Page 59 of Hounded
I cried then. My tears dripped into Sully’s hair while she smoothed her hand in circles over my back. Her customers were waiting, but she didn’t mention it and didn’t rush me. When I was composed enough to stand on my own, I leaned back, and she wiped her thumbs under my eyes to dry them.
“Okay,” she said, catching my skittish gaze. “Up you go. I’m right behind you.”
With a wobble of my aching head, I started up the steps. Two flights of cement stairs brought me to Sully’s front door, a slab of purple-stained wood with no knob or keyhole.
I didn’t remember when Sully gave me the spare key to her place, only that it had seemed random. I hadn’t needed it or even asked, she just tied the braided leather cord around my wrist and told me I was always welcome. All I had to do was put my palm against the door, and the surface warmed to my touch. Then it opened, inviting me into the cozy darkness of Sully’s flat.
The air was hazy from burning incense, and the smell of jasmine sweetened every breath. Cushions littered the floor, interspersed with rag rugs, and shelves lined every wall. Books were stacked from floor to ceiling, crowded in alongside arcane items like crystals and candles. Mirrors bounced the muted light back and forth, giving the space a sort of glow.
My hound loved it here. His tail waved like a flag as he pranced circles inside my throbbing skull.
I wandered into the kitchen, by far the most mundane part of the space, and stopped at the sink where I ran some water to splash on my face and draw out the heat.
After drying my cheeks on a hand towel, I found the sandwich ingredients where Sully said they would be. Putting the meal together hardly counted as cooking, but it was the most I’d done since I moved out of the Airstream. The end result was the most edible-looking thing I’d seen in days.
I rifled the pantry for crackers or chips and found both, settling on wheat crackers for myself and leaving both bags out for Sully to load her own plate. I’d gone for something to drink when the apartment door swung open again, and Sully strode in. Dozens of candles lit in unison, and the record player in the corner sprung to life. The turntable spun, and the arm dropped into place to produce the first crackling notes of a classical piece. Something by Tchaikovsky.
Sully approached me with a smile. “Now, where were we?”
She filled a kettle and set it to boil while I updated her about the situation in Hell. After we finished our sandwiches, I told her about the meeting with Nero. When I got to the part about Whitney, I almost lost it again. Seeing Moira, the person who wielded absolute control over me, rendered powerless, had shaken me to my core. And the idea that I, too, could be passed into new ownership with barely a word exchanged in the process was chilling. Not to mention that the image of Whitney kneeling before his new master was one I had not been able to banish from my mind.
Over the course of the conversation, Sully and I moved to the living room floor cushions. She sat cross-legged while I braced back on my arms, studying the stars cast across the ceiling by a trio of hanging lights.
“What about Indy?” Sully asked about the party notably absent from my dialogue. “Since you’re here instead of with him, I take it things aren’t great.”
My brow furrowed as I recalled the events from only an hour prior. “He walked in on me in the shower,” I said.
She dunked a bag of chamomile tea into her mug and bobbed it up and down. “Are you staying at the trailer?”
I shook my head. “I was at the bathhouse. Indy showed up. It was bad timing.”
“Did he make a move?” Sully sipped her drink through a tight-lipped smile. “Maybe a little sexual healing is what you two need. Loosen things up. Reconnect.”
I stilled. I couldn’t stomach the thought of being intimate with anyone. Couldn’t she see that? She’d clearly read what had been written on my face when I stumbled in here.
“Sex is the last thing I need,” I replied. “Relationship advice is a close second.”
She grimaced and set her teacup on a low side table. “You’re right. I overstepped. But I think I have the lay of things now. How can I help?”
I laid further back with my legs outstretched and my arms bent at the elbows. It was hard to explain and harder to admit that when I should have been gearing up for a fight, I was cowering instead.
For so long, Indy had been my secret. Now that he’d been found, it was like we’d reached the end of the countdown to a game of hide and seek. We had time to ready ourselves for the hunt, but nothing could prepared me to stand alone between dozens of savage hellhounds and their quarry.
“The wards aren’t enough,” I said. “I’m not sure anything will be.”
“Have you told Indy yet?” Sully asked. “About himself? What he is?”
I looked aside.
“Maybe if he was informed, he could defend himself,” Sully continued. “I have a few books that reference phoenixes. You’re welcome to borrow them or let Indy read through them.”
My face pinched, and I scrubbed my hand over it again. “That’s just it. He’s not himself anymore. He’s lost more than his memories. His powers are fading. And for me to tell him about something he’ll never have feels cruel.”
Sully’s brow took on a suspicious slant. She hadn’t known Indy long enough to observe the decline. Neither of us flaunted our powers in polite company. We wouldn’t have been able to hide among humanity for so long if we did.
After a moment, Sully stood and walked over to one of the wall shelves. She slid books aside and tipped them out to inspect their aged covers.
“So, he’s not just resetting, he’s regressing?” she asked. “Becoming more human?”
