by Rena Marks
“Likewise, pipsqueak!”
Keara leaned in. “I’ll have you know, I would have given you eternal youth and beauty for the return of my friends.”
“I’ll have you know, Natalya is one of mine. I would have done it for free.”
With that, the three old hags erupted into another cackle of laughter.
Keara clenched her fists, her eyes glowing blue. Demitris placed a calming hand on his daughter. Without a word, Keara turned and marched from the tent, leaving the others behind.
“Old witches,” Caleb said. “I’m sure you understand that it’ll be much harder to hide you on Earth with your, um, adapted looks.” He turned toward Demitris. “I think we’d have to leave them in Luciefyiore for the whole forty years while they re-age.”
Jere and Ace looked appalled, each knowing they’d be stuck babysitting them. “No way!”
Demitris looked after the tent flap where Keara had disappeared. “It does seem that Natalya would be best suited to look after the Three. And she didn’t earn the title the Huntress for nothing. Let her track them should they wander. Luciefyiore it is.”
Ace, Caleb, Jere and Demitris left the tent and the obnoxious guffaws behind them.
“As I outrank you, I think you and Holly should have to take care of them when we get home,” Jere whispered to Ace.
“Hmmph. Fine.But good luck explaining to your wife that you agreed to change their forms for forty years.”
They walked to the wooded section, just between trees, where Keara waited.
“Okay, Ace, now to get you back into Luciefyiore,” Demitris said. “You’ll know where to find a group of young demon males?”
Ace nodded, looking at Jere. “The Horned Hood.”
Demitris held out his hands, and Keara covered her father’s hands with her own. A blue flash of light exploded.
Chapter Twelve
All Brawn, No Brains
Suddenly Ace stood alone in the trees. Trees that walked and waved, holding hands and singing.
He was home. Sweet home, where things were normal again. Turning on his heel, he headed toward town to the local bar where the known group of young bounty hunters hung.
Ace walked into the bar. If a bar could get deadly quiet, that one did. Apparently word was out that he’d been banished to Hell. Just as well, he’d needed more respect anyway since he hadn’t hunted in a while.
Now he had to find the suckers he remembered from his local gym, Excel. Ace looked around and spotted them.
The group of half a dozen young, buff demons sat at a table downing whiskey. They raised their glasses when he approached.
“Bad luck, man,” Isheetov said. His auburn hair draped in curly locks down to his collar. Blue eyes looked briefly at Ace. Isheetov had modeled earlier in his career, before weightlifting took its toll. He’d become too large for the standard-size clothing and had switched to bounty hunting instead.
Ace shrugged, pulling out a chair to sit. “I’m hoping it won’t be so bad. I have been to Hell and back, of course, on a bounty mission. I met a couple of inhabitants. The Earth women aren’t too bad…lusty like the demons.” He tried not to cringe at repeating the phrase.
The entire bar went quiet at the statement.
Finally one of the six demons round the table called him on it. “What? They’re vicious, hellish bitches. Ugly too, all skinny with those bony elbows and knees. Why the hell do they starve themselves first and then airbrush the rest of the curves away?” asked the demon Jonzales. He was highly intelligent, and direct to the point.
“No, not at all. In fact, there are three”—uh, how to lie with a straight face?—“very attractive earthlings who can be talked into helping me. I’d met them there last time.”
This of course got the testosterone brewing. “Attractive? How?” someone else asked.
“Two of the three women were described as exotic and erotic. All three of them are completely different. The exotic one is Latin, one of them is Jamaican. The erotic one is a blonde with belly-dancer eyes.”
Technically, belly dancer eyes meant she would look good covered by a veil. But the brainless bodybuilders looked even more intrigued. Ace continued on. “Besides, it’s good that I have friends who owe me.”
“Owe you what?” Buystion asked suspiciously, raising his long, smooth and thin horns.
“Favors. Don’t you remember when I gave you the lead on the convict?”
Buystion didn’t reply, though his slender horns shrank slightly.
“How about you?” Ace said, turning to the demon next to him. “Ellis, who sponsored you when you began hunting?”
