An Unhuman Journey

by Candace Blevins

  “Are you okay, Chère?”

  “I think so. Why?”

  “Because you’re in a circle made by the Prince of Hell. I can’t get you out.”

  “Oh, I can get myself out. He said for me to tell you I can’t stay here.” I nodded to Aquila’s remains. “He kind of saw me cut Aquila in two.”

  “With?”

  “My sword of light?”

  He shook his head. “Stay put again. I need to go talk to him, and hopefully get leave to keep you here a few days.”

  I nodded and Xaephan disappeared exactly as…. Fuck. I’d called The Prince of Hell sweet cheeks.

  But even worse? I’d apparently been kicked out of Hell by the devil himself.

  Xaephan returned in just under a minute and I said, “That was fast.”

  He shook his head. “I was there over an hour, but time moves differently in the outer ring than the inner.”

  “So, did you appeal to the King of Hell, maybe?”

  “There is no King. The Prince likes the young-and-rogue thing, so he calls himself Prince instead of King.”

  Which was basically what Mordecai had told me, but it was nice to get confirmation.

  “What’s Olimbus?”

  “Another way of saying Olympus, the realm of the Gods. You seem the curious type — you might learn more about it by researching Asgard, though it isn’t quite right, either.”

  “He said he’d have to send me to Olimbus, and not back to my world, if he were to send me anywhere.”

  Xaephan nodded. “Humans can’t do what you do, Chère. Come with me, we have much to resolve in the next couple of days.”

  I started to ask Xaephan how to break the circle without feeling the backlash, but it occurred to me I could break the Prince of Hell’s circle and the Demon Lord couldn’t, and it might be best to break it with as little fanfare as possible. I once again produced a small knife and poked it, and this time I managed to only hold my head in my arms a few seconds before I regained my composure and walked to Xaephan.

  The Demon Lord lifted me, and I once again wrapped myself around him so he could teleport us.

  This time he teleported us perhaps a hundred yards from the waterfall I was assuming was our destination, and he didn’t put me down as he walked to it. The feathers on his wings occasionally tickled my legs as he walked. I wondered how much sensation he had in them, and whether he meant to caress my legs with the feather tips, or if it was just the way he moved.

  I didn’t ask, though.

  It was rough terrain and I was in dressy boots with a heel, so I didn’t argue about being carried. He helped me down when we arrived, and said, “Our mutual acquaintance told you flowing water is okay, yes? Drink your fill. I’ll bring you back a few times a day.”

  The water tasted even worse than the water in Florida — full of sulfur and who knew what else — but I was thirsty, and it was water, and he was right about Mordecai telling me I could drink flowing water.

  So I put my mouth to the edge of the waterfall and let the warm, bitter water fill my mouth, over and over until my stomach was full. It didn’t abate my hunger but it quenched the burning thirst.

  I noticed he didn’t drink from it, but I didn’t ask why not. It wasn’t likely he’d tell me.

  When I finished he once again lifted me, and I wrapped myself around him for the return trip.

  Chapter 7

  The room was full of smaller, wingless demons when we returned. My instinct was to form a staff and defend myself, but I was still wrapped around the demon.

  Xaephan quickly teleported us just outside the dwelling before tossing his hand casually at the door. The entire place erupted in fire, and I heard screams of pain a few brief seconds before the only sounds were of the flames breathing and burning. He moved his hand again and the fire went out, and he looked at me as he settled me on the ground. “They all teleported out. They’ll heal. Mostly.”

  “Why were they here?”

  “Curiosity. Word will get out I’m in a mood, though, and no one else should bother us.”

  Whatever lust vibes Xaephan was putting out were working — my body wanted to climb back on him and shamelessly hump him, but now that I knew what was happening I was able to keep my mind in control of my libido. More or less.

  We went back into the dwelling and my stomach dropped as I saw the few pieces of soft furniture were burned and unusable. However, the demon waved his arm and new furniture appeared — better than what had been there before.

