Laurent spun around when the door rattled under the weight of the beast on the other side, but it didn’t break, still keeping the hellhound at bay. Could this possibly be the monster Laurent was to keep in the house until the day of its thirty third birthday? How would he even know how old the creature was?
Unwilling to face it yet, he ran down the corridor when voices came closer, chasing him farther into the tangled innards of the mansion, with no way to leave in sight.
The barking became louder, more vicious, now accompanied by a tubal roar that sent shivers deep into Laurent’s flesh, pushing him down the corridor, away from sources of light and into the dark corners where he could perhaps find shelter from the evils of this realm.
The scent of dust reminded him of Mr. Barnave’s attic, where he’d slept just last night, but this provided little comfort when the beast and its companion closed in on him in their chase. The stomping of their feet was getting louder with each moment that Laurent spent desperately trying to discern shapes in the dim hallway where furniture and rubble had been left to rot.
When he got to a choice of two ways through this graveyard of forlorn items that poked and prodded at him with their blurry limbs, he turned into the dustier one in hope that something within it had so far prevented the monsters from entry. He sped up, ignoring all the aches in his body left behind by work and the struggle against Fane’s superior strength. The growl of the beast made him open the nearest door in hope of hiding inside, but all of a sudden he was faced with a flash of red and blue light changing as if he were in the devil’s kaleidoscope.
He wanted to get away from the blinding colors, to rush back into the corridor and find a different hiding place, but the loud barking had him first freezing, then stumbling back, all the way to the window. He swiped the chamber with his gaze, but it was painfully empty. Not a single piece of wood that he could use to protect himself if the beast threw itself at him. Nowhere left to run.
He took a step toward the window in hope that it could serve him as an escape route, but the ground was too far away to jump, and he didn’t know how to open the strange lock either.
The beast didn’t give him enough time to solve the puzzle. It leaped inside, barking as if it wanted to eat Laurent alive, and all he could do was back away into the corner and pray for a miracle.
It was a dog of magnificent proportions, tall and muscular like a mule, covered by a shiny black coat with brighter markings around the huge teeth and on its paws. It could tear Laurent to shreds if it fancied, and Laurent pushed his body against the wall, stiff with the fear of a lamb about to be snatched by a wolf. But beyond the growling, he heard footsteps very clearly. They were heavy and firm, like those of a heavyset man rather than the clomping of devil’s hooves.
Laurent stopped breathing and shrank, pulling on the lapels of the damp coat in an attempt to protect himself with the only armor he had.
And then a true beast entered. No, a giant.
At first glance, he seemed like a void of black. All his clothes, the trousers and the shirt were that color, but so were his hands, and his face—the color of tar with pale spots for lips, eyes, and just the tip of his nose. He was a giant of a man, even taller than the creature who’d transported Laurent into this realm, with fists like loafs of bread and shoulders strong like those of an ox.
There was no point to hiding anymore. He needed to act first and show that he wasn’t afraid, even if he was in fact utterly terrified. “I… I’m not sure where I am.” He took half a step out of the shadow and into the faint light coming from outside.
The monster snarled even more ferociously than its hound in a voice so hoarse as if his throat was spiked with needles. “What the fuck are you doing on our property, boy? Whose blood is this?”
The humongous dog was quick to threaten Laurent as well, and as soon as it growled, Laurent returned into his corner with a whimper. His head was spinning, and every time he looked up at the human-like creature who could be over six feet tall, he felt so utterly defenseless. He didn’t understand anymore why the demon had chosen him of all men to send into this realm.
The giant reached him in long strides, grabbing Laurent’s arm and leaning over him as if he intended to suck out Laurent’s soul through his lips. The moment he came into the light, his dark face blurred, features further distorted by Laurent’s defective eyes. Not wanting to offend the hunter who chased him down, he looked into the broad face, and there were indeed eyes in the oval-shaped hollows, although Laurent could not discern their color. Regardless of his poor eyesight, he now realized the giant’s skin was not completely blackened but rather painted all over with some kind of hellish alphabet.