“No,” I shout as I recognize the hound’s intentions.
However, it’s too late. It pounces on Akathol severing his body in half with one bite. I roll to my feet and jump up. Turning into my true form, I face the hound. It takes one look at me and immediately turns and races for the stairs.
“Fuck.”
I fly through the air to tackle the creature, but both of us go flying through the door and onto the casino floor. Every demon and forsaken in the building turns to us. I hop to my feet to face off with the hound. Conah rushes up the stairs. He’s also in his forsaken form. The human appearance is gone, and in its place is the winged being with black eyes and clawed feet.
I spread my wings out wide and snarl at the hound. Hellhounds are strong and are known for their speed and wit.
The hound moves to the side, keeping me and Conah in its sights. Around me, demons and forsaken scatter. The humans can’t see what’s going on, but they are running as well.
“Go low,”I say to Conah through our mind link. “I’ll go high.”
“Got it,”he replies.
I take flight, lifting into the air. Conah dives for the hounds’ legs, and I go for its head. The hound rolls to the side out of our way causing Conah and I to fall into each other.
We quickly right ourselves and turn back to the hound. An overweight human chooses that time to walk out of the bathroom. He’s busy drying his hands. Not that he’d be able to see us anyway.
The moment the hound turns to the human, I know its intentions. I charge for the beast, but I’m too slow. The hound tackles the human and locks its teeth on his neck.
By the time I grab hold of the beast, the human is long gone. I wrestle with the hound, taking a bite to the shoulder. Wrapping my arms around its body, I lift him up in the air until my back touches the ceiling. He claws at me and sinks his fangs deeper into my shoulder.
I fly straight to the ground, slamming the hound against the marble floor. His head cracks open sending brain matter and blood everywhere. It goes limp.
Placing my feet on the floor, I melt back into my human form. Blood pours down the front of my shirt. The skin slowly mends.
Unina and Khiva race up the stairs, both looking frazzled. A fucking hellhound just came through my portal. That’s not even the biggest issue; a human was killed in my district. Shit just got real.
chapter nineteen
Aftermath
Nasiah
The house has had a different vibe in the last week. After the old lady creatures attacked me, things went bad at one of Raziel’s casinos. A human was killed by something that came through his portal. Unfortunately, he was put on suspension. They shut down all of his casinos and clubs, and his portals are out of service. It’s an enormous blow to him.
Razzy made most of his money from his clubs and casinos. He can’t even rely on his income from being a dominus because he’s suspended without pay.
“Do you think he will like it?” I ask Tanisha through the FaceTime screen.
Ever since Erazel was attacked, she’s been hanging around much more. Today she was back at her apartment.
“Girl, that man would like anything you do. You could feed him Pop-Tarts and Kool-Aid and he’d think it was special.”
Removing the salmon from the oven, I laugh as I pour honey glaze on it. I’ve been wanting to do something nice for Raziel since he’s been so down lately.
I asked all the guards in the house what he liked to do for fun, and none of them knew what to tell me. Apparently, Razzy is all about his business. The man has gone out of his way multiple times to make me happy. I feel like it’s time I returned the favor.
“I know,” I say to Nisha, wiping my hands on my apron. “I just want this to be special for him.”
She looks into the phone with a smile on her face. “It’s so cute to see you truly in love.”
I stop what I’m doing and give her my full attention. “Love?”
I like Razzy, and I feel a strong connection to him, but I don’t know if I’m ready to call it love.
“Don’t play stupid,” Tanish chuckles. “You would have never done this for Jamieson.”
