C3: Shadow Hounds that Run South

Reno went into his apartment and sat back on the couch, reading the latest tweets about the stories happening in the city.

He had already forgotten about the incident with Jack, and his sudden anger. He was a chill guy after all.

Windy was still holding Chris's hand until they came into Reno's apartment.

"Let go of my hand –" Chris shook his hand away from the girl's.

Windy gave him a smirk and said: "Reserved for Lucy, huh?"

Chris sighed and sat with his feet up on the lazyboy right beside the huge TV.

Then, the girl turned to Reno.

"No hard feelings, right Reno?"

Reno clicked his tongue with a chuckle. "Nah… that old turd has always been like that."

Windy smiled and sat beside him on the couch, placing her feet on the table before them. They had a couple of minutes till their Pizza Night to spend after all. She turned on the TV to watch the season 3 finale of Stranger Things and Reno went on, reading a tweet before laughing out loud.

"My God! This guy – he actually thought that Legend about Shadow Hounds running South was true!"

Windy and Chris turned to Reno and blinked.

"Shadow Hounds?"

Reno stopped laughing. "What – you don't know? The one where the Shadow Hounds… ugh… run South." Reno could only see two confused expressions even after he explained the whole thing in the simplest words.

Then, he took the phone and showed the tweet to the two. "Here, Shadow Hounds!"

[Guys! You can't believe what I saw today! Shadow Hounds that Run South! You have all heard the stories from the late 1700s, right? My Mom used to say this to me every time I went out without her at night – telling me not to go out alone! But – crazy thing happened… check this Video out!]

Reno played the video.

In the video was the guy talking about his life and walking around the street, and just as he walked past the gap between two buildings, a silhouette of a fast-moving figure was caught.

From the video, it was clear what the figure behind the building was.

Something similar to a hound, with yellow glowing eyes and a dark aura rising from its body. It was most definitely a Supernatural creature.

[See! I ain't lying guys… trust me, I might switch souls with the next person this hound runs to!]

Reno laughed and took the phone away. "See? Foolish… everyone's commenting that he's an idiot. That must be a stray Pup stealing food from Trash…"

Chris was a little worried after seeing this video. 'Jeez… I gotta stay inside just in case,' he thought inwardly as he got up and walked away from the couch to his room.

Windy and Reno were alone now.

"Hmm – how come I have never heard of this Shadow Hound thing?"

"Maybe you didn't go out at night as much as I did when you were 10… Haha… I miss those times" Reno sighed. "– OH! And one more thing – the hound needs to make eye contact with the bypasser to cast the spell on him successfully. So… this idiot was just making a fool of himself."

***

Chris closed the door behind and went to sit on the bed, taking his phone from his pocket.

He gazed at the screen and saw the messages from his girlfriend. "God, Lucy…"

[Are you finished?]

[Are you finished?]

[Are you….]

12+ more messages from Lucy.

He typed his reply, chuckling.

[I'm here now… darling. How have you been?]

He waited for the girl to reply for a few seconds, and Lucy started typing.

*SWOOSH!*

A great cold wind blew into the room through the open window. The curtains were closed, but the Window wasn't.

"Oh God, keep the window closed… every time, Reno." Chris sighed as he kept the phone down on the bed and went to close the window.

He opened the curtains wide so he could grasp the Window hook.

*Ting!* *Tanng!*

Weird metallic noises were coming from below. His first guess was that it was a Stray Pup again, picking on the garbage cans, so he checked to see what was causing the riot. "Eh? The hell –"

There was a dark smoke emitting from the creature below. It turned its head towards him, only to reveal two gleaming yellow eyes. "What –"

The creature turned around and ran on a certain path, the exact direction. Chris watched as it ran, trying to figure out what it was.

'What – what… is that thing running South – or? Is this just a dream!? What the fuck – no, calm down, calm down Chris. You're imagining things now…" Chris calmed down and sat on the bed once more after closing the curtains.

He stopped hesitating. 'Ok... I'm fine. Totally fine.'

*TING!*

A notification came to his phone.

[Honeyyy!! Finally, you're done!]

Chris chuckled and picked up the phone. He was glad to see his girlfriend back online. She would calm him down.

"Yep – I'm here… totally not soul switcccccchhheeeeed –" Chris fell face first on the bed as his phone dropped from his hand.

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Vamp: Special term used for Vampires in Modern Society. 'Blood Sucker' is well known to be a slang word for Vampires.

Pup: Also, a slang used to describe a young Werewolf.