by Sam Cheever
He shook me hard and then grabbed my wrists with the other huge paw when, in a dazed state, I forgot to keep the knives up. I found myself in the unenviable position of staring up an oversized set of nostrils with wiry hair protruding from them and other, more disgusting things.
Then he pulled me closer to his face and opened his mouth. I tried to squirm free but it was impossible, he had me firmly grasped on both ends. A long, gray tongue came out of the mouth and licked my face. I fought back the urge to spew the contents of my stomach and quickly ran though my options. Okay, that didn’t take long, I only had one.
I went limp and tried to look dead.
He sniffed me once and then licked my face again.
I clenched against the shudder of revulsion that wanted to run away with my body and stayed dead. Finally he let go of my wrists so he could poke me with a fat finger.
As soon as my arms were free I pulled my head toward my feet so my knives could reach his hand and slashed hard on the hand holding my ankles with both knives. He gave off a howl and let go of me. I flipped in midair, sent a burst of power into his crotch on the way down and managed to land on my feet. Unfortunately I pitched face forward after I landed.
Embarrassing that.
I think the massive demon would have recovered enough to grab me again but when he got done worrying about the deep gouges on his enormous paw, another problem managed to worm its way into his half functioning brain.
He looked down as smoke started to drift away from his crotch and flames began licking upward within the smoke. He screamed an ear shattering scream and started pounding on his blazing crotch with his fist in an effort to quench the flames.
Perhaps not the best idea.
He sucked in his breath and doubled over. Then the shrieking started again, at a higher pitch this time. I rolled onto my back just in time to see him start to wobble at the knees. If he toppled he was gonna come down right on top of me. I rolled as far and as fast as I could and, although I hit a thick, scaly pair of legs I kept my attention focused on the monster that was about to hit the ground too damn close to me for comfort.
He hit the plush carpet with his knees, his eyes glazing in pain and the fire spreading upward to his massive stomach and chest. He wavered there for a moment and then his eyes seemed to focus again.
On me.
One large fist shot toward me and I realized he planned to take me down with him. I raised an arm and shot a jolt of everything I had between his eyes. From different parts of the room two other power streams hit him and he went down under the combined assault.
His head bounced on the thick carpet just inches from me.
I sat panting for a few seconds, oblivious to the continued fighting going on around me. And then started to push my battered body up off the rug. A square, golden hand appeared in front of my face. I looked up into Dialle’s beautiful face.
“Nice work, my princess.” His voice was husky with feeling and warmed all my special places.
I grinned at him. “Thanks for the assist.” I wiped my bloody hands on my pants and looked at the damage I’d done. “The bigger they are the better they fall.”
He laughed.
I suddenly realized the room had grown relatively quiet. It appeared the battle was over. Bodies from both sides littered the formerly pristine carpet but mostly it was demons and gargoyles.
I looked back to Dialle. “The superdemon?”
“Dead. Again.”
“You sure about that?”
“I left Emo to deal with it.”
I looked over to where I’d last seen Dialle fighting the superdemon and saw Emo standing over the body. He had one hip resting against the wall and was cleaning his long knives on the once beautiful velvet draperies. The demon at his feet started to move. Emo glanced down and in an offhand manner shot another jolt into the demon’s brain. The superdemon flopped back to the ground.
Dead. Again.
“How long do you figure he’ll have to stand there?”
Dialle shrugged. “He can get a chair.”
Gerch approached us and gave Dialle a low bow. “My prince.”
“Gerch, present your report.”
“Your Highness, a demon was overheard boasting that they hold our king at Castle Gregg.”
Dialle nodded. “Send two of our most powerful royals to the nightclub with a force of twenty soldiers to release him.”
Gerch bowed again and left.
I knelt down and wiped my long knives on the shirt of a nearby dead demon. “Only twenty soldiers?”
He shrugged. “It should be enough. Alcott has surely taken to the Shadows by now and most of his soldiers are lying dead on the floor here.”
I stood up and slid the knives back into my boots. “He could have taken the king with him.”
Dialle shook his head. “He wouldn’t do that unless he got permission from his puppet master. Let’s hope he didn’t have a chance to do that.”
I glanced over at Emo just in time to see him hit the superdemon between the eyes again. “That thing’s like a damn cockroach.”
Dialle leaned close and rubbed soft lips over my own. His unnaturally hot tongue snaked out to tickle the seam of my mouth and then trace my lips. “Yes,” he said, “but Emo does have his uses.”
I smacked him but couldn’t help chuckling. “I meant the demon and you know it.”
His grin widened. “Oops. My bad.”
“Yes you are.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Twitterfly Under Glass
Alas they found the devil king, in a prison clear as glass,
His angry bursts do make it hard, for young miss to save his ass.
Myra popped in as I was trying to decide how to get home. I wasn’t sure I dared risk spaceshifting that far on my own and Emo was still blasting the superdemon to death.
I heard a small pop over my left shoulder and glanced at her. “Angel, you’re just in time to take me home.”
She frowned at all the dead bodies on the floor around her. “I see you’ve been busy.”
