by Rue Volley
HELLHOUND
Book One
R U E V O L L E Y
Copyright of Rue Volley 2013
All rights reserved
Published by Hot Ink Press
Cover by Rue Volley for Vivid Book Designs
“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”
~ Mark Twain
Authors Note...
I normally do not write a note in my books, but seeing that this in my 40th book that I have written and had published, I wanted to.
First of all I thank my husband for standing by me. Writers often go off into their own worlds for weeks at a time, not physically, but mentally. Having a partner who accepts this fact that you will be living inside of your head for most of the relationship is vital to its survival. Luckily, I have an amazing husband who loves me unconditionally and supports me in everything that I do. So to Von I say this. You are an amazing person and I do not deserve you, although you often mention how it is the other way around. This is simply not true. I adore you, you own my heart.
To SJ Davis and Riley Steel, two amazing women who happened to enter my life just as I started my writing career, meeting the two of you was fate, at its finest hour. Without your belief in me and willingness to publish my entire library of work I would not be sitting here writing this. I love both of you so much, but I do make it a point to say it as often as time allows. I have heard many a horror story about publishing, but that has NOT been my experience. Mine has been exceptional and I could not have asked for better friends or partners in business. You both truly amaze me.
And last but not least…to my fans. Wow, just wow. When I started to write a few years ago it was to help myself get through the tragedy of losing my Dad and then my Mom. Now, I write for all of you. It is because of you that I am at this point in my career and that I am a full time author, because of you that I am an International Bestseller and that almost all of my books have ranked in every country thus far. That is no small measure of accomplishment and I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for enjoying my work as much as I truly enjoy writing it. This is a journey we have just started together and I promise to continue to try to entertain all of you to the best of my ability...now, I will shut up so you can enjoy some more of my madness with HELLHOUND…
xoxo,
~rue
~ Birth of a Hound ~
My hands shook and my heart ached, the pain so terrible I thought it may kill me, if I could only die. If I only could, I would. But to do that it would take more than this, more than loss and confusion. It would take a beast to strike me down a beast of epic proportions, a demonic one. I leaned into her shoulder, allowing her to console me. Who she is does not matter right now, the fact that I have to explain how I got here, to this moment in time is important to me. But before I go on, let me tell you this. Everything you thought you knew about HELLHOUNDS, you know, the dogs of Hell? is a lie. How do I know? Well, because I am one.
Now how the hell did I manage to get this job? I fucked up. All hunters fucked up somewhere along the line and we died. Yep, we are all dead as hell, tossed into purgatory along with a million other fuckalls who did questionable shit in their lives. Me? I killed a man. A guy who liked to beat the shit out of me and then claim he was sorry. Over and over I endured this bullshit until one night I snapped and ran a knife straight though his face, his eye to be exact. He looked at me as I released the knife and stumbled back. I wiped the blood from my lip and continued to hold myself up with sheer will. He then dropped and his head slammed into the carpet, shoving that knife through the back of his skull. I then felt my knees buckle as my vision blurred. He had stabbed me in the stomach before I stabbed him in the face. God Damn it, if it only seemed fair, but it was not. I fell to my side as I saw feet coming towards me. Black booted ones. Strong arms scooped me, a chest to lean against. I listened to a heart beating, thump, thump, thump, its rhythm making me feel at ease. Was it a policeman? A neighbor? Or perhaps an EMT? I did not know. I closed my eyes as my heart slowed and when I woke up again I was laying on a sandy shoreline, black sky overhead with lighting crackling through it like thin spidery fingers. I pushed myself up, I then realized I felt no pain. I looked down and the blood was gone, as well as the deep cut to my stomach. I ran my fingers over the smooth skin on my stomach for a minute and then breathed out, white smoke rising up in the chilled air. Then I slowly looked up as lighting lit up the sky again and a million shadows stared me down, standing out in front of me like a crowd at a concert. They slowly started to approach me and I took one step back, only to find myself teetering on the edge of a cliff now. I caught my balance and looked down. I had no idea where the water went to but my new concern was that of NOT falling. I saw fire spitting up from a lake of molten lava far below and it was then that I felt a hand take mine and pull me forward.
I looked into the man’s eyes; they were dark as night as was his hair, but the sky lit up again and I saw that his hair was actually blue. His skin pale, lips full and jaw firm. He looked weathered, and yet the same age as me I would guess. I am all of 26, I would have been 27 in two days if I had not been stabbed but anyway, he looked me over and then settled his eyes onto mine.
“Hello, Halo Bay.” He said to me as I narrowed my eyes.
“How do you know my name?” I glanced behind me and watched the flames bellowing deep in the earth.
“I am Gunner.”
I smiled as I looked him over.
“Okay, where the fuck am I, Gunner?”
He grinned and then stepped back, moving away from me.
“The better question is, where would you like to be?”
I placed a hand on my hip and stared him down.
“Great, so we get to play games, perfect. Okay…I would rather be at a bar, drunk off my ass I have a birthday in two days.”
“I wouldn’t mind a drink, but there are no bars here and your birthday is actually today.”
