by Jay, Setta
As far as the Guardians had been able to tell, the entire species of Hellhounds were blood bound to the demon Tria purely for the demented fucks’ own amusement. The demons enjoyed sending their favorite pets into Tetartos and Heaven to feed off souls, and cause chaos and destruction. With the recent information they’d just uncovered, Uri had the uneasy feeling there was more to it than he or his brother Guardians knew.
Uri knew he’d have to come clean and tell his brothers what he’d done. Housing a Hell beast on Earth was going to get him an ass kicking from Drake. For some reason, he really didn’t give a shit. He’d had to blood bond to the animal to keep him in check, something he’d never done in the entirety of his long life. There had been no way around it. Drake would definitely torch something when he came clean. Fuck, he’d kick his own ass if he could. He had no idea what the hell was wrong with him, blood bond? Making him responsible for a Hell beast for life. He shook his head.
The only explanation was that he’d had too much fucking Jameson and hadn’t seen his little goddess for weeks. With Havoc destroying everything in his place, a blood bond had seemed like a solid plan. It was either kill the bastard or save the house. He’d saved his damn house.
He’d never bonded with another being, much less a fucking animal, but, like all of his kind, he had the ability to acquire multiple bonds, one of the talents Apollo and Hermes were attempting to exploit with the Aletheia race. He’d always wondered what it would be like. It was odd, knowing the feelings of another being, seeing things through the beast’s eyes if he chose.
Each Immortal race had their own talents, but Apollo and Hermes had hoped for stealth and secrecy with the creation of the Aletheia race, wanting to achieve the perfect fucking spook. They’d ended up getting better results from the Sirens than the Aletheia, but Apollo wasn’t one to waste a perfectly good warrior race, even if he had another.
Looking around for Havoc, he found him in the bushes further down the trail. Digging again. The beast loved to unearth rodents. He shook his head at the ridiculousness of it.
After reining in the hound with the blood bond, he’d felt Havoc’s need to feed off evil energies. He’d been completely set to kill the animal if he went dark like the Gods had when they’d fed off corrupted energy. Blade at the ready, Uri had been prepared to put him down. He’d been surprised to find that the hound had somehow metabolized the energy it siphoned. Havoc seemed to have no inclination to feed off those with untainted auras. Instead, he hunted the sickest of humanity. Those shrouded in a thick cloud of darkness. Uri found it odd to see auras. It’d taken time to adjust to seeing them through the beast’s eyes, not to mention understanding what the fuck he was seeing.
Sirena was going to go ape shit when she got a chance to check Havoc out. Her scientific mind would run rampant with all the animal was able to do. He’d tell them all at the next meeting. He knew Sirena was going to go crazy over the fact that not only did Havoc fed off the evil from a being, his feeding seemed to drag some of the evil from the human.
When Uri had gone in to alter the memories of those the animal fed from, changing them to remembering getting attacked by a dog, not a red eyed hellhound, he’d gotten a deep sense of satisfaction as their remorse made the pieces of shit suicidal. He saw that the desire to do ill was still there. It was almost like taking the high away, leaving their minds exposed to what they’d done. Good fucking riddance.
He wondered if that was the purpose of the Tria’s binding all the Hellhounds to them. Let them feed off evil contamination, torture the souls with remorse, then force them to darken their souls over and over, a never ending buffet of darkness for the Tria to feed from.
Sirena would ferret out the answers. Nothing made his sister Guardian happier than research. She was a true scientist at heart. Though, her main duty was locating potential mates for the Immortals on Tetartos. It was incredibly rare. Even after finding their mates, birth rates were incredibly low, due to a spell that had gone horribly wrong in the bowels of Apollo’s labs. Sirena’s research was of paramount importance to the continuation of the races, and their sanity.
Havoc popped his head out of the hole. The hound’s ears tilted high, back stiff, whiffs of smoke billowed from his mouth, the stance sending Uri into alert. He only did that on a hunt, and even though they were in the middle of nowhere, he didn’t doubt the animal’s instincts. He left the blades sheathed at his sides and waited. If it were humans up to no good, he couldn’t kill them anyway.
