Two for Tamara (14 page)

“Back off, Hezra. Why are you here again? Did Cronus kick you out of his bed? Again?” The leader stepped between Tamara and Hezra.

Tamara hated to be at a disadvantage, and being strung up between chains while surrounded by a bunch of demon girls, and an obviously demon-ish snake chick, was a disadvantage.

The demon-ish snake chick hissed, confirming for Tamara there was serpent in her heritage, while the leader of the demon girls jabbed with one fist straight at the other girl’s throat. It was a move Tamara herself applauded, since it usually crushed the windpipe of your opponent. However, she wasn’t sure how it affected freaks. Obviously it worked on these girls the same. Snake Chick dropped, holding her neck while her body thrashed about. The cute little leader got down on one knee and Tamara thought she was going to help her friend out. A quick, merciless twist and snap, followed by the snake girl’s head being torn off and tossed into the dark corner that Tamara had avoided, made her rethink who was scarier.

The rest of the body was kicked over into the dark corner. Sounds of slurping and gulping by things Tamara was glad she couldn’t see could be heard.

“Now. Where were we? Oh yes. You don’t know why you’re here. But you do know why you’re here. And now you will tell us why.” She wiped her hands on the leather pants covering her legs, the blood soaking into the leather.

She shivered. “Cronus hoped I could be used to get his granddaughter.”

Hands that had just ripped another being’s head off without mercy softly stroked Tamara’s head. “Very good. We don’t want that. Then he would leave us. Again. So we will help you leave here, or we will kill you. Either way, Cronus must not get his hands on the goddess.”

“I’ll take option one, Pat.”

“Who is Pat?” The demon girl looked around.

“Sorry. I make jokes when I’m nervous. What’s your name? And if you are going to help me escape, can we start by getting me down from these chains?” Tamara shook her arms in the offending things.

“My name is Akra. Not Pat. That is a very offending name.” Akra spat a stream of brown liquid that actually sizzled when it hit the concrete floor.

“Please accept my apology. I didn’t mean to offend. I just meant I would prefer to get help leaving here over the other choice.” She wasn’t even going to voice the other option.

Akra nodded. “Ezra, help the puny human down.”

The demon was muttering, tugging at the chains with impatient hands. “What about our king? Won’t he be mad?” Ezra finished her task.

Even with all the internal healing, Tamara toppled over as soon as her arms were free.

“Ugh,” Ezra groused, catching her before she hit her head.

Her knees were weak, her arms like limp noodles, and she was in serious need of a big ole supreme pizza. If she were at full strength she’d show these demon bitches just how not weak she was. But that wasn’t today.

One of the other girls brought a bowl toward her. “Eat,” it muttered.

Tamara turned toward the steaming dish. She sniffed. It smelled faintly of chicken noodle soup.

“It is what you humans call comfort food.” Akra pointed toward the bowl.

She was so hungry she could eat a horse. She just hoped she wasn’t actually eating a horse. Her first cautious sip was divine, and before she knew it, she’d finished off the entire bowl.

“Would you like another serving?” Akra asked.

Tamara shook her head.

“Good. I don’t think I could procure another one.”

The smile showed two rows of sharp, spiked teeth on top and bottom. Tamara was pretty sure they hadn’t been there before. “Um, Akra. Your teeth.” She pointed at her own mouth. “Did you change them?”

Akra opened her mouth and ran her tongue over the too-sharp fangs. “Our teeth change depending on our hunger. We too missed dinner, but don’t worry. You are not to our tastes.” She snapped her jaws together looking a lot like a piranha, or Jaws, or both.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Ezra was laughing along with several others. They passed around a sack from which each took out what looked like sub sandwiches, only much bloodier. Tamara shuddered.

Another demon leaned over, bracing herself on one arm, the other hand holding the wrapper of her sandwich. “You know we would’ve already eaten you if we wanted.” She licked her lips. “But we don’t want our king to leave. He created us, you know.”

Tamara nodded, but she didn’t really understand.

“Is Bakra telling you how we came to be?” Akra strolled over to Tamara. Her teeth along, with the other demons’, had turned back to normal.

