It was one of the prettiest parts of the county, with the knobby rock formations and gathering of oak and cedar trees. The only places we had that kind of thick vegetation were near water. I knew the oaks would be showing off their brightest colors at that time of year, though the headlights only allowed us to see glimpses of it. I made a mental note to take a drive during daylight hours.
The holiday season would start up later that week, which felt like the perfect time for romantic drives through beautiful scenery. Since I was putting the screws to Creed about going to the Astral Plane, a low key outing together seemed fitting to make up for the stress.
We hadn’t made allowances in the rotation for a day of turkey and feasting that I knew of, so I glanced at Gabe and started the conversation.
“Any big plans for Thanksgiv—whoa!”
“Deer!”
The truck’s brakes clamped down as I stepped hard on the pedal. We narrowly missed clipping the whitetail doe that came bounding out of the treeline and shot across to the next.
“That was close,” I breathed.
“I thought we’d hit her for sure.”
I applied the gas to get going again, but we got almost nowhere before a second animal blurred through in front of us. It was no deer, though.
Big and black, I would’ve sworn it was one of the werewolves if the color hadn’t been all wrong.
“What the hell was that?” Gabe asked.
“Nothing good.”
We looked across the cab at each other and were right on the same page: Here we go again.
About to ask my partner if we should get out and investigate, my question became moot before it left my mouth.
A second black beast tore out of the trees, but stopped to look at us. In the light of the high beams, it stared us down with red eyes. Teeth bared, we heard it snarl even over the patter of the engine.
It was warning us.
Then, as quickly as the beast had appeared, it streaked off into the same treeline where its twin had chased the deer.
We waited a moment to see if there were any more of the creatures, then Gabriel broke our stunned silence.
“Let’s go check it out,” he said. “We need to find out what that was.”
He sounded like the very last thing he wanted to do was go after a pair of red-eyed monsters. In the dark. Through a claustrophobic grove of oaks.
I flipped a u-turn and parked the truck on the shoulder near where the ill-fated deer and her pursuers entered the wooded area.
“Send Hugo our coordinates. Just in case,” I told Gabe as I got out.
In seconds, I had my quiver on my back and an arrow nocked. My partner pocketed his phone and loaded his crossbow. There was a light mounted on the frame and he switched it on.
“Ready?” he asked.
My brain had red-flagged the entire situation as one big Hell No, but we weren’t leaving without answers.
“No. But let’s go.”
The leaves had only just begun to fall, but enough littered the ground that our every step was given away. I tried to tread lighter, but poise and stealth were Jocelyn’s department.
To my right, the beam of Gabe’s light swung slowly, carefully back and forth as he searched the trees. I didn’t need a light, but the advantage of my eyesight was diminished since we couldn’t see more than a few yards in front of us. But we kept moving, going forward even though our every instinct pushed us to go back.
Not far away, the howl of a wolf pierced the silence. An answering howl, more distant but still easily heard, quickly followed.
Gabriel turned his head and looked at me. The same question appeared to be running through his mind as was mine: How did those things get on Meg and Gio’s radar?
In the quiet of the moment, we heard shuffling up ahead. I lifted my bow and drew back the string. My partner and I moved as one, our pace quickening with a destination now clear.
The shuffling sound became more distinct—legs working back and forth, scattering dry oak leaves. Hooves pawed at the ground, fighting to gain traction. A low growl rumbled like that of a prehistoric beast. There was a snarl in return and then… The shuffling sound ceased.
The trees opened into a small clearing and revealed a bloody scene. The odor that hit my nose was pungent and familiar. It was the same acrid stench from the pawnshop the night the Triple Six attacked. Like hundreds of burning matches… sulfur.
I tried to grasp just what it was I was looking at, but the creatures were like nothing I had seen before—and that’s saying something.
They were like a hellish experiment gone wrong. A mastiff crossed with a dragon. All black except for those burning red eyes, their fur bristled like it was coarse and matted. They each had a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth that flashed ever time they went in for another bite. Claws that put the teeth to shame tipped paws the size of saucers.
I had only ever heard of their kind before and would rather have kept it that way: Hellhounds.
Deliberating about whether we should be the ones to make the first move, I was blindsided by the vampire’s approach. But across the clearing, he looked just as surprised to see us as we were to see him.
With my bow already drawn taut, I merely shifted my aim from the hellish canines to the vampire’s heart. Recalling my idea that we had discussed with Hugo, reason overrode instinct and I recalibrated to shoot to wound, not kill.
In the fleeting moment, the demon began to beg for his life. “Lucifer, Lord of Perdition, save m—”
My arrow cut off his plea, though I didn’t take the kill shot. The demon soul remained intact as the broadhead sliced into the abdomen instead of the heart.
The cacophony set off by the exchange left us no choice but to engage. The hounds had been content to ignore their demon dog walker and finish their meal, but our presence set them off.
I reached for another arrow as the beasts abandoned their kill and came for Gabe and me. Their strides were huge and they covered the distance in a flash.
Loosing the arrow I had at the ready, I was dumbstruck to see it hit my target but fall without doing any damage. The bristled fur acted as armor, the arrow unable to pierce it.
