Wicked Wind (Solsti Prophecy #1) (16 page)

“Yes. And you, my dear, must have some kind of innate charm. Rosa doesn’t like many people. More like she merely tolerates them. If you cross her, she is fully capable of turning you into a toad.”

“A toad? Really?” she gasped and shook her head. “I’m glad we didn’t see that side of her today. How long have you known her, anyway?”

He paused and tilted his head as if mentally counting the decades. “I met her shortly after I started working as a Watcher, so it’s been over a hundred years. She’s very independent. She gets involved in conflicts only if she chooses to, but usually she stays out of things.”

“I hope she chooses our side, when it comes time to fight whatever is out there.”

“If this morning was any indication, then my guess is she will. She wasn’t kidding about being magnanimous. She not only identified the coin, but she also volunteered the information about Xarrek’s ashes. For her to do so, something pretty big is about to hit the fan.”

His words unleashed a sudden memory of her favorite Shakespeare play,
Macbeth
, and she smiled. “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”

“Yes.” He frowned. “This is serious, Nicole.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t.” She reached for his hand. “It’s just a lot to absorb. I like to take things one day at a time, and the last few days have been a complete information overload. Although, today has been a pretty nice day so far. We had a good meeting with a witch, had a delicious lunch, and no one’s attacked us. And,” she grinned. “I was woken up in the most
delightful
way. Twice.”

In a blur of motion, she was whisked off the path and pushed against a tree, his big body pressed tightly to hers. Heat radiated from his skin straight to her core. “I’m glad you’re so perky in the morning,” he said before his lips covered hers in a kiss that was too short. “But as for the woods, don’t speak too soon. You never know what’s out here.”

“Well, there are wood nymphs somewhere. Are they going to attack us?”

“No, not the nymphs. They’ll put on a show of bravado, but they’re quite far from here.”

They stepped back to the path, shadowed by ancient oaks. This section of the forest had a healthy cover of purple flowering plants under their feet, and Nicole saw several more of those two-headed blue jays. Bees buzzed around the flowers, and sparrow-like birds flitted between the trees and bushes. “This looks so much like home,” she murmured.

“Yes, this area is much like Earth. But not all of Torth is as nice as this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some parts are volcanic, dark and gloomy. And some cities are desolate. Imagine if all of Chicago looked like a fire-bombed, war-torn city. There are places where nothing grows. Everything is smoky, grimy, and polluted. Sometimes the sun can barely penetrate the haze.” The grim set to his jaw spoke volumes more than his sober words.

“Have you...had to spend much time in those places?”

“Yes,” he replied tersely.

“By choice?”

“No. And yes.” At her quizzical look, he gruffly continued. “There were some years that I had no choice. And then I became a Watcher, and those visits were part of my duties.”

“You didn’t want to go back.”

His only answer was a shake of his head, and she decided this wasn’t the time to push him. Whatever had happened in his past must be a boxful of painful memories, and Nicole knew all too well how hard it could be to open that lid. Her fingers itched to hold onto his, to touch him somehow, but she knew he wouldn’t want an attempt at comfort for something that had happened before he even met her.

They walked in silence under the oaks. Nicole was glad for the hearty lunch Rosa had provided. The path took them along the banks of a small river, where she glimpsed a few water sprites splashing in the crystal current. She didn’t mind walking, but she hadn’t realized that the primary method of transportation here would be her feet. Then again, she hadn’t known what to expect.
Flying dragons? Magic carpets? More portals?
She had so much to learn about this new world.

She was about to suggest they take a break when Gunnar stilled, putting his hand on her arm. A rustling sound came from the path ahead of them. Silently, he tugged her into the bushes. Whatever was on the path wasn’t making an effort to be quiet. In fact, she actually heard muttering.

The source of the muttering came into view. It was, of all things, a Skell demon. Smaller than the one she had seen in Chicago, this one walked alone, babbling to itself.

In one swift movement, Gunnar leapt onto the path in front of the Skell, blocking its way. The creature yipped and whirled to run back the way it had come, but Gunnar grabbed its spindly arm. “What is your business in these woods?” he snarled.

