“We aren’t going to solve the hunter thing so easily, plus finding the weapons Gadriel might've supplied them with. But let’s see if we can take Dagon and his master down.”
“Ooh… listen to you sounding like a superhero. I should buy you a cape.” Uriel chuckled.
“Don’t forget the tights.” Azazel smiled.
“Most definitely.” Uriel leaned up and kissed him. “Come on, let’s go home. I miss my son.”
“Okay, let me clean this up.”
Azazel turned back to Gadriel’s body and set it on fire and waited for his soul to leave his ashes. He caught it before it could escape and fed it to Bruc, his loyal hellhound, who gobbled it up greedily.
“If you feed him any more souls, he’s going to get too big for you to handle,” Uriel said, rubbing behind Bruc’s large ears. The hellhound loved Uriel, and it seemed after thirty-plus years of absence it hadn’t changed. Bruc's features were a mix between a dog and wolf, with fire-red eyes and thick coarse fur that could harden in a fight.
“I know, I’ve been thinking of giving him to Anubis.”
“Or you could shrink him and bring him home with us. Would you like that, Bruc? You can come home with us and I’ll introduce you to Kristoph.” The hound woofed and licked Uriel’s face. "You naughty pup, what did I tell you about licking my face." However Bruc didn't care and licked his face once again.
Pup? He's over three hundred years old.
“I guess he does. All right, we’ll take him home.”
Azazel shrank Bruc, and before they left, both Azazel and Uriel set stronger wards on the house, as well as an alarm set to alert them if anyone tried to enter since they wouldn’t be living there anymore.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“So, hunters,” Synder said.
“Yeah, I don’t know what or who Dagon and Gadriel are working with, but I can assure you I will find out,” Azazel said. “I feel like this is my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” Uriel said. “I think they had this planned for a very long time.”
They returned to Uriel’s home hidden in the woods and, just as he had suspected, Kristoph fell in love with Bruc. Uriel liked the hellhound very much and wished he’d taken the pup with him when he’d walked away from Azazel. Kristoph hadn’t asked any questions as to why Azazel or his uncles were suddenly in his home. The kid simply smiled when he saw Uriel and Azazel together. Once things died down, he was going to explain everything to Kristoph. He didn’t like leaving his son in the dark.
“The Faywood Hunters Guild has been around for a long time," Synder explained. "They are skilled soldiers who have their prejudices against shifters and many of our kind. It doesn’t matter how peaceful or harmless a person is, as long as you are something they don’t know or like, their mission is to eliminate the person. They train their members to kill, ruthlessly and painfully. No questions asked. I keep my ear to the ground when it comes to people like hunters, and the Faywood Guild have been losing members and funding lately. To help bring in more money, some have become assassins for hire. Azazel’s assumption that your attacker is a hunter could be right.”
“Yeah, I’ve come across them a time or two in my lifetime,” Azazel said.
“As much as I’m concerned about the hunters, I think we need to deal with Benito first,” Uriel said. “Orion said he’s in Valleywood. Since he’s come into our territory, it will be easier to take him down.”
Synder hummed. “I agree. Orion collected some information on the death of Blue Lennox's family. Once I have it situated, I’ll send it to Alistaire and let him take it from there.”
“Must be nice to have the police commissioner as your son,” Uriel teased.
“Says the man whose lover is the deputy mayor.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Uriel stood. “I’m going to see Kristoph and then I'm off to see Blue.”
“All right,” Synder said. “Oh, Blue and Khray finally talked to each other, so you don’t have to hold things back.”
“So Khray knows Blue hadn’t lost his memory?” Uriel asked.
“Yeah.” Synder yawned.
“Go back to bed. You should be resting more in your condition,” Uriel ordered.
“Yes, mother.” Synder stood and went to the guest room he and Kayne used whenever they visited.
“Shouldn’t you take some time to rest as well?” Azazel asked.
