Seduced by Darkness (2 page)

Two determined fingers found their way into her pussy.
Luke’s thighs quivered, his cock growing even harder as it throbbed against her
tongue. His breath hitched and he pumped inside her with fierce thrusts.

His thumb skimmed across her clit. She gasped, but the sound
was lost among the symphony of carnal pleasure streaming through the car. His
shaft spasmed one last time, and then he was coming.

Heidi’s inner walls squeezed his fingers. Intense pleasure
thrummed in her clit as the taste of his cum assaulted her senses. She came,
hard and fast, while the remnants of his orgasm emptied down her throat. Her
body trembled, tensing and loosening with each wave of sheer ecstasy that
poured across her nerve endings.

The world had gone black. She quivered, lost to everything
but the taste and feel and smell of Luke, while Varin --

Agony pierced her soul. It gripped her heart, grabbed hold
of every last shred of happiness that existed within her, and yanked hard.

Luke’s cock slipped out of her mouth. Heidi’s head reeled as
she forced herself upright, her pussy still trembling with the aftershocks of
her climax. Lightning flashed behind her eyes, exploding in her skull.

She gasped, her eyes widening as she stared at the now black
skyline. Her fingers fumbled for the keys, the steering wheel, anything at all.
The looming threat that had been like a rapidly expanding black hole in the
back of her mind had turned into a gaping, cavernous entity threatening to
engulf them.

The car rocked, though this time not because of anything
going on
inside
it. Even the headlights spilling onto the black stretch
of pavement wavered and shimmied from side to side.

“They’re here.” She wasn’t sure if she whispered that
terrifying announcement, or if the words had been a scream. “Drive!”

To his credit, Luke didn’t even take the time to zip up. His
foot slammed on the gas pedal and Heidi’s body lurched forward as the Acura
zipped away from the curb. The entire planet seemed to shake and shift, tilting
on its axis. Heidi’s forehead whacked the glove compartment.

She came up again, dazed, but she’d barely managed to right
herself in her seat when she glanced sideways at the steering wheel and caught
sight of Luke’s fingers flying across the black leather surface, struggling to
steady the rapidly spinning wheel.

Her hand flew out and gripped Luke’s arm. She couldn’t tell
if she was helping or hindering his efforts, but he made no move to dislodge
her grip. She dared a glance at his profile and saw a muscle twitch in his jaw.

Behind them, the leaders of the armies of Hell amassed and
moved forward, a connected wall of black heat that threatened to scorch
everything in its path. Heidi didn’t have to look through the rear window to
know they were there. She
felt
them, and that was a thousand times worse.

“Fuck!” Luke’s voice filled the car, hoarse with frustrated
agony.

Heidi’s nails dug into his flesh. If it hurt, he didn’t show
it.

The motor gave a grinding protest, jerking and heaving as
Luke struggled to get the Acura back under control. The car seemed to grumble
something metallic in response to Luke’s last-ditch attempt to prove his
mastery over the metal beast; then it halted, uncoiled and seesawed in a
zig-zag pattern to teeter wildly on two wheels at the edge of the road.

With one last heaving groan, it pitched over the side of the
ridge.

Chapter Two

“Hang on!”

Heidi could barely make out Luke’s desperate bellow over the
high-pitched groan of the motor’s rattle, the rocks scattering beneath the
tires and the sound of her own fear slamming into her heart.

The car dove forward, free-falling twenty feet before
finding purchase on a slab of outcropped rock. It hung there, momentarily
suspended by its back tire before falling again, rushing head-first into
darkness. And death.

Holy Hell. We’re going to die
.

The thought zinged through Heidi’s mind almost faster than
she could make sense of it, bringing with it a wave of fury. Their deaths would
land them back in the Underworld, negating Varin’s sacrifice. Everything he’d
done for them would be meaningless.

Something whacked the side of the car… or maybe the car
impacted against it. Whatever
it
was, it felt large and solid, bending
the metal passenger door inward until sharp metal splinters scratched Heidi’s
arm.

The momentum of the jolt sent Heidi lurching forward with a
bone-jarring thud. Her chest smacked the glove compartment, adding a deluge of
distant pain to the overwhelming sensations already coursing through her body.

Someone screamed as the car toppled over, the force of the
crash bashing Heidi’s head against the roof, which was now upside-down and
entirely
wrong
.

The scream came again. It might have been from her.

Another blow from the side of the car sent it spinning.
Heidi’s body pressed against something warm, suddenly hyperaware of the way it
felt against her.
Skin. Hot, male flesh
. She recognized it. Drew
strength from it.

She took a deep breath and held it. Conjuring an image of
Luke’s blue eyes and Varin’s intense features, she clung on to that mental
picture as the end of her life threatened to rush up and meet her.

And then, nothing.

The car stopped moving. Metal continued to creak slightly,
as though needing to remind her they weren’t out of danger yet.

Chaos wavered in Heidi’s field of vision. She fought to make
sense of her surroundings, but darkness had fallen and despite her recently
acquired ability to see in the dark, she couldn’t make out anything that made
sense. The world felt completely inverted.

