As I watched these men and woman file out of the store, my eyes drifted over Nathan and his three dogs. Basked in the bright white lights of the shop, I could see the man more clearly than I had in the dim glow of the lantern deep below the city. He was big and powerful in appearance, even buried in the dark layers of a black sweater and dark jeans. His unshaven, lined face showed no signs of struggle as he held the three dogs' leashes with one hand.

However, is wasn't like the dogs were putting up much resistance. The three of them stood at attention. The smallest of the three had long, floppy ears and kept its nose to the ground. The biggest had a large, slobbery mouth and was panting profusely as it watched the people filing out.

The third one was Hero.

Wait...

"A bit slow, aren't you?" a new voice asked inside my head, a short, dry, laugh following the question. "I might just be insulted. Don't ya remember the last time we met?"

A German Shepherd stepping out from the fog. A dog that used to smile and wink at me before things went full on crazy. An animal that talked to me.

'Sorry, kid. Nothing personal.'

"Aha! You do remember!" Hero exclaimed, letting out an excited yip that made Nathan flinch. "For a second, I was worried I didn't make an impression."

"What is the meaning of all this?" Lady Louise asked. I had to squirm again as her surprisingly strong arms squeezed against me. "Son plans to murder me in cold blood within the walls of her own city? Does she intend to provoke the wrath of Wildwood so wantonly?"

Nathan watched the last of the people leave the store before turning back to the Lady with a cruel smile. "Ain't Son or any of us going to touch a hair on your head, lady." He lowered his gun while raising the hand that held the leashes. "That's what these dogs are for."

"I was hoping I'd see you again, sooner rather than later," Hero went on, his tail wagging. "Too bad these humans had to be involved too, right? Always gotta be making things more complicated than they need to."

"It does not have to happen this way," Lady Louise pressed. "Whatever your boss, Son, is after, allying with a monster like Terrebonne is not the way to achieve it. She will leave a trail of blood and misery you will not be able to simply walk away from."

"You speakin' from experience?" Nathan asked, suddenly losing his confident grin.

The Lady opened her mouth. I felt her take in a breath, but no words escaped her lips. Nothing but a strangled whimper that I thought only I could hear.

"Your Lady has a strange imagining of how things went down," Hero's voice whispered in my head. "Oh, and Mutt says hi, by the way."

My eyes shot back to the two dogs at the Shepherd's side. After a few moments of pounding heart beats and a suddenly dry mouth, I felt a strange mixture of relief and disappointment wash over me. Both dogs had all four of their legs.

"Sorry, should of said he wasn't here to begin with." Hero smiled. The same smile from all those years ago. "But should you be surprised? My Master won't let him near those life-sucking ghosts you call the Lady and her daughter."

I thought about considering the words he said. Or, rather, I tried to consider even thinking about it. It didn't last long.

"Where is she keeping him."

"Funny, she said somethin' similar about you," Nathan went on, taking a few steps forward. Hero and the dogs mirrored his movements. "Not that it much matters to me. What Son is after ain't exactly what I'm after, get it?"

Lady Louise pressed herself against the railing of the stairs. I glanced down for a moment to watch one of her shaking legs ascend a single step.

"You sure got a hell of a lot more gumption since I last saw you," Hero continued to whisper, his deep voice taking on a note of surprise. His smile went no where. "But what makes you think you're gonna be gettin' anything out of me?"

"Son doesn't know you're here," the Lady said in a shaking voice, all pretense of confidence gone.

"She will soon." Nathan reached over and unclipped the two dogs on either side of Hero. "So let's make this quick, yeah? Sick her!"

The two dogs looked to where Nathan pointed—to the Lady. Instead of attacking, they down cast their eyes and lowered their heads towards Hero.

Hero still only had eyes for me.

"How about this," the familiar said, taking a single step towards the Lady and I. "Show me you got the guts to back up that gumption. Fight me, one-on-one. Do that, and I'll send my brother and sister up those stairs to keep your friends busy, instead of, you know..."

Instead of killing the Lady.

Hero's smile widened. "Well, I wasn't going to say it."

"The hell's the holdup?" Nathan shouted, waving his gun in the direction of Lady Louise.  "Kill her already you useless fucks!"

"What is he telling you?" Lady Louise whispered in my ear. Her eyes drifted between Hero and I. "What does he want?"

The Shepherd barked once and the two dogs turned and were suddenly growling, baring their teeth, and stalking slowly towards the Lady and I. I wiggled and squirmed against the Louise's arms until she was forced to let go. The white tiles of the floor felt unnaturally cold against my paws as I scampered the few feet needed to plant myself between her and the dogs.

"What's this?" Nathan said with a loud chortle. "You taught that little thing to fight?"

"Foxy...?" Lady Louise called, uncertainly.

The two dogs stopped when I approached, but did not lower their haunches or cease their growls. I switched my glaring between them, trying a growl of my own that didn't sound very threatening, even to me. Even if, by some miracle, I could somehow kill the smaller dog, there was no way I could keep both occupied long enough for the Lady to escape. Just one bite from that large, slobbery one would be enough to end her.

My only choice was...