“J-just on my way home,” the creature said with forced brightness.

“Quite a round-a-bout way to go home. Try again.”

The Skell gaped at him, as if it had lost the ability to speak. Then it started thrashing about, trying to get free of Gunnar’s grip. He leaned closer and growled, “Your kind has been causing a lot of trouble for me on Earth. How about you fill me in on what’s going on?”

“I don’t know anything about the ones on Earth,” it protested, still struggling. “I don’t get to leave Torth.”

As the smaller demon twisted and flailed, Nicole saw a flash when something fell from its pocket. She darted from her hiding spot in the bush. Gunnar gave her a warning look, but she held up her hand. “Don’t start with me,” she warned. “This guy dropped something.”

She knelt on the path, running her fingers through the carpet of leaves and flowers, and quickly found what she was looking for. A silver coin. Identical to the one she’d found in the city. Wordlessly, she held it up for Gunnar to see.

He gripped the Skell by its upper arms. “Who do you work for?”

“No one.” The creature was a terrible liar.

“I’ll ask you one more time before I start relieving you of your fingers,” Gunnar hissed, and repeated his question.

Nicole gulped. Would he really start dismembering the Skell demon? Did he do this kind of thing often? She felt a sudden pang that despite the intimacies they had shared, she didn’t truly know him as well as she should.

“No one,” the Skell repeated in a barely audible whisper.

“Wrong answer,” Gunnar grunted, and Nicole jumped as she heard the crunch of bone. Relief washed over her when she saw that he had merely broken its finger, not ripped it off.

The creature howled. Gunnar glared at it, waiting. He raised its hand as if to repeat the procedure.

“Wait!” the demon panted. “I don’t know what the Skells on Earth are doing. Truly I don’t. I don’t have the ability to telepath.”

“But you have this,” Nicole said, still holding the coin.

“Those are rather rare,” Gunnar growled. “Why don’t you be a good little Skell and tell us where you got it?”

“I-I f-found it,” the Skell stuttered. “In the forest. Just like you did, j-just now when you picked it up.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows. These creatures really
were
incompetent.

Gunnar shook it by its arms again. “You try my patience, Skell. Where did you get that coin?”

“I don’t know his name. He has a bunch of these.”

“What’s his name?”

The Skell shook its head.

“Then think harder,” Gunnar hissed and broke another of the demon’s fingers.

The Skell shrieked and tried to wring its hands, which were hanging limp beneath Gunnar’s punishing grip on its arms. It hung its long gray head. “He’ll kill me.”

“Then it looks like you’ll see hell soon, because if your master doesn’t kill you then I will.” Gunnar’s voice was icy, calm, and loaded with menace. “Talk.”

The Skell hesitated.

“If you don’t feel like sharing then I’ll find another one of your friends who will, and I’ll still learn what I want to know.” Gunnar’s face darkened with rage barely contained. “I don’t have time for your bullshit.” He crunched another finger.

“Okay!” the demon wailed. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. His name is Maeron.”

“Maeron,” Gunnar repeated. “Now was that so difficult?”

The Skell sniffled and squirmed.

“Tell us more about him.”

“I don’t–” the creature began, but changed his tone at Gunnar’s menacing glare. “I only know a little about him. Just that he has a lot of these coins, and he’s on Earth.”

“What is his business on Earth?”

“I just know that he took a lot of Skells there. I don’t know what he wants them to do.”

“You don’t know?”

“No,” the creature said. “I really don’t.”

“You’ve said those words too many times today.” Gunnar slammed one strong hand forward to connect with the demon’s jaw. It immediately slumped in his grip. Gunnar looked at it for a second, then nodded, “He’ll be out for awhile.” He dropped the creature behind a clump of shrubs several yards off the path.

Nicole watched him wordlessly. She didn’t know whether to be horrified or thrilled at the way he took charge of the situation.
He has a job to do.
He needed to gather information and keep her safe, both of which he did with remarkable ease. But this wasn’t the first time she had glimpsed the fury that seemed to simmer painfully close to the surface. She itched to dig deeper, to peel back all the layers that made up the impossibly handsome and lethal male before her.

