Hell Hounds

Chapter 58: Interrogations

Ian felt himself roughly pulled through the portal. Of course, he couldn’t keep his eyes closed,

and it was extremely difficult to keep his balance. With his balance, off and his mind couldn’t find a

place to lock his eyes on. There wasn’t a horizon to stare at, and everything moved about him in an

unsettling way. Thankfully, it ended as abruptly as it started, and he didn’t embarrass himself by puking.

Once he composed himself enough. Ian took in his surroundings. They were all in what looked

like was an unused storage warehouse. This wasn’t the same place they started in.

“Looks like we all survived in one piece. Now, where are the others?”

A large black bird settled on a table not far. It came from the rafters. Ian found server also

more birds in the rafters. They’d sent shifters to spy on this cult. A cult against shifters, but not smart

enough to understand shifters came in different creatures. Not just wolves and bears.

“Well met there. Sorry to ask this, but could you mind shifting so that we can communicate

better please? It’s just the time limit that has me a little anxious.” Arianna said this directly to the bird.

Who squawked in response and flew into the darkness of the large space? The group waited

patiently, and their reward was a slender woman in a short dress and barefoot returned to the like.

“Evenin’ Ambassador. I’m Pippa Wilson. We have everything ready for you, but first, we’ve got news for

you.”

“Good evening. Excellent, please lead the way and tell me what you know of these people.”

Arianna fell into step with Pippa, expecting them to follow her. “It wasn’t easy, but we’re able to

capture one of the cult’s lieutenants just moments ago. I’m afraid he is rather resistant, and it will take a

little longer to bring him in. Once he’s here, I’m sure you’ll be able to handle him. I’ve encountered him

before and let me tell you, he’s not the brightest lightbulb in the pack. I suspected he doesn’t fully

believe everything he’s told and stays with the cult because it’s a place he can bully others and get

away with it.”

“Delightful. Misogynistic monster. I wonder what he’ll experience when he meets an actual

monster of his nightmares.” Yolanda happily followed, glad that she was on the same side as Arianna.

Arianna’s heavy boots thumped on the concrete floor. Which was a feat since her boots must have

three-inch heels on them. Arianna made Yolanda look like a shrinking violet. With her military-style

jacket and pants, a shock of violent red bangs paired with straight black hair. She often changed her

hair colour on a whim. But she would not apologize for her six-foot height and dressed how she felt

comfortable. She was not the stereotype of the anachronistic late Victorian woman who became a

victim of a vampire attack. Arianna didn’t have a tragic love story, as books and movies often portrayed.

Well, at least, not that anyone was aware of.

“Just remember we only need information and not a body count.” Yolanda piped up with this

reminder.

“Oh, by that won’t be necessary. However, I may use your ability to shift to scare him. Mind

you, when I’m done with him, he won’t remember anything beyond. Dogs and wolves are scary and to

be avoided at all costs. That and he’ll have found respect for women from now on.”

“Hey, if it works, why the hell not. I don’t get to play.” The three women smiled at each other as

they conspired about what they would do to this poor human.

Ian and George looked at each other. They didn’t need any words. They both could see how

this would go south. “Ari, please just stay on the plan? Please. Just get the information, make him

forget his time here, and we can all leave here. We don’t want the Fae to notice this place and

complicate anything further.”

“That’s what I plan to do. Now you don’t need to worry about any of this at all. We have it all in

hand.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. I know how you handle things.”

Arianna turned on him lightning-fast and hissed at him. Her eyes flashing with violent warning.

“That’s enough. Your words are noted and not important. Just drop it.”

George backed off immediately. Ian could see he didn’t want to back down, but he did.

Whatever their relationship was, it wasn’t a smooth one.

“Let’s all stop this right now and get this job done with no one friend or foe getting injured or

worse.” After a moment of silence between everyone, Pippa brought their attention back to the matter

at hand.

