Page 30 of Shadowed Spirits

Growls sound behind me at his threat, and I can feel magic other than mine in the air. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cain start bulking up as black, wispy flames curl around both of us. None of my mates like the hellhound’s warning.

“I’d like to see you fucking try, my guy.” My hair starts floating above my shoulders, and my magic buzzes over my skin, ready and extremely eager for a confrontation.

The hellhound who threatened me loses his smirk and stands up straighter when he feels my power electrifying the air around us. I give him a predatory smile in return.

All three hellhounds grow in size and have solid black flames swirling around them. Their eyes glow red as they start growling the same eerie way that Adriel did.

Do I have enough power to go against three hellhounds and keep Mira contained? I don’t know, but it looks like we’re about to find out.

“Children! Enough!” Hades shouts to be heard over all the growling and commotion, his voice dripping with authority and promised retribution if we don’t listen. The hellhounds back off at the warning but don’t let the weird flames surrounding them drop completely. My guys stop growling behind me, but I can still feel Bishop’s and Levi’s magic in the air, mixing with mine. Hades meanders toward our groups before stopping between us. “Earthling, you sure know how to stir up trouble. You make your great-grandpappy so proud.”

I roll my eyes at him so hard that it’s a wonder they don’t get stuck. “We don’t even know for sure that I’m related to you. Even if I am, I’m never calling you that, you weirdo.”

The man in the navy shirt eyes me suspiciously. “I thought you were from Earth. You smell like a mage.”

I let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “I thought that too. The things you learn when you go to Hell, am I right?” The three new hellhounds are looking at me like I’m a few marbles short of a full tool shed, and they’re honestly not that far from the truth.

“For the love of everything that’s unholy,” the man with green hair interjects. “Can someone please just tell me what the fuck is going on here?”

Adriel throws his hands up in the air in exasperation. “If you three would’ve let me explain before getting into a pissing match with my grandson’s mate, you’d know!”

The twin in the black shirt’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “Your grandson’s mate?”

“Yes, Caster. This is Isabel Gallagher and her mate, and my grandson, Silence Blackthorne.” Adriel gestures at us before pointing at each of the hellhounds. “Isabel and Si, these are three of the conclave’s members, Caster, Ajax, and Vulcan. I apologize for your poor introduction to hellhounds, but I promise we aren’t all like this.” Caster and Ajax are the twins, with Ajax inthe navy shirt and Caster in the black shirt. Vulcan is the third hellhound.

Honestly, four out of the five trying to attack or threatening me is pretty good, given my track record. That’s a twenty-percent-approval rating, which is way higher than it is in Hawthorne Grove. I’m really moving up in the world.

“It’s fine.” Adriel looks at me skeptically, but I just shrug. It’s not that I’m forgiving hellhounds as a whole, because I’m still very wary of them. It’s just that they rank very low on my list of problems right now, as long as they don’t actually attack me. Speaking of problems, we never really figured out what Cain is supposed to do. “Is Cain really supposed to go away for hellhound training?”

“Hellhound training?” Adriel tilts his head in confusion. “Like what we have for pups?”

“I don’t know. That’s just what Mira said before she tried to grab him.” I gesture in the general direction of the hellhound who’s one wrong move away from a very painful death.

Caster looks over at the still-contained hellhound with mild curiosity. He makes no move to help her, though. “What happened to her?”

I flash him a savage grin that has his eyes widening slightly. “I did.”

He lets out a low whistle. “Shit, kid. Mira is decently powerful, so I guess you weren’t so overconfident after all.”

I choke on a laugh. “Out of my million and one flaws, overconfidence isn’t one of them.” I want to tell him that I’m also not a kid, but he’s probably billions of years old, like Levi. I bet I’m like a tadpole to people in this realm.

“To answer your question, Si doesn’t have to go to any hellhound training. I don’t know what Mira was talking about, but I will get to the bottom of it. You can rest easy knowingshe will be reprimanded and stripped of her conclave position.” Adriel scrubs a hand over his face, seeming done with today.

Me too, dude. Me too.

“What? You can’t do that. You have no right!” Mira shouts. “My father won’t stand for this. He is the one who put me on the conclave in the first place!”

Adriel stalks over to Mira and roughly grabs her chin in his hand. The solid black flames slither down his arms to wind around her neck. She lets out a blood-curdling scream and starts thrashing, but Adriel doesn’t let her go. After a long moment, he pulls back, and I can see her neck has a fresh circular burn on it. Her chest is heaving, and tears are running down her face. I’m having a hard time feeling any sympathy for her, though.

Leaning down, Adriel gets in her face, his voice a low growl. “I am the ruler of the hellhounds. I can do whatever I please. The only reason you are still breathing is because Silence pleaded for mercy on your behalf. Be thankful for your life. Run to Endymion if you wish, but even he won’t be able to restore your spot on the conclave. Now, get out of my sight.”

I release my magic, and Mira scrambles to her feet. She gives me and Cain a hateful glare before sprinting out of the room. Good fucking riddance.

Trying to get this whole mess back on track, I ask, “So, what exactly does it mean for us that Cain’s a hellhound? Are we free to go back to Earth?”

Ajax cocks his head. “Why would you want to go back to Earth?”

I blink at him a couple of times, not sure what to say.Infernusis cool and all, but I like my world a lot better. “Uh, because that’s our home. And we have a metric shit ton of problems to tackle.” This has already taken longer than I thought it would, and I’m getting antsy. The longer we screwaround here, the longer Doyle and the council have to stir up trouble.

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