Okay, this was a fast update no?
Well I couldn't put this one off! And this chapter turned out to be pretty long!
Enjoy! =D

Chapter 9

This was exactly what she had expected and feared because no matter what, there was no turning back. But no matter how much prepared she had been to hear those words, they had still hit her like a moving bus on a highway. She felt dizzy and disoriented. As she gulped her drink in one go and felt it burn her throat as it went down, she hardly registered the pain in her throat rather felt it in her heart. It seemed to her as though those words were squeezing the life out her. And she was expected to be strong about it. She was supposed to act like nothing was wrong. How could she? It was too much to ask of her. She couldn't act like nothing was wrong because in truth everything was wrong. And there was almost nothing she could do about it. Sobbing only took her as far as relieving her own anxiety for a little while. And then sure enough it came back again.

'Another one,' she told the bartender who immediately placed another small glass of clear liquid in front of her. She even lost count how many she had and frankly she couldn't care less. She didn't even make any effort to rub the tears off her cheeks because they kept falling. The bar was pretty busy which she was thankful about. The more the people, the easier it was for her to keep under the radar.

'Had a rough day?' a voice asked from beside her.

Well someone was bound to notice her sooner or later. Going completely unnoticed was too much to hope for when she was crying a goddamn ocean.

She turned her face slightly. The inquirer was a tall, lean man who took a seat on the high stool beside hers. His dark chocolate hair a mess which made her doubt if he had ever in his life ran a comb through it. His eyes behind those rimless glasses were the lightest blue she had ever seen but it somehow fit perfectly with the color of his hair.

The bartender came and asked what he wanted.

'Whatever she's having,' he replied. Even in that state she couldn't help but notice he had a nice voice. Somewhat warm and reassuring.

The bartender placed his drink in front of him and she said, 'Looks like you had one too.' She wasn't surprised to that her voice had gone heavy. The words had almost come out as a croak.

The man smiled. 'No, not a rough one,' he said. 'Just an exhausting one.'

She didn't reply. She turned away hastily rubbing the tears off her face with the back of her hand.

'So what happened?' the man asked kindly. 'I'm a complete stranger. So it doesn't really matter if you tell me unless of course you're on the run from the law or something.'

She shook her head with a slight smile. 'Not on the run,' she clarified.

'Well, that's a relief,' the man said. 'So what's wrong?'

'I don't really want to talk about it,' she said.

The man nodded. 'Perfectly understandable,' he said. 'So if you're not telling me anything, I might as well introduce myself. Evan,' he said extending his hand.

She took his hand and gave him a small smile. She should have been annoyed at him by now for invading her space but she couldn't find her annoyance anywhere. She couldn't even understand how it was that she was smiling at that stranger of a man at a time like this.

'So how was your day tiring?' she asked, turning away and absently tracing her finger on the brim of the empty glass in front of her. She noticed that Evan had not yet touched his drink.

'Writer's block,' Evan answered simply.

'Books or journalism?' she asked.

'A little bit of both,' Evan replied. 'But I hardly guess you came across my work. Not really bestseller material, you know.'

'I think you're being modest,' she said.

'Guilty,' Evan replied with a crooked smile. 'How could you tell?'

This made her laugh. 'Not so modest now I see.'

'It doesn't last long,' he replied. 'Anyway it made you laugh. Mission accomplished, I guess.' He gave a one shouldered shrug. 'So what do you do for survival?'

'Listen to people cry,' she answered.

'Sad, now there's no one's here to listen to you cry,' Evan said.

'I manage,' she replied. She rubbed her forehead. There was a sudden ache. 'I should go,' she said. 'It was nice talking to you.'

Evan nodded. As soon as she stepped down from the stool, she lost her balance. She held the edge of the counter to prevent herself from falling. But then suddenly Evan was also behind her holding her steady by her shoulders.

'I'll drop you off,' he said. 'You've had way too much.'

She didn't protest. 'As long as you're not a serial killer or anything.'

'I'm not,' Evan replied. 'But I guess a serial killer would say that too.'

She sighed. 'Maybe I'll take a taxi.'

'You'll have tough luck finding one now,' Evan pointed out. 'Look, I'll take you home. No funny business. I'll leave my identity with the bartender so he'll know what to tell the police if I'm a serial killer.'

She thought about it for a moment. 'Good enough.'

