Darkness Becomes Her (7 page)

As their orgasms subsided, the men withdrew from her. Their touch lingered, comforting and blissfully familiar, but Heidi couldn’t allow herself to indulge in the thrill of post-orgasm afterglow, no matter how much she craved their sweaty, sated bodies pressed against hers.

She rolled off the pillows and flipped on to her back. Allowing herself one last lingering look at her lovers’ unrivaled physiques, she reached down to unbind her ankles.

“We have to get out of here.” She tugged on the strip of fabric and yanked it off her feet. “There should be enough energy to open a portal. Once we’re safely on the other side, we’ll formulate a plan. Baal will send demons after us, but we can fight them. Together.”

While she spoke, she watched Luke’s face brighten. Varin’s dark eyes glimmered with something akin to hope, but he didn’t allow his optimism to show on his handsome features.

“Heidi?” Luke asked, drawing her name out as though savoring it on his tongue. “It’s you, isn’t it? It’s really you.”

A small smile curved her lips. His boyish enthusiasm was contagious. She ran a hand through her hair, cringing when the tips of her horns scraped against her palm. “In the flesh. Err… sort of.”

Luke gave a yelping cowboy cry and leapt onto the bed, knocking her on her back. He kissed her soundly, not erotically as he’d done earlier, but with sheer relief. She giggled against his mouth and clutched him to her for a moment before another recollection slammed into her mind.

Heidi sat up abruptly, pushing Luke off her. Varin rushed to her side, grabbing her upper arm to steady her.

“The Summoners! We have to help them!”

“Oh, I’m afraid it’s much too late for that.”

Heidi shook herself out of Varin’s grip and stumbled off the mattress, gathering a snowball’s worth of magical energy in her palm as she landed on her feet. “Take one more step and I’ll fry you where you stand.”

Baal tossed his head back and laughed, emitting that same screeching, horrid sound she’d heard earlier. “That would be quite a feat… since you have no powers.”

For the second time in as many minutes, the world seemed to stand still around Heidi. Her heart pumped savagely against her chest. Baal’s hand came up and his index finger shot out, pointing straight at her. He thumb was bent at the knuckle, as though he was cocking a gun.

Two thoughts flashed through Heidi’s mind before she was forced to react: if she was going down, she’d go down fighting. And she’d protect her men with her last breath, if that’s what it took.

“
Vivindar’e esssimo-e ka!
”

Thunder boomed along the walls of the cavern. Lightening struck, sizzling the black rock, causing the stone to crack along the middle. The room rolled beneath Heidi’s feet, sending Baal stumbling backward. His hand fell back to his side.

She caught a glimpse of his features, twisted with outrage. She’d been just a fraction of a second too fast and had gotten in a spell before he could strip her of her powers. His intent was clear as he raised his hand for a second time.

He wouldn’t let it happen again.

The air sizzled with the scent of demon a moment before all Hell broke loose. Thousands of grotesque beasts poured into the room, plunging through open portals that erupted out of thin air, pouring through the cascading lava that still blocked the front door.

Heidi lifted her arms, calling them to her side. They pressed in around her, drawn by the vivid demon magic streaming up and down the lines of her body.

A laugh bubbled from her throat. She’d done it!

She’d used her inherent demon power to conduct a summoning -- all on her own. Since becoming one of them, she’d felt the presence of her demonic kin like a lingering force that bound her to them.

Now it was the demons who’d been drawn to her. Unable to resist her magical call, every fiend within ten miles of her location in Hell, and all demons in the mortal realm, had been summoned by her call. The allure wouldn’t last, not with Baal hollering at the top of his lungs, but it gave her what she needed the most.

A distraction. So she could get her men out of this place forever.

“
Asidea ramerra va!
”

The portal closest to her shimmered, transforming into the gateway that would take her back to the clearing where the Summoners awaited her return.

“
Asidea ramerra va
.”

She needed to utter the words once more, then twice backward and she’d be free. They all would be.

“
Asidea ram
--”

“You’re dead, bitch! Get used to it! Nothing you can do from here can affect the living. Nothing!”

Baal’s thunderous voice boomed off the cavern walls, sending another tremor through the room. Heidi lost her footing, tilting backward against the sharp claws of a demon who was reaching for her in abject reverence.

A shiver of trepidation swept up her spine. Luke and Varin pressed up against her from both sides, protecting her with their outstretched arms and their bodies while shouting frantic words in her ears. She couldn’t hear them. Her focus was entirely on Baal.

