Red Moon Demon (Demon Lord) (20 page)

TWENTY

“
N
ever stop
your
enemies

from screwing
themselves
over
.
”

—
Caine Deathwalker

A kick
to the
ribs woke me up. Someone
stood over me, getting ready for another kick. Forcing my eyes to work, I recognized Izumi. “You can stop now,” I said.

The
high
cathedral ceiling and the surrounding walls were
winter
blue now, no longer red. For that matter, falling down, I should have drowned in the melted blood. There wasn’t a bit of it on my clothes. And didn’t the space seem a little bigger?

I got on hands and knees, ready to force myself to my feet.

Izumi kicked me in the stomach.

Seeing it on the way in, I hardened my abs, but it still hurt. “Here you are, having fun without me, almost getting yourself killed, destroying the
vault
and one of
our
greatest treasures, with no thought to how I’m tearing my heart out with worry over you.”

“It’s been an hour already?” I asked.

She pulled back for another kick, but stopped herself from following through. “What happened? Did you find the relic?”

“Oh, yeah, the crystal lotus…” I looked around for it. Nothing. I frowned. “That’s funny; it ought to be right here.”

“It is.” Izumi pointed at the inside of my right forearm.

I
stared
at
a new tattoo: a crystal-blue lotus combined with a purple dragon. The whole thing was four by five inches. It hadn’t come the usual way. There was no pain, no reddened skin I’d need to keep
lotion on, and a
bandage
,
while it healed. It might have been simple skin art except for the throb of dormant power in the ink. I think it had absorbed all the dragon blood in the room—waste not, want not.

“What the hell…” I said.

“Looks good on you,” Izumi said,
“
but mother will be pissed.”

“Then let’s not tell her.” I climbed to my feet
, shivering from the cold. I activated my
Dragon Flame
, barely waking the tat up. A brief burst of pain went through me, like my spine
had snapped like a
whip
. The pain went away, replaced by the magic I had bought; a warm haze that flushed through my muscles, blood and organs, loosening the stiffness that had come from sleeping on ice.

“A warning about the lotus,” Izumi said.
“
Using it requires a special price.
Until I’ve explained it properly, keep it dormant.
”

“Why, what does it do?”

“It gives you access to a pocket dimension where
She
has retired from the worlds of men and fey.”

“
She
?”

“King Arthur called her the Lady of the Lake. The Japanese know her as Kagomi, Princess of the moon. One of her children was the first of all vampires. We fey talk of being
Under-the-Hill
. She
is
Under-the-Hill
, the Red Lady who defies even the
Wilde Hunt
.

I stared at her. “And your mom stole a relic from her, binding it to a
murdered
dragon
’s
soul in a chamber shielded by dragon blood?
How many wars does she want to start?
Is she
crazy?
”

Izumi looked at me like I was crazy. “All fey are
insane
. It’s a matter of degree. You don’t get to rule a Court of
Faire
without being an extreme personality. Speaking of which, we ne
ed to get out of here. She’s bound to call for our presence soon.
”

“All right then,” I sighed, “Ice me up again
, then go back to your room and wait.
”

“We got what you needed. Why not just go?”

“And have your people come after me for taking the relic? No,” I pointed at the melted sculpture on the burned dais, “we need someone to pin this on. And there’s the matter of your prospective husband to deal with.
Just a minute.
”
I returned to the labyrinth of treasure and found a particular trinket, a rare, old necklace with a blue stone that reeked of fey magic. Just holding it in my hand caused a drop in my own energy, causing my invisible magic shield to flicker on and caress my skin.

I returned to Izumi and let her do her thing.
Mostly encased in ice, I left her and went back into the outer hall. Se
v
eral twists and turns and a staircase later, I reached the main floor, looking f
or my
next
target.

V
arious
guards
milled in the great chamber.
T
hey were agitated, falling back to line the wall
s
.
I didn’t have to seek out A
ybran
. He and the queen were strolling
towards me
.
I
moved out of their
way. Along with the rest of the guards, I
bowed
in respect as the queen passed.
For a second,
Kellyn
’s gaze scraped across my visor. I felt the cold stab of her power and an unaccustomed flutter of fear in my stomach. I wondered if she knew me beneath the ice. The edgy dread went away as she
climbed
the stairs I’d just come
down
.
Aybran lagg
ed
a
couple paces
behind
her
,
veer
ing
now and then t
o jostle guards
,
hoping to provoke a fight for
e
ntertainment value
. Frost Giants were like that.

