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“Humans get upset over things like that apparently,” he shrugged.
I frowned as I looked over at him.
“Does anything upset you?” I asked. Earlier in my room, they’d all been talkative and rather bubbly, but emotions were hard to gauge with them.
“I don’t know. We’re still learning emotions. We started developing them two years ago apparently. Slow progress, but the other students seem to be grateful,” he said as he pursed his lips thoughtfully.
“Wait, you guys had no emotions for two years?” I baulked.
“Yes. We’re soldiers. Protectors. That was all we are, or were. Dezikiel took special notice in us and started teaching us about morals, feelings, that sort of thing. Jack got right into it, so he’s the most… acclimated of us. Then we became proper students. Apparently, according to what the others say, we were harsh. We didn’t care about our words. I understand now that they can hurt others. We also aren’t meant to attack those around us,” Chumley grumbled.
“You attacked people?” I arched a brow at this in shock.
“We’re hellhounds. If someone disagrees with us or does something we don’t like, we’re supposed to put them into line. At least, that’s what we thought when we came into being. Apparently that’s not the way this world works,” he said with a sigh.
Wow. My hellhounds were… hellhounds.
He glanced over at me, noting my concerned expression.
“Don’t worry, we’ve come a long way. I can even sometimes tell when I’ve upset someone, although Jack is more in tune. We’ve learned what most emotions are, so we can recognize them. And we seem to feel some of them too apparently. Like with you, when you came here this morning, we were overjoyed. That’s the emotion Jack said it was. Because we really wanted to finally see you, not just with our projections,” he grinned at me with that stunning lopsided smile that made butterflies flutter in my stomach.
“I’m glad you’ve come so far,” I said, taking in my surroundings as I squashed down the butterflies.
The gardens were quite beautiful, with a massive range of flowers in an assortment of colors. There were topiaries as well, and hedges lined the walkways.
We turned down a gravel path with wooden archways coated in vines, and my breath caught as we walked through the gorgeous tunnel of blooming white flowers.
“Bug has adjusted well, although he can’t leave the mansion. The rest of us can go on trips out, assist in tasks. Except Bug,” Chumley shared.
“Why?”
“He has trouble maintaining his human form.”
“What’s that mean?” I questioned a I came to a halt. He couldn’t maintain his human form?
“He sometimes begins to revert back to his hellhound shape if he gets too flustered. He can’t control it easily,” Chumley admitted as he turned to me with those deep, dark eyes.
Even though they were as black as night, they didn’t bother me. They were rather mesmerizing, in a way.
“Poor thing,” I murmured as we continued walking. So Bug had never left this place since coming into being.
No wonder he was so on edge if he ever appeared when I was out and about. He didn’t know a thing about this world.
And now the books made so much sense.
“Creeper has struggled with emotions the most, he can’t wrap his head around them. I know he feels them, but he dislikes them. Doesn’t like not being able to control everything about himself,” Chumley chuckled.
That sounded right for the quietest of my monsters. Hellhounds.
My hellhounds. I still couldn’t believe they were actually mine. That their sole purpose was to protect me.
In a way, it made me sad. They’d picked up hobbies and were clearly adapting to this life. Why shouldn’t they have their own goals and dreams?
“The gardens are quite beautiful, I’ve never seen anything as beautiful in any of my explorations out of this place,” Chumley stated.
“How far have you travelled?”
“Only locally, but I get to see a lot with the internet. That was something I still remember struggling with. Now it comes so naturally. Many things that seemed utterly bizarre now make complete sense. Like showering,” he said, turning to me with a straight face.
