Must Love Hellhounds

beg you, please, don’t let her get the apples. Save the boy. And whatever you do, don’t eat them.”
    “I’ll do it,” Raphael said simply.
    “The shrine’s guarded by a serpent, but it won’t last against Spider Lynn’s vampires for long. Take the bracelet off my arm. It’s keyed to the ward that’s guarding the shrine. Lynn has enough magic to force herself past the defensive spell, but it will leave her weakened. She’ll need time to recover. You won’t.”
    A deafening roar shook the house. Cerberus had found us.
    “He’s come for me.” Alex smiled. “It’s time to go. Take the bracelet. It will unlock the ward and let you pick up the apples.”
    Raphael slipped the simple metal loop off the corpse’s right wrist and placed it over his own. The bracelet barely enclosed two thirds of his wrist. “Are you really going to Hades?”
    “I don’t know,” Alex said. “But the last of my power is fading. My body is dead, Raphael. I can no longer hold on to it. Earth is the home of the living, not the dead. Don’t mourn me. My life was full and well lived. I was fortunate. Some might even say blessed. I only wish that I had lived a few days longer so I could destroy the apples myself instead of forcing this burden on you. That and your mother’s tears are my only regrets.”
    Aunt B rose, picked up the corpse, and strode outside. We followed her. She walked onto the lawn. They said something to each other, too quiet to hear, and then she lowered him into the grass and stepped away.
    The trees rustled. A giant shape muscled through the trunks and trotted into the open, its three heads close to the ground. The center head sniffed Alex’s body and picked it up, clamping it in its great fangs.
    “Take care of your mother, Raphael,” a ghostly voice called out.
    The body burst into flames. The great dog howled and vanished.
    Raphael’s eyes shone once, catching the moonlight. “Are you with me?”
    “Who else will protect your furry butt?”
    “I’m coming, too,” Aunt B said.
    Raphael shook his head. “We’ve got this.”
    Her eyes flashed with red, a precursor to an alpha stare.
    “He didn’t want you involved,” Raphael said. “He asked me, not you. The clan needs you.”
    “We’ve got it.” I nodded.
    We turned our backs on her and headed to the Jeep. “Did we just defy your mother, who’s also your alpha?” I murmured.
    “Yes, we did.”
    I glanced over my shoulder and saw Aunt B standing there with a bewildered look on her face. “Let’s go faster before she realizes that.”
    The magic was up and Boom Baby was useless. I took a crossbow and bolts from the Jeep and followed Raphael into the woods. He broke into a run, inhumanly fast in warrior form, and I struggled to keep up.
     
     
     
    Half a mile later Raphael stopped. “The magic is up,” he said softly.
    “I know.”
    “You’re slower in this form.”
    I had run as fast as I could. When we were both in human form, I was faster. But in warrior form, he beat me.
    “You can’t keep up.”
    I realized what he was saying. “No.”
    “Andrea . . .”
    “No!”
    “We’re short on time,” he said. “There’s a little boy out there with at least two vampires. We don’t even know if he’s alive.”
    My heart hammered in my chest. “You don’t understand. I lose control when I’m her.”
    “Andrea, please,” he said. “We’re losing time.”
    I closed my eyes. He was right. We had to save the boy. We had to get the apples away from Lynn. I had to . . .
    I stripped off my clothes and reached to the beast living inside me. She smiled and leapt out, flowing over my arms, my legs, my back, giving me her strength. My bones stretched, my muscles swelled, and there I stood, revealed and naked.
    The shapeshifters got a choice: human, warrior form, or animal. I had only two: the human me and the secret me.
    Raphael’s eyes shone with red. He ran.
    I swiped up my crossbow and then dropped it. My claws were too long. I wouldn’t be able to work it. I’d have to fight with my claws and teeth. I grabbed the little toy car and hid it in my fist.
    Raphael was a mere shadow in the distance. I burst into a run. It felt like flying, light and easy. My muscles welcomed the exertion and I sprinted, catching him with ease. Together we dashed through the woods, two humanoid nightmares, fast and slick, our voices faint whispers on the draft.
    “I can’t see you.”
    “I don’t want you to see me.” I purposely