by Tina Folsom
She instinctively slowed her steps, and Wesley did the same. He motioned to his forearm and pointed to the circle that was still emblazoned on his skin, but had grown fainter. She nodded, understanding what he was trying to convey. The open area they were approaching in about ten yards was the exit the map was indicating.
Slowly they crept closer, until they were at the end of the tunnel where it spilled out into a circular area. Several other tunnels spread out from there, leading in different directions. A demon was leaning against a wall, his expression bored.
Virginia noticed Wesley look up, and she followed his gaze: the ceiling was higher here, but still, there was no way out. No staircase, no opening, no exit.
She stared at Wesley who finally met her gaze. He shrugged, then pulled her back into the tunnel, not too far so they could still see the round cave, but far enough so they could whisper to each other without being overheard by the demon.
“Are you sure that’s the exit the map’s pointing to?” she asked.
“I’m certain.”
“Maybe you got turned around.”
He glared at her. “I know how to read maps.”
“But there’s no exit, nothing that shows us a way out. Just more tunnels.”
“But there’s a demon.”
“So?”
“He’s standing sentry.”
Wes paused, and suddenly a light switched on in her mind.
“He’s guarding something,” she murmured.
“Exactly. There must be a door or something. We’ll just have to look for it.”
Virginia picked up a sound. “We’d better make it quick. I think they just discovered our ruse.” Somewhere in the distance, a dog was barking.
“Fuck,” Wesley suddenly hissed. “More demons.”
She snapped her head back toward the circle. A second demon was coming from another tunnel.
“State your business,” the demon who stood sentry suddenly demanded.
“Going up top on Vintoq’s orders,” the other demon replied.
She exchanged a quick look with Wes. “Up top,” she murmured.
They started moving at the same time, hurrying toward the circle.
“Go ahead,” the guard said and made a note on a clipboard.
The demon raised a hand and made a swirling motion, and just as Virginia and Wesley reached the edge of the circular cave, a vortex of dark fog and wind opened up and took over the middle of the cave. The noise accompanying it drowned out everything else.
This was it, the way out. That’s why the map had pointed to this place. It was like one of the Stealth Guardians’ portals, a way of traveling to and from the Underworld that only a demon could access.
Virginia locked eyes with Wes and murmured, “We have to piggyback.” She was certain of it now. It was their only chance.
“Piggyback?”
“Trust me!”
Holding on to Wesley’s hand, she dragged him toward the vortex. His eyes went wide, and his lips moved, though no words came out. Fuck me, he mouthed, but stayed with her.
The moment she saw the demon jump into the vortex, she followed with Wesley. They were still invisible, and the noise of the swirling wind would drown out any other noise she and Wesley made.
Inside the vortex, gray mist engulfed them, but she could see the demon clearly. With her free hand, she reached for him, careful to grab a hold of his coattail only, so he wouldn’t be able to feel her. Yet she would still be connected to him. She had to assume that the vortex operated in the same way the portals did: a physical connection between the demon and any passenger was required, or he’d leave them behind.
Just then, Virginia felt herself lifted into the air and knew they were traveling. She didn’t care where to, as long as it was the human world. Once there, they’d find their way.
Vintoq’s an idiot. It’s a stupid idea!
The words pierced Virginia’s mind as if somebody had spoken them, though her ears hadn’t picked up anything.
She shot a gaze to Wesley, and his eyes were wide as saucers. He too had heard the words. Or rather, felt them.
She stared at the demon’s back. What she’d heard could only be his thoughts.
Shit! Had the vortex created some sort of telepathic connection between them?
Did that mean the demon could hear her thoughts too?
Before she could even finish the thought, the demon spun around, his green eyes glaring.
Who the fuck?
His thoughts again.
Then several things happened all at once.
The vortex stopped spinning. Virginia let go of the demon’s coattail. Wes let go of her and pushed her to the side. As she tried to keep her balance, she watched in horror as the demon reached for his dagger. But Wesley’s knee was already connecting with the demon’s balls. He kicked the bastard backward, lunging after him, falling. Their torsos disappeared outside the vortex.
Virginia jumped outside, afraid the vortex would close and drag her back into the Underworld. It was dark around her. She landed on dirt. Next to her, Wesley was holding the demon at bay. But just barely.
The demon’s dagger was still in its sheath. She lunged for it, pulled it out.
“Wes! Off him, now!”
With a grunt, Wesley rolled off the demon. Before the demon could rear up, Virginia plunged the dagger into the vile creature’s heart. This time, there was no gurgling sound, no last labored breath, no attempt at fighting back. Just death. And green demon blood staining the demon’s coat.
Virginia let herself fall back on her ass, breathing heavily. She cast a look back over her shoulder. The vortex was gone, vanished.
Panting, Wes sat a few feet across from her, the dead demon between them. He had a look of admiration in his eyes.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve never seen anything sexier in my whole life than you stabbing a demon to death.”
She scoffed and shook her head. “You’re a very strange witch, Wesley.”
“Strange good or strange bad?”
