When Hell Freezes Over: Chapter 3

"I hope the venison's cooked to your tastes," Grace said as she set the plate of venison on the table along with the rest of food she'd cooked. "Can I get you anything to drink? Water, tea, coffee, soda?"

"Just water for me, thanks," Artemis said politely.

"Same here," Magnus responded quietly. His gaze was focused on Caleb, examining the black-haired teen and trying to force their eyes to meet.

"Faith mentioned that you two are writing a paper on the Hellhound," the blonde-haired young man sitting across from Artemis said casually. "I suppose you'll be wanting to interview me as well for the paper."

"Yeah, but it can wait until after dinner," Artemis said sweetly, glancing at Magnus. She could tell from the way he was staring intently at Caleb that Magnus had seen a micro-expression flash across Caleb's features at the mention of the Hellhound.

Grace had frowned when she heard them talking about the Hellhound, but softened her expression upon hearing that they would wait until after dinner to begin discussing it in earnest; before she could say anything, a man with blonde hair and blue eyes entered the dining room, flashing a smile at everyone present, though this smile faltered a bit when he reached Caleb.

"Ah, Daniel, you're home on time tonight," Grace said with a smile as he sat down at the head of the table. "This is Artemis and Magnus Bishop; they're college students here on break."

Daniel just nodded in acknowledgement of the two guests at the table; almost as soon as he sat down, there was a noticeable change in Caleb's behavior and body language. Caleb, who had been sulking and looking as though he would have preferred to be anywhere but there, instantly sat up straighter and seemed to be almost at attention.

Magnus sensed the tension between Daniel and Caleb and he could tell that this tension was something that the family was used to; the tension seemed to be very one-sided, however. Whereas Daniel was behaving very coldly and tensely towards Caleb, the teen seemed ready to jump if his father asked for something or told him to do something.

After an uncomfortable dinner, everyone went their separate ways to spend their evening. Grace cleared the table and took the dishes into the kitchen to be washed while Daniel retreated to the living room which was located in the back of the inn so that it would be separate from the guests; Faith returned to the front desk and Joshua followed, taking his seat in a chair by the fireplace. Artemis joined Joshua by the fireplace, ready to interview him about the Hellhound he'd seen, while Magnus followed Caleb upstairs, though they went to separate rooms.

"So," Joshua said once Artemis had taken out a pen and notebook to write down his information, "where do you want me to begin? With when I usually see it, what it looks like, how often I see it, or something like that?"

"Let's start with those and work from there," Artemis said, poising her pen over the paper.

"Usually, I see it when Mr. Evans brings the groceries and only on Mondays and Thursdays; it's lean, lanky with shaggy black fur and piercing red eyes," Joshua said, seeming very calm and relaxed about it just as his sister had. "I know that most people would probably freak out at the sight of a Hellhound, but it's not like the thing's vicious or anything. It makes an appearance, hangs around for awhile, then wanders off. It also keeps the wolves and bears away."

This caught Artemis' attention and her head snapped up from her notebook. "What?"

"Yeah," Joshua said with a shrug. "Bears and wolves used to come around here all the time, given that we're so close to the woods, and guests with children were always worried about them. One day, a couple of children were playing down by the stream when a wolf--according to Dad, it was rabid and I'm inclined to agree--tried to attack them. The Hellhound leapt out of nowhere and pounced on the wolf, keeping it busy long enough for the kids to run inside and Dad to grab his gun; by the time he got outside, the Hellhound was gone and the wolf was dead. I don't know if it is a Hellhound or not, but it's a guardian around here, protecting children of guests."

"Have there been any other instances of the Hellhound around guests or children?" Artemis asked, somewhat surprised to learn that the Hellhound had a history of keeping bears and wolves away from guests. Her encounter in the woods suddenly didn't seem so strange.

"It seems to like appearing to kids and playing with them. Once, the mother of a five-year-old told us how her daughter loved playing with our dog. When we told her that we didn't have a dog matching the description, she was surprised because according to her the dog was always in the backyard or sitting by the back door of the kitchen as though waiting for food. The girl herself said that the dog was really friendly and playful, always had a ball in its mouth ready for a game of fetch. There's been several more instances of it showing up and playing with children only to vanish when either someone from the family or an adult shows up, though it obviously is seen around town."

What is with this Hellhound? Artemis thought, after writing down the information. It isn't following the normal pattern at all. Keeping bears and wolves away, protecting and playing with children…this isn't normal Hellhound behavior.

"How many children have played with the Hellhound?"

"Let's see…about thirty or so. Whenever a guest stays here with children, the kids always leave talking about the dog. We even keep Kibbles & Bits dog food for it; I mean, it keeps the inn safe from bears and wolves and seems to love entertaining the kids so it's only fair that we buy something for it to eat and Kibbles & Bits seems to be its favorite."

"Have you named it?" she asked, half-expecting him to say yes. Perhaps if it had a name that was why it was sticking around.

"No, not really. I mean, each of the kids who stay here give it different names: Blackie, Midnight, Ebony…the list goes on. It never has just the one name so most of the time we just call it 'the dog'. The kids all know what we're talking about and we don't spook people with talk of Hellhounds."

Artemis nodded, trying not to frown at the fact that the only reason the Hellhound was hanging around had been debunked; closing her notebook, she thanked Joshua for the information and headed back upstairs to the room she was sharing with Magnus. She walked into the room and flopped to the bed, sighing in disappointment at the fact that she hadn't found out any reason for the Hellhound to behave the way it was behaving.

"Find out anything?" Magnus asked from his position on his bed, not even looking up from his notebook.

"Aside from the fact that the Hellhound gets along great with the children of guests, keeps bears and wolves away from here, has a fondness for Kibbles & Bits, and has never done anything remotely aggressive in all the time its been here? No," Artemis said, rolling over to look at him. "When did you want to go investigate the trail?"

"After everyone goes to bed so we won't get caught sneaking out past the town curfew," Magnus answered. "Think you'll be able to find it in the dark?"

"Yeah, it won't be that hard," Artemis said with a slight shrug. "We just have to follow the trail of scorch marks."