Ellis looked down. Almost, very nearly, ashamed of himself as he traced unseen patterns on the table.
Still, another looked unconvinced. “I’ll bet they’re attractive,” Isheetov muttered.
“These three are,” insisted Ace.
“Well if I have to meet humans, I’m using a fake name,” said Ellis.
“What?” Ace stared at him. “A fake name?”
“Yeah. I think I’ll use one of those human names. I’m gonna be Wayne. That sounds like a big, tall, buff human kind of guy. Probably around seven feet or so.”
Another demon looked up. “Yeah! I pick, um, Steve. That’s a classic name. They even wrote a book about me. See Steve run. Something like that.”
“I’ll be Ruben. No, wait. Greg. Yeah, Greg. I like that one. I like the way it starts with a letter and ends with the same letter.”
“That’s retarded, man. Try something like Jeff.”
Isheetov’s head nearly pulled a three sixty. “I like that one. I’ll be the Jeff.”
“Not The Jeff,” the one known as Ruben, No Wait Greg, said. “Just Jeff. You can’t go around calling yourself The Jeff.”
“You’re calling yourself Ruben No Wait Greg,” Isheetov accused back.
“George,” called a quiet voice.
Silence rang around the table.
“I like that one,” said the calm voice again. This demon, with chocolate-brown horns, was laid back and reserved. Always silently observing.
“George does seem a normal enough name for the quiet guy,” Steve grumbled. “Of course, the quiet ones are the ones you have to watch out for.”
Behind his back, the “normal” passive demon George flipped him the bird.
“Normie.”
All heads swiveled around at that one.
“What?” the demon now known as Normie said defensively. “I always liked that name.”
Greg shook his head as if to clear it. Then looked back to Ace. “These Earth women would dare to enter Luciefyiore? Without the strength horns provide? Wow, they got guts,” Greg muttered.
“Oh, it’s more than that,” Ace said. “They’re actually witches. Very powerful. They can snap a demon in two.”
Jeff’s eyes glowed. “Really? Wow.”
Nothing impressed a powerful demon more—especially a young body builder in his prime—than power. They began to talk among themselves, voices rising to be heard over each other.
“Excuse me,” Ace said, heading to the bar.
From behind him, he heard Buystion say, “My name’s gonna be Ken. Like one of those cool dolls that comes with a Barbie.”
Groans reverberated around the table.
Ignoring the new argument that ensued, Ace signaled. The bartender swung over.
“Hey, can you do me a favor? A round of shots every hour to that table, okay? Send the tab to my house. Natalya’s settling my debts before tomorrow.”
“No, problem, Acel. And by the way, good luck to you.” The bartender looked truly sorry.
“It’ll be fine,” Ace said with a hard edge to his voice. “I’ll serve my time and find my way back.”
The bartender’s look didn’t change. Everyone knew Ace wouldn’t be the same person when he returned. You couldn’t be, not after being banished to Hell with your mind erased. Being helpless without horns or memories of how to fight.
> Ace acknowledged his voiceless concern with a nod then turned to leave. He did a swift double-take. Three gorgeous women were sitting on the demons’ laps.
No, not women.
It was the Three, but holy Luciefyiore.
He recognized Rena by the breasts. That was the only thing about her that hadn’t changed. Though she was forty years younger, she still had the breasts of a twenty-year-old.
Trisha still had blonde, Farrah Fawcett locks, though the hair looked like hers now instead of a wig.
And Monika was gorgeous, creamy skinned without her turban, and with a much looser purple silk robe stitched in bright red. Slim red fingernails to match the caftan stroked erotically up the biceps of the demon before her.
Ace still stared.
Rena licked tenderly up a ridged horn attached to Wayne. The seven-foot-tall demon whimpered under her ministrations. Son of a gun, those Earth women were wild. She had to know she was giving a public display of a blowjob. She just didn’t care.
Trisha was performing a lap dance on two of the demons. At once. No longer were her movements rickety, but sensual and smooth, though she did border on the verge of slutty.
