Fiends and Familiars - Debra Dunbar Page 0,17

wards as usual, then remembered that I was still holding a ham bone.

Damn it. I’d promised him and I wasn’t going to let the hellhound down.

“Hey Drake,” I called to the vulture who was on top of my dining room table, where he could keep an eye on the squirrels. “Come with me to the garage, will you?”

The vulture waddled after me. My garage was pretty much a glorified storage area, which is why I always parked my truck in the driveway. I moved a kayak, bike, two toolboxes, and a dozen Rubbermaid tubs aside then put down four dog pillows that I’d gotten on clearance last year as well as some cheap fleece blankets. The ham bone went on a plastic Thanksgiving platter that was shaped like a turkey, and I filled two large bowls with water. Drake stood guard while I went back into the house and retrieved the package of hard-boiled eggs. Those I placed in a terracotta flowerpot, setting it next to the bone.

There. It seemed reasonably welcoming. I’d get food, treats, some more bowls, and a few toys tomorrow. Hopefully the hellhounds would take advantage of my hospitality and tomorrow night the other three would be less suspicious of me.

Then I’d need to think about what I was going to do with them all. Perhaps I could find some nice people who would be willing to adopt them? If not, I’d be stuck with four giant scary-looking canines, along with four squirrels and a vulture.

Chapter 6

Typhon

A witch. It all made sense now—not that I was going to admit any of that to Yeth.

“She told me to go away,” the hellhound whined. “She yelled at me.”

If there needed to be any more proof that magic was afoot, Yeth’s heartsick sorrow was it. The hellhound was devastated over the woman’s anger, and was moping that he’d never get to have liver treats or rib bones again. It was so ridiculous. He was a hellhound. He could go anywhere he wanted, do anything he wanted. Some human yelling at him shouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference in his habits, and if he wanted a snack, he was absolutely capable of walking right into someone’s house and taking the dinner off their table.

But the witch had clearly cast some sort of spell over him. If I didn’t manage to break it, Yeth might end up switching his loyalties and becoming no more than a witch’s lapdog. Poor guy.

Although Yeth wasn’t my priority, it was Faust. I wasn’t about to admit that I’d gotten sucked into the witch’s dream and been far more interested in sex than in locating my quarry and bringing him back to hell. No, boinking a sexy witch and rescuing Yeth from a horrible fate were not allowed to be at the top of my to-do list.

“Did you locate exactly where you-know-who is?” I began to pace, completely ignoring the soul before me, who was in hell for a multitude of sins including habitually double-dipping in the queso and never returning his library books.

“He’s somewhere in the house.” Yeth pouted, his thoughts still clearly with the witch. “I believe he was in the bedroom, but I’m not positive. He moves around, but he clearly is staying inside the house—no doubt because of those wards. He knows we can’t get through them.”

Normally I would have argued that point. A mere witch’s spell should have been no hinderance for a demon who was Master of the Hellhounds, but I’d already been seduced by this witch’s lurid desires, been rendered helpless against her magic. I wasn’t about to downplay the possible effectiveness of those wards. I always enjoyed solving problems with brute force, but it was clear this time I would require another technique.

I could show up in force with my pack of hellhounds and bluff—demand that she hand over Faust, or I’d lay siege to her home. That idea had great appeal, but there was a good chance the witch would call my bluff and I hated to look the fool, especially in front of my hellhounds.

We could wait from a distance until the witch let down her guard or until he got tired of hiding out in her house, then make our move. However, I wasn’t known for my patience and after searching for Faust for centuries, I didn’t want to risk him getting away once again.

I needed more information. I needed to send another hellhound with Yeth this time. Hopefully with two of them, they’d