I grinned at her. “I’d like to take credit for all this but unfortunately I had help.” I pointed to the demon at my feet. “I did this one though.”
She looked at the dead demon and then very deliberately sized me up with her eyes. “The story of David and Goliath comes to mind.”
I shrugged. “Something like that.” I put my hand out for her. “You ready?”
She clasped my hand and sound and movement dropped away.
We landed in my living room and I headed directly for the drink valet to make two strong cups of coffee.
Myra followed me into the food service area and leaned against the counter watching me. I handed her a mug and she closed her eyes on the first tongue-scorching sip. “Ahhh. I needed this. Thanks, Astra.”
I cocked my head at her and studied her carefully. She looked tired and, amazingly, a little scared. “How’s the search for the dark angel going?”
She pinched one shoulder up in an attempt at an unconcerned shrug. “One step forward five steps back. You know how it is.”
I nodded. A feeling of imminent catastrophe sat in my stomach like a tiny pearl. But the pearl was growing larger by the moment. I’d had my own fears and doubts about my father’s predicament but I figured at least he and Myra would be confident. Apparently I’d been wrong.
About Myra anyway. “How much pressure is he under from the army?”
Myra took a long sip of her coffee and avoided looking at me. “His association with your mother has damned him to many. He refuses to condemn her to the council and, in their eyes, he continues to plot with her. There are those who believe he’s been tasked with finding himself.”
The pearl gained a inch and wobbled around in my churning stomach. “What does He think?”
She shrugged again. “He sent us on this mission. I’m sure He believes in your father. He always has. But with enough pressure from the right places…” Her voice
trailed off and the note of fear in her voice was no longer hard to discern.
“I set my coffee down and crossed my arms. Leaning back against the opposite counter I looked my guardian angel right in the eyes. “And what do you think?”
Anger quickly replaced the fear in her eyes. “How dare you ask me that, Astra? Your father is the kindest, most devoted member of the celestial thrones. I will fight with him and for him until I take my last breath! I would expect nothing less of you!”
I stared hard at her for a moment, dreading what I was about to tell her. When I finally spoke, the words came out in a clenched whisper, filled with pain. “That’s what I’d always thought too.”
She stood up straight and set her nearly empty mug on the counter. Then she took one step forward and grabbed me with both hands. She shook me hard, her beautiful face dark with anger. “Don’t you doubt him, Astra. Ever! He’s your father and he would do nothing to interfere with the divine goal.”
Doubt made me angry. “I don’t want to doubt him, Myra. Don’t you think it’s eating me up inside? But I saw him with my own eyes. I heard them plotting…”
Her face lost all color and her hands tightened on my arms. “Tell me, Astra. Tell me what you heard.”
I shook my head. I just couldn’t betray him that way. I wouldn’t.
“Astra, if you want me to help him you have to tell me.”
I jerked out of her grasp and stalked into the living area, where I paced frantically for a few minutes, praying silently for guidance. Finally I realized I had no choice. Myra might be the only one who still believed in my father. I turned to find her standing just inches from me, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
“Enoch came to me.”
Her lovely blue eyes widened in shock. “Enoch? Heaven help us. He’s turned against your father too?”
I nodded. “He tasked me with monitoring my father’s activities.”
“He asked you to spy on your father?”
“Yes.”
Myra dropped onto the divan as if her knees had given out on her. I’d never seen her so shocked. She thought about this for a few moments and then a hard look entered her blue eyes. “Tell me, Astra.”
I started pacing again as the pearl in my gut achieved uncomfortable proportions. “I went to the Phelps fortress and he was there, with my mother. They were talking about killing Dialle the First.”
“What!”
“That’s not all. I’ve had a vision too. Of my father, torturing King Dialle.”
That brought her to her feet. “That’s preposterous!”
I shrugged, nearly choking as the pearl seemed to extend up into my throat.
Myra had joined me in my pacing. For a few minutes I concentrated on not running into her. Finally I moved to the other side of the divan and paced there.
Suddenly Myra stopped pacing and looked at me. “When, Astra? When did you see your father and that woman?”
“Tonight…or…” I looked at the world clock on the wall and realized night had become day. “Last night actually, around midnight I think.”
Myra’s eyes narrowed and she stared at me so hard I thought she was going to close the few feet between us and whack me upside my head like she’d done when I was a smaller version of my current pain-in-the-ass self and I’d done something to piss her off.
But then she smiled and it was like the sun coming out from behind a huge black cloud. “It wasn’t him, child.”
“What? How do you know?”
The smile widened and for a beat it looked like she would do a happy dance. “He was before the council at that time, with me in fact.”
“No shit?”
“No frunkin’ shit, Astra!”
I laughed then. “Oh thank the Big Guy. Oh hallelujah!” But then I realized that gave me a new problem.
Several in fact.
I frowned at my angel. “Then who was I looking at in my father’s house?”
Myra’s face returned to its earlier angry appearance. “I think I just figured out who the dark angel is.”
Then she just…disappeared.
“Shit! Are you frunkin’ kidding me?” I screamed to the empty room. “Arrrrgggghhhh! Come back here and tell me! Damnable angel!”
