The Hellhound's Mate

Chapter 79

Seeing as she was mostly dealing with the hunters, Angie had almost forgotten about the part that was the fear-amplifying creature that Deaton, Cory and Mason had identified as the Anukite. It was an ancient shapeshifter that had two faces, disharmony and discord, one beautiful and one ugly and after she left Eichen, Theo called her with a theory. They knew that right now the Anukite were two different beings looking for one another and after Theo and Liam had discovered that some of Monroe's people at the school were hiding dead bodies that turned out to all be supernatural creatures, he believed that one face was supernatural and the other was human. They knew that one was definitely human as it had assumed the form of a freshman on the lacrosse team, but it was looking for its other half, and it was looking through supernatural creatures, which made sense. Theo was the one giving her constant updates that she returned because while they dealt with the Anukite, she was dealing with hunters.

At least until she got a phone call about a dead hellhound.

"Halwyn seems pretty dead to me, so why am I here?" she asked as she peered at the bullet wound in his forehead, not hearing a heartbeat.

"You're the resident expert on hellhounds," Malia explained. "And Lydia wasn't able to trigger a premonition to communicate with him. So I called you."

"Well, I could try getting into his head?" she offered.

"Malia offered to do that, but it could damage his brain even more than the bullet already has," Lydia informed her and Angie's head tilted as another idea made her eyes sparkle. "What's that look?"

"I think there's something else we can try, but I should probably do it. I'm connected to Jordan and he almost strangled me the first time I tried this," she told them, but both girls were just immensely confused.

"Tried what? What are you going to do?" Malia asked.

"I'm going to take his pain," she answered and their eyes widened. "If he's alive, then not only will it work, but he should have some sort of reaction since I assume he's never had his pain taken before."

"And if it doesn't work?" Malia wondered.

"Then he's actually dead and Lydia's crazy along with being a banshee."

"Naturally," the strawberry blonde sighed as Angie pulled the tray out from the fridge a little more so she could comfortably place her hands on his arm. An arm that was course and cold on her skin as she inhaled a deep breath.

And the veins on her arm began to turn black before his hand shot up to grab her wrist and everyone flinched.

"So, he's alive then," Malia said after a time where the only sound was their heavy breaths as she and Lydia clung to one another.

"You think?!" Angie hissed as she began to pull her hand from Halwyn's grip. "He's alive, which means that bullet didn't kill him, but taking it out of his brain could definitely kill him."

"So then what do we do?" Malia asked and Angie shrugged.

"I don't know. I've only had contact with one very alive hellhound. The dead one spoke to Lydia. The question is how?"

They turned to the banshee who sighed. "I was unconscious," she said before her eyes met Angie's. "I think to talk to a not-dead hellhound, you have to be not-dead. You have to knock me out."

"Done," Malia said but Angie was quick to hold her back as Lydia backed away from her.

"I think she'd like it done painlessly," Angie corrected.

"She would!" Lydia exclaimed.

"Then what do you suggest?" Malia asked.

"A little pressure on the carotid artery stops blood flow to the brain. It'll be like she falls asleep," Angie answered.

"Do it," Lydia said and Angie approached her and she placed her fingers on the side of her neck.

"Ready?" she asked and Lydia nodded nervously.

And Angie squeezed as Lydia struggled to breathe before she collapsed into Angie's arms.