Page 14 of The Hellhound's Mate
“Do they kill people?”
Saph cocked his head. “They didn’t last time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped an accident happen or stood by if one did.”
“Waiting for someone to die. Like a vulture.”
“Exactly like.”
I wrapped my arms around myself and held on tightly. Saph was an amazing addition to my reality, but ghouls? I could’ve gone my whole life and another one without knowing they existed.
“So what do we do about them?”
Saph sighed as he stood and moved to sit in the other chair. “You should avoid them. They can take on the appearance of the last corpse they consumed, but in a decayed state, like the one we saw. A few were seen last time, and that caused a panic. The dead rising from their graves. People spoke about the end of the world.”
“Oh, great.” I wanted to think people were more rational compared to those from a century ago, but sometimes I wasn’t so sure. “Is there any way to keep them away from our cemetery? I can pay for fences or…something.”
Saph shook his head. “I would’ve thought a lack of food would mean they wouldn’t bother with our cemetery. Maybethat one was checking for new graves. They usually stay underground, tunneling from grave to grave.”
And I’d been worried about chipmunks in the garden.
“I’ll patrol the area,” Saph said. “Don’t worry.”
I offered him a smile, but Iwasworried. What if I was getting the mail at the end of the walkway and a ghoul suddenly appeared? “Um, what should I do if I come across a ghoul?”
“Run.”
“Fuck.”
Saph huffed a laugh. “They don’t move quickly, so just run away from them. Chances are good that they won’t bother chasing you. Why expend the energy?”
Nodding, I resisted speaking out loud the scenario that popped into my head where I ran away, tripped, got a compound fracture, bled to death, and became a ghoul’s brunch on my own front lawn.
Upstairs, the grandfather clock in the front hall rang twelve times. Midnight. I needed to get some sleep since I had to be up by six if I was going to get my new paintings packaged by noon. Vera would be by then to cart everything off to the gallery in Manhattan in preparation for my show in a couple months.
But I also didn’t want to be alone tonight.
“Can I sleep down here with you?”
Saph reached for me, a soft smile lifting his dark lips. “Of course.”
I groaned as my phone pinged with a notification. That could only mean my phone was no longer in sleep mode, which alsomeant I should be up and starting my day. Why hadn’t my alarm gone off? Oh shit,why hadn’t my alarm gone off?
Lunging for my phone, I saw that it was a notification from my doorbell app’s neighborhood feature that let everyone post about lost and found pets or share videos of suspicious people caught on camera. And since I wanted to know if someone was being suspicious around my house, I had notifications set to interrupt my sleep if necessary. It wasn’t even five-thirty yet, but I had three neighbors sharing videos of shambling people wandering across their properties.
One of the commenters was exclaiming that the man in one video looked just like her father-in-law…who they’d buried last week.
I shivered in disgust. The ghouls were getting caught on camera already.
“What’s wrong?” Saph asked, his voice rough with sleep.
I showed him the screen. “I guess everyone and their cameras can see ghouls. I was kind of hoping it was just me.”
Saph sighed heavily before rubbing at his eyes. “No, everyone can see them. This isn’t good.”
“Some people are thinking it’s a prank,” I said as I scanned through the comments. “Others are blaming bored and malicious teenagers. But one person is saying it’s the beginning of the zombie apocalypse.”
With a groan, Saph turned over and covered his head with his whole arm.
I leaned over and kissed one furry black ear before I got out of bed. “I’ll make breakfast, if you want to come up, but I need to get to work. And just so you know, I have Chef Yamuna coming in a couple hours to prepare for a lunch I’m having with the gallery owner featuring my work. She’s also bringing movers who’ll be boxing up and transporting some of my paintings.”