“The guy’s name is Laurence Jarvis or Larry. He’s a beer-swilling mouth breather. But within

the local area, he’s respected mostly, and if he’s not respected, then he’s feared.”

“What is with these men and their course names? It’s like a flag that he’s a course uncouth

barbarian.”

“No idea. But you are right. This guy is a walking stereotype. Good luck.” Pippa flitted about

while gesturing to the door.

“Oh, there’s no luck involved. How much has he seen?”

“Not much. He got rip-roaring drunk at a bar and followed a decoy out into the parking lot.

Passed out before he could get too handsy.”

“Lovely. He’ll be hungover. I can work with that. Let’s get to it.” Yolanda knew the type. The

biker community had those types. That meant they’d have to deal with a sweaty guy that smelled of

stale alcohol.

“You are going to owe me for this. It’s so not going to be pleasant.”

“What do you want the two of us to do?” Ian asked as he looked around. He thought they

needed to pull in the people they needed to interrogate. Now everything looked safe.

“You get to watch what we are doing as witnesses so that we don’t get questions. You’re here

to represent the human race and act as a voice. We’ll try to prevent anyone from forcing you to speak

or answer for them too.”

“Oh, yippie. I feel so much better. Well, when you’re ready.” They entered the room, leaving

Pippa outside. A man with stringy hair sat handcuffed to a chair. His chin lay on his chest and his

stringy hair hung over his face. Ian could smell the alcohol fumes coming off the man from the doorway.

Everyone stayed silent. “So, this is the big, dangerous second-in-command? What a sad state novelbin

they’ve come to then.” His head whipped up and blood-shot eyes glared at Arianna. “This should

disappoint indeed.”

He said something in an angry growl that was completely unintelligible. “I hope you can speak

drunk. Because I think it’ll be a while before he sobers up and even longer before we get a respectful or

civil word from him.” Yolanda said dryly. She wasn’t off the mark in Ian’s opinion. But he saw where the

women were headed with this line of interrogation. Bad cops. If he didn’t break, they could switch to the

men playing good cop. Or at least that’s what they had in mind, he assumed.

Arianna moved with lightning speed to Larry’s side. Her hand was in his greasy hair to ensure she

had his attention. “Are you listening to me, Larry? Are you?”

The human struggled to nod in response. His eyes were now wide, and it surprised Ian. He didn’t

wet himself.

“Now, you will look me in the eye. You will get lost in the depths of my eyes. You will listen to

everything I say.” Arianna droned like that for several minutes like this, before she started talking to the

man. When Arianna started talking to him, the change in Larry was astounding. His combativeness way

gone, and a calmness settled into place. But it wasn’t quite a trancelike state.

“Let’s started. We know the cult has been performing some very sketchy rituals. We know where

you’ve performed them. You need to confirm all the sites for us. What we also want to know is why you

performed them. What is your agenda? We need to know what your goal is.”

It wasn’t hard to get him to speak now. Larry spewed out five locations. Everyone was underground.

Natural caves or abandoned mining tunnels. The problem came when he tried to explain why they

performed the rituals. He couldn’t get the words out. It took Arianna a long time to pull even a fraction

of what they needed from him.

George, at one time, pulled Yolanda and Ian aside. “This is a complication. Someone got to him

already and has messed with him mind. I’ve seen this before. That means someone knows we exist

and that we can do this. I’m glad we blocked off time for this. We may have to pop in on the leader of

this cult. I’m pretty convinced he’s a puppet or another supernatural creature.”

“How would we do that? I thought the leader was impossible to reach.” Ian wasn’t sure what he was

missing. Though, he was sure he’s missing something.

“If Arianna can’t get more from him. Then we’ll use him to get a meeting with the leader. That and if

we must, we’ll use your position as a police officer. Cross your fingers that she can get past the blocks

put into his mind.”

“So, she really is controlling his mind?”

“She’s influencing him to want to give her what she wants. It may take hours. Her skills are far better

than most. So, let’s pray that the person who did this to Larry was lazy and didn’t do a through

job.”