Finding Midnight (7 page)

What should I do?
I’ve always
helped something or someone if I could.
Should I call the
ambulance? What would the police or paramedics do with him?
If
only she could have spoken to him more before he passed out, she
thought. What would Dr. Stuart do if he were in her shoes? Then she
knew what must be done. Dr. Stuart would stop the bleeding and
dress the wounds, then ask questions when the patient was able to
answer.

With that decision, she went straight to
work, boiled water in the teapot, and grabbed some towels and a
first aid kit.

With all that black blood, things looked
bad, but after cleaning up the wounds and giving him a few stitches
with a needle and dental floss, the bleeding stopped and she had
him bandaged up in about twenty minutes. She was cleaning up when
his face morphed into a less scary and quite handsome human form
and his eyes opened.

He looked around, ran a hand over his side,
and realized he was patched.

“I wasn’t sure if I should take you to the
hospital or if there was somewhere else I should take a demon, but
instead of you bleeding all over, I thought I should just stitch
you up myself,” she said, picking up the last of the soiled
towels.

“Thanks. Are you a doctor?”

“I’m a vet. Well, a vet doing my internship
under another vet, but I have my degree,” she admitted.

“Lucky me,” Hunter said, sitting upright on
the couch, hissing through his teeth with pain.

“As far as I can tell, your anatomy is
pretty much the same as a human, aside from the black blood,”
Summer said.

“Yes. Very similar. A little less delicate
than humans and faster healing, but pretty much the same.”

“So do you want to explain to me what was
going on out there and what that dead creature is in the
woods?”

“Oh, crud. I need to check on
something.”

“You need to what?” she said with her hands
on her hips.

“Can you take me back to where you found me?
I left something there.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“No. It’s important.”

She stared at him for a long time before she
agreed, but opted to change into some actual clothes for this trek
into the forest.

*****

As they walked slowly back to the creature,
she said, “Are you going to tell me what you were doing and what
that thing is in the woods?”

“I’d rather not, but I don’t think you’re
going to let me leave things unexplained,” Hunter said.

Their eyes met and she gave him a
disapproving look.

“Right,” he said. “Well, the creature you
are referring to is a hellhound.”

“A hellhound?” she replied as they came
within a few yards of the beast. Its skin looked like what Summer
assumed an elephant’s skin might look like, with a slight sheen to
it, but she noticed strange tattoo-like images here and there,
similar to scar tissue but bright red on the black skin.

She ran her finger over the red marks and
asked, “What are these?”

“Sigils,” he said distractedly.

“Sigils? What are sigils?” she asked.

“They’re kind of like a monogram or a seal.
Each one represents a high demon lord,” he said.

“Does that mean each of these demons own
this hellhound? Like a brand on a cow?”

“No. Nothing like that. Think of it more
like an artist’s signature,” he said impatiently.

“An artist? What?”

He sighed. “An ancient story claims that
after a great battle between demons and angels, a great tear
between Hell and Earth was made. This hole left Hell open to anyone
or anything to enter and leave at will, causing chaos and
disobedience for all. In an attempt to correct this problem, the
great demon lords traveled to the lake of fire and created the
hellhounds. They would serve to guard the gates of Hell. When they
were done, each put their hand upon the hellhound leaving their
mark—a sigil—upon it in remembrance of their great deed to both
worlds,” he explained.

She continued to examine the animal,
admiring it. It was similar to a dog but the size was more like a
donkey or small horse. She’d seen very large Mastiffs and there was
a bit of a resemblance, but this animal was still much larger. The
head alone was the size of a large medicine ball and the pads of
its paws were the size of dinner plates or bigger.

She was quite certain Hunter had ducked out
of the immediate area for a moment, but she was too intrigued by
the hellhound to concern herself with what he was doing. She walked
completely around the hound, inspecting everything she could,
admiring its muscle composition and wondering how fast it might
have run.
To fight something like this, Hunter must be much
stronger than he looks
, she thought.

