Ruby Shadows (53 page)

Fucking me—oh Goddess,
he’s really fucking me now,
I thought
deliriously. But though I knew it was wrong, I no longer cared. I
didn’t care about anything but the delicious sensation of having
his thickness so deep and hard within me, of feeling this pleasure
I had been denied for so many years at last.

And then Laish reached between us and began
stroking the side of my swollen clit with his thumb, sliding over
my wet, open folds as he thrust deep inside me and sucked my tender
nipple deep into his mouth.

The triple sensation was just too much. I
felt the pleasure that had been building and building inside me
beginning to come to a peak. But at the same time, something else
was happening inside me.

I had a sudden vision of a golden cord, a
rope that was wrapped around my heart, tugging and tightening with
each deep thrust of Laish’s shaft inside me. And the other end of
the cord went directly to him. It seemed to be trying to connect to
him. But why? And how?

Just then two things happened at once that
drove the strange vision out of my mind. I felt the tension inside
me break and my orgasm began washing over me like a warm tide,
pleasure tingling through every nerve in my body like
electricity.

At the same time, I felt that familiar
quivering in the air all around us. The barrier was breaking! We
had done it!

“
Laish,” I gasped, looking
at him. “Did you feel it? Did you feel it break? We paid the
tax!”

“
Not quite,” he
growled.

“
Yes, we did!” I insisted
breathlessly. “Quick, pull out of me! Pull out before you
come!”

“
No.” To my surprise, he
gripped my hips even harder and thrust deep inside me, pressing the
head of his cock hard to the end of my channel.

“
Laish,” I begged, unable
to understand why he was doing this. “Laish, please—you
said—”

“
I said I would keep you
safe, whatever the price.” His eyes burned into mine. “Well this is
the price, Gwendolyn and now you must pay it.”

And then I felt him coming inside me—long,
hard spurts that filled my pussy with his seed and ended my
virginity forever, even by the standards of Hell.

“
Laish, no!” I gasped as I
felt the hot cum bathing the mouth of my womb and overflowing to
leak out of me. But it didn’t matter how much leaked out—he kept
filling me, over and over, spurting deep inside me as though he was
determined to claim me completely, as though he would never let me
go.

His cum inside me seemed to have a strange
effect on me. Despite my insistence that he pull out and my worry
over what was happening, I felt another orgasm building inside me,
this one even deeper than before.

I didn’t
want
to come again—what
I wanted was to get him
out
of me. But I couldn’t help it—I felt my inner
walls spasming around his thick shaft, milking him for the seed he
continued to pump into my open, helpless pussy. It was almost as if
my own body was betraying me—trying to get as much of his hot cum
inside me as it could when I knew it was the exact opposite of what
I should be doing.

“
Laish,” I moaned.
“Laish,
please!”
But I couldn’t stop coming and neither, it seemed, could
he.

At that moment I had another quick flash of
vision—the golden cord that connected us was now tied around his
heart as well. I could see it so well I could almost count every
fiber of its twisted golden strands.

Then the flash of vision was gone and the
moment was over. It was so brief I wondered if it wasn’t some kind
of a waking dream—a wish my heart had made that could never come
true. As it ended, I came back to myself and realized that it was
finally over.

Laish had finished and was pulling out of
me, leaving me feeling empty and used and alone.

Chapter
Thirty-one

Laish

“
Why?” she asked me as I
pushed her gently off my lap and laid her on the bed. “Why didn’t
you stop?” Tears of hurt and rage were standing in her lovely green
eyes, making my heart ache. “Why didn’t you stop when I asked you
to? The barrier was broken. If you would have just pulled
out—”

“
Forgive me,” I said
roughly, covering her with the pale yellow bedspread. “But I am,
after all, a demon. Did you really think I could deny my nature to
despoil indefinitely?”

