Page 4 of Vampire Visions

I turned my head to York. My panic was diminished by the curiosity flooding through me. “You knew?”

York sighed. “Yes, I knew. I was here when Jack brought her home the last time this happened. I mean, I was hoping that was the last time. There’s no telling with Sloane.” He glanced at Jack. The hellstead nodded his head, confirming that York was right. “It wasn’t pretty that time. This is nothing in comparison.” An involuntary shiver rolled through York, and he looked away from Sloane.

“What happened last time?” I directed my inquiry at Jack. I could tell that whatever York had seen in the past wasn’t something he wanted to talk about.

“I’ll tell you guys about it later. We’ve spent too much time talking. Right now we need to track this bastard down. Whoever the culprit is, they couldn’t have gotten far. We need Briggs and his nose.” Jack’s ebony eyes transformed to glimmering red as his attention snapped from one direction to the next.

York was back in the grass with his bare feet covered in shades of green. The earth grew at his command, answering his unspoken request. Watching the Druid work was fascinating to me. Even after all this time, I still didn’t understand how his power worked. “Someone is on the south side of the property, walking toward the perimeter.” He spoke with his eyes closed, green blades of grass twisting around his ankles.

“I’ll go.” Jack started walking away from us before he called over his shoulder, “If I’m not back in ten minutes then come find me.” He shifted as soon as he was done talking, his ears pulling back in aggravation. A horse that size should thunder across the open yard, but he didn’t make a sound. All of his steps were light as a feather, too stealthy for his mass.

“Sure thing,” York replied with a nod.

“Be safe,” Grim called distractedly. He had removed two of the three bullets and was working on her thigh now. The wounds oozed more blood into the ever growing puddle beneath us. A human would be dead from this much loss. She wasn’t human, though. I was convinced there was more than a whole body's worth of blood on the concrete by the time Franklin calmly stepped outside through the basement door.

Once Grim had all the bullets removed from Sloane, he dropped them in the clear bag Franklin held in his hand. They clanked together, the sounds of metal on metal unmistakable in the silence surrounding us.

“What is that?” I asked the ancient vampire.

He lifted the bag for me to see. There were well over a dozen dirty bullets inside. “This is Sloane’s collection. It’s all the bullets Grim has removed from her body in the last few years.”

“You should make her train her hearing more. Some of those could have been avoided,” Grim acknowledged with a grin.

“Yes, and some she took on purpose to get closer to her enemies. Don’t let her fool you, Mr. Malin. She’s not a fragile flower,” Franklin confessed to me.

Grim called Cronus closer and laid his hand upon the hellhound's chest, pulling magic from him and using it to close Sloane’s wounds. “York, can you find Atlas and Helios? Cronus is worried.”

“How can you tell he’s worried? I thought Sloane was the only one who could communicate with them.” Or maybe my brain was finally coming back to me at a sluggish pace. No one ever said demons in general couldn’t have some kind of communication with the hellhounds, right? The only problem with that thought was that I didn’t know if Grim was a demon. Were grim reapers demons?

“She is,” he answered me, “but he keeps glancing around. I’m just picking up on his general attitude. He also wants to eat you for touching his property, but he won’t because he knows she would be mad at him for it.” He gave me a funny look before continuing, “When we move her to her room, we’ll leave the hounds with her. They’ll heal as she heals, and Cronus will protect her until Atlas and Helios wake up. You really shouldn’t underestimate the loyalty these hellhounds show her.”

“I saw them for the first time four days ago. I’m not underestimating them. I just don’t know what to expect from them.” I shrugged my shoulders just a fraction. I didn’t want to jostle Sloane. Thinking about moving her all the way up to her room worried me. There were so many stairs, each one a potential opportunity to make her more uncomfortable.

Grim broke into my panic-fest once again. “They go into stasis when they’re injured. Like bonded supes, they feed off of each other to help their natural healing abilities. They’re almost as closely connected to Sloane as you guys will be once you’ve sealed your bond. They will throw themselves into danger for her time and time again with no second thoughts. She’s trained them well and shown them enough love that they wouldn’t question her loyalty to them. She is their pack alpha. Hellhounds are a different breed of demon altogether, though. You don’t just get a pup and train it like a dog. They’re more like people, if you haven’t noticed.”

I huffed at him. “I’ve noticed they’re much smarter than the average dog.”

“Don’t insult them.” He chuckled at me. “They’re smarter than the average person, minus the thumbs. You need to do some research on them. It’d be beneficial for you guys to understand them and fit into their pack. They’ll be with Sloane until her last breath. That’s how deep their bond goes. When she dies, they will too. Doesn’t matter how healthy they are or where they’re at. You may not feel like living at that point, but you would keep breathing. They will not.”

That’s… Fuck, that’s deep. I didn’t realize how close they were, but I was relieved to hear it. Cronus was standing there, scanning the woods as Grim siphoned his power to heal Sloane. That’s a good sign. I couldn’t tell if she was going to be okay or not, but Cronus was okay. Sloane would be fine.

It took the guys a little longer than expected, but they began to exit the house one by one. Vaughn was first. His face betrayed his emotions as he fell to his knees with wide eyes pinned on Sloane. “Your vision?” he questioned me with bated breath, recalling a long ago conversation we’d had.

“Yeah,” I whispered. It was my vision, and once the other guys got out here, it would become crystal clear. I knew what would happen now that I knew which blurs were who. Everyone would circle around her, and then they’d panic like I did.

Briggs would shift and run off, but I knew now that he’d go to help Jack.

Palmer would pace and then disappear inside. More than likely, he’d go searching for a healing spell in one of his books.

Stone would vibrate with rage, his horns slowly growing from his skull as he kept silent. We’d probably have to hold him back if they found the shooter.

Vaughn would start freezing the ground around him, fighting for the control he so desperately needed.

York wasn’t in the ending of my vision, because he’d already left to find the other two hellhounds.

I would sit here, holding the thief of a woman who stole my unmoving heart as she continued to bleed all over the concrete beneath us. After that, everything was a mystery, but the hunt for the shooter would be at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

Vaughn