Havoc’s stance became more rigid, nubby tail high as he emitted a low growl. Uri’s neck itched, the beast didn’t usually growl, he was fairly quiet, even when he had chewed and scorched the shit out of Uri’s place, pre-blood bonding.
Scanning the area he didn’t detect anything, yet. Possessed maybe? Why? We’re they coming for Havoc? That would be the only excuse for their presence out here. There were no humans to torment in the middle of the night on a dirt trail. His preternatural hearing picked up the snapping of a branch to the right. He was interested to see what would come through.
Uri teleported next to Havoc, hearing another branch break in the heavily forested area. In a blur of movement, a big bastard, for a human, barreled through at full speed attempting to take him to the ground. Damn, definitely demon possessed, he really hated that they got a boost of demon strength. Side stepping the charge, he grabbed the idiot by the back of his black wife beater shirt, the thing started to rip with the momentum, but Uri got him down and pinned. He was a couple of inches shorter that Uri, maybe six foot six inch, heavily muscled, bald, and black, with what were probably prison tats to go with his shiny eyebrow ring.
It was irritating having to detain the asshole. A fight would have improved his mood. The guy really deserved an ass kicking for pure stupidity alone. The whole thing made no sense. Did the fiend really think he could take him out?
“How did you find me?” He growled the words. He’d been after Uri. No one else was here, other than Havoc, and the asshole hadn’t charged the beast. The male didn’t speak. Odd, the demons almost always liked to talk shit through the possessed human. Telling all about the things they would do to you after they took out your intestines yada, yada, fuck you with your own dick…
Cocking his head, Uri looked to the defiantly silent idiot. Fuck, whatever, he didn’t have time for that shit. He was getting into his pocket to grab some cuffs when the dumbass made a sad attempt at bucking his hold. Uri shook his head. The possessed was strong, but not that strong. That’s when he heard more movement, along with Havoc’s low growl. The beast had been looking to the woods for the few seconds it had taken to get Eyebrow Ring down.
Uri whipped Eyebrow up as he heard two more idiots come through the same tree line. Havoc took one down, while Uri moved Eyebrow in front him to take the blow from his buddy. As long as he didn’t inflict the pain, he didn’t get hit with repercussions. He smirked as the wind was knocked from Eyebrow, but the impact dislodged his grip on the asshole.
Back in fighting stance, he rolled his shoulders, enjoying the surge of adrenaline. When he looked to where Havoc was, he saw the animal had a barrel chested, white guy in a filthy white tank top, down on the ground. The hound’s teeth had pierced the guy’s neck, and Havoc injected him with the paralyzing agent all hellhounds possessed. Uri grinned as he watched the possessed go limp, screeching in rage. The sound abruptly cut off, no more moving or talking for that guy.
It was nice to see the pup was good for more than just entertainment.
One down, two to go. Both Eyebrow and the new short, stocky guy started circling him. The little guy with the knife had obviously spent way too much time shriveling his balls with steroids before getting his ass possessed. Stupid humans and their drugs. Uri shook his head, a little surprised they were going on the offensive. Just then, Eyebrow lunged to try and take him down. Uri teleported behind him, toying with him just to see what he’d attempt next. Shriveled Balls thought Uri was distracted enough to take a stab at hi
s kidney. Could they truly be more ridiculous? No way did they really believe they would succeed.
He blocked the knife swing instead of teleporting, pivoting to the left, but Balls held on and he broke the asshole’s wrist on accident, son of a bitch. He caught a sense of urgency through the blood bond. He turned in time to see that Eyebrow was hoping to catch him off guard, and inject him with a syringe of… who the fuck knew what. Balls had merely been a decoy.
Havoc growled deep and lunged, taking Eyebrow down. The guy was an inch from injecting Havoc with whatever the fuck was in that syringe. Uri knew he didn’t have time to detain them, he teleported he and the animal home. He had to get out of there before the repercussions from the wrist break hit, which happened just as he landed in his bed with a bounce.
