Why all the twins? Well, they had a certain, unique quality to them that was unmatched by anything else. Their blood, their soul, their emotions, all of it was double the potency in energy and power. Psychic qualities were amplified between them. Their empathy, too. Blood magic, at the level Master was using, required nothing but the best.
“Come here, my child,” Master cooed to the girl on the left. She sniffled, her eyes darting everywhere as she stepped closer. It could be difficult to resist his pull. A blessing for him, a curse for them. “Shhhh, come, come,” Master watched her step into his space and her eyes squinted as she looked up at him. “I won’t hurt you, unless they make me.” He made sure she got a good look at the Hounds.
The child whimpered more while her sister stood at a distance, trembling with her fists by her side. Master turned and growled at the Hounds, “Give me your soul or watch them die.”
The girl in front of Master squeaked, but when she tried to take a step back, he latched onto her arm and she let out a blood-curling scream. He didn’t blame her for the reaction. He would scream too if he were face-to-face with death.
Neither of the Hounds moved or relented. They were either still too stunned by the spell, or were the most stubborn bastards to walk the earth.
Fuck it. Master cocked his head to the side, “Are you ready to die, child?”
Drake snapped out of his stupor when he heard a scream so shrill it damn near busted his ear drums. Baz stood to his left. The room wobbled and vibrated. Drake shook his head and stumbled towards the sound of another scream.
“What’s it going to be, Hound? Will you give me your soul or shall I make her suffer for your greed?”
Drake froze. He couldn’t see who was talking to him. It was just a big white blob of light that screamed like a child. No… wait… it was a child. A little girl. Holy fucking shit! She was identical to the one on the other side of Baz, only the one screaming was being held back by a white light.
“I have no soul to give,” Drake swallowed the bile in his throat.
A bone-chilling laugh rose out of the white light. “I think you’re lying.”
Drake watched in horror as the girl jerked back and her head snapped to the side, her screams immediately cut off with a quick succession of cracks. She dropped to the ground, silent and lifeless, with a broken neck.
Riding a fresh wave of fury, Drake barreled into the white light but it was like hitting an electric fence. Thrown backwards, he cracked his head against the wall. Lights out.
Baz snapped his teeth. Instead of going after the enemy in white, he went for the surviving girl. Snatching her arm, Baz pulled her around so she could hide behind him. “I’ve got you,” he said.
Crouching down low, Baz made sure he could protect her with his body and figured out who to go after first. Seeing what happened to Drake when he went after the white-light figure, Baz decided to attack the fucker who had experimented on them.
He spun out and roundhouse kicked the man in the head. The fucker went down like a sack of bricks. Baz swiftly turned around to check on his brother, who was still out cold, and then his gaze flicked to the little girl again.
Something large struck Baz’s lower back and he dropped to his knees. His Hound skills weren’t there anymore. He should have heard the malanum approach, but didn’t. The evil piece of shit charged right at him with no fear – that shouldn’t have happened. A malanum’s instincts were to fear and run the other way from a Hound. Shit.
Six more came at him. They scaled the walls, climbed the ceiling, and moved with the agility Baz and Drake no longer possessed and Drake got up and swayed on his feet. Baz immediately grabbed the little girl to protect her.
While the malanum surrounded the twins and the little girl. The bastard Baz just kicked in the head scooped up the dead girl’s body as blood poured out of a cut on his left temple and dripped all over the child’s clothing. The surviving twin cried harder. Wracking with sobs, she seemed rooted to the spot, her arm outstretched towards her sister.
Baz couldn’t figure out what to do: Protect the living girl or the dead one. Malanum rushed him and he grabbed the living girl and held on tight to her. As Drake took down two malanum with just his fists and teeth, Baz covered the girl with his body and he kicked away another malanum. Drake twisted and snatched the fucker, then pounded its face to pulp. There was no safe place in the room for the girl to hide. Malanum reached for her and tried to tear at her clothing and scrape her arms.