And Monika was draped across Jeff and Wayne, both hands with long, red talons wrapped around the shots of whiskey. “Lots of girls fake it,” she was saying, without the accent. “But I’ll teach you both how to tell the difference.”
She downed both shots, slapping the glasses on the table. Then her hands disappeared under the table, and the demons’ eyes widened.
“Ooooh,” she moaned. “Mmmm. Baby, give me more…yessss…” she breathed.
The temperature in the bar rose.
“Double the drinks,” Ace instructed. No expense was too high to open the portal for Holly and Natalya. And damn if the Three didn’t know what they were doing.
Because outside, the weather had changed.
Shaking himself to gather his attention, Ace ran quickly outside. Jere already stood waiting around a small puddle. “It’s working,” Jere yelled over the roar of wind. “This is a full-out portal, not just a gate.”
“Once the portal’s open, how will Holly and Natalya know to jump in? What if they’re tied up?”
Jere shrugged. “We don’t know what’s going on over there.”
“Exactly,” Keara said from behind them. “So one of us has to go in and get them.”
Jere and Ace spun around.
Keara stood with her husband, her black hair whipping in the wind. “A half-breed has to cross portals, or the balance shifts and will cause an explosion in both worlds.”
“I’ll go,” Jere growled. “It’s my wife.”
“You can’t,” Keara said. “You have to rule Luciefyiore.”
“Keara, you can’t go,” Caleb snapped.
“I have to,” she pleaded. “I’ve faced him before. Talya and I have combined power.”
“Exactly! He’s well aware and prepared for that move! You can’t surprise him twice, Keara.”
“But this time we have Holly. He doesn’t expect the power of three. And sweetie,” she whispered, but magically, her soft voice somehow carried over the roar of winds, “we caused something we didn’t bank on. The balance of the three humans has upset the universe…we have to balance it with the power of the three demonesses. Look at this place.”
All around them clouds rolled across the sky. Lightning struck, lighting the ground in areas it hit. Demons were running, wondering what was going on.
Before Caleb could respond, Keara turned and jumped into the puddle of water.
Chapter Thirteen
Timing is Everything
At the same exact time Keara jumped, Holly leapt from the wrinkle in time. She landed behind the stone chair of Enishka’s throne, hidden from the sight of everyone on the moon.
All the little demon lizards were busy. Enishka was helpless, having taken on the form of a huge worm. He was gigantic and slow, a head attached to a pasty-white, thick columnlike body. The width of his neck equaled the size of his jowls, yet his forehead was pointy from the lack of hair.
“Took too much power,” he mumbled to himself. “Can’t change back for a while.”
Natalya was tied to a wooden stake, arms above her head. Around her, hundreds of eggs quaked as the hatchlings inside tried frantically to break free from their shells.
The eggs were hideous, the shells clear as glass now that they had ripened to hatch. Inside, repulsive creatures were folded into fetal positions, opening large mouths on silent screams, sheer green gas filling the eggs.
“Hurry, my sons! Be born and feast on the flesh of your mother!” Enishka screamed from his spot near the well. His head slowly turned toward the lizard demon closest to him, as if sharing a confidence. “They’re perfect children! Can do no wrong. I’m such a proud papa. Their tiny bodies will be invincible! The amniotic fluid inside the egg is acid. And my sons are poisonous, the sweat exudes from their skin, slowly paralyzing a victim. They have their mother’s hunting skills and her powers. And the best part? They’ll be full grown in about ten minutes, thanks to the time wrinkle. Why, I should be ready to take over the world in fifteen or twenty minutes.”
Natalya panicked, wriggling desperately to break free from the ropes. One of the eggs rolled near her foot, spewing small droplets of liquid through the shell.
A crack appeared in the smooth eggshell. Claws poked through the slit, poison dripping onto the shell from the lobsterlike claw. The shell fizzled and popped, as if eaten by the internal acid, and began to disintegrate.
Holly gasped out loud from her position behind the throne.
“Where did you come from?” Enishka screamed, trying to wriggle his fat body toward her.
