by K. F. Breene
A tall being emerged from the doorway with pointed features and snow-white hair cropped short. Green wool draped from a skinny frame and brushed its blunt toes, eight in all.
“Trick or treat,” I said.
“What are you?” it asked in a silky voice I did not expect from a demon.
“Oh, a little of this and a little of that. How about you?”
“We seek passage through your territory,” the demon shackled to me said in a flat tone. I had no doubt it was trying to hide its disdain for the lust demons.
“And why should we grant it to you?” the gatekeeper asked.
“Look at this guy.” I indicated Darius. “How many guys have you seen that are as hot as this guy? You’ve got lust brewing in there, right? Well, here you go. He can rev up a monk. You’re welcome.”
The creature took a moment to assess Darius before its eyes flicked over his shoulder. They narrowed. The creature stepped to the side to look beyond us.
I followed its gaze and felt my stomach seize. Through the small gap that looked out into the space between the cliffs, I could see something glimmering fly into the space between all the cliffs.
Oh yeah, they’d send dragons. Already had, by the looks of it.
Adrenaline pumped through me as I turned back to the gatekeeper. “Let us in. You won’t get another chance to do so.”
My shackled demon scurried behind me.
The gatekeeper’s eyes flicked to the cowering demon, then back to me. A glimmer sparked in its eyes and a strange sound rumbled deep in its throat, almost like a cat’s purr. “You have great passion.”
“That’s not where I was going with that threat…”
The demon’s gaze moved beyond us again and a stray thought—Who do they seek?—drifted from its mind. When its eyes came back to me, I could easily guess the next thought. This creature?
“We are celebrating the change in the stars and do not usually let outsiders through. But you captivate me.” Its gaze roamed over Darius. “Your essence intrigues me.” Back to me. “I feel the pulse in you. The aching desire. It excites me.”
“Ew.”
“You may come.” With that, it turned and walked farther into the sect.
“The change in the stars?” I asked Darius quietly as I followed.
“They have a ceremony every time they change the color and placement of the twinkling lights,” the demon said, not lowering its voice. “They have so little importance that they create celebrations over made-up situations.”
“Our time is not spent fighting and spying on our neighbors,” the gatekeeper said dismissively as it led us through a tunnel. The sides branched out into little catacombs where figures were either lounging or engaging in lewd acts. Regardless of how icky my logical mind found the situation, a tawdry feeling filled the air more the farther in we got.
I wiped my forehead, trying to dislodge the memories of bonding with Darius. Of his slick body pressed firmly against mine. The feel of him inside me. Again and again. The grind of our movements.
“How much longer?” I asked weakly.
The gatekeeper turned with a sly grin, now walking backward in front of me. “You feel it, do you not?”
Sounds filled the air as the fervor rose. We turned a corner into a plush, spacious setting where mostly human forms writhed. Coupled or in an orgy, sticking with one or moving around—it didn’t seem to matter. The area was alive with activity.
“Good grief.” I had no choice but to slow, moving in step with the gatekeeper.
It ran its hand through the air, indicating the goings-on. “Care to participate? You can stay in your current form to do so. As you see.”
I felt Darius’s hand low on my hip. A backward glance revealed he was also feeling the effect, and if he scooted up, the effect would poke me in the back.
“We’re good. Let’s move on.” I meant to slap off Darius’s hand, but the weight of it felt good. Tingles spread across my skin and my lady bits tightened up, craving him.
Not the time, mon ange, Darius thought, the words dripping with sensuality. Let us get out of the Dark Kingdom and I will devote as much time to you as you’d like.
I grimaced and, with effort, removed my hands from his sensitive areas, not sure when I’d turned and plastered myself to him.
The gatekeeper wore a huge smile. “It feels good to give in. Almost as good as it does to fight the urge. Stay a while. You will find what you seek.”
“A wild ride, you mean?” I gestured at it to keep moving. “I live in New Orleans. There’s a wild ride around every corner if you just open your eyes.”
Speaking of eyes, they followed us, many painted with lust and desire. The gazes that surveyed my body felt like a physical touch. Darius’s hand remained firmly on my hip, low and heavy. If I turned just a little, it would…
Almost there, love. A little longer.
I stopped stroking and uncurled my fingers from around his manhood. Like last time, I didn’t remember relenting to desire. “My bad.”
“It is easy to get caught up—”
“I got it,” I said to the gatekeeper. “You don’t have to keep pointing out the obvious.”
A drumbeat sounded somewhere above us, and when I looked up, I saw faces peering down from the ledges—some laughing, some desirous. Many of the demons had taken the shapes of magical species that couldn’t get into the underworld at all, let alone this far in. Most of the shapes were wrong in some way, like a wolf head on a lion’s body, or a human head and limbs with an ape’s body—actually, come to think of it, maybe that last guy was making fun of humans…
I shook my head and clasped my hands in front of me so I didn’t inadvertently grab Darius again. “How is it you are keeping the hand on my hip from wandering?” I asked him.
I deal in passion as a trade. I inspire lust as a normal course of my existence. These demons are similar to vampires in that way. The feel in this sect is welcoming.