Crouching down, Baz let out a loud bark and attacked the remaining malanum. The girl screamed, his twin roared, and the malanum let out various keening noises and vicious snarls. At some point Baz went numb and the fight, however long it lasted, left him. He sank to his knees, his bloodied body exhausted between magic and exertion.
Jesus fucking Christ, when would this ever end?
“Now that, Hounds, was impressive.” The figure shrouded in white light moved around the room unscathed. “Come,” he commanded.
Baz watched the wounded malanum leave the room like well-trained soldiers. Some crawled, some walked, some needed to be dragged. Baz didn’t have the energy to try and stop them. Helpless, he watched everyone leave the room and kept his eyes locked on the white-light. He blindly reached behind him and felt a tiny hand yank his. He gave it a squeeze and hoped the little girl was going to be okay.
“This is your last chance, Hound,” the white light said from the doorway. “Give me your soul.”
“I don’t have one to give,” Drake growled.
“I don’t believe you. Everyone has a soul. You can’t live without one.”
Drake stayed silent and Baz lost his ability to stay upright. He slumped forward, bracing himself with one arm on the ground, the other still held onto the little girl.
The enemy moved slowly towards the door. “While you think about a different answer to give me, keep the girl.”
The child whimpered behind Baz.
“Take care, Hounds. Oh, and, just a warning - the small ones wither faster than most. I doubt she has more than a few days left in her. The longer you make me wait for what I want, the less time she has to live.”
The door slammed shut again.
Chapter 26
Bishop could barely breathe. Too much screamed in his head. He needed to get the fuck out of the house. “I have to get out of here,” he said to Tanner. “I can’t fucking be here right now. Let Tilly sleep. When she wakes, get her whatever she needs, no questions asked, got it?”
“Yeah, sure,” Tanner followed Bishop out of the kitchen and down to the basement.
“Stop following me, Tanner.”
“Where the fuck are you going? Your alpha wanted you to stay here until he got back.”
“Fuck him. I can’t sit here and do nothing.”
Tanner grabbed his shoulder and Bishop wanted to bite his hand off. With a growl, he snapped his teeth in warning. Tanner swiftly let go and put both his hands up. “Easy, Hound.”
Bishop inhaled, exhaled, then cursed under his breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m not right in my head anymore.” He kept walking until he got to the back end of the basement where there was a keypad.
“I get it. I seriously do. But we don’t want you going out there on your own.”
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beeeeep. Bishop punched in the security code and the wall opened up to reveal an arsenal of the finest weapons money could buy. “So come with me, then.”
“Holy fuckballs,” Tanner gasped.
“Grab whatever you’re comfortable with.” Bishop went for the automatic weapons and noticed Tanner hadn’t budged.
“I’m… I’m not much for guns.”
Bishop slammed his fist on a large button and a drawer about six feet long popped open, revealing a variety of shiny slicey-dicies. Tanner whistled in approval and grabbed two medium-sized knives, before going after a curved s-shape blade.
Bishop lashed out, held Tanner’s wrist and growled, “
Not that one.” That one was Baz’s favorite. Bishop didn’t want it touched by anyone but Baz. Tanner nodded and pointed at the one next to it that was a little bigger. He arched his brow, waiting for the go-ahead.
“That one’s fine,” Bishop adjusted his holster, grabbed a few boxes of special ammo. “This is about your size,” he tossed Tanner a Kevlar vest.
Tanner’s eyes widened. “What the fuck do I have to wear this for? Malanum don’t have guns.”
“Just put it on,” Bishop kept loading up, “I’m pretty sure a certain female upstairs would be really fucking mad if you even got a bullet in your heart. Or in your ass. Or any other of her favorite body parts, for that matter. I’m just trying to look out for you. Bullets have been known to ricochet, ya know.”
Tanner was about to be a father, which meant he now had more at risk when he went on a hunt and Bishop felt responsible for him if they were going to be hunting partners tonight.
