easily… I promised. But… I will have my day.”

He rubbed his cheek and felt the scar there. He wanted so badly to do something he might regret, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it now. Douglas laid down onto the blanket of snow, resting his muzzle on his paws while the sun slowly started to warm him with its rays.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

“So, which is it Becca? You can do the former, or you can have your very own brother learn you. You should be lucky enough that he even convinced me to give you an option,” Steele said coolly.

Becca whimpered pathetically as she laid before her uncle. Her submissiveness gave Steele a sense of pleasure. He put a heavy paw on the back of her head and leaned down until he was right in her face.

“So, which is it my niece?”

Her eyes darted back and forth frantically as she whined. Both sounded like horrible things to do or endure.. That’s probably why they were punishments. But being punished, over something like that? She didn’t understand.

“Well?” he said, more impatiently now. Steele clenched his paw slightly and saw even more panic flood her face.

“The first one! The first one! Just please, don’t hurt me!” she wailed.

“Now that’s a good girl… Remember, tomorrow evening. No later, no earlier.”

Becca tried to hide her fear and frustration, but she still felt the tears come forth. What had she just done? But before anything else could happen, she whirled around and fled out of the run down shack. Steele smirked and looked back at Stevan.

“And now, the real training begins.”

Stevan looked at him confusedly for a moment, and the next moment he found himself lying on the floor. He felt a wet drop fall onto his paw, and he looked down and saw the droplet of blood.

“First lesson of combat. Never be taken by surprise.”

Stevan stood up and was ready to brace himself this time. He nodded silently and then felt the wind knocked out of him as Steele had flung him by the scruff of the neck.

“Second lesson, never fight fair.”

Before he could get up, he felt the full weight of the larger husky forcing him down. He felt like he could barely breath, and he desperately tried to get out of this hold, but it was to no avail.

“Third, use your size to your advantage. Since you’re still small, it’s best to jump on them so they can’t reach you.”

“I understand! Please let me go!” Stevan shouted in panic.

“I don’t think you do pup. I want to see you get out yourself.”

Stevan struggled and squirmed with all his might, but the weight was too much. He twisted himself around and blindly clawed at the larger being. There was a soft hiss of pain and Steele stood up off the pup.

“Good, good,” he commented as he saw the claw marks on his back leg, “but I want to see what else you can do.”

Stevan regained his breath and lunged at his uncle. He dodged a paw that swiped at him and dove at Steele’s other hind leg, raking his claws across the haunch. Steele started to kick his leg back and forth until he could finally shake the pup off of him.

“Excellent, you’re already improving,” Steele snickered as a grin plastered itself across his muzzle.

Stevan hunched down and prepared himself to strike again before Greg halted him. Without looking back, he spoke in a clear tone directed towards the door.

“If you wanted to come in Seth, all you had to do was ask.”

Seth stumbled through the pet flap and walked towards his uncle, his head down and his ears lowered.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“That’s quite enough. You’re only sorry because you were caught.”

Seth stopped in his tracks and looked even more shameful, he was even tempted just to cover his face to hide it.

“Now, I want to see you back here tonight at around Seven. And don’t forget what I asked to bring with you. Oh, and next time, don’t ruin any more lessons that I may have with Stevan, no matter how jealous you may be.”

He looked at his uncle in total shock and disbelief. Seth turned around and felt a familiar anger burning in him once more. The pup bared his teeth and scraped his claws across the wooden floor loudly.

“This is unfair…” he whispered softly.

Steele’s attention was now on Seth, “And what do you plan to do about it.”

“Change it.”

“It’ll change as soon as you can prove it to me,” Steele muttered even quieter.

“Oh I can do that. Just give me the chance.”

“You can have that chance… But not now. When it’s time to show me what you can do, you’ll know.”

Seth couldn’t stand this a minute longer and he stormed through the dog door, kicking it as he exited. Steele stood there smiling before he faced Stevan once more.

“Alright. Let it begin once more.” he announced.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

“We’re tellin’ ya Doc. He’s missing!”

“But how could this be?”

“Well, I heard that Nikki’s gone missing because of the same reason as those other two.”

“What other two?”

Sylvia’s jaw dropped, “You mean to say that you didn’t hear of them either? Wow, you’re really out of the loop.”

“Well I have more important things on my mind than the gossip corner!” Doc snapped as he shook his head in dissatisfaction and annoyance. He quickly realized that he had been rude and apologized.

“Doc, there’s no need to fl-…ounder about just because you’re not in-the-know,” Dixie said matter-of-factly.

“I think you mean… oh never mind, Dixie,” Sylvia whispered.

“What? What did I say wrong?” she asked, now being clueless once more.

Sylvia rolled her eyes but tried to keep her focus. “Besides her vocabulary, she’s right Doc. I didn’t know we offended you so.”

Doc sighed, “No, it was my fault. I should have taken it the way I did. But I’ve had so much on my mind with the murders and missing dogs as of late…”

Sylvia had been gazing at the barrels by the furnace when she suddenly did a double-take. “Wait, what was the last part you said?”

Doc’s mouth went as dry as a desert as he realized the dire mistake he had just made. “I, um, what I meant to say-”

“I don’t believe this!” Sylvia exclaimed, “There’s a murderer afoot! Dixie, quick! We have to tell everyone!”

And before Doc could get out another word, the two had already fled into the streets. Oh this wasn’t good… This was really, really bad. He looked into the fire of the furnace.

“Oh dear… What have I just done?”

He bit his lip and began pacing to and fro in deep distress. Now he had to think of a reason why he hadn’t told anyone sooner. There had been one before, but he couldn’t remember it now. He knew within the hour that everyone would know.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The grandfather clock chimed seven times in the parlor of the Whitley home. Seth had been anxiously watching this, and he was grateful that he no longer had to wait. He heard a creaking and spied Duchess padding daintily down the stairway. He grinned for a brief second before he put on a face of fearfulness and sprinted over to her.

“Aunt Duchess! I need help!”

She kept her head held high as her eyes drifted down to him, “With what?”

“I-I was playing in this abandoned house when I lost my favorite toy! Can you help me find it!?” he pleaded.

“Why on earth would you even consider going into such a place anyways?”

Seth’s voice faltered. “I, uh, thought it would be… fun?”

“Well then, I think we should leave it there so you can learn a lesson.”

“But pleeeease! It was my favorite!”

She tilted her head up and tried to hide her look of frustration, “…Fine. But next time you do this I’m leaving it there.”

“Oh thank you!” he cried out giddily.

“But don’t think this means I’m going soft on you rug rat.”

“Of course not Aunty Duchess.”

Seth led her through the front door and out into the street. A rush of frigid air greeted them as a cool wind breezily blew by them, neither of them taking a notice to it. They began the walk as their breaths came out in short puffs of mist, and their footsteps echoed as the snow crunched through their paws. He looked up into the evening sky and saw the near full moon and admired the way that it effortlessly suspended itself. It’s blue beams filtered down through the starry blanket of the heavens and molded the new shadows of the night. As he gazed up at the hollow reflection of the sun’s rays, he felt an emotion that he hadn’t expected. A satisfaction. A feeling of delight at what he was about to do. He realized as they came within feet of the house that they hadn’t seen a soul on their way there, but it was for all the better he guessed.

“It should be right in here!”

He stood aside as Duchess pushed open the ancient dog door and he walked in behind her, snickering. There was a sudden feminine screech from inside the confines of the decrepit shack. Shuffling feet and loud snarls and barks pushed their way out as the street, devoid of life, listened and engulfed the

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