“Fine. We’ll stop.”
“I don’t have any money for a motel,” she said. “Your boss picked a real winner for his accidental bride.”
Iradon shook his head. “There are no accidents where the lantern is concerned.”
“Whatever you say,” she muttered. “I don't have to believe it.”
“You know what they say about the devil.”
Jackie raised an eyebrow. “They say a lot of things about the devil.”
“You might not believe in him, but he believes in you.”
Another chill rippled up Jackie’s spine and she bit back the retort that sprang to her lips as Iradon turned the car into the parking lot of a small motel.
“You don’t have to worry about the money,” he said.
“You’re going to break into a hotel room like you stole this car?”
Iradon shrugged. “Maybe.”
Jackie sighed and leaned back against the seat and her stomach growled. “Are you going to steal me some pizza, too?”
“Maybe.”
“And some beer to go with it?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
Jackie laughed. “That’s all I’m good at.”
He pulled into a parking space and turned off the car. He opened the driver’s side door and got out, and Jackie tried the handle on her door again, but it didn’t move. “Figures,” she muttered.
Iradon came around to the passenger side and pressed his hand against the window. The handle jumped under her hand and she flinched away as the door opened.
“Come on.”
Jackie gripped the lantern tightly and gritted her teeth as she clambered out of the car. Iradon’s hand closed around her upper arm and she felt the heat of his palm through her sweatshirt again. She struggled against his grip, but he did not release her.
“Let go, I can walk on my own.”
“You can’t run,” he said. “I’ll catch you.”
“How? You don’t know how fast I am.”
Iradon chuckled. “You can’t outrun a hellhound. We’re made to catch wayward souls.”
“Wayward souls… is that what I am? Is that why I was ‘chosen’?”
“Maybe.”
“For someone who claims to be a hellhound who works for the devil, you don’t seem to know anything about anything.”
“I know enough.”
She could hear anger in his voice and Jackie smiled briefly. “Touched a nerve there, huh? I didn’t think demons had feelings.”
“I’m not a demon.”
Jackie laughed bitterly. “Right. Right. You’re a demon dog. Sorry.”
Iradon jerked her along beside him as he strode to the last door in the row of hotel rooms. “I’m a hellhound.”
“You’re a moron,” she snapped. “You don't think these places have cameras?”
“This one doesn’t,” he snarled.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Jackie snorted as Iradon’s jaw tightened. He laid a hand on the painted wooden door and she flinched as the lock clicked. The door swung open and he pushed her inside.
She stumbled forward in the dark, lit only by the eerie green glow of the lantern. “No lights,” he snarled.
“No lights? What the he—”
“Shut your mouth. You’ll sleep here. I’ll keep watch outside.”
Jackie’s leg knocked against the edge of a bed and she sank down on it. “Keep watch? For what?”
“You mentioned a black cat—”
“I did?”
Iradon stood in the doorway, outlined by the orange light of the streetlights. “At the funeral home. You said a cat led you to the lantern.”
“Right. That cat.”
“Did anything strange happen, or was it just an ordinary cat?”
Jackie blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light. “It talked to me. But I might have imagined it.”
Iradon growled softly and Jackie’s fingers tightened on the lantern.
“That’s not a good sign.”
“Why, are you superstitious? Black cats get a bad rap… they’re just as annoying as every other cat.”
“Just hope you don’t have to find out.”
She shook her head. It was just another piece of bullshit to add to the pile of lies he’d already told her. “Sure.”
He moved in the doorway and the door hinges creaked. “Get some sleep. We’ll leave before dawn.”
The door closed and Jackie jumped up from the bed and ran to the door. She grabbed the door handle, but it wouldn’t turn. She pushed back the curtain and saw Iradon stride away from the door toward the parking lot. And then, as she watched, there was a dark flash, a flare of dark smoke, and instead of a tall, broad-shouldered infuriating badass, a muscular dog ran through the parking lot.
She rubbed her eyes, unsure of what she had just seen, but there was no way she could deny what had happened. She backed away from the window and rubbed the back of her hand over her mouth.
She put the lantern down on a small table and made her way back to the bed. Iradon had told her to get some sleep, but she dreaded whatever dreams might come from it.
Six
“From outside time, deep calleth unto deep, to collect the wages of sin…”
The words echoed through the trees, and set Jackie’s heart beating hard in her chest.
She turned, looking for any familiar landmark or sign that she knew where she was, but the trees were strange, and the wind was sharp and cold.
It tugged at her hair, and whipped her dress around her legs. The white fabric rippled and snapped in the wind and she pushed at it furiously—why was it always a dress? She hated dresses. Impractical things always got in the way.
A sound in the trees made her freeze.
The crack and a snap of breaking branches and things moving in the dark. Shadows shifting between the slender trunks of the trees.
Not again.
The wind blew across her shoulders, cold and biting, and it set her skin on fire and stole away her breath.
“Jackieeee—”
A whisper in the darkness.
