Ruby Shadows (33 page)

But the words died in my throat. Kurex was
already trotting away, going back the way we had come.

“
Kurex, no!” I took a step
towards him, feeling like I was losing my only friend. But the icy
wind whipping just outside the doorway made me stop. I felt the
stinging bite of tiny bits of ice against my cheek—the snow had
turned to hail. Reluctantly, I stepped back inside and shut the
door. Laish was gone and now Kurex was too.

I was all alone in Hell.

Chapter
Twenty-three

Gwendolyn

It didn’t take too long to get the fire
going. The wood was heavy but it was dry. When I had finally
managed to dump several big, clunky logs into the iron grate of the
fireplace I summoned the last of my strength and called a
spark.

The spark took on the first try and soon the
fire was licking up and down the logs hungrily. I was so tired at
that point I wanted to just lay down in front of the fireplace and
sleep, but I couldn’t. The wet dress was dragging me down, keeping
me chilled to the bone despite the roaring fire.

I struggled with the sodden fabric, trying
to get it off but it clung to me stubbornly. At last, in
desperation, I managed to rip it in the middle and peel it down. I
stepped out of it and kicked it to one side, standing naked in
front of the fire at last. I didn’t know what I was going to wear
out of here but at least now I wouldn’t freeze to death.

I had a sudden thought and went to look in
my leather satchel, which I’d dumped by the door when I first came
in. I didn’t like being naked and maybe the change of clothes I’d
brought would finally come in handy.

It was no good though—the satchel had come
with me into the Drowning Pool and my spare jeans and t-shirt were
completely soaked. I left them in the satchel and went back to the
fireplace.

“
Ahhh…” The soft sigh
broke from my lips as the warmth bathed my chilly skin. I had been
afraid I might have gotten frostbite from the cold but to my
relief, all my fingers and toes seemed to work normally as they
warmed up. I set my little black shoes to dry by the side of the
grate and turned back and forth, letting the warmth bathe my naked
skin from back to front and back again.

At last I felt warm enough to explore a
little—not that there was much to explore. The crude bed had no
sheets—only a single stiff gray blanket on its dirty mattress. The
mattress itself looked like it might be stuffed with straw or some
other itchy material that poked through in places. I decided that
if I had to sleep here, I would just curl up in front of the fire.
Who knew what kind of vermin infested the bed?

A look at the table revealed a single wooden
plate with some strips of strange looking, oily gray meat on it.
Though I was hungry enough that my stomach was gnawing my backbone,
as Grams liked to say, I wasn’t a bit tempted. Who knew what
animal—or person—that strange looking meat had come from? I wasn’t
about to find out, especially knowing that anything I ate here
could tie me to the Infernal Realm indefinitely.

“
I’ll just have to go
hungry,” I muttered to myself, going back to the fireplace to warm
up some more. “I don’t know how I’ll get out of here but somehow
I’ll find a way. I—”

Suddenly the door crashed open, letting in a
freezing blast of winter wind that rushed through the room and put
out half the fire.

“
What have we here?”
roared a deep, grating voice that sounded more animal than man. “A
pretty little girlie come to visit? Good thing old Gorlock is
feeling in a welcoming mood.”

“
I…you…” I was already
trying to move away from the huge shape looming in the doorway—a
demon with two curving horns growing from either side of its head.
It had a human face and upper body at least, but from the waist
down it appeared to be either a goat or a bull or some other hoofed
creature. I saw with disgust that its massive shaft was already
half hard. As it stared at my naked body, that changed to fully
hard in an instant. Ugh! Didn’t
anybody
wear pants down
here?

“
And all naked and ready
for fun, too,” the demon boomed, taking a step towards me. “Now how
did you get out of your pool, girlie? That’s not supposed to
happen. Never mind, we’ll have some fun before we put you
back.”

So he thought I was one of the drowning
souls which had escaped from my pool. Not that it mattered what he
thought I was, considering what he obviously had in mind.

