bedeviled & beyond 06 - bedeviled & befouled (22 page)

“No touching.”

His smile only widened. “Oh, I’m afraid there will be touching. You see, that’s my payment. The only thing I will accept for helping you. I want you to come to my bed—”

“No frunkin’ way.”

“Oh, I am not done. It gets much, much better.”

I was shaking my head before he finished speaking. Looking at Gerch, I asked, “How do I send him back. This was a mistake.”

“I would have told you that if you’d let me in on your plans.”

Nerul was suddenly pressed full-length against me. I could feel his rigid shaft pushing against my belly, and my stomach churned with revulsion. He pinned my arms against my sides, holding me helpless. Gerch grabbed his arm and was sent flying on a wave of oily power. He hit the rocky ground several feet away and skidded, his head smacking hard on a rock.

I struggled against Nerul’s grip. “Let go of me evil turd!”

He lowered his head and licked my cheek as I tried to pull away. Déjà vu bit my ass with razor-sharp teeth. It seemed I was forever destined to find myself fighting off the debauched royal. “Get the hell away from me.”

Nerul laughed. “Again, I would remind you that you summoned me. But I’m pleased that you have. You and I have unfinished business.”

“We have nothing of the kind.” I lifted my knee and smashed it hard into his thigh, missing my target when he twisted away.

“Now, now, pretty halfling. That’s no way to behave.” He lowered his head, his tongue swiping over my chin and across my lips. “Mmm. You taste delightful. Sweet and a little smoky.”

I stopped struggling, forcing myself to take a deep breath and look for my power, nestled deep within me. I caught the spark and pulled it forward until it sizzled just beneath my skin. Then I opened my eyes and smiled. “To Hades with thee fool, for I hath tired of you.” I let the energy I’d gathered blast away from me in an unfocused wave that sent Nerul flying. My last impression of his face before he blasted away was a look of surprise that I’d been able to move beyond his dampening hold on me.

I was a bit surprised too. Maybe my powers had returned stronger than I’d thought.

Nerul disappeared with a pop and I glanced toward Gerch. “You okay?”

He glared at me, shoving to his feet. “Stop asking me that.”

I smiled at his crankiness. Gerch didn’t like it when he couldn’t protect me. I pictured his sword in my mind and it appeared in my hand. “Here. Sorry. If I’d been thinking I’d have done that sooner. It’s a newly acquired skill.”

He took the sword. “Are you done screwing around now, Astra?”

I blinked, surprised by his outburst. When he glared back at me I lost it. His implication that I wasn’t serious about saving Dialle was the long straw in the short cup that set my temper on edge. “Oh, I’m sorry, Gerch. I was under the impression that I was trying to get Dialle back. But it seems you have a better idea how to do it. So let’s hear it. I’m all ears.”

He glared back at me. “I say we just wait until dark and sneak down there.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Then what?”

He held my gaze for a beat and then shrugged. “Kick ass and blow shit up.”

I tried to hold onto my temper but my lips twitched. “Seriously?”

He grinned. “It’s my favorite plan.”

I finally gave in to my laugh. “Yeah. Mine too. But I don’t think that’s gonna work this time.”

“So what are we going to do?”

I glanced up at the quickly darkening sky. The area where we stood had grown more quiet as night fell, like everything living had gone to ground in anticipation of the big uglies that would be emerging with the dark. “Plan B. I was really hoping not to have to do this. You’re not gonna like this guest any better than you liked the last one.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Get ready to run for your life. ’Cause our next visitor is about twelve times more dangerous than Nerul.” I crouched on the ground and gathered the firewood back into a pile, hitting it with a jolt of energy to ignite a new fire.

“Don’t do it, Astra.”

I ignored him, slicing a new wound in my finger. My expulsion of power had healed the last one. Squeezing the wound, I threw Gerch a look and lifted an eyebrow. “If she gets close to me, run her through with that blade.”

He sighed, stepping away to give himself more room.

Holding my bleeding finger over the fire, I squeezed it and watched a crimson drop hit the flame, creating a small explosion. As flames roared upward, I said the name of the woman I hated most in the whole world.

Two drops later the fire exploded upward again and the evil bitch was standing before me, grinning as I stepped backward. I kept energy dancing on my fingertips as a barrier between us.

