Nails scraped on stone as the closest hound moved. I held my breath as a heavy black head laid itself in my lap. Biting my lip, I raised a tentative hand and touched the creature’s wide forehead. The hair was thick but softer than I’d imagined and I pushed my fingers through it, amazed by the texture. “What a beautiful beast you are,” I said as my fear gave way to wonder.

The hound let out a shuddering sigh as my hands rubbed its powerful jaw and thick neck. Whimpering nearby made me look up at the second dog that had ventured closer but hadn’t decided whether or not to trust me yet.

“It’s okay,” I crooned to him. “I know exactly how you feel. I have trouble trusting people too.”

The second hound inched forward until his nose rested on my ankle. I continued to pet the huge head on my lap while directing more calming power at his brother.

“A most interesting picture,” said a heavily accented voice I’d hoped to never hear again. “A tamer of trolls and the devil’s beasts. So many gifts you have, young one. Such a curiosity. It is no wonder so many seek to possess you.”

The Hale witch stood in the doorway to the room we were headed for before the hounds arrived. The white around his dark pupils stood out in sharp contrast to his dark skin and his white tattoos seemed to shift in the dimly lit cellar. He looked well recovered from our last encounter, but he did not instill the same fear in me this time.

“Are you as curious as you were a few hours ago?” I challenged and I saw in his eyes the remembered pain of our earlier show down. The head in my lap lifted at the edge in my voice and I scratched it soothingly. Remy stood silently beside me.

The witch’s lips twisted in a small smile. “Curious, yes. Foolhardy, no. I see now that there is much more to you than I was given to understand.”

“Pretty words, but forgive me if I don’t believe you,” I scoffed. I was suddenly grateful for the two hulking beasts between me and him.

He stepped into the room and the hound at my feet growled. “See? Who am I to provoke one who commands the devil’s own?”

“I don’t command anything.” I ran a hand through the thick fur of the dog’s neck and he gave a rumbling sigh. “They’ve never known kindness before. I just showed them how it feels.” I realized I had stopped using my power the moment the witch arrived. The hellhounds were under no one’s influence but their own.

The Hale witch stared at me with open fascination. “Compassion and kindness are powers unto themselves if wielded correctly. Look at these beasts – they will serve no other master now. Yusri al-Hawwash will not be happy to lose two valuable servants along with his cargo.”

Remy made a threatening sound at hearing his little cousins referred to as cargo. I reached over to pat his leg and Remy laid a hand on my shoulder.

Our interaction didn’t go unnoticed by the witch. “And did you show the troll kindness as well to gain its allegiance?”

“No. His kindness gained mine.”

Muffled thuds upstairs and faraway sounds of shouting made us all look at the ceiling. It was the first sounds of other people since Remy and I had entered the house and it reminded me that we had no time to dawdle down here. I had no idea if it was the Mohiri or my werewolf friends fighting up there or what could come down those stairs at any moment.

I gently pushed the heavy head off my lap and got to my feet with my knife in hand. The hounds stayed on the floor looking up at me expectantly.

“We know the trolls are down here and we’re going to get them now,” I said.

The witch put up his tattooed hands. "I will not stop you. I came here to fulfill a debt and it has been repaid. My part in this is done.”

“I heard that your people never work with vampires, that you hate demons. Why are you helping them?”

He scowled. “I do not work with demons. I had to honor my debt. But as I said, my debt has been paid.”

“So you won’t try to stop us?”

“Were you alone, I might try,” he answered honestly. “You are a mystery to me. Your power runs deep and mostly untouched, and yet you have no desire to explore it. I would like to see how deep it really is but I think that will have to wait for another day.”

To prove it, he stepped aside and waved us toward the room behind him. I took Remy’s hand and we backed along the wall to the doorway. The dogs watched us and I put out my hand and said “Stay.” I had no idea if they could understand the command but they did not move.

At the doorway, I said, “You said others want to possess me. What did you mean by that?”

He laughed and the sound echoed chillingly off the cellar walls. “That I cannot say. I am still bound by an oath of silence. But I will tell you what I know that they do not, what my far sight shows me. Those who hunt you will ultimately give you the power to become the thing they fear the most.”

I scowled at his cryptic words. “That tells me nothing.”

“Then I have not broken my oath.”

“Well , maybe you can answer another question for me.” He raised his eyebrows and I asked a question that had been niggling at me for a few days. “You set those rats on us at the marina so you had to know where we were. Why didn’t you tell your friends we were under the dock?”

His white teeth showed when he smiled. “You intrigued me when you pushed me out of the rodent’s mind. I had never met someone who could best me and I wanted to take you on myself, to see if you were as worthy an opponent as you seemed to be. It felt… disrespectful to let you be taken by brute force after such a display.”