by Sam Cheever
Luc fixed his dark green gaze on her face, his lips compressed with emotion. “Huh. Interesting.”
She blinked. That wasn’t exactly the reaction she’d expected. “Thank you for saving me, but you need to stop the car now and let me out. I’m not going back with you.”
Luc turned away, suddenly very interested in watching the road ahead. “Sorry. I can’t do that. You need to stay with me.”
* * *
They drove in silence for a while. Luc resisted her attempts to argue. He had a lot to think about. Why had she been going to run away from him? Surely she knew he’d help her if she just asked. But a quick glance in her direction seemed to disprove what he’d thought was obvious. She sat stiffly in the seat, her fingers twining and twisting in her lap and her pretty face folded into a frown. She looked scared. Or worried. Maybe he could ease her worry. “Look, Esther. I know you don’t want to go back --”
“I’m not going back. You’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming.”
“I didn’t say --”
“Do you have any idea how lonely it is, Luc? Nobody wants to be my friend because I’m this aberration that disappears every year. They all fear me because the assembly has gone out of its way to make sure they do. Why do they treat me like I’m beyond evil? Why can’t they let me stay in one place? Why won’t they let me form friendships… grow some roots? People think they send me all over because I’m dangerous. Or odd. Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be considered the worst of the worst in flippin’ Hell?”
Luc frowned. He’d known her situation was difficult but he’d had no idea how difficult. “I’m sorry, Esther. I’ve tried to talk them out of this strategy. They’re just fuckin’ with you. It doesn’t mean anything except that they’re assholes.”
“It means something to me. Besides…” Her expression softened. “I don’t blame you for the situation. I appreciate what you’ve done for me. I do.”
“Then can you trust me now?”
There was that frown again.
“I don’t know. I’d decided to go it alone. I learned a long time ago that the only person I can really trust is me.”
Luc turned to look at her. He filled his gaze with as much of what he was feeling as he could, hoping that would convince her. “You can trust me, Esther. I give you my word.”
She hesitated, looked for a moment as if she might be relenting, but then her expression changed to one of horror, her gaze sliding past him. “Look out!”
Luc turned just in time to see the massive grill of a tractor-trailer rig bearing down on them, a second away from T-boning Esther’s big, old car. He reached for her, grabbing her hand just as metal touched metal. The concussive force of the crash jerked her loose, and Luc just managed to grab her hand again as metal gave way with a screech, slicing into his side.
He let his mind loosen, yanking them into a shift as agony ripped through his torso. His scream was cut off as they dissolved, the car jerking violently out from under them. They landed on top of the high embankment on the opposite side of the four-lane highway.
Esther covered her mouth as the rig bent her sturdy old Buick into a U-shaped wreck and shoved it into the rocky embankment on the other side of the highway. “Crap!”
The hand covering her mouth was shaking, and tears ran down her creamy brown cheeks. Luc put an arm around her and drew her in, shielding her from the view of her car bursting into flames. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”
A wave of agony made his vision go gray, and Luc staggered to his knees. Blood flowed from a wound on his side, staining his shirt.
“Oh, my God, Luc! Are you all right?” Esther dropped to her knees beside him, her hands hovering helplessly over his wounds.
“I’m okay. It’ll pass.”
“Luc…”
“Shhh. I’ll be fine. We need to keep moving. Okay?” He shoved to his feet. “It’s already healing.” What he didn’t tell her was that the assembly would be aware of his pain. The healing process drew heavily on his magic, and they monitored each PD’s magic use carefully.
She sucked in a shaky breath and, to her credit, nodded and stepped away without hysterics. “Which direction?”
“We need to follow the highway for a while.”
With a final look back, Esther turned and started walking, leaving the remains of her car smoking and flaring into mini-explosions behind them.
* * *
They walked for a while before Esther looked up and asked the question she should have asked right away. “Where are we going?”
Luc looked down at her. The sun shone behind him, casting him in a golden aura that made his hair glow with reddish highlights. His face looked stern but she thought that was due to the spiky eyebrows. “You have judgmental eyebrows. Did you know that?”
That startled a laugh out of him. His wide, sexy mouth curved upward, framed by a neatly clipped beard that made his jaw look even more masculine. Esther had thought he was yummy before, but his smile just about melted the ligaments in her knees. “No one has ever told me that. But I assure you they’re more unruly than judgmental.”
She smiled. “I like them.”
Heat flooded the dark green gaze and his smile slipped away. “Thanks. I like yours too.”
Despite the fact she knew he was just making conversation, Esther’s stomach flipped a little at his words. “So… you didn’t answer my question. Where are we going?”
“I’m not sure now. I’d planned to take you to a cabin in the mountains. It’s in an area that’s hard for Worm to search. And I’ve warded it for privacy.”
Her smile dropped away at the mention of the assembly clerk. “That puny little bastard. You think he’s searching for us?”
“I know he is. And if we don’t keep moving he’ll find us. Then I’ll have no choice but to take you back.”
“They’ll torture you?” She nodded toward the tattoo of flames on his left forearm.
