The Road (The Road to Hell Series, Book 3)

by Brenda K. Davies

  CHAPTER 34

  River

  An hour later, I was finally free of ogre parts and draped in a material softer than any towel I’d ever felt before. Blacker than night, the material didn’t do much to absorb the trails of red Hell water sliding over my skin, but it was comfy. Maybe too comfy as my eyelids drooped while I waited for the nymphs to return with the clothes they’d promised me.

  Clothes I was more than a little terrified of seeing. I might be crawling back into my goo-coated outfit for the rest of this journey instead of slipping into something the nymphs would wear. It wouldn’t help that most of them were a good foot shorter than me. What barely covered them would be next to nothing on me.

  The door at the end of the small cave they’d brought me into opened. Half a dozen female nymphs darted toward me and climbed onto the dais where the pool of water I’d bathed in was located.

  “The king is eager to see you,” they murmured excitedly as they surrounded me.

  “We managed to get him to wait,” the pretty blonde who had been in the forest with us said. “I don’t think he will for much longer.”

  I hadn’t dared to let Kobal in here while I’d been bathing, neither of us would have been able to resist the lure of this place if I had.

  “We have to get out of this forest,” I muttered, causing all of them to giggle and bat their lashes in a way that had me fighting against rolling my eyes. I’d started to like the waif-like demons more, but they were so different than me.

  “I’ve never seen him so tender or protective of anyone before,” the blonde said.

  I tried not to think of the possibility she had once been with Kobal. Sex doesn’t mean the same thing to demons; it’s simply a way to scratch an itch unless it’s with their Chosen, I tried to remind myself, but the knot of jealousy remained lodged in my chest.

  “It’s sweet,” the blonde continued.

  “Yes, yes,” the rest of them murmured as they circled excitedly around me.

  “He has chosen a fine queen too, who killed an ogre without even touching it,” the blonde said as she pulled something from her arms.

  My gaze latched greedily on the non-see-through material in her hands when she draped it over a nearby rock. The others curiously peered up at me from under impossibly thick lashes.

  “She’ll put an end to the usurper,” the blonde stated with confidence.

  “What is your name?” I inquired of her.

  She looked as if no one had ever asked her that before. Then a smile curved her pouty mouth. “I am called Lena.”

  “That’s very pretty,” I murmured, and Lena blushed in such a way that she somehow managed to look more like a porcelain doll with her delicate features, spiraling blonde hair, and jade-colored eyes.

  The others all gushed excitedly, but before I could ask them their names, the door at the end of the hall opened again. Kobal’s boots rang against the stone as he stalked toward us. The nymphs instantly became silent as they folded their hands demurely before them.

  Kobal stopped a few feet away from us. Though I was surrounded by half a dozen, half-naked, gorgeous women, his eyes remained focused on me as he took in my damp hair and the black material I clutched against me. Yes, we definitely had to get out of this forest, I decided when gold flickered through his obsidian eyes.

  “Did you bring her something so she could brush her hair?” he asked of Lena.

  “Yes, Your Highness,” she said hastily.

  “Good. The other nymphs are waiting for you. They are ready to join the army we have sent to engage Lucifer.”

  “We will fight well for you, Your Highness.”

  I couldn’t picture these delicate creatures fighting a turtle, never mind a demon, but all the nymphs had been gathering to join the fight when Lena brought me here.

  “Leave us now,” Kobal commanded them.

  The nymphs all bowed their heads before scurrying forward. “Thank you!” I called after them.

  They glanced at me over their shoulders, their giggles following them out the door.

  “You could have been nicer to them,” I said to Kobal as he climbed the two steps onto the rock platform where I stood.

  My heartbeat picked up as he strode around the steaming pool of water in the center of the platform. He moved with the lethal grace of a panther, his large body all flexing muscle and supple grace as he stopped to examine the clothes the nymphs had left behind. He lifted something silver in color from the bottom of the pile. The bristles were longer and stiffer than what I was used to, but there was no denying he held a hairbrush.

  He walked behind me and took hold of my shoulders. Tingles of electricity slid over my skin, puckering my nipples. It took all I had not to release the material surrounding me and step into his embrace. “Kobal, we must leave this forest.”

  “We will shortly,” he said in a gruffer tone than what I was used to.

  I could feel the strain in the hands on me as he held me before him. Reluctantly, he released his grasp to take hold of my hair. With the enduring patience he’d shown with it once before, he worked the brush through the tangles knotting my hair.

  I nearly moaned aloud when he kissed the hypersensitive skin of my nape and draped my damp hair over my other shoulder. I struggled to recall why we had to leave this place behind.

  “The scent of your arousal is almost impossible for me to resist, Mah Kush-la,” he murmured against my flesh.

  This time, I was unable to suppress a moan. His thumb and finger grasped my chin; he turned my head until I could see him. Those beautiful amber eyes filled my vision as he bent to kiss me. Before I could lose myself to the enticement of his mouth, he broke the connection and took a step away from me.

  A muscle in his cheek twitched as he moved further away from me. My eyes were drawn to the obvious bulge in his pants; my mouth watered at the enticing outline of his large erection against the thin material. He walked over to the rocks and pulled the clothing from there. Anguish filled his eyes when he lifted his gaze to mine and held the material up before him.

