“Attack.” Rogziel’s screamed command drowned out everything else.
The beast charged at her. It moved so fast that its legs blurred. She turned away and tried to run, but the fire waited in front of her.
She spun to the left. There were woods that way. The ground was actually shaking as the beast pounded after her.
“Seline!” Sam was there. He grabbed her arm and shoved her behind him, using his body as a shield.
Too late.
The beast grabbed him. The animal’s thick fangs sank into Sam’s arm, then, using that painful grip, the hound tossed Sam away like some kind of rag doll. Blood littered the ground in his wake. “No!” Seline screamed. What the hell was happening? What was that thing?
The beast’s attention was on Sam now. Sam rose to his feet. The gashes on his arm went all the way to the bone.
No mortal weapon can kill a Fallen.
But she wasn’t looking at a mortal weapon, and Rogziel was laughing. The punisher had planned too well.
A setup. From the beginning. A setup.
The creature lunged for Sam again. Its teeth were heading straight for Sam’s throat.
Sam threw a ball of fire at the beast. The flames hit the animal but just dissolved right into its dark fur.
Then the animal got even bigger.
“Fuck, a hellhound,” Sam snarled.
Hellhound?
The beast slammed its paws into Sam’s chest.
Seline stopped just standing there like a scared scream queen. She grabbed the hound’s tail and yanked as hard as she could.
The hound howled and snapped at her, taking those deadly teeth away from Sam’s throat.
Rogziel just watched and laughed.
“Leave him alone!” she yelled. Where was Az? She didn’t dare look away from the hound, not with those teeth so close to tearing into her.
Sam’s hands flew out. He grabbed the hound’s neck and snapped. She knew that crack meant the hound’s neck had been broken. She jumped back as the heavy body collapsed.
Sam pushed the hound to the ground. “We don’t have much time,” he told her even as his gaze flew around the lot. She saw his stare lock on something to the right.
She followed his gaze—Az. Rising slowly, frowning.
A low growl rumbled near her feet. Seline looked down. No way. The hound had been dead.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Rogziel taunted.
Bones snapped back into place. The beast rose slowly, rolling its neck back into position with a crack that chilled her blood.
Can’t kill it.
Its claws swiped out and tore open Sam’s side.
Then the beast turned that hellfire stare on her.
“You’d better, run, Seline,” Rogziel called out. “This time, my pet is going after you. Get ready to see your daddy, little demon.”
What she saw was her death, burning in the hound’s eyes.
She didn’t have time to move. The beast leapt up, and its paws slammed into her chest. The hound took her to the ground, trapping her with its huge body. Its fangs snapped toward her throat. She could smell brimstone, ash, and death.
“Hell’s waiting, Seline!” Rogziel called out.
In the hound’s eyes, she saw that hell.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Seline shoved her hands against the beast’s body. It was heavy and hot and—
It licked her.
Her breath rasped out as she pushed against it. She couldn’t get the thing to budge. It was too big. Its breath smelled of death, and she knew the thing was going to rip open her throat at any moment.
The beast licked her again. Then it whined low in its throat.
What?
The hound wasn’t attacking. Not ripping and tearing out her throat.
Rogziel’s laughter had stopped. Now he was shouting, calling out for the beast to kill, but the hound wasn’t hurting her.
Why?
The hound’s head rose and it stared down at her. Its breath was horrid. The creature’s face was like a nightmare, but it looked up at her like—like it was her pet.
Hellhound.
Whispers and half-forgotten stories floated through her mind.
“Get off me,” she told the beast quietly. “Be a good, um, hound, and get up.”
The beast whined but actually began to shift its body as if it were going to rise.
Her breath expelled. Maybe I am like my mom.
The hound flew through the air . . . because Sam had just grabbed the beast by the tail and yanked it away from her.
Maybe not.
Seline pushed to her feet. Sam grabbed her arm.
“Sammael!” Not Rogziel’s scream this time. Az’s. The Fallen was racing toward them.
Sam pulled her closer. “Don’t be afraid.”
Way too late for that. She had hellhound saliva on her neck.
Sam started chanting. It sounded like Greek—no, Latin. Then smoke swirled around them, closing tighter, tighter, rising ...
Seline screamed.
And the world disappeared.
“No!” Rogziel bellowed as Sam and Seline vanished.
The Fallen shouldn’t have been able to escape, not without—magic. His eyes narrowed. Trust Sammael to be dealing with the witches. But at least he still had one sinner to punish.
Az stumbled to a stop in the middle of the charred earth. The hound rose to its feet.
Rogziel said. “It’s nothing personal, Azrael.” He’d known the Fallen for centuries. “But the job has to be done, you understand that.”
Az blinked slowly. “Rogziel.”
“You knew I’d come for you sooner or later.” Not too long ago, Azrael had been an angel with power. Now he was just another Fallen on the road to hell. Rogziel sighed. “Unfortunately, your death won’t be quick. You didn’t earn that mercy.”
Az straightened his shoulders. No wings. Pity. What did that feel like? To be stripped of everything you were and cast out?
Rogziel pointed to the Fallen. The hellhound’s ears perked at the signal. Rogziel nodded and said, “Prey.” The hound would understand and attack.
The beast whined.
Rogziel frowned. He glared at the hellhound. “Prey.”
The hound hurried forward but didn’t attack. The beast put its nose against the charred ground and sniffed. Then its body stiffened, and it looked to the right.
Ah, now Rogziel understood. The hound had caught the scent. Sam and Seline hadn’t truly vanished. They’d just moved too fast for even his eyes to track, but the hound would be able to track them. “Kill him first,” Rogziel ordered, “then we’ll hunt the others.” Power flowed in his voice. Hellhounds always obeyed their masters.