Free Finding Midnight by T. Lynne Tolles Page A

At least that’s what he told me he
was,” Summer explained.
    “And did this demon tell you what it
was that he was fighting? And why?”
    “He did. He told me the mother was a
hellhound and he figured she attacked him because he was too close
to the pup, though he didn’t know about the pup until after the
fiasco,” she explained.
    “I see. A hellhound, huh? How amazing,” he
said when he stopped in front of Sully and held his hand out for
him to smell. Anticipating the same thing she’d endured, Tori
reached for the paper towels just as Sully slimed Dr. Stuart’s
hand. He stared at his hand as if it were not his own.
“Fascinating,” he said, wiggling his fingers. He sniffed the slime,
wrinkling his nose as he did, and said, “sulphur” under his
breath.
    Summer responded with, “Yes. That’s why I’ve
named him Sully. Short for Sulphur.”
    “Cute,” he said as he continued to examine
the pup and wiped his hand from the slime. “There’s a bit of a
tingling from the drool. Rather acidic, I suspect.”
    “I thought that too,” Summer agreed.
    He rubbed Sully’s head noticing for the
first time his tiny nubs of incoming horns. “Well, now…there’s
something you don’t see every day, at least on a canine-typish
animal. Did its mother have horns?” Dr. Stuart asked.
    “Not that I noticed,” Summer answered.
    “Might be a male thing, but the
heterochromia,” he said, referring to Sully’s mismatched eyes,
“could be unusual. It’s more common in some breeds of dogs than
others, but I don’t know much about hellhounds.” Then he laughed—to
himself mostly—and added, “Nothing actually, but he certainly seems
lovable.” Rumpling up the fuzz on top of Sully’s head, he said,
“You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” Sully wagged his tail in
reply.
    “Do you mind if I take some blood and run
some tests? I’m not sure they will tell us a lot but he seems
mostly canine. It would be good to know as much about his
physiology as we can in case, God forbid, he ever gets hurt. We’ll
at least know what might be normal for a hellhound.”
    She smiled at the doctor and nodded. “As
long as I can have you watch him through lunch. I’m supposed to
talk with Ms. Midnight about something urgent.”
    “Sure. This is turning out to be a pretty
exciting day,” he said with a huge smile. “Come on, Sully, let’s go
weigh and examine you properly.”
    Sully first looked at Summer as if asking
for permission. “Go ahead,” she said, waving her hand in the
direction the doctor was headed. “Dr. Stuart’s our friend.”
    Sully turned and trotted off after the
doctor who was calling his name again from down the hall.

 
     
    Chapter 8
     
    Before Summer left for the Midnight mansion,
Dr. Stuart was trying to check Sully’s ears with the otoscope, but
Sully kept pawing him and the tool popping off the funnel-shaped
ear speculum that goes on the end of the scope. Sully thought this
was a fun game. Dr. Stuart was patient as always as he reattached
it over and over, laughing at Sully’s intelligence and
playfulness.
    She smiled at the two of them when she left,
Dr. Stuart waving with his slimy, slobbered glove-covered hand, and
Sully with a wagging tail and tongue hanging out.
    As she approached the front door of the
mansion, she found herself a bit nervous. She’d never really talked
with the woman, and given the sour looks she always received from
the upstairs window, she didn’t expect the meeting to be very
cordial.
    She took a breath and knocked on the door,
releasing brittle, peeling paint to rain onto the worn and barely
readable “Welcome” mat. Slow but steady footsteps could be heard
inside making their way to the door. The deadbolt turned and then
an awkward silence. Apparently the door was swollen or out of
square of the door jamb since the door suddenly yanked open, nearly
toppling the old woman behind it.
    Worried about the elderly woman, Summer
lunged forward to help steady her