  “We must go,” he said in a raspy voice.

  “Perhaps I should dress myself,” I suggested.

  “This will be difficult for you to button by yourself.”

  “We could call the nymphs back in—”

  “I will help you,” he cut in briskly.

  I knew it would be pointless to argue with him. Stepping closer, I released the black material I’d been holding. It whispered over my flesh as it pooled at my feet. His eyes raked me from head to toe; he didn’t draw a single breath as he drank me in.

  My eyes fell on his erection once more; need struck me so fiercely I nearly collapsed from it. His gaze came back to mine, and a vein throbbed to life in his forehead. “Lift your arms.”

  He gazed at my heavy breasts when I did as he commanded. Stepping forward, I could hear his teeth grinding together as he lifted the material over me and let it slide down my body. The soft cloth brushing over my flesh caused me to whimper.

  “Leaving your body yearning like this goes against every one of my instincts, but if I take you now, I won’t stop, and we have to go,” he said.

  “I know,” I whispered, though I felt acutely uncomfortable in my own skin right now.

  “You have no idea how badly I want you.”

  I risked resting my hand against his cheek. The contact sent currents spiraling out from my palm as the contact caused bolts of light to come to life at the tips of my fingers. “I know.”

  He gave a brisk nod before motioning for me to turn around. Lifting my hair off my neck, I did as he’d instructed. I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood when his elegant fingers moved over the buttons on the back, slipping them into place. Leaning closer, his breath warmed my skin before he shuddered and stepped away.

  ***

  River

  It wasn’t until we’d been out of the forest for what I assumed was at least an hour that I drew my first easy breath and I trusted myself
not to tear Kobal’s clothes from his body and press myself against him.

  For the first time, I glanced down at the clothing the nymphs had given me and fully took it in. My brow furrowed as I stared at the wispy material. I had assumed it was black, but now saw it was the same deep purple as the leaves of the trees and the sparks they had caused me to emit. There was a current within the material I’d never experienced with any clothing before.

  “What is this made of?” I inquired as I gripped it in my hands.

  “The leaves of the calamut trees,” Kobal replied. “The nymphs make the clothing when they are bored. They sometimes exchange it with other demons for mjéod and other things.”

  “That’s why,” I murmured and ran my hands over the material.

  “Why what?” he asked as he stopped beside me.

  I lifted my head to look at him. “There’s a vibe in the material that I’ve never felt before from clothing.”

  He quirked a black eyebrow at my assessment. In the depths of Hell, with little to illuminate the rocks surrounding us, his hair was as black as the shadows coalescing over the walls surrounding us. Glancing down at my outfit again, I realized something else about it.

  “It’s a dress,” I muttered.

  A dress unlike any I’d ever seen before with its nuanced shade. It wasn’t too fitted or so loose it was like a potato sack on me. The neckline dipped around my collarbone before coming back over my shoulders. The front of it had a V-like pattern that narrowed to a point at my waist. I glanced down to discover the hem hung an inch above my hiking boots. Boots that were entirely out of place with the ensemble considering they were holey and splattered with ogre blood.

  “Are you just realizing this?” he asked, unable to keep the laughter from his voice.

  “I had other things on my mind before.”

  “I still do, Mah Kush-la,” he murmured in such an enticing way that my pulse skyrocketed.

  “Behave,” I scolded, not meaning it.

  “That’s nearly impossible around you.”

  Looking for a distraction, I examined the dress once more. “It’s a very pretty dress.”

  “It is,” Kobal agreed.

  I continued to stare down at my ugly boots and the too high hemline. “I don’t think I’ve ever worn a dress before.”

  “There is a first time for everything.”

  Kobal slid his arm through mine and propelled me toward where the others waited for us about twenty feet ahead. It was the first time he’d dared to touch me since we’d been standing beside the pool.

  “How am I supposed to fight in this thing?” I inquired.

  He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “It may not be great for fighting, but it will be amazingly easy access for me later.”

  I couldn’t stop the blush creeping through my cheeks. Just when I thought he couldn’t say anything that would ever throw me again, he proved me wrong. And he also managed to get me all hot and bothered again with one sentence.

  I shot him a censuring look as the wispy material started to feel entirely too confining against my skin. Well, I could give almost as good as I got. “Especially since I’m not wearing any underwear,” I whispered back, my bra and panties had been soaked through with ogre goo and left behind in the forest.

  A sly smile curved his mouth. “We may have to keep you in dresses permanently.”

  My upper lip curved in displeasure at the notion, but when his hand fell to my ass and he gave it a squeeze, I actually considered it for a minute. He pulled his hand away when we neared the others and rested it in the hollow of my back. The couple of torches two of the skelleins held were the only source of illumination within the small tunnel.

  “How much farther is it to the chamber?” I inquired.

  Everyone else looked questioningly at Kobal. “Not much,” he replied.

  He kissed my temple before releasing me and striding forward. I pushed through the small group clustered within the rock walls surrounding us. Moisture beaded on the rocks and slid down their jagged surfaces as the heat around us increased the deeper into Hell we traveled. I kept waiting to have to stop, to not be able to make it any further, but the further we went, the more my body adapted to my surroundings.

