Page 38 of Anarchy
Bram
This whole plan was going to shit. Reyson and Lilith had gone down the hall so that Lilith could destroy Akul’s portal sigils before he could get there, but they didn’t need to worry about that. Everyone was crowded around one door, and I could scent Ripley in there with a human and a demon.
Between Balthazar, Felix, and me, we could have handled them, but Kaine decided to be a little extra and rip the entire roof off before we could even set foot in the room. At least Akul was taken care of. I heard Dorian give a verbal offer to a Hellhound in the room. Balthazar and Felix zipped into the room, and I stepped inside.
There was a naked Hellhound with my face that looked like he’d already gotten his ass kicked before I got here, looking like he was totally on board with taking Dorian Gray up on his offer. Why did it have to be my brother? I really didn’t want to fight him, and every other Hellhound in the room looked like they might want to be grateful at this turn of events.
“My brother is mine.”
Balthazar used his vampire speed to get to Ripley’s cage. There was a naked female Hellhound who moved to help him. I was willing to bet money she was the one who whooped my brother’s butt. You had to be a special kind of stupid to fight a female Hellhound, even one that had been beaten down and abused.
Felix flung magic at Dorian. He flew across the room, slammed against the wall, and stuck there like they coated it in double-sided tape. The other Hellhounds looked utterly confused, but they didn’t want to fight us. My brother was the only one who thought he could take all of us.
“Bram, I’ve been dying to meet you. Akul promised me we’d face off one day. You’re a disgrace to Hellhounds. You’ve been domesticated and lost touch with who you are. I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
What kind of brainwashed horse shit was that? We weren’t feral wolves that needed someone to pluck us from our homes and breed the wildness out of us, so we made good pets or hunting companions. They had created hellhounds at the same time as demons. We had never needed anyone to tell us how to behave or train us not to poop in the house like the animals here that were suitable for keeping as pets.
I never even knew about my brother, but Akul told him all about me. All lies. I was going to rip that demon apart. My brother was willing to fight me to the death, and I had no desire to kill him. He was just confused.
“It’s not supposed to be like this for any of us. So stand down, brother.”
The Hellhounds in the doorway started pressing forward until they all stood at my back. How odd. They didn’t know us. We attacked their home, but it looked like they all really wanted to fight my brother. What in actual fuck went on in this house?
“You can’t reason with Oscar,” one of the males said. “Akul singled him out for a purpose when he purchased him. Oscar has been raised to be like every negative stereotype about Hellhounds because that’s what Akul needed him to be. He’s a rapist and is cruel for no reason. Oscar gets off on having us beaten. We couldn’t do anything about it because he’s Akul’s favorite. Akul didn’t even punish him and just sent him to his room when he tried to rape this witch.”
“If you don’t want to kill him, the rest of us do,” Felix called. “Reyson will wipe him from existence for just thinking about it.”
“You tried to rape my librarian?” I growled at Oscar.
“If I had known you were fond of her, I would have gotten May out of here before she shifted to fight me and fucked her twice.”
I was done. I could understand Oscar’s situation a little, but it really seemed like heenjoyedbeing like this. Was this even my fight? He might know me, but I just found out he existed. He hadn’t hurt me the way he hurt the people in this room. Oscar came at Ripley, and for that alone, I could have killed him, but the Hellhounds in this room needed it more than me.
“Akul is gone. He won’t be coming back. Things should be changing for us in Hell. We can—”
I wasn’t talking to Oscar. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t hear me. I was speaking to every Hellhound in this room. Oscar still thought he could win. He shifted and lunged at my neck. I braced myself and called my Hellhound, but something flung Oscar across the room. A furious Reyson stalked in.
“Did I hear you correctly that you thought you could lay hands on my witch?”
Oscar just snarled at him.
“Rapey Hellhounds aside, Ripley’s cage has a blood lock on it,” Felix said.
“I’ll bleed to get her out,” Ravyn said. “We can wonder twin this like the one at the warehouse.”
“Um, hello?” the naked female Hellhound said. “There’s no need. Akul usually keeps us in this cage with his own lock on the door. When Dorian brought his prisoner, he used his own lock. I’ve seen him open it.”
“What’s your name?” Reyson asked.
“May,” she squeaked.
Reyson moved forward slowly with his hands up.
“I saw you in here watching over my witch. I know some of those injuries are from Akul, but I’m guessing the fresh ones are from defending my witch from this asshole. May I heal your wounds? You have my eternal thanks.”
We were all grateful to May. I had no doubt Ripley could have fought Oscar off magically. She probably would have killed him. Akul wasn’t even remotely a stable demon. He wouldn’t have reacted well to Ripley killing Oscar. May put her life in danger to save Ripley.
I wasn’t a leader, but she looked straight to me for an answer. Did she want my permission?
