“We need a map,” he said. “The interstates are too open.”
“I’ll get one,” Miri said, and hurried to the little store.
It wasn’t a simple map she brought him, but a book of them, an atlas.
“That’s perfect,” he said.
He guided the motorcycle deep into the ranks of tractor-trailers, hiding within the maze of them. That would buy them a little time. He wanted the bike ready to go if trouble came calling. Now he could search the bike, but time as growing short.
“I’ll go keep an eye out,” Miri said.
Nodding, Ash ran his hands over every part of the bike that had even the slightest trace of metal on it – nuts, bolts, anything. He’d helped build it, he knew it by heart.
Their pursuers would be easy to spot. Better to have some warning than to find themselves surrounded.
“Stay in my line of sight.”
She nodded.
Miri made her way among the rumbling trucks, some still running for reasons she couldn’t explain, until she reached a vantage point that allowed her to see both entrances to the truck stop. The smell of food from the restaurant made her stomach ache and rumble. There hadn’t been time to eat since the night before and she was starving.
There was no sign of pursuit, not yet, but given their persistence, Miri didn’t doubt it was coming.
“Well, hello there,” an unfamiliar voice said behind her. “What do we have here?”
Turning her head, she glanced backward even as she lifted an eyebrow at the tone of the question.
The trucker was one of those few who still prided himself on being a red-necked Southern boy – and not in the funny ‘You Might Be a Redneck’ kind of way. His beer gut preceded him by nearly a foot and both his gimme cap and barely seen belt buckle proudly displayed the flag of the Confederate South.
He tipped the hat back on his greasy head and eyed her with a none-too-pleasant leering smile that was shy a few teeth.
Given how disheveled she must look, she could guess what he was thinking.
The name ‘Roy’ was stenciled onto his grimy work shirt in the same greenish khaki color as his no-iron polyester work pants. Those were long past still being no-iron. The color, liberally daubed now with the ghosts of motor oil and grease, didn’t suit him.
He spit a long stream of tobacco juice to one side, making her stomach churn.
With a sigh, Miri looked at him.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked as he stepped closer, licking his lips as he eyed her speculatively.
“I’m pretty sure you ain’t goin’ anyplace so fast I can’t catch you before you get there,” he said. “You and me could have a real good time up in my cab.”
“Somehow, I don’t think so,” Miri said dryly, “but you might want to check with my boyfriend first.”
Glancing over the trucker’s shoulder she met Ash’s glittering eyes as he came up behind the other man.
With a long-suffering sigh and a bit of a grin, Ash said, “I can’t leave you anyplace, can I?”
She shrugged. “Did you find it?”
Ash held up a little device about the size of his thumb.
“I found this underneath the muffler.”
The trucker looked from one to the other of them uncertainly.
Even under the best of circumstances, at six foot five or so Ash tended to look more than a bit dangerous. Now, despite the grin, he looked particularly intimidating. It didn’t help that his smile looked like a shark’s just before it bit you, all teeth.
There were also all those muscles…all flexed.
She smiled. It was a pretty impressive show.
With a shrug she looked at the trucker. “You can see why you might want to ask first.”
“No offense,” Roy said.
With a smile of his own, Ash patted the trucker on the shoulder as Roy sidled warily past him.
“None taken,” Ash said, calmly, but sparks of red and gold danced in his dark eyes.
Restraining a smile, Miri watched the man make his way around Ash to his cab, climbing up into it. Ash clapped him heartily on the back again as he went by. Then he bent and pressed the little tracking device against the undercarriage of Roy’s trailer.
Miri looked at Ash in amusement.
“Now that’s just unkind,” she said.
“Boyfriend,” Ash said in mock disgust, as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder to her amusement and laughing protest. “First, I’m no boy, which I intend to demonstrate at the first opportunity and friend is entirely too mild a term for what I am to you.”
With her hair in her eyes, giggling, Miri said, “As it happens, I agree on all counts.”
