Page 20 of Guarded By the Hellhound
As soon asI pass the gates, I feel something’s wrong. I sniff. I can smell Katherine’s scent from yesterday, which has me setting off on a run.
When I reach the house, it’s surrounded by first responders, making one thing entirely clear: Katherine is not here. I stick to the shadows so I can overhear the cops talking to the paramedics by an empty gurney.
“She must have walked off. She’s an odd one if you ask me. She has been complaining about a stalker, but between you and me. I’m not sure it’s not all in her head,” the cop says.
Rage boils inside me. I curl my upper lip, taking one step forward. I will rip him to shreds…
“She was badly injured, scared, and distraught. You can’t fake being upset like that. I strongly disagree with you, officer. My patient did not just walk off. I believe someone took her.”
I take a step back. The paramedic is right. She was taken, and I know where to start.
Sniffing around the abandoned gurney, I separate the smells. The smoke covers the finesse, but I can tell somehow Katherine’s scent mixes with that of another human. Darkness consumes the tones, and I know he’s the culprit. He’s the one who took her.
Anger blazes through me as I hear sizzling around me. When I look down, I see scorch marks on the ground. I quickly step back into the shadows, focusing on the task at hand: tracking the stalker.
His scent stands out, and I can almost see it flowing through the air like a black cloud. Kat’s fragrance intertwined. My memory couldn't have returned at a better moment because now I remember that I can be invisible when hunting. And right now, I am hunting.
Racing, I follow their trail. It leads me through the woods behind her house towards a back road where the scents are muffled by a vehicle. Luckily, something as pesky as an automobile doesn’t stop me, and I find myself on the other side of town, where the Halloween carnival is set up.
The sun is setting; people are arriving from all over, gathering quite a crowd. This complicates things, but I will always find Katherine. I focus on her essence, and when my superior hearing picks up a scream from far away, I know it’s her.
I pick up my pace, urgency leading me on as I rush towards the final attraction - a house of mirrors. It’s closed, and there’s a bunch of people loudly complaining in front of the building. The owner says something about a rat infestation, but I don’t believe it. Katherine’s stalker must have had something to do with it.
She screams again, and I forget all about the crowd and barge through the mass to the back of the house. The carnival is situated next to the forest line, allowing anyone with bad intentions to operate with impunity, as there is no monitoring in this area whatsoever.
Katherine’s scent is even stronger here, making me howl before I run towards the back door and barrel my way through.
KATHERINE
“You have been a bad girl, Katherine…” I am scrambled against the locked door, and he stands in front of me, smacking a pipe into his hand.
“You were supposed to be mine. MINE!” Spittle flies across my face as he leans in to yell at me.
“You ruined everything; you were with someone else…”
I cry. “No, no, I don’t know you! Who are you?”
He grabs my hair and hauls me up. “I am Joe, and if I can’t be with you, no one can.”
He lifts the pipe, and I scream again, ripping myself out of his hold. I crawl back towards the other end of the wall, shards of glass cutting my knees. I know I won’t make it, but I have to try. I have to try.
He grabs my hair again, making me wince. My scalp feels like it’s on fire. He pushes me up and against one of the side mirrors, pinning me to it with his body.
“You know me, angel, you smiled at me last year, right here at this carnival. I was waiting for you, but instead, I saw you around town with somebody else. I knew I had to waituntil everything was perfect, until tonight. BUT YOU BETRAYED ME!”
More spit lands on my face, and I shudder and cry. I struggle, trying to push him away, but I’m wounded, and he is just too strong. He lifts the pipe, and with a loud clank, he smashes the mirror on our right side, making me shriek in terror. He steps back, letting go of me. I sag against the mirror; he is going to kill me, and I don’t have the energy to fight him anymore. When he lifts the pipe again, I close my eyes, resigning my fate.
A howling noise comes from outside, causing my eyes to pop open in alarm. I give him a feral smile. “Not today motherfucker.”
I’m barely done talking when something bursts through the door, growling and snarling. I can’t see anything though, but Joe gets so spooked he steps back.
“Raider?” I hesitantly say. In the blink of an eye, he appears in front of me, nuzzling my neck before he turns, focusing his attention on Joe. He lets out a low, menacing growl, and before Joe can run, he is on him, snapping his enormous jaws closed on his leg and pulling him with him.
He looks at me in passing, eyes blazing red, more beast than man at this moment. Malice is radiating off him, and my brain tells me I should be scared, but my heart truly knows I have no reason to fear him.
Joe stretches out a hand to me, but before he can touch me, Raider is there and viciously bites off his hand. Joe cries out in agony, and I scream as well, covering my mouth to mask the sound and my shock. Raider starts fading before my eyes. In a heartbeat, all I see is Joe being dragged out of the Haunted House, screaming and clawing at something only he can see.
I lay my head back and close my eyes. A sob leaves my aching throat. It feels like the adrenaline abruptly leaves mysystem. I cry, and I cry, and then I cry some more. Time passes unnoticed, and when my tears dry up, I feel broken—broken and numb. All I want to do is close my eyes and fade away, the stress from the past hours coming down on me. Hard.