The hellhound was already upon me, so I gripped the frame of my bow and thrusted my left hand forward. The spike bit through the thinner fur at the jugular and the beast yelped. Its weight and momentum were too much for me, sending me to the ground on the flat of my back.
Jaws snapped mere millimeters from my face. I got a good look at where my bow’s spike had wounded the beast, and the flesh sizzled, much how a vampire’s reacted to silver.
With my hands gripping my bow to brace against the attack, I couldn’t get to my knives. It was a stalemate my waning strength couldn’t outlast.
Chancing a glance to the side to check on Gabriel, I saw him gain the upper hand and take the hellhound’s back to cut its throat. Just as the hope he could help me was burgeoning, the beast bearing down on me was hit by an auburn freight train and toppled over. He rolled to his feet and rose with a snarl.
Meg faced off with the hound, hackles raised and lips peeled back over sharp teeth. Her interference gave me enough time to get my feet back under me. I snapped my bow into place on my back and drew the two silver daggers. My partner appeared on my other side, winded and with blood on his hands.
The remaining hellhound recognized how badly he was outnumbered and turned tail. Meg tore after him. Knowing Gabe and I wouldn’t come close to keeping up, I looked for Gio and found him with a massive paw in the middle of the downed vampire’s chest.
“Gio!” I got his attention. “We’re okay here. Go with Meg.”
Without hesitation, he left his post watching the bloodsucker and raced after Meg and the beast. I took his place and ran to the vampire I had shot. If I couldn’t kill him, at least I could press him for some answers.
“What do you use them for?” I asked, referring to the hellhounds.
“Why should I tell you?” he fired b
ack, though his voice was reedy from the pain.
The physical implications of being shot in the gut wouldn’t affect him much, but he was being poisoned by the silver. His hands rested over where the shaft protruded from his host’s non-vital organs, protecting the wound. I could still hear the sizzle of the flesh and smell the distinctive scent of a chemical burn.
“Because I’ll leave you here to rot,” I told him.
When he said nothing and looked at me with contempt, Gabriel reached down and gave the arrow a sharp twist. The leech wailed in agony as the broadhead sliced into new flesh, setting off a fresh round of sizzling.
I was both surprised and impressed with my partner’s unexpected ruthlessness.
“Start talking,” he ordered.
“Alright… alright,” the vamp sputtered. “They’re our procurers.” He stopped, panted. “Since your friend emptied the cemetery and you all dispatched our hosts, we need new ones. The hounds mark them, bring them to us.”
“Body snatchers,” I muttered. “How many are there?”
Lupine howls carried on the night air, Meg and Gio celebrating their kill.
“Two fewer now,” the vampire wheezed.
“A real answer. Now.”
“Idon’tknow,” he interrupted me in a rush, as if he expected more punishment for his reticence. “Maybe you should ask your old pal Valan. He knows.”
I huffed. The thought of shaking down their ancient leader for answers was just too much.
“Why do you call him her old pal?” Gabe questioned.
“He’s obsessed with her. She slipped his grip. More than once.” A pained grunt punctuated his answer. “No one does that. And now she’s a light-wielder…”
I glanced at Gabriel—he looked just as nonplussed as I felt.
“A what?” I asked.
“You possess the Holy Light. There hasn’t been a human light-wielder for centuries.”
“What does that mean?”
“You truly don’t know? You’re marked for death. A sacrifice.”
“That can’t be true,” Gabriel insisted. “Yescha wouldn’t do that to her.”
“You’re nothing to the angels. Pawns in their endless war.”
“Enough,” I said. “I won’t listen to this.”
I shoved my daggers back into their sheath and stalked away. Behind me, I heard Gabe stomp through the fallen leaves, then pause. I kept going without looking back.
“Wait! You said you wouldn’t leave me here!” the wounded bloodsucker protested.
I had made no such promise. And I knew he had worse coming from Valan if the demon general found out he had talked. Not that I cared.
Chapter 4
I was near the edge of the woods when my partner caught up to me. He held the head of the hellhound he had killed by the matted fur.
“To show Hugo,” he told me.
We reached my truck and he pitched the head into the bed. I offered him a bottle of water to rinse his hands.
“What did you do with the leech?” I asked.
“Nothing. Left him there.”
When Gabriel was short on words, it meant he was mulling something over. He dried his hands and typed a text into his phone.
“I told Hugo we’re good here and we’ll meet back at HQ,” he said.
“Do you think it’s true?” I asked quietly.
“Honestly, I don’t know. He had nothing to gain from lying.”
“Except rattling me,” I said.
I couldn’t believe Yescha would place such a burden on me without telling the truth. Wouldn’t believe it. But we had been interrupted and I hadn’t seen her since.
It made my plan with Creed that much more urgent—now we both needed answers.
“Did it work?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I’ve been a target for long enough that being told I’m destined to die doesn’t really frighten me. But to be a sacrifice… For it not to be my choice any longer. I need answers.”
I told Gabriel about my plan to have Creed take me to the Astral Plane. He listened, frowned, and picked a few leaves out of my hair from when I had been knocked down by the hellhound.
