Page 3 of Dante
“That might also be why this town seems so paranoid, especially to outsiders. They appear to be somewhat traumatized after years of unknown something lurking nearby,” Damien said. “Briggs compared it to the Twilight Zone,” he added.
“I can understand why,” Atticus said. The place is inhabited, but it’s very much deserted at the same time.” He looked down the road, which was lined with buildings that had businesses that didn’t appear to be open yet but weren’t boarded up, and all had their lights on.
“Let’s get to it,” Atticus said. “We all have our phones. If we hear or sense something, let the rest of us know.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier if we shifted and went invisible? We could communicate through our pack link that way,” Augustus suggested.
Atticus looked as if that thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. “Yeah, that makes sense,” Atticus said. “We’ve already established that no matter how we go about it, the residents of this town aren’t going to talk to us, so there isn’t any reason to make them even more paranoid by five strangers lurkingaround.” Atticus glanced around before pointing. “Let’s go to that alleyway and shift.”
We headed toward the alleyway, and after making sure there were no exterior cameras, we all shifted. A perk from the goddess when she returned our magic to us was that not only could we use it when shifted, but we didn’t need to strip out of our clothes when shifting.
One by one, we shifted and then disappeared to human and shifter eyes. We could still see each other, but to everyone else, we looked like a heat pocket. I figured that was because of the fire within us. It wasn’t as if we had fire like the dragons, but we did have flames in our eyes that were always present when shifted and would sometimes pop up in our human forms if our beasts were close to the surface.
“Pick a direction and head out,” Atticus said.
We filed out of the alleyway, and I decided to turn right. A block down the street, I went left and wondered what I would find a few streets over. I made sure to take notice of the street names as I crossed them.
I didn’t know how long we spent patrolling the town. Every so often, we would check in with one another, and we’d nod to each other when we crossed paths.
It seemed as if we all felt them before the rumble could be heard in the distance.
“Does anyone know which street seems to be the closest?” Damien asked through our link.
“It feels like maybe one street south of Main Street,” Augustus said.
I was farther south than that, but a bit of magic had me popping in right next to my packmate. His beast glanced over at me, his eyes flashing before we both stared off in the distance.
The others joined nearby, and within minutes, the unmistakable rumble of demons running through the Nexus moved down the street in front of us.
“This is it! We need at least one demon, if not two,” Atticus reminded us.
That was all it took for us to open the portal and step through. When we did, the brightness of New Mexico was suddenly gone, and in its place was the darkness as well as the void that was the Nexus. My mind was flooded with memories of the last time I’d been here, and I really didn’t wish to relive those at the moment. It had been a punishment for displeasing our master, but I still to this day did not know what it was that I’d done wrong. It didn’t matter at this point. I was no longer his. Seconds later, there was a blur to our right.
“There they are!” Atticus said through our pack link.
Without a thought, we all took off, giving chase to the group of demons that were followed by a pair of hellhounds at a distance.
Chapter 2
Banner
“How have you been?” Dr. Braun asked.
I shrugged. “Okay, I guess. I like my new job. Beau and Lewis are great bosses.”
“I’ve had some of the delicious things from the bakery. Do you have anything that is your specialty?”
“I make cinnamon rolls, but I’m not sure too many people like them. Beau says I can offer them once a month, which means that they don’t sell well.” I sighed. They’d not sold well at all since the hellhounds had been gone. I think they just liked anything, but Dante had said they were his favorite, and that had stuck with me for some reason.
“You’re not thinking about cinnamon rolls. At least not completely.”
I shook my head. “I enjoy baking, and cinnamon rolls aren’t the only thing I make,” I told him. “I was thinking about a moment with a customer a few weeks ago.” I shrugged again. “He said he liked my cinnamon rolls, but he’s not been back in since. I don’t know, maybe he was just being nice or something.” Dr. Braun stared at me, and he just seemed to have a way of knowing. I didn’t know if it was because he was a dragon orwhat, but that man knew it wasn’t just any customer. I admitted defeat and sighed while my shoulders slumped. “Fine. It was Dante. He and I talked for a bit, but he wasn’t overly chatty.”
Dr. Braun’s eyebrows rose. “What did he have to say?”
“Not much. He said he liked the cinnamon rolls. They were his favorites. He talked a bit about his name and how he felt it fit him. He mentioned there were a lot of dark things about him, and then he basically just left. I’ve not seen him since.”
“When was that?” Dr. Braun asked. “The hellhounds have been on assignment for some time.”
