Ruby Shadows (58 page)

“
Blessed be the
innocent,

Blessed be the pure of heart.

So be they at the end of times

As they are at the Start.

Protection grant this Blameless One

A wall around her build

Let none with wicked thoughts approach

Against them be her shield

Send her a protector

A guard against the night

A way to hide her innocence

Away from Evil’s sight

Blessed be the innocent,

Blessed be the pure of heart.

So be they at the end of times

As they are at the Start.

So Mote it be.”

As I spoke the last word, power raced
through me again—so strongly it nearly knocked me over. I braced
myself, head down, trying to be strong enough to contain the
immense surge. What the Hell was happening to me? Then I heard Eryn
say,

“
Oh!” in a long, drawn out
whisper.

Looking up, I saw the result of my
spell.

I don’t know what I expected—maybe that an
invisible force field would be raised all around Eryn or that a
magical shield she could use would somehow appear. Instead, a plain
wooden doorway had appeared in the center of the circle. It looked
like any door you might find inside a house—maybe a bedroom or a
closet door—and it was just standing there.

“
What is this? Where does
it lead?” Eryn asked me softly.

I shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. You’ll
have to open it and find out.”

“
But…is it safe?” She was
eyeing the door anxiously. “It doesn’t look like a door that would
lead to Heaven.”

“
No, it looks like
somebody’s bedroom or bathroom door,” I admitted. “I don’t think I
could open a doorway from Hell into Heaven even if I had the power
of an entire coven behind me. I’m pretty sure that this leads to
somewhere in the Mortal Realm.”

“
Well, that
is
a step in the right
direction.” She sounded hopeful but still uncertain.

“
Anything’s better than
Hell,” I agreed. “Maybe the spell is trying to send you someplace
safe—someplace away from here.”

“
But where, Gwendolyn?”
Eryn was looking at me uncertainly again. “Do you know where this
doorway might lead to?”

I opened my mouth to answer but just then
the door to the living area was flung open and Belial hobbled in.
Behind him came two burly demon guards and Druaga.

The boar demon was still minus one tusk but
his male equipment had begun to grow back. I saw with dismay that
it was already over a foot long and dangling from his open-fronted
trousers in the most disgusting way. When he saw Eryn, he stopped
and pointed at her with one hairy finger.

“
There she is! I told you
the mortal girl stole something of great value from me!
Guards—seize her!”

The two demons came charging forward…only to
bounce off the invisible boundary created by my magic circle. They
wouldn’t be able to get past it until they rubbed it out
entirely—which wouldn’t be easy considering that the talcum powder
I’d used had really gotten ingrained in the weave of the carpet.
Still, there was no time to lose—Eryn needed to get out of
here.

Unfortunately she appeared frozen to the
spot, staring with wide-eyed fear at Druaga who was in a fury,
shouting and swearing.

“
Mine,” he snorted. “I
tell you, she’s
mine!
The mortal female stole her from me—it is just as I
said.”

“
Yes, yes,” said Belial
impatiently. “We believe you, Druaga. But if you want the angel
back, we must rub out the circle.”

Uh-oh—they were on to us. As the four of
them started scuffing at the white talcum powder on the dark
carpet, I whirled around to face my new friend.

“
Eryn,” I said, taking the
angel by the arms and shaking her. “Eryn, hurry—you have to open
the door and go through it. You
have
to.”

“
But…I don’t know what or
who is on the other side,” she protested.

“
Yes but you know who’s
on
this
side,” I
pointed out grimly. “And if you don’t go now, you know what’s going
to happen to you.”

Her pale, lovely face got even paler.

“
You’re right,” she said,
reaching for the plain brass doorknob. “I have to go—and you do
too.” She looked at me pleadingly. “Gwendolyn, come with
me!”

“
I can’t,” I said as
gently as I could. “I have to keep the magic going. And besides,
this spell only works on virgins and I’m not one
anymore—remember?”

“
Oh yes, I suppose…” She
looked like she might cry but Druaga and Belial were beginning to
make headway at scuffing my talcum powder circle out of
existence.

“
Hurry,” I told
her.
“Hurry!”

“
All right.” Taking a deep
breath, she turned the knob just as I felt the magic of the circle
give way.

“
No, stop her! Come
back—she’s mine!” Druaga howled, charging into the circle with his
arms outstretched to grab Eryn.

“
Leave her alone!” I got
in his way, trying to keep him from getting to her but I didn’t
have to bother.

The minute the door opened
there was a deep rushing, sucking sound. I had a brief, confused
glimpse of the room beyond—there was a four poster bed but it
appeared like I was looking down on it. It was as though the door
was in the ceiling somehow and it was positioned directly over the
bed. But I couldn’t see who or what was sleeping in it—there was
just an indistinct lump under the covers. A very
large
lump. Oh Goddess,
where was Eryn going and who was she going to land on?

I didn’t have long to wonder. With a gasp,
Eryn was sucked through the doorway and into the dark bedroom
beyond.

“
Stop—I command you!”
Belial shouted but it was too late. The minute Eryn was through it,
the door slammed itself shut.

“
Mine—she’s
mine!”
Druaga bellowed.
He pushed me to one side, knocking me to my knees in the process,
and reached for the door. But the spell had done what it was meant
to do and now it was finished. The brass doorknob came off in the
boar demon’s hand and the rest of the door shivered and then
crumbled to dust right in front of him.

I breathed a sigh of
relief—Eryn was safe! Well, I
hoped
so anyway. The spell had been all about
protecting the innocent so it must have sent her to someone who
could help and protect her. But who?

