Page 38 of Legendary

There was rustling again and all of sudden in a matter of seconds, something small and black was barreling towards him. It was fast, whatever it was, and it jumped up pushing against Reese’s chest. My best friend fell to the ground, while dust collected around us from the impact.

“Reese, are you okay?” I said, starting to hurry over to him.

“I knew I heard something.” Dani confirmed, stepping up behind me to see what it was.

Beetee giggled as she casually walked up to the semi-circle we had created around Reese. “This is not the way I wanted you guys to meet.”

Reese wasn’t hurt or trying to fight whatever had attacked him. Well, hewasfighting it, but he was fighting to get it to stop licking him. It was a dog. A small black dog. Its body shape was long and narrow, with floppy ears and onyx-colored eyes. Its little pink tongue darted out and licked up the side of Reese’s face, leaving a long stripe of saliva on his skin. It was a tiny thing, but it knocked him down like it was nothing at all. The paws on it were huge compared to its body, but not so much that it looked deformed. It actually looked harmless.

“Can somebody get this thing off of me!” Reese was trying to block his face while the small dog kept nuzzling its little black nose closer, fighting him back.

“I actually really like this,” Elise said, holding her stomach as she bent over laughing. I tried to fight my own laugh, but it ended up coming out anyway. Eventually we all started laughing as Beetee bent down to grab the dog from Reese’s chest.

“You guys’ fucking suck, you know that.” Reese scrambled to get up as he started to brush the dirt covering his shirt.

Beetee held the dog in her arms as it panted and squirmed.

“You want to explain?” I asked her, thinking that the dogwaskind of cute.

The pink-haired demon was rocking the dog in her arms as she answered me. The animal burrowed its head into her neck. “The path there can be a little rocky, so this guy is going to be your ride.”

“Excuse me?” Dani piped up, a small laugh leaving her lips.

“Are you joking?” I looked at Beetee who wasn’t looking at any of us. She was looking at Elise.

Elise was staring back at her with her tongue pressed to the inside of her cheek. “He’s a hellhound.”

My eyes widened as I looked from the dog to her. “That tiny thing is a hellhound?” I was shell shocked.

Dani hummed. “It’s not too hard to believe. Vicious things do come in tiny packages.” She tilted her head and looked at me. She was vicious that was for sure, but instead of her attitude pushing me away, it made me want to do viciously wicked thingstoher in return.

“Axel might be tiny, but he’s a fucking menace.” Elise explained.

At the sound of his name, he poked his head out from Beetee’s neck and focused his black eyes on Elise. His tail started wagging—no, not wagging—vibrating. Beetee couldn’t hold him any longer as he ripped himself out of her grasp, nearly clawing at her skin. The hellhound bounded over to Elise who easily picked him up. To everyone’s surprise she didn’t shy away from his kisses.

“Aw, he missed you.” Beetee placed her hand over her heart.

“Woah, woah. I’m sorry but are you…his owner?” Reese questioned; a disbelieving look in his hazel eyes.

“Let’s just add this to the never-ending list of things you’ve kept from me,” Dani mumbled.

Elise groaned as Axel panted against her face. “Can we please just fucking go.”

“Youactuallyown another living thing? And itactuallylikes you?” Reese kept going with his questions.

“He was a gift a long time ago, you annoying dick and…ugh, Axel stop.” He continuously kept licking her face as if he hadn’t seen her in decades. The dog ceased licking her, tilting its head back to stare at each of us. His eyes landed on Dani and its tail began to vibrate again. Elise followed his gaze and rolled her eyes. She turned the dog around and held it up to look at her, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. “Be fucking scary you little fucker.”

She dropped the dog on the ground and for a moment, nothing happened.

Then a rumbling sound filled my ears. I looked around and the ground was still intact and there was no swaying in the trees. The rumbling sounded again. I looked down to see that it was coming from Axel. His whole body was vibrating now as he planted his massive paws towards the ground.

“What is happening?” Reese whispered.

Elise just gave a small kind of creepy smile before focusing her gray eyes on her dog. A dog that was now baring its teeth and thrashing back and forth in quick motions. His paws started to grow bigger, and his body somehow started to pulse as if it was about to explode at any moment. I heard shuffling as Reese began to back up and I followed suit. Beetee had her hands clapped together in front of her as if she was so eager to see the result of whatever was happening. It was hard to tell but Elise almost looked a little proud of her…pet.

Axel started to become a blur as his fur started to fall off his body, piles of hair scattered around him. He started to growl, drool descending as his mouth grew larger and his head followed suit. His floppy ears started to shrink to upward points and if his eyes could have grown any darker, they would have. I started to back up more as his body grew and grew, becoming muscular and stocky. His shadow extended on the ground and if there had been a sun above us, he would have been blocking it. I looked down at his paws that were now bigger than my head and his nails dug into the dirt. His front canines hung out of his mouth and smoke blew out of his snout.

Silence fell over all of us when he was done…transforming.

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