She blinked and stumbled backward. “No. No, no, not again…”
The noise in the trees grew louder and moved closer. She would not move again. She would not run. She would be brave.
A haunting cry echoed through the forest and shuddered through her chest. Red eyes in the dark. Red eyes blinked at her and swayed at a great height. Towering above her.
“Fuck,” she whispered, and then her courage fled.
She turned and ran, crashing through the underbrush. The trees snagged in her dress, tearing and shredding the fine fabric. Her feet burned and throbbed as she ran, and the fabric tangled around her legs and made her stumble. She slammed into a silvery tree trunk, her fingernails dug into the papery bark and her breath came in heaving gasps. “No, no, no…”
The shapes in the trees moved closer, the noise they made was deafening in her ears and her head throbbed with pain and desperation.
“Help,” she whispered. “Help me…”
She pushed away from the tree and tried to run again, but her legs were tired, and the pain in her head was overwhelming and made her stumble time and time again. Her breaths became gasping sobs and the air became colder around her.
Hot breath, struck the back of her neck as the creature overtook her, and she tried to run faster, but could not keep her pace. Tears streamed from her eyes and stained her cheeks in hot rivers and she could not breathe—
All at once, the ground gave way beneath her, and Jackie tumbled into the darkness with the sound of the beast’s haunting shriek echoing in her ears.
Her chest was tight, her heart pounded, and even as she fell, she felt the beast’s arms wind around her torso and pull her against a burning hot chest. She screamed and struggled, tried desperately to get away—
“Jackie… Jackie hush… Wake up.”
She shook her head, trying to sto
p listening to what was being said. Whatever it was, she did not want to hear it.
She struggled again, but the arms tightened, and her skin burned against its chest. Heat coursed through her and she cried out.
“Jackie! Wake up!”
All at once, the darkness was gone. The trees were gone. The demon on her heels was gone. She struggled to open her eyes and realized with a start that she was in the motel room, and Iradon was holding her tightly against his chest.
“Hush now,” he whispered. “You are safe with me.”
Jackie pushed him away and sat up. “How did you get in here? I didn’t give you a key.”
He chuckled. “I did not need a key.”
“Why did you come in?”
“I heard you. You were having a nightmare.”
Jackie pushed her hair out of her face. “That’s all I seem to have these days…”
“Since you found the lantern?”
Jackie frowned at the lantern that sat on the small table beside the bed. “I guess so?”
Iradon nodded and got up from the bed. “They’re only going to get worse until we return it to my master.”
Jackie groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. “You need to shut the hell up about that.”
“But it’s the truth,” he said simply.
“I. Don’t. Fucking. Care!” Jackie shouted into her hands.
Iradon shrugged into his leather jacket and shoved his hands into his pockets. “We have to go.”
“What time is it?”
“Before dawn,” he replied.
“Ugh. It’s so early. Why is it so hard to let me sleep in?”
“We’re running out of time.”
Jackie blinked at him. “Running out of time? What does that mean? What the hell is going on?”
“There’s a hellcat on our trail,” he said.
“A what?”
“A hellcat.”
“Oh good. A whole barnyard of hell animals. Is there a hellcow? A hellpig maybe? Let’s have a good old time on the hellfarm, yee-haw!”
Iradon scowled. “Are you making fun of me?”
“Obviously!” Jackie shrieked. “You’ve been messing with me since day one, and you just expect me to go along with all of this like it’s no big deal?!? You’re insane.”
Iradon’s smile was quick. “No, I’m a hellhound. But there are no hellpigs. Werebeasts, to be sure, but no hellpigs.”
Jackie frowned. “This is bullshit.”
“Come on,” he said. “Up.”
Jackie fell over and smashed her face into the pillow. “I don’t wanna,” she mumbled.
“Get up.”
Iradon tugged on her ankle and Jackie groaned and kicked at him weakly, but he was too strong for her and he pulled her off the bed. She landed on the floor with a thump and sat there for a moment and glared up at him.
“You’re the goddamn worst,” she snarled.
“I have a job to do,” he said. “And you need to get your ass up and into the car, unless you want me to carry you there over my shoulder.”
Jackie scrambled to her feet and stabbed her finger into Iradon’s chest. “No one fucking carries me,” she snapped.
Iradon chuckled. “Then get moving.”
It felt like they had been driving forever. Mile after mile. And Iradon still wouldn’t tell her where they were going.
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
Another mile. Then ten miles. Late afternoon became sunset, sunset bled into night and the only light in the car was the strange glow of the dashboard gauges and the green flare of the lantern at her feet.
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Then when the hell are we going to get there? I’m tired. I have to pee. I’m hungry… If you’re going to escort me somewhere then you have to look after me. I’m not some… hellpet who doesn’t need to eat.”
Iradon looked over at her quickly. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“I was sleeping when you pulled over for gas,” she snapped. “You didn’t even wake me up.”
Iradon shrugged. “You should have said something.”
“I hate you.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t it? Don’t you have feelings?”
