Treading by the Hellhound

Dripping Sword

Three men were standing neck to neck in front of her. They all were dusky in color, having full beard faces, dark hazel eyes, burly bodies, wearing solid black outfits and a tattoo on their neck. It took her not more than a second to identify their loyalty, that shook her from inside out. They were the hunting dogs of the one who was considered to be her deadliest enemy.  These dogs used to be robust and well trained to smell, follow and kill their enemy in a few seconds of their encounter. She had seen many of such tattoos and many of such dogs in her life; she trembled for a second, then restoring herself casted a word, “Yes?”

The man standing in the middle bowed in front of her (which wasn’t customary for the dogs) and started speaking in a polite tone, “Lady Katharina, Lord William has sent for you. We ask you to please follow us, as he doesn’t want any bloodshed in any of the houses of the city.”

“Speaking of Blood, how can one resist to join the company.” Suddenly a voice came from behind her and the footsteps of Johnathan led him beside her. He reached the left inner pocket of his coat and took a cigarette out of it, tapping it a bit at one end he lighted it up, hooked it in his mouth and sneered at them while taking the puffs.

Kat gave a clever look to Johnathan, as she didn’t want her grandma to see any of the blood on the floor. Johnathan smiled a bit towards Kat, the look which  gave her his assent. Kat, looking towards the men, said, “Please!” and invited them in. Johnathan started ascending the stairs and the three followed him up to the room of Kat. Reaching the door of the room he gave them a gesture to get in by pointing his left arm towards the door. The three, seeing him, got inside. Johnathan followed them and shut the door behind himself.

Meanwhile Kat quickly reached the gramophone of her grandma and increased its volume. She didn’t want her to know what’s happening on the lair above her head. She was also having a feeling of fear about Johnathan. No, not about Johnathan but about the dogs, but how could it be possible, as they were her enemies by blood. Whatever the cause was, she was frightened about something or the other. Suddenly after a minute she heard some noise for a second and then it went all quiet, as if nothing had happened. After a while she heard Johnathan talking to someone. She went up through the stairs and came in front of the door. She again heard some voice, this time it was a girl. She was amazed to hear the sound of a girl, as she saw only the three dogs and Johnathan going inside the room. Suddenly a voice came addressing her, “You may come in, here is no one to play spy with you.” She recognized the voice, it was Johnathan. Following the voice she opened the door and to her amazement she saw the bodies of the dogs scattered all over the room, with their limbs and bones filling every corner and the red streams of blood trickling on the walls and the floor. Johnathan was sitting on the same chair in front of her desk, with his hands full of blood, and his legs, moving on the beats of the music that was coming from the ground floor. A sword was kept on the desk and the red drops of blood were dripping slowly from the edge of its blade.