Chapter Eight
Ash carefully but quickly guided the dual-sport motorcycle up the fire trail on the wooded hill that overlooked the truck stop. He brought the bike to a stop beneath some trees. From there they had a clear view of the truck stop and the highway for some distance in either direction before the road disappeared among the hills. Ash had spotted the faint traces of the abandoned fire trail while he’d been keeping an eye out and before he’d spotted the unfortunate Roy.
Such tracks were common in parts of West Virginia near Gabriel’s valley, it was what made him look for such a thing, but like this one most were no longer or rarely used.
He wrestled the bike up the overgrown and weed-choked trail.
Parking the bike beneath a tree, Ash took Miri’s hand to draw her after him.
Leaning his back against another tree a little further down the slope, he pulled her into his arms, her back against his chest.
With a sigh of contentment, he rested his chin on top of her head.
Tilting her head back, Miri looked up at him and he lowered his mouth to hers for a soft kiss.
She smiled.
“You were driving me mad on the motorcycle,” he said with a sigh as his hands slid up her belly to cup and mold her breasts beneath her dress as she reached behind her to link her arms behind his lowered neck.
Miri felt him shift form against her back and went hot.
She watched as the hands on her breasts changed from human to Daemonae. The clawed tips of his fingers flicked at her nipples beneath the thin material of her dress to make them hard, so she wasn’t surprised to find his tail slipping beneath her skirt to tease.
His mouth brushed her throat but she knew his eyes were on his hands, between glances at the view before them.
Given the circumstances, she’d had barely enough time at the motel to pull her dress over her head. She’d been forced to abandon her underwear there and had spent half the ride tucking her skirt under her legs to keep it from exposing her. So his tail slid lightly over her bared cleft just between her pussy lips, up to her clit and then back, pressing just enough to make her moan softly. As her pussy went damp in response, it slipped and slid more easily, her juices the lubrication.
“I love to hear your pleasure,” Ash said softly against her ear.
She shivered as his breath and then his tongue brushed lightly over curve of it.
As he teased her they watched a group of high-powered cars dart into the truck stop.
One of them stopped at the gas pumps, the rest shot out onto the highway.
A man in a dark suit got out of the car to talk to the employee cleaning up around the pumps.
In the distance, Roy’s truck chugged up the long slope of the distant leg of the highway, visible over a rise from their vantage point.
The cars moved quickly in pursuit, one or two of them closing around the faraway truck. By their motion, pulling in front and then dropping back, they were obviously confused not to find a motorcycle anywhere nearby.
Seeing the canvas-covered semi, though, they drew the obvious conclusion. The bike was hidden in the trailer beneath the canvas.
Miri smiled, thinking about it and glanced over her shoulder at Ash. “He’ll remember us.”
Nodding, Ash said, “He w
ill. An unexpected bonus.”
He’d made sure of it. Their pursuers would know for certain it was them, that they’d been there. Not finding them or the motorcycle they would then make assumptions.
It was the reasonable thing to do.
A horde of cars surrounded the truck, forced it to slow.
The truck came to a stop.
A protesting Roy, a tiny figure that hopped down from the cab, was brought up short as a dozen guns were suddenly trained on him.
Pausing to watch the hapless Roy, Ash might have felt more pity for him as the men surrounded the truck had he not tried to use his size to intimidate Miri. He wondered how much Roy enjoyed having the shoe on the other foot.
The men untied the canvas that covered the trailer bed.
Studying Ash as he fondled her, Miri said, her voice hitching as he pinched her nipples between his claws, “Ash, what did you do before this?”
Amused, pleased at her astuteness although he should have known she would guess as much, Ashtoreth said, “I served as General to my Prince, Asmodeus.”
“Tactician?” Miri asked, turning her head to look and lifting an eyebrow at him.
Ash inclined his head in acknowledgement. “Even so.”
