The Darkest Fire (3 page)

“Perhaps the wall is not as damaged as I feared,” Kadence told Geryon. Maintaining a firm grip, she used the jagged stones to edge along, ever conscious of the seemingly endless void awaiting her should she lose her balance. “A goddess can hope, at least.”

“Yes, a goddess can hope.” Geryon kept a steady pace in front of her, remaining as close as possible every inch of the way without actually touching her.

She yearned to slide against him, drink in his strength, belong to him if only for a moment, but she did not, too afraid of startling him. And not even when a rock tumbled from the small ledge on which she had placed her foot did she relent. Sadly, neither did he.

“Do not show the flames fear,” he said. “They feed on it, will try to increase it.”

“They are alive?”

“Some of them.”

Dear gods. How had she not known? “I did not imagine such a climb would be necessary. I assumed we would flash wherever we needed to go. Silly of me.”

“Flash?”

“Yes. The ability to move from one location to another with only a thought.”

“Would be difficult to flash along this wall. You might end up in a spot without a ledge. When we finish here, can you flash us to the bottom of the pit? Once there, we can search for the demons on foot.”

“No,” she said on a sigh. “I wish, but no. I've never taken this route. I would not know where to stop, and might very well cause us to materialize underground.”

He did not show any disappointment. “Still, it is a handy power to possess. I envy you.”

Poor man. He'd been stuck at the gates of hell for more years than she could count. “If you could flash to anywhere in the world, where would you go?” Once they'd destroyed the demons trying to escape, perhaps she would take him there.

He grunted. “I do not wish to lie to you, goddess, therefore I will not answer your question.”

Curiosity bombarded her. Why would he not answer such a question? Unless…did his answer embarrass him? If so, why? She desperately wanted to know, but let the matter drop. For now.

When they reached the far side of the wall, he somehow angled himself behind her. Still he didn't touch her, yet she felt the heat of him pressing into her back, holding her steady. It was not a heat she minded, even amidst the smoldering furnace that was hell. His was…heady.

“I'm sorry to say it's worse than I thought it would be.” His breath trekked over her.

“Wh—what?” she asked, horrified. Being near her was worse than he'd thought?

“The wall. What else?”

Thank the gods, she thought, expelling a breath.
Foolish woman
. Her life depended on this wall. She should not care whether a man found her attractive. Or not.

She forced her gaze straight ahead, her mind centered on her job, not the intriguing man behind her. At least somewhat. Thick claw marks abounded. And what had appeared to be thin grooves on the other side were massive craters here. Hope abandoned her.

“They are more determined than I realized,” she said, voice trembling slightly.

Geryon adjusted his grip, his arm just over her shoulder. A tremor raked her. If she stood on her tiptoes, she would feel his skin against her chimation. Though it had been hundreds of years since she'd had a man, she remembered the comfort such simple contact could offer.

“Do not worry. I will not allow them to hurt you.”

“And I will not allow them to hurt you,” she vowed.

Chuckling, he latched onto her waist. She gasped. Finally. It was amazing and wonderful…wild and intense. But there was no comfort in it, as she'd expected. No, instead she experienced white-hot, searing arousal.

“Geryon?”

“Time to fall, goddess,” he said, and then he released the rocks, taking her over the edge with him.

They seemed to fall forever. Geryon retained an iron-edged grip on the trembling Kadence, her hair whipping around them like angry silk ribbons. She didn't scream, something he'd expected, but she did wind her legs around him, something he had not.

It was his first taste of heaven.

“I've got you,” he said. Her body fit perfectly against his, soft where he was hard, smooth where he was callused.

“When does it end?” she whispered, but still he caught the undercurrents of panic in her voice.

They were not twirling, were merely dropping, but he knew the sensation could be harrowing. Especially, he reflected, for one used to flashing ly from one place to another. “Soon.” He'd fallen like this only once before, when Lucifer took him to the palace to explain his new duties. But he had never forgotten.