“I haven’t decided that yet.”
Though currently she was leaning toward strange good. Oh yeah, strange very good.
12
Wes tore his eyes from Virginia’s flushed face and glanced back at the dead demon. This time she’d saved him. But then, who was keeping score?
“What are we gonna do with him?” He pointed at the dead demon.
“Normally I’d say, we burn him, but”—She patted her torso and legs—“I don’t have any of my usual gear with me.” She looked around and peered into the dark. “Maybe we can just hide his body. Come back for it later?”
“Works for me.”
When she made a motion to get up, Wes jumped up to help her up, but she was faster. She looked around. “Where do you think we are?”
He let his eyes wander. There were streetlights in the distance, maybe a small town. He heard the sound of cars passing by. He looked in the other direction. “That looks like an overpass. We could be near a freeway.” He squinted and was able to make out a large green sign. “Definitely a freeway.”
She nodded. “Good. If that’s the case, we can find shelter in a motel.”
“A shower wouldn’t go amiss either,” he added.
“But first, let’s hide the demon.” She pointed to the overpass. “Underneath there.”
Together they dragged the dead creature about twenty yards to a pile of illegally dumped trash and stashed him behind it, covering him as best they could. It would hide the body once the sun came up.
Then they made their way up toward the embankment. It wasn’t busy on the freeway, a sign that it was either very late at night, or this was a remote area, or both.
“There are signs for motels in that direction,” Wes pointed out.
“Let’s go then.”
They started walking. For a moment, there was silence between them, then Wes said, “That was risky, jumping into the demon’s portal.”
“Did you know it would?”
“I suspected it. We’ve always assumed that the demon’s vortexes worked similarly to our portals. It was a calculated risk.”
“What about hearing his thoughts? Did you know about that too?”
She cast him a sideways look. “I didn’t at the time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What I said. But now that you mention it, I recall a report I read last year that mentioned one of our guardians accidentally stepping into a demon’s vortex during a rescue mission. He’d also heard the demon’s thoughts. Though his report didn’t mention whether he believed the demon could read his thoughts too. That’s probably how he figured he wasn’t alone.”
Wes chuckled. “Yeah, that, or our stench.”
“You do reek.”
“You smell a little past your sell-by date too.”
“Is that a dig at my age?”
The fact that Virginia was bantering with him made the tension roll off him. They’d just escaped from the Underworld and cheated certain death. If that wasn’t a little stressful, he didn’t know what was.
He smiled at her. “Did I mention I like older women?”
Virginia rolled her eyes and looked at the lights ahead.
Though Wes had no idea how old she was, he had to assume that she was older than the guardians at the Baltimore compound, most of whom were around two-hundred. And that definitely made her older than him. And possibly more experienced. And that part he didn’t mind at all.
It took another ten minutes until they reached an area with a motel, a gas station, several fast food places, and a large store that could have rivaled a Walmart or a Target Superstore in size, though it appeared closed.
“I’ll make us invisible again,” Virginia suddenly said and took his hand.
“Works for me.” Feeling Virginia touch him was always a welcome feeling. “I assume we don’t have any money or credit cards, do we?”
“No, we don’t.”
Knowing instinctively what she was trying to do, he motioned to a door toward the end of the motel, away from the office, where a middle-aged man was watching TV.
“That room looks empty.”
“Let’s try it.”
When they arrived at the door, Virginia put her finger on her lips, then dipped her head through the door so her entire torso disappeared from his view.
Freaky!
But definitely a handy skill.
He suddenly felt her release his hand and disappear entirely. Nervously he looked over his shoulder, but the man in the office had his eyes glued to the TV monitor, and there was nobody else around. And for all he knew, Virginia was probably still cloaking him with her mind.
Suddenly there was a click and the door opened.
“Quickly!” Virginia said. She pulled him inside and eased the door shut quietly.
Only then did she flip the light switch. Wes looked around. Two beds. Two chairs and a table, a TV, a microwave and a small refrigerator. A few coat hangers on a rack, and a door into a bathroom.
After spending the last hours in the Underworld, this felt like a palace.
“Okay, you stay here, while I go and get us some supplies. What’s your shoe size?”
He gave her a surprised look. “Why?”
She pointed to his boots. “Because they look and smell like shit.”
Glancing at them, Wesley had to admit they looked a little worse for wear. “I’ll come with you.”
“You can’t. The store is closed. I’ll need to pass through the door, and I can’t take you with me.”
“Then do what you did just now. Go in first, and then open up for me.”
“And set off the alarm?”
Damn! He hadn’t thought of that. He felt like a fool. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
She shrugged. “You’ve been through a lot today. Can’t blame you.” She sighed. “Get out of those clothes and put them in the trash. I’ll toss everything when I get back so we don’t spread the stench in here. Take a shower. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She was already turning toward the door, when she looked over her shoulder. “Shoe size?”
“Twelve. Thanks.”
He watched her pass through the door and disappear. He wasn’t used to a woman doing something for him. But Virginia was a special woman.