She cocked her head. “Interesting. I see you’ve managed to regain your power.”

“Better than ever, devil skank.”

She pursed her lips, frowning slightly. “Well, I guess I’ll just need to do a more thorough job this time.”

I amped the power, surrounding myself with a protective bubble. “Just stay the hell back, Crisanne. I’ll cook your black heart in your chest. In fact, don’t tempt me. I’d really enjoy doing it.”

She stared at me through exotic, light-brown eyes that masked a monumentally evil soul. “It’s clear you haven’t put our differences aside, Astra. And yet you summoned me here. I have to wonder why.”

I certainly hadn’t wanted to summon her. In fact I’d struggled with the idea for hours. But I needed an impressive amount of power to do what I wanted to do, and she was the most powerful person I knew who lived in the Hell environs. Aside from the three people we were hunting of course. “I need your help.”

She laughed, then sobered as she realized I wasn’t joking. “You can’t be serious.”

“Unfortunately I am. I need to rescue Dialle from Nestrada and I can’t do it alone.”

Her brown gaze widened. “Nestrada? Ouch. He’s probably already gone.”

I realized she was just playing with me, maybe, but I couldn’t help myself. She’d voiced my greatest concern. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t know about Nestrada?” Crisanne laughed. “This is priceless. Nestrada loves beautiful things. She’s wanted to get her hands on Dialle for centuries. Now that she has him she’ll waste no time.”

“Waste no time doing what?”

“Creating her work of art, of course. She’ll inject him with her venom and turn him into a perfectly preserved statue so she can enjoy him forever.”

Ice filled my chest as her words sank in. Panic trickled down my spine and made the hairs on my neck rise in horror. My magic sputtered on my fingertips as my legs threatened to buckle out from under me. I’d thought we had more time. I’d thought she would keep Dialle around. I’d had no idea... “Shit.”

Crisanne grimaced. “Yeah. It’s even horrible to me. But if you were planning on rescuing him I’d recommend you do it quickly. Once the moon is full in the sky she’ll sink her fangs into his belly and fill him up with venom. I’m told the venom locks her victims’ muscles into place, preserving them so they stay beautiful. Technically they’re alive, even their hair still grows, but the venom fries their brains and insides so that their existence, such as it is, is excruciating.”

All the blood left my face. I staggered backward, leaning against the tree. Turning my head I retched helplessly, feeling as if my insides were climbing into my mouth. My magic died on my fingertips and Crisanne moved. Gerch suddenly appeared, holding his blade to Crisanne’s throat. She stilled under the threat.

I forced my knees to straighten and dragged my power forward again, wiping the back of my hand over my mouth. “You need to help me save him, Crisanne. I’ll do anything.”

She lifted a finely shaped black eyebrow. “When you first summoned me I was determined to deny you. But knowing what’s at stake I find I’m intrigued. So I’ll tell you what. I will help you save the king.”

Relief flooded me, even as a sense of dread rose in response to her words. The evil bitch wouldn’t help me out of the kindness of her heart. And I had no doubt I was going to hate what she required in return. I inclined my chin, frowning. “Okay. What do you want for helping me?”

She smiled and it was like a fist to my stomach.

“What I’ve always wanted. I want Dialle. I want to be his queen.”

Pain sheared through me, followed by a wave of white-hot anger. “Dialle isn’t a boon to be passed from person to person. It’s up to him if he wants to make you his queen.”

“Not entirely. You and I both know that if you want him he’ll cling to you. For whatever reason you have some kind of hold over him. I want you to walk away. Tell him you don’t love him. I will be there to pick up the pieces when you go.”

It was my worst nightmare. Made worse by the fact that I thought it would probably work. With me gone, Dialle would be inclined to mate for the health of the court. Or to keep from succumbing to madness again.

I wanted to blast the evil bitch between her pretty eyes and send her flying. But I knew I couldn’t save Dialle without her. And he would be dead...or worse...if I didn’t get him away from Nestrada. I couldn’t let the fate Crisanne described happen to the man I loved.

Then I had a sudden thought. “You can’t rule with Dialle. You’re a class four. You can’t leave Hell.”

“Not without a powerful sponsor, no. I think the king of the earthbound royals would count. Don’t you?”

