Desert of the Damned (12 page)

He looked around but the coyote had taken off. Damn, the thing was quick. “Well, he’s gone now. Come back and have something to eat.” He rubbed her back. “We have more ground to cover and should head back before it gets dark.”

She groaned and put her hands to her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m supposed to pick up Sienna from Betty’s house by six. I don’t think I’ll make it back to the lab and to her house in time.”

“We can stop at Betty’s first,” he said. Her quick smile was unexpected, considering what she had just witnessed. “But we need to have something to eat first.”

“Thanks.”

Her straight blonde hair was a bit tangled from the breeze.

Facing her, he was standing very close, only inches away. Glancing down, he couldn’t help but notice that the coolness of the late afternoon had hardened her nipples to fine points, showing though the thin tee shirt. Waves of heat rippled through his groin. His cock stiffened. Ignoring his aroused state and his urge to check out her ass, he asked, “Who’s Sienna?”

“The cat from hell.” Her gaze held his and she made no motion to leave.

He chuckled. “Your cat?”

“Mine until I can find her a home.”

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“Can’t wait to meet this hellcat.”

They returned to where the backpacks were. Amy cleaned her hands and plopped down on a rock. “How are you holding up?” Jake asked as he offered her a sandwich.

“Good,” she said a bit winded, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. She didn’t want him to think he had pushed her too hard. Every muscle ached and was fatigued and by tomorrow she wondered if she would be able to walk. “I’m feeling my legs. Good exercise.” She took a bite of sandwich and several swallows from her water bottle.

“What don’t you like about Arizona beside rogue coyotes?” He didn’t take his eyes off her while he chewed.

She smiled at that. “I like Arizona. The landscape is mesmerizing but I miss the ocean and my friends and family. I don’t feel like I belong here.”

“Eight months isn’t long enough to decide about a place.”

She felt her face flush. The intensity of his gaze sent her pulse racing. She took another bite of her sandwich and stared at her boots. Maybe she was responding to Jake because she saw something in him that she hadn’t seen in other men, something she craved. Was it his down-to-earth attitude and rugged strength that she felt? Did being around nature make him more aware of people’s feelings? “You could be right about that. You and your grandfather have lived here all your life?”

He nodded. There was much more that he wasn’t telling her but she wouldn’t pry into his personal life. “Do you know if an illness like this has occurred in the past?

Would your grandfather know if he remembers a similar event of an animal epidemic?

It might help if I ask him some questions.”

Jake pursed his lips. He didn’t look convinced. “You can talk to him but he already has his theories as to the cause of the animal deaths.”

“He does?” Amy stiffened. Why hadn’t he said anything about these theories before? Any history of a similar outbreak would be significant. “So this has happened before?”

Jake’s shoulders slumped. “I didn’t mention it, because according to Bill, my grandfather, it happened over fifty years ago and it was caused by a mythological being, the Trickster.”

Amy blinked and then stared at him, unsure of what to say.

“Right. That’s why I didn’t say anything. It’s hard to confirm events that happened in this area more than fifty years ago. Records aren’t that good. And then there’s the metaphysical aspect of the story. I don’t…it doesn’t hold water for me.”

“How is a mythological being killing the animals?”

Jake sighed in annoyance. “It’s not. It’s superstition,” he snapped.

“Some myths are based in fact,” she persisted. “It couldn’t hurt.”

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“Suit yourself but you’re wasting your time. My grandfather has his own twist to the Trickster myth. It’s unlike any Indian folklore story.”

“I don’t mind.” She smiled, trying to ease the tension that had formed between them. “If it doesn’t help me, I’ll learn something about Indian folklore. But if you’re sure it’s a waste of time, I won’t bother him.”

“No, he’d love to get a chance to tell his story.” Jake leaned his foot on a rock, staring off in the distance.

A crunching sound made Amy turn her head.

“Shhh,” Jake whispered. “Don’t move. Let’s see what it is.”

Amy could hear the animal’s footfalls and snapping branches as it ran up the hill.

Gripping the rock kept her from jumping up and startling the creature. Then it appeared—a coyote. It stopped when it saw Amy and Jake and appeared to study them warily. It paced back and forth twenty yards in front of them as if expecting them to move and then it stopped again.

