The Hellhound's Mate

Chapter 95

Meanwhile, Eli was waking up from where he was tied to a pole.

"Eli? Eli, can you hear me?! Eli!" called a voice as the boy gasped awake before realising where he was and that he was restrained across from his father.

"We're not dead," he chuckled breathlessly.

"Not yet," came Liam's voice from where he and Hikari were tied, at the bottom of the altar Eli and Derek were.

"Where are we?" Eli asked his father.

"It's just an illusion," Derek answered as he referred to the foresty landscape that surrounded them.

"And them?" he asked as he saw the nine Oni that guarded them.

"Less so," Derek murmured before Eli finally noticed that he and his father weren't the only people tied to the altar.

"Chloe?" he asked as he finally saw the unconscious girl tied next to him, her dark hair hanging in a ponytail off her shoulder. "Chloe! Chlo! Can you hear me? You gotta wake up!" he urged as he tried to reach for her hand and her eyes began to flutter open. "Chloe, Chloe are you ok?"

"I think so," she groaned as she leaned her head back on the frame that they were tied to. "We were stabbed. Where are we?"

"Dad said it was an illusion, and since they hallucinated last time they fought the Oni, I'd call it Bardo," Eli answered.

"Oh. Hi, Uncle Derek," Chloe said as she saw the man across from them.

"Hi, Chloe. Are you two sure you're alright? Eli, how's your ankle?"

"Yeah, it's fine. It healed," he said, and Derek looked impressed.

"You learned how to heal?"

"Yeah, kind of. Well, Aunt Angie did most of it."

"That's amazing!" Derek exclaimed.

"Hey Derek, maybe you want to be a little more subtle with your antics," suggested a very familiar voice that had Chloe's eyes widening, uncaring about the approaching Oni.

"Grandpapa?"

"Chloe? Sweetheart, are you ok?" Noah called back and Chloe began pulling at her restraints, trying to break the ropes.

"I will be if I can break these stupid ropes so then when my mother gets here, she won't make me say that she was right when she told us to let her handle the damn Oni."

"Chloe, stop before you hurt yourself," Derek said. "We've been trying, but our strength isn't enough to break the ropes."

"But you could," Deaton spoke to the teenage girl.

"What?"

"If you possess your father's powers. Hellfire would be able to burn through your bonds easily," Deaton informed her but Chloe's eyes just fell, Noah's heart breaking for her because he knew her struggles.

"I can't," she said.

"What? You mean you don't have his powers or -"

"No, I mean I can't, Eli!" she shouted as she turned to him, and he saw the tears welling in her eyes. "My powers are different. I'm not just part hellhound, I'm part wolf too, a wolf that is more powerful than most. And the first and only time I tried to bend hellfire to my will... I hurt my mom. My mom who is supposed to be immune to hellfire. So, no. I can't do it. I won't hurt anyone else."

"Hey," Eli said softly. "Why didn't you tell me? I thought we tell each other everything?"

She shrugged half-heartedly. "It's my problem to deal with. And you couldn't shift and -"