by Ivanna Roze
"If you don't take me up the mountain, you'll never work again. Not in Detroit, or any other town. I know people."
He looked at her, one eyebrow raised.
"I'll say that you bundled me up and hit me to keep me quiet."
"Your brother wouldn't press the matter in court."
"No, but who would hire a woman-beater?"
He thought about it. His expression darkened further. "Okay, then. If that's how we're playing it. Two days. We don't find your mother by then, we go back to Detroit." He took his hat off and stared out the cave, watching for something she couldn't say what. "And one more thing. Don't you ever threaten me again."
The way he said it made a shiver shoot down her spine. She knew he wouldn't hurt her. What else was he planning to do to convince her that she'd better not do it again?
She wasn't sure whether she wanted to avoid it, or make him do it to find out. Cora hated a challenge, and she hated people who made her fight with them. But Ashton Lowe was proving to be both, and she certainly didn't hate him. Not by a long shot.
Seven
Ashton woke up with the sun, and he was already regretting taking the job by the time he stood up and lit his candle. Dark places like this are exactly the sorts of places that Devils get themselves stuck in. But no signs of any violence around. Nothing like that at all, really. Still, even with the seals on the entrance, it was better to check again to make sure.
They needed a physical presence, nearby at least. The strongest might have been able to manage a mile's distance, carrying their intentions on the wind and the dust. The others had to make do with less. The average Devil, far as he could tell, couldn't go more than twenty feet. The weakest, ten.
But only a fool would plan explicitly to face the weakest Devils out here in the wild west. They called it that for plenty of reasons. The law had been having trouble keeping things in order for most of it, and as far as Ash knew they still hadn't quite gotten a handle on it. Bank robberies, gunfights… not the sort of place he wanted to live.
But it was still untamed, as well. Still had a Devil problem, even with minor Devils. They had no real way of stopping the things. Wild, indeed. The way they would stop them was the same way that they had done it before, the same way that they would do it again in the future.
Men like Ashton would come out, and when problems came up, those problems would get shot down. Easy, and one fewer Devil to worry about. The issue was when you got in over your head, and something far bigger than you were prepared to deal with fought back. One of the strong ones, the ones that can put you down from a mile out without you doing more than seeing a little apparition.
There was no reason to figure that there was anything like that on this mountain, though. This close to the city? Devils could look like damn near anything. Could be inside a person, if they managed to talk 'em into it. But the risk of being caught was just too high. Something that powerful wouldn't want to take the risk. Once word got out one of the tough ones was out, that would be about the end of the line. Then folks would get themselves riled up, they'd start leaving their houses.
Not Ashton, though. He would stay behind. Let the others go out and claim their victory. He had seen one of them, once. Saw the life go right out of King Peters' eyes, and that was not a sight he wanted to see again. The man had been standing right there in front of him one moment, and the next there was just a body.
That was what fighting Devils was like, and that was what Ash accepted would happen to him, one day. But he wanted to die staring the son of a bitch that killed him down. Wanted to know he would be able to take the thing with him. They all did. Samson, Hewitt, Rock and Braden. All the boys that King Peters had taken in had been there, and it was only a matter of time. That was the only thing that was going to get Ashton out to a fight like that.
A kill at a mile, maybe more. Peters was the kind of hunter that folks talked about for years, maybe decades. If the man had been around in the days of ancient Greece he'd be right there aside Jason, Odysseus or Achilles. A legend of a man, and right on the tail end of that legend he brought on five boys who had no place else to go.
That wasn't the kind of guy who let a bloodsucker, even an old one, take him down without a fight. Which meant that it was far enough out that there was nothing to be done but to take it, and they had spent the last five years all looking for the signs.
But whatever had done it, it was gone now. No sign anywhere, and no mention.
Ashton kept his hand on his gun and checked the signs. No foul smells, no flickering or flaring in the candle. No cold spots, no warm spots. Far as he could tell this cave was empty. Not in any sort of use at all. The test wasn't perfect, but it was hard to hide some sign of the thing being in the area.
If it was powerful, there would be signs, even if the thing were laying low. So if he missed something with the quick test, it would be something that couldn't kill him in the night. That was good enough for him, and if it was stupid enough to go for the girl while a hunter lay three feet away, then it would learn why the bigger ones didn't do that.
Then came checking the seals. He reached out a finger to touch one. Felt the painful electric shock of energy as he tapped it. It swung a second before getting caught up by the rough texture of the cave wall.
Ash turned back. Cora was getting up. That was good, he needed to talk to her. The wind was making him nervous. No way was it a natural wind, and that meant Devil-sign. They just had to hope that it left them alone. They were only two, and neither of them was looking for trouble. Not with the kind of range that wind was blowing from.
She looked up at him, her eyes still bleary.
"Come here," she said softly. He came close, crouching down to hear what she had to say. Then she pulled him in and kissed him hard.
He realized what was happening after the shock wore off. There it was. A smell. Not foul, but certainly not hers. Like a mixture of fruit and roses. She had smelled pretty, from what he could gather. But this was too strong, and it went straight to his head.
