Hellhound Prince of Fire (Hellhound #3) - Rue Volley Page 0,39

also remaining on the top of the water. I touched my stomach and felt the soft satin fabric beneath my fingertips and realized I was now in a beautiful red dress. It clung to my body as if it had always belonged to me and perhaps it had. I looked up as a ring of fire started to rise from the black water and I lifted the front of my dress and took one cautious step and then another. I had no idea where the portal in the center of the fire ring led to, but I did know that the water was starting to become choppier and I had to walk or perhaps get swallowed by it all.

I started to run and ended up right in front of it. I saw my reflection; I looked beautiful, human, no vampire left in me or Hellhound. I had been stripped of all of it and I had to assume it was the work of God and his inability to accept that I now knew his secret, I knew Lucifer’s secret too. I was not sure of exactly what they were, but I knew that they needed us, the human race, to survive and this game they were playing with each other was probably one out of boredom or perhaps sibling rivalry. I also knew that vampire and werewolf alike were perhaps humanities way of fighting back in the evolutionary chain. Humans could not possibly fight God or Lucifer off of this planet, but the immortal beasts could. I also knew that the Hellhound was part of that equation and maybe Lucifer made them thinking it would help him, but it backfired as the Hellhounds rose to battle back the darkness rising. I guess in the end, life will always find a way. Be it the smallest creature or the human who crawled from the sea.

I placed my fingers to the rolling water in the center of the ring and felt it was cold to the touch. I took a breath, a true one and held it in my lungs as I stepped through shedding all of my fear, every bit of it. Because that is what truly being human is all about. It is being fearless when you least expect to be.

I stepped into the road as I saw fighting all around me. I looked up and saw the blood red moon, black creatures raced back and forth across its surface and then I turned as I saw him, Gunner, fighting Tercia as she fell on her back before him. I saw Jet jump down from a large black dragon and pull his sword as he ran towards Gunner. My heart beat sped up as Gunner did not see him, but Jack did. He picked up hiss sword and started to run towards Jet. I ran towards them, holding the front of my dress up, my feet being cut my small shards of road and not caring, not one bit. That pain was so minimal compared to my love for Gunner, for Jet, and for all things. I had my humanity restored and it brought with it my compassion, true compassion and that is a gift that neither God nor Lucifer would ever be able to duplicate or steal from us. They could not understand it, how could they? They came to merely survive and they remain because without us they will die. I knew everything now, everything I needed to know.

I ran up in between Jack and Jet just as he was about to reach Gunner and I turned. Jack continued to rush forward and in a blink of an eye his blade sliced through my stomach and severed my spinal cord. The gift was that it immediately killed the pain and I stood, my hands trembling as I grabbed the blade and I could hear Gunner scream as Jack pulled it out of me. I stood for a moment as another black dragon rose before us and Lucifer sat upon its back, his expression one of anguish as he saw me standing there in the red dress. I held my stomach as the blood started to roll over my fingers. I started to fall only to feel Gunner catch me before I hit the ground. He looked down on me as Jack backed away and Finna stopped fighting as did Ari. The battle slowed all around as did the time. My eyes felt heavy but remained on Gunners as