He shook his head. “I’m a—”
“A hellpup, I know.”
“Hellhound.”
“Same shit.”
Iradon growled, but Jackie sighed heavily. He didn’t frighten her. “I’m still hungry,” she said grumpily.
The road was dark and there were no streetlights along the road. “We will pull off the highway soon,” he said suddenly.
“How do you even know where we’re going?” she demanded.
“The lantern is guiding me,” he said simply.
Jackie kicked at it with the toe of her boot. “You should just take it,” she said.
“I can’t, I already told you. If I take it away from you, you’ll get sick—”
“And then I’ll die, blah blah blah.” She sighed heavily and looked out the window at the dark trees. She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus on the blurry scenery, obscured by the blackness outside the windows.
There was a flash in her peripheral vision. Red eyes. A grey shadow. Dark and sharp against the blur of the trees.
“What was that?” she said.
“What?”
“Something in the trees… I might be seeing things…”
“Fine. We’ll pull off the highway and get you some food,” Iradon said sharply.
“Hmm.”
Jackie kept her eyes on the dark trees, daring the eyes to show themselves again, daring anything to happen. Iradon pulled the car to the left, aiming for the off-ramp, but no sooner had they left the highway then she saw another flash. A dark shape. Then a white flash.
“What the fuck—” Iradon’s hands tightened on the wheel and Jackie screamed as she saw something in the middle of the road. She reached for the wheel, pulling it to the left.
“Don’t kill it!” she shrieked.
“Shit!” Iradon’s growl overpowered her scream, and the car careened to the left. The tires scraped through the gravel at the side of the road as the car careened through the underbrush toward the trees. The lantern rolled and bounced, striking her boots, and the green flame surged and spat inside the glass.
Iradon stomped on the brake pedal with both feet and the car skidded in the dirt. Jackie held tightly to the edge of her seat as the car spun and came to rest, her door just touching the trunk of a thick tree trunk.
She sat there, heart pounding, her breath coming hard and fast as the car shuddered to a stop.
“What the hell was that?” Iradon yelled. He punched the steering wheel with both hands and glared at her with eyes that glowed red in the darkness of the carchapel
“I don’t know!” she shrieked back. “I thought it was a cat, or a possum, or something! It didn’t deserve to die!”
“So you were supposed to die instead?” Iradon roared.
“Why just me?”
She couldn’t stop screaming. It was all too much.
“I can’t die,” he snarled. “I’m a hellhound, remember? Nothing on this plane can kill me. You are much more fragile. And more precious.”
“Oh yes, look at you, best delivery dog ever,” she snapped.
She was angry. Upset. Pissed off. Desperate. Hungry. Hangry. Tired. Everything all at once.
“Shit!”
Iradon opened the door and flung himself from the vehicle. Jackie watched him stride toward the road. “It probably ran away,” she shouted. “What are you doing?”
But Iradon was not listening to her. As she watched, a dark cloud surrounded him, and in place of the tall, handsome, threatening man who was escorting her to an unknown locale was a broad, dark beast of a dog with massive paws and a broad chest. She could see his shining white teeth, and the flash of his glowing red eyes as he paced the
road where they had veered into the trees.
“What are you doing?” she shouted again.
Iradon turned and ran into the dark and Jackie felt suddenly afraid. The car’s cooling engine ticked in time with her pounding heart and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness she began to see things. Shadows that moved in the dark. The shine of eyes that blinked at her from between the trees.
The crack of a breaking branch forced her into action. She lurched from her seat and threw herself across to the driver’s seat. She stepped out, her breath fogged in the night air.
“Iradon!” she called out.
But the only sound was the muffled rush of the highway below and the strange squeal of trees as they rubbed against each other in the night wind.
“Iradon, what the hell!”
But there was nothing. Only the flickering of the single streetlight that stood over the overpass. Jackie swallowed hard and flexed her hands anxiously. Was she supposed to wait for him? To follow him?
She bit down on her tongue and walked through the brush toward the off-ramp. “Iradon?”
Her bravery was gone.
She was well and truly and totally afraid.
She choked on a scream as something brushed past her legs.
“Jackie!”
She bit back a sob as she turned and saw Iradon standing by the car. She had not even seen him return.
“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted.
Tears pricked at her eyelashes. “I was trying to find you!”
“Stay there,” he snarled.
He slid into the driver’s seat and pressed his hand against the side of the steering column. Jackie blinked in disbelief as the engine struggled to turn over. The car chugged and squealed, and there was a loud bang before a puff of smoke rose from the hood.
“Oh shit,” she whispered.
There was a flare of orange light beneath the car, and Jackie screamed. “Iradon! The car! Get out!”
The orange spark became a flame that rippled beneath the vehicle, catching the dry grass and twigs beneath the trees the car had come to a stop beside. Panic choked her and she held out her hands toward the car.
He turned to look at her, but before he could move, the orange flames rose, and the car was engulfed in flames.
“Iradon!”
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 130