  “Nice trick.”

  He didn’t acknowledge me, only walked through the room towards a smaller door.

  The pathways and doorways we’d gone through thus far had all been big enough for Xaephan’s enormous wings to fit through, but the entry into the back of the dwelling was smaller, and I noted he pulled them in to pass through. I followed him into a bedroom, but stayed in the doorway.

  “Do your wings work? Can you fly?”

  He tilted his head and looked at me like a cat observing his prey a few seconds, and then his face transformed back to the way it’d been since he rescued me. I remembered his head tilting that way when he’d been in Jerry’s body, and I wondered if that was the true Xaephan, and this nice guy just an act.

  “You’re smart. I believe you’ve figured out information is a commodity in my world.”

  “I’m guessing rescuing damsels is as well, and yet you haven’t struck a bargain with me for my safe return.”

  “Our mutual acquaintance bargained for your safe return.”

  I shook my head. “I have so many questions, I wouldn’t know which to put at the top of the list, but the one about your wings was just curiosity and not something I need to know.” I considered what I needed to know a few seconds and added, “You’ve only named our mutual friend once, so I’m guessing I shouldn’t say his name either?”

  “Correct, though I wasn’t aware the two of you are friends. More teacher and student, yes?”

  I sighed. “Yes, I’m afraid you’re probably right. I consider him somewhat of a friend, but I don’t believe he feels the same about me.”

  “Don’t take it personally. You’re human and he’s immortal.”

  “Trust me — I’m well aware, though I find it odd your Prince wanted to send me to Olympus instead of my home.”

  He sighed. “I’ll give you some free information. You shouldn’t let me do anything new to you. If you haven’t done something in the human realm enough so it’s a normal part of your sex life, don’t let me do it here. As long as our activities aren’t outside your norm, it won’t tie you to me or to this place.”

  Which was probably why virgins were such a commodity, but I pointed out the obvious where it applied to me. “I’ve never had sex with a demon before.”

  He chuckled. “Point, but I meant activities, not people or races.”

  “I haven’t had anal sex. My trainer has worked with me using toys and such, but I haven’t actually done the deed, yet.”

  “Trainer?”

  “I can touch our friend…” Xaephan lifted an eyebrow and I exclaimed, “It’s the easiest way to refer to him, okay? Anyway, I can touch him and project my thoughts at him, and he sees the whole thing I want him to see. Can I do that with you?”

  He nodded, and I touched him and let him see one of the more intense scenes with Master James, complete with aftercare and conversation at the end. I showed him two hours in perhaps two minutes, and when I pulled my hand back Xaephan’s smile was downright gleeful, though his eyes were heavy with lust.

  “I’m not saying I’m going to let you take me that far,” I explained, wondering if maybe I should’ve shown him something less intense. “I trust Master James with my life, and I’m not ready to open myself up to you quite so much. I just wanted you to see… who I am, I guess.”

  He sat on the bed and I could look him in the eye without looking up. He isn’t quite as tall as Mordecai, but I’d guess Xaephan’s at least six foot eight inches tall, g
ive or take a few inches.

  “Are you aware The Abbott has put a claim on you in the supernatural world?”

  “I knew he’d put me under his protection, but so have Aaron Drake and Nathan Pierce. It doesn’t mean I’m in a committed relationship with any of them.” I sighed. “I wasn’t aware Abbott had gone so far as to claim me until Aquila told me. I was hoping he was lying, but with you verifying, it looks like Abbott and I need to have a conversation when I return.”

  “And Randall Bevering made you a Friend of the Pack, which is rare for a human to be named such.”

  “You said you researched me when you were trying to figure out how to get me to stop killing demons.”

  He nodded.

  “It really isn’t fair — you know so much about me, and I’m in the dark when it comes to you.”

  “Then find contacts who can tell you about me, as I had to do with you.”