A tremor crept upward from her belly. It traveled down her middle and spread outward. Demons pushed against her, clogging her throat with their stench.

She lost sight of Baal. Fear raked at her soul. She had to get her men out of here. Now!

Asidea ramerra va
.

She mouthed the words, but no sound came out. The portal light dimmed, flickering wildly.

Frantic, Heidi glanced around her. She reached out to grab Varin, who was slipping away, swept by a sea of demons toward the center of the room.

She touched nothing but air. The shape of her outstretched hand shimmered, dimming away into nothingness with each moment that passed.

Her body was unraveling. The pull of the portal tugged at her, beckoning for her to go through. Scalding tears fell from invisible eyes to wash over her cheeks. Only the golden chain remained, bound to indiscernible nipples, floating in empty space.

“--an anchor!”

Varin’s voice reached her ears, though she had to strain to hear him over the howls of a thousand demons and a furious Lord of the Underworld, all of whom had just turned hate-filled gazes upon her.

The spell had broken. The portal was within reach, but she couldn’t grab on to Luke, and Varin was too far away.

Panic washed over her in waves.

“It’s an anchor!” Varin shouted over the buzz of the crowd. “The chain! It binds you to the mortal world, whether or not your body came with you when you plunged through. Use it to get Luke out of here!”

Baal’s angry howl drowned out all other noise in the cavern. It also momentarily made every creature freeze in abject terror as they all turned toward their furious Lord.

Baal parted a clean path through the mass of demons and gathered a ball of magical energy from thin air. Wasting no time, he hurled it at Varin. Heidi could only watch, horrified, as the turbulent sphere found its mark.

It slammed into Varin’s gut, lifting him off his feet and plastering him against the roof of the cavern. Varin’s eyes rolled back in his head and his neck hung limply at an odd angle.

“No!”

Heidi’s scream made no sound, but Luke’s cry crashed like an exploding roar through the chamber.

“I promised myself I’d kill your little slut in front of you,” Baal said to Varin, advancing so he stood beneath the man’s limp body. “So you’ll live, until she draws her last breath. When that happens, her soul will burn for all eternity in the darkest pit of Hell, alongside yours. What you’ve experienced so far over the centuries has been nothing compared to the eternal darkness that awaits you both.” Baal’s cackle sent a chill of pure ice down Heidi’s spine. “I hope mortal passion was worth it, because you’re about to pay the ultimate price.”

Varin’s lips moved as though in slow motion. Heidi didn’t dare breathe. She watched him mouth only one word.

Anchor
.

Blood roared in Heidi’s head. Her fingers shook. She couldn’t make out much through tear-filled eyes. Desperately, she grabbed on to the chain binding her nipples. Shock careened through her at the realization that she could grasp it between her ethereal fingers.

She wasted no time unclasping it away from her breast. In a mad dash of fury, her hand shot out. She attached the clamp to Luke’s left nipple, murmuring the magical words Lillian had taught her all the while.

The portal blazed with a blinding white light. Heidi closed her eyes, lurched sideways, then hurled herself through the portal.

This time, there was no comforting darkness. Just pure, white, judgmental light to guide her home.

Chapter Six

Heidi’s soul landed back into her body with a thump that knocked the air from her lungs. Pain blossomed through her back and slithered down her spine, into her legs. Her right nipple burned with an intense pain that made her cry out.

The pressure subsided a split second before a heavy weight dropped down on top of her. She blinked her eyes open, squinting against the light flooding the clearing.

Golden hair, tangled and matted, slid against her chest. A pair of piercing blue eyes gazed at her from beneath thick bangs that fell over a broad forehead.

“Luke. Oh, Goddess. Luke!”

She clutched him to her savagely, protectively, as though afraid he’d disappear if she loosened her ferocious grip. For his part, he grabbed her just as ruthlessly and they clung on to one another as seconds stretched into minutes.

Heidi buried her nose in his hair and inhaled deeply. Not a shred of demon scent on him. Luke smelled as deliciously male as he’d had the first time she’d been with him, trapped inside a dark coffin. She remembered his scent, slightly spicy and infinitely arousing. She thought it was perhaps the most wonderful aroma in the entire world.

Second perhaps only to the musky smell of reformed demon. A pang of sorrow pierced her heart as an image of Varin’s body slammed against the ceiling flickered through her mind.

Sometimes, it was better not to remember, she thought as she pressed a soft kiss to Luke’s temple. And other times, memories were the best recourse for revenge.