Glad to be able to get rid of his dirty clothes, Wes unbuttoned his pants, then lowered the zipper. His gaze fell on the beds. Just his damn luck that he’d unwittingly picked a room with two beds and not just one. There would be no reason for Virginia to share his bed tonight.
Unless she decided that after the danger they’d been in, she needed a little relaxation—relaxation he was more than willing to provide.
~ ~ ~
The warm spray of the surprisingly large shower felt good on Wesley’s skin. Twice he’d already soaped up with the cheap soap the motel provided, and twice he’d rinsed the residue of the dirt of the Underworld off. Now he stood beneath the showerhead and simply enjoyed the water caressing his skin. His tense shoulders relaxed, and he started to feel normal again.
The last eighteen hours had been a supernatural rollercoaster with more twists and turns than the Underworld labyrinth they’d narrowly escaped.
Wes turned his face into the water raining down on him, reluctant to get out of the shower.
A sound drifted to him. Was Virginia back? He hadn’t heard the door, but then she wouldn’t use the door, given that she didn’t have a key to it. She would just pass through it. What a cool skill that was!
“Virginia?” he called out.
He’d left the bathroom door ajar. Just so he would hear if anybody entered the room.
Liar.
He sighed. So what if he’d left it open because he was hoping Virginia would take the hint and join him in the shower? Was that maybe the reason why he was still standing here, even though he could have dried off much earlier?
Well, clearly it wasn’t happening.
Another sound made him whirl around. But it was just his active imagination that made him imagine the faint footsteps. Disappointed he turned back and reached for the faucet.
“Don’t turn it off yet.”
Virginia’s voice jolted him, and he spun around. And stared at nothing.
But he heard her. She was stepping into the shower, and he saw that her feet displaced the water that had collected in the shower pan. For an instant he just stood there, then he grinned.
“I hadn’t pegged you for the shy kind.” Or why else would she be invisible?
“Who says I’m shy?”
An invisible hand suddenly touched his chest. His heartbeat accelerated. Instinctively he followed her hand, running his fingers up to her shoulder, touching her naked skin.
“If I were shy, I wouldn’t let you wash me,” she murmured.
He took the hint and pulled her closer, stepping out of the spray to make space for her.
“Well, I guess I’ve got a job to do then.” A job that didn’t feel like a job, more like a reward.
He turned to reach for the soap. When he turned back, he saw with surprise that Virginia wasn’t entirely invisible anymore. The water pearling off her created a silhouette that looked almost ghostly. Mystical. And sexy as hell.
Her curves were delectable, her legs long and shapely, her hips round, her breasts firm and the perfect size for her tall stature.
“You’re looking at me,” she said.
He lifted his lids to gaze into her face. “Did you ever see the movie The Invisible Man?”
Her head bobbed up and down.
“He was outside in the rain, and suddenly you could see him, see his outline.” Wes lifted his hand and traced her shoulder down to her arm. “That’s what I see right now.” He brought his hand to her waist and slowly ran it up along her torso. “You’re more beautiful than I imagined.”
“And you weren’t lying
about being big.”
Her hand moved, and he could see the direction it was taking: to his cock that had already started rising. He stopped her before she reached his groin, wrapping his hand around her wrist.
“Not so fast, baby, I want to savor this.” He pulled her hand back to her side and released it. “Now be a good girl and let this big bad witch wash the sulfur off you.”
He soaped his hands so the suds covered his palms, then reached for Virginia. He started at her shoulders, then soaped up her right arm and thoroughly cleansed her from shoulder blade to fingertips, then did the same with the other arm. The soap made her body stand out even more.
Turning her into the spray, he watched the water sluice off the suds and wash away the grime of the Underworld.
“Spread your legs a bit wider,” he ordered and crouched down to her feet.
He lifted one foot on his knee and worked the soap over her foot and leg, sliding upward to her thigh in long strokes. God, it felt good touching her, exploring her body. He did the same with the other leg, before he rinsed the soap off her thoroughly.
“Turn around,” he murmured. “I’ll do your back.”
He watched her silhouette turn and began to run his soapy hands over her back, under her arms, and then followed the curves of her body down to the soft swells of her ass.
Fuck, was the water getting hotter?
His cock sprang to full height.
He ran both hands down her ass, more caressing than washing her. A sigh came from her and he brought his face next to hers.
“You know what I want, don’t you?”
“You were pretty open about that.” There was a husky undertone in her voice he hadn’t heard previously.
“Just want to make sure you don’t get any bad surprises.” He turned her so her back was under the showerhead, raining down on her. “Now to the best parts.”
He reached for the soap again, foaming up his hands once more.
He slid his palms over her breasts, the foam giving him a better view of their shape. An involuntary groan left his lips. Virginia’s nipples were hard.
“I never imagined that touching you like this, without really seeing you, would be so hot.” He’d always been a visual guy, had always had the lights on during sex so he could look his fill. But this, seeing Virginia’s body only as an outline, as a mere sketch, fired up his imagination and made him hornier than he’d ever been.
