Page 27 of Hellhound AU

“Well, no, because you weren’t born as one.”

Milo looked vaguely disappointed, and I saw Riley, now in her human form, standing behind the car. She wasn’t known for being patient.

“Listen, are you okay? Like, really okay?” I asked Milo, reaching out and grabbing onto his hand.

“Boo, I just found out there are supernatural creatures out there. I’m as okay as I can be. I’m not running away screaming or anything, so I think I get points for that,” he answered.

“Major points.” Then I leaned in to kiss him.

Which is, of course, when Riley opened the back door and slid into the car. I turned around and growled at her, and Milo turned around and looked shocked.

“Oh. You look…” he trailed off, obviously unsure how to finish that sentence.

“Like a normal human. Yup. We have to blend in somehow, sweetie.” Then she grabbed her seatbelt and put it on.

I was still deciding whether I was going to maim her over using a term of endearment on my Milo, but I figured that would upset him. He was putting his seat belt on, so I did the same. I guess we were gonna have help with our next project, whether we wanted it or not.

The warehouse where the dog fighting event was supposedly being held was a big gray monstrosity amongst a sea of otherwarehouse buildings. We drove around to scope things out, and there were two cars parked behind the building, so someone was there.

“They’re rotten,” I commented. Two souls inside, and both were definitely hellbound.

“Of course they are. They’re setting up an illegal dogfight. Only rotten, scummy people do that to animals,” Milo commented.

“If we wait until the dogfight takes place, I bet there will be a lot more prey,” Riley said.

Milo turned around to look at her. “You don’t, like, eat them, do you?”

Oh boy. I was ready for Riley to flip her shit on Milo, but apparently she’d decided to like him, because she just answered, “No, sweetie. I’m sure shitty humans would taste like shit, so what’s the point?”

Milo nodded as if that made perfect sense, turned back around, and looked at me. “Do we wait until tonight then?”

“The problem with that is that I’m sure there will be a lot of humans who aren’t rotten. Just because they come to a dog fight doesn’t mean they’re irredeemable. For all we know, we could have undercover feds or something in there, too,” I stated.

Riley scoffed. “Always looking at the worst-case scenario. Listen, we come back tonight, we scare the shit out of the humans, we kill who needs to be killed, and we rescue a bunch of dogs. Simple.”

Somehow, I didn’t think it was going to be quite that easy, but Milo was nodding his head along with Riley, and I figured I was outvoted on this one.

I sighed and looked at the time. “We’ve got a couple of hours to kill, then.”

“Food,” Riley suggested.

“Oh! I have some homemade cookies if you’re hungry!” Milo said, turning around to grab a backpack from the back seat.

Shit, shit, shit. If she tried Milo’s cooking, there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t seriously injure him. I turned around and raised my eyebrows, trying to make a disgusted face while simultaneously shaking my head very slightly so Milo didn’t notice.

“Why does your face look like that?” Riley asked.

“Fuck you,” I answered, then I turned around, because at this point she deserved some of Milo’s cooking.

“You want some, boo?” Milo asked, holding the baggy with a few cookies in it.

Theylookeddelicious, but I knew better by now. “No thanks! They’re all for Riley!”

Milo handed the bag back to her, and I turned around and watched as she took her first bite. She closed her eyes as she chewed, and I waited for sounds of outrage. I was also prepared to defend Milo from her wrath if necessary.

But, to my disbelief, she moaned. “Oh. My. God. These aredelicious!”

I turned and looked at Milo, my mouth half open in shock. He was looking at Riley, though. “Yeah, Ethel made them, and she’s a great cook.”