Chapter 2

That afternoon, with the wrought iron keys in my possession I walked to the house.

In my pocket was a legal and binding document written by me, much to Nigel's dismay and signed by two witnesses.

Striding right up to her door and with said document in hand, I knocked.

Inside I heard a "Just a minute!" and a chair screeching as it was moved away from a table.

Moments later, the bolt was withdrawn and the door opened slightly to let a watery blue eye peer out at me.

The old woman sighed and opened the door fully then stood in the doorway looking up at me, her face expressionless.

I smiled at her and said, "I'm sorry if I upset you yesterday, it was never my intention to cause you any pain."

She stood there, blinking her watery blue eyes but not otherwise, responding.

I took out the copy of the document I had drawn up and presented it to her.

She took it hesitantly and looked at it for a few moments, then muttered an apology as she fumbled around for her reading glasses.

I remained standing outside the cottage for several minutes as she carefully perused the document.

Finally, she looked up at me and said, "Does this mean what I think it means?"

I said quietly, "If you think it means that you can stay, then, yes, it does mean what you think it means. I signed the documents a little over an hour ago and my first act as 'lord of the manor' was to draw this up. Against the advisement of that lawyer I might add, but 'eff him'. It's my house now and I won't evict you."

She looked at me in disbelief and before she could reply, I added, "That's your copy by the way, keep it in a safe place!"

She turned away and as she went inside, she called out over her shoulder, "I can have tea ready in a tewthree minutes, make yourself comfortable."

I followed her inside, closing the door behind me.

Taking up the rarely used 'guest seat' I sat quietly while she clattered about setting the kettle on the small stove, laying out the tea cups on the small table and carefully doling out her best tea in small amounts spooned into the cups.

When the kettle commenced to whistling, she took it off the stove and poured the hot water into the cups and replaced the kettle on the stove.

She got a pint of fresh cream out of her small refrigerator and set it on the table next to the sugar bowl.

Electric lights, a gas stove and a refrigerator were the sole modern amenities I saw in her small cottage.

I politely refrained from asking about the plumbing, it would be dealt with later on.

Taking her seat, she methodically dosed her tea with cream and sugar, took a sip and nodded her approval.

I took my own sip of her excellent tea when she began, "Now you've gone an' done it! I troid ter warn you off, but loike all young men, you doy ark well."

I sipped at my tea and listened while she continued,"If you insist on stayen here, the Hellhound will find you an' attack you. She wull get yer scent an' follow you 'til she gets you."

I nodded and replied, "I'm afraid this Hellhound you speak of has already done that."

She gazed at me steadily while I recalled my hearing a faint scratching and sniffing at my window the night before and then seeing the foot prints in the flower bed and claw marks on my window sill earlier today.

The old woman looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked, "Yer not afraid?"

"I have to confess, I am a bit concerned, but I'm also intrigued by what sounds like a supernatural being when I don't believe in the supernatural. I'm sure there is an explanation for all of this and so called 'demon hounds' have nothing to do with it."

She shook her white haired head and muttered, "You have much ter learn abart this part of the world. Here at noight, the auld ways still apply an' the modern ways be damned!"

I smiled at her and said, "That is why I will be counting on you for your wisdom and experience in dealing with this Hellhound of yours."

She looked skeptically at me and remarked, "The Hellhound is not a kait an' daisy you can put in a cage an' charge admission ter see 'er. I can't say what she is, I can say she exists an' I think yer beginnin' ter believe in 'er too, otherwise you wouldn't be asken abart 'er."

Taking a sip from her tea, she paused a moment then concluded, "I can tell you this much, she wunt attack you unless yer alone. Stoy around others as much as you can an' don't go out at noight. You'll live much longer that way."

I finished my tea and said, "Well, I've done what I came to do and now, I've got to get back to the states and tie off some loose ends there before coming back here."

She smiled at me and said, "I haven't meant ter seem ungrateful, I really am. You gave me a powerful gift by givin' me the roight ter stay here. I can never repay yer generosity in a hundred years. Why did you do it? I have ter know."

I rose from my seat, looked down at her aged, withered form and said gently, "Your family has cared for this house for centuries, while my family scattered itself to the winds. You stayed an endured while we avoided our responsibility to you, this house and lands. As you say, one of my relatives is responsible for a young girl's death in childbirth and the coming of this Hellhound of yours."

The old woman smiled and replied, "You mean ours don't you? Through that hell spawn we are related, you an' I"

I grinned at her and retorted, "By that logic, you should have inherited this house and I would have never known."

I glanced out the window and noted the lengthening shadows of late afternoon. "Welp! I best get going before it gets too much darker, wouldn't want to have any unpleasant encounters."