Welcoming. That was one word for it.
I re-clasped my hands. They’d tried to go wandering again. At least they were only headed for Darius. That was a plus.
The catacombs twisted and turned, a new offshoot around every corner. Demons wandered or idled, always interested in the newcomers unless already entertained. My demon guide didn’t seem to notice the palpable feeling of sex in the air, and Darius didn’t bend, even a little. It was just me, constantly having my hands removed from Darius’s person—without realizing how they’d gotten there in the first place—until I was walking with both wrists clasped in one of his large hands.
The gatekeeper thought that was hilarious.
“It is a pity you couldn’t stay.” The gatekeeper stopped at a gated archway leading out into the darkness speckled with twinkling red lights. No waterfall tumbled over this gateway. “But it seems you must run.”
“Yes. Thank you for letting us through. And don’t worry”—I hooked a thumb over my shoulder at Darius—“I’ll jump him at the first available opportunity.”
The gatekeeper’s smile spread. “You belong here. You should return. I think it will do you good.”
“I belong everywhere, and nowhere.” I hadn’t planned to say that, but it seemed to fit. To stop any other random things from popping out of my mouth, I gave a salute and started forward. “Thanks again.”
“Beware the dragons. They are tenacious.” The gatekeeper laughed and drifted back into the sect.
“A bit strange, that one,” I muttered. “And not at all curious. That’s a plus.”
“Only a fool would want to get involved with someone being chased by a dragon,” my grumpy guide said.
“And guess who gave me a map to the underworld?” I turned back and pointed a finger. “You wanted me to meet you here, so that makes you a…”
It glowered at me.
Darius put a hand on my shoulder and stopped me beside the exit. Like the entryway, the ledge looked out over a pit surrounded by cliffs. An overhang protected us f
rom the sky, but that wouldn’t last long.
Without warning, he moved in, holding my head in his strong grip and bending to my neck. I barely kept from flinging him out over the drop in surprise. A moment later, I couldn’t help a low moan. Already feverish with longing from the trip through the lustful sect, I sank into the feeling of him. Grabbed various parts of him. Tried to get him into my body with an abandon that would horribly embarrass me later.
The demon is right beside us.
And that was why.
I whimpered as his serum spread bliss through me, pulling him closer, as close as I could. His hardness rubbed in all the right place. But he wouldn’t let me go whole hog. I’d thank him later, I was sure, but was cursing him at the moment.
He finished and pulled back, and for the first time I felt pleasure burning through him. Not only that, but the deep ache of love that mirrored my own.
“We are wasting time,” the demon guide growled.
Body burning and warmth running through me from all that was Darius, I didn’t want to hurry anymore. I didn’t want to run. I wanted to go back into the lust sect and take some me time. Well, us time, really. I was tired of all this drama.
Almost there, mon chere, Darius thought, probably feeling my listlessness through the bond. He rubbed a thumb softly against my cheek. We are almost out of this. Just a little longer.
Now that we had air again, I sighed. It really buoyed my mood.
I nodded and pushed forward. “Let’s go fast.”
The demon led the way as we ran along the ledge and down the slope. Darius and I had a map in our head, sure, but it didn’t have the fine details that the demon guide seemed to know. For example, at the bottom of a steep set of stone steps, a nearly hidden tunnel offered us some respite from the skies. We sprinted through it, as fast as the demon could go (which wasn’t as fast as us). At the other side, the demon stopped abruptly and looked up.
“We are too late,” it said.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I pushed it to the side and took its place, looking into the dark sky. A multicolored dragon drifted by with a demon on its back.
A demon dressed like a clown.
“Holy blue balls, why hasn’t it given up already?”
“That dragon belongs to a vicious sect that offers others the chance to fight the beast to prove their skill,” the demon guide said.
“I know. I bested it, and that clown has been trying to find us ever since. We’d thought we’d given it the slip, but clearly not.” I chewed my lip and gazed across the wide open space at the next sect, which seemed open and not as laden with defenses as many of the others.
“A few best it, and they go on their way, so I’ve heard.” The demon rubbed at the mark on its palm.
“I hate doing things the normal way.” I hunted for any other signs of an aerial presence and didn’t see any. Not yet. The dragons from the other side of the lustful sect could have no idea we’d gone through it, not if the sect usually turned people away during the change in the stars. Eventually, though, they’d expand their search, and if we hung out here waiting for the determined clown to get lost, we’d give them time to catch up.
“Okay, how’s this for a plan?” I ran out into the open, dragging the guide demon with me. Darius caught up a moment later, and while he didn’t say it, I was pretty sure he was thinking, Are you crazy?
The stony ground turned quickly to lush, unevenly trimmed grass, spongy to run on. It stretched all around us with a few tufts and a couple lone flowers dotting the flatness.
“We can go around this sect easily,” the demon shouted behind us. It had to be thankful for the change in terrain.
“Should we angle left or right?” I asked as a shout issued above us.
Clown Demon leaned over the shoulder of the dragon and pointed down at us.
Darius threw something into the air. A huge starburst of light blasted through the darkness, making me look away with blinking eyes.