They were all actually beautiful in their own demon-human way, with very similar features. Although, they appeared almost childlike in appearance except that they had the body of a pocket Venus. The leather outfits looked to be painted on, from their leather pants and boots to the black, lace-up leather corsets with the long sleeves attached.

“If our king leaves, we will be forgotten here, and we don’t want to stay here without him. He will want us back in his bed when he is no longer worrying about leaving.”

Oh, gawd. She wanted to hug these poor creatures. Unless they had huge spiked dicks hidden inside their tight pants, she feared they’d never be enough for Cronus. Surely there was something she could do for these demons.

* * * *

Vin agreed with the other Ravens. He didn’t think they’d need to take Jaklyn with them, they’d just need her to
show
them where Tamara was. If they could visualize the area, they could
blink
into the area. He still enjoyed the way Gray and Colt grumbled over her description, even in the midst of the turmoil.

“Jaklyn, I appreciate your offer, but in this I agree with them.” He nodded at the two scowling men standing behind the red-haired woman. “If you’d open your mind we could all link with you. I know this is a huge invasion, and we’d only go as far as the surface, but this would be the safest way for all of us to go in and get Tamara back. By you allowing us to see what you see, we could lock onto our Fated, keeping you safely here, and still be able to transport to where she is.”

Vin looked around, meeting the eyes of all the men who had come at the call. With the exception of Garrick and Thantos, they had ten Ravens ready. He hated asking Max and Malcolm, who were recently bonded and soon to be fathers, but they’d told him in no uncertain terms they were coming. Coltrain Mercury and Grayson Phine, who’d brought them Jaklyn Marx, and from the looks of it were just steps from claiming her as their Fated, didn’t even flinch when they heard they were needed to go into Hell. Blade Leondro, Uri Savos, Dimitri Constantelis and Vasilis Dion, all the Ravens, had appeared within minutes of Max’s mental call. The only Ravens who couldn’t drop what they were doing were Garrick and Thantos. They’d taken over the protection of Kira Mitsuko, who Vin had a hunch was much more than met the eye.

In a battle he’d lay his life down for any of the men in this room, and knew the same was true for them. He hoped like hell it didn’t come to that.

Having never been to the realm they were going to, they needed a plan, but he wanted to just get the fuck there and screw plans. Blade’s large palm slammed down on his shoulder. “You’re vibrating with rage. It won’t help your woman. You need to calm yourself and center those feelings, otherwise you’ll be like a bull in a china shop. Believe me. I’ve been there.”

Blade was a big Viking-looking fucker. With his all-American blond hair, blue eyes, and easy charm, he fit into society easier than some of them. Even standing at six foot nine in his bare feet, with his deep voice and large hands, people still thought he was a gentle giant.

“Shit.” Vin agreed with Blade. He wanted Tamara home safe, between him and Rafe where she belonged. So despite what he wanted, he listened to the plans Max and Malcolm laid out. Zeus communicated to them through their link, which Vin was happy he didn’t have with the god.

“I think we’ve got as much covered as we can without knowing all the variables. Let’s do this.” Malcolm rubbed his hands together, his normal excited gleam missing.

“Through our link with Selena, we just learned she was able to connect with Tamara. We got a little more information to go on.” Max shared with them all they learned.

Vin felt a little pang of jealousy that his connection wasn’t as strong with his Fated as hers was to Selena.

“Our link is stronger. Selena has a link that goes back further and has god powers we don’t.” Rafe tried to convince Vin.

“We are also part god. Why can’t we link with her? We are bonded.”

“Maybe she was blocking us? Maybe Selena knew how to break through those blocks? I don’t know. When we get her home, we will spank her ass and teach her never to block us again.”

Vin agreed wholeheartedly.

“Tamara loves you both more than life itself. She was blocking all of us, but I do know her and I sort of slipped in. I also sort of trump you both in the god powers, and for that I won’t apologize if it gets Tamara home safe to you both. I can link you to her now. I think you all need it. Plus, let’s see what’s going on down there before y’all go barreling down into the unknown,” Selena said.