She knew instinctively that he would never harm her. It defied explanation, the certainty that she was safe as a newborn babe with him. But how much would he share with her? How close would he let her get to the thoughts that kept him up at night?

Aware that she was staring at him, and unsure of what to say, she blurted, “Are you okay?”

He looked at her as if she had grown another head. “Yes,” he said evenly, holding her gaze. “Are you?”

“Yes. So, uh,” she swallowed. “Breaking fingers is all in a days work, huh?”

He closed the distance between them and gently tilted her chin up. “Nicole, you saw me decapitate and burn several Vipers yesterday. Does this upset you more?”

“Not exactly. It’s just that today, that...thing seemed kind of pathetic, like it couldn’t actually hurt us. The Vipers were going to kill us, so obviously you had to…kill them.”

“You’re right. That Skell is pathetic. They all are. And it wasn’t capable of harming us. That’s why I didn’t kill it. But we needed to get any information out of it that we possibly could. And if that involved breaking a few bones, then yeah, that’s my job. And look what we learned–now we know the Domu’s name.” He lightly caressed her cheek, and it wasn’t lost on her that his hand, now so gentle, had recently caused bodily harm to another. “Our world can be vicious, Nicole. Everything has its price. And there are those of us who do what we can to maintain the balance, to keep dark forces from having too much power.”

Blue eyes gazed down at her. “I realize your introduction to our world has been rather abrupt. I wish it could have been easier for you, but I can’t change it.” He bent low enough so his lips brushed the tip of her ear. “I’ll answer your questions and teach you what I know. And I’ll keep you safe.”

“I do feel safe with you,” she whispered. She was burningly aware of just how much bigger he was than her, and the barest touch of his mouth sent tingles through her body. Images of their morning shower together flooded her brain. “I’m glad you found me.”

He started to say something, but his words died on his lips as she tugged his mouth down to meet hers. She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his, needing to feel his strength and heat. Tenderly, his lips moved over hers before she felt him smile.

He looked down at her with twinkling eyes, and she felt a flutter at seeing the adorable dimples framing his grin. He shouldn’t be adorable. He was a demon, for heavens sake.

“Such a temptress,” he said softly, tracing the contours of her lips. “But not here. You deserve better.”

She smiled up at him. “I see the gentleman has returned.”

“Yes, and the gentleman will have trouble walking for a bit.”

“I’ll make it feel better later,” she whispered. That earned her a smack on her bottom and a sly grin.

“Let’s go. And don’t worry about the Skell. His bones will be healed by the time he wakes up.”

They continued walking, the oaks giving way to a wide variety of trees that towered overhead. Small purple flowers, as well as pink roses on crawling vines, covered the forest floor. She stopped to take a closer look at the deep fuchsia petals, then jumped backward when the biggest cricket she had ever seen leapt out from the blooms. Gunnar chuckled at her and she tried to glare at him, but ended up smiling instead. Her body hummed with thoughts of what she was going to do to him later, when they were out of these beautiful but dangerous woods.

A sudden sense of foreboding pricked the back of her neck, and she realized her thoughts about the woods were too accurate. Gunnar whisked her off the path when she heard several thuds. It sounded like something–or several somethings–had just landed all around them, trapping them on the trail. She stared at the beasts directly ahead of them
and barely managed to stifle a scream.

There stood two red-skinned creatures, as tall and muscular as Gunnar, but with bulging eyes and horns protruding from their bald heads. They looked like some diabolical monsters from a comic book, but these were very real. As she stared in horror, one of them opened its mouth and hissed in a gravelly voice, “Lash and fae! Don’t bother running.” Its face broke into a sinister grin. “Or we’ll shred your skin so slowly that you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

C
HAPTER
10

“S
HIT
. G
HAZSUL
DEMONS
.” Gunnar sensed two more behind them. Raniero was right about these woods being more dangerous than before, because Ghazsuls didn’t live anywhere around here. The Ghazsul demons didn’t fight as well as the Lash or even the Vipers. They had decent skills with a blade, but thankfully they didn’t use arrows. Gunnar and Nicole were outnumbered. His heart hammered with the challenge to protect Nicole and fend off all four of them at the same time.