Destined to the Hellhound: BEAST

Chapter 15

I watch in shocked amazement as they embrace. Like a couple of old friends.

"What's this?" Hades points to the open wound on his chest.

"She stabbed me today." Even from behind him, I can hear the smile in his voice.

I start to cower back when a loud, joyous laugh slips past Hades' lips. His head falls back, and he holds his stomach as he cackles.

"You stabbed him?" He turns to me. A huge smile on his face.

"I did." My cheeks burn. Surely he's going to punish me. The laughter is throwing me, but there have to be consequences.

"Do you remember, about three hundred years ago, you asked for a mate? What did I say?" He throws his arm around Cerberus' shoulders.

"You told me that it would be nothing but trouble."

"Trouble," Hades shakes his head, laughing. "Come, everyone is already here."

Cerberus holds his hand back, waiting for me. With quick steps, I run forward, slipping my hand into his.

What the fuck have I gotten myself into?

The floor clicks below my heels as I walk beside him. Any plans I had of escape have flown straight out the window. How am I going to escape from this place? Everywhere I look, there is some kind of little servant creature. Even if they didn't catch me and drag me back, I wouldn't be able to find my way out of here. The maze of shiny black hallways is like a house of mirrors.

"You know," Hades looks over his shoulder. "Everyone is so excited. Twenty-five years without you was torture, my friend."

"It was," Cerberus squeezes my hand.

Loud, raucous laughter spills out of a set of open doors.

"Ladies and gentlemen, lovers and friends, whores and heathens! The guest of honor has arrived!" Hades shouts over the crowd as we enter the room, whatever it is. It's kind of a ballroom but it doesn't look like any ballroom I've ever been in. It's red and there are pits in the ground to sit in and creatures everywhere.

Everyone yells excitedly, holding up glasses of champagne.

"Welcome home," Hades calls over his shoulder as a naked woman with red skin and horns pulls him away.

"Come, little bird, don't be shy." In an unforeseen turn of events, his large, warm hand is the anchor I'm tying myself to. My captor has become my comfort in this strange situation. "Champagne?"

"Please," my voice wavers. I gulp down the contents of the glass as soon as he hands it to me.

"And who is this?" A slithering voice makes my skin crawl.

"This is Robin. She's mine." Cerberus' voice is stone cold.

I'm turning, trying to find the man who said it, but he's already behind me again, moving out of sight like a shadow.

"Stop playing with her, Python," Cerberus reaches out and grabs him by the throat. When I finally see him, I wish I hadn't. He's as oily and creepy as his voice. He has snake-like features and beady eyes that ooze the horror of his thoughts.

"What a shame," he smiles, and his sharp teeth make me clutch my lifeline even tighter. "If you ever get bored, I would like to join the waiting list."

"Go." Is all he says in reply. "Relax, he was joking," he says, looking down at my white-knuckled grip on his hands, "mostly."

As he pulls me into the center of the room, we pass several poles with different creatures dancing on them. Male and female, humanoid things. They aren't quite human, or imp, or fairy. Everything here seems to be a terrifying mixture.