Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Chapter 57

"Dulce!" Kath’tan called to him, his voice holding more concern than anger. "Do you really want to die?"

Dulce turned his back to the Hellhound and held his arms out in a protective gesture, "It’s weak and hurt, and I can’t die..." He mumbled stubbornly underneath his breath.

It had taken him almost a full year to finally summon his pet; sure, it was far more enormous than he had been expecting, but he would find a way around that.

The sheer size of the Hellhound kept the Demons away. Captured Hellhounds were hostile to Demons, with good reason. And this one had a limiter around its neck, which were magically imbued shackles that forced Hellhounds to remain in their Hound form.

They were then used as war steeds. A single Hellhound could swing a battle in an army’s favor.

But this Hellhound was incredibly strange, Hellhounds never grew this big, and it almost seemed like this one had been about to be captured. It was no more than a youth.

Seeing that his argument had silenced the others, Dulce returned to his task at hand, meticulously snapping the magically bound chains until his hands started to bleed.

"Try breaking the shackle around its neck," Kath’tan spoke up, primed to warp in close and snatch away the foolish Vampire if he needed to.

Dulce stepped back and looked up, far, far smaller next to the Hellhound than a Demon would be. "I apologize for the intrusion," He said to the Hellhound, who seemed to be unconscious, needing to climb over its paw to get closer to its neck.

Minutes of breaking chains and he had barely gotten a paw free, but the heavy manacle around the Hellhound’s neck was displeasing; it was bloody, red staining the short, black fur.

He had to climb up the Hellhound’s neck like the side of a hill, apologizing on every step. The shackles looked intimidating, sinister purple sigils glowing from the elaborately made bonds.

Dulce wasn’t very hopeful, but he reached for it anyway, his slender fingers easily slipping underneath the thick metal band. He exerted all of his strength, the manacle breaking far more easily than he had expected, the force of his own strength throwing him to the ground.

He sat up, dizzy but no worse for wear, the purple glow to the shackles fizzling out. Now a distance from the Hellhound, he was quickly surrounded by three disapproving Demons.

Their disapproval was clear to see, but none of them could bring themselves to demand that Dulce undo the summons. Even if it wasn’t what the Vampire wanted the most, the stubborn light in his eyes told them it was a futile task.

The tense silence was broken by the loud clatter of heavy chains falling to the ground, and in the place of the monstrous creature was an equally monstrous man, wearing nothing but strange green pants that were in tatters. Hellhounds were monstrous dogs and even in human form retained their tall, powerful ears.

Dulce glanced up at the Demons between him and his Hellhound, darting past them like a streak of light to the horror of the others.

It wasn’t that they were so scared of the Hellhound that they couldn’t move, but rather that they didn’t want to send the Hellhound into a rampage, not when they didn’t know the full extent of his strength.

Dulce stopped a short distance away from the Hellhound curled up on the ground, a reassuring smile on his face. "Are you alright?"

In human form, it was easy to see that most of the blood didn’t belong to him. There was an angry red burn mark around his neck, but it didn’t look too severe.

Caedos lifted empty hazel eyes to stare at the strange creature that had unwittingly saved him. He felt familiar and then not, the expression he wore soothing. He looked around, he couldn’t sense the Deep Woods, he was incredibly far from it.

He had to return, but not yet. First, he needed to grow his strength. He slowly sat up and attempted to rise to his feet for the first time since he broke away from the vines. It was far more complex to attempt than it had been as a Hound, he immediately tipped over, falling right at his savior.

Caedos panicked for a moment. Outwardly, he had reached maturity, but he had been offered to the trees as soon as he was born like every other Hellhound, he would rather not kill his savior.

Dulce caught the Hellhound with ease, thinking he was still too injured to stand. He barely came up to the Hellhound’s mid-section, guiding him to sit on the stone floor. "Perhaps you shouldn’t move too much for now."

He sat down opposite the Hellhound, settling in comfortably while ignoring the rest of the room. "I’m Dulce," He introduced, "And I summoned you in search of a companion. I’m a Vampire who can’t die." He once again laid bare all his transgressions, once bitten, twice shy.

Caedos listened to his savior’s lilting voice, making little sense of the words he said. "Don’t send me back." He rasped, his unused voice grating.

Dulce frowned, starting to wonder if his summoning circles were drawn to captive Demons. "What’s your name?"

"Caedos," He said shortly, glancing at the other occupants of the strange place. He only knew the trees and vines, this strange place made of solid stone was unsettling. But not as much as the presence of other Demons.

His powerful ears twitched, a predatory focus in his eyes as he stared them down. They equally watched him with similar wariness, it was odd, it was almost like they didn’t want him there.

"Rest assured, none of us has any use for a Hellhound," Asael spoke up, reading the Hound like a book.

Ruoxi smiled harmlessly, "I could think of a few uses for one."

"Are you hungry?" Dulce drew the Hellhound’s attention back to him. It didn’t quite seem like Caedos understood that he had been summoned, he looked exhausted. They could better have a conversation after he had rested.