Desert of the Damned (2 page)

He made a face as if he was insulted by her comment. “Yes, it does have special properties. It’s also called a cosmic window.” He released the stone and began stroking her breasts. “It’s used in meditation for grounding and also to help travel to inner domains.” He pinched her nipple and she jerked.

“Where did you get it?”

He looked out into the desert night and said, “Mexico.” Stroking her cheek with his finger, he lifted her chin and gave her a deep sensual kiss. His tongue was hot and demanding, his mouth hard and hungry. She moaned into the kiss as his hand slid down over her breasts and parted her legs. Her knees fell open as his fingers found her moist clit. “Forget about the pendant.”

Taking her mouth again, he slipped a finger inside and plunged deep. She cried out. “Ah God…that feels amazing.” She reached up to touch his rock-hard penis but he pulled away.

“Close your eyes and lie down. Arms over your head, legs spread. Keep your eyes closed.” He pushed at her shoulder, a sly smile quirked at the side of his mouth.

She hesitated, her fingers dug into the blanket. This was just a game, not a relationship and she had agreed to this. She could stop it anytime. When she learned what he had in mind, harmless, safe-sex games, she had agreed. Only they hadn’t had real sex yet. Not completely. But what they’d had so far was exciting and erotic. She lay back down and put her arms over her head, spread her legs and closed her eyes without saying a word.

“Good,” he murmured. He knelt down beside her and thrust a wet finger deep inside her cunt.

Amy groaned and raised her hips. His finger was hot and he worked it until he hit her G-spot. Her body shuddered. “Dante.” Finally tonight would be the night. He wouldn’t tease her for another night. He would bury his cock inside her.

“You want it hard and fast or tortuously slow?” he groaned. She opened her eyes to look at his erection, bulging beneath his pants. She blinked her eyes. A swirling kaleidoscope of colors surrounded him. A reflection from the fire playing tricks on her tired eyes, she concluded as she gazed up at him. A look of disapproval passed over his face.

He withdrew his finger and stood up. Her body quivered, a trickle of moisture dripped down her pussy. Her cunt pulsed and ached. “Why did you stop?”

Unzipping his pants, he dropped them on the ground. His cock was hard, thick and resting against his belly. “You’re supposed to keep your eyes closed,” he said with a smile as he eased between her legs.

Yes. Oh yes. He wasn’t going to tease her tonight. This time he would make love to her. She reached out to him and stroked his chest, keeping her eyes closed. The earthy, sage scent of him filled her nostrils. As he again pumped his fingers inside her, 8

Desert of the Damned

imitating the action of what would come, she groaned her impatience. “Oh, Dante, I want you deep inside me.”

“Soon, soon…” The growl in his chest was wild sexual hunger, out of control. He leaned over her and captured her mouth with a kiss, his tongue flicking and dancing inside. Then he licked her neck, her earlobe and nipple. Amy arched against his mouth and cried out. He mumbled words against her skin that she couldn’t make out but the rumbling vibrations sent ripples of desperate lust through every nerve.

“Do it, Dante. Take me.” She gripped his hips and tried to pull him down onto her.

He chuckled as he plunged two fingers into her, ignoring her plea. His body hovered over her, kneeling between her legs, while he finger-fucked her. “Ride my hand. I can make you come a thousand different ways.”

He’d so easily found her rhythm and she could come any moment but she resisted.

Not this time. The other nights he had made her come, then left her before he came, before he made love to her. Why? She didn’t understand. When she tried to ask him, he laughed it off by saying, “Didn’t I please you?”

Tonight she wanted all of him. Never had a man made her feel this hot for sex. She didn’t care about his elusive ways, his arrogance, or his manipulating sex games.

Using his thumb on her swollen clit nearly sent her over the edge. Her hips writhed, unable to fight the throbbing sensations building, her cunt clenching. She had to have him and it had to be tonight. The orgasms he’d given her the other nights had rocked through her body to the core. But tonight she would have his cock sunk deep to the hilt.

“Dante, I can’t wait. Fuck me, now.” She pressed his shoulders down.

Dante chuckled. “Not yet.”

“You’re killing me.”

“Hmmm.”

