Damned and Desperate (22 page)

“I tried to help you, dragon, but you made me do this,” the spider hissed as her pinchers clacked. “I cannot have you poisoning my priestesses against me, telling them to question the web of light. Questions lead to dissent, and dissent leads to rebellion. And if they knew the truth about my web….” She trailed off before heaving a sigh. “I will probably have to dispose of Shadow as well. I do not wish to sacrifice him, for he was useful, but it cannot be helped. He will go looking for you, and he will search the tunnel I have forbidden him to enter.”

I struggled to free myself from my bonds, but it was no use. I couldn’t manage to lift a single finger, paralyzed by either poison or fear, or both. What had I made her do? Where was she taking me?

I watched with morbid fascination as she clipped the bindings of a sticky web and then pulled me through, depositing me in a large cave lit with wall sconces, revealing various colored tapestries on the walls.

“A sacrifice for you,” the spider said as she crawled away from me.

“Do not tell me you bring another nettle. Their souls have no flavor.” The being who responded had a voice that was a dark rumble, one that seeped through my skin and burrowed itself into the marrow of my bones. Though I’d never heard that voice before, I knew it. That was the sound of pure evil. So the dragon had eaten the nettle. I knew the web was a fake.

“I bring you a demon.” The spider paused. “A dragon.”

“How kind of you, Mother of Light.”

My eyes bulged as a serpentine neck hovered over me, a puff of smoke from a large snout steaming my face.

“Mmmm. A hatchling. I was in need of one, for I’ve eaten all the others.” The monster’s leathery flesh pulled back, revealing a toothy smile with fangs as big as daggers. “Zahaka is pleased.” The creature pressed her muzzle against my chest, inhaling my scent before lifting her head. “What is your wish? Another ambrosia tree?”

So the dragon had provided the spider with all her gifts, not the web of light.

I heard the clacking of the spider’s legs as she circled me. “Poison.”

“Poison?” the dragon growled. “Why would a black widow demon need poison when she can make her own?”

“Not a lethal poison. A sleeping mist.” There was sadness in the spider’s voice, though after what she’d done to me, I knew the foul creature was incapable of emotion. “I have the feeling I’ll be needing it in the coming days.”

And I had the feeling I was either going to be this dragon’s lunch, forced to become her blood slave, or both, and what little life I had left in me would be no more. My last thought before I looked into the glossy eye of the beast and saw the spirits of those before me crying to break free, was how much I wished I could have had one last chance to set things right with my brother. Now he’d never know how deeply I regretted my betrayal and how very much I still loved him.

Ash MacLeod

I woke from a groggy slumber tired, horny, and very pissed off. Hell sucked on so many different levels, but the absence of orgasms made this place more unbearable than I could have ever imagined. What had been the point of that nap, anyway?

Aedan was lying naked beside me, his arm draped across his forehead, his penis still stiff, jutting toward his chin in a taunting salute, challenging me to climb on top of it and go for a spin, knowing full well we’d only end up even more unsated and angry.

This place sucked big fat dragon dong.

I sat up and threw my legs over the bed with a groan when I was hit with a burning soreness in my garden of good and evil. We’d literally fucked ourselves raw.

Then I remembered Jack. Oh, no! I wondered if he’d ever stopped humping that boulder. He must have been in so much pain. I slid into my jeans and threw on my bra and top.

I leaned over the bed and shook Aedan. “Get up,” I snarled. Sheesh. I didn’t mean to sound like a rabid dog, but for some reason I was pissed off at him. Didn’t know if it was the fact he refused to cover himself or at least acknowledge I was awake, but I was mad. I sure hoped that horny water wasn’t angry water, too.

“I’ll get up when I’m ready,” he snarled back.

“Fine.” I huffed. “Sleep your eternity away while our friends get eaten.”

He flung his arm off his eyes and bolted up. “All right, dammit!”

Aedan and I never woke up angry with each other. In fact, our morning ritual usually consisted of kisses and foreplay, followed by some fooling around.

“Aedan.” My wings fell limply at my sides as I sank into the mattress beside him, trying my best to ignore his very virile and muscular nakedness. “It’s the water.”

“I already know about the water, Ash.” He pointed to his erection. “No need to remind me.”

“No.” I shook my head as I fought the urge to climb back into bed with him and torture us some more. “It’s angry water, too.”

His mouth dropped open. “Oh.” He rubbed his face, groaning as he laid back against the bedframe. “I guess it is.” He flashed a big, sweet grin, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“Me, too.” I leaned into him, laying my head on his bare chest and wishing so badly he wasn’t naked. “Now can you do me a favor and put some clothes on?”

Callum O’Connor

I felt the cold press of a blade across my cheek as the webbing was ripped away. My heart beat out a thunderous rhythm, but I could do nothing to defend myself, as I was still immobilized by the spiders’ venom. And then the monster began licking me with her hot, heavy tongue. Though I was repulsed by her touch, I realized her saliva must have contained an anti-venom, for the numbing pain was soon a distant memory. After she was done bathing me, I laid there immobilized, no longer by the venom, but by terror.