“A little warning next time?” I asked as I tried to see through the spots in my vision.
Harried flapping drowned out the shouting from above. I chanced a look up in time to see the dragon swooping low, or maybe falling.
“Reagan, take care of this,” Darius shouted.
I ran my hand in an arch and swatted the dragon with air, smacking it off-kilter. It tilted wildly, throwing its rider, who somersaulted twice before landing in the grass.
Darius was off, speeding toward it with claws (and probably fangs) elongating. He was on the clown in no time, ripping and tearing. But it was a powerful demon.
Darius went sailing, hitting the ground with a hard thump. Clown Demon was up, running at the vampire with magic unfurling around it. A weave of air surrounded the vampire as he catapulted to his feet. He raked at the magic with claws, tearing a hole in the weave and unraveling it before running forward to meet Clown Demon.
I sent a blast of my blended magic and swatted Clown Demon, making it roll across the ground. Darius probably could’ve handled it, but we needed to hurry.
Darius launched onto Clown Demon as it came to a stop, his claws digging into the other. An object went flying.
A snake.
That was why Darius’s first strikes didn’t end the fight before it had begun.
The vampire straightened, the fight finally at a close.
“I did not know vampires were so powerful,” my guide demon said, now being bodily dragged through the grass. I’d somewhat forgotten about it while dealing with the dragon.
“You haven’t had many dealings with elders, I take it,” I said, hitting the dragon with another burst to keep it from diving at Darius.
Darius was already on the move, running toward us with claws (and fangs) still out. The dragon shrieked when it realized what had happened.
It blew a sort of trumpet, long and loud, vibrating through my bones. When the noise died, it pumped its wings and rose straight up into the sky. Ready to dive bomb.
I readied myself for another slap of air. It kept rising, not looking down at us, until it reached a dizzying height—
Then it tilted its wings and sped away.
“What’s happening?” I asked, my power ready for action. Darius put a hand on my back to keep me moving. “Does it realize it’s no match for us, or is this dragon trickery of some kind?”
“You have freed it,” the demon said, lying on the ground. It apparently didn’t even want to bother standing up. “Death cuts the tie of loyalty.”
“Are they violent pets, or…” I started running with Darius, once again pulling the demon behind.
“Disgraceful to call them pets. They pledge their loyalty to one they deem worthy. They are allies. But their loyalty is to one being, not the sect. Where the being goes, the dragon goes. Often a demon that can secure a dragon has its pick of sects to join. Many become leaders eventually, accruing followers based on the status of having a dragon, even if the leader’s power isn’t sensational. As you saw.”
“Where do they live when they aren’t shackled by loyalty to a psycho clown and his mind-bending circus?”
“The Great Master sees to the solitary dragons, or those in their mating cycles.”
My father, the dragon keeper. That would be a cool thing to have on a business card. Although Reagan “unicorn blood drinker” Somerset didn’t sound half bad, either.
We ran alongside a paltry fence that could easily be torn away or jumped over. No spikes or barbed wire deterred those who were up to no good.
A moment later, I saw why.
“Is that a goat?” I asked in disbelief, staggering with surprise and fatigue.
“It is similar to a Brink goat only in appearance.” The demon sounded disgusted again. My ignorance was really standing in the way of its whole hero-worship thing.
A little bigger, maybe, and with more fur, but otherwise the creature standing in the pen munching on grass looked like a goat. Same weird eyes, same curved horns, and same presence th
at made you pat your pockets to make sure you didn’t have something in there it might want to eat.
“Is it an animal, though, or a demon doing a great job looking like a goat? Oh my God, is that a llama?”
“These aren’t animals that exist in the Brink,” the demon spat. “But yes, they are animals.”
“Dude, you need to get out more. That’s a llama. Snobby bastards.”
Darius glanced over with a grin. “What do you have against llamas?”
Demons tended the animals and the grass behind nothing more substantial than the wired enclosure. They glanced up as we passed, but didn’t show any other interest. Beyond them loomed a large structure almost like a barn, in good shape. Animals bayed in the distance.
“I had a llama growing up. It wouldn’t give me the time of day, even though I was the one who always fed it. Ungrateful…” I leapt over a roll of hay. “Do the animals eat?”
“Of course the animals eat.” The demon was growing tired of my questions, I could tell.
I let it go. It wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things. Nor was it important to dissect why these animals looked so similar to those in the Brink. Or why they had them in the first place when demons didn’t eat or drink milk.
I probably had more questions about the animals than about anything else I’d seen thus far. Just when I thought I was getting a handle on the place, something else weird cropped up.
A knot of worry eased when we crested a berm and the landscape changed. A boat waited at the lone dock stretching into the still river. I turned back to the demon, and saw nothing behind us.
“Darius.” I grabbed his arm, and we walked back out of the illusion together. From the corner of my eye, I caught the demon trying to scamper away. “Wait a minute there, hoppity.” I wrapped it in air and, ignoring its screeches, dragged it back. “Where are you going?”
It looked at the mark on its hand, which had been fading but now glowed back to life. It hunched. “Magic in progress is severed when you enter the river. My task is completed.”
