He didn’t answer. A bitter, chalky taste rose in his mouth, coated his throat as he fed. Bile rose when the creature’s blood hit his stomach. Still, it was better than nothing, as a man dying of thirst might say of his own sweat. When he had taken all that he could stand, he broke the thing’s neck and let the carcass fall. Donovan, her back to him, stared at the ground. A scratch pinked up the back of her neck.
Korzha shuddered. The brackish taste spread through him. A trickle of black oozed at his feet, reached a dip in the ground and pooled; blood from the creature Donovan had killed. He watched the pool grow and quiver at an edge until the pressure breached cohesion and the liquid oozed forward.
“Shall we go?” Korzha stepped toward her. He gripped his upper arm with one hand. He’d been bitten to the bone, and despite having fed on the animal, he was healing much too slowly. Maybe even not at all.
She looked at the bodies of the two dead creatures then retrieved her satchel to pull out an extra shirt. He grabbed her hand.
“Not necessary,” he said.
“Your face is filthy dirty.”
“So is yours.”
“Yeah, but on me, it looks great, right?” Her gaze moved over him. “Let me get the gunk off you at least.”
Korzha nodded. He stood still while she used the hemmed edge of the shirt to dab at the blood on his face. “No moist towelette?”
“So sue me.” She turned the fabric over and swabbed the sheen from his forehead. “Looking kind of grey, my man,” she said.
“Dinner was not to my taste.”
She grimaced. “Sorry about that.” She put away the cloth and, as she wiped her hands on her thighs, looked at him guiltily, or so he fancied. “Remember, I offered to share my sawdust bars with you.”
Korzha laughed. “Not to my taste either.”
She shook her head. “Well, what is?”
Their eyes met. He realized she’d actually forgotten what he was. He couldn’t help it; he smiled. Humans could be so naive, and this lapse of hers was rather flattering. Lovely Claudia. Sweet Claudia. She could almost think of him as human. “You are,” he said. The hungry wolf to Little Red Riding Hood.
“Right.” She folded the shirt and jammed it back in the satchel. “Okay. We ought to get going, I guess.”
He nodded. “Thank you,” he said. “For coming to my assistance.” When she shrugged, he walked to where they’d originally stopped. The horse still stamped and flicked its tail there, and he soothed it of its fright and disquiet. The muscles of his legs felt thin, not fully under his command. He wondered if the dog creature’s blood had poisoned him. “Clean your knife, Officer.”
While he gathered his things, she hunkered down and searched again in her satchel. Korzha’s stomach clenched. The animal’s blood was worse than any non-human blood he’d ever had, including demon. His knees weren’t watery anymore, but his injuries weren’t healing either. Hunger called to him, whispering to be sated. He held on to the horse and watched Donovan use the shirt to clean off her knife. It was a damn good thing they were riding instead of relying on him to get them back to Biirkma. He couldn’t feel worse if he’d been left in the sun without PABA. Some of the blood had dried on her knife, and she had to work at the last of it. The blade finally went back into the sheath. She stood and tapped it. “My new best friend.” She looked Korzha up and down. “You gonna be okay?”
“We ought to go before more of them show up,” was his only answer.
Claudia gave him a grin, obviously pleased with herself for having survived such an encounter. “We’re not there yet?”
A hint of humor filled her eyes. It was almost as appealing as her smell, the remembered taste of her. He hoped they made it somewhere safe before he jumped her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
As they rode, Korzha’s sleeve darkened. Before long, even Claudia smelled blood. The scent made the horse uneasy with the unfortunate result that the vampire was forced to hold on tight, which had to hurt. He refused to talk about his injury, just insisted he’d be fine by next nightfall. Which wouldn’t do him or Claudia any good if anything else caught up with them before then.
Her stomach clenched. Korzha had to be all right. Without him, she’d never get Holly. She’d never find her way out of this wasteland and chances were even slimmer she’d make it to the portal alone. “Liar,” she said the next time he insisted he was fine.
He didn’t reply.
“You better not die on me.” She made her voice light, a playful warning, like she didn’t mean it. All in fun, right? Her situation wasn’t dire at all.
