Page 38 of How to Flirt with a Hellhound
Josh chuckled. “And I bet he’s cute.”
“Absolutely,” I answered.
“Of course,” Josh agreed lightly.
“The other brother is dark and mysterious, and he kept looking up at the trees. I’m going with shifter for him. Or thunderbird, maybe. Oh, maybe a dragon. Yeah, I’ll definitely go with dragon. He’s also sexy as hell,” I laughed.
I heard a low rumble off in the woods as I added, “But Dex is way sexier, of course.”
I heard a chuff from the woods, and I wondered what the heck was out there. We didn’t usually have wolves or bears out here, but I guess we could. I backed up toward my door a little bit, suddenly feeling nervous.
“I think there’s an animal in my yard,” I whispered to Josh.
“Well, yeah Toby, I’m sure there is. You live backed up to protected forest land. I’m sure there’s a lot of animals in your yard,” Josh said, and he totally had hisyou’re letting your imagination run away with youvoice on.
“I mean, I think there’s abiganimal in my yard,” I whispered.
“Well, go inside,” he said.
“Pfft. Like I’d do something so reasonable,” I answered. I heard a door slam in the background at Josh’s and a strident voice call out. Sounded like his dickhead boyfriend was there, and I hadn’t even gotten a chance to fill Josh in on my new boyfriend status or my sexual escapades.
Josh gave a sigh. “I gotta go, Toby. I’ll fill you in later this week, ok?”
“Sure. You sure you’re ok?” I asked.
“I will be,” he answered cryptically, and with that, we said our goodbyes and hung up.
Was it wrong that I hoped they were breaking up? Because I totally did. His boyfriend was an asshole. With that thought, I reached for the door and opened it, but rather than go inside, I reached in and shut off the back porch light. Aside from attracting bugs, it didn’t make looking into the woods easy. I really did have the feeling that something big was out there.
I felt like I was being watched, but I wasn’t particularly worried—Dex was next door, and if I screamed he’d hear me. Plus, I was a half a step from my back door, and I figured I could get inside before anything could get me. It wasn’t like there were cheetahs roaming around these parts. Coyotes, bears, or wolves? Maybe, and it would be pretty cool to spot one. It was probably just a buck, though. We got deer around here all the time.
As my eyes adjusted to the light, I thought I saw something glowing faintly off in the trees. I rubbed my eyes and took a step forward. The glow looked… red? And blue? The red could be from a reflection of light on animal eyes, I guess. I mean red eye was a thing in pictures for a reason, wasn’t it? Although it seemed like animal eyes usually glowed yellow. But the blue was weird. I took another step forward and down the first step of my back porch.
That was… what the fuck was that? It was pitch black and blended in really well, except I swore there were licks of red and blue dancing along its fur. I got a sense of something really large. It was easily bear sized, only it wasn’t shaped like a bear. It seemed to be laying down and shaped more like a wolf, only wolves didnotget that big. I could make out eyes staring straight at me.
“Holy fuck, you’re huge,” I whispered. “What are you?”
It shifted the tiniest bit, but it stayed laying down, watching me. I swear its eyes were focused right on me. And they were definitely glowing. The thing looked like it was straight outof one of my books. I was almost afraid to blink in case it disappeared when I did.
I took another step down, which was probably stupid, and the creature—whatever it was—cocked its head, but it stayed laying down.
“You’re beautiful,” I murmured. “I think I’m hallucinating,” I added after that.
The beast’s mouth opened, and it started to rise, and that’s when I realized that I was off my steps and not terribly close to my back door. I had a total oh shit moment and stumbled backwards, running into my steps in the process and falling hard on my ass.
It only took a second, and I should have been scared out of my mind that the thing was going to come at me, but when I looked up, it was gone.
Well fuck. I rubbed my eyes and stood up, scanning the woods, but they were empty. I eventually went in my back door, wondering what the hell had just happened. Had I imagined it? I mean, yeah, I had a vivid imagination, but I didn’t usually hallucinate things. I was a lucid dreamer, but I was wide awake. Maybe I was just way more tired than I thought I was, and I had been really stressed out.
I walked into the kitchen, leaning against my kitchen island. It felt sort of weird against my back though, and I turned around to look at it. There were two dents in the countertop. I didn’t know what the hell the counter was made of, but I knew it wasn’t flimsy. How the hell had it gotten dents in it?
“Toby, you’re losing it. Imagining shit and everything,” I muttered to myself.
At that moment, though, I heard an eerie howl off in the night once again.
I should’ve felt nervous, I knew that logically, but suddenly I was just really tired, and I felt… protected. Maybe it was crazy,but if there were wild animals in the woods, it would make it that much harder for anyone to sneak up on me.
I’d have to let Dex know tomorrow, though.
