The loud sound echoing around him pulled Alexandru awake. He didn’t know if the crashing explosion was coming from his head or from the weather. He decided it was probably a combination of both when he felt a damp mist coat his face.
Forcing his heavy eyelids to open, he lay still, waiting for his mind to clear enough so that he could assess where he was. His first thought when he saw the bright yellows, reds, oranges, and blues of the flames was that he was in hell about to meet Hades. He was pretty sure of it when a pair of dark eyes, glowing red with the reflection of the fire in them stared back at him. The short snout and four tusks told him that he was staring back into the face of one of Hades’ hellhounds.
His body jerked when he tried to lift a hand to run it over his face. Tuggi