“
No!” I gasped, taking a
step backward and trying to cover myself with both hands while at
the same time looking for a weapon. “Look, I swear I didn’t mean to
break into your house! I was freezing—I had no choice!”

“
If you’re freezing,
little girlie, then old Gorlock will warm you up.” The demon took
another menacing step towards me, his hooves clunking on the uneven
stone floor. He had red skin, like the demons guarding the entrance
gates of Hell, and his eyes glowed an evil yellow.

“
Don’t touch me!” I said,
reaching down and grabbing a chunk of firewood. “I swear to the
Goddess I’ll kill you if you do! I’m not just a drowned soul—I’m a
witch!”

The demon’s yellow eyes widened and for a
moment I thought I’d made an impact. Then they narrowed again and
his wide, flat nostrils flared as he inhaled my scent.

“
So you is, girlie—a human
with a fresh, untainted soul. And right here in old Gorlock’s hut.
Imagine that…” He came toward me again, looming over me menacingly.
“Ahhh, it’s been years—
years—
since old Gorlock tasted a
pure soul! They don’t lets me up to the Mortal Realm much, ya see.
But now, here’s the Mortal Realm come down to me!”

“
I didn’t come to you on
purpose,” I said, lifting my chin. “I came with Laish—one of the
Great Demons—a
Prince of Night and Shadow
. He’ll be
very upset if he finds you’ve, uh, hurt me in any way.”

His eyes widened again and then he laughed—a
hoarse, awful croaking sound that sent a cold shiver of dread down
my spine.

“
A Great Demon, huh—you
mean one as can changed his shape, girlie?”

“
Well, yes…” I said, still
backing away from him with the piece of firewood clutched in my
hands.

“
Like maybe he can take a
wyrm form—as is what some calls a dragon?”

My heart was sinking but I tried not to let
it show.

“
Yes, that’s one of his
forms,” I said, trying not to let my voice tremble.

“
So that must be him,
then—or his carcass—bein’ picked over by the Skitterlings away up
on yonder ridge.” He jerked his horned head at the direction of the
doorway. “Saw ‘im, I did—laying there still as you please while
they stripped the flesh from his bones. I reckon if he ain’t dead,
he’s doin’ a mighty fine impression of it.”

“
You…you’re lying,” I said
and this time my voice shook—I couldn’t help it.

“
Now why would I lie ‘bout
something like that?” the demon asked, smirking. “Tis a pity and a
sin when one of the great ones goes to meet the Maker, so it tis.
But it leaves more for us little fellers…not that old Gorlock could
be exactly called
little.”
He fisted his massive, brick-red shaft and
started stroking it suggestively, leering at me as he
did.

No, he certainly
wasn’t
little. He wasn’t
as cartoonishly huge as Druaga had been but he wasn’t far behind. I
watched with horror as the precum that ran from the broad red tip
dripped to the stone floor and hissed and bubbled like acid. That
was going to hurt if he tried to get it in me.

“
Then don’t let
him,”
a little voice whispered in my
ear.
“Fight, Gwendolyn—fight!”

A new surge of courage flowed through me,
stiffening my spine and straightening my shoulders. I was
determined not to go down without a fight!

I brandished my chunk of firewood at the
demon and lifted my chin.

“
Get that nasty-ass thing
away from me before I knock it off,” I snapped.

“
Oh-ho—the little human
wants to play rough!” The yellow eyes glowed with cruel delight.
“We can do that, so we can. Old Gorlock
likes
it rough…although if you’d
just hold still and let me have a taste of that sweet soul it might
not hurt
quite
so
much.”

“
What are you talking
about?” I snapped. “You can’t get at my soul—you don’t even have a
soul hook.”

“
A soul-hook, is it?” He
bellowed that hoarse, croaking laughter again. “Why, who needs a
soul hook when I’ve got
this?”
He stroked his shaft some more. “This is all the
hook I need to taste your soul, girlie. After all, why reach down
your throat to get it when it’s so much more fun to go up through
your cunt?”

