Destined to the Hellhound: BEAST

Chapter 5

A woman, covered in blood, flies up past my balcony. The terror on her face shakes me to my core. We make eye contact just as a bony hand grips her ankle. A creature climbs up her body like something oozing. It's more like something dark and shapeless is spreading over her and consuming her than something

She fights to stay airborne, but it's too heavy for her delicate wings. Sharp teeth rip into her neck, blood spraying across the glass as she falls from the sky with that thing still on her.

Backing away slowly, I hold my hands over my mouth to keep the screams from escaping.

I'm locked in. They've left me for dead in here.

Searching frantically for something to shatter the glass, a loud thud from the hallway outside turns me to stone. I sit, crouched beside my bed, as something tries to break my door down.

The wood splinters, a large piece breaking open.

"Robin?" It's Kat. She's wearing a pastel pink dress, ready for my wedding. Her face is pale and full of terror.

"Oh, thank the gods!" I run into her arms, slipping out of the broken door.

She's with Mykle. He's wearing the traditional attire of a warrior. He looks handsome. If we hadn't been overrun by the underlings of hell, he would be standing at the end of an aisle right now, waiting for me.

I'm suddenly not so upset about the underlings.

"We have to get to dad's office. They wouldn't have closed the safe room without us!" I grab Kat's clammy hand and pull her down the hallway behind Mykle.

"What the fuck is going on?" I whisper as he peers around a corner, checking for danger. "What happened? What are those things? Where did they come from?"

When he turns around and our eyes meet, I'm struck by the fear in his eyes. He's leading us, standing tall and assured, but his expression shows it. Whatever this is, it's bad. Really bad.

"This is-" his voice is cut off by a shriek. "This is unlike anything I've ever seen or read about." He whispers. "Underlings are brainless ghouls. They haven't ever attacked Golden City, just small groups that venture into the badlands. This is a coordinated attack. Whoever is leading this is not an underling. This was planned."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know." He shakes his head before grabbing Kat and pulling her close, protecting her against his chest. "I was in the ceremony room when it started. There are thousands of them. They came spilling over the wall like black tar."

"We need to go." My voice is barely a whisper.

As quietly as we can, we run, ducking as we pass windows. The sounds of terror-filled screams hang in the air. The smell of blood is so strong that it's strangling me. People and beasts wail, I can hear them inside the house, outside, and everywhere. Death is surrounding us on all sides. It's like a physical pressure, pushing down on me, I can feel the pain and suffering.

With each step, we're getting closer, but it feels further away.

As we round a corner, I slip, my foot sliding across the floor bringing me to the ground into a wet, sludgy puddle.

"Robin," Kat's voice shakes as she stares down at me.

Red. Red everywhere.

My hands, my legs, my dress—I'm bathed in blood.

"Oh my god," frantically wiping my hands on my dress, I try to stand but it's too slippery.

"Mykle, help her," Kat begs, but he's turned, looking down the hallway. It's like he can't hear us.

When I follow his gaze, my mouth drops open to scream, but no sound comes out. There's a lead weight in my stomach that's holding me down on the floor.

Crawling toward us is a razor-toothed beast straight from the depths of hell. The walls are closing in. No one moves, no one breathes, as it silently creeps toward us.

A sickening smile spreads across its gnarled face as a slurping sound echoes through the hallway.

With visions of this thing sucking the skin from my bones, I grab Kat and pull her toward me. Her feet slide through the bloody mess as I push her into the wall behind me.

The creature makes a sound, a mixture of a laugh and a gargled choke. It's amused by my attempt to protect her.

In a whirlwind of movement, it comes up on its back legs. I press my weight back into Kat, and close my eyes. I don't want to watch it rip us to pieces.

A screech and the warm splatter of liquid across my face have me sputtering and choking. Kat is screaming behind me, gripping into my shoulders so tightly she's breaking the skin.

The creature is slumped over, dead, oozing putrid liquids onto the floor.

"Come on," Mykle grabs my arm and jerks both of us forward.

Kat sniffles behind me as we stumble through the hallways. The only way to get to Father's office and the safe room, is to cross the landing at the top of the main staircase. Bracing ourselves, we hold hands and run.

Mykle stays in front of us, holding the dagger out.

A snarling sound stops me dead in my tracks. I want to run, but it's as if the sound somehow controls my body against my will. I can't move.

A huge wolf is on me in an instant, taking a chunk of my dress in its teeth and yanking me away.

Kat screams, a blood-curdling cry as our hands are pried apart. I'm dragged down the stairs and out onto the street. The carnage is everywhere. Blood rains down from the sky, bathing everyone in death.

The sounds of her cries are drowned out by the wailing out here.

A roar in the distance makes my knees tremble. If this creature wasn't holding me upright, I would fall.

A mass of ash and smoke, a misty black fog, rolls down the street toward us. Everything stops. The howling, the gnashing of teeth, the snarl of skin being ripped from bones, all of it. The demons from the depths of the underworld stop to watch this thing approach.

Slowly, walking almost leisurely, a monster emerges from the ash. With wiry black fur and teeth dripping blood, the massive animal approaches.

A three-headed wolf.

His steps shake the ground as he walks through the street like he owns it, as if he belongs here. His eyes, all six of them, are focused on me. His gaze burns my skin.

Pinching my eyes closed, I wait. It will only take one snap of his jaw to kill me. My body trembles, and tears drip down my face.

Instead of instant death, I feel a rough hand against my cheek.

My eyes flutter open and then trail up, up, up over a mountain of muscle and blood to find a man, not a beast.

His mouth curves into a smile as he grips my chin in his hand. "Mine."

--

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