Page 46 of Hollow

“We will know no peace until the demon has his walk.” Dimitri sulked as he sat up on the couch.

“Fine.” Jack huffed, retrieving his enchanted pumpkin.

It didn’t take long for them to head outside, Astaroth leading the way through the snowy trails. It didn’t matter that a blanket of snow covered everything; the demon dog sniffed his way down his usual route, insisting the others catch up.

Jack huddled underneath his jacket for warmth, whining when snow slipped into his boots. Meanwhile, Dimitri taunted him, walking barefoot through the forest with his jacket open and exposing his muscular abs.

Damn, Jack would love to continue where they were, to cozy up with Dimitri and warm himself by a fireplace.

The caw of a circling crow caught Jack’s attention. He turned to find Dimitri’s pointed ears twitchy as he seemed to listen to the bird.

“He’s all by himself,” Jack said.

“Yes, Nikolai has lingered a bit, but he will be joining his flock in a few days.” Dimitri changed the direction of their path and followed the flying crow.

“Wait, where you going?”

Dimitri didn’t respond as he trudged through the snow.

“Oh, a new trail to explore.” Astaroth hopped through the fluffy snow, sniffing every scent, and panting with excitement the deeper they ventured through the woods.

“What’s going on?” Jack noticed the tension in Dimitri’s clenched jaw, the scowl in his furrowed brow, but Dimitri didn’t respond.

Instead, he kept pressing forward, following the crow’s path.

Nikolai cawed once again, and Dimitri growled.

“We are being followed.” Dimitri leapt into the air, easily jumping through the trees.

“Show off,” Astaroth huffed. “This is supposed to be a walk, not a hunting party.”

“Wait, what’d you say?” Jack turned to Astaroth.

“I said I intended to go for a walk, but I suppose hunting down and slaughtering a human could be fun too.” Astaroth bolted ahead, vanishing between the thicket of trees in a quick blur.

“Son of a bitch.”

Dimitri scaled the trees, lunging from one to the next. The rustling snow that collapsed onto the ground was the only trail for Jack to follow.

“Hold on.” Jack gave chase.

By the time Jack reached Dimitri and Astaroth, they had a guy pinned down. Dimitri pressed his foot onto the man’s chest, pressing his claws into the puffy jacket. Astaroth snarled and let out aggressive barks every time the man even attempted to squirm.

“Why are you following us?”

“What are you talking about?” the man cried. “I’m not following anyone.”

“Rip out his liver,” Astaroth shouted. “We can feed it to him as a means to force a confession.”

“You have been following our path for nearly three kilometers now,” Dimitri snapped. “Casually stalking us, but your presence did not go unseen.”

Jack glanced up at Nikolai, who continued circling them from above. Clearly, the crow had spotted this guy using the same trail.

“I wasn’t following you, I swear.” The man was whimpering, fighting back tears. “I was hiking and got turned around is all.”

“Lies.” Dimitri glared, the shimmer in his green eyes turned haunting. “You mean to hunt us down and report back to the Hearst.”

“The who?”