Screened by the foliage but with the truck stop visible through the leaves, Ash slid his hands down her body to gather the material of her dress with his fingers, knowing she’d had no time to replace her undergarments. She was naked beneath it. He’d felt her tuck the skirt back under her legs to hold it in place so as not to reveal herself.
He went hot and hard at the thought. It had teased him the whole trip. Each breath of wind swirling her skirt at the truck stop had been a torment.
The scent of her arousal flooded him.
Ash loved the heady, musky scent of her passion. One hand slid down her body to tease at her clit as his tail slipped between her thighs to press at the entrance to her channel. She moaned and his cock stiffened even more against her tight round ass.
Miri felt her dress lift to expose her as Ash’s tail slipped and slid over and between her vaginal lips to tease at her clit. Then it slid back to press and wiggle tantalizingly between the delicate folds there, not quite penetrating. Already her pussy throbbed and ached, longing to be filled. Her hips rocked against it.
Hidden by the shadows of the shifting autumn foliage and with the distant rumble of trucks on the highway to conceal her gasps and sighs Miri felt delightfully exposed as Ash drew her dress over her head.
He tossed it aside.
Miri’s belly tightened as she arched against him, pressed her aching breasts into his palms, her bottom back against his cock.
The sound was what drew their attention, the steady throbbing, beating and then the sudden roar above them. Both of them started as a helicopter swooped low overhead, just barely clearing the treetops, the trees thrashing in its wake. Its destination was undeniable.
The truck stop.
The markings weren’t military, though, but corporate. As was the logo, a massive figure with a stylized flame in its hand.
Prometheus. If Ash was right, it was Gordon Templeton’s company. If Miri had had any doubts about Templeton’s involvement – although the number of men searching for them was some indication – they vanished as the helicopter hovered over the truck stop.
“That changes things a little,” Miri said, glancing over her shoulder at Ash.
Delightful sparks of electricity shot through her as his hands drifted over her.
Eying the helicopter, Ash shook his head and smiled, brushing his mouth over the curve of her throat and shoulder.
“It just means we’ll have to stay here for a while longer,” he said, wrapping his scarlet wings around them as his mouth explored her. “They’ll think we’ve fled. After all, why would we stay…?”
A conjuring gesture spread a soft wool blanket across the fading grass, the trees a brilliant canopy fluttering above them, some of the leaves nearly the same color as Ash’s brilliant skin with its tracery of gold.
With the gift of Miri’s essence and her blood, Ash had power and to spare to do such small magics.
“Why would we indeed?” Miri murmured as he swept her up in his arms.
Considering it, Ash said thoughtfully, “Perhaps because I’m hungry?”
“Are you?” she whispered, every nerve becoming alert as he lowered her to the blanket.
“For you, yes,” he said, his eyes intent on her.
For a moment, Miri eyed him almost warily as he slid his hands slowly up her legs. Almost instinctively she tried to draw them together at the predatory look in his glowing eyes except he parted them as he went, massaging her thighs as his hands drew ever closer to her center. Her pussy throbbed in expectation. She could remember all too well his thick cock piercing her, the heavy length of it inside her, filling her.
Miri found herself exposed and helpless against his greater strength. Not that she wanted to resist. Anticipation ran deep. As she knew he’d intended. Every muscle tightened as excitement drew them taut. Lust and need pooled low in her belly.
His stomach growled and Miri couldn’t help but giggle. He really was hungry for her.
Ash lifted an eyebrow. To his amusement, Miri blushed.
He ran his hands beneath her bottom, cupped her firm rounded ass to angle her hips to his satisfaction.
Watching as her eyes went round, Ash used his thumbs to draw her lower lips gently apart, opening her to him. He breathed lightly on her exposed flesh so she would know she was revealed to him, unable to escape, vulnerable and at his mercy. To his pleasure, he could see her pussy dampen, beads of her moisture caught among the delicate folds and in the tight red-gold curls between her thighs.
