Belle and Lucas appeared in the inn's room which they had been occupying, "Did the reaper notice us?" Belle asked him when Lucas started to pick up the things they had brought in the fair.

"Possibly," answered Lucas who had taken almost everything that was important in his hand and they heard the sound of footsteps coming from below, "It isn't safe here for you or me to stay any longer than we have. Let's revisit when this thing dies down," he said. Belle nodded her head, looking around the room with her eyes and the bath where Lucas had touched her. In a blink of an eye they had disappeared from the land of Valeria and at the same time, the door of the inn's room had crashed open.

When both Belle and Lucas arrived back in the Adams' mansion, Belle didn't fall on the ground and instead, Lucas made sure he helped her land on her feet.

"Home sweet home," Belle noticed how the lanterns and the candles were still burning but there were other things that not only she but even Lucas noticed. The hall looked like it had gone through a tornado with objects missing and the portraits on the walls looked as if they were moved to the sides as they were not symmetrical, "What happened here…?" asked Belle.

Did someone break into the mansion and rob something? Was it the Hawverts or the Grims?

"Miss Belle!" one of the maids, Emma who was holding the mop in her hand exclaimed on seeing both Belle and Lucas back home, "Sir Lucas," the maid bowed her head at both of them, "Was your trip alright?" asked the maid and Belle nodded her head.

"It was okay," answered Belle before asking, "Where are the others?" she couldn't see any other maid or the Grim reapers.

"They must be upstairs," answered the maid, "I will get the food prepared right away," and the maid left.

"Are you feeling okay?" Lucas asked Belle when he noticed how for a second her body swayed as if she was going to lose consciousness. Belle nodded and felt Lucas' hand on her shoulder.

"I think its due to the lack of energy in my body," she murmured and she would have relaxed and taken solace in Lucas' arm when she heard something growl in the dark that pulled her out of the sleep and her head snapped to look into the shadows. Something moved in there and her first thought was that it was a spirit but the shadow moved and it had red eyes! That was a hellhound!

Before she could react, the hellhound ran and jumped right into Lucas' arms like a long lost lover.

Eh? What just happened?

The hellhound had a body that was no less to a spirit, the shadow-like smoke fuming up in the air to evaporate and she noticed how the hellhound whipped its tail back and forth at the sight of Lucas who at first had staggered a step back because of the force the creature had thrown itself to him. He now rubbed the hellhound's head and Belle tilted her head.

"He is mine," laughed Lucas looking at the puzzled expression Belle had on her face. Lucas had dropped the bags long ago and he sat down to scratch the hellhounds head or maybe ear which Belle found hard to recognize.

"You have a hellhound?" Belle found it hard to wrap it around as she had never known before that he had a pet. No, actually she knew he had a bird. The raven that lost direction but he had a hellhound too.

"I do. I guess he got lonely," said Lucas before patting the top of its head with his hand, "Good boy."

Church? How ironic of Lucas to name his pet to something opposite he was. Belle noticed how Lucas didn't give too much attention to the creature and then out of the blue it loudly howled which was like a bell in the tower, bringing the two Grim reapers down who had been camping in the cell room, waiting for Belle to return or give some sort of information.

"THAT IS NOT BELLE!" Barron screamed, who had launched himself from the top of the stairs right at Belle and Lucas pulled Belle in time for Barron to crash straight on the floor.

Greed who was at the top stared down at them in silence. When his eyes met Lucas' eyes, the butler asked, "What happened to the house?"

"I don't know," answered Greed and Lucas looked at Barron who stood up on his feet.

"What? I didn't do anything," huffed Barron before giving a long stare at Belle and he quickly ran towards Belle to hug her leg, "You are alive!"

Lucas shook his head at Barron's quick change of mood that had turned from attacking to hugging Belle as if he had missed her.

"I missed you too, Barron," Belle smiled looking down at Barron who quickly stepped away to cough.

"W-what? I didn't miss you. You should be more careful. How could you die?" asked Barron and then added, "Where is the other person?"

"Portia is back in the land of the dead," Lucas answered the rabbit's question.

"I knew we could count on you," the rabbit said, walking towards Lucas and patting his leg with its cotton hand. Belle noticed something wrong with his hands and asked Barron,

"What happened to your hands?" The question was enough to set Barron's good mood to a fowl one and he pointed his hand at the hellhound that was standing on the other side of Lucas.

"That damn thing tried to eat my hands, my head! Did you know you had a pet?" Barron asked Lucas with his hand still up in the air. Barron's hand that was white, having almost the same colour as the bone which he had pulled out from the garden, the hellhound took the opportunity to take a bite right at his hand to have Barron's eyes go wide, "Feed your hellhound before it eats me!"

.

Scroll to read the next chapter...