Page 6 of Dante
I stopped when my nose hit something. I focused around me and realized my bear had led me back toward the single enforcer housing. I was at someone’s back deck area, and I would imagine that if Dante didn’t live here, he lived close by. I’d be worried about intruding on someone’s space if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew from Dr. Braun’s comment a bit ago that the hellhounds were all out on an assignment.
Still, I grumbled at my bear and forced him to leave. You didn’t invade someone else’s area. He hadn’t ever brought me to this specific house before, and I had to wonder why now? What had caused him to come here?
I went back around to the front and saw a group walking toward me. I froze, they did the same, and then one of them smiled.
“It’s a bear. But he’s so tiny. Do you think it’s a real bear or a shifter?”
I gruffed at that. I wasn’t tiny. I was an omega, and my bear would always present as a juvenile grizzly bear, but I wasn’t tiny.
“Uh, I don’t think there’s anything but shifters here in the immediate area, Felix,” another one said. “He’s most likely a shifter, and you probably just insulted him by calling him tiny.”
Felix looked over at his friend before he glanced back at me. “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you if I did.”
I snorted toward him, which caused Felix to take a step back. The others that were with him laughed, and I sat down to stare at the group. I’d not seen them before. I sniffed the air, not making it a secret that I was doing so. They weren’t shifters and didn’t scent like vampires, so that left warlocks or fae. Since they were in a group and they all looked just as young as me, that told me this was probably the group of fae enforcers that had come here to work for the council.
Very well. I’d now met the fae enforcers. Well, at least some of them. I stood, not really in the mood to shift to make conversation. I nodded my head to them, hoping they understood bear snorts and nods, before I turned and walked toward home. If my bear was going to be drawn to here, there was no real point in going out for a walk. Besides, I had a full pot roast dinner waiting for me at home. That definitely got my bear moving in the right direction.
Chapter 3
Dante
Time seemed to move in slow motion as we moved through the Nexus. We were a pack of five, and although I had no idea how long we gave chase, it quickly became apparent that we were the more powerful group here in the Nexus at the moment. We easily overtook the two hellhounds, and it was Damien who stumbled when we caught up with the hellhounds. It was such a small misstep, and I only caught it because I was running next to him.
We overtook the two hellhounds, and our focus became the demons that were running through, wreaking havoc for no reason that I could see or hear. Atticus caught one, and when he leapt onto its back, his powerful jaws clamped down on the neck. They tumbled, and we simply leapt over them, and I was able to catch the next demon. I fell to the ground with his neck in my own jaws, and despite the desire to rush after the others, I held steady, my prize in my jaws.
“Great job, Dante. Bring him with me to the council. We need to ask some questions,” Atticus said through our pack link. I stood, bringing the demon with me and dragging his limp body alongside. “The rest of you, feel free to have fun with the demons, or bring them along if you catch them,” Atticus calledout. “Also, bring those other two hellhounds. I have questions for them.”
“I’m on it,” Damien said.
“I have one,” Augustus called out.
“I might have tackled mine a bit too hard,” Warwick told us. We all knew what that meant and chuckled. Warwick’s demon either wasn’t going to make it or had already died. Three out of the four wasn’t anything to be upset about.
“That’s great, Warwick. Maybe a little help here, then?” Damien called out. I tried to glance back, but the demon I was tugging along decided that meant I was weak and tried to get away. I ever so slightly tightened my bite, which caused him to scream. I growled, and he quieted. I met up with Atticus, and Augustus wasn’t too far behind me. We stood there waiting, but when Atticus opened the portal and we stepped back out of the Nexus, it was somewhere that none of us expected.
“Where are we?” Augustus asked through our link.
“I’m not sure,” Atticus replied. “I opened a portal, thinking it would take us back to New Mexico. It’s where we entered the Nexus.”
I glanced around, trying to take in the landscape, and wondered where we’d landed. “Can you use your magic to get us back to the council? Or even just yourself?” I had to ask. “Maybe if we all try to get there on our own, it’ll work out?”
The landscape looked…drastically different from where I’d ever been before. It was flat and sandy, and there was absolutely nothing that I could see except a few hills far off in the distance. I was certain they were much larger if I were to get closer, but from my current vantage point, they looked like little hills.
Atticus dropped his demon, and when he tried to move away, a quick growl had the demon freezing in place. Atticus shifted, then looked around the area before his gaze landed on us.
“What the fuck?” he asked, but I was just as clueless as he was. “We didn’t chase them that far.” Atticus pulled out his phone and stared at it, confusion on his face. “I did not expect to be here, nor did I think we’d be without cell service.” I dropped my own demon, who thankfully didn’t try to move. I checked on him, found him still very much breathing, and then shifted.
“You still have your magic, right?” I asked. I felt mine coursing through my body, and when I heard Augustus shift, I spared him a quick look over my shoulder.
“Who are you? Why have you brought us here and not back to Master?”
Atticus narrowed his eyes. “How long have you four been in the Nexus? Are you in and out? Not that I expect you to care, but you’ve been terrorizing a town full of humans.”
“We do not know how long,” the demon said. “Days…weeks…there is no time where we come from.” The demon tilted his head. “You are a hellhound, but you have different magic.”
Atticus glared. “Where the fuck are we,” he said, looking around again.
“Who, if anyone, can figure out where we are?” Augustus said. “If we return to the council, will we be able to return back here?”
