Instead of his usual enthusiastic greeting - which typically involved trying to wash Beth's face or squash her in an attempt to sit in her lap - Nono just pressed against Beth's legs. Beth's expression shifted from concern to alarm.
"He's shaking," Beth said, running her hands over Nono's trembling form. "Like he's terrified of something."
Tyr tensed as Nono suddenly lurched to his feet, his head swinging toward the front door. The deep bark that erupted from Nono's chest shook the house to its foundations, windows rattling in protest. Each successive bark grew louder, more intense, until the entire house seemed to shake with the force of them.
Harper lunged for a Tiffany lamp on the end table as it wobbled precariously. "What in the world?"
Hellfire erupted through Nono's coat, painting the walls in eerie crimson shadows. His barks transformed into thunderous growls that made Tyr's vampire instincts surge to the surface. Whatever had triggered this reaction in the hellhound was powerful enough to set every supernatural nerve ending on high alert.
Suddenly, Nono's massive head tilted, his growls taking on a different quality - recognition mixed with desperate longing.
Three sharp knocks cut through Nono's growls. The hellhound hurled himself at the front door, leaving scorch marks on the hardwood where his flaming paws touched down. The door shuddered in its frame as he slammed against it repeatedly, whining eagerly.
Everyone froze, staring at the door. Tyr shifted slightly, positioning himself between Beth and whatever waited on theother side. His enhanced senses picked up a familiar energy signature just as Kayja's voice rang out.
"It's okay! Open up - everything's fine!"
Tyr tensed as Harper rushed to unlock the door. The moment the latch clicked, Nono burst through like a black meteor, leaving scorched pawprints in his wake.
Where Nono's fur flickered with mere embers, this new presence blazed like an inferno. An enormous hellhound, easily four times Nono's size, stood beside Kayja. Living flames rippled through her midnight fur, casting a red glow across the entire yard. Her presence radiated ancient power that made even Tyr's centuries-old vampire instincts urge him to retreat.
"Don't worry about the neighbors," Remi called out cheerfully from where he stood beside Kayja, his dark eyes twinkling with mischief. "I've cast a glamour over the whole property. No one will see or hear anything unusual."
Nono pranced around the larger hellhound, his entire body wiggling with pure joy. His earlier distress had vanished completely as he bounced and yipped, red sparks shooting from his fur in celebration. The adult hellhound lowered her huge head, gently nosing every inch of Nono's form as if checking for injuries. Her inspection was thorough but tender, a mother's careful examination of her lost pup.
Tyr watched in fascination as tiny flames jumped between them where they touched, creating intricate patterns that danced through both their coats. The larger hellhound's fire seemed to respond to Nono's excitement, dimming from its initial inferno to a warmer, more controlled glow.
"Well," Beth breathed beside him, "I guess we know why Nono was so anxious earlier. He must have sensed his mother approaching."
Kayja's growl resonated through Tyr's bones, making his vampire instincts surge to high alert. Even Remi took a step back, his usual mischievous expression replaced by wariness.
"No." Kayja's voice carried dangerous undertones that made the air crackle with demonic energy. "What Nono sensed was another sorcerer attempting to summon him."
Harper gasped, instinctively moving toward Nono as if she could shield him from the very idea of being summoned.
Kayja's mottled red skin darkened with anger, the patterns shifting to deeper crimson as she continued. "I'm guessing the first one must have had a partner. The same way they separated him from his mother originally. They wanted a hellhound puppy. I don't know why, though."
"Maybe they thought it would be less dangerous?" Beth ventured to ask. "Easier to control?"
The adult hellhound's fiery fur sparked brighter, her head swinging toward the demoness. A low rumble of confirmation vibrated through the ground.
"Partners working together." Tyr's jaw tightened. His gaze swept the darkness beyond the glamoured yard, reaching with his vampire senses for any hint of magical interference. "They're powerful enough to attempt summoning a hellhound pup - and apparently succeeding at least once. That's no small threat."
Kayja's swirling eyes shifted from green to stormy blue, then back again. Her black horns seemed to absorb the hellhounds' flames, creating strange shadows. "We know Nono somehow broke free before they could bind him, and put an end to the summoner. But he didn't return to Hell, which should have happened when the summoner died. I have no idea how Nono ended up here in the Hudson Valley."
The group exchanged puzzled glances. A hellhound pup, separated from Hell and his mother, somehow finding hisway to their small supernatural community? The odds seemed impossible.
"Hold on. Wait." Harper's face drained of color, her freckles standing out starkly against suddenly pale skin. "So there's still a sorcerer out there trying to summon him?" Her voice trembled as she hurried to Nono's side, her arms going about the pup's neck.
A wicked smile curved Kayja's lips, her whirling eyes gleaming with satisfaction. The black patterns in her mottled red skin seemed to writhe with pleasure.
"Not anymore." Kayja's tone dripped with dark amusement. "We were on our way here when the mother felt the tug of the summoning. Nono is still young enough to have a mystical connection with her, so she felt it and followed it back to the summoner."
Nono seemed oblivious to the grim undertones of the conversation, still prancing around his mother's legs with puppyish enthusiasm. Sparks shot from his fur with each bounce, creating a mesmerizing dance of flames between mother and pup.
Tyr felt Beth shift closer to him, her warmth pressing against his side as she rose on tiptoe. Her breath tickled his ear as she whispered, "I probably shouldn't ask what happened to the summoner, should I?"
Before he could respond, Remi's rich laugh rang out. Obviously he had overheard her question, because the young Djinn's dark eyes sparkled with mischief as he grinned at Beth. "Probably not, no. It's safe to guess he went the same way as the first one."