She heard Evan speak with the bartender and she saw the bartender give him an amused smile. And then he led out of the bar and to his car. She'd have to come back and get her own car in the morning when she was sober.

'Tell me where to go,' Evan said. She did. She gave him her address.

When he stopped the car in front of her home he said, 'There you go. Safe and healthy.'

'Thanks,' she replied, getting out of the car carefully.

Evan put his head out the window. 'Can I see you again sometime?'

She hesitated.

'What, haven't I proved that I come bearing no ill intentions?' Evan said.

'I'm drunk and you don't even know my name,' she said.

'I'm guessing there's a lot more to you when you're not drunk that I'm curious to know about,' Evan replied. 'And as for names you already know mine and you can simply tell me yours.'

She didn't reply. She observed him with an amused look. Even though it was already dark, the street lamp nearby provided enough light for her to look at everything clearly enough.

Evan shook his head. He fumbled with a pen and a piece of paper wrote something down and then gave it to her. 'Here, this is my number,' he said. 'Give me a call if you ever feel like it.'

She took the piece of paper and looked upon the digits written there.

'Nice meeting you,' Evan said and started his car.

She looked up from the paper and then at him.

'Jenna,' she said which made Evan turn his head to look at her. 'My name. It's Jenna.'

Evan gave her one last smile and drove away.

'I'll be leaving now,' Cody said getting up from the bank of Phlegethon and making his sword vanish in a million droplets of water. 'Oh by the way Nate, there's a party at Steve's house. Open invitation. Must be fun.'

'I'll pass,' Nathan said standing up, his own sword vanishing silently in smoke.

Cody rolled his eyes. 'You're replies have ceased to surprise me. It's the perks of high school. Just live a little. If you don't come voluntarily I'll be compelled to resort to force.'

Now it was Nathan's turn to roll his eyes. 'Fine I'll be there,' he said just to shut Cody up. Because when Cody said force he basically meant he'll talk Nathan into going and Nathan had no wish to sit and listen to one of his never ending pep talks. He could just go show his face to Cody and then get back here within a minute. That saved a lot of pain.

'I knew I could convince you,' Cody said.

Suddenly an uncontrollable chill descended upon the whole Underworld. There was no sound anywhere. Not even sounds of breathing. Cody shivered. Nathan who was more used to this criteria of the Underworld looked rather grim, almost scared.

'Father's angry,' Nathan stated quietly.

'Well, then it's time for me to leave,' Cody whispered scared to speak in a loud voice.

Nathan nodded.

'Well, see you.' With that he started to walk away from Phlegethon.

Nathan furrowed his eyebrows at Cody's quickly disappearing form. Even though he was trying his utmost hardest to hide it, Nathan could sense something was seriously bothering the son of Poseidon. And what was it that had made his father so angry that the whole of the Underworld could sense his anger?

'Whatever you say is pure based on speculation,' Hades said in an icy tone. 'I shall have no part in this.'

'And what, may I ask will you do when the problem does come on your doorstep?' Aphrodite asked coldly.

'I'll deal with it when it does,' Hades replied. 'And as I wish. I will not have my son imprisoned in his own home due to a mere whim that you are having.'

'You don't understand the depth of the problem here!' Aphrodite snapped her eyes flaring.

'As a matter of fact, I do better than most and that sadly includes you,' Hades replied. 'I am the God of the Underworld, the God of Death after all. Who better understand the problem than myself?'

'Then you should-,' Aphrodite started but Hades impatiently interrupted.

'Enough,' he said. He didn't shout it but the coldness and power his voice carried was enough to commence silence in almost the whole of the Underworld. Even Aphrodite fell silent. 'I have heard enough. You come in my realm and blame my son of a crime he has not even committed yet. And you expect me to act on your caprice. That is not going to happen. That is my final word.'

'Zeus-.'

'I care not in the slightest what my dear brother thinks!' Hades snapped.

Aphrodite looked deeply annoyed. 'Is that your final word?'

'It is,' Hades replied.

Aphrodite got up to leave.

'Oh and also let me make this very clear, if you or anyone else for the matter attempt to hurt Nathan, you will have me to answer to.'

'It is time you swallow your pride Hades and help the Gods,' Aphrodite said. 'Your true allegiance lies with the Gods.'

Hades laughed. 'I will swallow my pride, Aphrodite as soon as all of you up there on top the mountain are done swallowing your own,' Hades said. 'If you required my help so much then maybe you lot should have thought twice before banishing me off the mountain.'

