by Jane Cousins
“I really don’t think you can out run them.” Declan advised.
“Don’t care what they do or don’t do. Snap out of your funk, Lord Byron, you and I have an Incubus to find, remember?”
Declan stared at Darcy’s profile for a moment, his dark violet eyes soaking up her pert nose and the intent, focused expression on her face. A dimple popped out, then another, as Declan’s lips lifted into a smile. “Of course, my Mistress of Mania and Pandemonium.”
The edge of Darcy’s lip dipped upwards momentarily. “Long may I reign.”
“Long may you reign.” Declan echoed, his tone cheerful and upbeat.
* * *
No good deed ever went unpunished, that was why Darcy so rarely performed them. She’d cheered Declan up and what did she get for her trouble? Him stripping naked, that’s what.
As punishments went, it was beyond diabolical. Some one up there, probably multiple somebodies, really must hate her.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” She hissed, looking around the popular tourist spot which was thankfully mysteriously empty today.
Declan currently stood before her in nothing but jeans, fingers of sunlight reflecting off the nearby water playing over his bare chest lovingly, making his skin look both velvet soft and intimidatingly Mt. Olympus perfect.
“This is a public place.” Darcy reminded. “Families… children.”
“Firstly, it’s a school day. And secondly, there’s no one else here.” Neither of them mentioned their Pagan Priestess tails, who were currently parked up on the lookout. One of them had her phone out, no doubt filming the Declan de-robing spectacle taking place in the gorge below. “There’s a Healing Crystals, Gemstone and New Age Fair scheduled for today at the Town Hall, I’m guessing everyone is there.”
Darcy grit her teeth. Healing crystals? New age? Bah, she couldn’t fight the fact the arty farty types who lived in and around Reverie Valley, one of the three towns that made up the Southern Sanctuary, provided the perfect cover when magical or mystical events went awry. Anyone investigating anything untoward would meet the hippy-dippy Karma freaks and instantly think elaborate hoax.
The fact that the Elemental Water Altar was located smack bang in the Valley should have been cause for concern. Except there was all too often some mundane third-eye chasing wannabe wandering around in a cloak, communing with nature and burning incense or the like. So if one of her magical family chose to visit, looking relatively normal, no one blinked an eye.
Hmm, Darcy cast her gaze over the gorgeous setting. Reflection Gorge was a popular picnic and swimming locale. The water clear and inviting, the rocks lining the pool and surrounding it rubbed smooth, perfect for sitting on. Feathery ferns poked out of the shallow waters around the edges and further down, where the pool became a stream, towering trees bent low, to dip and trail their branches into the mirror perfect surface.
Across the far side of the deep pool, water ran in steady rivulets down the stained, sheer cliff face. There’d been no recent rain so the water streaming down the rock face barely caused a ripple in the large pool below.
“Whoa.” Darcy held a palm up as Declan reached down to unbutton the fly of his jeans. “And I say again, what the hell are you doing?”
Declan grinned, skimming his jeans down and kicking them away. Darcy was… relieved… yeah, completely relieved to note he was wearing black butt-hugging jockey shorts. Phew, riot avoided. Although could you have a riot of one?
Declan flipped his head back, blonde hair flying before it settled in a tousled, mussed to perfection mess. “Er… I’m checking out the Altar?”
“No one has to get naked to do that.”
Declan chuffed a laugh. “No one is naked.” He looked Darcy up and down. “You’re not going dressed like that, are you?”
Darcy shook her head. Absently tucking a stray black glossy lock of hair behind one ear. “I wouldn’t exactly call the waterfall a raging torrent today. There is no need to strip off.” She reached down, unzipping her boots and skimming down her thigh-high stockings. Making a small neat pile of her discarded items she looked up as a splash sounded, Declan was gone.
Declan sank to the bottom of the pool, kind of grateful that it was only Spring and the water temperature bordered on the cool. After watching Darcy take off merely her boots and stockings he could have happily sat on an iceberg and melted the damn thing down to a shallow puddle.
