by Zoe Chant
He held his breath as Angus strode into view. He was deep in conversation with a solidly built, gray-haired man who looked like he was hanging off his every word.
“Back in July when I told you to go to hell?” the older man sighed. Angus burst out laughing and clapped him on the back.
“All forgotten, buddy. Trust me, in my line of work, that’s basically ‘hello’.”
“Ever since the fire…” The older man licked his lips unhappily. “If the price you were talking about back in July is still on the table…”
“I’m sure we’ll come to an arrangement that pleases us both. Let’s talk over dinner,” Angus said grandly.
Caine frowned. That’s Mr. Bell. The one who owns the store that burnt down. Is Angus trying to buy it? But since when is he interested in commercial real estate?
The conversation was setting off alarm bells in Caine’s head, and it took him a moment to figure out why.
Of course. It was all too familiar. The same sort of thing Caine had been investigating before the attack. In that scam, a cartel had targeted neighborhoods one by one. They’d sent in “investors” to talk to locals about what great prices they could offer for their houses, most of whom had been laughed out of the street by people with no wish to sell their family homes or businesses.
Then things had started to go wrong. Power outages. Broken pipes. Maybe a fire or two but somehow, always things that weren’t covered by insurance. Enough accidents so that by the next time the “investors” came around, the locals needed money bad, even if the price they were being offered was a lot lower than the first time around.
It's too close. Too similar. Too...
Angus turned and for a moment, Caine thought he’d spoken out loud. Inside him, his hellhound bared its teeth.
Him! it snarled. Caine braced himself, ready to fend off an attack which never came. Instead, his hellhound backed deeper into the shadows of his soul, curling its whole body around the strange golden light as though it was trying to keep it from Angus’ sight.
Angus stared into the trees. There shouldn’t have been any way he could miss Caine standing there. But his gaze went straight through him.
He shrugged and looked away and Caine sagged, exhausted. He waited until Angus was out of sight and then slunk away from the trees he’d hidden under. Strings of lights caught on his sleeves and his hands shook as he untangled them. Strange; he hadn’t noticed walking into them when he stepped under the trees...
Angus was across the square, heading for the Grill. Snatches of his conversation reached Caine’s ears but it was his other senses that were suddenly on edge.
His hellhound’s senses.
Nothing had changed; the square was still filling slowly with people, mostly locals by the look of them, but a few unfamiliar faces that must be the corporate group Hank had mentioned.
False hope. The hairs on the backs of Caine’s arms prickled. Why did I just think that?
He sifted through his memories again and remembered what he’d written about the scam he’d been investigating last Christmas.
Step one. The cartel raises price expectations by sending in fake investors to seed the idea of big returns in locals’ minds.
Step two. Make life hell. The more debt the locals get into trying to fix up the “accidents” the cartel arranged, the better. Make them desperate.
Step three. False hope. A miracle from above. The investors are back, and the offer’s still good. But then…
Ice ran down Caine’s spine.
He didn’t know what Angus’ part in all of this was, but something was very wrong. He could map everything that had happened in Pine Valley onto the scam he’d been so close to solving.
Only whoever was behind this scam wasn’t using sewage leaks and power outages to kill local business and sow desperation. They were using hellhounds.
And the next step in the scam—
He broke into a run.
I have to find Meaghan.
22
Meaghan
“Is Bob around?” Meaghan asked. She checked her watch. “It’s almost time to get started. Everyone else is in position.”
Olly looked vague. It was the expression she always got when she was communicating with telepathy. “He’s just finishing curling his beard. He’ll be a minute. Besides, we don’t need to start moving until after everyone else.”
“He’s curling his beard?”
Olly shrugged. “He takes it very seriously.”
Meaghan raised her eyebrows. “Right…”
At least everything else is ready, she thought. Olly looked great, so long as she remembered to smile instead of peering intently at people.
The dogs were all dressed up in their reindeer outfits. Each of them was wearing a snow jacket with a pair of antlers on the hood and tiny silver bells jingling from stitched-on saddles. Parkour, as lead dog, had a kitten plushie attached to his “saddle”. Meaghan wasn’t sure why, but Jasper Heartwell had begged for it to be included, and Parkour was fine with it.
And being dog-napped by the ghost gang doesn’t seem to have had any lasting effects. Except for Parkour growling at that corporate group yesterday. But he’s always a bit of a nut.
She knelt down and scratched Parkour’s ears. All six dogs were tail-waggingly cheerful and ready to go.
They're as happy to see me as when... ugh.
When she first met Caine. Why did she have to think about that now?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, all six sled dogs went still and alert. Meaghan's skin tingled.
Just like when they first saw him.
She looked up, and there he was. Across the other side of the car park. Far enough away that she shouldn’t have been able to tell it was him. Not so quickly or with such absolute, heart-thudding certainty.
Shit. What am I supposed to do now?
She shook herself. What was she thinking? There was no way he was here to see her. He doesn’t want anything to do with you, remember?
He must want to see Bob, or Hank, or…
Except...
Caine was walking straight past all the other lined-up parade floats. Right towards the sleigh. Either he was really keen to catch up with the dogs, or...