“Please…”

“Not yet.”

“I want your cock in me now. Or make me come now.” Damn it, she couldn’t wait a second longer. Her body craved him with more intensity than she ever felt. And she had to have him now.

Dante slid up her body and opened his mouth to kiss her but his lips were torturously close. She arched her back to kiss him. Finally he did and she pulled him down on top her. Now, he’d make love to her now.

“Spread your legs,” he demanded. Then his laugh was almost mocking. He bent down to lick her.

“I’m wet enough.” But it was too late. She couldn’t hold back the climax that racked through her body. “Oh God, I’m coming.” Gripping the blanket with her fists, she closed her eyes and let the wave after wave of sensation ripple over her.

“Yes,” Dante breathed against her slit. Every part of her sex throbbed. “Yes…” She heard a low growl and at first thought it was from Dante. Then she realized the sound 9

Kathy Kulig

came from behind her. Something was moving toward them across the sand. Dante slowly lifted his head and his eyes widened in horror.

Leaning up on her elbows, Amy attempted to turn around but Dante pressed a hand to her chest. Amy glimpsed the shape of a mountain lion. She was about to cry out when Dante raised his hand again and everything went dark.

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Desert of the Damned

Chapter Two

After a late dinner, park ranger Jake Montag sat in front of the blazing fire pit in his grandfather’s backyard. Every muscle ached down to the bone from a long day of searching miles of hiking trails for more dead animals. Stretching his legs out, he crossed his boots and inhaled the smoke, detecting sage and mesquite. Jake stared past the fire across the scrub brush and cactus plain to the Rincon Mountains, admiring the shadowy silhouettes along the evening horizon.

“How many more today?” Bill Sike asked as he dragged a rusty lawn chair next to Jake. His gray braid swung down in front of his denim shirt. After handing Jake a mug of hot coffee, Bill sat in a chair and drank from his mug.

“Thanks.” Jake stared at the coffee without drinking. “Nine. Three deer, two coyotes and four jackrabbits.”

Bill hung his head and shook it. “It’s happening again. Records say a little over fifty years ago was the last time the enemy came.” Bill stood and walked to the edge of his scraggly patch of property behind his double-wide trailer and stared out across the open desert. The intensity of his gaze made Jake think his grandfather could see with night vision.

“No, don’t start with your old folk tales again, Granddad.”

Bill ignored him and, after a minute, strolled over to his small herb and vegetable garden, heavily protected by a chicken-wire fence. He tugged at the eagle feather, crystals and stones tied to the wire fence, apparently checking that the objects were secure. Jake’s grandfather, a shaman, had infused the items with magic to ward off desert creatures from helping themselves to the garden’s bounty. There might be other significance to the feather and stones but Jake, not being Navajo himself, had never grasped the spiritual side of Native Americans.

“We’ve called in consultants. A private testing lab, environmentalists, veterinarians, the Arizona Department of Health, we’ll find the cause for the deaths. The problem is natural, we’re sure. Water contaminates, parasite, bacterial infection, viral… If we have to we’ll contact the CDC.” The National Park Service usually didn’t contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unless they had reports of rabies. They hadn’t yet confirmed any reason for the increased number of animal deaths in the park. “Don’t worry, we’ll find the cause.”

“They wouldn’t close the park? Would they?”

Jake considered the question. “No, fire or dangerous predators are the usual reasons for a temporary closing of a park. But if potential visitors hear about the animal deaths and the numbers of visitors decreases drastically, the park service might issue cutbacks and I could be out of a job.”

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Bill made a face. “You could always transfer to another park.”

Jake leaned forward in his chair, elbows propped on his knees. “And would you move with me?”

Bill shook his head. “This is my home. I’ll never leave.”

“Didn’t think so. I wouldn’t want to leave you here alone.”

“I’m not a helpless old man.” Bill glared at him.

Jake had always admired his grandfather’s stubborn independence and he wasn’t about to tread on the old man’s pride. “Never said you were. It would be hard for me to see you regularly, that’s all.”

The old man studied him for a long moment then nodded. “You don’t think it’s a predator?”

“The animals don’t appear to have been mauled or bitten.”