“That is unlikely.”
She shook her head. “‘Never trust a vamp.’ That’s what the instructors at the Academy said. You’re all out for yourselves.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “If you had any sense at all, you’d trade me back to Aslet or the Bak-Faru in return for safe passage to L.A.”
“Never.” His arm tightened around her waist, and they rode in silence, with just the sound of hooves and an occasional snort from the horse. They weren’t in a desert, but the ground was barren but for scraggly brush that grew in clumps. The sky was enormous, bigger than life, with stars so bright they took Claudia’s breath.
“I don’t know about this place,” she said to break the silence.
“Meaning?”
“All this open space makes me nervous. I’m used to the city. People. Noise. Everything and everybody close together.”
“Surely you’ve been out of the city?” he asked. His voice sounded strange to her. Like he had to work at keeping his pain under control.
“Nope.” She kept her back straight because she didn’t want to bump his wound. He kept his good arm around her waist, but she didn’t lean against him like she had before.
“The beach? Skiing at Mammoth? Yosemite? Disneyland? Knott’s Berry Farm?”
She sighed. “Korzha, unless you’ve been dirt poor, you just don’t get it. You can’t.”
“What don’t I get?”
“When my folks were alive, my mom worked three jobs and my dad—well, he wanted to be a cop, but he was a janitor at the Arena. Mom got killed in a drive-by. Wrong place, wrong time. Not long after that, my dad got caught in a sweep. A vamp.”
“Your father’s a vamp?”
“No.” She drew a breath. “He was rounded up and sold to a vamp. A rogue. So, if you were thinking I didn’t know the risk, Korzha, you’re wrong. I know exactly what rogues do.” She felt him react, and she hurried on. Hardly anyone wanted to believe what went on in the Lower. And the ones who knew didn’t admit it. Which kind was Korzha? “I’m going to take Holly to Disneyland someday. I’ll have three weeks vacation in six months, and I’m going to take her. We’re going to have a blast.”
He leaned his chest against her back. “What did you do for fun when you were her age? Anything?”
“Stole stuff, mostly.” She laughed softly. “Jacked up the ticket machine at the Movieplex to see if we could get free tickets. Modified comm units. You’d be surprised what you can get for some of those. Kind of my specialty. I was in demand.”
“You were a truant?”
“No way,” she said in a low voice. “No way. I had to get the grades and test scores for college because I didn’t want to end up like everyone else I knew. And then with Holly…She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.” Her voice fell. “The best.”
“And how did everyone else end up?” he asked. She was used to his arm around her, but Korzha was holding her pretty tight now.
“OD. Gun to the head. Or meat for an illegal hunt. I got out, paid for courtesy of illegal comm unit mods. I got my AA. Straight A’s, and they had to let me into college.”
“Why a cop?” he asked again.
“Because they were hiring, and the benefits are good. I have to have medical and dental for Holly. Orthodontia is in our future. Insurance in case something happens to me. In two years I’ll be fully vested in my retirement accounts, and then I’m go
ing to apply to law school. I want to be a DA. Maybe a PA. It’s been an education, being a cop, Korzha. Life on the other side, you might say. But there’s always progress to be made.” Korzha pulled her tighter against him, but she didn’t mind at all; he didn’t mean anything by it. She knew that now. “We have a lot in common,” she said. “I was a regular criminal in the making, and you are—”
“Shit,” he said.
“What?”
Eyes rolling, the horse started dancing around as if the ground was hot. The sound of wings beating in the air made Claudia look over her shoulder. Two black shapes hung in the air, low and moving fast in their direction.
“We might outpace them,” Korzha said. But before the words were out of his mouth, a burst of wind stirred up a choking dust. “Is it Lath?” he asked.
“If it was, I think I’d feel it.”
The two demons were overhead now. A shrill cry ripped through the sky. One swooped around diving, the other held back, watching for any feint. The air from the downdraft of their wings beat against Claudia and Korzha’s heads heads and pounded in her ears. The horse was tired, but a spurt of speed got them several meters ahead before its energy petered out. With a sinking heart, Claudia realized there wasn’t a chance of outrunning them, and there was no defensible position in sight. One of the demons landed in front of them, wings beating so hard the horse reared. Claudia held on for dear life.
