Gloria stepped directly into the room that she now assumed was the head office of the brothel. She nearly turned and left immediately on seeing the 'dog' that Clover was offering to let her take with her to save Finn. The thing was massive to say the least with the height of a Great Dane, the muscle distribution of anything from the Pittbull breed type, and the sleek face of a Doberman. It's eyes were glowing faintly green and it's fur was a short reddish brown that appeared to be matted.
Gloria froze and met the things eyes, freezing in terror even as she tried to tell herself to run.
"This is Bub." Clover said as she rested her hand on the animals shoulder. "He's still learning, but he comes from impeccable stock and his intelligence has already reached it's peak." She smiled at her pet. "This is Gloria my little love. You need to help her. Hurt who she says, ignore the rest."
The dog padded silently to Gloria and sniffed carefully at her from top to bottom before it sat down beside her.
"This is a puppy?" Gloria squeaked.
"He's a Hellhound Pup, yes." Clover corrected firmly. "They aren't at all like the dogs you are used to, and I'm not just talking about their size, although if that's an issue he can be smaller."
Gloria glanced at the dog who, at the word from Clover had started to shrink to a smaller size, watching Gloria for signs of when to stop.
"Just bring him back to us okay?" Crimson said from the small couch.
Gloria sighed in somewhat horrified confusion and stepped back into the house, then turned and stepped into an alley. The Hellhound pup at her heel as though it had been trained in regular canine obedience. The alley was the same one with the warehouse Finn was in, and Gloria blinked when Bub started to growling.
His eyes were fixed directly on the door to the warehouse they needed to go into and Gloria sent a silent prayer that Finn was okay.
"Sorry." She said to the dog, even though it hadn't reacted, and then she led the way into the warehouse.
The inside was different, with garbage and piles of wood and cement along the outer walls of the warehouse. In front of her the woman, beautiful beyond anything she had seen, stood close to the overturned fire barrel, caressing it and talking to it as though it was a lover.
Gloria noticed movement through the holes in the barrel and realized she wasn't talking t the barrel, she was talking to someone inside it.
Gloria opened her mouth and hesitated. If she spoke, would that make her a target for the demon? But how was she to control the Hellhound without speaking? The choice was taken from her a moment later when the woman turned and smiled at Gloria. For a moment the warehouse appeared beautiful again and Gloria felt a cold finger of fear drag down her spine.
"Stop it!" She shouted and the woman laughed even as the illusion fell.
"Stop what? Be specific."
"Everything!" Gloria shouted, knowing that was horribly vague when she needed to be as specific as possible. She barely noticed, and certainly couldn't acknowledge, the blur beside her as the Hellhound lunged forward.
The woman bared her teeth at the dog, fangs now and as sharp as the dogs, and then turned to flee. The Hound closed its massive jaws around her throat and then yelped and dropped her as she dragged claws along his ribs.
Gloria ran to the fire barrel and tipped it over. Finn dragged herself out and glanced at the woman and the dog fighting.
"Good of you to come back." Finn said as she lifted herself to a standing position.
"I brought reinforcements." Gloria said.
"Manipulative bitches. They could have just sent the Hellhound to take care of her." Finn muttered in response.
The dog had managed to break one of the woman's arms but at the cost of a deep gouge along his flank that revealed the bones underneath. The two circled each other, glaring and snarling.
"I'm sure they had their reasons." Gloria hedged, although she had no way of knowing that at all.
"Of course, and they will tell me those reasons before I let you return the dog." Finn pulled a shotgun from the bag that had fallen to the ground. "And before we do that, it's time to finish this."
"Wouldn't a shotgun have been a better thing to start with?" Gloria asked.
"I don't ask questions of corpses." Finn said and walked towards where the dog now had the woman pinned to the floor. Her arms were in his mouth, preventing him from ripping into her throat, but one of her legs was crushed under his back paw. Finn pointed the shotgun at her head and, as she screamed a denial, pulled the trigger.
The shot echoed around the warehouse and the silence after was nearly deafening. Finn walked back to Gloria and tapped the bag with her toe.
"Don't suppose I can ask you to carry that for me?" She asked.
The dog, having decided to eat the body of the woman, walked up to Gloria, sniffed her as thoroughly as before, and then sat beside her again. She lifted the bag, Finn was obviously bleeding and Gloria wondered how the woman had ever done this alone.
Finn rummaged in the bag and came up with a small bottle of something viscous and glittery. She popped the top off as they started walking, the shotgun stowed safely in the bag again, and drank it in one shot.
As they stepped from the warehouse Finn carefully revealed her injuries to the light of day, turning them this way and that. Gloria tried not to be rude and she watched carefully. She became fully invested in the show when it became obvious the wounds were healing.
"Healing potions are a thing?" She asked, incredulous.
"Yeah. And expensive as hell one way or the other." Finn said as she removed her tops and revealed the broken ribs in the light as well. There was a few small clicking sounds as the bones knit instantly.
YOU ARE READING
The Hunter
FantasyFinn has been hunting as long as she had been alive. She knew this job like she knew her own face in the mirror, but training someone to be her partner? That was a different story.