She quivered, and he smiled.
“This trail is difficult to see unless you’re looking for something like it. With the tracking device in Roy’s trailer they’ll think we’ve fled and so their search will expand,” he said as his tongue flicked over her tender folds. “They’ll look outward from here, not inward. We’ll be behind their lines.”
Miri quivered at the ephemeral touch of his forked tongue as it danced over her most intimate places.
“Ash,” she moaned.
He smiled, lowered his mouth to her and tasted her sweet cream, all of her, deeply, with one long slow sweep of his tongue. He hadn’t had the time to do this the night before in his haste to take her but now he could take his time and pleasure her. And himself.
“So sweet,” he murmured.
Closing his eyes, Ash savored the taste of her.
“I love to eat pussy,” he said, his deep voice vibrating in Miri’s bones as he held her firmly in place.
And then he did. Slowly, deliciously, he ate her, his tongue sliding up the length of her crease to flick lightly against her clit. Heat poured through her, every limb went hot. Miri grasped frantically at the blanket. That one motion and she thought she’d go mad with pleasure.
Then he did it again.
Just as slowly, just as deeply, pressing his mouth against her lower lips so his tongue could dip deep inside her.
She moaned.
It was incredible, sweet torture.
One long lick, another, and then he licked her like a lollipop, in long smooth strokes with that flick at her clit, savoring each. Heat and tension built inside her, pooled, gathered deep in her belly with each long swipe of his tongue. It felt as if she lost her mind to the pleasure he gave her. His tongue fluttered against her pussy lips and she quivered. When it slid up inside her again, flicked in her depths, she trembled. He licked and sucked at her clit, her pussy, between each long stroke. All thought evaporated. She was helpless in his hands, melting as his agile tongue tormented her.
“Ash, please,” she pleaded.
“We have time,” Ash said slowly, thoughtfully. “We’ll have to stay hidden. For some little time.”
With each of the last three words, he slid his tongue up her slit slowly.
&nbs
p; She moaned on a desperate sigh, arching. He let his tongue dance over the swollen, throbbing peak between her thighs as she writhed, trapped in his hands.
“Oh, dear God,” she breathed.
Deliberately, Ash expanded his wings above them, the red and gold shifting with the colors of the leaves and lowered his mouth to her pussy once again to savor her deeply, to draw out her creamy juices, sucking lightly now and then at her clit.
Helpless, she trembled in his hands.
Slowly, carefully, he slid a finger inside her, stroked ever so lightly.
With delight, Ash felt her muscles jump and twitch to every light touch of his tongue, each infinitesimal stroke of his finger inside her.
She wailed softly.
Her body tightened, grew as taut as a bow until she quivered, lost in the sensation of his mouth on her tender nub, before he withdrew his finger and buried his tongue deep inside her channel.
Ash held her, suckled at her, his tongue driving up inside her in place of his finger to draw out her sweet cream even as her essence poured into him.
Like a gathering storm, pleasure pooled in Miri’s belly. Every muscle of her body locked. Her hips strained against the restriction of his hands. A wild cry spiraled in her throat and then it suddenly released. She came violently.
Turning her head, Miri buried her face in the blanket as she cried out her pleasure.
Ash struck, burying his fangs in her exposed throat. In delight, he savored her sweetness as she quivered in his hands. He drew on her essence, feasted on her as her ecstasy coursed through him with each mouthful, each shiver and jolt of her body in his hands.
As her body trembled in the aftermath, Ash stretched out alongside her, brushing his lips across one furled nipple while he stroked her other breast and his tail brushed over her thigh. He watched her intently as his tail slid over her mound, slipped between her nether lips. He spread them with his fingers so it could flutter over the exposed entrance to her core.
Miri moaned as another rush of pleasure set her empty pussy to aching, as slowly, deliberately, his tail pushed up inside her, thrusting in and out of her as it went, going deeper with each stroke.
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