“No.” I said as he watched me and thunder rolled overhead. I looked up towards the black sky.
“And here is?” I said as I held my hands up, not even interested in arguing my birthday.
“Purgatory.”
I laughed, but I abruptly stopped when I started to look at all the figures behind him, their movement was sluggish, almost like some fucked up zombie movie. The lightning cracked and lit everything up again, I could see them, one by one. Eyes and mouths sewn shut with black thread. I sucked in my breath as Gunner stood there watching me very closely.
“I have to be dreaming.” I muttered as he shook his head.
“I wish I could say that you were, but this is no dream.” He held his hands out as the crowd behind him moved closer and closer to us. “This is where the dead linger, forever. Well, unless they get tired of wandering around in this herd and then they just walk off the edge and get consumed by fire.”
I stepped back and felt the earth crumble beneath my heel. I caught my balance again and then looked down. The heat was rising from the fire far below. I looked up as the wind blew my red hair up around my face and he stared at me.
“And that?” I said as I pointed downward and he tilted his head.
“Well, that is Hell, of course.”
“Great.” I swallowed hard and saw the first of the people passing him by. A woman held her hands out in front of her and moaned as she tried to part her lips. The thread strained against her skin and it started to tear. She suddenly quickened her pace and fell over the edge, her muffled screams echoing upward as she tumbled further and further down. Finally she disappeared into the flames. I shook my head and looked back at Gunner as the crowd continued to come closer and closer.
“You have a choice Halo.”
“What?”
“A c
hoice, you can stay here and eventually be eaten by flame or you can come with me.” He said and I took a breath and weighed my options.
“Where are you from?” I asked him and he grinned. His smile telling me that he might be enjoying this.
“Hell.”
“Oh shit, really?”
“Trust me, it doesn’t have to be like this, you can survive it.”
“In Hell? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Okay. Suit yourself.”
He pulled a ball of black thread and a long nasty looking needle out from behind his back and held them up to me.
“It is best if you sew your own eyes and mouth shut, all of those fucks can’t even see.” He glanced behind him. He then turned back to me and held the ball of black thread and shiny needle closer to my face.
“I am not doing that.”
“Then it is a yes?” he asked me and I hesitated and then made the only decision that I could in my position.
I nodded.
“I have to hear it.” He whispered and I opened my mouth slowly.
“Yes.” I said and with that the earth caved in from beneath me and I fell, along with Gunner, who looked calm as we descended. My body slammed against hard rock and I swear I could hear bones cracking. If I could die, that fall would have been it for me. I pushed myself up ever so slowly and then stood. I stared out over lakes of bellowing fire and bodies rolling in the flames. I felt a hand to my back and turned as Gunner held up an iron rod, glowing red on the tip of it. I leaned in and saw it, trying to make out the lettering.
Canis Inferni
Gunner held the rod up and stared at me as I kept my eyes trained on it. He then looked me over.
“Turn around.” He said.
“What the fuck?”
“It is this or jump in the lake of fire, we only have a few minutes Halo.”
I looked around us as I started to see shadowy creatures appearing from crevices and cracks in the rock. The stench of sulfur lingered in the air all around us. I reluctantly turned away from him, but I knew this was something I had to do.
He lifted my shirt and I felt the heat of the branding as it burned my flesh. Gross enough, it smelled like chicken as it cooked my flesh. I hissed and then looked down as I could barely see the words on my side. They were glowing red and continued to glow as they sank deeper into me.
“What the fuck does that mean?” I asked him and he lowered the iron rod.
“You will now begin your training Halo.”
“Training for what?”
“To be what you will forever be branded…a Hellhound.”
“Wait, what the hell does that mean?”
“That means you Hunt, kill and survive.”
“Hunt what?”
“Whatever escapes hell and plagues the humans topside.”
“You mean earth?”
“Yes, you now have a chance to redeem yourself for murder.”
I took a breath and ran my fingers over the glowing red lettering of “Canis Inferni”, or what would be “Hellhound” in Latin. I then watched as Gunner pulled his shirt up and I saw the same branding on his side.
“So you are a Hellhound?” I asked him and he laughed.
“Yes.”
“How long have you been here?” I asked him.
“I have been here since I helped kill Caesar.”
“Wait what?” I asked as he walked away from me and I could do nothing but follow.