As she made her way around the animal for a
second time, a rustle in the bushes nearby caught Summer’s
attention. She heard a tiny yelp and more rustling and crunching of
leaves. She neared the undergrowth cautiously and crouched down to
see the source of the noises. She heard another yelp and then one
red eye and one gold eye peered out from behind leaves. She fell
backwards on her butt, landing in a large pile of leaves. She
stared at the mismatched eyes. They stared back at her like two
little flashlights of red and gold peering from the underbrush,
when they suddenly blinked. Summer jumped again. The head seemed to
cock to one side and then back again and a small, black, hairy
creature took a step towards her, away from its refuge.

It stopped, midway, as if making sure Summer
was not a threat, then yelped again looking at the hellhound near
her. Summer looked at the hellhound, then back at the little
creature, and it dawned on her that this was the hellhound’s
offspring, now all alone and motherless.

“Hey, little guy. It’s okay. Nothing’s going
to hurt you,” she encouraged the pup.

It whined and trotted out from under the
brush and to its mother and sat staring, as if expecting some
reaction. The pup licked its mother and yelped again, then nuzzled
its head against her and looked once more at Summer when the mother
gave no response.

“I’m sorry, little one, about your mother,”
Summer said.

The pup stood and again cocked its head at
Summer and inched forward towards her. Soon it was close enough to
sniff her shoe and give it a lick. It moved near her knee to smell
her jeans, but remained near its mother for protection. Soon he was
within an arm’s length; she slowly reached out her hand letting him
smell it before attempting to pet him. Finally, a pet on the head
was allowed and he made himself comfortable staring at his mother,
his head on Summer’s leg while he received some much-needed love
and attention.

She guessed he was about thirty pounds. He
had floppy ears, two little horns protruding in front of his ears
and feet three sizes too big for his body. His hair was velvety
soft and stood straight up in all directions giving him a
fuzzy-ball effect—which looked hilarious with his illuminated
red/gold eyes. He had atrocious breath—definitely the source of the
rotten egg smell, but he was all puppy.

Just as Summer was getting a face full of
licks from the foul-breathed pup, Hunter emerged from the forest
once more, stunned to find Summer in the company of a hellhound
pup.

*****

“Where did that come from?”

“He was under that bush. His mother must
have kept him nearby,” Summer said, petting the pup. “Did you find
what you’d lost?”

“Yes,” he said.

She asked, “Why doesn’t the mother have hair
like he does?”

“It singes off from the heat in Hell;
eventually it stops growing back and
voila
. I’m guessing the
pup has not been down to Hell since he was born or his hair would
be singed too,” Hunter told her.

“What should we do about this little guy’s
mother?”

“Her body will be taken at dawn,” he said
matter-of-factly.

“Taken at dawn? What do you mean? Who will
take her? And where will they take her?”

“The reaper will come and dispose of her as
he does all of Hell’s creatures when they die,” Hunter said,
watching her and the pup.

“Where will he take her?”

“To the lake of fire to return her to that
from which all Hell’s creatures are born,” Hunter explained.

“What was she doing here with her pup?”

“What all hellhounds do—she was protecting
the gates to Hell,” Hunter said, kneeling down to give the pup a
pet. The pup growled and looked to Summer. She nodded her head and
the pup allowed Hunter to pet him.

“But there’s no gate here,” Summer said,
looking around.

“The gates move around; that’s why a
hellhound is never seen in any one place and it makes it almost
impossible for someone to find the location of a gate,” Hunter
said.

“But why did she attack you?”

“I don’t know, maybe she thought I was after
her pup,” Hunter surmised.

“What were you doing in the woods?” Summer
asked.

“Nothing. Just out for a stroll,” he
said.

“Out for a stroll? At three o’clock in the
morning?” she said.

“What? You don’t think demons get insomnia?”
he said. “I was just out getting some fresh air.”

“What is it that demons do, anyway? Were you
out looking to take someone’s soul? Make a deal for your master?
Kill an innocent hellhound,” she said, hugging the pup.