  An iron bench lined part of one wall, and I sat on it as I said, “You terrified me when you came to me in my office. I couldn’t do anything to you without harming my patient, but just the idea of having a conversation with a demon was…” I shook my head. “Now, talking to you seems normal. I don’t believe you’re showing me who you truly are. Earlier, I think you showed me a glimpse of the Demon Lord I spoke with in my office. The way you held your head was…” I wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence without possibly offending him. Telling him it reminded me of an insect would probably be bad.

  “To use your terminology — I creep you out when I’m myself.”

  I pulled my legs up on the bench and wrapped my arms around them. The heat was brutal in this place, and while I was getting used to the stench, I was sure it was contributing to my thirst. It hadn’t been that long since he’d taken me for a drink, but I thirsted again.

  “Hold off just a little longer and I’ll take you for another drink. I’d like to wait until there aren’t so many people there.”

  “Are you reading my mind?” I had my shields up, but there was a possibility they didn’t work as well in this place.

  He shook his head. “I’m reading your energy signature. I know you were told I’m a second level Demon, and you seem to have figured out this makes me a Demon Lord. You may not understand exactly what it means, but you have to know it makes me somewhat of a god in this realm.”

  “Does it bother you? Being this far out? If the vibrations here aren’t as evil, so they won’t affect me as much, then it must be difficult for you.”

  “No. I’m uncomfortable at the waterfall, as it’s close to a gateway at the outer edge, but I’m fine there for brief periods.”

  “That’s why you didn’t drink?”

  He nodded and I asked, “When do we get started on getting the Celrau blood out of my system?”

  “I’d like to get you something safe to eat before we get started. I’m waiting for notification but I have no idea how long it might be.”

  I looked at the bed, then back to his face. “Any chance it’s going to be long enough for me to get some sleep?”

  “I don’t know. Lie down if you’d like. I’ll watch over you and keep you safe.”

  I shook my head at the idea I was trusting him to my safety, but at this point I wasn’t sure I had much choice. I was exhausted, and the sleep I’d gotten on the hard floor in the jail cell hadn’t been near long enough.

  Chapter 8

  Xaephan awakened me as a lover might — his hand on my shoulder, his lips near my face as he muttered, “Time to awaken, little human.”

  I sat up, addled and nauseated, and he told me, “We must be quick. Climb on.”

  He lifted me and I once again settled at his chest as a child. The position didn’t bother me so much as the fact I was growing comfortable being carried by a demon in this manner.

  He teleported us to a huge cavern with only a few people in it, and he muttered, “Looks like you’re going to get an answer after all.”

  His wings flapped once, twice, and he pushed off with his feet on the third.

  I squeezed tighter with both my arms and legs as we went airborne, and closed my eyes to try to keep from getting sick.

  “I can’t teleport to the very edges — it’s why we had to walk the last little bit to the falls. We’re going all the way to the edge this time, and it’s too far to walk.”

  “Thanks for explaining.” I opened my eyes and looked around once we were flying at a steady height and speed. He stayed vertical instead of going horizontal as a bird would, and I wondered if this was because he was carrying me, or if he always flew like this.

  Once again, I thought it best not to ask.

  I saw Nathan sitting on a rock as we neared, and as soon as Xaephan’s feet touched the ground I pushed away from him, landed hard on my feet, and ran to Nathan. He opened his arms and I went into them and breathed his scent to the bottom of my lungs. He was a little slice of home — he was warmth, and familiar, and a friend.

  “How’s Lauren? God, she must be so worried!”

  “It isn’t even lunchtime at home. Your assistant let your patients know you were suddenly ill, and you’ll reschedule with them once you’re feeling better. She’s let tomorrow’s people know as well, but we’re hoping you’ll be back and okay by the next day. With any luck, we’ll have you home before bedtime and Lauren won’t know you were gone at all.”

  That’s right. Xaephan kept telling me time is wonky between the realms. Okay then. That took a huge load off my shoulders.