What will she do with me now? Will I stand a chance if I try to flee, or will she capture me in her talons like a bird of prey toying with a mouse?

“I know you’re awake, hatchling. I can smell your fear.”

Acrid smoke filled my lungs as the dragon nuzzled my face with her snout.

“Look at Zahaka.” Her command was a sibilant hiss in my ear.

Though I did not want to gaze upon the nefarious creature, I slowly opened my eyes, knowing she’d punish me if I disobeyed. I stared into one large inky black pupil, then looked away for fear I’d see the souls of other victims before me.

I hated the helpless feeling of being trapped. I tried to shrug out of my bonds, but it was no use. The spider’s bindings had to have been constructed from some sort of elastic steel.

“Mmm.” A rumble sounded from somewhere deep within the dragon’s cavity before she licked my face with a long, forked tongue. “What a pretty pet you are. Are you ready to serve your mistress?”

“I serve no one.” I realized it was probably not a good time to be defiant, but I didn’t care. I’d rather be banished to the belly of the beast than be forced to do her bidding.

She arched back her long neck and laughed. “You must be new to Hell, little dragon.”

“Been in Hell over a century.” I probably shouldn’t have said that either, but I got the feeling there would be no hiding secrets from this creature. Even as she stared down at me with those big glossy eyes, I felt her mind probing mine, testing my mental barriers for weakness.

Tendrils of smoke streaming out of the dragon’s snout made a whistling sound like a screaming tea kettle. “Then it will take longer to break you, but you will be broken.” She leaned closer, pointing to her eye with a silver talon. “You wouldn’t want to end up in here, would you?”

I jerked as a lost soul pressed his hands against the reflective surface of her eye, begging for release. What kind of evil creature would keep souls captive? And what monster would I become if I served her? My brother and Ash wouldn’t recognize me. Even worse, I would hardly know myself.

The dragon licked my face again, letting out a low rumble, reminding me of a lioness purring. She pulled back at the distant sound of a deep horn.

Her long tongue retracted back into her mouth with a wet snap. “Zahaka’s dinner is waiting. I do not like my souls served cold.” Her jowls lifted in a sinister smile. “Wait here, little dragon. I’ll have need of you when I return.”

She stomped out of the room, rattling the ground beneath me. Only when I heard the distant flapping of the creature’s wings did I expel a pent-up breath of smoke. Again I struggled against my bindings to no avail, letting out a frustrated and desperate groan. What would the dragon do to me when she returned? Would she coerce me into signing a blood oath? And what would happen to my mind if I was forced to do her bidding? Would she suck out my soul and leave nothing but an empty, subservient shell? All these questions I feared I’d have to answer soon enough.

Ash MacLeod

I left Aedan to get dressed, and, hopefully, give his morning stiffy time to deflate. I found Jack inside the front chamber, panting and whimpering as his heads lolled on the floor. I had no idea how he’d been able to fit inside the small cave entrance, but he appeared to be a lot thinner than I remembered. His fur was a matted mess, and his eyes looked like they were going to bulge right out of his heads.

I cautiously approached him, just in case he got the urge to hump my legs, or in his case, my whole body. “Hey, buddy.” I leaned down, scratching one of his heads, making sure not to look anywhere below his waist.

He answered with the most pitiful whimpers ever while feebly wagging his tail.

The ground shook. At first I thought Jack’s tail was causing the statues to wobble, but when the urn toppled over, I suspected something big was outside the door. I only prayed it was the Nephilim and not a hungry spider.

I breathed a sigh of relief when Anak poked his grey head through the corridor, followed by two other giants.

“Look!” He flashed a goofy grin and thumbed behind him. “Anak find kin!”

“Boar, Goliath!” I flew to my feet and ran up to them. “Where have you been?”

They were surprisingly silent, exchanging sheepish looks before turning their gazes down.

“They fall in water and swim to other side of lake,” Anak answered for them.

I gasped. “You fell in the water, too?”

Goliath’s cheeks flushed, his big bat wings drooping at his sides. He nodded, absently rubbing his ass. Boar coughed into his fist, his grey pallor turning a bright crimson.

My eyes widened. “Oh, I see.”

Anak pointed at Jack, lying on the floor and too tired to even lift a head. “Doggie sore from humping rock?”

I turned pleading eyes up at Anak. “Can you fix him?”

“Yah.” He eagerly nodded as he knelt beside Jack and laid a hand on him. “Good doggie,” he whispered, stroking Jack’s neck.

Jack whimpered and then bolted to his feet, happily planting slobbery kisses on Anak’s face.

I smiled at them, so relieved to see my buddy feeling well again. “Thanks, Anak.”

Anak laughed, wrapping his long arms around both of Jack’s heads. “Anak like doggie.”

I looked up at Goliath, who had been grunting and grumbling the whole time. It was obvious the horny water was making him angry, and I sure as hell didn’t feel like being trapped underground with an angry giant who had the power to turn me into stone. “Now what do we do?”