“
Seize her!” Belial
shouted, breaking into my frantic thoughts. The two demon guards
both grabbed me by the arm with their hot, hard hands.

“
Hey, let me go!” I
struggled but it didn’t do a damn bit of good. The demons had too
strong a grip on me. And even if I could get loose, where would I
go? I was stuck here in Hell, with no way out.

“
You are to be tried and
sentenced immediately.” Belial glared at me, the last vestiges of
his kindly old grandpa persona disappearing completely. “And I
assure you, Ms. LaRoux, you
will
be found guilty—I will see to that
myself.”

I realized I had bigger things to worry
about now than where Eryn had been sent by my spell. Right now I
had to worry about keeping my own hide intact and judging from the
way Belial and Druaga were glaring at me, it wasn’t going to be
easy.

Chapter
Thirty-four

Gwendolyn

“
This Council of the Elder
Demons will convene at once.” Belial rapped on the broad wooden
table. “Order—order now,” he shouted, as though someone had
disagreed with him.

Seated around the table—which looked like it
could have come out of any boardroom in corporate America—were a
dozen demons, each older and uglier than the last. Belial was
standing at the head of the table and Druaga was sitting at his
right hand, presumably acting as the accuser.

I was standing at the head of the table on
the left side of Belial with my hands bound behind by back, waiting
to hear my fate. A fate which wouldn’t be long in coming, I was
sure. This didn’t seem like the kind of court where your case could
drag out for months and months or you could make any kind of
appeal. No, they were going to try me and find me guilty right now
and then probably hand me over to Druaga.

I’d rather die than let
that evil bastard touch me!
I thought,
trying to suppress a shiver.
I’ll kill
myself first.
But how? I looked around for
a weapon—any kind of weapon. If I could find something I would use
it to defend myself first and if that didn’t work, I would turn it
around and end my life before the evil demon could get me. But how
could I do anything with my hands tied?

My morbid thoughts were interrupted as
Belial started talking again.

“
As you know, the accused,
one Gwendolyn LaRoux, has been charged with the theft of a very
valuable item from the accuser, Druaga, the manager and owner of
the Hotel Infernal.”

“
It wasn’t an item,” I
said, speaking up on my own behalf since apparently you didn’t get
a lawyer in court here in Hell. “It was a
person—
an angel. You can’t just
steal a person! If anything, Druaga is in the wrong here! He’s an
evil, vicious, lecherous bastard who—”

“
Enough! Enough, Miss
LaRoux!” Belial shouted, pounding on the table again. He narrowed
his eyes at me. “Do you really think that your arguments carry
weight here? Think about it, young lady—you are in
Hell.
Druaga was simply
doing what comes naturally to demons—seeking to destroy innocence.
If anything, this Council applauds his efforts—the capture of an
angel is no small achievement.”

“
Hear, hear!” several of
the demons on the Council shouted, banging on the table.

“
An achievement you
snatched away from him by stealing the angel he had rightfully
stolen from Heaven,” Belial continued.

“
You’re all sick!” I
shouted, balling my hands into fists behind my back. “And anyway, I
didn’t
steal
her—she hitched a ride on my shoulder in her moth form. I
didn’t even know she was an angel until a few hours
ago.”

“
At which point you
proceeded to work a spell that would free her from Druaga and sent
her to some other unspecified place which you refuse to reveal,”
Belial thundered.

“
I
told
you—I don’t know where she
went!” I said. “The spell was for protecting the innocent. It
probably just sent her as far away from this evil bastard as it
could.” I nodded at the boar demon who was snarling at
me.

“
Don’t worry about
that—we
will
find
her.” Belial glared at me. “It may take time but she will be
located. In the meantime, since you are wholly uncooperative and
unrepentant of your crimes, I recommend to the Council that you be
given to Druaga as compensation for his lost property. All in
favor?”

“
Aye!” shouted every
single demon at the table.

“
All opposed?” Belial
asked. Not a single one of them spoke up—there was dead
silence.

“
The motion carries and
the sentence is just,” Belial concluded. “The accused will be
handed over to the accuser at once to be dealt with as he sees
fit.”

“
What? No!” I exclaimed.
Deep down I had been expecting this—I knew it was the most probable
outcome of the travesty of a trial I was being subjected to. But
I’d thought deliberations would last a
little
longer. I didn’t even have
anything to defend myself with—or kill myself if there was no other
way. Because I didn’t want Druaga touching me—the thought of that
huge, hairy thing dangling between his legs getting anywhere near
me was repulsive. Better to die than wind up being used over and
over for his sick pleasure.

Druaga rose from his seat and came over to
me.

“
A poor substitute for the
treasure I lost,” he snarled. His long, hairy snout wrinkled as he
leaned forward and took a deep whiff of my hair. I jerked away from
him but he didn’t seem to care. “She has lost her innocence and
half of her soul as well since last I saw her,” he
announced.

I had no idea what he was talking about but
I didn’t want to hang around and find out.

“
Stay away from me,” I
said in a shaky voice, trying to inch back from him. Unfortunately
the two demon guards were only a few steps away.

“
Hold her,” Belial
directed them and they gripped me by the upper arms, forcing me to
hold still.

“
Now be a good girl, my
dear and it will all be over quickly.” Druaga leered at me. Or
maybe
not
so
quickly.
”

Without warning, he grabbed the top of my
t-shirt in his hairy hands and yanked, ripping it viciously down
the middle. My extra bra hadn’t survived my adventures in Hell so
this left my breasts completely bare.

“
No!” I writhed in anger
and shame, my exposed nipples hardened both by the cold air and the
chilly fear I could feel knotting up my stomach.