Read All Wounds for Free Online Page B

blocking her way, she’d been told not to look, except at the floor. She noticed that Nana had bowed her own head, and remembered quickly to do the same.
    Rebecca felt Nana grasp her hand tight and took a step into the room.
    Once they were both out of the enclave entrance, Nana went to her knees, tugging Rebecca’s hand to follow.
    She knelt beside her nana, careful to keep her eyes downcast and her head bowed.
    Nana let go of her hand and put both of her own flat on the floor in front of her. Rebecca copied her.
    “Bow low slowly, then don’t move,” Nana whispered before doing so herself.
    Rebecca did as she was told and held the position. Breathing hard and trembling, she felt like throwing up.
    “Easy, Acolyte,” she heard Sydney say. “Your own enclave, remember.” A low growl met these words, but Sydney didn’t apologize for speaking.
    Rebecca felt her hair being moved and heard a long sniff. Then another.
    “Raise your eyes to me, Acolyte,” the rumbling voice commanded.
    “My lord—” Nana began, and Rebecca noticed Nana’s hands weren’t beside hers anymore.

    “Hush,” the voice commanded, and Nana immediately fell silent.
    What kind of thing could talk to Nana like that in her own house, and have Nana obey, just like that? Rebecca thought.
    Rebecca did as she was told and slowly looked up from the floor. Her mind went blank with shock as her eyes took in the form of a very, very large black... Dog? Wolf?
    She remembered that it had spoken to her. Neither dogs nor wolves could talk. She didn’t know what he was, but he was familiar, somehow...
    “Hellhound,” the creature replied to her thoughts in that rumbling voice.She scrambled away from the huge black monster-dog, pressing her back against the wall with a frightened squeak, shaking from head to toe.
    The hellhound seemed to enjoy her fearful reaction as they studied one another. Dark, rippling fur covered its entire form, save for a shiny black nose and a mouth full of serrated teeth that reminded Rebecca of a shark.
    Its eyes were crimson and danced like a candle was inside them. Gentle red-orange flames, mixed with the occasional flash of blue, flickered at the tips of its ears, the end of its tail, and it seemed at the end of every hair on it.
    Even around its feet, but the floor wasn’t scorching for some reason. The flames clung to the creature, but they didn’t seem to help lighten the terrible darkness emanating from it.
    “Fire burns within you, Acolyte,” the hellhound said, approval in his words, though they sounded just as dangerous as any of the others he’d spoken.
    “Rebecca, get back to your knees,” Nana said in a sharp whisper. “This is Lord Notharion, chief of the Hellguards.”
    It was all Rebecca could do to peel herself away from the hard, safe wood of the wall behind her, gather her knees back under her and bow her head. She remembered what her nana had said and hoped she was about to do something right. She looked back up at the hellhound and met his eyes, though it took all her willpower to make herself do it.
    “Forgive me...my lord,” she managed, though it was hard to unglue her tongue from the roof of her very dry mouth enough to speak. “I meant no offense. This is the first time I’ve seen a...a...hellhound.”
    “Well spoken, apprentice,” he said, approving. “She will serve, Martha Althea.”
    Nana inclined her head in a nod. “My gratitude, my lord.” Notharion raised an eyebrow at that, and Rebecca thought it was extremely odd that a dog raised its eyebrow.
    “I am not a dog , and you will cease comparing me to such mortal creatures,” the hellhound said, turning its candle-eyes on Rebecca. “Rebecca Charlotte...you and I will have an interesting relationship.”
    “You said you were here to see ‘the boy’. I’m guessing you mean Ryan,” Nana said. “But you weren’t the one that bit him, were you, my lord?”
    “No,” Notharion replied. “I am here to see what damage one