Hellhound (20 page)

“Anything else that I can do for you?”

“Nothing for now.”

I turned and began in my usual fast pace. Carter walked
close to me, closer than I liked. My mother was right. My dark essence of
unearthly beauty attracted the darkest of beasts from the clan.

Carter hadn’t seen the light of day in decades, which
he preferred, but neither had he seen the world. He didn’t fully realize that
he could flirt and protect me all he wanted, but he could never just take me.
Those days of domineering male hormones having whatever they desired no matter
the cost were long gone.

Sub sentries weren’t to be pitied in any manner, though
they did not choose their lot in life, very much like the rest of us. Our bloodlines
made the choices for us. They enjoyed in great depths the things that they needed.
Beyond the rigid domicile walls were dozens of catacombs of underground tunnels
and recesses in which the sub sentries lived and hunted. Food was given to them
from above, but they preferred to hunt every once in a while.

They wanted for nothing. Work, food, isolated shelter,
and sex were all they desired. I didn’t take pity on their female counterparts,
either, since they were as fierce as the men. The descendants of the maenads
were sordid, wild, sexually inclined women who bred with the sub sentries like
rabbits. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, their young had a high infant
mortality rate. The males were more likely to survive, so women were sparse.
The females didn’t mate for life, but moved from man to man like cheap whores.

I found their lot in life to be sickening, but they
didn’t ask for anything more. I saw in them the demons that mankind mistook us
for. I could understand why mortals feared them.

The maenads were all female, so the descendants who
carried their genes were all female. They were kept in the tunnels because of
their unruly and drunken-like state of being. Their sexuality preceded them and
they wore little clothing. Their flesh burned hot, their hair was dark and
untamed, and they tried to take any man whom they desired. They were not
allowed to enter the formal borders of the underground portion of the domicile,
and were not allowed to leave the tunnels until they proved their civility. I
had yet to see that happen.

I’d seen the maenad descendants once in life, about
six years ago when I came of age. I traveled the tunnels, escorted by two sub
sentries and two Council minions who belonged to my parents. They taught me the
layout of the tunnels, in case I found myself lost and couldn’t find a sub sentry
to help me.

When we reached the end at the far borders, they
warned me never to cross for fear of my safety. Until that time, I believed
that nothing could harm us, since we were mighty and superior to humans and
high up in the clan. The daughters of the maenads were different. The only
reason why the sub sentries could be trusted was because they worked well with
the rest of the clan. They learned civility through their jobs. Their female
counterparts had not.

I had stood on the threshold when two females
approached. I gawked at them. The Council minions placed their hands on my
shoulder to urge me to retreat, though if the females attacked or took one step
too far, the sentries would have to kill them.

The women weren’t much older than I was at the time,
and they studied me with great interest. Their hair was unkempt, their clothing
barely covered them, and their eyes were as dark as night. I could see them
clearly because the inner tunnels were made of stone, metal, and concrete
infused with lighting, and the outer tunnels were made of dirt and illuminated
by torches. There was an obvious line where primeval met modern architecture.

I had stood in an inert fashion with hands lazily at
my sides. They moved their heads and jerked their bodies in a primitive manner.
Perhaps they’d never seen a clean girl of higher blood before. I felt bad for
them at that moment. I didn’t believe that anyone of our race should be
subjected to barbaric ways, no matter if they chose those ways or not.

They looked past me at the sentries and smiled,
revealing jagged teeth in which they used to tear flesh from their prey. The
sub sentries didn’t respond. They were perfectly professional like the guards
they were.

Then the women looked over the Council minions, who
were thin and dark, compared to the sentries. One licked her lips and waved a
finger for them.

They grunted behind me in disgust.

The second female returned her eyes to me and grinned,
waving a finger for me. I didn’t cringe, though the minion behind me tugged on
my shoulder. I was only fourteen, but I was as bold then as I was now.

When the woman started to reach out for me, I leaned
in just a little and hissed like a viper, exposing my grown fangs. I was sure
with my indignation, my eyes went black and my birthmark appeared.

Both females jumped back and hissed, though not as
loud or intimidating as mine had been. I asserted my authority. They retreated
into the tunnels.

I walked away.

The sub sentries and the minions told me that I
clearly demonstrated who stood in power, and the descendants of the maenads
respected that. They had great memory, and those two would never attack me,
much less approach me like that ever again.

Paired with dark beauty, that event paved a way to the
endless horde of dark hunter callers that knocked on my door. Aggression and
loveliness made for a great mate. But, marriage was out of the question, and
everyone knew this. No one opted for that path except for Demetrius. He claimed
me when we mated, and he made sure that everyone else in the clan could smell
his scent on me. He never cowered or attempted to hide his feelings for me, as
Ashton tried to with Lydia.

Carter was only one among many who attempted to court
me, but he wasn’t my type. I wanted someone more human, someone who could walk
on the surface and blend into mortal society. I needed someone who could leave
the domicile, live outside in the mortal world.

I didn’t think that I could date a tracker again. An
undertaker was the next best thing. Who was I kidding? The Council would never
allow me to marry someone who wasn’t in line for the throne.

“Have you seen Claudius?” I asked as I absent-mindedly
walked down the hallway. The cerebral chamber was one floor down, but I exited
because the door opened. I knew that Danther wanted me to enter the chamber, so
why did he press for this floor?

“I saw him enter the throne room not long ago.”

“Thanks.”

I turned right as Carter walked ahead, perhaps to
confirm that Danther wasn’t up to any trouble. Since a sub sentry wasn’t standing
guard outside, I believed that it was permissible to walk in. I pushed open the
right door and took three steps through the narrow slit.