He broke the surface, flinging his head back to get the hair out of his eyes. Watching as Darcy skipped from large rock to large rock. He was fascinated. He didn’t get to see her bare feet often. Fuck, where was that iceberg when you needed it?
Slicing through the water he tried to think of things that would help deflate his rampant cock. Sickness. Famine. His biological mother’s untimely arrival. Ah, that did it.
“Enjoying yourself?” Darcy ducked through the trickling waterfall, into the cavern protected by the jutting cliff face. It was dry back here, even better, the angle was wrong for their surveillance team to take any more photos of a barely clad Declan.
Declan hauled himself out of the water. “Yes, actually. It’s a nice day for a swim.”
Darcy found it weirdly hard to look away from the sight of all that water sluicing down Declan’s carved, muscular flesh. Leaving behind droplets of water that dazzled like diamonds, drawing attention to his alabaster velvety skin. Thankfully a stray water drop fell from the moist ceiling of the small space, hitting her on the back of the neck and slicing a chilling path down her spine.
Whipping around, Darcy fixed her attention on the rocky naturally formed Altar. A blanket of incredibly soft and very green moss covering the flat top. White water lilies emerged from cracks in the rocks at the base, twining up the sides, their fragile blossoms dipping and bowing, as if in continual abeyance.
“I’m not seeing anything, you?” She glanced over at Declan, big mistake, his back was to her as he examined the Portal. His soaking wet black jockey shorts hugging rock hard buns of steel. The man needed an imperfection, a blemish, at the very least a scar.
Why did women (and more then a few men) want to worship the man? That kind of perfection, all it did was make Darcy want to take out a knife and carve her name into his flesh. Not to claim her territory or anything but to make it less award-worthy. Huh, as if Declan Benavidez would ever let himself be claimed. He was a rolling, never date a woman more than once stone.
“Darcy, did you hear me? I think I have something.”
Mentally Darcy slapped herself hard, snap out of it. Honestly, did the man produce some sort of pheromone? She’d have to say no, given he’d just gone for a swim. Maybe the fault lay with her. “Our Incubus came through here?”
“Something came through about a day ago, so the timing doesn’t fit. And the mass is weird.”
“Weird, how?”
“Big. Really big.” Declan cast a wary glance around the small carved out space and then out past the trickling water falling from the overhanging rock, to the clear surface of the pool. Shit, something water based or water loving had come through fairly recently. And he’d swam through the pool, thankfully emerging unscathed.
Darcy had a knife in her hand, ready, looking around for any large threat. Plink. A drop of water fell from the ceiling of the small cavern, just missing Darcy’s nose. Plink, another drop. Whatever had come through the Portal obviously hadn’t stuck around. Plink, plink, more drops of water. It had at least a day’s head start on them. Shit.
Declan recognised the Buhay Leech when it fell on his shoulder, readily identifying the species. It was a requirement for all Enforcers to regularly read the creature-feature field guide and all recent updates to it. Black striped, with weak, white, glowing spots along its spine. Yes, definitely a Buhay.
He wasn’t all that worried by the sight of the limpid, barely moving black leech. It was male, and according to what he’d read, the Queen only ever fed first. Once she did, immobilising her victim with her paralysi
ng venom, the entire male swarm would encase the victim and drain it dry, not of blood, but of energy.
Buhay Leeches effectively lived off of the electrical impulses that fired all warm blooded creatures’ nerve-endings.
Darcy was just turning, intending to let Declan know they were heading out, on the hunt for whatever creature had come through the Portal, when sudden, red hot fiery pain lashed across her lower back, followed immediately by a weird languid lethargy. “What-” Darcy’s legs wobbled, feeling distant and foreign.
Plink, plink, she brushed away more stupid water droplets falling from the cavern ceiling. Except, she looked down, noting the slim black wriggling bodies, crap, not water… leeches… slimy, yuk.
What the hell was going on? Darcy’s knees started to weaken, her body feeling suddenly too heavy, too clumsy, and her eyesight was weirdly fading in and out. She blinked several times, it was bizarre, suddenly it was raining in here, black rain.