“
You…you can’t!” Could he?
For a moment my courage wavered. I remembered what Laish had said
about the taking and tasting of a soul being a sexual
thing—was
t
his
what he had meant? Surely not!
And yet the demon was still advancing, backing me into a corner
with only the clunky piece of firewood for a weapon.

“
I can and I will!” he
declared, leering at me as he loomed over me. “Why should I hook
out that sweet little soul when I can
fuck
it out instead? Cause that’s
what I’m going to do to you, girlie. Going to—”

“
All you’re going to do
is
die,”
a deep,
cold voice behind him said.

Suddenly, as I looked up at him, it appeared
that the demon had grown a third horn—this one right in the center
of his forehead. The demon—Gorlock—seemed just as surprised as I
was. He raised red, clawed hands to scrabble at the new horn that
had somehow sprouted from his head. Then his yellow eyes rolled up
and he collapsed heavily, falling first to his knees and then to
his side.

Laish stood just behind him, naked and
holding a huge, curving black blade which was plunged into the back
of the demon’s thick skull. He yanked it out and threw it aside,
just in time to catch me as I fell into his arms.

* * * * *

Laish

“
Laish, Laish—I thought
you were dead! He said—that awful demon—he said he saw the
Skitterlings pick…picking your b-bones…”

Gwendolyn’s voice cracked and turned into a
sob. I held her to me, stroking her smooth brown skin as she
trembled in my arms. I didn’t try to explain—only held her tight.
So many males don’t understand that this is what a woman needs
sometimes—just to be held.

I stroked her back and murmured soothing
words into her ear as she pressed herself against me. I don’t think
she even noticed we were both naked. Though I had waited months to
hold her to me this way with nothing between us, I was, for once,
too weary to be terribly excited myself. The battle with the
Skitterlings had taken all of my reserves and most of my power. I
would need time to recuperate before we could begin our journey
again. But now that the occupant of the small wooden hut was dead,
at least we had a safe place to rest.

I eyed the prone form of the lesser demon
with disgust. Kurex had brought me back just in time. In another
moment, Gwendolyn would have lost her innocence, her powers as a
witch, and her soul all at once. I only wished I could bring the
bastard back to life and kill him again for scaring her so badly
and threatening to do such unspeakable things to her.

Yes, this was Hell and such things were to
be expected but still, I could not bear the thought of them
happening to Gwendolyn. More than ever I wanted to hold and protect
her, to never let her go.

At last her trembling stopped and she pulled
away from me a little.

“
I’m sorry.” She rubbed
her eyes. “I…uh, didn’t mean to get all girly on you.”

“
You had a shock and a
very close call. More than one, in fact, in the very recent past,”
I pointed out, sweeping a strand of hair from her face and tucking
it behind her ear. “No one could fault you for needing an emotional
release.”

“
A release. Right.” She
tried to laugh but the sound that came out was wavering and
uncertain. “But how…how did you…?”

“
I will tell you
everything,” I promised. “But first let us see to tidying the place
up a bit.” I gripped the lesser demon by one beefy forearm and
dragged him out of the hut. I tossed him around the side where he
wasn’t immediately visible. Hopefully the snow would come and bury
his body until it decomposed—or at least until we left the hut. I
didn’t want Gwendolyn to have to look at her would-be rapist ever
again.

Next I saw to Kurex. Being a Demon-steed, he
had no need of protection from the elements. Still, I reached into
the last dregs of my reserves and managed to conjure a bucket of
warm mash for him. I also made sure he was safe around the other
side of the hut, sheltered from the constantly whipping wind. He
had done a good day’s work and I promised myself he would be
rewarded when we got back to my own estate in Hades…whenever that
might be.

When I got back into the hut, Gwendolyn was
tending to the fire which was already roaring in the hearth. When
she heard me come in, she jumped up and turned to face me. She had
stopped trembling but now she seemed self-conscious and kept
crossing her arms over her bare breasts and crossing her thighs, as
though to hide her sex.