“That’s the same one. See his tail?” Amy whispered. “What’s he doing?”

“Checking us out. Just curious.” Jake studied the animal with interest. She expected he knew the normal habits of every living creature. The coyote made a bold move by approaching closer and Jake took a few noisy steps forward. The coyote stopped, holding his head high as if in a defiant pose.

“He doesn’t seem afraid of us,” she whispered.

“He’s acting a little odd. I don’t like it. He might smell the food.” Then the coyote charged toward them. “Watch out, Amy.”

She put her sandwich down on her backpack and stood. Jake stomped his feet but the animal sped straight for him. Jake glanced around, looking for a branch or rock, she thought, to fight off the animal. In an instant, the coyote leapt up onto Jake, like a dog.

But he didn’t bite him and Jake managed to shove the animal aside with his knee. The coyote yelped and then ran toward Amy.

She stumbled backward, falling over the rock as the coyote pounced on top of the boulder, snatched her sandwich and perched there with it in his mouth. He glared down at her as if triumphant with his victory.

Amy froze in disbelief, then heard Jake shout.

Swinging a dried branch, Jake charged toward the coyote while yelling, “Hey! Hey!

Hey!” The coyote leapt off the rock, scrambled down the trail, a golden ghost moving among the sage and cactus. He soon was out of sight.

Jake crouched down beside her and helped her sit up. “Are you okay? He didn’t bite or scratch you, did he?” He lifted each arm and rubbed it, examining it closely from her hand, to her wrist, then up to each shoulder apparently for bite marks or scratches.

Then he began at her legs.

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“Really, I’m fine. I fell before he got to the rock. He didn’t touch me.” She rubbed her elbow. She’d banged it when she fell backward. “What the hell was that? Do coyotes normally act like that?”

Jake shot her a worried look and made her stretch out her legs. “They can be bold when they’re hungry. Are you sure you weren’t scratched or bitten?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she said impatiently. She slid up her pant legs to her knees, which was as far as she could get them to go. Rubbing her shins and calves, she let him take a closer look. “See? I’m fine. No puncture holes. Do you want me to take the pants off to make sure?”

He bowed his head, dropping his chin to his chest and smiled. “No, a tempting thought, I’ll admit, but not necessary.”

She glanced down the trail to see if she could see any sign of the coyote. “We don’t have coyotes in Florida. I never knew they would act like that.” Did her voice just go up an octave? Hard to concentrate when a gorgeous guy was manhandling her arms and legs. Every nerve ending was on fire now, even her nipples had tightened as if it was twenty degrees and freezing outside. The ground was hard and she thought she might have a cactus spine poking her in the butt but she didn’t want to move. At the moment, she was indulging in a little fantasy of pulling Mr. Ranger Man on top of her just to feel all the marvelous weight on her.

Served Dante right. The man had gotten her so worked up by teasing her over the last few weeks, then leaving her hanging partly satisfied, it was no wonder her sexual appetite was in overdrive.

“It is unusual and that’s why I’m concerned. Rabid animals behave strangely but I’ve never seen a rabid animal act like that coyote just did. I’ll have to write up a report and have the other rangers keep an eye out.”

“He wasn’t acting sick,” she said. “More like he had an attitude problem. Maybe he was just hungry.”

“I hope that’s what it was.”

* * * * *

Amy was his, damn it! That son of a bitch had to pay. Coyote limped down the canyon on a parallel course with the humans’ trails. He’d stumbled on the boulder, skinning his paw when he snatched the food. Ignoring the sting, he stayed off the man-made trails. The scents were overpowering and confused him when he was hunting.

A jackrabbit darted out from under a sage bush and raced in a zigzag pattern through the grass. In an instant, Coyote pounced and had the jackrabbit between his two paws. The heartbeat of the trapped creature fluttered between Coyote’s paws. He smiled at his small conquest. Opening his mouth, Coyote let the rabbit’s fear increase, which also increased its chi. The darkness flowed through Coyote’s body, its seductive stream filling him and taking him to yet a higher level. Here he had the power to 67

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control, to kill, to extract as much chi as his mistress needed. The rush he got with each conquest was like a drug, better than the most intense orgasm.