Aphrodite was about to retaliate when Hades said, 'Leave. You have wasted enough of my time.

With one last cold look at Hades, Aphrodite turned on her feet and left.

When Nathan stepped inside the party, the first thing that came to his mind was, 'Gods this is loud!'

He refrained himself from putting his hands up to cover his ears. In every corner of the house teenagers were screaming, shouting, talking. Music was blasting from the speakers in maximum volume. He had never seen so many high schoolers in one place at one time, not even in school. The place was completely packed. And not to mention what everyone seemed to be doing there. All sense of morals seemed to have cleared off the place. And on top of that there was hardly space to move between all the people all of whom seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

He pushed his way through the corridor because he thought he had spotted Cody in the backyard through the open back door and because survival in the packed corridors was truly a challenge.

'Oh look at you,' Cody told him as soon as Cody spotted him struggling his way through the corridors to the (thankfully) less crowded backyard. 'Finally out of the rugged place and all.'

Nathan ignored his comment. 'And what am I supposed to do here?'

'Oh I can think of a few things,' said a voice that definitely wasn't Cody's.

Nathan and Cody turned in unison to see who had spoken. The beautiful face of Kayla Brown was looking at Nathan with the most seductive smile on her face.

Cody scoffed. Kayla threw him an annoyed look but that only lasted for a second before turning back to Nathan again, her face devoid of the previous annoyance.

'So what do you say son of Hades?' Kayla asked again. 'Wanna try out a few of my ideas?'

Cody shook his head. 'Good luck with that,' he told Nathan. 'I'll go have some real fun, the non hypocritical type.' With that Cody started to walk away. Then suddenly he turned and faced Nathan again. 'Just a fair warning Nate, her ideas usually come and bite you in the ass later.' Without glancing at Kayla, Cody turned and walked away towards the other end of the yard where he was instantly intercepted by another girl with long black hair.

Nathan noticed Kayla roll her eyes before addressing him with the same smile as though Cody had not even opened his mouth.

'So now that the nuisance is gone,' said Kayla still smiling at him. 'How about going somewhere more private?'

Nathan looked at her trying to understand her. There was definitely something odd about the girl. Or were all Aphrodite's offspring like that? No they couldn't be. He knew Eros. He was a good and friendly enough chap. So what was with her? Unconsciously Nathan suddenly found himself comparing Kayla's smile with Alex's. There was nothing inviting about the way Alex smiled. No underlying meaning to it. They were just genuine. And the complete opposite of how Kayla was smiling at him now. Kayla's smile just screamed the words 'motives' to his face.

Thinking about Alex he suddenly wondered where Alex was right now. He didn't need to look for her to know that she wasn't at this party. Then he realized Kayla was still looking at him waiting for an answer.

'Er, I have work to do,' Nathan said hesitantly. He knew that he would be doing himself a favor by heeding Cody's warning.

'But didn't you just arrive?' Kayla purred. 'C'mon Davies don't be such a bore.'

'Why the sudden interest in me then?' Nathan asked furrowing his eyebrows.

'Oh aren't you naïve?' Kayla said. 'You're in almost every girl's interest in this school.'

'I'm flattered,' Nathan said flatly. 'But I really should get going.'

'You don't sound very flattered,' Kayla told him trailing her index finger down his chest. Nathan caught her hand and let it fall. He shrugged and without another word pushed past her towards the front entrance so he could escape the noise and the throng of the house.

'Aww man, that was my pathetic fall,' Logan complained. 'Why do always have to draw these things? I made some amazing flips but no, you just had to draw that!'

Alex laughed.

'Oh and now you laugh!' Logan rolled his eyes but smiled all the same. The sun had already fallen when they had set out for their homes. The streets were still bright thanks to the street lights. And Logan and Alex were having a laugh at all the drawings Alex had made.

'Er I'll still take this,' Logan said. 'The twins will have a laugh at this.'

'Sure,' Alex said, handing him the page.

'So what's up at home?' Logan asked tentatively and Alex could hear the concern in his voice. 'Why'd you go off to Jenna's?'

Alex shrugged. She had debated countless times about telling Logan the truth but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She could picture Logan's face if she told him and it wasn't a very encouraging one. So she always backed out.

'Nothing,' she said. 'Just felt like spending time with Jenna.'

Logan raised both his eyebrows.

'Really Alex, I'm not really the brightest person out there but even I can tell that you're lying,' Logan said.