“Yeah, but I can handle that. It’s just…” He hesitated, seemingly reluctant to continue.
“Tell me, Luc. If you won’t tell me, I can’t prepare, and I won’t be inclined to trust you.”
He sighed, nodding. “Once they know where you are they can send someone, or something else to grab you, and you won’t be sent to a nice, comfortable outer circle if they do.”
Her heart pounded with alarm. “They’ll send me to the pits?”
“Or someplace close. They’ll have to make an example of you.”
She sighed. “Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“So you said you were going to take me to this cabin. Why can’t you still take me there?”
“Every time I shift they know. They can track me through those shifts. If I shift you there now, they’ll be able to get pretty close, despite the warding. Then it will only be a matter of time before they find us.”
“That’s why you were driving my car instead of shifting us away.”
“Yeah.”
They walked in silence for a while before she asked, “Isn’t there any way we can mask our travel?”
“Circles.”
She frowned. “Huh?”
“They can’t see inside circles. In demonology, circles represent eternal life. Evil has no dominion over eternal life -- it’s a concept of the light.”
“Hmm. Interesting. So, I’m guessing we have to walk in circles the whole way?” She grinned.
“Not quite. The circle has to be solid.” He stopped to wait for a rig to thunder by on the highway below. A smile eased across his face. “Like that.”
Esther followed his line of sight. A truck pulling a long flatbed roared past. The cargo on its bed looked like massive pipes of some kind. “What are those?”
“Culvert pipes. They’re perfect.” He jerked his head toward a billboard that rose above their heads. It was for a truck stop. “Now, if we’re lucky, that truck will stop there.”
The sign said the stop was only a mile away. “Let’s go.” L
uc grabbed her hand and started running.
Chapter Three
The truck they’d scoped out wasn’t at the truck stop when they got there. Luc wasn’t discouraged; he figured another one would come along. They’d just lay low until it did. But first he had a problem. “I can’t walk around in a shirt covered with blood.”
Esther tugged the shirt up and gasped. Other than a wide, pink line, the wound had completely healed. “Wow. I wish I could do that.”
“If you were in Hell, you could.” He frowned as her expression darkened. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
She shrugged, jerking her head toward the truck stop. “There’s probably a gift shop in there, and I wouldn’t mind getting something to eat.”
He frowned. “I don’t have any money. My go bag was in the back seat of your car.”
She grinned, her golden-brown eyes lighting with humor. “I have a go bag too. Fortunately, I’m wearing mine.” She turned to show him the backpack she’d been wearing since he’d grabbed her. Luc hadn’t given the bag much thought at the time. But he suddenly realized she hadn’t been wearing it either of the two times he’d picked her up before. “You were planning on running all along, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. I told you that.”
“I know. I just… you surprise me. I wouldn’t have thought you’d risk it.”
She snorted as they started toward the truck stop. “You have no idea how much I’d risk to get out of that place.”
Luc frowned. He knew she’d have to go back. There was no way to permanently escape death. The big rig that had almost killed her a second time proved that. She was fated to die, and that was what she would do. He wasn’t trying to change that. He was only trying to gain some leverage to get her out of the ping-pong existence the assembly had designated for her.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, and then she jerked to a stop. “Wait. You said you had a go bag. You were planning on running, too.”
“Yeah.”
She fixed him with an assessing look, her pretty, brown face a study in confusion. “But why?”
Luc was saved from having to answer that when a burly guy carrying a duffel bag opened the door and held it for them. They walked through. “Thanks, man.”
The driver nodded. “Have a good one.” The big man peered carefully at Luc from under a stained baseball cap, his lips working a toothpick.
Warning bells made the hairs on the back of Luc’s neck lift and, sure enough, his flame tat started to burn. He hid it behind his back and hurried after Esther, grabbing a container of something he knew would come in handy along the way.
He found her sorting through some flannel shirts.
“I think this one will fit you.”
“We need to get out of here.” Luc had her turn around and he slipped the dark blue cardboard container into her pack.
“But…” He snatched up her hand and headed for the back of the store. “There has to be an exit here somewhere.”
She tried to jerk her arm away. “Wait, I wanted to get a sandwich.”
“No time. Sorry.” He pulled her through a door marked Showers and dragged her down the hall. There was an exit at the far end of the hallway. Luc didn’t know how the chief judge had figured it out so quickly, but somehow they already knew he and Esther were on the run.
He slammed an arm into the bar on the door. A high-pitched squeal announced the opening of the door, and Luc swore. It didn’t matter anyway -- as soon as they emerged into the growing dusk, the sound of wings beat the air, and his tat went into full flame.
Luc cried out at the pain and doubled over.
Esther touched his back. “What’s wrong?”
The sound of wings beating the air stopped, and Luc risked a glance upward. They’d disappeared. “Come on, we need to…”
Esther screamed, her arms coming up to shield her face as the demon dropped down from the sky, its deadly claws stretched toward them. Luc shoved her behind him and pulled the fire from his core.
She jumped back with a shocked cry as his body flared up. He wished she hadn’t had to see him like that, but there was nothing he could do about it at that point. He had to get her away from the demons.