Images of Amy came to mind, her naked on his red blanket, writhing for his touch, reaching orgasm. Amy’s cunt slick with her juices, her clit swollen and sensitive to his touch. He wanted her, unlike any women before. To have her as any man would have a woman. If he fulfilled his offering on time to Gwyllain could he have her then?

The torment of taking Amy to the edge of dark sexual pleasures but not fucking her completely was more than he could bear sometimes. As his heart rate picked up, Coyote leaned toward the animal, his mouth brushing against its fur, then the chi energy surged from the rabbit in a gushing electrical stream that entered through Coyote’s mouth.

The chi flowed though every muscle and nerve like waves on a pond and then all was calm again. The jackrabbit was dead. Lifting his head, Coyote scanned the area and sniffed the air. He listened and heard a sidewinder snake skim across the dried earth.

The snake slithered out beneath a creosote bush, then disappeared in a hole under a rock. If Coyote had time, he would dig for it but he didn’t want to waste the time.

Late afternoon, the nocturnal animals were beginning to move again. Swiftly, he sped across the open field and killed several more animals from the smallest field mouse to a deer. The brief encounter earlier with Amy and the ranger had drawn some chi. Fear and sex were the greatest modes for retrieving chi aside from the life energy of death itself. As he stood on that boulder he could feel Amy’s fear, even taste it, the energy trembled down to his bones. Her aura and their sex games would sustain him on the Earth plane after he satisfied Gwyllain’s offering.

He must make his apportionment, go to Anartia and worship Gwyllain.

Once his offering was made to the demoness and the portal closed, he could have Amy the way he wanted her and the way she wanted him. The ranger wanted her too, lusted for her. He could smell the guy’s arousal from a mile away, the bastard. What got Coyote’s hackles up was that he could smell her arousal from being around the ranger.

After the cycle, he would have her back.

Coyote found the place in the desert behind Amy’s house. The prickling along his fur told him it was time to go to Anartia, time to shift. Salty air and the heather meadow filled his nostrils. He could hear the rushing water as it slammed against jagged rocks.

These were not scents typical of the desert and no body of water anywhere near here could make similar sounds.

He looked from side to side and found his clothing beside the saguaro cactus.

Walking around the twenty-foot-high cactus, he found the vertical blue line running from the base to its tip.

The portal.

The twenty-foot circular area surrounding the saguaro was the egress point. As long as he held the nebula stone to his chest, he could travel to Anartia here.

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He willed himself to shift and became the man, then put on the clothes at the base of the cactus. The chi surged through his veins. His cock grew hard.

In his experience, women emitted higher levels of chi during sex or when they were afraid and a few like Amy expelled an excessive amount. He preferred to use sex rather than fear or killing to acquire the needed chi. But he would do what was necessary. And right now it was necessary to fuck Gwyllain.

The cool nebula stone pendant rested against his skin. He lifted the stone and was instantly propelled through the portal.

Cautiously, Dante stepped away from the edge of the cliff in Gwyllain’s world, trying to adjust to the wave of dizziness that followed the portal passage. Once his head cleared and his steps were sure, he strode across the field of heather toward the temple.

He glanced back over his shoulder and swore. The sun was a lot closer to the horizon than he had expected. He had no time to waste if he was going to meet his debt.

The sunlight shimmered golden on the ocean and streaks of pale yellow radiated from behind gray-purple clouds. The sky was mostly calm and clear. Much improved from his last visit but still not pristine enough to meet Gwyllain’s standards.

Could his previous offering have been more than he thought? Maybe he wasn’t that far behind in the chi.

As he approached the temple Tarik came out and jogged down the stairs with what looked like a large stone in his hands. His chest was bare and he wore wide black pants.

The stone he continued to pump up and down over his head, accentuating his developed chest and biceps. Was Tarik in a good mood or bad? In the demoness’s hierarchy of lovers, Tarik was her favorite and his power far exceeded any Drone. This was one dude Dante didn’t want to have to fight with and considering the guy’s size, Dante probably would get his ass kicked. If Tarik wasn’t tending to Gwyllain and her demands, he was in the chambers beneath the temple running his experiments. Part mage, part scientist, Tarik was trying to find a way to break their exile. A thousand years’ worth of Tarik’s experiments and Anartia was still a prison for them. No wonder Tarik wasn’t the most pleasant person to be around.