Her sense of touch, however, hadn’t been affected by the
pandemonium she’d been thrown into. So when Luke reached out and touched her
arm, she let out a frantic, relieved cry. His fingers followed a path to her
wrist, where they wrapped around her hand and tugged gently.

“Shhh… you’re okay. We’re okay.”

She nodded dumbly, unsure whether to believe him. One arm
lay twisted beneath her at an odd angle, caught between the two front seats.
The Acura had come to a final stop on its right side.

Luke lay half on top of her, half draped over the steering wheel.
Even through the shadows, her supernatural eyesight could make out the nasty
bruise forming on his forehead. Blood ran in a tiny rivulet down the side of
his neck to soak into the collar of his T-shirt. She hated to think about what
other injuries could be hiding underneath those bargain-bin clothes.

“Watch out,” Luke warned a moment before he wiggled his
weight, shifted toward the partially shattered windshield and kicked with all
his might.

Glass shards splattered over the dashboard, flying into Heidi’s
hair, peppering her face. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath until
the last of the scattered fragments fell.

Luke tugged gently on her hand. “Come on, baby. We have to
get out of here.”

She nodded again, then caught herself and stumbled out after
him. Fuck! When had she turned into such a weakling? She should have been
taking charge of the situation, protecting him.

She rescued
him
. That was the way things worked in
their relationship.

Only it never quite worked the way Heidi intended. Somehow
things always got out of hand. She supposed that was to be expected when your
main adversary was the Devil himself, but thinking of it in those terms seemed
surreal, so she tried not to.

The ground beneath her feet felt solid enough when she
finally rose to her full height, but her knees buckled, unable to hold her
upright. Suddenly, she was enormously, absurdly grateful for Luke’s strong arms
as they wrapped around her and pulled her to his chest. With a sigh, she sank
into him, letting herself be soothed by his touch, by his unexpected show of
strength. Just for a moment.

He pushed her curls out of her eyes with the side of his
broad palm. His lips grazed her forehead. “You all right?”

She wanted to tell him that she was… to prove she was as
invulnerable as the demons chasing them, but no words came out. Instead, her
throat constricted and the tough-girl sentiment turned into a choked sob.

So much for bravery
.

She clutched fistfuls of his shirt in her hands, clenching
her fingers so hard her knuckles hurt. “When did you become my protector?” she
whispered.

When he didn’t answer, she thought she might have pushed him
too far. His good humor had seen them through harrowing experiences. Despite
the horrors he’d witnessed, he’d never managed to completely rid himself of the
incessant optimism that surrounded him. In the eerie quiet of the night,
though, his stillness struck her as completely uncharacteristic.

Then his thumb stroked her jaw, and a bolt of lightning
flashed through her veins. Arousal flooded her core and dripped along her folds
into her panties, which were still bunched off to one side of her pussy.

“I had good role models,” Luke murmured against her temple.
His husky voice carried with it an intensity that made her go as motionless as
he was. “Between you and Varin, how could I not learn what it means to fight?
To protect those you love?”

He pulled back a fraction of an inch and pressed his
forehead against hers. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat pounded against her
chest, a comforting and familiar cadence against the backdrop of pursuit that
wasn’t far behind.

She knew they needed to keep moving. The shadows that had
hunted them neared even now, tugging on the black tendrils enveloping her
heart. The demonic part of her wanted to hiss and howl, to lead the armies of
Hell straight to them.

With a sigh, she brushed her lips against his. “I really do
love you. Madly.”

He grinned, his teeth flashing white in the darkness. “I
know.”

She chuckled at the forced arrogance in his tone. She heard
the tenderness beneath his words, the soft acknowledgement. “Oh yeah? Y’know
what else, tough guy?”

Luke didn’t seem to hear her. He’d begun kissing her
eyelids, his palms flat against either side of her face. Warm lips traveled
along one ridge of her brow, then the other. “Mmmm?”

“Your fly’s undone.”

He chuckled. “Good. One less thing to slow me down.”

Shifting against her, he ground the thick ridge of his
erection into her belly. She gasped, squirming as the heat of his cock
penetrated the thin material of her shirt. He pressed in a little closer when
she didn’t think that was even possible, and the closeness of his solid muscles
woke every nerve in her body.

“Those demons are going to slow us both down,” she said,
hating having to stop but knowing they had to. “Permanently.”

A ragged sigh ripped from Luke’s throat. He released her
reluctantly, trailing his fingertips up and down the sides of her arms before
backing away a few steps and zipping up.

Running a hand through his disheveled hair, Luke glanced
around them. “Which way?”

She followed the direction of his gaze. The car had rolled
to a stop at the bottom of a steep canyon. Few trees dotted the landscape, and
those that had managed to sprout in this rocky region were small and offered no
shelter.

Not that they could hide from the demons even if they’d had
a place to do it. The creatures would catch their scent from miles away.