Natalya’s head whipped around to see Holly. Her eyes were huge, a gag around her mouth. Holly ran to the eggshell that was dissolving.
The disgusting, foul creature was already half out, wriggling like a baby slug in a trail of slime toward Natalya’s foot. It let out a cry, its mouth so large it looked as if the entire head could open should the jaws detach.
In fact, the mouth stretched across the face from behind each ear, like a breed of serpent that could swallow a victim larger than itself.
Holly raised her foot. The creature howled louder, testing out its new lungs. She stomped and the sound was cut immediately.
Sharp pain wrenched through her foot as the glass eggs shattered into shards, piercing her flesh.
“No! You bitch!” Enishka screamed. “My son!”
Ignoring the pain, Holly began smashing all the eggs scattered around the ground, ignoring the green gases that were released. The smell of rotted demon began to rise, permeating the air with the acrid smell of sulfur.
“I’ll kill you!” But his fat, wormlike body was slow and much closer to the hidden gate in the well than he was to the post where Natalya was tied.
Holly continued to stamp the children of Natalya and Enishka, bits of sharp shell lodging deeply into the soles of her feet. Adrenaline rushed through her body, allowing her to ignore the damage to her lower extremities. Several minutes later she stopped, breathing hard. Racing to Natalya, she used a large piece of discarded shell as a knife to cut the ropes binding Natalya’s wrists, ignoring the burn to her own fingers.
Natalya stared at the demon lord warily, wondering why he hadn’t yet chased after Holly.
Enishka was simply watching both women from his spot in the pool, where he seemed too sluggish and heavy to move.
Then she realized he just didn’t care to chase them. He had an evil smirk on his face, an ace up his sleeve.
“The gate,” Natalya whispered. “He’s going to close it and trap us.”
Both women raced for the water, but with wink, Enishka rolled into it, his heavy bottom end making a huge splash, cracking the side of the well and letting all the water flow out. The glow in the water, which signaled the portal, ebbed and died.
Natalya grabbed Holly’s hand, pulling her backward.
“It’s too late. Come on!” she yelled. Immediately turning, they ran as far as they could from the well.
As they passed Enishka’s throne, Holly suddenly stopped, yanking her hand away. “Wait,” she yelled, running back toward the throne.
“What are you doing?” Natalya screamed.
Holly was riffling around the base of the chair, finally pulling out a small chest hidden underneath it. She fiddled with the lock, but it wouldn’t open. Grabbing a rock, she smashed it off.
The lid burst open, emitting a steady glow from the chest. Inside was a solitary marble among the black velvet. It was such an unusual color, Natalya was stunned for a moment. Sea foam.
It was Ace’s soul.
“No, you can’t touch—” Natalya yelled, even as Holly reached in.
Holly grabbed the marble. Her shriek of pain filled the air before her head whipped back, almost harsh enough to snap her neck.
The marble absorbed into the palm of her hand.
Natalya ran toward Holly, briefly noting all the scuttle demons and even Enishka huddled with their hands protectively over their ears.
Interesting. Apparently Holly’s scream pained them.
She grabbed Holly’s shoulders, shaking her hard until the screams stopped. Holly looked at her blankly. Her eyes were changed, the pupils huge, filled with the color of Ace’s horns.
Suddenly the air became thick and heady, hard to breathe. A blue light filled the sky, pointing down to where the water from the well had spilt onto the ground.
“Keara,” Natalya breathed. “About time, sister.”
Keara rose from the puddle of water completely dry. She looked quickly about, catching the scene of Enishka and the scuttle demons huddled in pain all around her.
“Holly!” Keara yelled. “Don’t scream!”
Keara ran to Talya and Holly, briefly kissing Talya’s cheek. “Good to see you’re alive.”
“Likewise, half-breed. I’ve missed you.”
Holly looked lost in the recesses of her mind. Keara cupped Holly’s face in her hands, trying to get her attention focused. “Holly, the books say you have another power. Your scream? It pops areas of high concentrated blood vessels.”