Bill shook his head. “Won’t do you any good. The problem isn’t natural. It’s not of this Earth.”

Cold pushed through Jake’s veins. A hush settled around the backyard. Jake knew better than to argue with his grandfather. The man had been taking care of him since he was nine. Bill wasn’t a blood relative but he was the closest to a parent he had. Jake sipped at the mug of coffee clutched between his hands. “Ugh, this is awful.” He grimaced.

“It’s a fresh pot.” Bill laughed. “I like it strong.”

Jake forced down another gulp of coffee, being polite. He didn’t get to have dinner with his grandfather as often as he should. “Visitors are always warned to stay away from wild animals because of diseases like rabies. There’s no reason to believe humans are in danger, so no plans to close the park, thank God.”

“Trouble’s going down in the desert and testing the water or animals isn’t goin’ to help it. Don’t you see the pattern?”

Jake sighed and held his tongue. He didn’t want to insult his grandfather and his superstitions. He’d be there all night unless he honored his grandfather’s beliefs. “What do you think is happening?”

Bill stared at him for a long while before speaking. “Do you know the story of Coyote?”

His grandfather had told him and his brother Brad many Native American legends and myths over the years. “There are numerous stories about the Coyote Trickster. Is there one particular story you had in mind?”

Bill leaned forward in his chair, putting his coffee cup on the ground. “There is one story of Coyote and Badger.” His grandfather took out a pouch of pipe tobacco from his shirt pocket, opened it and took out a pinch and flicked the brown leaves into the fire.

“For cleansing and to carry our thoughts and prayers to the Great Spirit,” Bill explained. “The offering of tobacco connects earth and sky, the physical and spiritual worlds.” Bill inhaled deeply. “Smells of desert and mountains.”

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As the small cloud drifted past, Jake breathed in the sweet scent of tobacco and felt tension flow out of his body as if the puff of smoke had the power to draw all the negative energy out of him. Beads of sweat formed at his brow. He wiped at his forehead with the back of his hand and thought about moving his chair back away from the heat of the fire but he was too relaxed and didn’t feel like getting up at the moment.

“So what about Coyote and Badger? I hope it’s not a long story because I should head home soon. I’m beat.” As much as Jake adored his grandfather’s Native American stories, he knew that some were very long. How many nights did he and his brother sit around this fire and listen to stories? Bill also told many stories before they went to bed.

He couldn’t recall the one about Coyote and Badger.

His grandfather narrowed his eyes. “Are you ready to listen to the teacher and be the apprentice?”

“Apprentice to what?” Jake gazed into the fire. His vision blurred. He doubted he’d make it though the whole story without falling asleep. Just like when he was a kid.

“Listen with your heart. Listen with your spirit. Because the enemy that has come to the desert won’t stop with the animals. Humans will be next.”

A jolt of fear shot through him. Not fear of this enemy but fear that his grandfather was beginning to show signs of senility. Bill was known to give predictions before but never this outrageous. He was going to have to come over more often and check on him. Jake took a gulp of coffee. “I’m listening.”

Bill nodded in approval. “Coyote and Badger were in love with the same woman and they agreed to compete for her. Whoever had killed the most rabbits by the end of the day would win. Coyote tried to trick Badger by telling him he’d seen a rabbit go down a hole. When Badger went down the hole, Coyote blocked the hole with a rock and returned to the village with his kills first. But the people insisted on waiting for Badger who managed to dig himself out of the hole. Badger returned to the village and had the most kills. He won the woman. Coyote attempted to steal the woman away but he failed. Coyote then disappeared into the desert alone. This story is finished.”

Jake smiled. “Interesting story. Thanks but I still don’t understand how this applies to the deaths of the park animals or why I’m in danger.”

Bill’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not a child’s fable I’m telling you,” he said sharply.

“What’s happening in the Sonoran Desert is much more serious. There’s a mystical basis in its cause and only mystical weapons can fight it.”

It was impossible to talk sense to an old Navajo man. Jake rubbed his forehead with his hand. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”

“No insult taken, son. I’m trying to tell you it’s time to come to terms with your natural gifts. That will be your best—”

“No! I can’t do that.” Jake stood up and strode over to the fire.