'Really Logan, I just wanted a change of environment,' Alex said. 'A little break from dad's pressuring maybe.'

This time Logan nodded, understanding.

'I don't see why your dad's not understanding about this,' Logan said.

Alex shrugged again. 'He just has a lot of expectations from David and me,' she said.

'All parents do but-.'

'Drop it Logan,' Alex said. 'Talking about it really won't fix anything.'

Logan sighed. 'But what are you going to do?' he asked her. 'Are actually going to go into med school and leave all this behind?' He indicated her art book.

'I don't know,' Alex said. 'Hopefully it will all work out.'

Logan furrowed his eyebrows. He could sense that Alex's reply wasn't at all hopeful. If anything it was downright rueful. Before Logan could ask anything, Alex came to a halt. Logan stopped to find that they had already reached his place. He shook his head.

'I'll walk you home,' he said.

'Don't be stupid,' Alex said. 'Your house is right there. There's no need for you to walk me home and come all the way back here.'

'I can't let you walk home all by yourself,' Logan said. 'It's pretty late and not to mention dark.'

'We most probably live in the most boring neighborhood in the country,' Alex said. 'Nothing happens around here. Plus Jenna's place is pretty close. It'll be no problem.'

Logan hesitated.

'Go home Logan,' Alex said. 'If something does happen you won't be able to save my ass even if you are with me.'

This made Logan roll his eyes at her. 'I'll take that as a major insult.'

'As you should,' Alex replied indifferently.

Logan shook his head again. Alex was always so blunt and straightforward with everything. Logan was used to that by now, so it didn't bother him. Plus somehow he understood that Alex wanted to walk alone for a while. It always helped her think.

'Okay, fine,' he gave in. 'Just give me a call when you reach home then.'

'Will do,' Alex said glad that Logan understood. Logan walked inside his house.

Alex sighed and started walking to Jenna's place putting her art book inside her bag. She hoped that Jenna was home. She was pretty sure Jenna didn't go home after dropping her off at Logan's place in the evening. Maybe she was somewhere crying her eyes out now. Something she was preventing from doing in front of Alex for the whole ride to Logan's place. Shouldn't those words have made Alex cry too? Alex was sort of surprised to find that she was indifferent to the whole thing. The only reactions she had given were raise her eyebrows and shrug her shoulders. She felt unnaturally bad for making Jenna go through this. But what other option did she have anyway? She consoled herself by making herself believe that Jenna would move past it soon enough.

She crossed the lane Logan's house was in and walked to the other one. The neighborhood usually fell very quite during this time. Everyone was either home or somewhere else. The streets usually stayed pretty much deserted. As she walked she thought if she was making the right decision by not telling her parents anything. Or David. Immediately she shook the doubt away. It was definitely the right decision. David would be devastated. But then she thought, how long could she hide it really? Then she shook the question away again. As long as I can.

She felt the temperature suddenly drop a little and she hugged her jacket closer. A whistling wind blew from behind her making the fallen autumn leaves rustle forward on the ground. These sort of whistling winds always made her feel creepy and they were creepier still when she was on a deserted street. She shuddered a little and then ignored the wind and walked on.

She stopped short of her hurried walk when she heard the noise. The mordacious growling noise. First it seemed to be coming from somewhere far away. Maybe the wind was carrying the sound this far? She turned and looked behind her to find nothing there. She turned front again and placed a step forward to resume walking when she froze. Her breathing stopped and she dared not to blink.

In front of her was standing a dog. And it scared the hell out of Alex. Because there was something very carnal and ferocious about the dog. She wasn't even sure if she should call that a dog. Its eyes were red in the most unnatural way. Like it had rubies there instead of eyeballs. It was baring its teeth at her. Its canines going way past its lower jaw and dripping in saliva. It was bigger than Ceb, her German shepherd who was now fully grown. And she started wishing that somehow Ceb was there with her. Maybe he could get her out of this.

The hound was now staring at her unblinking. Looking into its eyes she knew that it was ready to kill. It was out for blood. God, could her luck get any better? It had to be her didn't it? She couldn't walk by the street peacefully now without running into some vicious dog with rabies.

She didn't move a muscle. She didn't even dare to breathe properly. She knew if she so much as moved a muscle the dog would jump on her in less than a second.

As soon as Nathan stepped out of the boisterous environment of the house and hit the street he heaved a sigh of relief. Once he got him alone he decided that he would kill Cody. What was the point of coming to the party again?

