His eyes were not able to focus as he lifted his head and bobbed it around like he didn't have bones in his neck. “No, little goddess, I am not.”
I gave Fame a “see” look as I crossed my arms.
He glared at me but eventually looked away first because I think he knew that I hadn't done it on purpose. Buuuuuttt I wouldn't lie and say that it wasn't funny to see these four men upchucking because of some mind travel. Also, I hadn't thrown up when I’d been winked by a newbie, but I didn't say that either, even if I wanted to, because I wanted to keep the peace.
War and Con stumbled to my side, taking the whole thing in stride, while Fame was glancing around with his map out, straight up looking like a tourist in Hell. Oh boy. Death, on the other hand, was vibrating with fury and wouldn't look at me. I decided to be the bigger person and talk to him about it.
“Hey.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “How are you doing? Did the motion sickness pass?”
He shot up, looming over me like the fucking grim reaper as he slowly and menacingly said, “I. Am. Fine.”
He turned away, and I just felt like that wasn't really putting all of our issues out in the open, so I followed close behind him.
“Are you sure? You seem pretty mad, and I don't know why. Being a little sick is one of the most normal things that can happen to you.”
He swiveled my way, crashing into me so fast I almost tipped over, but I caught myself.
He pointed a finger in my face and bellowed, “We are not normal! We are not used to—”
Mid-sentence, he was tackled to the ground by a Hellhound. It landed on top of him, barking in his face like he wanted to shred it for a snack.
“Onyx!” I shouted with glee as I skipped around Death to look Onyx in the face. “Stop playing with Death and come here, boy! I missed you.”
Onyx snarled one more time in Death’s face before he got up and trotted over to me like a good boy.
He nuzzled my thigh, his Hell flames sparking as my fingers scratched his head, showing me that he was excited and happy to see me.
“Sit,” I commanded.
He immediately sat down with his tail wagging, sparks flying off his tail every time it hit the ground.
I kneeled, bringing my face to his as I scratched behind his ears and peppered him with kisses, making sure not to get too close to his mouth. Hellhound drool was made of acid. He was intimidating and vicious when he thought someone was after me or making me upset, but other than that, he was a cuddly little teddy bear.
I heard Con yelp, and I turned towards him to see that Vruz had scared him as he dove for the picnic basket. Using his acidic saliva to disintegrate the basket, Vruz gobbled up everything that was left. Con watched in horror as the Hellhound took down his sweet idea in seconds. Then he threw up his arms and cried, “Aww, man! I wanted to make it a fun day out. Now what are we going to snack on?”
War lumbered up to Vruz and patted him on the head. “Aww… They’re not so bad. Hello, puppy, I'm one of your new daddies.”
Vruz cocked his head as he kept chewing, trying to decide if that was a good or bad thing, but Onyx immediately hunched up and growled in response to War, looking like he was about to launch at the man and kill him.
Fame folded his map up, grumbled about “his idiot brothers”, then walked up to Onyx and looked him up and down as he growled at him. In a firm commanding voice, he said, “We are not here to take your mistress, only to help her. Sit and let us help.”
I watched, thoroughly impressed, as Onyx let out a huff but did what Fame said and sat down right next to me like a little guard.
Fame took it a step further and got down to eye level with him and said, “You guard your mistress with everything that you have, and you and I will always be good. Got it?”
Onyx just watched him, but for once, he seemed calm as he put his paw on Fame’s knee in agreement. As soon as Death saw that Fame had, in a sense, “tamed” Onyx, he went to pet him, but Onyx swiveled his huge head, peeled back his lips, and growled, chomping his teeth at him in warning.
Death threw up his hands. “So you're cool with him bossing you around, but you won't let me pet you?”
Onyx turned his back to him and watched War and Vruz, who were wrestling on the ground, playing around and laughing. Con started rooting for Vruz. It was kinda adorable how everyone was getting along… Well, everyone except Death and Onyx, but I think that was because they were both so alike in their surliness.
I clapped my hands to get the hounds’ attention. They both stopped what they were doing and looked at me for direction.
“Onyx, Vruz, I need your help to find the spot that has weak or absent magic. Go.”
They took off running to the edge of the meadow and started to work their way back to the starting point.
I waved to the guys. “Let’s go. We need to find the dead spot.”
