by Erik Lynd
"Damn, he must have heard something," she said to no one in particular. Into the intercom she said. "Thank you, tell him I will be there in a moment. Offer him a drink, but not the really good stuff. I'll see him in the dining room, that room should be large enough for him."
"Very well, ma'am," said the voice on the other end.
"Ammit," she said to the shadowed corner of the room. He stepped out into the light. "Golyat is sticking his nose in sooner than I thought. I’m not sure what he knows, but we are short on time. As much as I hate the risk, the time for subtlety is at an end. Track down the Hunter and bring me his soul. You may consume the souls of any of his friends."
What could only be described as a sickening grin spread across Ammit's muzzle, his teeth gleamed wetly in the small amount of light given off by the sole light bulb in the room. The girl shrank back from that toothy maw.
"But you must be careful to not be seen. Some witnesses we can contain, but don't attack where all the mortals can see. I have enough troubles with Golyat at the moment. The last thing we need is another reason for him to unite the Alliance against me."
Ammit nodded, his great clawed hand opening the door.
"And ware the demon bitch. I don't know what game she is playing, they can never be trusted, but for the moment she seems to be his ally. I don't think she is much of a threat to you one on one, but she is a puzzle piece to keep an eye on."
Ammit nodded his large bestial head and left the room quickly, darting into the shadow of the hallway. Anabelle looked down at the girl cowering by the wall.
"You did well today, and I am sure I will find uses for your talents in the future. I will send some food and water down shortly. Try to rest, you are still not used to flexing your power."
The girl said nothing. She stared at the floor as though the life had run out of her. That would not do at all, thought Anabelle. If she broke the girl too much, she would never embrace her full power. Anabelle would have to find some way to refresh the girl if she was to be of any use.
But that was a problem for later. For now, she had a much larger problem to deal with.
She made her way upstairs, stopping at the powder room to clean up a little after being in the dirty basement. She cleaned the cobwebs and dust out of her hair and then willed her aura to full force. It was one of her gifts, this aura of beauty, of desire. She had shaped it with her stolen Hell-power when she had fled that eternal prison.
No mortal could resist her when she chose, and only a few fellow former inmates had the will power to resist her seduction. Unfortunately, Golyat was one of them. But it did throw him off guard, make him a little easier for her suggestions. And she needed him as pliable as possible for the moment.
Upstairs the house held the traditional feel of its two-hundred-year life, but with modern and contemporary elements. It was, Anabelle liked to think, an accurate reflection of herself. If she wanted to rule in this modern world, she had to welcome the change, but her past was too important to her to forget. It was the life that had led her through Hell and back. Literally.
Rich hardwood floors, elegant finishes. And it was big, not as big as some of her other estates, but sizable, considering its proximity to the city. It had a large dining room with an oversized table that she hoped would put some space between the two of them now.
She opened the large double doors, expecting to see Golyat at the other end of the room by the door he would have come in. She did not expect him to be standing right before her, just inches from the doorway. She did not expect to be met with his huge, wall-like body and thick, clean shaven head, dead eyes staring at her with indifferent anger. Golyat was a giant, rotund was too simple of a word to describe his girth. He was as wide as several men and tall enough she thought he must bang his head on the top of doorways often. But he must have had a private tailor with a warehouse of fabric, because he was always dressed to perfection in suit and tie. He was the scariest, most well-dressed man she had ever met. Then again, he wasn't a man at all. He was one of Them, and the self-proclaimed leader at that.
"Well..." she barely got out before his hand shot out faster than a man that size should be able to move and caught hold of her throat. With effort similar to batting at a fly, he threw her across the room. She bounced once on the oversized table before sliding off and into the buffet against the far wall.
The hit stunned her. The buffet smashed as she went into it, and bits of serving ware and glass fell on her. Pain exploded through her back and ribs. He had moved so fast, she’d had no time to react. The pain and the surprise kept her from thinking straight. She slowly pulled herself out of the wreckage that had once been her furniture. Anger quickly replaced the pain. She could feel cuts on her arms and face, bruises were surely forming.
She touched her hand to her face gingerly. Her fingers came away red. Her lip was cut, as was one cheek. She could feel it already swelling. Her face! The bastard had damaged her face! It would heal of course, with her accelerated healing it would be as good as new by tomorrow, but that was not the point. He had destroyed her face.
She slowly got to her feet. A moan escaped her lips as she stood. It was a slow task with the pain biting at her the whole time.
"I believe it is an improvement. At least it will help keep you from being able to use your seduction on me while we have a chance to talk, you stupid bitch," Golyat growled.
His fist came down on the table. There was a low rumble, and then with a crack loud enough to shatter the large floor to ceiling windows, the large oak table that spanned the large hall split down the middle, its two halves collapsing over a jagged gash running up the middle of the three-inch-thick solid wood.
Anabelle used the wall to steady herself. He made no move to come around the now destroyed table. She concentrated on gathering herself together. She would never be able to defeat him one on one. She needed her wits about her.
"What have you done?" Golyat asked.