“We never use guns on our hunts. We’re knife peoples.” Tanner tucked his blades into accessible places. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You using protection out there too?”
“I have no need for protection.” Bishop turned and hit the button, closing the wall back up and didn’t bother with a fucking vest.
“Pretty sure I know at least one person in your life who cares for you. They’re not going to want you damaged either, Hound.”
Bishop deadpanned Tanner. “She doesn’t care about me like that. And I cannot possibly be more damaged than I already am.” He turned and walked away.
“I wasn’t talking about Tilly, Bishop. I meant your pack.”
Fuuuuuck. Bishop bit the inside of his cheek and climbed the steps ready to set the world on fire.
Bishop and Tanner arrived at their destination in record timing, which was a good thing considering neither of them had a lot of patience. Bishop picked the hunting spot – an old warehouse on the south side of Baltimore. The sun was rising by the time they found their first malanum.
Bishop clutched the thing by its neck and growled, “I’m looking for this guy, have you seen him?” He held his cell phone out with a picture of Baz on it. The malanum hissed and spat while trying to fight out of the Hound’s grip. “Answer me!” Bishop gave the fucker a good shake, “Have you seen him?”
“If I tell you, will you release me?”
“Yes,” Bishop replied with a friendly tone while he held the fucker by the throat. “I will absolutely let you go.”
“What?” Tanner barked from the other side of the parking lot. “No!”
“Shut the fuck up,” Bishop warned Tanner. To the malanum he said, “Have you seen him?”
“No,” the malanum croaked, “never seen him.” He bloodied Bishop’s arms, scratching and clawing at him.
“Okay,” Bishop smiled. Then he opened a Hell hole and tossed the bastard in. The malanum screamed like a pig and vanished out of sight. Bishop closed the Hell hole and turned to Tanner, “What?”
“I thought you were actually going to let him go.”
“I did let him go… right back to where he belonged. In Hell.” He rounded his shoulders, eager to find another malanum to question.
“You want to head down this way?” Tanner pointed in the direction of an alleyway known for drug deals and dead bodies.
“Looks like a great place for a stabbing or two. Let’s go.”
Together, the Hell Hounds headed into a sketchy neighborhood. Most of these row homes were boarded up, the rest were dark and quiet. White puffs of smoke blew out of their mouths while they did the walk and talk.
“Sorry we couldn’t do more for your girl.”
“She’s not my girl. She’s just Tilly.” Bishop didn’t want to talk about that woman right now. If he started, he’d not stop and then he would want to rush home to check on her and that wasn’t going to work. His focus needed to be on finding the twins.
Tilly was safe in his house. The twins… were not.
The night of hunting wasn’t as satisfying as Bishop would have liked, but he did manage to cool off a little of his burn. Of course, he still had the scent of Tilly’s pleasure lingering on his beard and that helped too.
“Fuck that felt good. You’ve got some good honey holes in this city,” Tanner wiped off his blade and tucked it away as they marched down the road. “Wanna stop for coffee?”
“Sure, why not?” He could use a few shots of wakey-wakey juice. Bishop hadn’t slept much in the past few days and there was still so much left to do. Valor should be home soon. Bishop had checked his cell all night for a text from his alpha and absolutely hated the disconnection he felt – not just with the missing twins, but with his alpha too. When Valor’s text came in saying he was about an hour away, Bishop had felt dizzy with relief.
Tanner ordered five different drinks and asked for a caddy, “I’m bringing some back for my pack. You didn’t have much in your pantry and my Beautiful needs coffee to stay sane.”
“Isn’t caffeine bad for the baby?”
Tanner shrugged, “I’m not about to argue with Sara. If she wants coffee, she’s getting coffee. She’d never do anything that would hurt the baby, so I figure this is safe. Besides,” Tanner winked, “I only buy her decaf and have it all flavored up and shit. She doesn’t even know the difference.”
“You serve her brown sadness water?”
“With lots of sugar and two shots of cinnamon whatever the fuck they call it. She loves it.”
