Page 55 of How to Flirt with a Hellhound
Okey-dokey then. Angels also apparently resided in Paradise Falls, along with an oracle. And I still wasn’t guessing correctly. I felt like it was on the tip of my tongue, like I should really know this. They had fire, they knew angels and demons, they killed bad “hellbound” people, their eyes glowed, and Dex had a habit of growling…
“Hellhounds!” I shouted triumphantly, sure I had gotten it this time.
Dex hugged me tighter, growling in a pleased way, and I looked over to see Jude and Corbin both nodding.
So… my boyfriend was a hellhound.
Ok. I could deal with that.
They were all staring at me now, maybe waiting for panic or something. But panic wasnotfirst on my list. I could panic later.
I stood up, disentangling myself from Dex’s arms despite his grumbly growling when I did so. I walked over to the kitchen drawer as they all watched, pulled out a notepad and pen, and came back to the table to sit down.
“I haveso many questions,” I said, starting to jot down what I already knew.
I thought I heard a groan from someone, but I ignored it. They owed me answers, and I suddenly felt like there was a new paranormal series in my future.
By the time Jude and Corbin left, I hadpagesof notes. I really thought they’d both totally made up the need to go do “moving stuff,” but I figured I had interrogated them enough for now.
“So, you guys live for, like, who knows how long, and you used to be based in hell, but ages ago hellhounds came ‘topside’ and stayed, and they have little hellhound babies that carry on their work,” I summed up.
Dex nodded absently. He was at the stove cooking something, and it smelled delicious. He’d found chicken in the freezer and pasta in the pantry, and he was making some kind of creamy, yummy looking sauce to go with it.
“Not a lot of babies, though. My parents only ever had one child. I kind of think hellhounds are born based on the world’s population or something, although we never checked that or anything,” he commented.
I hadn’t asked too many questions about Jude and Corbin’s parents—I thought that was kind of intrusive, but Dex had shared his background. As far as he knew his parents were still alive and hunting, although he didn’t talk with them regularly. He didn’t seem terribly disappointed by that fact, so I tried not to project my own parental insecurities onto him.
I’d gotten the details on demons and angels and oracles—and that last one was apparently Cassius, the coffee shop owner. Who also saw ghosts? So they were real too. And that was kind of creepy, but Dex had assured me I wasn’t haunted, and I didn’t ask how he knew, because Ireallydidn’t want to worry about it.
There was still one question I hadn’t asked though, but I didn’t know quite how to ask it.
Hey, honey, did you chop off a guy’s fingers so I could write my murder scene?
If he didn’t, that would be super weird to ask. If he did… Well, really bad people only, right?
How twisted was it that I thought it was even kind of sweet if he went out and did research for me? I mean, that was sort of romantic in a serial killer way, right?
I wondered for a brief moment if I was having some sort of psychotic break. Could this seriously be my life? Never mind that I was taking this all really well. Sure, writing paranormal novels for years had probably prepped me, but still. I was impressed with myself and my total lack of freaking out. Although I supposed deep down I’d known for a while that Dex was different. I’d been only partly joking about him being a serial killer.
Still, I trusted him completely. Maybe that was beyond stupid, but I felt connected to him. I had faith that he would protect me with his life. I knew he wouldn’t lie to me. At the risk of sounding super corny, I felt deep in my soul that he wasgood, despite whatever he might do. And he was mine, and I was his, for however long he’d have me.
Which… yeah, was a problem. I hadn’t brought it up, but I was just a regular human. They’d even confirmed that for me when we’d been chatting. Which meant that I had a normal human lifespan, and Dex obviously did not. I would get old and die, and Dex would still be around. For a really long time, by the sound of it.
It made me sad to think of him all alone. Not that he’d be totally alone, because he had his brothers, but still. When I’d casually asked them about previous relationships, they all sort of looked at me blankly, like the idea of being in a relationship was totally foreign to them. So obviously they didn’t normally date humans.
I didn’t know what that meant for Dex and me, but I figured we had time to figure it out, and one worry at a time was enough.
Dex brought dinner over to the table, and it tasted as delicious as it looked. After we’d both had a few bites, I asked, “Were you, um,workingearlier?”
“Yes. I called Liam and filled him in before I came over. We got the guy who planted the listening devices, but he had very little info on your stalker. He stalked someone in the past, although we don’t have a name, but Liam is trying to track down who it is. In the meantime, we’ll never leave you alone. And we’ll smell if a rotting soul is in the vicinity,” Dex assured me.
I had my very own supernatural protection team. It was comforting.
“If you need some help with that scene, I also have some ideas for you,” Dex added nonchalantly.
Ok then, I guess that answered that question. Maybe I should be disturbed, but, well, I was a writer; we got inspiration wherever we could. Yup, that was my story, and I was sticking to it. Plus, only really bad people.
I filled him in on my current plotline while we ate, and he added ideas and answered questions. He had some unique new torture methods I could throw in for the evil vampire, although he made sure to not get too gruesome, and he did grudgingly add that his brother Atlas had shown up and had “told him” quite a few of the ideas.