Declan watched horrified as a sheet of Buhay Leeches fell from the ceiling, all but obscuring Darcy. “No!” He dived for her, wrapping one arm around her waist, yanking Darcy off her feet.
Splash, they hit the water hard and awkwardly, in a tumble of limbs. Declan wincing as Darcy’s chin struck his temple hard and he saw stars momentarily.
Darcy blinked, everything was dark again, no, she was underwater. She tried to kick, to get to the surface but her legs weren’t working. Crap, worse than that, she couldn’t feel anything below her waist at all. Merciful Lady, everything went grey, she fought to clear her vision, clawing at the water weakly, trying to swim to the surface. Pathetic. She tried again, was she kicking? She looked down to double check and got confused… what had she been doing again?
Darcy blinked rapidly, trying to clear her blurry vision. Looking around she summed up the situation in a heartbeat, she was drowning, damn, that wasn’t good. Where was her bloody apprentice Enforcer shadow when she needed him? She was so failing his all too perfect ass, if she had to come back from the grave and kick up a fuss at the review board she would.
Hmmm, but as last thoughts went, thinking about Declan’s perfect ass… at least when they recovered her corpse she’d be able to cause one last stink, leaving everyone wondering why the hell she’d died with a smile on her face. Huh, suck it.
Chapter Eight
Hmmm, the beyond scorching lips moving across Darcy’s lower back were skilled. Chasing away the glacial cold numbness and stoking a furnace in her belly, that was firing off fingers of liquid heat to lower parts of her body… that weirdly were not listening.
The smooth rock under her was warm against her cheek. Opening her eyes, Darcy admired the sunlight as it played dappled light over her bare arm. Behind her, she could feel the press of hard male flesh against her side and shoulder, the sound of kissing and… what the hell… spitting?
She struggled to move, why was it so hard? Darcy managed to lift her head, her upper body, turning to glare at Declan, kneeling beside her, looming. “Declan. What the hell?”
“You’re awake.” Relief flooded those dark violet eyes, as he leaned to the side and spat, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. “I think I managed to get most of the venom out. How do you feel?”
“Weak.” She hated to admit to it, her arms trembling as they supported her upper body weight. Slowly, carefully, she lowered herself back down on to the smooth warm rock. “What happened?” Then her mind fully caught up to what was going on. “I can’t feel my legs.” She reached out, unconsciously grabbing Declan’s warm hand.
“Hey, it’s okay. That’s just temporary.” He squeezed her hand in return before letting it go. “Just hold on, while I apply this.”
Darcy winced as she watched him pick up her purple plaid mini-skirt, give it a twist to wring out any lingering moisture and then begin tearing it into strips. “You’d better have a good reason for doing that?” She’d loved that skirt.
Declan smiled, dazzling her with dimples. “I need it to hold the poultice in place. One part Kiello reed, two parts moss and a dash of tree fungi. That will help with the electrical burns. Nell’s natural medicinal field training is certainly paying off today in spades.”
Darcy sucked in her breath as Declan picked her up by the hips, like she was nothing more than a rag doll and gently began to wind the strips of makeshift bandage around her middle.
“Electrical burns?” She loathed feeling so weak, helpless.
Gently, Declan lowered her back down and then stretched out beside her on the warm rock. Finally feeling the chill of almost losing Darcy begin to dissipate. It had been too close. He’d lost her for a minute in the water, and when he found her she hadn’t been moving, been barely conscious. His heart had almost exploded in agony and despair at the idea of losing her.
“Yeah, I owe you a new taser battery as well as a new skirt.” And he couldn’t be happier that Darcy was around to collect.
“Declan.” Darcy ramped up her glare to uranium grade, trying not to get distracted by the sight of him lying next to her on the warm, wide rock, on his back, wearing nothing but those sinfully snug jockey shorts. “Will you just tell me what happened?”
“Buhay Leeches.”
That was an explanation? “I’m going to need more that that.”
“You didn’t recognise them?”