Bishop chuckled and ordered four coffees – two for him, one for Valor and one for Tilly. His heart clenched when he saw the display of blueberry muffins. Drake loved blueberry muffins. Fuck, that’s just what he needed. To be crushed by a goddamn muffin right now.
He swiftly turned his back to the glass pastry case and stared out the big bay window while he waited for his name to be called. This was the same café he sat in with Tilly the other day. Shit, Tilly. He needed to get back to her and make sure she was doing okay. Hopefully she would still be sleeping in her room when he returned and he could go up there with special room service.
Her room.
Yeah… that’s not cool. He meant to think spare bedroom.
“Let’s roll!” Tanner knocked the door open with his ass and held it for Bishop. They got back to the truck, turned up the music, and flew home with the windows cracked a little for Bishop’s peace of mind.
“Thanks for hunting with me, Sunshine Boy.”
“Anytime, Bishop. Seriously, you need us, we’re fucking here for you.”
God, how could Tanner be so willing to forgive and forget? Bishop didn’t remember it, but when he was possessed, he hadn’t just killed five innocents in his house. He also ripped Eli’s heart out of his chest and killed him too. Valor was able to bring him back, and no one ever spoke of it again. Didn’t mean it hadn’t happened though. For Tanner and the rest of his pack to be here helping him and Valor, well… fuck…
Bishop didn’t have that kind of forgiveness in him.
If someone threatened him or his pack once, he’d sever ties and walk away. Bishop never offered a second chance.
It wasn’t you. It was the malanum using you. It’s not your fault. He tried to convince himself that he was innocent. The little voice of reason got swallowed by the screams of his past though. Fuck him, this sucked so hard. Time for a distraction. Bishop gripped the steering wheel and turned down the music, “So when do you find out about the sex of the baby?”
“Soon. Sara thinks it’s a girl.”
“Oh yeah?” Bishop smiled, imagining a baby girl with four dads like Tanner, Jack, Kalen and Eli. She’d be a spoiled princess for life. “Does Sara like sweet stuff?”
“You mean her cravings?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Tanner’s knee bobbed while he tapped along to the music, “Actually, she’s always liked sweet stuff, but she’s really bumped up her Lucky Charms intake lately.”
“Might
be a girl then,” Bishop hung a left and yielded onto the highway. “She taking all the right vitamins and stuff? Not lifting heavy things? Getting plenty of rest?”
“Oh yeah, for sure. She’s getting pissy about how little we let her do on her own. And this no fighting and hunting thing is a challenge for her Hound side, but we’re doing all we can to keep her balanced.” Tanner continued tapping to the music. “Shit, now you got me thinking about having a girl.” Tanner was positively vibrating with joy. His big smile grew wide enough to take up half his face. “Oh man, little girls love to have tea parties, don’t they?”
Bishop gripped the steering wheel tight as a wave of dizziness took hold of his good senses.
Tanner barked a laugh, “I’m going to love seeing Kalen dressed in a tiara sitting at a little table with a teacup and cookies.”
Bishop almost ran off the road and swerved back into his lane, nearly ramming into the median in the process.
“Fuck! Shit! What the hell, you okay?” Tanner’s body swayed as the car jerked around.
“I’m fine,” Bishop growled. Air, he needed more air. He wound all the windows in the truck down. Inhale. Exhale. He turned the radio back up and blasted Shinedown’s 45. Inside, Bishop screamed and thrashed and howled. Outside, he calmly drove them home. The rest of the way there, the two Hounds discussed the latest concerts they’d been to, the best place to get cheesesteak subs, and whatever else Bishop could think of. Anything but tea parties.
They pulled up to the house just behind Valor. The alpha climbed out of his car with a scowl and stood with his arms crossed, waiting for Bishop to get out of his truck.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“No,” Valor growled.
“I’m heading in,” Tanner breezed past them and went inside.
Hard to Find (Hell Hounds Harem Book 4) Page 19