“Knock, knock, Tamara dear. Are you up for visitors? I have two men piggybacking in our link.”

“Rafe? Vin?”

Vin heard the fear and worry in her voice.

“
It’s us,
agape mou
. Are you okay? If Cronus has touched you I will rip his head off and shove it up his ass.”

“I think he may actually enjoy that.”

Vin heard the sound of mental gagging. “
Tamara. What did I say? No fair. You should warn us before showing us something like that.”

“Holy fucking shit. I mean a ribbed condom can be fun, but yeah. Whoa!”

“So not listening. La, la, la. Listen, I don’t know how long we have in this link, so can we get to business of Operation Rescue Tam-Tam, and bleach our eyes of sicko?”

“What can you tell us, or show us to help us rescue you, baby?”
Rafe was all business.

Tamara explained about the parts of the dungeon that she’d explored, and the demon girls.

“Does this Akra know if Cronus has the ability to block us from entering or leaving with you?”

“When Cronus came to visit me he was disappointed that Selena hadn’t popped in to try and retrieve me. I think there’s a trap of some sort inside here. Akra agrees. But she thinks she can get me out of wherever the hell, no pun intended, I am and then you guys can fetch me. Those were her words.”

“Do you think you can trust her?”

Vin had heard that Tamara had a sixth sense about those things, and hoped those had gotten stronger since their bonding.

“
My nose isn’t tingling, and she said there were sentries all over the outside. I guess Hell wasn’t just a burning pit of fire.”

He didn’t give a flying fuck what it was or wasn’t. It seemed too easy so far.

“
Why did they release you and why is it going to be so easy to get you out? Shouldn’t Hades be keeping a closer watch on what’s going on?”

“I asked that too. Akra said Hades didn’t care one iota what they did as long as they stayed out of his space. Cronus has his wing and Hades has all the rest. The demons belong to Cronus, but he threw them out when he made new creatures he considered a better model.”

The disgust was evident in her tone, and by the vision she’d shared he agreed.

“
Does this Akra and her merry band of demon girls know you are communicating with us?”
Rafe asked.

“Do you think I’m estúpido?”

Rafe closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “
No,
omorfia mou
. I just wasn’t sure if they had somehow earned your trust enough that you would share that with them.”

“Hmph. Vin, tell him I am not so dimwitted that I’d tell these women something that we may need in the case of emergency. Surprise being the key.”

“Yes, my love.”

“Oh shut up, Vin. I’m sorry, Tamara. I will beg you on my knees for forgiveness.”

“Hello, I’m still here. Blech. You know just because you don’t say it, when we are all connected like this I can see what y’all are thinking,”
Selena groused.

“Oops, sorry chica.”

“So what’s the demons’ plan, and how many of them are there?”

“Guys, I sort of promised them we wouldn’t harm them. And I sort of owe them.”

Vin groaned. Where was his bloodthirsty woman?

“
Connected, and I’m bloodthirsty enough you won’t be getting laid, buddy, unless you want me to find you a fuck buddy like Cronus’s.”

“Hello. Still here. Didn’t need to see Gramps getting his ass reamed by spikey.”

“Max, Mal, I’m not sure if your wife is completely sane. Just saying,” Vin said.

Malcolm returned his attention to share the images from Selena and Tamara’s description to all the Ravens.

“Well, okay then. She just told us to get out of her head. She was chatting with her girl.” Malcolm swallowed. “Then she got mean and shared that vision your
Fated
shared. And you said ours was not nice. Seriously?”

Blade threw his hands in the air. “Don’t, for the love of all that’s holy, share it with us.”

“Man. I’m saving it for when one of you piss me off.”

Vin swore both the Kings looked pale.

Time was of the essence, and he recognized what the humor was doing for what it was. A release valve.

“Just remember I pay back,” Blade spoke in his quiet baritone.

Jaklyn cleared her throat. “Guys. I think you need to get going.”

“Whoa,” Vin murmured, staring at the woman whose eyes had been a startling green but were now almost white.