Hell Hounds

lan felt himself roughly pulled through the portal. Of course, he couldn't keep his eyes closed, and it was extremely difficult to keep his balance. With his balance, off and his mind couldn't find a place to lock his eyes on. There wasn't a horizon to stare at, and everything moved about him in an unsettling way. Thankfully, it ended as abruptly as it started, and he didn't embarrass himself by puking.

Once he composed himself enough. Ian took in his surroundings. They were all in what looked like was an unused storage warehouse. This wasn't the same place they started in. "Looks like we all survived in one piece. Now, where are the others?"

A large black bird settled on a table not far. It came from the rafters. Ian found server also more birds in the rafters. They'd sent shifters to spy on this cult. A cult against shifters, but not smart enough to understand shifters came in different creatures. Not just wolves and bears.

"Well met there. Sorry to ask this, but could you mind shifting so that we can communicate better please? It's just the time limit that has me a little anxious." Arianna said this directly to the bird. Who squawked in response and flew into the darkness of the large space? The group waited patiently, and their reward was a slender woman in a short dress and barefoot returned to the like. "Evenin Ambassador. I'm Pippa Wilson. We have everything ready for you, but first, we've got news for you."

"Good evening. Excellent, please lead the way and tell me what you know of these people."

Arianna fell into step with Pippa, expecting them to follow her. "It wasn't easy, but we're able to capture one of the cult's lieutenants just moments ago. I'm afraid he is rather resistant, and it will take a little longer to bring him in. Once he's here, I'm sure you'll be able to handle him. I've encountered him before and let me tell you, he's not the brightest lightbulb in the pack. I suspected he doesn't fully believe everything he's told and stays with the cult because it's a place he can bully others and get away with it."

"Delightful. Misogynistic monster. I wonder what he'll experience when he meets an actual monster of his nightmares." Yolanda happily followed, glad that she was on the same side as Arianna. Arianna's heavy boots thumped on the concrete floor. Which was a feat since her boots must have three-inch heels on them. Arianna made Yolanda look like a shrinking violet. With her military-style jacket and pants, a shock of violent red bangs paired with straight black hair. She often changed her hair colour on a whim. But she would not apologize for her six-foot height and dressed how she felt comfortable. She was not the stereotype of the anachronistic late Victorian woman who became a victim of a vampire attack. Arianna didn't have a tragic love story, as books and movies often portrayed. Well, at least, not that anyone was aware of.

"Just remember we only need information and not a body count." Yolanda piped up with this reminder.

"Oh, by that won't be necessary. However, I may use your ability to shift to scare him. Mind you, when I'm done with him, he won't remember anything beyond. Dogs and wolves are scary and to be avoided at all costs. That and he'll have found respect for women from now on."

"Hey, if it works, why the hell not. I don't get to play." The three women smiled at each other as they conspired about what they would do to this poor human.

lan and George looked at each other. They didn't need any words. They both could see how this would go south. "Ari, please just stay on the plan? Please. Just get the information, make him forget his time here, and we can all leave here. We don't want the Fae to notice this place and complicate anything further."

hand.

alcohol.

"That's what I plan to do. Now you don't need to worry about any of this at all. We have it all in hand."

"That's what I'm afraid of. I know how you handle things."

Arianna turned on him lightning-fast and hissed at him. Her eyes flashing with violent warning. "That's enough. Your words are noted and not important. Just drop it."

George backed off immediately. Ian could see he didn't want to back down, but he did. Whatever their relationship was, it wasn't a smooth one.

"Let's all stop this right now and get this job done with no one friend or foe getting injured or worse." After a moment of silence between everyone, Pippa brought their attention back to the matter at

"The guy's name is Laurence Jarvis or Larry. He's a beer-swilling mouth breather. But within the local area, he's respected mostly, and if he's not respected, then he's feared."

"What is with these men and their course names? It's like a flag that he's a course uncouth barbarian."

"No idea. But you are right. This guy is a walking stereotype. Good luck." Pippa flitted about while gesturing to the door.

"Oh, there's no luck involved. How much has he seen?"

"Not much. He got rip-roaring drunk at a bar and followed a decoy out into the parking lot. Passed out before he could get too handsy."

"Lovely. He'll be hungover. I can work with that. Let's get to it." Yolanda knew the type. The biker community had those types. That meant they'd have to deal with a sweaty guy that smelled of stale

"You are going to owe me for this. It's so not going to be pleasant."

"What do you want the two of us to do?" lan asked as he looked around. He thought they needed to pull in the people they needed to interrogate. Now everything looked safe.

"You get to watch what we are doing as witnesses so that we don't get questions. You're here to represent the human race and act as a voice. We'll try to prevent anyone from forcing you to speak or answer for them too."

"Oh, yippie. I feel so much better. Well, when you're ready." They entered the room, leaving Pippa outside. A man with stringy hair sat handcuffed to a chair. His chin lay on his chest and his stringy hair hung over his face. Ian could smell the alcohol fumes coming off the man from the doorway.

Everyone stayed silent. "So, this is the big, dangerous second-in-command? What a sad state they've come to then." His head whipped up and blood-shot eyes glared at Arianna. "This should disappoint indeed."

He said something in an angry growl

that was completely unintelligible. "I hope you can speak drunk. Because

I think it'll be a while before he

sobers

fet

up and even longer before

we get a respectful or civil word from him." Yolanda said dryly. She wasn't off the mark in lan's opinion. But he saw where the women were headed with this line of

interrogation. Bad cops. If he didn't break, they could switch to the men playing good cop. Or at least that's what they had in mind, he assumed.

Arianna moved with lightning speed to Larry's side. Her hand was in his greasy hair to ensure she had his attention. "Are you listening to me, Larry? Are you?”

The human struggled to nod in response. His eyes were now wide, and it surprised lan. He didn't wet himself.

"Now, you will look me in the eye.

You will get lost in the depths of my eyes. You will listen to everything I say." Arianna droned like that for several minutes like this, before she started talking to the man. When Arianna started talking to him, the change in Larry was astounding. His combativeness way gone, and a calmness settled into place. But it wasn't quite a trancelike state.

"Let's started. We know the cult has been performing some very sketchy rituals. We know where you've performed them. You need to confirm all the sites for us. What we also want to know is why you performed them. What is your agenda? We need to know what your goal is."

It wasn't hard to get him to speak now. Larry spewed out five locations. Everyone was underground. Natural caves or abandoned mining tunnels. The problem came when he tried to explain why they performed the rituals. He couldn't get the words out. It took Arianna a long time to pull even a fraction of what they needed from him.

George, at one time, pulled Yolanda

and lan aside. "This is a

complication Someone got to him already and has messed with him. mind. I've seen this before. That means someone knows we exist and that we can do this. I'm glad we blacked off time for this. We may have to pop in on the leader of this cult. I'm pretty convinced he's a puppet or another supernatural creature."

"How would we do that? I thought the leader was impossible to reach." lan wasn't sure what he was missing. Though, he was sure he's missing something.

"If Arianna can't get more from him. Then we'll use him to get a meeting with the leader. That and if we must, we'll use your position as a police officer. Cross your fingers that she can get past the blocks pu into his mind."

"So, she really is controlling his mind?"

"She's influencing him to want to give her what she wants. It may take hours. Her skills are far better than most. So, let's pray that the person who did this to Larry was lazy and didn't do a through job."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