I wanted desperately to explain my actions
to her—to let her know the real reason behind my betrayal. But I
knew my true motivations wouldn’t make her feel any better—if
anything they would make her feel worse. Better to let her think
that I didn’t care and had been acting as any demon would be
expected to act.

Better to let her learn to hate me now.

“
But…you said you cared
about me. You said you
loved
me.” Her voice broke on that last words, making
me feel as though my own blackened heart was breaking as
well.

“
I said many things. Some
of them I even meant.” I could bear no more of this. I stood
abruptly and started dressing. “Rest now, Gwendolyn. I have
something to attend to,” I told her.

“
So that’s it? You took my
virginity and now you’re
leaving
me?”

“
Only for a little while.”
I kept my face set—calm and impassive. I had no intention of
showing her my true feelings lest she suspect what I was going to
do.

“
But the barrier…the
Abyss…I have to close the door…”

“
You can worry about that
later. For now, rest,” I told her.

“
As if I could after what
you did to me.” Her voice was filled with bitterness that pierced
me like a sword. “I thought you cared about me,” she whispered.
“And you
made
me
care about you.”

“
A lesson, perhaps, for
the future.” I pulled on my jacket, forcing myself to continue
dressing though I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms
and beg her forgiveness. “I’m going,” I said. “You need have no
fear as long as you stay inside the tent—it is spelled for your
safety. I will leave the
thrak
with you as well for protection.” I pulled the
evil-looking, black-bladed knife from under the bed where I had
stored it and placed it by her feet.

“
But Laish—” Her face said
she couldn’t believe it was over just like that and I was
going…leaving her alone.

“
I will return,” I said
and hoped that it was true. Then, though it tore out my heart to do
so, I turned my back on her. Trying to banish the picture of her
pleading green eyes filled with tears, I left the tent.

Kurex whinnied softly when he saw me and I
took a moment to lead him closer to the tent and tether him there.
I pressed my face to his neck, drawing comfort from his heat and
vitality.

“
Watch over her while I am
gone,” I told him, my voice sounding rough and strange in my own
ears. “Gwendolyn is your mistress now. Keep her safe,
Kurex.”

He nickered and I knew he would do as I
asked. Gwendolyn had won his heart from the moment he saw her—just
as she had won mine. I wondered again about the strange affinity
the creatures of the Underworld had for my little witch but I had
no time to solve the mystery now. There were steps that must be
taken before it was too late.

I walked through the spot where the barrier
had once stood and entered the region of the Abyss. Ahead of me I
could see the bottomless pit filled with nightmare creatures so
ancient they made even me seem young. It was quiet, for now at
least. Good—if I could accomplish my task without waking the
slumbering beasts, so much the better.

I started up the steep slope that led to the
far edge of the vast trench. It was a narrow, rocky road enchanted
to allow only one to climb it at a time. I had never intended to
let that one be Gwendolyn. It was too easy to imagine her foot
slipping on one of the loose rocks, the sound of her scream as she
slid into the black pit. Or one of the tentacles of the Ancient
Ones that lived below could easily reach up and grab her, dragging
her down before I could do a thing to stop it. No, I could not let
her take this journey, even though it was why she had come in the
first place.

Ahead of me, at the top of the ridge, I
could see the shining sliver of light that represented the slightly
open door. I wondered once again where the HellSpawn was. Had it
taken the bait I had put out for it when I sent the four lesser
demons wearing Gwendolyn’s clothing, spreading her scent to four
different corners of Hell? I hoped so but it seemed too easy. My
instinct told me the creature was too smart to be delayed in that
way for long. So where was it?

I cast a quick look back in the direction of
the tent. The light had gone off inside but Kurex was silent—not
agitated at all, which was a good sign. Maybe my little witch had
gone to sleep as I had suggested. I certainly hoped she was asleep,
anyway—I couldn’t bear to think of her lying in the dark crying
over my betrayal and hating me.