"Whatever do you mean, Golyat? You are the one who barged in here and struck me. You better know what I have done."
"I saw the reports. The creature that was seen by some, a hellhound it has to be, somehow mutated by your magic,” Golyat said.
She had never thought he’d have gotten wind of her machinations so fast. He must have eyes everywhere. Perhaps it was time to come clean. At least with part of her plan. He wouldn't kill her, he wouldn't dare. He could barely hold the Alliance together as it was.
"What have I done? I'll tell you what I have done. I haven't sat on my fat ass while a new Hunter is born. I haven't sat and waited while he grew into his power until he becomes a real force to fear," she said. She was letting her anger free and it felt good. She relished the anger and hatred as it flowed through her, tasting coppery on her tongue. "I acted. I am going to succeed where Rath failed and you are too afraid to even try."
She walked around the corner of the broken table, approaching him slowly, like a cat stalking prey. "I even used the power you experiment with, always testing, never willing to actually use. We could have an army of our kind marching over this world."
For the first time ever she saw surprise in Golyat’s eyes. The pleasure it gave her was immense, better than sex. Maybe. "That’s right Golyat. The Alliance might have found a way to pull our dark brethren from the depths of Hell, but I was the first one to put it to practical use."
"You actually opened the gate and retrieved a dark soul from Hell? And brought it to this world?" Golyat asked. "You are a fool."
This made her anger burn all the hotter.
"Fool? Me? Ever the General right, Golyat? Ever planning, never doing. Only I had the courage to do what had to be done. If we do not act now, this boy will only grow in power. And I was right, my creation easily defeated him."
"Really Anabelle? Then where is his head?"
That stopped her. She had expected him to fly into a rage. But this simple question threw her off, especially since she did not like the answer.
"I had only planned it as a test, just to see how much the Hunter had mastered his power. It turned out the Hunter was weaker than even I had expected. Ammit had him and would have finished him off, but I could not hold back the mortals around us. I distracted them as long as I could. Any longer and he would have been seen, and I did not think that prudent at this time."
"Perhaps the only smart move you made."
She ignored him. "Besides, the Hunter is a child. I now know we can defeat him anytime we wish. The plan served its purpose."
"So, let me get this straight. You wanted to observe and then wait and bide your time for the right moment? Is this not what you accuse me of? Laziness? How did you put it? I sat on my fat ass."
"I had no choice, the Alliance would have been after me if I had revealed so much to mortals. And the problem is solved now. Ammit is going after him as we speak. I expect his head within the hour."
"You are very confident, Anabelle. So was Rath. Obviously, you were able to use the gate that we have created. But hounds have no names, so did you free a hellhound or a dark soul?"
"I did both," Anabelle said and couldn't help raising her head a little in pride. "I was able to pluck an eternal sufferer from our former prison and fuse it with the essence of a hellhound."
"Well that is impressive, but how? The gate is incredibly unstable. How were you able to find a soul so quickly and force it into a hellhound? Where did you get that kind of power?"
She looked him in the eyes. "We all have our secrets we keep." She wanted to keep her soul shaper pet a secret as long as possible.
Golyat picked up a chair and threw it through the window. He roared in rage. "You stupid bitch. You are forbidden to access the gate anymore. You have released another dark soul before we are ready."
"Calm down. I had to harvest a weak soul. I did not have time to choose. I grabbed the first one I found, and it jumped at the chance to escape, even giving up its essence of humanity. This soul was not like our kind, fighting to escape and earning their freedom. We, the Alliance of dark souls, are of a different breed. Ammit is nothing more than my puppy dog."
"And you would slay the Hunter of Lost Souls with a puppy,” Golyat said. "He will fail. And then the Hunter will come after you," Golyat sighed. "I admit I might be moving slowly, but when a kid with no training dispatches one of our most powerful, like Rath, we have to proceed with caution, and you have shown very little. I will warn you. The gate must be kept secret, never before have we had the potential to retrieve dark souls from the bowels of Hell. It is the glue of this Alliance. Without it, we were few and easy prey for the Beast. With it, we are the beginning of an army and a new age for humanity."
He stepped forward, brushing the wrecked table aside as though it was made of paper. With that same impossible quickness, he was towering over her, his large hand catching her jaw and forcing her to look up at him, to meet his hate-filled eyes.
"If the Hunter finds out about the gate or anything happens to jeopardize its existence, I will personally split you in two. Hell will seem like paradise when I am through."
He turned and walked out of the room, ripping the heavy door off its hinges in his passing, as if it was made of cardboard. He had dismissed her as though she were nothing.
It was, all things considered, better than she had hoped for. She had cuts and bruises, her body ached, but it only gave her anger fuel. She would enjoy watching Golyat lose control of the Alliance when they heard how she had taken control and rid the world of their great Adversary. At the very least, she would gain enough support to make him think twice about coming into her own home and assaulting her.
She heard another crashing sound and knew she had to replace her front door as well. God how she hated him.