Meaghan gulped. He was coming to see her.
That tiny golden spark of hope flared up in her heart. She rubbed her chest.
Calm down. Calm down. Even if he is going to see you, he’s not going to...
She sighed and closed her eyes. If Christmas wishes were real, he would be coming to tell her he loved her, not his hellhound, and he wanted to be with her, and they would ride into town on the Santa sleigh with people cheering them on, straight into their happy ever after.
Caine’s gravelly voice broke through her daydream.
“Meaghan, you have to get out of here.”
Meaghan's eyes shot open. “What?”
The daydream shattered.
Caine must have run across the parking lot. He was standing on the other side of the sleigh, exhaustion in every line of his body and red spots of exertion on his pale cheeks.
“You have to leave. Now. Something’s—”
Meaghan’s ears filled with the roar of blood.
“You came all the way over here to tell me that I have to leave?”
Olly squeaked. Caine took a half-step backwards, his eyebrows drawing together.
“Yes, but—"
“I’m already leaving! Isn’t that good enough? Just two more days and you’ll be rid of me forever!”
“That’s not what I—"
“Shut up! Just stop talking!”
Caine's mouth snapped shut. Meaghan leaned on the side of the sleigh, panting.
Hot and cold shivers goose-bumped down her skin and she was worried she was going to be sick.
He doesn’t just want nothing to do with you. He wants you gone.
His hellhound is a monster. And he’s finally figured out that means you’re a monster, too.
> Tears filled her eyes. “This is why I never wanted to see you again!” she cried out, her voice hoarse.
That golden spark inside her flickered like a candle in the breeze.
Caine hissed in a breath and clutched at his chest. Meaghan clambered onto the sleigh and just managed to stop herself from tumbling off the other side and into his arms.
He doesn’t want you, remember?
Too big. Too loud. Too unlovable.
Monster.
Somewhere on the edges of her panicked rage, the dogs began to howl.
Caine's eyes went wide. His mouth twisted, but stayed shut, as though it was stuck together with invisible superglue.
“I had to be an idiot to think I’d finally found someone who liked me, right? You think your hellhound’s a disgusting monster and I am too! Just admit it!”
Meaghan’s eyes blurred, but the wind whipped away her tears before they fell.
Caine opened his mouth with a gasp. “If it wasn’t for my hellhound I would never leave you!”
“Bullshit!” Meaghan had to scream over the howling wind. “You’re lying!”
“I’m not—” Caine’s voice wavered.
“Meaghan!” Olly shrieked. “They’re here!”
Meaghan's head snapped around. “What?”
“Look!”
Meaghan followed her shaking finger. “I don’t see—oh God.”
The noise of the wind and the parade preparations fell away, and the silence that pressed in on her was unnatural. It was as though the world was blanketed in thick fog and snow.
Three huge shadowy hounds flickered in and out of sight at the edges of the parking lot. Their legs were long and rangy, their heads held low. Hellfire burned in their eyes and smoke coiled out of their panting jaws.
Panic gnawed at her insides just at the sight of them. The same panic that had made her admit all her worst fears to Caine.
“Hellhounds,” Meaghan whispered. Her own voice sounded strange and thin in her ears.
As soon as she spoke, they vanished. She looked around desperately. There was no trace of them. But the unnatural silence hadn’t lifted.
Caine grabbed her arm. “Please,” he said, his voice rough. “This is why I came. I’ve seen all this before. Not exactly the same, but—they're going to do something. I need you to be safe.”
He took a step backwards and Meaghan moved with him, stepping off the sleigh.
“What do you mean, you know what they’re doing?”
Caine's face was strained. “I think—"
Olly's shriek cut through the air. Meaghan twisted out of Caine’s grasp as the sled dogs began to howl again.
And run.
Olly thudded back against the seat as the sleigh burst into motion. Meaghan didn’t stop to think. She leapt onto the sleigh beside her.
“Mmf.” She gasped, winded. “Olly, can you—Olly?”
Olly was crouched in the very corner of the seat, her eyes wide.
Meaghan gulped. If I’m terrified, how must she feel? She said looking into their eyes was like having your brain scraped out until it was only the bad memories left, and her bad memories with Jackson are so close.
She reached out to grab Olly’s hand and turned back to the dogs.
“Whoa!” she shouted. The wind tore her voice away. “I said Whoa!”
The dogs didn’t listen. Or maybe they didn’t hear. Or maybe... A shiver clutched at Meaghan’s spine and she looked slowly to her left.
Burning eyes sneered back at her.
Nobody wants you. Nobody ever wanted you. And it’s all your fault. Everything is.
She sat down hard.
The hellhounds are driving the dogs. But where? And why are they doing this?
“Meaghan!”
Caine's voice thundered through her bones. She twisted around in time to see him grab the side of the sleigh and brace himself to slow it. Wood splintered under his fingers and the sleigh raced on.
“Grab my hand!” Meaghan yelled, reaching for him.
His hand closed around hers and he vaulted onto the sleigh. It rocked under his extra weight and Meaghan tensed.
