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Yesterday scuttled behind the propane tank. “Told you.”
“What the fuck was that?”
Something large hit the door hard enough to rattle it in its frame.
Eddie’s mouth went dry. The broom quivered in her hand. Fear made her voice wobble. “What the fuck was that?”
Poking his head out, Yesterday scrunched up his nose. “Your problem.”
A vicious snarl came from behind the door, followed by loud snuffling at the bottom. Whatever was in there was bigger than a hopper or a toad, and she was not opening that door again.
More snuffling that sounded like it came from huge, terrifying nostrils. Nostrils big enough to match those gargantuan snapping teeth that had come for her.
Silence.
Snuffle, snuffle, snuffle—whine.
“Get out here,” she spat at the cowardly yellow bastard cowering behind her propane tank.
“Uh-uh,” Yesterday said and ducked out of sight.
AWROOOOOO!
Howling? That thing behind the door was howling now? Fur, fangs, sniffing, whining, and howling all pointed to… “Was that a dog?”
“Kinda.” Yesterday sniffled. “Mostly.”
Dogs and hell, look at her mathematical genius putting two and two together and dragging them through all the seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Cringing that the idea had even entered her mind, she asked, “Is that a”—she couldn’t believe she was going to voice this—“hell hound?”
“Yep.” Yesterday smoothed back the single wisp of hair on his head. “Two of them.”
“Two.” Hysterical laughter clogged her throat, and she had to lean against the wall before her knees gave out. “Two hell hounds. In my basement. I didn’t even know they were a thing.”
“Oh, yes.” Yesterday strutted out from behind the propane tank. If he’d been wearing pants, he would have hitched them. “Asmodeus created them.”
Asmodeus. Shade. Well, wasn’t he a candidate for charm school? “Why?”
“The ways of the hell princes”—Yesterday waved his hands around like a cheap conjurer at a carnival—“are not for us to know.”
AR AR AWRWOOOOO
She better find out about the ways of hell princes before those things brought animal control down on her. “Why are they here?”
More hand waving. “The ways of hell hounds—”
“I will punch you.”
With a yelp, Yesterday darted behind the propane tank again. “They must be looking for Asmodeus.”
“He’s not here,” Eddie stated the obvious as louder sniffing punctuated the low hum of the mechanical equipment. She pointed to the closed door and mustered as much authority as she could manage in her voice. “Tell them he’s not here and they have to go.”
Call her a pessimist but in the brief flash she’d gotten of the hell hound, she didn’t rate her chances with a broom.
“Can’t,” Yesterday replied, far calmer than the situation warranted. Not that she had enough experience to guess at what tone would suffice. Edging out from his hiding place, Yesterday said, “They respond only to Asmodeus.”
“Who isn’t here to tell them to go back.” Despite a lifetime of Dee’s warnings to never contact the guardians, that was looking like a much better option than hell teeth at her throat.
“No.” Yesterday got his swagger back as he approached her. “There really is only one thing we can do.”