She smiled at me as I let myself out and started out for my room back at the B&B.

Striding along, I walked past the cluster of barns and sheds all connected to the old house's imposing bulk.

While passing the last building, a barn, I paused a moment to take a photo.

The way the shadows of late afternoon fell across the weathered building had caught my eye, and I wanted to capture the fleeting moment.

In that moment, as I snapped the photo, I thought I saw a dark shape with glowing eyes looking out at me.

The next moment I was looking at an empty window frame, it was gone.

I wasted no time in getting back to my room at the B&B.

I had seen something that had moved and I wanted to get a better look at it behind the closed and locked, door and windows of my room.

Hopefully it would appear in the last photo I had taken.

Funny, I thought, I had poked around inside most of the outbuildings and had not noticed anything unusual...Boy was I mistaken!

Once back in my room and after closing and locking the bedroom windows that had been opened to air the room out.

I took out my camera and reviewed the last photo I had taken.

Centering the image on the empty window, I zoomed in on it in hopes of getting an image.

At nearly maximum zoom, I could just make out a dark shape with great wolflike ears and eyes like glowing embers...Holy Fuck!

The Hellhound was real.

I shuddered as I realized my mistake, I was well and truly fucked now.

This crazy legend was true after all, and I was its next target!

Remembering what the old woman had said about not being alone, I set out to at least be in the company of others this evening.

Before I left my room, I carefully rigged up a motion sensitive trigger for my camera, pointed it out the window and left it on.

If I did have a nocturnal visitor, the camera would fire its flash and hopefully, I would get a better look at my stalker.

I ate a quiet meal by myself as Nigel had departed for London with almost indecent haste!

I also drank in moderation as I wanted to be at least able to put up a token resistance.

It was nearly closing time when I made my way back to my room and saw that the camera had not fired off any shots and I figured maybe the hell hound had grown tired of waiting for me and had slunk home to her den, or where ever she holed up during the day.

Making doubly sure my window was secured, I took off my clothes and got under the covers.

I must've been more tired than I realized, because I slept quite soundly and woke to a sunny morning.

I rose and performed my morning ablutions and after dressing, I checked on the camera.

It had fired off six photos while I'd slept.

Most of the shots were of horny couples groping each other out behind the B&B.

A blonde haired woman down on her knees with her face buried in a man's crotch, another woman bent over with her skirt hiked up and her panties pulled down while a man stood closely behind her. And so on.

The last shot gave me pause.

It was her!

She was unmistakably female, humanoid in build, and what, a, build!

She was in a semi crouch so I couldn't judge how tall she was.

Her body was lithe and well muscled, she looked powerful.

Her head was amazing, she very large wolflike ears jutting up from her dark, manelike hair, and her large eyes did seem to have small flames emanating from them.

Her face was in my view, quite lovely with a well formed nose and a wide mouth with full lips that were formed into a half smile, just enough for her fangs to show.

It took me a minute to realize that she was covered with a short coat of dark fur, like a seal's.

Except for her forearms, legs and a tuft of brown gold hair between her impressive breasts.

That hair was much like the 'feathers' one sees on some dog breeds.

I found myself seeing her as a, dare I say it?

A lovely creature caught in an unguarded moment.

I deleted the other images and after composing a lengthy email, detailing my experiences thus far.

I sent that image and the text to my email address for just in case.

I also stressed that I did not want her harmed in any way, no matter what she may have done to me.

I spent the rest of the day making arrangements to return to the states, to settle up accounts there.

I also went to a market and bought several cases of canned meats and other preserved foods, these were loaded into the trunk, I mean boot, of a taxi cab to be delivered to the house.

At the house, I gave the old woman, (Named Mary, like my grandmother, by the way) the cases of canned meats, bags of preserved foods and the house keys.

At her mystified look, I gave her a copy of the photo and explained, "This will help keep her fed until I get back."

She plainly started when she saw the photo and in a near whisper, asked, "How did you get this?"

I told her about the motion sensitive trigger I'd set up to wait for her approach and Mary commented, "You may be the only geezer who 'as seen 'er an' lived to tell the tale."

She smiled and quipped, "Even if you did have ter chate a lickle!"

We hugged briefly and I promised Mary that I would return fairly soon.

As we drove away from the house, I glanced at the empty window where I had first seen the Hellhound as a darker shadow among the shadows.

There in the window, I distinctly saw those glowing ember eyes peering out at me.

For reasons unknown, even to me, I smiled and waved at her as we left the house behind.

The cabbie asked, "Relative of yours?"

"You could say that" I replied, "We're both connected to that house by a twist of fate."

He shrugged and continued on his way to Cardiff International Airport to drop me off.