This was the work of a Devil. Ash tried to run through in his head, letting her pull him down beside her.
Something was worming its way into her head. The wards were still up, and they were still working. Devils could work their magic straight through solid earth, but not more than a foot of it. More like a few inches for most of them, if they wanted to affect anything more than something sat right on top of them.
The way she was going, the thing in her head was feeding on her sexual impulses. He blushed as he followed that thought to the end. Fertility Devils couldn't put the thoughts into someone's head, but it could make it into an itch so powerful it had to be scratched.
She could ignore it. Once he killed the Devil, it would start to go away. But since it couldn't reach through the wards, then it had been inside, and too weak to kick off clear sign until it was working. That meant it was buried somewhere, and it would take minutes to find. Then another hour or more to really be back in her right mind.
It would hurt like a son of a bitch, and he wasn't sure he could let that happen.
Cora could feel something wrong, but she didn't care. There were more important things on her mind. A man who was nothing like the others she had known, a man who reminded her that she wasn't just rich—she was a woman. And he was right there, next to her. She was kissing him. He tasted good, his lips felt good against hers. She liked that. Wanted it.
His hands pushed down her shirt, revealed a breast. She wanted him to—and then he pulled it into his mouth and she let out a gasp. It was as if the man could read minds. Then his hands were dancing up the hem of her skirt, teasing the insides of her thighs.
Their closeness made Cora very aware of the place between her legs, the place that she so desperately wanted him. Wanted him to touch, wanted him to… she pushed the thought away, but it came back, stronger. She wanted him to fuck her. Bad.
Then he was there, his hands tracing quick, tight circles through her
panties, each turn sending a bright hot shot of electricity up her spine. Her vision started to blur as light seeped into the cave. She could feel her muscles starting to tighten up. She could feel her legs trying to kick him away, the pleasure too much to bear and too sweet to do without.
"Come for me, Cora." His voice was husky, in her ear. She could feel a hardness pressed against her hip, one that she wanted desperately. One she wasn't sure she could do without.
Then she was there, in the place that she had wanted. It just continued to grow and grow, shooting her up into the sky, until all she could feel was his hand, making those delicious, sweet movements against her pussy. Her eyes fluttered shut and the world went black, no feeling or sensation but the pleasure that she was taking from him.
"Good girl," he purred in her ear.
Eight
Ash watched the heat going out of her eyes, until she was looking up at him, her eyes slowly widening and a blush spreading across her face. He at least had the decency and common sense to get her clothes proper, but that wasn't going to erase the memories.
"I—that—I'm not a—"
"Calm down, Miss Cora. I know you're not. Neither am I, for that matter." It didn't help his case that he was sporting a hard erection that he knew was showing against his jeans, but he was ignoring it as best he could. Ignoring the Devil's influence.
She put her head in her hands. "I'm ruined!"
"Nobody's going to know, less you tell 'em."
She pursed her lips, but she still looked overwhelmed by the judgment she was putting on herself. Like she'd lost control of herself and it was just the most natural thing in the world. But it wasn't.
Ash liked girls as much as anyone, he supposed. Maybe more than some. And Cora was a special case. Not many girls were as pretty, and the way she responded to his teasing—well, he shouldn't have teased her to begin with, but once he saw it there was no way that he was going to let it go.
But he didn't get hard at a passing breeze, and he certainly didn't try to justify taking a woman when he knew she was under the influence. But it had been about all he could do to stop himself from getting himself between those milky-white thighs and… he fought not to think about the image.
She needed her explanation, or she was going to blame herself for all of it. After all, she'd wanted it. He knew she had. But it counted for something that she wasn't herself when it had happened.
"There's a Devil 'round." Her eyes went wide. "Not that kind. This one's… small. Territorial. Most of the time, you ain't looking for trouble, and they'll leave you be, for the most part. The fact of the matter is, coming into someone's home might as well be looking for trouble, and this one seems to have decided that this place is his home."
"So…" She screwed up her face in confusion.
"So it was fussin' with your mind, making you—you know."
She didn't like that answer much.
"I figured you'd like this next part. So I waited up a minute for you."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Revenge," he said, a wicked smile spreading across his face. "You smell that?"
She took in a deep breath, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment. He could see it building in her already. But it would be a while yet, now that she'd had her release. She'd be fine, if he finished it in five minutes or so. She'd barely notice.
"Yes," she said. She was blushing again. Maybe she wouldn't be fine, but she'd be able to live with herself.
"We're looking for its source."
"Okay."
He pushed himself up from the floor where he'd been sitting and talking with her, helped her up. The sensation of touching her skin was a powerful one, the way that things were building up in him. He wasn't going to have a good time with this, no sir. He was already hurting. Even if he managed to keep control of himself, he wanted to take off his pants just because they were far, far too tight all of a sudden.
"It's stronger here," Cora offered. Ash came over. Smelled. The scent was overwhelming, and he could just catch a whiff of Cora on it. He needed to get this over with or get out of here, and he needed to do it now. This was far, far too much.
