I finally settled on, “Everyone can die.”
“Not me. I killed my own brother to make sure of that.” He smiled, like he was proud of the fact, and I took another step back.
Hellhound Corbin growled again.Trust me, he’d said.It’s my job.
Corbin was right—he was a very bad man. I looked down at Hellhound Corbin and nodded. I trusted him.
He licked my hand, and little flames licked along my skin. I smiled because it kinda tickled. Then Hellhound Corbin was jumping forward toward the man.
I expected… I don’t know. A fight? An evil villain monologue? A mauling? Tons of blood? Nothing that dramatic happened, though. I mean, I guess itwasdramatic, but it wasn’t bloody.
Hellhound Corbin latched his jaw onto the man’s arm, and then the man screamed. I don’t even think Hellhound Corbin had time to break the skin, and the screaming only lasted a few seconds, because the man was totally engulfed in that cool flame that had tickled me a bit. Only it definitely didn’t tickle him—it decimated him.
And… that was it. The screaming stopped, the guy collapsed, and his body burned away to nothing. Hellhound Corbinstepped back and sat down, looking at the spot where he’d been, almost like he was confused at how fast it had all happened.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” I announced.
Crow cawed, coming down to land on Hellhound Corbin’s back. I almost reached out to grab her, but of course she didn’t get burned by his flame either. Then human Corbin was standing in front of me once again.
“Oh! Hi! Fancy meeting you here!” I joked, grabbing onto Corbin’s hand.
The whole fiery hellhound thing was totally cool, but it was nice to be able to hold hands, especially after I dream-killed a very mean old man.
Chapter 15
Corbin
I was no longerin my hellhound form, and I was wearing sweatpants again, which shouldn’t have been possible. When I changed back into a human, my clothes didn’t make the transfer. They burned up in the shift, but apparently, that wasn’t the case here. I wasn’t sure why that, of all things, was the most surprising to me right now.
Sebbie’s hand grabbed onto mine, and I squeezed it and shifted closer to him. He didn’t exactly look upset, but he didn’t look thrilled, either.
“What is it, Little Reaper?” I asked.
Sebbie was staring down at the scattered broken stones in the spot where Aiden’s grandfather had stood. The body was completely gone—not even ash remained. I hadn’t expected any sort of fight or trouble, because I knew he was a regular mortal soul here in Sebbie’s world—I could feel it. Any immortality he’d had was gone in this place.
I had expected to have to dispatch of his body, however, much like in the regular world. Dealing with hellbound mortals could be messy and wasn’t always quick. Only I supposed his body wasn’t really here. At least I didn’t think so? This was where souls went to cross into the afterlife, and perhaps alsowhere Sebbie kept the souls he’d reaped. I wasn’t exactly sure, and I didn’t think Sebbie knew, either. What I had realized was that there was no physical body, and my hellhound fire had consumed his soul and sent it on to hell.
Sebbie was still quiet, and I pulled him into my arms. He went easily, turning away from the spot where the man had been and cuddling into my chest. I rubbed his back and held him, giving him time to process what happened.
“He was a very bad man,” Sebbie finally said.
“He was,” I reassured him, kissing the top of his head. “You wouldn’t have wanted him crossing the river.”
Sebbie shivered a bit in my arms. “No, the thought of him on my boat is… awful.”
I hummed in agreement.
“He shouldn’t have been here, though. I mean, it’s always only nice people here. Then there was that guy from the house who was trying to kill his dad, and now this guy who was trying to kill Aiden. I don’t like that not nice people are showing up.”
I rubbed Sebbie’s back. I wasn’t sure what I should and shouldn’t say. It seemed that he had unlocked his reaper power, and I supposed he needed to deal with the souls he took. Unfortunately, the only people he’d reaped seemed to have been pretty awful people. Unless the people who went on his boat had always been people he’d reaped as well? I wasn’t sure, and trying to figure it out wouldn’t solve the immediate problem.
Sebbie didn’t like dealing with bad people, but if I had to guess, he wasn’t done with that. I had assumed that the person inside the stone would be the woman from the cult house—the Nephilim who was basically immortal. Sebbie had somehow managed to kill her and forget about the whole thing. I’d forgotten about Aiden's grandfather. I guess Sebbie had killed him, too.
I thought back to the room. There was a man there as well, but I was pretty sure the Nephilim had killed him before Sebbie had killed her. Then there was the fact that maybe Sebbie had killed us. But we hadn’t been here. Had we?
I wasn’t so sure now. I wasn’t really sure of anything, and if I was confused, I hated to think how Sebbie must feel. I hugged him tightly again, wondering if I should mention that there was a very good chance the Nephilim woman was somewhere in his forest as well.
I smelled the air. There was no odor of rot. There was nothing but forest and earth and river. I’d smelled the rot of Aiden’s grandfather, but I smelled nothing now. But I hadn’t smelled anything the last time I’d been here, and Aiden’s grandfather had been here. Perhaps the Nephilim was so firmly encased in stone somewhere in the forest that no sense of her rot could leak through. Or perhaps she wasn’t here. I really had no clue.