Both creatures had started in a gargoyle shape, but only one kept the form. The other morphed into biped, a woman. She looked primed for action.
Of the two, Claudia judged her the more formidable. The demoness stood legs spread, knees slightly bent, waiting, perfectly balanced. She kept her eyes on Claudia and put her hands on either side of her mouth. “Claudia Donovan.”
The other demon circled above. Korzha’s arm tightened around her, controlling the prancing horse.
“You belong to the Bak-Faru called Lath,” the female demon said. The sound of the dark demon’s name prickled the hair on the back of Claudia’s arms. “He wishes you back with him.”
“Sure, he wants me back. To make certain I die,” she said.
The flying gargoyle barked another word and the horse shuddered under them. The air shimmered. Korzha grabbed her around the waist and vaulted upward. The gargoyle swooped in and rammed him so hard in the back that she heard them both grunt from the contact. Korzha’s arms popped open, and Claudia fell, spiraling toward the ground.
Both demons screeched, drowning out her shrill cry as she free fell into terror. The gargoyle dove for Claudia. But it was Korzha who caught her. Their landing was hard. The gargoyle followed, wings beating. Korzha hauled himself and Claudia up and pushed her behind him. There wasn’t time for panic. Of course, there was no way she could be more panicked than she already was. She smelled blood, Korzha’s blood. He wasn’t in any condition to take on two demons. Not if he was going to win.
“You can’t take them both, Korzha.” She got the black-bladed knife in her hand and pressed her back against his. “Not in your condition.”
“I’m not that far gone,” he said.
“Right.” She hoped he hadn’t broken anything in the fall; they’d hit awfully hard, and her ribs were bruised. “But, fang, I have an edge you don’t.”
“Oh, do tell, human.”
She glanced at demons and decided it didn’t matter if she told. “They won’t kill me because they need me for the portal. You, they’ll kill.”
“They can try.”
“You’re immortal, fang, not invincible.”
He nodded, conceding the point. “Together then?”
“The gargoyle first.” She felt Korzha nod in acceptance. A wind came from nowhere, stirring the dirt into dozens of tiny whirlwinds. “I need to be in close,” she said.
“I’ve seen you fight.”
The gargoyle padded forward and snarled, a combination of rabid werewolf and cornered cat. A hint of reddish-orange flickered in its eggshell eyes. With her left hand, Claudia tapped Korzha’s leg to signal she’d attack.
Korzha nodded again. She glanced back to remind herself he wasn’t at anything close to full strength, and then she turned her attention to her foe. She moved forward, her knife extended and hoping this was the right decision. Korzha shadowed her. Claudia frowned because he held his injured arm close to his body. The female shrieked. The wind picked up, carrying debris. Claudia squinted to keep the dirt out of her eyes.
Korzha feinted right; the gargoyle tracked the blur, snapped its teeth on air, then over-adjusted. When the blur stopped, Korzha was underneath the gargoyle with his hands under its forelegs and his fingers clasped over the back of its human neck. Claudia rushed in, striking her thumb hard against the underside of the monster’s nose in the inn jung pressure point. Simple, but effective. Pain cut off the howl of protest from the creature. Claudia raised her knife to its belly and that brought the demoness’s attack to a halt; the wind died.
“Don’t kill it,” His voice rasped.
By now, the pressure of Claudia’s thumb had had its intended effect on the other demon. It kicked once more then lay still. Claudia paused with her knife inches from the gargoyle’s belly, but she eased up on the pressure.
Korzha adjusted his hold on the gargoyle, too. “Are we in agreement,” he asked the monster, “that if you cease to struggle, Officer Donovan won’t use her knife on you and I won’t break your neck?” The gargoyle nodded, an infinitesimally small motion because of Claudia’s thumb.
“Officer Donovan,” Korzha said. “We’re in its world. Its home. This demon hasn’t done anything but defend its home from invaders. Let’s let him go. If we think we can trust him.”