Caine met her eyes. A flicker of understanding passed between them. “We can’t let the sleigh turn over. They won’t stop.”
Meaghan swallowed. “They won’t let the dogs stop even if their leads get tangled? They’ll get hurt!”
“I was thinking more along the lines of us getting hurt.”
“But we have to do something!”
Beside her, Olly moaned. “No, no, no...” Her hands were pressed up against her face. As Meaghan watched, feathers sprouted between her fingers. “No no no...”
“Whatever they’re doing to the dogs is affecting her as well,” Caine groaned. Meaghan’s attention whiplashed from Olly, to him. His face was creased with pain.
“And you?”
“I can... manage it.”
It was affecting her, as well. Adrenaline was rushing through her system. She gulped.
“They’re driving us towards the town.”
What was it Opal had said? Scared people make stupid decisions.
“Those streets will be full of people.”
“Don’t let them see me like this!” Olly cried. “I can’t stop it—”
The streets had been plowed that morning. Huge drifts of snow were piled up either side of the road. But only here. The closer they got to town, the less snow there would be.
Meaghan saw her chance and made a split-second decision. She grabbed Olly’s hand and pulled her upright as the sleigh neared a corner.
“Jump!” she yelled. Olly squeaked and leapt into the drift at the side of the road.
“That’s her safe. What about you?” Caine’s voice was hoarse. Meaghan turned to him, her eyes flashing.
“You mean us,” she snapped. The candlelight-spark inside her flared.
“I have to keep you safe. That's the only thing that’s important anymore.” Caine groaned and clutched his head.
Meaghan pulled him down beside her. Wisps of tinsel were flying off the sleigh, and wood and steel creaked beneath her.
“We’re almost in town. And the sleigh isn’t going to hold up much longer at this speed. We have to slow them down somehow.”
“No more snowdrifts,” Caine gritted out, wincing.
Of course. That must have been what stopped their last joyride. I should have crashed us all into that last snowdrift, not just Olly.
You thought you could save Christmas? You can’t even save yourself.
They were at the edge of town now, on the long straight street that led to the square. Surprised shouts and the occasional whoop of excitement filtered through the howling silence from the people waiting for the parade only a few dozen yards away.
The sled dogs were panting, their eyes rolling in their heads. Meaghan gritted her teeth.
“There has to be something we can do to stop them!”
Windows shattered as the hellhounds, little more than shadows streaming smoke and sparks, stalked the streets.
The sled jolted on a pothole and Caine put his arm around her and pressed his face close to hers.
“This is what I wanted to keep you safe from. Look around you. Do you see what I am now? The truth? Hellhounds are monsters.” His voice was wracked with misery. “I’m one of them. I can feel it in my bones. Their hunt is calling to me, and I can’t—I have to fight it, but...”
He cursed and dropped his head against hers. His next words were a whisper, barely audible. “I have to get you out of here before you get hurt. That’s all I wanted. You’re not a monster, you’re—you’re perfect. And I don’t deserve to be with you so long as I’m one of them.”
Meaghan felt as though she’d run headlong into a wall.
It’s not just his hellhound. It’s him. He cares about me. Caine cares about me.
Acid whispers crawled into the corners of her brain. Wrong. Wrong! You think that’s the truth? No one could ever care about a c
reature like you. Remember falling off that wall? Remember all the families that gave up on you because you were never good enough, no matter how hard you tried?
She squeezed her eyes shut. “No…”
It’s because you’ll NEVER be good enough. You’re broken inside. Worthless. Unworthy of love. All you can do is destroy things.
Only a monster could love you. Don’t you think you should let Caine go before you destroy him, too?
Meaghan’s eyes flew open.
That wasn’t her. It was someone else. Someone with a voice like acid knives, speaking inside her head.
She grabbed Caine’s head between her hands, forcing him to look at her.
“I’ve been wrong about everything,” she gasped. “I think. I hope. Oh, God, Caine, what if we both have been?”
“Meaghan, what are you talking about?”
“Your hellhound. It’s not a monster.”
Caine’s eyes widened. “You can’t know that—”
She didn’t have time to explain. She didn’t know how she would have explained it, either. She would have sounded like a crazy woman. An evil voice in my head told me all the things I am most afraid of are true—so I knew they weren’t?
It was insane. Ridiculous.
Just like when she’d been convinced there was more behind the weird shit going on in Pine Valley than just coincidences.
And she’d been right then. Not wrong. Not screwing things up. Right.
NO!!!
“Caine, I love you,” she screamed over the acid voice screaming in her head, and kissed him.
23
Caine
Meaghan’s lips melted against his, hot as the fire blazing in his heart. Caine’s hellhound sang, its eyes reflecting the perfect bright light it had been protecting ever since Meaghan left him. She was back now, and that tiny candlelight was burning as huge and golden as the sun.
Meaghan loved him. She wanted him. All of him. And he—
She gasped against his lips as the golden light in his heart flared. “What was that? It felt like—”
Brakes squealed just ahead of the sleigh. The dogs screamed as the sleigh shunted sideways. Meaghan slipped out of Caine’s grasp, hurtling directly towards the four-wheel drive that had appeared out of nowhere—