Page 7 of How to Flirt with a Hellhound
Then I’d felt the vague miasma of evil, only my hellhound hadn’t sensed mortality behind it. I’d almost packed up and left at that point, but I’d already started to become… attached to my interesting little neighbor. And I could tell that the evil floating around town wasn’t normal at all.
When the coffee shop owner, who was apparently an oracle, had texted me about a demon, I’d had the urge to get involved. Luckily that had been resolved satisfactorily. I still chuckled to think that the rogue demon had thought he could order me around. He’d certainly found out differently.
Ah, how satisfying those few days had been.
At any rate, once that was dealt with, Paradise Falls had gone back to its homey, welcoming feeling, and I had begun to think that maybe this town could be something of a home base. There was a quaint downtown, but there were ample rural areas as well—Paradise Falls was actually quite large. It was within atwo hour drive of two major cities, giving us plenty of areas to hunt evil, and I hadn’t sensed any other hellhounds in either city. It wasn’t that we wouldn’t get along with another pack—but if there were hellhounds hunting in this area, then it wouldn’t need us.
On top of all that, the sprawling house I was in was large enough for a few of us—it had four bedrooms and was on a large piece of property. It had neighbors on both sides, although Toby was much closer to me than the old lady on the other side. I also knew she would probably be glad to sell, and her property was up against a protected open space. The three houses, including Toby’s, were kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and they would be perfect for our pack.
I hadn’t mentioned it, however, because I didn’t want Toby to move, and if we all lived here he would probably notice something weird. Although Toby lived in his own world most of the time, so maybe he wouldn’t.
I also kind of wanted to keep Toby to myself. There was just something about the human…
Which brought me back to my current dilemma. Was bringing over coffee and returning his hammer weird? What did humans do when they wanted to get to know each other?
I sighed and walked into the kitchen, grabbing my cell phone to make a call.
“Hey, Jude,” I said when he picked up, then I almost banged my head against the counter.
“Dex! What’s up? Don’t make it bad!” he laughed.
Jude had chosen his name because he was an avid Beatles fan, and somehow he never got tired of the jokes. The rest of us, however…
I sighed again before replying, and Jude got serious at the sound. “Hey, all ok there? Trouble in Paradise Falls?”
“No. Paradise Falls is actually really nice. There was a bit of an issue with a demon, but it was handled by an angel and an oracle, and I helped a bit,” I replied.
Jude hummed thoughtfully. “‘Really nice’? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you refer to a town as ‘really nice’ before. Where are you staying?”
“I, uh, bought a house,” I admitted.
Shit. This wasn’t where I was planning on taking the conversation.
“Really?” Jude questioned. “You never purchase property.”
“That wasn’t why I called,” I said, hoping to cut that line of questioning off. Yes, I thought Paradise Falls might work, but I had to figure out Toby before my pack descended on the town.
“Ah, ok. So what’s up, brother?” Jude asked.
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling vaguely stupid. Now that it came down to it, I wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Uh… So… You grew up among humans,” I stated.
“Yep,” Jude answered.
“So you know how to talk to them, and you know what would be considered normal,” I stated.
“Are the humans there giving you issues?” Jude growled, as if I couldn’t take care of myself. I almost rolled my eyes.
“No, of course not. It’s just that, well, I have this neighbor…” I started, then I cleared my throat, unsure where to go from there.
Jude laughed. “Ah, Dex, are you asking me about dating humans?”
“No!” I answered. I then added, “Maybe?”
“You trying to figure out how to talk to your cute neighbor?” Jude asked, still chuckling.
“How do you know he’s cute?” I asked suspiciously.
“Because you’re calling me looking for advice on how to talk to humans,” Jude answered reasonably. “Obviously you think he’s cute. So what do you need to know, Dex?”