Claudia stared down at the vampire and couldn’t hold back a grin. Good cop, bad cop? In L.A., she never got to be the bad cop. This was going to be fun. “Have you gone nuts? Do you think demons care about honor?” She clucked her tongue. “About trust or giving and keeping their word?”
“Yes.”
She rolled her eyes. “What are we going to do? Sit here hoping until the sun comes up?”
The demoness called from where she was, “I can wait, Claudia Donovan.”
Korzha tightened his grip on the captured demon. He called to both the demons, “The human is bad-tempered. But she won’t kill you if you make me a promise. Understand?”
The gargoyle started to morph, but Claudia pushed up on its nose. It yelped once. Silver mist rose between them. “None of that monkey business,” she said. “Not if you value your life. I’m not as tolerant as my vampire buddy here.” She pressed her blade closer to its throat. “Korzha, I’m getting tired.” She twitched her knife. “What do you want it to promise?”
“To take his lady friend home straightaway.”
“Well?” she asked the gargoyle, watching its eyes. “I’m feeling darned impatient. You promise?”
“Yes,” it said.
“Well,” she said. “I’m not so sure. Why should they get to go home?”
“Cut them some slack, Donovan,” Korzha said.
“Okay.” She shrugged. “I guess.”
A gout of silver mist formed over the gargoyle’s head. “Tiberiu Korzha, it is done.”
Claudia lowered her knife several inches below the monster’s underbelly and twisted to stare with narrowed her eyes at the demoness. “Lath did some of that demon crap on you, didn’t he? Don’t bother answering. I know he did. I’ll let him go with his balls intact if you make me a promise.”
“What promise, Claudia Donovan?” the demoness asked.
“Bring me my daughter.”
“I cannot do that.” She lifted her hands. A worried crease appeared in her forehead. “I am forbidden.”
“Is she all right?”
“Yes.”
“All right then. Promise me demons won’t hurt her. Strike that. Promise me you’ll watch over her. Keep her safe.”
Korzha shook his head. A drop of condensation from the silver mist rolled
down his cheek, looking remarkably like sweat. Except vampires never perspired. “Officer Donovan,” he said. “Can we get on with this?”
“Promise me,” she said to the female.
The demoness bowed her head in acknowledgment.
“Donovan!”
“Claudia Donovan,” the demoness said. “I must keep my promise to your vishtau mate, and I must have my mate safe. The Bak-Faru called Lath wishes you to know he hopes you are safe. He wishes you to know he desires to be with you again.” She smiled. “He wishes to assure you he will protect you from Aslet. And from the vampire.”
“Tell him I said thanks but no thanks.”
“Siath watches over your daughter. She will protect her.”
The gargoyle squirmed in Korzha’s grasp, and Claudia gave it a hard look. “No monkey business from you,” she said.
“Officer Donovan,” Korzha said.
Claudia looked the demoness right in the eye. “Tell Lath to leave me the hell alone.”
“He cannot do that. But, now you must release my mate. Unharmed.”
She pretended to think about it. “Go ahead, fang,” she said to Korzha.
The vampire loosened his grip on the demon. The moment it was free, it morphed into a handsome man. He walked to his mate and an instant later, the two were winging away in the air.
Claudia shaded her eyes and looked after them. “Cute couple, don’t you think?”
To her surprise, Korzha laughed out loud. Claudia was so shocked she gave herself whiplash looking at him. Wow. Korzha was seriously handsome when he laughed. Now, why the hell had she gone and noticed that?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Without the horse, Korzha had no choice but to take to the air with Donovan in his arms. Flying took more energy than he wanted to expend, not to mention increasing their chances of being found again. But what else could he do? Walking wasn’t an alternative.
More than once, he stopped. His stated excuse was to give Donovan the opportunity to tend to her human needs, which she did. But in reality, he needed to rest. At each stop, he sank into a motionless crouch while he waited, conserving his energy and willing himself to heal. At the first and every stop thereafter, Donovan ate and re-packed the satchels, distributing the weight more evenly between them. After the third time, he stopped wondering if she was trying to give him more time to rest; he knew she was.
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