As
Aybran
passed me
,
I
dropped the
stolen necklace in his pocket.
Proud and intimidating, h
e
put out so much magic
he didn’t notice the extra bit he’d acquired
.

Idiot
, every
one knows never to let your own power mask what
’
s around you
. You’re
king
’s heir
by name and fear
only
.
A squirrel
has
more brains.

After a moment, I followed them back up.
Aybran started talking
, his voice booming but slurred as if he’d drunk too much wine.
I couldn
’
t make out what he was saying
; probably not anything important, not any more.

As soon as I could, I broke off and used
a variation of
my
Dragon Voice
,
a carrying
whisper,
to call Izumi.
The price for the magic felt like someone was bathing me in hydrochloric acid—and drying me off with sandpaper.

Izumi
pulled me to her, to the curtained alcove with its shelf bed and abundance of pillows. She was naked, eyes like diamonds, coldly ablaze with desire.
The lust I felt diverted me from the fading pain.
At her touch, the ice
armor
I wore softly shattered. She tugged me closer. I fell, pinning her down, flattening her ample breasts between us.

I whispered, “Your mom’s on the way here with Aybran.”

She smiled with deep joy. “Perfect. This is just how I want them to find us.”

I shrugged.

She shifted to settle me more comfortably between her legs. Her hands cupped my ass
,
squeez
ing
as she gnawed my neck hun
grily.

I felt myself getting excited
, and w
hispered, “Any chance your mom might want to join in?”

She bit my neck harder and pulled her head back to stare into my eyes. “Ass!”

“Yeah, I am.”

She shook her head. “No, I mean; get it moving. How long are you going to keep a lady waiting?”

“We don’t have time to do this right, so let it wait. We just have to make it look good for your mom.”

She looked at me. “Seriously?”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

She tangled her legs with mine, and rested her head against my chest as if listening for my heart. “Okay,” she said. “Later.”

Lying on my side,
I held her
,
brush
ing
he
r
hair back from her face.
Her fingers scraped down my torso, tracing a line across my hip that left a small slick of frost. Her hand stopped on my thigh. Her face lifted and her eyes opened, staring into mine. “You’re very good at making love, Caine, but can you love? Really. After being raised as a demon, how much human is left in you?”

“Old Man would say ‘too much.’ Me, I don’t look for answer
s
that I don’t really want to know.”

Her face sank and returned to my chest. “You know, wheneve
r I feel like wallowing in self-pity
, I think of your situation, and start counting my blessings.”

“Hey! I like my life.”

She laughed, but the sound had an empty ache to it. “I know
. And that’s … so sad.”

T
he curtains
parted and we suddenly had an audience. I
rolled over and
looked straight at Izumi’s mom
.
“It’s not what you think. Okay, so
it
is
what you think. How about a little privacy? I still have one more orifice to go.”

There was a thunderous growl from behind the queen as the frost giant scrunched down to peer over her shoulder. She spun on him, pointed a royal finger in command. “Stay, I’ll deal with this.” She drew the curtains shut
, and a
pproach
ed
the bed
.
Kellyn
’s face went from livid to
shocked
as she saw the size of my equipment.
“Winter’s
H
eart! What are you,
p
art
c
entaur? Never
mind. P
ut it away and get dressed. There are matters of state to attend to.”

“Are you sure you couldn’t give me another twenty minutes
?
” I asked.

She held out her hand, closing it on thin air. A sword of ice formed. She swung the tip
. It
ca
ught
me under the jaw, lifting my face, more than implying a threat. “I am not one you ever want to keep waiting.”

“Fine,” I said.

She withdrew the sword,
will
ing it
to
shatter and fall, adding to the ice on the floor. I slid off the shelf and moved to where my clothes and weapons were piled. Keeping my new tattoo turned from her view, I dressed
.

As
Izumi roused
herself, sitting up
, Kellyn turned to her.
“Are you trying to break my plans by outraging your betrothed husband?”

Izumi swung her feet off the shelf, leaning toward her mom,
diamond
eyes
hard and cold
. “You’re trying to get rid of me through marriage to a piece of frozen crap. Why should I care about you?”

I liked the way her b
o
obs bounced as she said that.

Kellyn
slapped her daughter across the mouth. The queen’s voice lost all trace of warmth, cutting like a
blizzard
. “I have never spared myself from the demands of duty. You shame our family, asking me to spare you. Get dressed, and pray I
need not
kill your well-endowed friend to appease
Aybran.
”
She shot my cock another look as I
slowly zippered
up
.