“Now wait one minute. Hellhounds are not
innocent in any way, shape, or form. As for demons—we don’t take
souls; that’s all a bunch of lies. We’re more like vampires in that
we feed on a human’s essence or emotions. Some are mischief makers
and love to stir up a riot, but most live their lives like any
living being.”

“What do you feed on?”

“We all have our preferences, and mine tends
to be selfishness. There’s plenty of it around and even the perfect
human will allow a little selfishness once in a while. I don’t even
have to instigate selfishness; it’s everywhere, so I’ll never
starve. Now if you run across a demon that prefers fear or anger?
Hightail it out of there. Those guys are bad news,” Hunter informed
her.

She thought for a few seconds then asked,
“What will happen to this little guy?”

“He’ll probably follow the reaper into
Hell.”

“Then what?”

“He’ll find his way or another hellhound
will care for him. Hellhounds are very resilient.”

“But he’s just a baby. He won’t survive on
his own.”

“Sure he will, won’t you, big fella?” Hunter
said, patting the pup on the head. The pup growled and smoke came
out of his nose, making everything reek of sulphur. Hunter pulled
back his hand.

“What if I raise him?” Summer asked.

“You can’t raise a hellhound.”

“Why not?”

“Humans are too fragile. He’ll accidentally
cut you to threads or sneeze and burn your house down,” Hunter
informed her.

“Well…I’ll just buy a few fire extinguishers
and keep them around for accidents and maybe buy a Kevlar coat,”
she said.

“You’re not seriously considering this, are
you? Look how big its mother is,” he said, waving his hand towards
the unmoving body. “A male will be much larger. How are you going
to control something like that?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll figure something
out,” she proclaimed.

“You’re either the most charitable human
I’ve ever met, or absolutely insane, and I’m leaning towards the
insane side,” Hunter said, shaking his head.

She gathered the heavy pup in her arms and
marched towards the cottage. Hunter didn’t know if he should leave
or follow her so he opted to leave.

Chapter 7

Back at the cottage, Summer gave the pup a
leftover hamburger from the fridge and a large bowl of water, but
she felt unsure what a hellhound might eat. He ate the hamburger
and accepted the water, but Summer wished that Hunter might have
stuck around a little longer since he was the only one she knew who
knew anything about hellhounds.

In the morning she would take the pup to the
office to have Dr. Stuart check him out. Sure, he likely didn’t
know anything about hellhounds, but who knew—maybe he did.

In the closet she found a couple of old
towels and a tattered blanket that, combined, made a rather soft
place for the pup to sleep. Since it was still dark, she thought
she would try and get some sleep and deal with more of the details
of how to care for the pup in the morning.

She got ready for bed a second time and lay
wide eyed in the dark. From his bed on the floor, the pup started
to whine.

“What is it, little guy?” she said, leaning
over the side to give his fuzzy head a little rub. He got up on his
back legs, trying to peep over the edge of the bed at her and
whined, staring at her with his bright eyes partially lighting the
room.

“Lie down on your bed now. It’s time for you
to get a little sleep.”

She heard him slide back down the mattress
onto the floor, but he whined again and raked his nails on the side
of the mattress. She hoped he wasn’t shredding the bed.

“You miss your mom, don’t you? Okay, you can
come up here, but you need to lie down and sleep,” she said as she
hefted the heavy pup onto the bed with her. He seemed to follow her
instruction as he circled three times and settled with a plop into
the curve her body made with her knees slightly bent. He was lonely
and he’d been used to sleeping nestled up against his mother. Now
that she was gone, Summer was that substitute and he was
exhausted.

She rubbed his head and he seemed to melt
into her. His eyes slowly slipped closed and he let out a deep sigh
of contentment. Feeling his relaxation beside her filled her with
great comfort. His steady breathing served as a sleep-inducing
drug, like the ticking of a clock or the sound of ocean waves
crashing on the shore. Summer and the pup slept silently through
the rest of the night.