“He’s gone, isn’t he?” Luke whispered. His voice reverberated against Heidi’s chest. He’d dropped his head to nestle on her breasts, unwilling to meet her eyes.

“If he’s survived all these centuries, Varin’s tougher than you think.”

Heidi gasped at the sound of Lillian’s voice and struggled to sit up. Luke obliged her, drawing her beside him on the stone altar into a sitting position, one leg draped across his lap. He held on to her waist and her knee, pulling her body flush with his.

“He gave me this, you know.” Lillian ran the tip of her index finger around Heidi’s nipple, scraping the golden clamp that bound the tight nub.

Heidi winced as a flicker of pain shot into her breast. She followed the motion of Lillian’s fingers, watching her trail them between Heidi and Luke. The chain bound them physically, but the ties that truly chained them together ran much deeper than that.

“Centuries ago,” Lillian continued, “when I was captured and brought to the Underworld. It had belonged to my mother. Varin thought it would brighten my sprits to have it, even though mortal objects were forbidden in the Underworld. To be honest, I think he just liked the way it looked.” A ghost of a smile touched her bloodless lips.

It was then that Heidi noticed how exhausted Lillian appeared. Dark circles plumped the delicate skin beneath her eyes and her finely sculpted features looked haggard and drawn. She was still naked, but blood ran down from a gash in her side to pool in the grass at her feet.

“You knew him, then,” Heidi said. She grabbed Luke’s hand, tightening her fingers around his.

Lillian nodded. “I hated him. More than you can ever imagine.”

“Why?” The word was a mere whisper as it slipped from Heidi’s lips.

“I needed someone to hate. He was the only one who spent any time with me, and all my anger at being ripped away from my family’s arms was channeled into him. I would have destroyed him, killed him with my bare hands if I could have.”

“You did worse than that,” Luke said. “You condemned him to a life of torture.”

A glimmer of anger flashed in Lillian’s blue eyes. “It was no less than the life he’d condemned me to lead.”

“Maybe so, but he’s no longer the demon you once knew. Varin sacrificed himself for me.” Heidi swallowed past the lump in her throat and blinked back the sting of tears. “For us. And he’s done it twice now.”

Lillian’s square-tipped nail skimmed the surface of the gold chain one more time before her hand fell away. She stepped back, letting Heidi get a good look at the clearing for the first time since she’d tumbled back into the mortal realm.

“Was it worth it?” Lillian asked, sweeping her hand to indicate the blood that glistened wetly in the sunlight. “Two of our sisters died because of you.” There was no accusation in her tone, no hatred. Just sheer exhaustion.

Heidi squeezed Luke’s hand so tightly her knuckles turned white. “I never meant for anyone to get hurt.”

“You’ll go after him again, won’t you?” Lillian asked as though Heidi hadn’t spoken.

“Yes,” Luke answered without a moment’s hesitation. “He belongs here. With us.”

“When the demons fell back through the portal, I knew you’d done something,” Lillian said, her gaze fixed firmly on Heidi. “I asked the Summoners to take their fallen and injured sisters and get out of here as quickly as possible, before the horde returned.”

Heidi opened her mouth to protest, but Lillian stopped her with a sweep of her hand. “Make no mistake about it. What you’ve unleashed is personal. Baal will never stop until he has you both back in his grip. And he’s not going to care how many people he kills in the process. You’ve unsettled the balance between good and evil. You’ve given darkness a way into our world and a reason to be here.”

Heidi clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent a sob from escaping. She scraped her fingers through her hair, briefly taking note of the fact that the horns had disappeared.

“I can’t risk any more of my girls for your whims.” Lillian darted a glance from Heidi to Luke, then back again. “You have him. Take him and go. Hide him as best you can. Live out the rest of your days as peacefully as possible, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll forget about rescuing demons, redeemed or not.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed. He looked ready to argue, but Heidi sank her nails into the flesh of his wrist, silencing him.

“Thank you,” Heidi said, meaning it. “For everything.”

She unsnapped the clamp from her breast, ignoring the blazing trail of heat that burrowed deep in her belly as the metal disengaged, then did the same to the clamp binding Luke’s nipple. She offered the chain to Lillian, but the woman closed her hand over Heidi’s outstretched palm, folding her fingers over the trinket.

“I knew Varin would recognize this and know what it meant. He was the only one who could get you out of there if things went bad. When bad turned to worse, Varin did for you what he couldn’t do for me. He released you.”