The demon hit him and they rolled, the other creature screaming in pain as Luc’s fiery flesh burned through its leathery, gray skin. Needle-like teeth snapped at Luc’s face but didn’t connect. Though the demon wanted to rip his face off, it was obviously reluctant to bring fire into its sensitive mouth. The demon had no such concerns about its claws, however. Already the thing had ripped bloody grooves into Luc’s back and legs.
He yelled at Esther, “Get out of here. Find a pipe of some kind and get into it.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she started to run.
Luc held onto the demon until he saw the second one heading for Esther, and then he shoved the writhing thing away and leapt into the air, tackling the second monster just as it reached deadly claws toward Esther.
She cried out as its claws raked down her arm but Luc rammed it into a tree and held on while it screamed in pain. It was smaller than the first demon, a thatch of blonde hair on its head telling him it was a female. Luc resisted the urge to show pity and tightened his grip. The demon snapped at his face, trying to wrest its arms free so it could claw him. But he held on.
As the female sagged into unconsciousness from the pain of his fire, Luc released her and took off running. He headed in the direction Esther had gone, moving quickly and keeping to the tree line so nobody would see him.
Finally, Luc spotted a concrete culvert and dove inside. He sat down on the rough concrete and leaned his arms against his knees. Resting his head on his arms, he tried to catch his breath.
“Luc?”
He didn’t look up. “It’s okay. They won’t be able to find us here.”
“Um, Luc?”
“We’ll stay here until they leave, then we need to find a truck to carry us.”
Esther took a step closer. “Okay. Um, aren’t you gonna be cold?”
He looked down and then up at her amused expression. “Yeah, that’s a problem with flaming up. It kind of burns my clothes away. Sorry.”
Her full, burgundy lips curved in a grin. “Oh, no need to apologize. Really.”
* * *
Esther laid her head back against the hard concrete. The drone of the big trucks on the highway drowned out all other sounds, and the vibrations were making her sleepy. But she wasn’t ready to give in to the lure of sleep just yet. She had way too much savoring to do first.
She was nurturing a picture of Luc running naked toward her through the shadows, his long, muscular frame easily eating up the distance. She’d tried to focus on how his muscular calves and well-toned thighs flexed as he dug in and ran. She really meant to notice how his broad chest and buff abs tightened when he leaped over holes and pushed off large rocks. But really all she kept seeing was the delightfully impressive package bouncing happily as he sprinted.
He was everything she’d thought he’d be and more. And all she wanted to do was throw him down and have her way with him.
Esther snuck a sideways look at Luc. He was wearing clothing he’d “borrowed” from one of the trucks at the truck stop and had all that yumminess covered in ugly flannel and overlarge denim. But she remembered. It was burned deliciously into her retinas. When he glanced at her and smiled, Esther dragged her mind from the gutter. “What are you looking for?”
Luc shrugged, his gaze locked onto the sky above them. “Just making sure the demons didn’t follow us.”
“I thought you said they couldn’t see us inside a circle.”
He sat back, draping his arms over his knees as he studiously avoided her gaze. “They can’t. I’m just being overly cautious.”
She saw that he was rubbing his arm again, and lines of pain had formed between his brows. “What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?” Esther didn’t remember seeing any wounds on his arm when he wa
s naked. Hell, who was she trying to kid? She hadn’t been looking at his arm. He could have lost both arms and his head, and she might not have even noticed.
“It’s nothing. When we stop I’ll take some salt.”
Esther frowned. “Salt?”
Luc yanked the sleeve of his flannel shirt back and showed her the steady flame riding the skin over his tattoo. “They’re giving me a constant burn instead of a flash flame. It hurts more, and it’s harder to ignore.”
“That’s bullshit! This isn’t your fault.” Esther jumped to her feet in angry indignation and cracked her head on the concrete cylinder. “Ow! Shit.” Rubbing the back of her head, she dropped back down. “They should be punishing me. I’m the one who ran away.”
“Let me see that. You need to be more careful, Esther.” Luc moved over and made her lower her head, carefully prodding the spot where she’d cracked it into the concrete. She grimaced under his careful touch even while her body heated in recognition of his nearness. His warm, delicious scent enfolded her, and lust coiled low in her belly.
“It’s okay.” Embarrassed by her reaction to him, Esther tried to pull away.
Luc focused his intense gaze on Esther for a moment before settling back against the concrete. His arm rested against hers, and she could feel the heat all the way to her toes. “They’re punishing me because they know I’m running with you.”
It took a minute for his words to sink in. When they did, Esther blinked. “What?”
He shrugged. “If they didn’t know it for sure, they will once those demons report in.”
“But why?”
“You don’t deserve to be treated the way they were treating you.”
“Why do they treat me that way, Luc? Did I do something wrong?”
“Only dying on Good Friday. It’s a very precious day for the celestial set. Mostly only heaven-bound souls die on Good Friday. You’re the first sinner in decades to die on that day. The assembly decided to make an example of you.”
She frowned. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