"You're brave, kid. You've proved that much." Hero let out another, even shorter, bark and the two dogs continued their progression—both now making their way straight for me. "But you aren't stupid, either. I'm givin' you a chance here out of the kindness in my heart. Prove yourself to me. Fight me."

"For fuck's sake," Nathan grumbled, reaching over and unclipping Hero's leash. "Terrebonne said you're their pack leader or some shit, right? Get them to stop stalling with that fucking fox."

"What will it be, Foxy?"

I glanced from him, to the two dogs nearly upon me, and back to the Lady who had fallen against the stairs. Just what was she trying to prove, acting all stupid and brave waltzing into the city like this? What was the deal between her and the Madame that was making the both of them go through so much to try and get rid of each other?

It was ironic, I guess. I had months of peace and quiet to find out, but just didn't care. And, now that I did, I was probably going to die before I found out.

A low rumble of thunder caught my ears. Beyond the revolving door behind Nathan and the dogs, the first few drops of rain began to stain the concrete. I tried, and probably failed, to flash Hero a smile of my own. "Why not? Hornroot will be through with you guys before this is all over."

Hero tilted his head. "Oh?" His smile widened further than I had ever seen it. "So that's what the bastard's name is. Fitting."

Before I could come into full realization of what I had done, the Shepherd barked twice. His two companions immediately turned from growling at me to making a beeline for the Lady. They were faster than I could have ever anticipated. The two dogs were upon her before I even fully turned around.

Or they would have been, if she was their target. The darkly clothed witch practically fell against the stair railing as the two dogs barreled past her. They flew up the stairs and disappeared in a matter of seconds.

"Like we agreed, Foxy," the deep, throaty voice taunted. "I'll leave your Lady alone, as long as you fight me."

I turned back to face the dog, not surprised to see the unnatural smile on his face going nowhere.

What did surprise me was seeing Nathan drawing his gun on the prone witch.

"Enough of this shit," the man swore before making that ominous clicking noise with his gun.

It was almost like déjà vu, the feeling that was instilled upon me as I went from watching Hero smiling right at me, to seeing him clamp his jaws around Nathan's wrist. Just like when Mutt grabbed Stallion's hat. I barely caught it.

The man in question did not even have time to fire off a shot before he was pulled to the ground, cursing and screaming as the dog shook his arm around like a chew toy. The gun didn't last long being gripped in his hand and, as soon as it hit the tiled floor, the Shepherd kicked it with one of it's hind legs, sending it sliding across the floor. Only after that was done did he release Nathan's arm. Though it was now less of an arm and more of a crippled, bleeding mess that the man held close to his body like a baby as he crawled away from the dog.

"Sit. Stay. Good boy." The voice of the Shepherd echoed in my head as Hero watched Nathan curl up under a rack of clothes. I couldn't help but flinch when the pointed face turned back to me, it's renewed smile dripping with blood. "Such a shame he can't hear us. Wouldn't have had to resort to somethin' so violent otherwise."

"Doesn't really seem like you guys are on the same team," I said as I readjusted myself so I stood more equally between the Lady and the dog. "Almost like he doesn't know what you really are."

"Obviously. You think my Master would waste her breath on scum like him?" the Shepherd angled his head back towards the man cowering under the clothes. "This city is practically filled with know-nothing's like him. Those who hurt others, threaten others, and act like the baddest of the bad up until the shit starts blowing back on them. That's when you see their real ugliness."

            A series of violent crashing penetrated the silence from the floor above us. I heard the sounds of effort as the Lady tried to regain her feet.

"That's when you see their cowardice. The fear and the regret."

Hero started to take slow, deliberate steps towards me and, damn it all, every instinct in my small body told me to back away—to run and never look back. So, like I am want to do, I stubbornly ignored the obvious signs and held my ground.

"All the ugliness of their actions, all the cruel things they did. To know that all of it could have been stopped if someone just challenged them. If someone just hurt them. Doesn't that piss you off just thinking about it?"

The muscles in my legs tensed. A few strategies against a dog nearly three times my size swirled in my head, surprisingly enough, but they all meant nothing against an opponent that could read my mind. I would just have to do what I've always done and—

"Improvise?" the dog finished for me. His damn smile just wouldn't go away. "I really am surprised someone like you even made it to this stage. Have you even been listening to what I'm saying? I would have thought you would have liked to keep tryin' to stall for time by humoring me."

"There's not really a point, right?" I echoed back. I tried my best to keep my shaking legs still. "Whatever you're doing, whatever pointless things you're saying, it's all just to mess with me, isn't it? That's all you've done from the start. From the very first moment I met you."

The dark shape hidden amidst the fog. My earliest memory. The confusion, followed by surprise, then unknowable dread. My first feelings. Try as I might, and even after several years, I could see and feel it all like it was yesterday. I could not forget it.

I nearly leapt backwards when Hero suddenly let out a few excited yips. His tail wagged back and forth so fast it was nearly a blur. "Oh, I'm beginning to really like you, Foxy. Maybe enough to tell you the truth. But, first, let's see if you're more than just a smart mouth."

And, then, Hero was lunging towards me. In a single bound, he cleared the distance between us, his jaws wide and ready to receive me.