“He didn’t know you were miserable,” Luke said. “He loved you.”

Hearing the words sent a spear of jealousy to lance through Heidi’s heart. She struggled to push it aside, knowing whatever had been between Varin and Lillian was over centuries ago.

“Maybe,” Lillian said. “But holding me prisoner in Hell wasn’t the way to prove it.”

“He paid for his mistakes repeatedly since then. Isn’t that enough?”

Lillian’s sad smile broadened. “Perhaps it is. For you. My duty is to destroy every demon who crosses into our world.”

“Even redeemed demons?” Luke asked, his voice catching on the last word.

“We’ll see,” Lillian said, turning away. “We’ll see.”

Heidi watched her disappear into the trees. Sunlight streamed down through the vivid green foliage, glistening grotesquely off the crimson blood that stained the grass and seeped into the dew-moistened earth.

Heidi turned away. She refused to wonder which of her friends had died that night because of her. It would be hard enough to live with the knowledge that she’d been responsible for two deaths. She didn’t think she could cope if she knew who’d been among the fallen.

Luke dropped down from the altar. He held Heidi’s hand and waited until she was ready to join him. With one last glance at the spot where the portal had shimmered earlier that night, Heidi sank her toes into the pristine grass that bordered the altar. It had been protected from the battle by a sphere of defensive magic, which had guarded her inert body as she’d slipped into Hell.

They left the clearing hand in hand, heading in the direction of the parking lot. The farther away from the clearing they got, the more Heidi’s tense muscles relaxed. She paused for a moment and drew a deep breath into her lungs. It smelled of fresh air and sexy male spice, with only a hint of coppery blood to spoil the heady miasma.

“Baal’s keeping him alive,” Heidi said as they walked toward her red Acura.

The car was parked at the far edge of the lot. To get to it, they had to stroll past half a dozen other vehicles, including one whose owner -- an elderly lady with snow-white hair -- gaped and crossed herself from the safety of her station wagon as they passed.

“How do you know?”

She touched the faint scar on her shoulder. It shimmered and churned, sending a rivulet of sultry agitation to coil into her stomach. “I can feel him. Baal intends to keep the promise he made.”

“To kill you in front of Varin.” Luke tightened his grip on her hand. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Nor me,” she assured him. “But it’s our only guarantee that Varin will be alive when we go back for him.”

“You said Baal would send demons after us, and your friend seemed to confirm that. Think we can handle them on our own?”

Heidi sighed. “With any luck, we won’t have to.”

She clicked the latch of her trunk open, thankful she’d had the presence of mind to leave the doors unlocked. She’d been in such a hurry the night before that she’d only bothered to turn the key to the off position in the ignition before bolting for the clearing where the Summoners were preparing to open a portal to Luke and Varin.

She pulled two blankets from among a stack of boxes that contained everything she owned. She’d emptied out her apartment earlier that week, knowing she probably wouldn’t be coming back.

Unfolding one of the blankets, she shook it out and draped it over Luke’s shoulders, then pulled him to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, enveloping them both in the warmth of the blanket and his body heat.

“Thank you,” he murmured against her mouth.

“For what?”

“For being as damned stubborn as you are beautiful. For coming back for us.” He swept the tip of his tongue between her lips. She sighed and opened to him, sliding her tongue against his.

The kiss was slow and sensual, yet filled with an abundance of frustration and worry. It sizzled just beneath the surface, reminding them that although they had each other, Varin was alone.

Luke’s cock hardened, nudging her lower belly. “What do we do now?”

Heidi frowned, leaning her forehead against Luke’s. The blend of loving acceptance she found in Luke’s arms and the lingering misery she felt at being separated from Varin seemed to tear her heart in two.

“We find a way to save him.”

“No doubt,” Luke said. His stiff shaft pulsed against her skin. “And until then?”

A void as black as tar flashed across the sky in the direction of the clearing. It hovered against the pale blue, darkening the sun’s rays for only a moment before fizzling out.

Heidi’s blood ran cold. A moment was plenty of time for a couple of demons, maybe even more, to pour through.

She pulled herself away from Luke’s comforting embrace. Tossing the other blanket over her own shoulders, Heidi climbed in behind the wheel of her car. After murmuring a word of gratitude at finding the key still in the ignition where she’d left it, she revved up the engine.

Luke got in beside her and slammed the door closed. Heidi floored the gas.

“We run.”