The moon had come out, a dot the size of a pinhead shining
brightly in the midnight velvet, too far above their heads to do any good.
Still, it cast enough light to allow Heidi’s sight to amplify the few silver
rays that trickled down to them.

“We go left. The canyon widens in that direction and there
are footprints. Big ones. Some sort of animal, I think. If something that size
can make its way down here and find a path back out, we can, too.”

Luke peered in the direction she’d indicated, then shrugged.
“If you say so.”

She reached for his hand. “I do.”

* * *

They’d only been walking for about ten minutes when Luke
felt Heidi stiffen at his side. She went from cautiously alert to
panic-stricken in the span of one drawn-out breath.

“Demons?” he asked in a hushed tone, afraid his voice would
boom off the sides of the mountain walls and echo into space.

She nodded tersely. He couldn’t make out much more than the
brief up and down movement of her head, a dark silhouette against a black
background.

“Run,” she commanded, tugging on his hand as she broke into
a jog. “Follow me!”

As if he had a choice.

Sucking a stream of cold air between his teeth, he matched
her speed, falling into step two paces behind her. It felt odd to run, to feel
the burn of his limbs from exertion rather than the whips and glowing hot
pokers of Demon Guardians who loved nothing more than to prod him until he
screamed.

Heidi’s fingers wrapped tighter around his. She shifted
toward the right almost imperceptibly, but he caught the slight change in
direction just in time to avoid slamming nose-first into jagged rock.

As he concentrated on following her lead, he heard the
whoosh
of magical, demonic power as it formed behind him. He didn’t need Heidi’s
abilities to figure out their pursuers had finally caught up to them. The evil,
menacing feel of their mere presence seemed to cut through him, chilling him to
the bone.

Heidi stumbled. He caught her before her knees smacked
unforgiving ground by wrapping his arm around her waist and holding her a few
inches from the rock bed.

“More.” Her voice was all but lost in the turbulent whirling
noises behind them. “Coming from the other direction.”

Luke squinted, wishing he could see as well as she could.
“Ahead of us?”

She nodded. “Can’t you hear it?”

He tugged her to him, pulling her to her feet and pressing
her back against his chest. The need to protect her was overwhelming. He’d
always been broad-shouldered and muscular, but he knew as well as she did that
there wasn’t a chance in Hell he could stand toe to toe with a hundred demons.

Or even one demon, for that matter.

He
could
hear it now -- the guttural roar, different
than the frothy hiss of evil behind them. “What is it?”

Heidi went perfectly still in his arms. He could feel her
body stiffen, preparing to lunge, to break out of his arms and attack. A blue
spark danced across her fingertips, splashing the darkness with a sparkly glint
of raw magical energy.

She didn’t have much. Their brief encounter in the car
hadn’t been enough to strengthen her. The sexual energy from which she drew her
magical power had to be little more than a fizzle by now.

Still, he knew Heidi well enough to understand that she’d
use every last drop of it if she thought it might save his life. Not
hers
.
No. His Heidi would never be that self-centered. Not even if he shook her until
her teeth rattled and demanded she put herself first for a change.

“It’s getting closer.”

The fear he heard in her voice seemed to hang in the air,
taunting him with the knowledge that if he hadn’t been right there with her,
she’d probably have rushed head-first into the fray. It made him feel a little
better to know she’d have done the same for Varin -- a little, but not much.

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” he whispered against her
hair.

The wind picked up her nervous laugh and scattered it
through the canyon. “When have you known me to do anything stupid?”

Luke frowned, holding her closer. Tighter. “I mean it,
Heidi. No heroics. Not this time.”

“Why? If we’re going to die anyway, what difference does it
make what I --”

The deep, hypnotic rumble came close enough to drown out the
last of Heidi’s words. It filled the air with a metallic gargle and just as
Luke recognized the sound for what it really was, a bright beam of light split
the darkness in two just ten feet ahead.

Yanking Heidi to him, he pressed his back flat against the
wall and waited for the chrome beast to pass. It didn’t.

With a screech of tires against bedrock, the motorcycle came
to a grinding halt in front of them. In the sudden flood of light, Luke could
make out a woman’s shapely form straddling the long leather seat. She seemed
slightly familiar, though he couldn’t make out her features beneath the
flaming-red helmet she wore.

Darkness pressed in around them. Heat wafted from the rock
walls, dislodging the calm night breeze that had been playing in Heidi’s hair
only moments earlier.

Evil was upon them. And it wasn’t wearing a motorcycle
helmet.

“Get on. Now!”

Luke fought the urge to roll his eyes.
Great
. Another
woman who liked to give orders.

“Lillian?”

At Heidi’s startled gasp, Luke took another look at the
newcomer. He recognized her lithe form and the flowing mane of blonde hair
falling in waves down her back. They’d only met once, briefly, after Heidi had
pulled him out of Hell for the second time. One encounter in a blood-bathed
clearing was enough to imprint the woman onto his permanent memory.

Lillian held out her hand. “Do you
want
them to drag
you back there? They will, you know. They won’t even kill you. Baal will have
much more fun with you if they keep you alive.”