The Hellhound's Demon

To Earn your Stripes

Flipping the sign to 'open,' Casey turned to the rest of team as they finished setting up for the day ahead. "Okay, crew, ready for business?" he asked.

Lily nodded and Theo held up his note pad, indicating that he was ready to take orders.

"Uh, not quite," said RJ, walking in from the kitchen with Kali in tow. "Casey, Theo, and Lily, you're coming with me today. We're going on a little trip."

"Is this one of your 'it isn't about the destination it's about the journey' kind of trips?" Theo asked.

Casey and Lily smiled in amusement.

RJ shook his head. "Actually, no, this trip is all about the destination," he said, cheerfully.

"Oh, where are we going?" Lily asked.

"Well, you'll find out when we get there," said RJ. "Kali oversees the restaurant for today. Rylie is upstairs, should anyone need her. That okay with you Fran?"

Fran cradled her tray and nodded.

"Got it covered, boss," said Dom, saluting from the front counter.

"Great," said RJ, smiling. He turned back to the three cubs. "Then let's go." He moved past them toward the door,

Casey, Theo, and Lily shared ominous looks and then turned to Kali.

"Good luck," Kali said, smiling. She waved them through the door, and turned to Dom and Fran, both of whom were staring at her with one raised eyebrow. "Two words - Master Stripes."

Dom sucked in a breath. "Oh, so soon?" he asked. "This is major!"

Kali nodded and headed into the kitchen. "I'll get started on the pizza, dough. Fran, can you manage meeting and greeting, while Dom takes orders?"

"You got it, boss!" Fran called.

~X~

"Jarrod!"

Jarrod gasped and whipped around, facing the mirror. His reflection stared back at him, but instead of the stone room that he stood in, he was surrounded by flickering flames of orange and yellow. And, even though he wasn't speaking, the lips of the reflection were moving but the voice wasn't his own.

"You are only my human vessel! You have no will of your own. Do you understand?"

"No!" he argued. This time the words were his own. "You can't use me like this anymore! I want my life back."

"Your life is mine now."

"But I never wanted to hurt anyone." He took a deep breath, his heart hammering in his chest as his mind set on a defiance that he knew Dai Shi would not like. "And I won't hurt anyone else!"

Dai Shi roared. He had worked far too hard and waited to long for this moment, he wasn't about to let some insignificant human get in his way. "You will do as I say!" he hissed. "Now that I have lived as a human, I know all I need to know. Destroying them is going to be easy, and all of that is thanks to you."

Jarrod stared, fearfully at the mirror. How could his past have given Dai Shi enough information to destroy the whole Human Race? He had been a bully, more times than he had been a good person.

"Now, when the final beast war is over, all humans, including you, will be erased."

"I won't let that happen," argued Jarrod. "I have the spirit of the Lion."

"You have the strength of the lion," said Dai Shi. "But not the heart. There is not a shred of goodness or nobility inside of you. That is why I chose you in the first place. We are so alike."