Right as he and Havoc touched down, Uri mind linked to Drake with the info that he’d been attacked by possessed, sending a mental image of the location. “There were three possessed, one had a syringe. One guy down. I’m down at the moment. Broke a bastard’s wrist.” Shit, he hated to admit he’d fucked up.
“I’ll get someone out there. Get your ass in when shit’s straight.” Came Drake’s deep voice in Uri’s mind, just as his wrist hit the first regeneration. Only nine more breaks and regenerations to go… Fucking awesome.
By the second break, Uri was completely irritated. Knowing he had eight more breaks before he was able to get to the compound would make anyone angry. He probably should have called in when he was out there, instead of toying with the assholes. It was then that he felt the nip and long wet licks to his injured wrist. After injecting him, the beast hopped to the foot of the bed facing the door. Well, he wasn’t kicking the bastard off the bed after that. Shit… Drake would have conniptions when he realized Uri had not only brought the beast here, he planned to keep him. Havoc had earned his loyalty, and the thought of Drake’s scowl brought a crook to his lips, yeah, Drake would be pissed.
The paralyzing agent didn’t really work its full glory since he and Havoc were blood bonded. Even though, pup venom was stronger than that of an adult. Good thing it packed some punch. The next break didn’t even twinge. Why had they never thought to get some Hellhound venom to use like that before?
“Got him,” came through his link with Gregoire.
Jax’s confused voice came next, “Was there a fucking Hellhound out here?”
It was going to be fun to explain. Harboring an other Realm creature was one of those unsaid “don’t do it” kind of things.
Uri would have to hit his cave for a refuel before going in. He’d need the energy to deal with Drake, come clean, and take his ass kicking.
Chapter 7
Cyril hated working with idiots. Elizabeth, the sadistic bitch, was currently communicating mentally with her contact for the Tria, trapped in Hell Realm. They’d been able to track the Guardian, Urian, as they’d promised, but were unable to inject him with the serum he’d created. That was what he got for working with demons and their possessed. Complete incompetence.
Elizabeth spoke out loud, “Do you have anything else you want from them? I told them to continue the search, and add more demon possessed. This time use stealth, though I’m not sure that they have the higher brain function to pull that off. The jackoffs only sent three. With Urian’s ability to teleport… it’s like their brains are the size of tadpoles.” Her eyes glittered, probably anticipating the punishment she’d be allowed to dole out to the fool. They would need to feel the force of his annoyance, and she knew it.
Elizabeth averted her attention to the broken female lying at their feet, awaiting his response. The female twitched under the boot Elizabeth poked her with. The blonde had been intended as payment for the job the demons failed to complete. He clenched his fists at his sides, “No, I’ve changed my mind. They’ve lost any hint of surprise they’d had, and I don’t want my serum to getting into the Guardian’s hands. There will be no payment, and I expect them to return the vial.” He detested having his time wasted. “And Elizabeth, make sure the Tria understands my disappointment.” His voice came out just as menacing as he’d hoped, and he watched her eyes light with sadistic glee. Elizabeth truly loved making other’s lives painful, and doing so mentally with her contacts in the other Realms generally had them scared enough to do their jobs. He’d leave her to her work.
He exited the teleport area of his compound. He had few areas designated for getting in and out of the mountain. Those that were monitored constantly, and he was confident that the metal laced walls in the rest of the compound would prevent anyone teleporting directly inside. He saw his contorted form in the sheen of the door as he moved through and worked his way down the long dark tunnel back to his lab. He’d go through his files on the test Subjects and set aside his plans for the Guardians until later. The only reason he’d attempted to capture Urian at that point was at the Tria’s insistence they were able to track him.
He heard screams coming from the room he just vacated and shook his head at Elizabeth and her behavior. It didn’t matter that she tortured the human female. The mortal was only useful as payment to the Tria; the blonde’s mind had been ruined long ago. He just hoped Elizabeth showed some intelligence by not killing her. She knew he did not like to waste resources.
