CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Summary: Hermione Granger, an accomplished witch is working a particularly trying case and is in need of help. Deputy Sheriff Jordan Parrish is a hellhound and just the one she needs. When a fiery witch and a fire-proof supernatural being work together, sparks are sure to fly and Hermione and the Deputy find that they need each other for more than one reason. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters, they belong to J.K Rowling and the creators of Teen Wolf and MTV. This is purely for entertainment purposes and I am not making a profit from the posting of this. This is set after The Wild Hunt but disregards everything afterwards, so there was no war between the supernatural and humans, there is no Monroe or Gerard and there are no hunters. At least for now! Also, Parrish is 23 and Hermione is 24. Oh, and I'm fudging the time line a bit, too. This will be written mostly in Parrish's POV.
Page count: 5
She stared at it in horror, suddenly becoming aware of why no one was able to give them an accurate description of it, of why the witnesses were so traumatised that their memories couldn't be trusted. It was truly terrifying, more so than Voldemort and his Death Eaters had ever been.
The creature, it did look like a wolf but not at the same time. It was massive, she'd never seen a creature so big. It must've stood at nine-feet tall, being almost double her own height and certainly so in width. It had large pointed ears on the top of its head, but instead of a long snout it had a small nose much like a cat's. Its eyes were large and an abnormal bright, glowing blue and they were difficult to tear your gaze from. It had a mouth full of teeth and they were pointed and sharp, looking more like something you'd see on a shark. Its claws were so large and sharp they may as well have been talons and they were a dirty yellow colour. The fur was nowhere near what the witnesses had said, she'd been expecting black or a dark brown, but that couldn't have been any further from the truth. The fur was long in some places but shorter in others and a snowy-white colour, but there was no tail consistent with wolves either.
Just what was this creature?
Hermione felt her hand shaking in her terror and to had force herself to take a step back when the creature took a step towards her. The creature snarled viciously and continued to approach her. She didn't know how, but she found the courage to lift her wand and fire off a Stunner.
"Stupefy," she whispered, her voice shaky. The Stunner bounced off the creature, not affecting him in the least. "Flipendo! Impedimenta! Petrificus Totalus!"
She fired each spell in succession and they all bounced off the creature without so much as leaving a scratch, in fact, she only seemed to be angering it further as it sped in its steps to reach her. She panicked.
"Sectumsempra!" She called desperately.
The creature howled in pain as the nasty curse sliced open its skin and blood slowly began to drop from the wounds. She knew the spell hadn't affected it the way it would a human, but now she knew that it could be harmed and it wasn't invincible against all forms of magic.
The creature snarled at her before dropping onto all fours and charging at her, she let out a silent scream and turned to run, only she didn't have to. A blaring ball of fire bounded out from the trees and crashed into the creature, sending them both slamming into a tree and away from Hermione.
Hermione held her wand tightly and a hand against her mouth as she watched the creature and the hellhound wrestling and fighting, them both clawing and snarling at each other in their battle of strength and power.
The creature howled when its fur caught fire and burned at its skin before it turned and ran in the opposite direction, without a glance to her, her hellhound chased after it, taking his heat and light with him.
Hermione caught her breath as the terror she had felt faded slightly and she caught sight of a bloody branch and she approached it. Given the angle at which they'd both hit the tree, she knew the blood belonged to the creature and so she conjured another vial, this one larger and with her wand she cut several chunks off from the branch, placing them into the vial and then she shrunk it down and placed it into her pocket.
Deciding she no longer wanted to stay in the dark forest with nothing but dead bodies for company, she lit her wand and followed the trail of capsized trees, embers and blood. It was a few minutes later when she heard an agonised sound of pain and fear and worry coursed through her.
That hadn't been the creature, it'd been her hellhound.
No longer caring for her own safety and her only focus on getting to him so she could help him, she darted through trees and followed their trail until she came out at another clearing, only this one seemed to lead to a cliff face that over looked the lake below.
Her eyes searched for her hellhound but saw and heard nothing and so with heavy breathing and aching muscles, she slowly took a step forward, and then another until she was stood in the middle of the clearing and she slowly turned in a circle, the only light coming from the moon and her wand.
A deafening roar sounded and the creature stumbled out of the trees and straight towards her.
"Sectumsempra!" She yelled, knowing it was the only spell that had been able to harm it so far, and not wanting to waste time testing more.
The creature howled and stumbled slightly before it charged at her on all fours. She turned and ran from it, but she wasn't fast enough. She heard the fabric ripping as sharp claws picked her up by the back of her coat and threw her across the clearing, scratching the back of her neck and dropping her wand in the process.
She screamed before that was cut off as she hit the ground with such a force she knew she was going bruise as she hit her shoulder, elbow and hip. She continued roll across the ground and she tried to stop herself but knew she wouldn't be able to and that it would happen once her momentum slowed, except the edge of the cliff was nearing and she was running out of land.