I blinked back tears and nodded, realizing I was beaten. “I’ll walk away. But first I need to help Dialle destroy his father and my mother. They’re trying to take over the court.”

Crisanne thought about this for a moment and then nodded. “I’ll allow you to tie up your loose ends. But then I want you to leave and never return. I don’t care where you go. I just want you gone.”

Feeling as if my heart was being wrenched from my chest, I took a shaky breath. “Okay, here’s what I have in mind...”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Fate Worse than Death?

Foes abound beneath the moons of Hell, and difficult challenges thrive,

Alas young miss just cannot tell, if her loved ones will survive.

I stood on top of the ridge surrounding Nestrada’s hidey hole. Darkness had fallen over Perdigo, settling around me like a heated blanket. The silence that throbbed over the landscape beyond Nestrada’s lair created an ominous sense of expectation that made my palms tingle with unease. The heavy sound of slithering was a constant, terrifying resonance within the rocky walls of the night-blackened hole where Dialle awaited a horrific death.

I assumed the monster’s movements meant she was preparing her killing ritual. I glanced toward Crisanne. She stood twenty yards away, her gaze fixed inside the hole as if she could see through the velvet blackness. Maybe she could. She was a resident of the Hell environs.

“Are you ready?” Though spoken softly to avoid being overheard down below, my voice seemed to echo around us, pinging off the darkness and throbbing against my skin. I trembled against the unfamiliar feel of the night. It was thick with menace.

Crisanne slowly turned her head, her eyes gleaming through the darkness. She dipped her chin slightly. I lifted my hand over my head and signaled Gerch. The soft sound of his footfalls on the rock told me he’d started down.

Pulling my power forward, I gazed at the mountainside across from us, knowing we’d have to move quickly. Once Nestrada saw our power marking the sky, she would be able to kill Dialle fast, before we could get to him.

That was why I needed Crisanne.

“Now.” My strained whisper pinged off the mountain walls, breaking the silence as effectively as a shout. I lifted my hands and shot power into the rocky wall directly across from us, my mind grabbing a picture of Olympus from my memories and transposing it with the picture my energy illuminated in the distance.

Crisanne’s power flared thick and bright, joining mine and overwhelming it in yellow light as the wall beyond began to tremble and crack. I fought against the desire to look downward, needing to focus everything I had into my task, but it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

Dialle could be dying at that moment.

I shook off the thought and focused harder on my goal. The wall across from us began to fall away, flinging deadly chunks of rock into the monster’s lair—a brand new danger for Gerch and Dialle to navigate.

The wall split in two and blue sky showed through, bright ribbons of white rippling across its surface. A blast of arctic air gusted through the fracture, hitting me with the force of a punch in the face. I widened my stance and leaned into the brisk wind, praying I could hold out longer than the monster.

The world suddenly crashed around me and I stumbled, my toes hanging over the edge. It crashed again and my power slipped downward, scoring the wall beneath our breech and sending debris flying to the ground.

“She’s flinging herself against the walls!” Crisanne screamed.

I dropped to my knees so I’d have a more stable base and renewed my efforts at cutting through the mountain.

The crack widened, showing a distant range of white-capped mountains, and the frigid air thickened, smelling of snow.

The air before me shimmered and a massive set of fangs snapped at my face, missing me by mere inches. I screamed and jumped back, rolling away from Nestrada as she struck again.

A razor-sharp fang opened the flesh of my forearm. I leapt into the air and landed on her back, just behind her head, barely managing to send a jolt of energy into her flesh before she snapped sideways and sent me flying.

I smacked against a tree and slid to the ground, leaping to my feet as soon as my butt hit the dirt. “Keep it open!” I screamed to Crisanne, and ran toward the monster as she turned to look at my partner in crime. Already her movements were slowing, as the dense, arctic air replaced the warmth her body needed.

I leapt onto her head and slid down to her back, wrapping myself around her thick body as best I could. Nestrada reared up, flinging her head from side to side in an effort to repel me. I used my power to enhance my grip and held on. I’d had lots of practice holding onto Glynus as she rolled and tumbled in the sky and I thought I could hold onto the meaty monster between my thighs. At least long enough for her to begin to falter from the cold.