“I only deal with sentient life forms, not the bug variety, unless they talk that is. Why would I know about them?”
“Oh, sorry. They swarm during lightning storms, originating from Vietnam. They feed off warm blooded animals. In each hive there’s only one female, the Queen. She feeds first, injecting a paralysing agent. The swarm follow her lead. They’re not after blood but energy, electrical impulses, which is probably why they get so confused during storms. They must have wandered through the Portal. The Queen latched onto your lower back.”
Darcy frowned, recalling the droplet of water that had slid down her spine, yuk.
“Then she rang the dinner bell.”
“I remember the black rain.”
“Leeches falling from the ceiling. I grabbed you, but lost you for a minute in the water. Dragged you out. The only way to get the Queen off was to overload her, so I used your taser gun.”
“You went foraging without an invitation in my cleavage?” Darcy doubled down on her glare, yet at the same time those fingers of heat radiating outwards from her belly pushed back the numbness slightly further.
“I wasn’t foraging. And you weren’t exactly conscious to ask permission. I did what had to be done… section two, line eight of the Enforcer handbook.”
“Do not quote the handbook at me. You took my taser and used it on me.”
“No, I used it on a creature attacking you. But it took a butt load of energy to cook the Queen, frying the battery. Unfortunately, you suffered some minor burns during the removal process. But I swear, you won’t scar, not with that poultice. Though if you want, I can take you to see Nell?”
Darcy’s right leg snapped out unexpectedly, her toes tingling, distant pins and needles pricking her. Thank, Goddess. Rolling over clumsily, Darcy managed to lever herself up on her elbows. “No. It’s fine. I trust your Enforcer based first aid training skills are up to snuff.” She noted the black, bloated body of the Queen leech a few feet away. It was as big as her hand now, smoke still rising from its limp form. “What happened to the rest of the… swarm?” She glanced down to check she didn’t have two thousand male leeches stuck to her.
“The Queen controls every aspect of them, once she died, they just shut down and follow suit.”
“That’s a relief.” Darcy lay back down, clenching her teeth as her left foot spasmed. What a day. She let the sun’s rays soak into her bones. “… thanks.” It didn’t hurt to say the word, but it was a near thing.
“So…” Declan rolled onto his side, resting his head on his raised hand, staring down at Darcy, sprawled out next to him, only inches separating them. “… exceptional. Phenomenal. Prodigious.”
/>
“What are you babbling about?”
“I was coming up with some adjectives you might want to incorporate in today’s evaluation report. I mean, you can’t deny that I really did…” Declan leaned over, his warm breath playing over Darcy’s damp hair. “… deliver the goods today. Vanquishing the enemy. Saving a damsel in distress.”
“It was a dumb animal, or whatever genus Leeches fall into, driven by instincts, hardly a villainous Mastermind bent on taking over the world.”
“Annelida, class – Clitellata.”
“What?”
“The Leech genus, thought you might want to know for future reference.”
Darcy stared at him, saying nothing for a count of ten to let him know how irrelevant she found that information. Stupid idiot just lay there looking happy and gorgeous, dimpling away. “And I was not, and never will be, a damsel in distress in need of saving.”
“So when I found you sinking like a lead weight to the bottom of the river you were just what… taking a minute to plot your nefarious revenge on the Buhay Queen Leech? Lulling her into a false sense of security by allowing her to paralyse you? How did your accidentally drowning fit into your plans? Maybe you’d better add – Heroic - to that list detailing my efforts today.”
“Oh, shut up. And the daily reports involve only checkboxes, satisfactory or unsatisfactory.”
Declan’s grin if possible, broadened. “So tell me then, Darcy Montgomery, are you feeling satisfied?”
Grrr, he made every damn thing sound so salacious.
“I mean, here you are, barely able to walk… in another context that could be construed as a job well done.”
Darcy winced as the pins and needles intensified and her left knee began to twitch. Grrr, this was annoying. “Well, come on… Hero, let’s get out of here.” She managed to lever herself up into a sitting position easily enough, tugging down her damp top, but then was kind of stuck.
