Page 34 of Deliver Us from Evil

"You're the one who's literally hot to the touch," I teased, feeling a sense of joy that I hadn't felt in so long. I always thought Helios would've been the one to kiss me first, but it would seem Abaddon was the one who took the initiative to make the first move. I didn't mind. I had a feeling this was only the beginning between me and these sinful hellhounds of mine.

"If we weren't looking for Xaphan right now, I'd be fucking the shit out of you right now," Abaddon managed to say in between the kisses he was feeding me.

Right. Xaphan.

For a moment I forgot why we were out here, but he was right. We still had loose cannon for a comrade we needed to find.

"There's always the possibility for after we get back home," I suggested.

Abaddon shot back in surprise; his eyes widening but the heat burning within their depths that had nothing to do with his hellfire threatened to incinerate me. "You mean that?"

I answered with a kiss to his already plump lips, then followed it up with a wink.

Practically bouncing on his feet, Abaddon took my hand in his and pulled me along as we trudged deeper into the dark woods. Now that I was no longer distracted by how much I wanted to jump Abaddon's bones, my worry for Xaphan grew.

"So, what makes this dark forest so dangerous?" I asked a few moments later.

It was hard to tell how far we've walked since the only thing we've seen so far were dead looking trees.

"There's a lot of dangerous creatures that like to lurk around. Most will only show up at night, which is why this is a bad time to be out here looking for Xaphan."

"Then why is it so quiet around here? We've been walking for a while and haven't seen any creatures," I pointed out.

"The smaller one won't show up since they know I'm here. They sense that I'm an apex predator, so they'll likely keep away. It's the larger, more intimidating creatures we need to worry about. Since it's close to nighttime, they'll use the darkness to conceal themselves from sight. You'll never know if something's nearby until it's too late."

Well, that was comforting. I moved closer to Abaddon, wrapping myself around his arm for both comfort and to keep him nearby in case we did get attacked. "Do you know where we're going?"

Abaddon nodded. "We can see in the dark, so I'm able to see what's in front of me."

The corner of his lip turned up as his eyes hooded with affection when he looked at me. "Don't worry, my little witch. I'll protect you."

I believed him. Funny how when Bal and his colleagues used to call me a witch, I despised it. But Abaddon and the others call me little witch, and I was slowly growing to love it. It wasn't because I was a witch, but it was more of the reason behind the nickname. Bal would call me a witch as an insult. Saying my soul was tainted with evil and unworthiness. That I was corrupted by sin.

For Deimos and my hellhounds, it didn't matter how dark and corrupt my soul was. They loved it. They were sinners in their own right; therefore, they didn't judge me. They accepted me for who I was, even when I didn't know who I was in the beginning. I was a witch, and maybe my soul was evil in the eyes of God, but I was content with evil leading me into temptations.

"Stop," Abaddon said sternly, freezing in his tracks.

I paused as warning bells started going off in my head. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Abaddon's head slowly moved from left to right, scouting his surroundings. "Something's watching us."

My hold on Abaddon's arms tightened, my head whipping in all directions looking for whatever Abaddon detected was close by, but I couldn't see in the dark.

I hope there was a spell for night vision in the Necronomicon.

"Is it Xaphan?" I asked, hoping it was.

"No, I don't thi—look out!" Abaddon wrapped himself around me and tackled us both to the ground seconds before something swooped over us.

I gasped, spotting something dark overhead but couldn't make out what it was. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, but stay under me," Abaddon ordered, standing on his hands and feet and hovering above me. His body glowed as he was once again coated in flames, shifting into his Hellhound form in seconds. He lifted his head to the night sky letting out a fierce howl. Hellfire swirled around us in a large circle, the light from it illuminating the darkness around us.

There was a shrieking sound up ahead to our left. We both looked and saw a bird-like creature that looked about the size of Abaddon's hellhound. The creature was covered with burgundy feathers across its belly and feet, but the feathers on its massive wings were pitch black. Aside from that, its only other defining feature was the wolf shaped skull the beast wore on its head like a mask. The skull had two long horns jutting from the top and curved back, reminding me of a ram.

Abaddon snarled at the beast in warning. Instead of retreating, I dove right for us. Abaddon jumped, planning to tackle it head on, but at the last second, the creature swerved up, avoiding collision. Abaddon didn't have enough time to react as the creature turned around, dunking its head low and struck him on his side with the horns on its skull helmet.

"Abaddon!" I cried in terror as Abaddon crashed into a nearby tree.

---