Cyril continued through the next darkened tunnel toward his destination. He distrusted Elizabeth. Unfortunately, he had yet to find another with her abilities, so he was forced to keep her, for the moment. A situation that grated his nerves.
Elizabeth was born in the breeding labs, like himself. Only, he was born to a God, while she was born of two first generation Aletheia. Somehow, she had acquired exceptional mental capabilities, one being her rare ability to contact those in other Realms. A power he’d been unable to duplicate or find within another. Cyril’s inability to recreate or find a replacement for Elizabeth, whose destructive habits were trying, was highly frustrating to someone of his highly evolved intellect. There were no other options but to keep her if he wanted to continue working with the other Realms. They’d been able to access some computer technology, but had never found a way to link with that, Internet, he was told existed on Earth.
Elizabeth was becoming more unstable. He exhaled deeply, maybe if he found her a keeper? He’d need to think on it. At the moment he was more interested in his latest test Subject. Something about the female niggled at the back of his mind. Was she the key he’d been searching for?
Chapter 8
“Why the hell do I smell Hellhound on this bastard? How the fuck did a Hellhound get into this Realm, and why am I looking at your fucking face yet not hearing a Gods damned thing coming from your mouth?” There were wisps of smoke coming out at Drake’s every word. Uri had anticipated the male being pissed off. Drake hated being kept in the dark about anything.
There were just he, Gregoire, Drake, Jax and White Tank Top in the holding cell containing a small toilet and a cot to the left, with a prone Tank Top lying still on top. He grinned. It was good to see the guy was still down. Hellhound venom packed quite the punch, the guy’s eyes were open and he was aware, just unable to move. They should have bottled that shit a long time ago. He’d talk to Sirena about doing just that. “Because I had a Hellhound with me.” He noticed the room had gotten really quiet at his revelation.
Jax poked Tank Top’s leg with one boot, “I probably don’t want to know the rest, but this is fucking cool. The guy’s totally down for the count.” Jax was one of the most talkative of the Guardians. Total pain in the ass most of the time, right then he was grinning like an idiot, all white teeth. Still, he managed to look like a huge assed cover model for GQ, Biker Edition with his black, spiky hair and bright blue eyes.
The holding cell was in a lower level of Drake’s stone compound, built into the mountains in Idaho, Earth. The whole place had been fortified with metal, preventing direct teleportation in or out, and the above floors housed fifteen suites for the Guardian’s convenience. It was really kind of overkill on Earth Realm.<
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Not all Guardians had homes in the human realm. Some preferred primary residences in Tetartos Realm with its large open spaces, unhindered by humanity’s massive populations. Geographical land masses were the same, yet all four Realms housed unique animal and plant life. Tetartos was lush and green and almost all of its areas were forested and full of beasts. The pollution and stifling population of Earth Realm did not exist there, making it easier for those Guardians with other forms to roam free of mortal eyes. Humans knowing that creatures of myth truly existed would be a huge pain in the ass.
Uri was one of the Guardians that had chosen to keep a primary residence on Earth, opting to use his suite at Drake’s manor when staying on Tetartos, which wasn’t often. Not when his obsession with a certain goddess kept him close to the human Realm at all times. For fucking no good reason.
“War Room. Now!” he assumed the words echoed in all their minds, not just his. More plumes of smoke flowed around Drake, and filtered through Uri’s nose. They filed up the staircase, through the two metal doors secured by voice scanners keyed only to the Guardian’s vocals, then headed down a hall and into the high tech war room. The room was well equipped, with computer stations surrounded by dark walls. Low lighting showcased digital screens that displayed maps of locations they’d patrolled recently, and areas showing more possessed activity.
Conn was already seated at the conference table. His big warrior’s body clad in his usual flannel, arms rolled up to show tattooed sleeves underneath the shirt. The brown haired Lykos, half wolf, leaned forward clicking at his laptop, a black piercing glittered over one amber eye as he looked up with a playful smirk.
Once inside, Uri, Gregoire and Jax plopped down into oversized, office chairs surrounding the huge, solid wood table they used for meetings. Drake continued to stand facing Uri.