With a hysterical scream she toppled straight over the edge of the cliff and before she crashed to her death, she was able to instinctively grab onto a rock ledge and it stopped her from falling.
She dangled over the lake at what must've been at least eighty-feet above ground and with only a small ledge keeping her from certain death. She continued to scream, unable to stop herself and she looked up, trying to figure out if she could reach the edge of the cliff and pull herself up, but with her shoulder killing her she knew she wouldn't make it. She was struggling to hold onto the rock ledge and she knew that if she didn't figure out a way to pull herself up, she'd fall from no longer being able to hold herself up; she could already feel her grip slipping and her arms weakening.
Bright amber eyes and flames appeared, hanging over the edge of the cliff and her screams cut off when she saw her hellhound with a few cuts on his face made by claws and he looked to have to some on his arms, too, as he leaned over the edge and held out both his hands to her so he could pull her up.
"No, you need to go after it," she called through her fear and panic.
"It's wounded and retreated," he replied, fear shining in his beautiful eyes but the calmness in his voice did help to calm her a little. "Take my hands and I'll pull you up."
"I can't, I hurt my shoulder, I'm barely holding on."
"Take my hand," he said more urgently.
She shook her head, tears leaking from her eyes as she looked down, deciding if she'd survive the fall or not.
"Hermione," that was Parrish's voice, not the hellhound's.
That captured her attention and she looked up, her eyes getting caught by the light brown orbs that belonged to Parrish, yet the fire still surrounded him and he still had his fangs and claws.
This was them working together. This was them working as one.
"Hermione, take my hand, I won't let you fall," he promised softly.
She looked back down to the ground and took a deep breath. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to hold her weight on her injured shoulder, but also knowing it was going to hurt her shoulder more when she reached up, she prepared herself for the pain. She quickly released her grip and lifted up, her hand being held tightly by his and she quickly did the same with the other. She gave a scream when she was lowered slightly and she bumped her knee against the cliff face.
"I've got you, you're not going to fall," he told her.
"If I do I'll haunt your arse until your last dying breath!" She shouted.
"You make it sound as though that'll be a punishment," he replied, his face calm but she could see the worry and fear in his eyes. He couldn't hide it from her.
He seemed to be getting his footing so to speak as she was lowered a little more before she was suddenly tugged upwards and she gave a scream of surprise as she was pulled straight over the cliff face and back onto solid ground. He toppled backwards and landed on his back and she fell on top of him, sprawled across his chest and both his arms wrapped around her, keeping her to him as they both breathed heavily.
"I told you not to get involved," this voice belonged to the hellhound and sure enough when she lifted her head, his eyes were once more amber.
She wiped away her tears and took a calming breath, feeling safe in his arms.
"You should know, I don't take well to being ordered about."
She pushed herself up and away from him, her eyes widened when she saw the extent of his injuries. Not only did he have claw marks on his face and arms, but he had deeper wounds on his stomach and whilst he wasn't bleeding, he did appear to be leaking lava and ash, a sight she'd never before seen.
"Merlin, you're hurt," she whispered.
"It will heal, I must stay this way in order for it to do so; we heal much faster in this form than the human one."
"I need to get you out of here in case it comes back; I need to get you somewhere clean and warm."
"It's not coming back, it's gone. Your magic hurt it badly and it's retreated to heal."
"Still, I should get you out of here, but if I move you I risk making your injuries worse," she worried her lip with her teeth and his hand rose to push her hair back from her face. "We'll have to stay here until you're better, can you walk?"
He nodded and she helped him to his feet, and despite his words, he stumbled with his steps so she supported him and guided him over to a large tree, where she set him down and he leaned back against the trunk.
"It will heal, my Goddess," he spoke after seeing her watching him worriedly.
He held his hand out to her, his sharp teeth and claws retracting until all that was left was the dancing flames and his beautiful eyes. She took his hand and he pulled her to him, settling her down between his parted legs and pulling her back to lean against him, despite the injuries to his torso.
"My wand," she muttered, before holding out her hand and summoning it, catching it when it flew straight into her palm.
"You are strong," he said, sounding tired but proud.
She didn't reply as she busied herself with setting a series of protective barriers around them, making sure that should someone happen upon them, not only would they not be able to see them, but they wouldn't be able to get close to them either. She did the same with animals, and placed a charm over them to keep them dry should it rain during the night. With a final alert ward settling into place with the others, she removed the contents of her pockets and set them off to the side, before removing her coat and transfiguring it into a blanket big enough to cover the both of them despite him not needing it.
"I know you are tired, get some sleep, I will keep you safe."
"I know," she replied, shuffling slightly so that her cheek pressed against his chest, over his heart and listening to his steady heart beat.