Chapter One
The Prince of Fire
I sat in my room. Yes, I have a “room” in Hell. The irony is this, I used to joke about having one here with my name on it and it has literally happened. Fucking fabulous. Of course this room is not like any room I have ever been in. It is filled with weapons, all kinds…even things I have no idea what they do, but it all looks nasty as hell. I also have a closet filled with clothing, but it is all vinyl, strapped stuff. Dresses, shirts, short skirts. Evidently to be a Hellhound I have to dress like I did back in my Goth days. OR, Satan is a fucking pervert, which would not surprise me at all. I held a dress up that shined from the small bit of light in the room provided by the fireplace. I found that Ironic that I had a fireplace to begin with. I mean I am surrounded in fire, lakes of it, bellowing and rolling with thousands of bodies. I then sighed and took my clothing off. My shirt was ripped, my jeans dirty. I looked like a homeless person, so I decided to take advantage of the change in clothing. I slid my panties off and stood there naked, feeling fine or as close to fine as possible. I just could not believe that I felt no pain and that I was sitting in hell. I glanced at my side and could still see the glow of the branding that Gunner had given to me and when I touched it my fingertips hummed as if my body was getting excited. I pulled the vinyl dress on, and then I slowly buckled each strap than ran from the bottom of the dress up to my chin. The dress only came to my mid-thigh and hugged my curves, what curves I do have. I mean I do not have large breasts, but for what I lack in that I make up for in hips and ass. I guess if I had to choose a physical asset it would be ass. I have never found a man who would argue that. I ran my hands down the vinyl and then put the thigh high fishnet on and used the straps on the bottom of the dress to hold them up. I put the military style black boots on and laced them up. I stood up straight and squared my shoulders as the light from the fire played off of me and made me look somewhat badass. For a moment I even felt like it until I heard the knock at the door and my heart sank a little bit. For some reason it came with a feeling of dread, and with good reason.
I turned as a small man, that was only as tall as my thigh, came in. He stopped and stared at me as I stared back. I was not looking at him to be a rude in anyway, I was just wondering who he was and why he was here. He dropped a red carpet and then pushed the bundle as it rolled quickly and stopped at my feet. Then I felt it, a cold chill run through the room. I rubbed my arms and my breath came out white as a man entered the room and flipped his long hair back over his shoulder. I didn’t like his hair, I never enjoyed long hair on a man but that was completely beside the point. His skin was flawless, his lips a crimson red and his hair jet black. He had a cane in one hand. It was etched deeply into white wood, faces screaming, but no real detail to each one. They looked animated and just as I leaned in to look closer at it the faces moved and I stepped back. The man extended his hand over the smooth ball at the top of it and gripped it tightly as he walked along the red carpet beneath him. He reached the small man and stared down at him as the tiny man quickly went to all fours and took a small kink out of the carpet. The man then rolled his eyes and continued to walk until he reached the end of the carpet and stared me down. He sucked on his teeth and then reached in and pulled out a small bit of meat and dropped it to the floor. The small man ran up and grabbed it, tossing it into his mouth and chewing as I watched in horror. His hair suddenly became shorter as he studied my face. I watched it shrink and he grinned at me.
“Halo Bay, you don’t enjoy long hair. I am willing to accommodate you.” He said as his words almost sounded like the hissing of a snake. I took a slow breath and then decided to not be a pussy about it.
“Yes and you are?” I asked him and he grinned as he reached out quickly and took my hand. His movements almost seemed unreal, as in, he moved quicker than he should be able to do for a mortal. I cannot even believe I am thinking about mortality as I am standing here in Hell. He pulled my hand to his lips and I hissed as his lips burnt my skin, not with heat, but cold, a cold that instantly moved up my arm and made my muscles ache and contract involuntarily. He rose up and let my hand go as he looked deeply into my eyes.
“I am Lucifer.”
“Oh shit.” I said as he smiled.
“Not exactly the reaction I was going for, but okay.”
“I mean, I don’t know…”
“It is okay, people tend to be star struck with me, it is a natural reaction.”
“I am not star struck, I mean you are the devil.”
“I prefer Lucifer, but I have many names that humans decided to give to me. I guess they just cannot stick with my true name.”
“People are scared shitless of you, I mean the ones who believe.”
“Really?” he said as he walked to my fireplace and leaned down to look at the flames. He reached in and let his hand sit in the flame as the fire cooked his flesh and filled the room with the stench of it. I covered my nose as he stood up and stared at his hand. Pieces of flesh eaten away with flame and he grinned. It started to mend itself almost immediately and he waved it like some magician. His hand was back was back to normal with a simple final flick of his hand.
“I mean, if anything, I guess “Prince of Fire” would be fitting.” He rolled his hand as if he was royalty.
“Are you a King, I mean here?” I asked as my mouth and inability to stop talking got the best of me. He looked me over and licked his top lip.
“King sounds old, don’t you think? I am all of 25, if not a day over.” He said as the small man behind him laughed under his breath and then cleared his throat to mask it. Lucifer looked at him and shook his head. He flicked his hand and the small man was tossed upward against the ceiling over and over until blood came from his mouth. I yelled out and then covered my mouth as he dropped to the floor and moaned. Lucifer walked to him and leaned down, touching his hair and then he reached into his chest and pulled his heart out while it beat in his hand. He bit into it as a growl rose up deep in the back of his throat. I turned my face quickly as he lunged on the poor thing and continued to eat like the demon I knew that he was. He stood up, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed the corners of his mouth. The blood stood out bright on the white of the cloth. I looked down to see nothing but a spot of blood on the floor. He snapped his fingers and another small man entered the room, looking the exact same as the previous one, carrying a mop and bucket. He started to clean as I reached back to steady myself against the side of the bed.