  What had started as an open roadway when Hawk and I first entered into Hell was now a cave-like tunnel drawing us deeper into the pits and closer to solving the mystery of what was causing the seals to fall. I was more than a little afraid we wouldn’t like what we discovered there, and what if there was no way to stop it?

  I refused to let myself think about that as I stayed close to Kobal. At the end of the tunnel, he stopped when it split into two different directions.

  “Which way do we go?” a skellein asked.

  “This way,” Kobal said with a jerk of his head to the right.

  They unfailingly fell into step behind him. The walls began to widen out around us once more, and what had once been a constricted tunnel expanded with every step we took. I had no idea what we would find at the end, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the immense boulder in the middle of the way.

  Or not a boulder, I realized, but a giant slab of rock. It blocked the end of the tunnel that was now twenty feet over my head and a foot beyond my arms if I stretched them out at my sides. “It’s a dead end,” Hawk said.

  “No, it’s not.” For the first time, Magnus didn’t sound smug or condescending when he spoke. In fact, his silken voice held a tone of awe.

  CHAPTER 35

  River

  “This is…” Corson’s words trailed off as he stared at the slab before us.

  My eyebrows drew together as my eyes were drawn back to the rock. Taking a step closer, I tried to see more of the rock, but I saw nothing marking it as anything other than what it appeared to be.

  I may not be able to see anything special about it, but the skelleins weren’t bringing their torches any closer as they stared at it. Corson and Bale flanked Kobal, and the look of amazement on their faces mirrored the one Magnus wore.

  Despite its innocuous façade, my fingers itched to touch it as I sensed power washing off it. I remained unmoving with the others as the crackling fire of the torches became the only sound within the tunnel. Their flames cast shadows all around us, and for the first time, I realized the shadows that had slithered and danced throughout Hell didn’t surround us anymore.

  “What is it?” I whispered.

  “The entrance to Hell,” Kobal murmured as his gaze ran over the rock.

  “Aren’t we in Hell?”

  “This is the Hell only one demon alive and the hounds have ever seen before,” he said. “The center of creation.”

  “Who has seen it before?” Hawk asked, his voice low and respectful like the others when he spoke.

  Kobal didn’t answer. He didn’t have to, at least not for me; I already knew who it was. Resting my hand on Hawk’s arm, I drew him back a step. He glanced at me questioningly, and I gestured toward Kobal. Hawk’s eyes widened before they went back to Kobal.

  “This is the entrance to where you and the hounds were created?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Kobal answered.

  “How do we get inside?”

  “Only Kobal is able to do so,” Corson replied.

  “Are we allowed in there?” Hawk asked.

  “Only myself and the hounds have ever entered and left before,” Kobal said. “But this is the fastest way to the seals. If the rest of you are unable to travel through with me, I will go on alone.”

  All the demons glanced at me. Kobal took hold of my hand and briefly entwined his fingers with mine and gave them a squeeze.

  “It will let us in,” I whispered.

  “No matter what happens, make sure she stays safe,” he commanded the others.

  “With our lives,” Corson vowed.

  “Should we take her back to the forest?” Bale inquired. “With the trees to protect her, she may be safest there.”

  My head whipped toward her, but he
r gaze remained focused on Kobal. “I will not be kept in hiding!” I retorted. “If we can’t go through here then we will find one of the other ways to reach the seals.”

  Around me, the other demons and skelleins shuffled nervously. Kobal and Bale remained focused on each other before he looked at me. “No,” he said after a minute. “She will remain here.”

  My shoulders sagged as I inhaled a harsh breath. Bending, Kobal rested his lips against my ear. “You would not have stayed in the forest anyway, Mah Kush-la.”

  I gave him a tremulous smile. “You’re right.”

  Kobal squeezed my hand before releasing it. Taking a step forward, he lifted his hands and rested them against the slab. Beneath his palms, an inner light radiated outward. It shone across the rock to illuminate it like a light placed behind a diamond. The glow spread steadily over the solid surface.

  Awe filled me as I took a step back to look at the slab, now aglow in a striking umber color that reminded me of the leaves in October. My breath became trapped in my chest as beneath the spreading light, intricate carvings within the surface of the rock were revealed. Carvings strikingly similar to the ones on Kobal’s right arm.

  Then I spotted the mark of Ziwa. It was etched into the stone amongst the others, and I knew these carvings were the ancient language of the demons. More than that, I knew they were a part of Kobal.

  Against the rock, the muscles in his forearms and biceps bulged. His head bent as his shirt strained across his back. The rending of the material giving way was the only sound in the cavern aside from the crackling of the torches. Sweat slicked his bronzed skin, making it shine in the light from his hands.

  I’d always known Kobal was a force to be reckoned with, but watching him now, I knew the well of power in him ran far deeper than I’d ever realized. He’d once told me there was much the demons could do, more than they’d revealed. How much more could he do? Would I ever know everything he was capable of? Would he? Because I was beginning to think he may not even know the depth of how deep his powers ran.