused in shock. My eyes were trained on the teeth hovering above my face while I could feel the first drops of blood dribbling down the pole. It ran down the back of my hands, coating it in a warm substance which made my skin to tingle.

Then, in slow motion, the hellhound’s limbs gave out and it collapsed on top me a dying whimper before going still with a metal rod still embedded into its head.

I tried to move the body off of myself but I knew that the strange strength and agility I had possessed only moments before had now fled. Thus, I was left to lay under the dead weight of the oozing mass while my mind buzzed over the single erratic thought, “I’ve just killed a hellhound.”

I laid back against the floor in an act of complacence while I tried to think a way out of this situation. My injuries were burning and I could feel my own blood mingling in with the gore coming off of the dead weight that was crushing me to the floor. And yet, unless I got some kind of help, it was unlikely that I would be moving out of the road anytime soon. A human could never assist me because no human would even be able to see the hellhound.

I shifted awkwardly to try and get into a more comfortable position – well as comfortable as being pinned by a dead animal the size of a horse could actually be – when I remembered my wings. They were awkwardly pinned underneath my back but they were there still nonetheless.  I closed my eyes and concentrated hard enough for perspiration to form on my brow and was rewarded my then pushing myself and the hound off of the floor so that the beast slip from me and toppled onto the floor.

“Thank you god,” I whispered fervently as I dropped back down onto the floor and eyed the prone form next to me.

Eyeing its razor sharp teeth and feeling my own lifeblood leaving my body, I was faced with the startling reality that I had almost died. And although I had just taken down one particularly nasty hellhound, there was no telling if there were more on the way and just how big they were. For all I knew, this six foot beastie might have only been a runt of the pack. But one thing was for sure, Nicole and I were not sticking around to find out.