I promised myself that as soon as I finished
this task I would take her back to the Mortal Realm and give her
the complete truth. She might hate me forever but at least she
would have the option to be rid of me—an option I could not give
her as long as the door into the Abyss remained open.

Speaking of the door, it was almost within
my reach. I just hoped that the betrayal I had committed enabled me
to close it. It was a great price to pay, having Gwendolyn hate me
and believe that I did not care for her. But it would be worth it
if my plan succeeded.

Reaching the door at last, I gripped it
firmly by the cold metal knob and tried to push it closed. But it
was stuck, somehow, wedged open by something I couldn’t see. I put
my shoulder against it and pushed, using all the strength I could
muster.

I knew, of course, that I could use my true
form if necessary—I was much larger and stronger as my real self.
But I didn’t like to change if I could help it. For one thing, the
surge of power that came with such a transformation would almost
certainly wake the sleeping beasts within the pit. And for another,
once in my true form, it was incredibly difficult to transform back
and take my human form again.

I didn’t want Gwendolyn to see me as I
really was—didn’t want her to see my true form. I knew that she
hated me—I could not blame her for that. But I didn’t want her to
fear me as well. That was more than I could bear.

So instead of transforming, I reached deep
within me to the stolen piece of soul I had taken and tried again,
pushing with all my might to close the door.

And then I saw it…an oily black tentacle
leaking in through the cracked door. Suddenly I understood. The
HellSpawn hadn’t been tracking us through Hell at all—it had been
here, all along. Waiting patiently on the other side of the
door—waiting to attack.

With a shout that drew an answering neigh
from Kurex down below, I pressed my shoulder even harder to the
door. I heaved with all my might but it was too late, the black
bulk of the HellSpawn squeezed through and launched itself at my
chest.

I struggled with it, its knife-like teeth
snapping inches from my face. Had I been more prepared it would
have been no problem for me but as it was, I was scrambling on the
edge of the precipice, trying to hold the thing at arms length
while it continued its mindless attack. I shouted a word of power
but it had no effect on the creature—it was strong, much stronger
than it had been the first time I had encountered it.

I wondered how it had gained so much
strength lying in wait on the other side of the door, in the Mortal
Realm. Then I remembered that the spot where Gwendolyn had first
opened the door was a place of power—a hill where dark rites and
rituals had been performed since time out of mind. In fact, it was
to save her friend Taylor, in the middle of just such a ritual,
that she opened the door in the first place. Doubtless the
HellSpawn had been feeding on the excess power it found—power that
had been accumulating for centuries—as it waited like a noiseless,
patient spider for someone to come and try to close the door.

That someone it had been waiting for was
Gwendolyn, since only a person with her soul signature could close
the door that she had opened. But if it was alarmed to find me here
in her stead, it didn’t show it. It snapped and clawed,
relentlessly determined to reach me and latch onto my face. I knew
it could sense the stolen piece of soul inside me and wanted to
suck it out—but I could not allow that.

I heard Kurex neighing again from across the
great divide. The sound momentarily distracted me. The HellSpawn
surged forward in my arms and my feet slid against the rocky scree.
Suddenly I felt myself slipping, falling into the yawning black pit
of the Abyss—a place from which there is no escape.

The situation was desperate—without my true
form I was doomed. I shouted a word of power that illuminated the
entire vast cavern for a brief instant, like a flash of lightning.
And then my suit ripped away, as did my human form. I felt myself
growing and changing—becoming what I once was, what I was always
meant to be.

My true form emerged at last.

* * * * *

Gwendolyn

I don’t know how long I lay there in the
dark crying. I couldn’t understand what had happened—how things had
gone bad so quickly.

I’ll tell you what
happened,
whispered a spiteful little
voice in my head.
You were stupid enough
to trust a demon—to even let yourself care for one—and now you’re
paying the price. You’ve lost your virginity and with it, half your
power. Hope you enjoy the rest of your life as half a witch—half of
what you could have been if you’d been a little smarter.