* * * * *
A couple of hours later I was sitting on my divan, staring into space and wishing I could sleep. My mind wouldn’t let go of everything enough to let me drop off.
I’d given up sleeping an hour previous and was sipping another giant mug of hot coffee. I felt the air change but didn’t have the energy to turn and look at him.
I assumed it was Dialle or Emo. I said nothing and continued to stare into space. I was too tired to start a conversation and I wasn’t in the mood for entertaining.
Imagine my surprise when Enoch spoke. “Astra? Child, what’s happened? You look as if you’ve entered a catatonic state.”
I blinked and slowly turned my head. He was bending toward me and his gorgeous olive face was inches from my own. He smelled like rosewood and candle wax. It was a very familiar scent but my sluggish mind couldn’t grasp why at that moment.
I blinked at him again and took another sip of my coffee. I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
He frowned slightly. “Astra?”
“What do you want, Enoch?”
“Right at this moment I want your attention.” He no longer sounded concerned. Anger had replaced that gentle emotion.
I was feeling a little angry myself. I turned to him with hard eyes and a clenched jaw. “You have it.”
He stared hard at me for a moment and then sighed. “I realize this is hard for you, Astra…”
“Do you?” That damnable pearl was back and it had grown. A lot.
He narrowed those chocolate eyes at me and then sat beside me on the divan. I figured it was his way of making me feel less threatened. It probably would have worked had I felt threatened by him. But at that point in the game, what I was feeling was much more violent and retributive.
“I need your report.” Apparently he’d decided he wasn’t going to be able to make me feel better so he might as well get what he wanted from me.
My jaw was beginning to hurt from being clenched. I turned away from him and tried to relax my face into something less aggressive. I have a feeling the result was less than what I’d hoped. “My report is this. You’re spying on the wrong angel. My father is not your dark angel.” I turned back to him. “But I’m going to find out who is and when I do that evil creature will pay dearly for his antics.”
Enoch stared at me with no change in expression. “What antics?”
Well. I certainly hadn’t expected that question. I blinked. Then I decided I might as well tell him what I’d seen and why I knew it had been false.
“You wanted my report, well this is my report. I went to my father’s house and skulked around like a third-class thief and I did see someone who looked a lot like my father plotting to kill King Dialle with an evil bitch who looked a lot like my mother and then I ran away like a coward thinking my father had fallen hard. But you know what? It wasn’t my father and now I’m going to find out who it was.”
Enoch’s dark, handsome face looked perplexed. “What do you mean you saw your father but it wasn’t your father. If it looked just like your father it had to be your father.”
I shook my head and stood up. Adrenaline had done what caffeine hadn’t quite managed.
I was back.
I leaned toward him and wagged an unimpressively short finger in his face. “Just like I must have been the one to kill a target demon the other day even though I was somewhere else at the time and had no knowledge of the event?”
His frown deepened. “Astra, I think you need some rest. You’re not making any sense.”
I threw my hands up in the air triumphantly. “Of course I’m not! And do you know why? Because none of this makes any damned sense, that’s why!”
I started toward the door, intending to
leave, when I saw his hand reaching for my shoulder out of the corner of my eye and I panicked. Before he could touch me and possibly shift me away I turned and jabbed his hand with a power jolt.
He yanked the hand off my shoulder with a startled yelp. The room suddenly erupted with a violent wind that yanked pictures off the walls and blew pillows off the divan. I realized his wings had unfolded and were whipping violently around him. He’d also grown a couple of feet.
Oh-oh.
I was dodging flying debris and trying to stay clear of those dangerously whipping wings and was seriously considering trying to shift out of the room when Enoch’s head jerked around to a spot beyond my right shoulder and then he disappeared with a pop.
I was so surprised by his sudden disappearance that I almost didn’t notice Prince Dialle’s arrival.
He grabbed me from behind and yanked me hard up against his long, lean body. My body immediately reacted as his hot mouth found my neck and he nibbled gently there. “Hello, lovely Tweener.”
If I wasn’t already so discombobulated by my near-death experience with Enoch I would have just dragged him to the ground and raped him. I was pretty sick of waiting for this particular yummy devil. But, alas, my life was hell and I didn’t have time to play.
I turned in his arms and placed both hands on his chest to hold him away. “Has your father returned to Court?”
He grabbed my butt with both hands and pulled me toward his rigid lower regions. I gasped as he ground himself into me. “To Hades with my father.”
I laughed. “He’s been there, done that.”
He grinned. “Yes but he needs a refresher I think. He’s really starting to get on my last nerve.”
“Does that mean he’s back?”
Dialle pulled my hair off my neck and ran a finger up the back of my neck. My knees wobbled. I was pretty sure I could hear them banging together. “Stop that! I need to know.”
He wrapped the length of my hair in his fist and yanked my head back, just on the edge of roughness. I gasped in shock and pleasure and his dark head lowered to my slightly parted lips. Just before his lips claimed mine he said, “No. He’s still imprisoned. My people couldn’t release him. I came to get you so you could help.”