Claudius petulantly paced the main floor, muttering
and talking to himself. I peered around. Not another soul in sight.

I cautiously took another step inside. A white haze
surrounded Claudius’s body, engulfing him in shimmering brilliance. Dozens of
thin bolts of lightning spread from his hands like rigid serpents in search of
prey. There was no doubt that the blood of Zeus flowed in his veins.

In this day and age, we rarely ever faced the need to
fully call upon our powers. Our kind no longer fought epic wars, nor asserted
dominance over one another or the mortals, so none of us knew what the copious
extent of our abilities were. Shuffled into monstrous domiciles, hidden from
humans, and biding our time until the new era clearly distracted from the
extensiveness of what we could be.

I stood a good distance from the evoked Elder. I
didn’t want him to fry me, though he would probably kill himself in the
process. We were surrounded by metal, great heat conductors. A fleeting thought
grabbed my attention. When my body was ice cold, could lightning even destroy
me? I didn’t want to find out the answer.

Claudius whirled around about ten feet away and stumbled
to a halt when his eyes fell upon me. I stared at him. My brows narrowed and
then relaxed as if silently asking him what he was doing.

“Selene,” he growled. He’d never taken that tone with
me before except when he learned of Demetrius. “Are you here to tell me that
you’ve brought in the tracker?”

I shook my head guardedly.

A blaze of lightning sprung from his hands, licking
the air and then quickly retreating just as fast. I jumped back.

“Why not? Aren’t you the best hunter in the world?
Aren’t you the self-proclaimed Hellhound to the clans of Mythos? How long has
it been?” he sputtered.

“A few days.”

“It’s been too long, Selene.” He paced the room in
front of me as he went on, “I have to wonder if you aren’t abetting him?”

“What?” I asked incredulously.

“Were you ever planning on bringing him in? Are you
here to tell me that you can’t do the job and want to ascend to the throne
without fulfilling your obligation? Did you intend to throw your determined
hands up and claim defeat for the first time? And how coincidental that your
first, and perhaps, only unfinished business would be with your former lover!”

I narrowed my eyes and hoped Carter hadn’t strayed too
far. I clearly, pragmatically, knew the implications of turning rogue right now.
I could not have easily reprimanded Claudius, because we both knew that I was
not a person plagued with dithery, nor was I a duplicitous sort of hunter. He
was crossing lines here, accusing me of this mess.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Insolent girl!” He seethed, stopping to glare at me.
His eyes were completely white, and the floor rumbled beneath him.

I maintained my calm. I sniffed, but couldn’t detect
any scent of lingering alcohol. Claudius caught my slight nostril movement. He
fumed and came at me. I dodged out of his way with swiftness and skidded to a
stop at the other end of the large, oval room. He whipped around in my
direction and raised an open palm. Sparks formed.

I chided the man. “You shouldn’t do that in a room
filled with metals. What’s going on with you?”

“Sir?” Carter’s deep, resonating voice boomed behind
Claudius. For a split second, I feared that the Elder would automatically fend off
Carter with electricity.

Carter slipped through the narrow door, stood tall,
and kept a hand on a weapon tucked in his waistband. I’d never seen a sub
sentry fight an Elder, so this would be interesting.

Claudius sneered, his head turned toward the man. “No
one asked you to enter. You’re dismissed.”

Carter dragged his eyes from Claudius over to me.
“Selene?”

Oh, that only poured gasoline into Claudius’s crazy
fire. He just about went up in a blazing, white flame. I’d never seen an Elder
fight, or a sub sentry battle, and I’d never seen a sentry ignore a direct
order from an Elder.

I didn’t say a word. I didn’t want Carter to face a
death sentence by taking on Claudius, but I didn’t want to be left alone with
him either. Carter could tell this from the look on my face, the silent plea in
my eyes, or so I hoped. I rarely felt scared, but I knew that I wasn’t
invincible nor was I the strongest person in the clan.

“What’s all this about, Claudius?” I stole his
attention, and Carter stealthily moved to a more beneficial position behind the
Elder. The sub sentries were burly as heck, what with the defined muscles and
all, but they were silent predators.

“I miss my son.”

“Oh.” What a surprise to realize the Elder had more
than two emotions.

The haze and heat around his body dissipated. Carter
held his ground. Claudius went to the opposite wall, pulled out a chair, and
took a seat. He planted his face in his hands and sounded as though he wept.

Dropping my hands, and giving Carter the nod that
things would be all right for now, I walked over to Claudius. Carter slipped
out of the room, and I stood a good distance from the Elder.

“It’s all right to mourn,” I said.

“What do you know about mourning?”

“I lost my father,” I snapped.

“And when have you cried?”

“I don’t have the time, remember? My burden is that. I
don’t possess time to grieve. Unlike you, I have a job to do. I can’t sit in a
corner and sob all night, or go out into the world and go insane with grief. My
heart tore just like yours. Unlike you, I’m man enough to push it aside until I
have time to properly give my father the mourning he deserves, by trying to
find the killer. You aren’t helping.”

Claudius tensed. Many minutes slithered by in torturous
silence. Anger, turmoil, regret, and sadness brewed into a toxic level around
us.

I broke the silence. “I know how you feel. I miss my
father.”

He looked up at me with morbid eyes. “Nathanial was
all that I had left. He had his entire brilliant life ahead of him.”

“I know.”

He scoffed. “You know? How long did you fight him on
marriage?”

“Don’t bring up things from the past. Having accepted
him wouldn’t have made a difference.”