Page 47 of Monsters of Midlife

“Come on!” she cried.

We ran as fast as we could, other riders staring after us and screaming as they saw the hellhounds smashing time and time again against the door behind us.

We got to the end of the last car in the train, butthe door was locked shut. “You better work faster on this one than the last one,” I said, watching as her shaking fingers moved in intricate patterns over the lock.

“I got it, I got it, got it, I got it,” she repeated the words like a mantra. It made it sound like she didn’t have it but she was going to have it if she kept saying the words.

It worked!

The door burst open, and we ran out and slammed the door behind us.

“We’re on the rails,” I looked around intrepidly.

“Not for long. Get the hell up here,” Sophie insisted, pulling me up to the side where there was a small shelf that we could walk along. We weren’t walking, though not at all.

We were running for our lives. My heart pounding in my chest as my breath came shallow and painful. There’s no way at forty-five I was prepared for a sprint against some hellhounds.

“How did the hellhound get into the train?” I gasped.

“That’s one of the things I was telling you about the normal world impacting the supernatural world. You guys build your shit or humans build their shit through places where they shouldn’t be building things. This train line made a gaping hole through the corner of Undirheim.”

“Oh my god, so it’s like a fucking Disney ride to hell?” I asked.

“Humans can’t see it, but yeah, it’s something like that,” Sophie said.

Suddenly a loud growl came up from behind us as the hellhound broke through the door of the train and started screaming toward us.

“Oh my God we’re going to die,” I screamed, my legs stiffening up. I could barely move as I watched the beast come barreling toward us.

My voice started keening louder and louder, but the hellhound wasn’t alone; there were two more right behind it. My legs burned in pain as we ran forward through the dark tunnel of the underground rail station.

“Can’t you do something?” I cried to Sophie, but the look of pure terror on her face made it clear to me she didn’t have any skills up her sleeve that were going to solve this problem.

I glanced over my shoulder. The hellhounds’ eyes glittered in the night and drool came off their multilayered teeth as they grinned slowly, approaching us as our steps wavered. We couldn’t keep running anymore; it just wasn’t possible. We didn’t have the stamina or the energy to get away.

This was where we were going to end the line, in the dark bowels of the earth with the hellhounds gnawing on us. I reached forward and grabbed Sophie’s hand. “I can’t run any further. I’m done.”

She stopped, gripping my hand back and staring at the three hellhounds who were slowly prowling toward us. “We can’t outrun them anyway,” Sophie said, “not really.”

“Have you got any magic up your sleeve they can take care of a hellhound?” I asked, my hand shaking as I realized we were about to be ripped to pieces by the beasts.

“There’s nothing a witch can do to stop a hellhound. You’d have to have a shifter here to help.” Sophia whimpered.

I felt a rising inside my chest as if something were getting ready to explode out of me. The pressure built until I couldn’t stop it anymore. I opened my mouth and a loud keening erupted from me. The hellhounds looked up as I started singing, my voice piercing the air in a high, shrill keening. Sophie covered her ears, completely hunched over, clearly not wanting to listen. The hellhounds started whining, their pitches going in time with what I was singing. Slowly they crept forward, whining and pushing their heads to the ground and scratching their ears with their paws.

“They’re bowing to you?” Sophie asked.

The biggest, meanest looking hellhound came walking toward me and began rubbing its head against my leg. I raised my hands, not wanting to touch it’s fur. It was all curly and matted.

“Pet it,” Sophie insisted.

“It’s probably going to take off my hand if I reach it out toward it,” I complained.

“No, it’s going to be fine. Keep singing and hold your hand out,” Sophie insisted. “It’s trying to Omega to you. You have to Alpha it.”

I did as commanded. Much to my surprise, the animal placed its head in my palm. My voice died down and almost immediately the animal started growling again.

“Keep fucking singing,” Sophie swore. “They’re convinced you’re their alpha.”

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