CHAPTER TEN
Christopher woke with a start. The book flew from his hands and he tried to sit up. Too quickly, pain from his recently healed wounds flared up. Dark Eris had been leaning over him, she sprang back from the bed and cried out in surprise, for a moment her face darkening and the shadow of the creature she had become yesterday passed over her. It was gone so quickly Christopher was not even sure he had seen it.
Hamlin had also jumped out of his chair, knocking it over.
"Holy shit, kid! Don't do that. I used to be a smoker. Almost gave me a heart attack," Hamlin said.
"I have to go. I have to get out of here," Christopher said and threw his legs over the side of the bed, winching as his stiff muscles reacted. It was just soreness, the essential healing was done.
"Now hold on kid, what did you find out?" Hamlin asked.
"That thing, that hellhound thing, it can track us, me that is, and the longer I stay in one place, the stronger the trail I leave for it. It could be here any moment. We have to move now!"
Christopher got to his feet a little gingerly, but the stiffness was working itself out. In a few moments he would be close to normal. Except he still felt hollow, as though missing an organ.
"Where are we supposed to go?"
"I don't know, a hotel or something. But we have to get out," realization suddenly hit Christopher. "I have to go. You two can't come with me."
"What the Hell are you talking about? Look, you're talking too fast. Take a moment to catch your breath..."
"It can track me Hamlin, not either of you. I'm what it wants, or what they want, and I am what it can track. Not you or Eris. If I head out, you guys can go on and be safe."
"Were would you go? Is any place safe place if this thing can track you?" Eris was back, the darkness completely gone.
"I don't know. The Librarian is trying to find answers, but all I know is that staying here puts us all in danger. I... I put us in danger. So I need to leave."
"Um, I hate to break it to you, but this is not the first time we have been in danger because of what you have become. And to think that now is any different makes no sense," Hamlin said.
"But it is different. Before we had no idea what we were up against, we didn't even know if we were up against anything when we went to the crime scene. But now we do. We know what that thing is capable of, and I might not be able to stop it," Christopher said and looked down, unable to meet Hamlin's eyes. "I might not be able to protect you."
"Hah, the day I need protection from a punk-ass college kid, even one with power from the Devil himself, is the day I quit the force and retire to Florida. And I hate humidity and Disney World. No dice kid, you’re stuck with me," Hamlin said.
"And with me," Eris said.
"Well, there’s no need for you to come along. I mean, I know you need my help but this isn't really your battle. You should just go somewhere and hide out for a while. I would come find you when this is over. I can even give you some money, you know, to cover expenses..." Christopher trailed off as the shadow once again overtook Eris' face. Dark Eris had returned and Christopher had the sudden suspicion that he had just fucked up.
"Go somewhere and hide out? Like a coward? Oh! And you want to give me some money? Well, we haven't even fucked and somehow you made me feel like your little whore,” Dark Eris said, her facial features shifting as though the demonic visage was struggling to get through. But she held it back.
"What? No... I just didn't want you to have to get involved," Christopher said.
She stood up abruptly, and Christopher fell back onto the bed as she loomed over, her skin shifting and bulging as she strove to contain her demonic hatred.
"Involved? You mean like rescuing you from the monster? Helping you determine that it is some sort of hellhound? That kind of involved?"
"She has a point, kid. From what I've seen, she is able to take care of herself…and you…just fine," Hamlin said. But Christopher noticed that Hamlin had moved closer to him and had his hand on his gun. Christopher was not sure if it would even be effective against Dark Eris, but it was obvious that Hamlin didn't completely trust the demoness.
"I may have come to you for help, but where would you be without mine?" She asked.
/> Christopher nodded. "I know you can handle yourself, and you've more than helped me out. I just wanted to make it clear you don't owe me anything. I haven't solved your problem, and I don't even know if I’ll be able to."
She seemed to soften, and her demonic nature stopped trying to come out. "I know I need you to help me out, but that’s not the only reason I want to help you."
"Why do you want to help?" Christopher asked suddenly curious. She showed up on his doorstep a couple weeks ago saying she needed his help. He was just a stranger to her, some guy that got stuck with a job he had no idea how to do. He had told her that from the first day, but she had stayed with him anyway. It didn't make a lot of sense.
Dark Eris stared at him as though surprised by the question. "I don't know... I." She stopped, unable to find the words. Dark Eris was never at a loss for words.
"Look, this is great and all, but I think we need to do as Christopher suggested and get the Hell out of Dodge. We can talk in more detail when we’re someplace safe. I know of a couple police safe houses we might be able to borrow..."
A crash from the roof interrupted him. The crash was followed by the sound of heavy footfalls thumping across the ceiling.
"We're out of time," Christopher said and jumped up again from the bed. "Time to go." He grabbed the Weapon and Book from the bedside table.
Eris, Dark Eris had retreated, handed him his jeans with his wallet in it and a t shirt.
"Take the stairs at the back of the house. Go!" Christopher yelled.
Hamlin ran out into the hall, gun drawn, although they all knew the gun wouldn't hurt the werehound significantly. Eris was behind him and Christopher took up the rear. As they ran, he pulled the shadows towards him and formed his shadow jacket and clothes. It made him feel less naked to be in his "work" uniform.