Ash dug into the dirt with the toe of his boot. It was pretty soft back here. Someone or something had buried this thing, and hadn't tamped the soil down after.
"What are you looking for?"
"Could be about anything," he said softly. "They can be all kinds of different things. There's… there's more to it, but there's too much to explain right now."
He found what he was looking for. White, in the sea of black dirt. He pulled it free, and the smell was stronger still. He could feel the arousal getting caught in his spine, now, like a shiver that wouldn't go.
He laid the blanket out flat in the dirt. A name was sewn into it. Agnes. Ash didn't have much question what the story was. The mother might have been on this mountain. Might have been down below, in the city. But sometimes, east or west, the baby didn't take.
Folks put so much thought, so much love into those children. The blanket was just part of that. A blanket for a baby, never came into the world. All the thoughts of new children put into a little blanket like that. No wonder.
He didn't turn to ask Cora what her thoughts were on the subject. If she had any, it wasn't his business. If she wanted to know, she could ask.
"Miss Little, you're going to want to plug your ears. This is gonna be loud."
She looked at the gun on his hip, the gun that he was now gently pulling out of its holster.
"Should we pray, or something?" She couldn't hear herself so she was shouting. He smiled at it.
He shook his head, that stupid grin still on his face. It wasn't the first time that he'd been this effected by a Devil, but it was the first time that he'd been damn near unable to think of anything else. He wanted to make a baby with her, and he wanted it now.
Ash knew right where the thoughts were coming from. And that was why he pointed the gun, put a finger in his ear, and pulled the trigger.
The smell was gone, now. Replaced by the acrid gunpowder smell. Still, Ashton could feel it. The drive to breed. He wasn't about to let himself be controlled by a damn Devil. Not on his life.
"That wind is making me nervous," he said again.
"You said two days."
"And I'll stand by it. But we best take care. Very good care."
She looked at him for a minute, perhaps wondering what he was thinking. She knew, though, exactly what he was thinking. She had been thinking the exact same thoughts only a few minutes ago, and even now they were teasing the edge of her mind.
The Devil outside wasn't a little baby blanket. It was something much more, and something much worse. He cleared the empty chamber, just to get anything else that was left out. Then he started pouring out another measure of powder. It was no time to have an unloaded chamber in his pistol.
Nine
Cora watched Ashton with a mix of feelings that she couldn't be sure were hers. Not after he'd told her that Devils were able to make you think things, feel things. But then, she thought, he had always been attractive. She just had been in control of herself.
Was the Devil putting thoughts in her head? Or was it taking away her desire not to do them? If that was all it did, then what did it mean for her? They didn't have much of a camp, really. It didn't take long to get everything cleared up.
He put up the bedrolls, fitted them into the saddlebags. She watched him pull on the pitons he'd used the hammer the wooden charms into the cave wall. She couldn't help noticing the way that his body moved. Slow at times, fast at others. In control. She saw the muscles in his shoulder and his arm bunch up tight, and then the spike pulled free. He put it into his briefcase.
Then the other one. She liked watching him. Liked the way his body looked, liked the way that he looked. She wasn't ready to admit it yet, not to herself and certainly not to him, but she couldn't deny that she liked the other part, too. What he'd done for her.
The way t
hat had felt—
She closed her eyes. She wasn't going to lose control of herself a second time. She was a respected woman in society. Daughter of a banker, sister of a banker, she wasn't the woman of some monster hunter. She was going to be married to someone important. That had been her entire life up to this point. Someone important who couldn't make her feel one tenth of the things she felt about Ashton Lowe.
He helped her up onto her horse and they started. Ashton was very clear—stay together. Don't get out of his sight for even a second, and they were in no hurry. Let the horses do what they wanted to do. If they were as close as she thought they were, then two days was more than enough time to search the mountainside.
She could almost feel where they were headed. Like a dull ache in her head. Halfway through a thicket of trees she saw the place. Not with her eyes, but with her head. Like something was showing her a picture, but she'd never been there.
"That way," she pointed. Ashton snorted out a laugh and she looked in the direction she was pointing. A rock face. Perfect. "Then up! We're close. A quarter mile, maybe."
Ashton nodded. "You're the boss."
She followed him until they found a way up the mountain. The way he was going, he didn't seem much less confident than Martin had. He had to stop every so often, to get his bearings, but it was like he knew the mountain.
But Arthur wouldn't have gone all the way out here to hire a guide, would he? And Ashton had said he was a Devil hunter—not a mountaineer. She wasn't going to pry about it. Whatever gave Ashton the ability to know the mountain the way he did, she should be thankful for it.
Finally he found a way up. The snow hadn't even thought about melting here. The horse below her was slowing down even further. If she could walk at all in the snow, she could have walked faster, and if she pointed her toes she could trace a line in it as they rode.
Still, ever faithful, her horse was going up nice and easy beside Ashton's. With him handling the reins everything was much easier. She just had to sit and watch the mountain. And what a mountain it was. What sights she could see.