“Creed’s right. It is dangerous,” he finally said. “But not knowing either about his ability or about the light that Yescha gave you are bigger threats.”
At least he understood where I was coming from, wanting to take a calculated risk. I opened the driver’s side door to my truck.
“C’mon, let’s get going,” I said. I climbed inside while Gabe went around to the passenger side.
I pulled back onto the road and continued on about my plan. “He doesn’t want to do it. He said he will, but I know I’m forcing his hand.”
“Unless there’s another way to make contact with Yescha, I don’t see how there’s a choice. Besides, what that vampire said back there changes things. If it’s not just about himself, Creed will be more willing.”
He had a point. Before, I was trying to convince Creed to take me along on an Astral journey simply to make the connection between him and Yescha. Now I needed his help for me, too. I hoped if he cared for me as much as he seemed to, that would tip the scale in my favor.
“I hope you’re right.”
“This is not at all how I expected tonight to go,” Gabe commented as we passed the lake.
We were in the hours between late and early, so there was no one else around. There were a few porch lights left on here and there, but the landscape was otherwise dark. People had, for the most part, been leaving us alone to go about our business, but I was still glad the lion’s share of our patrolling took place when people were out of the way.
“Tell me about it,” I said. “Though I don’t have expectations anymore. It’s just prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”
I pulled into the driveway of headquarters and parked behind Aric’s Subaru. Hugo’s truck was there, too, so we knew they were already inside waiting for us.
My partner grabbed the hellbeast’s head from the back of the truck. As he lugged the massive thing inside, I noticed the same burning match odor as before.
“That thing reeks,” I said.
“No kidding. The first thing I’m doing when we’re done here is taking a shower.”
Hugo and Meredith, Aric and Garret were in the sitting area when we went inside. Gabe plopped the severed head onto the tile floor, inciting a collective inhale.
Our leader leaned in for a closer look. “There are stories of these hellhounds, legends that go back generations. I never thought I’d see them with my own eyes.”
“Are you both alright?” Meredith asked us.
“We got knocked around,” Gabe answered. “Nothing serious.”
“There were two of them, but Meg and Gio helped us,” I said.
“How did you kill it?” Aric asked.
“Silver dagger. I cut its throat,” Gabe said.
“Our arrows can’t pierce the hide,” I added.
We both explained about the vampire and how he appeared to be accompanying them. And we told the others what he said about the hounds acting as their body snatchers. Gabe paused and looked at me before going on, asking tacitly if I wanted to share what the vamp had to say about me.
I gave a minute head shake. It didn’t seem right to worry the others about something that could prove to be empty words.
“It wouldn’t be Dove Creek without something new to kill,” Aric commented, passing a palm over the pointy green spikes of his mohawk.
“Could silver bullets work?” Garret asked quietly. “You said your arrows wouldn’t pierce them, but a bullet should have enough velocity to do the job.”
“That’s a great idea. How many do we already have in inventory?” I asked Gabriel.
Since we hadn’t carried firearms as part of our regular arsenal until recent days, silver rounds weren’t something Gabe and Aric replenished on the regular.
“Enough to get us started. Aric and I can get to work right
away casting more.”
“I’m ready when you are,” Aric said.
“It’s close enough to dawn, we’ll call it a night for our rounds,” Hugo said. “Casey, Joss, Creed, and Dylan are on watch tonight. Let’s make certain they’re in the loop and armed properly.”
Even though Hugo had declared an end to our patrolling for that shift, I decided to stay at headquarters at least until daybreak in case Garret caught something on the scanners. Gabe disappeared to take his shower, and Aric went to the kitchen to grab a Dr. Pepper and wait for him so they could get to work in the armory.
I was on my way to the same destination, only for coffee, when Hugo caught me and pulled me aside.
“What’s on your mind, mija?”
“It’s that obvious?”
“Obvious to me, yes. There’s something you didn’t want Gabriel to say.”
“Only because I don’t want to cause a stir if it’s nothing.”
I explained about what the bloodsucker had said under duress, both about myself and us being mere pawns. I had a target on my back, not only because of Valan, but one Yescha had put there.
“I’ll do some research,” Hugo said. “Perhaps I can dig up who this earlier ‘light-wielder’ was. It may tell us something.”
“I’m going to ask Creed to take me to the Astral Plane to try to contact Yescha,” I confessed. His expression changed to one of surprise and concern, so I dove in and explained more. “I already asked him, actually, but to ask her about his necromancer origins. Then that happened tonight, so I’m determined to convince him.”
“I’m assuming if you’re trying to talk him into it, he’s reluctant to put you in peril. He’s told you about the risk it poses to you?”
“Yes. It’s why he doesn’t want to take me.”
Hugo nodded. “As long as you’re going into it with your eyes wide open… It may be the only way for either of you to find the truth.”
“I agree. Gabe and I talked about it some earlier, and so does he.”
“He knows, then.”
“Only him. I haven’t told anybody else, mostly not to worry anyone. And there really hasn’t been time. I just had the idea yesterday.”
Three Times Burned: A Paranormal Fantasy (Remington Hart Book 3) Page 3