  Nathan cupped my cheek and looked me in the eye a few seconds before saying, “Our control room notified me when your phone dropped off the grid. I went to your office, smelled the brimstone, and called Mordecai. He jumped into action and got his Lordship here involved. We had help on the way in a little over an hour — I know it was a lot longer here, but we moved as fast as we could.”

  He pulled me back into his arms and hugged me tight a few seconds. “I have chilled water for you, the sooner you drink it, the less time it’ll have to take on the energy of this god-forsaken place.”

  He let me go, reached into a cloth cooler, and handed me a bottled water. I drank the whole thing in one long swig, and he passed me a huge covered bowl containing a salad. “You need raw greens, first. I have a spinach quiche and a few other protein foods for you, too, but start with this.”

  It was all kinds of lettuce and spinach and broccoli, with cut up onions and cucumbers and tomatoes — and it was heavenly. I talked as I ate and drank – he’d brought six bottles of water. “I really can’t go home?”

  He shook his head. “The Demon Lord is correct, you smell too much of the Celrau. You’d trigger the Concilio’s alarms and they’d come for you — every Celrau already in existence had to register, and anyone scanned by one of the Concilio’s magical sensors who isn’t in the database triggers their goons to look for the newly turned. The sensors move around on their own, there’s no way to know where they are.”

  “The Celrau are building an army here. I imagine they’ll send them all to Earth at the same time, whenever they’re ready to fight.”

  Nathan looked at Xaephan a few seconds, then back to me. “I see. We can talk strategy later, for now — how is the Demon Lord treating you?”

  I looked at Xaephan, standing a good ten feet away, legs shoulder-width apart, arms crossed, wings bigger than I remembered. He looked so regal, and I turned away from him before the lust thing started growing again. “Good. He’s doing everything he can to make me comfortable in this barren place.”

  Nathan nodded to a backpack on the ground by the boulder we were sitting on. “I brought you two changes of summer clothes, and some of your athletic sandals.”

  I must have looked at him strangely because he explained, “I had Cora get them. I told her you’re trapped in an undisclosed warm locale with no air conditioning.”

  Xaephan stayed put, and only his mouth moved as he said, “You and your compatriots should know the little human had an encounter with the P
rince while I left her to report in on our complication.”

  Nathan looked at me in question and I said, “He called me pet, so I called him sweet cheeks. I had no idea who he was.”

  The Lion King looked mortified, but Xaephan chuckled and dropped his arms to his side as he said, “You neglected to tell me that part, Chère.” He sobered and looked to Nathan. “He gave me leave to keep her here a short time, and then she’ll either have to go to Midgard or Asgard — or I suppose we might get leave to send her to Vanaheim since your business partner is royalty there.”

  I looked at Nathan, hoping he’d translate, and he didn’t let me down. “Midgard is the human realm, Asgard is where your teacher’s race lives, and I believe the demon means Faerie when he refers to Vanaheim, since Aaron’s the Dragon King there.” He looked to Xaephan and back to me. “The mythology isn’t quite right about this place, it’s like a cross between Muspelheim and Helheim. It isn’t exactly right about the others, either, but I believe there was some manipulation to make sure there was even more misinformation written about the various Underworlds.”

  I was finishing the last of the food he’d brought when Nathan took his backpack off and pulled more bottled water out. “I sat with the cooler in my lap while I waited for you, to give the water the best chance of keeping my energy and not taking on the ambient evil. If you keep this between your clothing and skin, they’ll keep your energy and you can drink them whenever you’re ready for them.” He pulled some grapes out and handed them to me. “Dessert. I know you’re full, but this may be the only meal we’ll be able to get to you, and we don’t dare try to make anything keep in this place except the water.”

  “What do the humans who live here eat?”

  He shook his head. “You don’t want to know, but the first time they eat, leaving becomes a near impossibility. You might get away with a few bites, but let’s not try it.”