He started walking away from the house in case Kayla decided to follow him out. There was something going on with Kayla. Cody was hell bent to find out what but till date he didn't have much success on the matter.

He walked aimlessly for a few minutes because he didn't feel like going back to the Underworld yet. He knew as soon as he set foot there the Minotaur would be standing in front of him feeding him with more problems to be solved. How his father handled everything alone before he arrived was beyond him and he never really dared to ask. He could do without the Minotaur breathing down his neck for a while.

He shoved his hands inside his sweatshirt pockets and felt a little refreshed by the calm breeze. Soon enough he had put a fair amount of distance between himself and the party. His thoughts automatically went to the time his father got angry. He really wanted to know the reason that made his father so angry. True his father hardly had the reputation of being sweet tempered but he rarely got so angry that he let his anger seep through the whole of the Underworld.

And talking about the Underworld, Nathan stood still for a second trying to believe what he was sensing. He could sense the Underworld from where he stood. It was mild but it was still there. That never happened before unless he counted the time his father had come to fetch him. That time the feeling was infinitely stronger that what he was sensing now. This had to mean something from the Underworld had come loose on the ground. And that sounded pretty bad. Without a moment's hesitation he disappeared in smoke and sensing the Underworld aura he reappeared where it was the strongest.

He almost doubled back as soon as he noticed that he wasn't alone there. Disappearing had been a bad idea. There was the risk that that person could have seen him. But the person showed no sign of realizing that someone was there. Thankfully Nathan had appeared about a meter behind her. He stepped to a side to see what was in front to find that it was a hellhound.

How in Hades did it get up here?

He looked at the girl the hellhound was snarling at. She still wasn't aware he was there. As soon as he looked at her he was taken by surprise again.

Shit, Alex!

He stayed well behind her so she couldn't see him. He couldn't do whatever he was about to do in front of her. That was going to give him away in a heartbeat. Shadow appeared silently in his hand. He locked his eyes on the hound that was still too busy glaring at Alex to notice him. Without wasting time he plunged Shadow through the ground as easily as a knife could be plunged through a cake. Alex couldn't feel the vibrations that it caused but it didn't go amiss by the hellhound. It looked confused for a moment. And then finally it looked at Nathan. As soon as it did, it growled at him.

That took Nathan by surprise too. None of the hellhounds ever so much as bared one tooth at him. And this one was openly growling at him. There was definitely something wrong with it. As he looked at Alex's frozen form, he figured there was time to think about that later. He needed to send this thing back first. He placed one hand on the ground right beside his blade and applied small a pushing force on the ground. Black smoke rose up like vines at the hound's feet and wrapped around its limbs. Nathan pushed Shadow deeper and in a second the smoky vines dragged the hound under. The hound disappeared with a fearful whine. With a quick motion, Nathan pulled Shadow out and made it disappear too.

'Hey, you okay?' Nathan hurriedly went to Alex. He hadn't planned to do it that way. It was only because the hound was not under his command that he had to make it disappear like that. Otherwise he would have silently commanded it to act like a peaceful stray dog and run far away from Alex before he could seep it into the Underworld. That ordeal would have gone without suspicion. Now he knew he had questions coming. He could just claim that he saw none of it.

Alex still didn't recover from the shock. But she spoke anyway.

'There was a dog with rabies!' she said. She seemed to be on the verge on hysterics. Despite everything happening, Nathan had to fight back a laugh. 'I swear it was right there! And it looked as though it was gonna eat me alive.'

'Nothing's here, Alex,' Nathan assured her.

On hearing her name, Alex turned to look at who she was speaking to. She had been so shocked by the events that she didn't even bother to check who was speaking with her. As soon as she saw him, he noticed her ears turned a shade darker.

'Nathan,' she said. 'What-?'

'I was just passing by,' Nathan replied quickly. 'You look sort of scared.'

'Why wouldn't I be?' Alex demanded. 'I told you there was a rabies infected dog! How could they let that sort of a dangerous thing walk on the streets! And then it disappeared! Just like that!'

Nathan furrowed his eyebrows and put on a disbelieving expression.

'I think you've had a long day,' Nathan suggested. 'I didn't see any dog. Infected or otherwise.'

Alex looked for a moment as though she was going to shout at him. But then she looked at the place where the hound was standing. And then sighed.

