Loona the Caretaker

Ashes to Ashes

The burger that Cody was having was quite delicious, and everyone knows the meat over at Burger King is far better than McDonald's. Loona was on her phone and looking out the window once in a while. Something caught Loona's eye and it was a large elk buck from the woods next to the restaurant. This deer had a two large antlers and it was curious about his surroundings, looking juicy in the meat and oblivious to most dangers (excluding incoming cars.) Despite elk being grazers, they can certainly be dangerous if a curious human being gets too close. Their antlers are sharp and by the looks of this buck, those antlers could tear through human flesh without ease. To Loona, it looked something very delicious, and, being a hellhound, she wanted to chase after it like a lion trying to chase after an eland antelope in Tanzania.

She had similar instincts that wolves had, and it was telling her to go chase, then kill, then eat that big elk, which still looked ripe for the picking. Even in human form, Loona was having a little trouble restraining herself from trying to catch that elk outside. It wasn't even rut season for elk this time of year, and perhaps this bull elk strayed awa from his usual habitat.

Cody, while biting his whopper, noticed what Loona was looking at. "What's wrong, Loona?"

"What? Oh. Sorry." she stopped staring at the elk. "That big boy looks so yummy, and juicy. It's... kind of a hellhound thing, kid. While we're capable of doing what humans and other demons do, there's still kind of an... urge that lingers in us. Kind of a predator thing. Something like wolves do."

It made the human child a little scared and ducked under the table and peeping with his eyes. "That sounds like a problem." he admitted sheepishly.

"Oh no! No, no. I said I would..." she looked around so she wouldn't blow her cover to anyone else. Now there were five other customers inside the restaurant. For that, she zoomed in closer to his right ear. "I would never eat you. I promise."

"OK. I believe you. Just try to control yourself."

"Believe me, I sure as hell am trying my best." Loona nodded her head before taking a sip of her soda. She then pulled out one of her burgers and began munching and gnawing on the piece of meat. Even in human form, Loona had sharp teeth in her mouth, but luckily, no one was there to see this, otherwise, it would probably be embarrassing (Although Loona didn't really care what people think of her so much, as long as they weren't trying to rape her, or unless it was a really handsome hellhound like Vortex).

"You look hungry, Loona." said Cody.

"Yep. I barely ate anything today since breakfast, Cody. And my advise, never try Blitz' cooking. He's better off cleaning bathrooms at a restaurant."

The human boy laughed and said: "I'll keep that in mind."

Loona smiled. "Good. I know you'll listen to me." after taking a few more big bites of her double whopper, she gulped the whole thing down her throat. "So Cody, do you still remember where your house is?"

"Yeah. I'll take you there."

"Good."

Suddenly, a scary dude with a black beanie and biker clothes came up to Loona, probably wanting to make a move on her. "Well, hello." he said in a sultry voice.

"Oh no." said Loona in her head. "here we go again."

"What's a sexy babe like you doing in a place like this?"

Loona scowled and said: "Get lost, ass-wipe."

"Loona, please. Don't get us in trouble."

"No, no, it's ok, kid." said the biker. "I like girls with bad attitudes. So, why don't we get to know each other and get to talk? Huh? Huh? I won't bite."

"I'm not much of a talker." Loona said flatly. "Now leave me alone, fresh." she tried eating her burger again, but this creep was persistent, and he grabbed her by the right hand in a tight grip around her wrist.

"Hey! Jake don't take no for an answer. Come with me to my bike, bitch." some of the crowd were noticing this and were a little concerned, worried a fight would happen.

Loona, however, smirked in amusement at how this human was trying to compete with a hellhound's strength, even if he doesn't know she is one. "I think you should take your hand off me." she grabbed his left hand, and began squeezing with immense strength, making this man scream in pain.

"Get off me!" Jake screamed.

"Are you gonna leave me alone? Because I can easily rip your arms out by myself."

"Yes! I give! I give!"

"Good." she let go of him and began dragging him by the jacket, throwing him out with immense strength. "Now don't try to come looking for me again!" she shouted before going back inside. Ironically, the same elk took notice of him and charged at the biker human countless times in the parking lot. After ten minutes, Loona and Cody were done with their Burger King food, and left the restaurant. Walking for a few miles, Cody stopped, looking at the remains of his poor house that he survived in a fire. It made him sad to see that his parents didn't survive, but he remembered that there was nothing he could have done to save his parents. Loona gave him a sympathetic look and said: "Are you OK?"

"Yeah. I just... wanna find anything that didn't burn and get out of here."

"Got it. We'll make this quick. I can move some of that rubble with my power."

"Cool."

Going over to the house, Loona saw this as an opportunity to turn back to her original hellhound form since there were no other humans in sight. Looking through the rubble piles, Cody didn't find anything of value yet and he searched and searched. Finally. He found something under what appeared to be a burnt window sill. It was something that made him cry in a second. It was the picture of him and his brother, and parents together a week after he was born, when Cody was just a baby. He decided to keep it and cherish it for as long as he lived. A couple of his toys survived and he wanted to keep them too.

Loona noticed Cody crying at what appeared to be a locket made of gold, and in it was his most recent picture of him and his parents before the tragedy happened. Yes, it looked like they took it a week ago. "Cody? What's wrong?" she asked, coming over to him, and sitting on her knees. He shoued her the picture in the locket.

Crying, Cody said: "This was the last picture me and my parents took before... I'm sorry."

"Shh. It's ok." she soothed him again. "It's OK. Let's just look for a few more things before we get out of here, OK? Maybe there could be more things hidden underneath all of this crap."

"Good idea."

Searching and searching, they both managed to take a few bits and pieces that survived, but most of everything was burnt and destroyed. Suddenly, something was sniffing Cody's head from behind, and it spooked him. It appeared to be a red fox with red-orange fur and a white tip of his bushy tail. This fox was a little different, and the boy gasped and smiled. "Tod!" he said

He embraced this fox and the wild canid was happy to see him again, giving a few squeaky sounds of joy, and it even went "floof!" every once in a while.

"I missed you, Tod." said Cody

"Hey Cody did you find-" Loona saw Tod and she immediately got on her four legs, growling and seething her teeth. Tod himself kneeled and began growling himself.

"Wait!" Cody intervened. "This is Tod."

"A fox?" said Loona.

"Yeah."

"You... never told me he was a fox."

"Sorry." then Tod began licking the boy's face affectionately.