A Dirty Job (Grim Reaper 1)

"I didn't. I've never seen these things before. No one's ever seen these things before. "

"You know, we dykes have very high dog tolerance, but that doesn't give you the right to do this. Well, I'll leave you to it," Jane said, gathering up her purse and keys from the breakfast bar. "You enjoy your little canine pals. I'm going to go call in freaked out to work. "

"Jane, wait. "

But she was gone. He heard the front door slam.

The big dog didn't seem to be interested in eating Charlie, just holding him there. Every time he tried to slither out from under it, the thing growled and pushed harder.

"Down. Heel. Off. " Charlie tried commands he'd heard dog trainers shout on TV. "Fetch. Roll over. Get the fuck off me, you beast. " (He ad-libbed that last one. )

The animal barked in Charlie's left ear, so loud that he lost hearing and there was just a ringing on that side. In his other ear he heard a little-girl giggle from across the room. "Sophie, honey, it's okay. "

"Goggie, Daddy," Sophie said. "Goggie. " She stumbled over and looked down at Charlie. The big dog licked her face, nearly knocking her over. (At eighteen months, Sophie moved like a small drunk most of the time. ) "Goggie," Sophie said again. She grabbed the giant hound by its ear and dragged it off Charlie. Or more accurately, it let her lead it by the ear off of him. Charlie leapt to his feet and started to reach for Sophie, but the other hound jumped in front of him and growled. The thing's head came up to Charlie's chest, even with its feet flat on the ground.

He figured the hounds must weigh four or five hundred pounds apiece. They were easily twice the size of the biggest dog he'd seen before, a Newfoundland that he'd seen swimming in the Aquatic Park down by the Maritime museum. They had the short fur of a Doberman, the broad shoulders and chest of a rottweiler, but the wide square head and upturned ears of a Great Dane. They were so black that they appeared to actually absorb light, and Charlie had only ever seen one type of creature that did that: the ravens from the Underworld. It was clear that wherever these hounds had come from, it wasn't from around here. But it was also clear that they were not here to hurt Sophie. She wouldn't even make a good meal for animals this size, and they certainly could have snapped her in two long before now if they'd meant her harm.

The damage in Sophie's room the night before might have been caused by the hounds, but they had not been the aggressors. Something had come here to hurt her, and they had protected her, even as they were now. Charlie didn't care why, he was just grateful that they were on his side. Where they'd been when he first rushed into the room after the window broke, he didn't know, but it appeared that now that they were here, they were not going to go away.

"Okay, I'm not going to hurt her," Charlie said. The dog relaxed and backed off a few steps. "She's going to need to go potty," Charlie said, feeling a little stupid. He just noticed that they were both wearing wide silver collars, which, strangely, disturbed him more than their size. After the stretching it had gotten over the last year and a half, his Beta Male imagination fit easily around two giant hounds showing up in his little girl's bedroom, but the idea that someone had put collars on them was throwing him.

There was a knock at the front door and Charlie backed out of the room. "Honey, Daddy will be right back. "

Chapter 14

14

BARKING MAD

Charlie opened the door and Lily breezed by. "Jane said you have two huge black dogs up here. I need to see. "

"Lily, wait," Charlie called, but she was across the living room and into Sophie's room before he could stop her. There was a low growl and she came backing out.

"Oh my fucking God, dude," she said around a huge grin. "They are so cool. Where did you get them?"

"I didn't get them anywhere. They were just here. "

Charlie joined Lily just outside the door to Sophie's room. She turned and grabbed his arm. "Are they, like, instruments of your death dealing or something?"

"Lily, I thought we agreed that we wouldn't talk about that. "

And they had. In fact, Lily had been great about it. Since she'd first found out about him being a Death Merchant, she'd hardly brought it up at all. She'd also gone on to graduate from high school without getting a major criminal record and enroll in the Culinary Institute, the upside of which was that she actually wore her white chef 's coat, checked pants, and rubber clogs to work, which tended to soften her makeup and hair, which remained severe, dark, and a little scary.

Sophie giggled and rolled over against one of the hounds. They had been licking her and she was covered with hellish dog spit. Her hair was plastered into a dozen unlikely spikes, making her appear a little like a wide-eyed Anim?? character.

Sophie saw Lily in the doorway and waved. "Goggie, 'Ily. Goggie," she said.

"Hi, Sophie. Yes, those are nice doggies," Lily said, then to Charlie: "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know what to do. They won't let me near her. "

"That's good, then. They're here to protect her. "

Charlie nodded. "I think they are. Something happened last night. You know how the Great Big Book talks about the others? I think one of them came after her last night, and these guys showed up. "

"I'm impressed. I'd think you'd be more freaked out. "

Charlie didn't want to tell her that he was worn out from freaking out the day before about his little girl killing an old man with the word kitty. Lily already knew too much, and it was obvious now that whatever lay below was dangerous. "I guess I should be, but they aren't here to hurt her. I need to go check the library in Berkeley, see if there's anything about them there. I need to get Sophie away from them. "