'I could not have imagined something that elaborate!' Alex said more to herself than to Nathan.

'It's quite dark here Alex,' Nathan said. 'It could be a trick of the shadows.'

'And for which I stayed rooted to the spot for five whole minutes?' Alex demanded back disbelievingly.

'Okay so maybe it was there,' Nathan said. 'I'm sure it ran away. Relax.'

Alex gave Nathan an appraising look which oddly reminded him of a look his mother used to give him when she suspected he was up to something. Then she turned away defeated.

'Yeah,' she said. 'It could have. It can't really have been sucked into the ground. That's not possible. I was pretty shocked as it is so I could have seen wrong. But I know a dog was here! And it wasn't sane!'

Nathan nodded. 'Okay,' he said wanting to change the subject. 'What are you doing out here anyway?'

'Going home,' Alex replied.

'I meant alone in the dark,' Nathan said.

'Going home,' Alex repeated. 'And I would have been home by now if that stupid dog hadn't come out of nowhere.'

'It's not safe to walk by yourself in the dark,' Nathan stated.

Alex shrugged. 'Not my first time,' she said. 'My place is not that far away. It would be pointless to ask someone to come pick me up.' She shrugged. 'Plus what could happen? Nothing ever happens around here.'

'You could get attacked by dogs apparently,' Nathan answered her.

'I can understand by that tone that you don't believe me but I saw what I saw!' Alex said. 'And this is the first time I had this dog problem!'

Nathan shook his head. 'I'll walk you back,' he stated. 'In case the dog decides to come back.'

'There isn't much you could do about it anyway,' Alex told him. 'It's a dog out to attack. It's not like it would run away seeing you! If anything it would attack both us.'

Nathan shrugged. Alex started walking and Nathan fell into step beside her.

'What are you planning to do if it turned up anyway?' Alex asked. 'Wrestle it or something?'

The corners of his mouth twitched. 'Not really,' he said. 'Let's just hope it doesn't come back.'

Alex nodded. 'What are you doing in a dark deserted street alone anyway?' she asked.

'I was just passing by,' Nathan replied. 'I came out from the most horrendous place.'

Alex laughed. 'Let me guess, Steve's party?'

Nathan nodded stuffing his hands inside his pockets again. 'Cody dragged me in,' he said. 'I went just to shut him up but it was worse than I thought. So I decided I'd better head home.'

Alex didn't reply only nodded. She fell quiet as though she was deep in thought about something. Nathan didn't disturb the quiet. Oddly enough there was nothing awkward about the silence. Neither of them felt the need to speak to make each others' presence comfortable. Nathan thought about the hellhound. It wasn't like any hellhound to not recognize him, particularly when he had Shadow with him. He needed to head back to the Underworld and find out what was wrong. Then he thought about Kayla and what it was that she really wanted. Then his thoughts drifted to Cody. There was definitely something bothering the guy. It could be Kayla or it could be something else entirely. Nathan had no clue.

They crossed another lane when Alex said, 'You weren't in school today.'

'Oh yeah, I er had some work to do at home,' Nathan answered truthfully.

Alex nodded and didn't push the matter. She realized it was none of her business anyway. Nathan was thankful that she didn't push it.

Alex stopped after about a minute in front of a house Nathan didn't know. He had walked Alex home another time too and this was definitely not the house he remembered.

'Er thanks for walking me,' Alex said.

'This is your place?' Nathan asked. 'I thought-.'

'No, my aunt lives here,' Alex said. 'I'm staying with her for a while.'

'Oh,' Nathan said. He was curious to know why she made a sudden change in location. But he decided to respect her privacy as a favor that she had respected his. 'No problem. I'll see you later then.'

Alex nodded. 'Be careful of the dog.'

'I'll be fine,' Nathan smiled.

'Yeah I hope so,' Alex said. 'In any case I think I'll give the pound a call to catch that thing.'

'Don't bother,' Nathan said. 'The pound's on my way home. I'll duck in and tell them.'

'Oh, okay,' Alex said. 'Goodnight then.'

Nathan nodded and Alex walked up the front steps and entered her house.

Nathan walked a few meters and once he was sure he was out of sight, he disappeared for the Underworld.

Okay so that's it for the chapter. I'm very glad that my swords were a hit! =D
Thanks to LeUndeadRabidChipmunk, Elusive Lucidity, The Dohvakhin's Bane and Alaeryel for your reviews!

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review! =D