Like before, flames kindled all around them, pinpricks of gold in the shuddering darkness. Except before, those flames had flicked like snake tongues, licking at him. That they didn't now…did they fear him? Or the goddess?

She was more
everything
than Geryon had realized. More courageous. More determined. Every minute he spent with her, his desire for her intensified. She was the break of dawn in the bleakness that was his life. She was refreshing ice in smoldering heat.

She is not for you
.

Ugly as he was, she would run fast and far if she knew the many fantasies his mind had begun to weave of them. Him, laying her on the ground, stripping her, dancing his tongue over every delicious inch of her. Her, moaning in pleasure as he tasted her core. Crying out in abandon as he filled her with his shaft.

“What's wrong?” she asked, her still-rising panic evident.

“Nothing's wrong,” he lied. “Just a little farther and we'll hit. Landing will jar you, but I'll absorb most of the impact.” He moved one of his hands up and onto the base of her neck. Offering comfort, he told himself. He'd tried not to touch her, had fought it, but there'd been no other way to protect her inside the pit.

What was the harm in adjusting a single hand?

“But you stiffened.”

More so than she probably realized, he thought dryly.
I must stop craving her
. Her skin was soft, so soft, and he felt little bumps rise under his palm as he gently massaged.

To his delight, her muscles relaxed under his ministrations. “Tell me what's wrong,” she said. “You're hiding something, I can tell. I know this pit is made for souls, not breathing, flesh and blood bodies. Are we going to—”

“No. I swear it. We will live.” The conversation seemed to calm her, so he said, “Tell me about you. About your childhood.”

“I—all right. But there's not much to tell. I was not allowed out of my home as a child. For the greater good,” she added, as though the line had been fed to her many times before.

He hugged her tight, understanding. Because of her nature, she'd been as much an outcast as he was. “Goddess, I—” The air was thickening around them, the flames spraying what looked to be molten teardrops. He recognized the signs; the end was near. “Drop your legs from me, but do not let them touch the ground.”

“All rig—”

“Now!”

Boom
. They smacked into the ground and Geryon planted his feet as the impact vibrated through him. He tried to remain upright to keep the goddess from the ground, but his knees soon gave out and he collapsed backward.

Kadence remained in his arms, though she had unwound her legs as he'd asked, so his back took the brunt of the fall, breath knocking from his lungs. He lay there for a moment, panting.

They were well and truly inside hell.

There was no going back now.

“Geryon? Are you all right?”

The muted darkness of the pit had given way to bright light, fire illuminating every direction. Kadence hovered over him, like the sun he sometimes glimpsed in his dreams, bright and glorious. “I am…fine.”

“No, you're not. You're wheezing. What can I do to help?”

He was surprised to note she did not scramble off him, now that they were safe. Well, as safe as a person could be inside hell. “Tell me more about yourself. While I catch my breath.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” As she spoke, her delicate hands wisped over his brow, his jaw, his shoulders. Searching for injuries? Offering comfort? “What should I tell you?”

“Anything.” He was growing stronger by the second, but he did not admit it. Rather, he luxuriated in the sensation of her touch. “Everything. I want to know all about you.” Truth.

“All right. I…goodness, this is hard. I guess I'll start at the beginning. My mother is the goddess of Happiness. Odd, I know, that such a woman could give birth to one such as me.”

“Why odd?” When looking at Kadence, hearing her voice, breathing in her scent, gave him more joy than he'd ever known?

“Because of what I am,” she said, clearly ashamed. “Because of the damage I can cause.”

“I have known nothing but—”
pleasure, hunger, desperation
“—kindness at your hands.”

Her ministrations ceased, and he could feel her gaze boring into him. “Truly?”

“Yes, truly.”
Do not stop touching me
. Centuries had passed since he'd last enjoyed even the slightest hint of contact. This was nirvana, paradise and a dream all wrapped into one delightful package. “My head,” he found himself saying on a moan.

“Poor baby,” she cooed, massaging his temples.

He nearly smiled. Now was not the time for this. They were inside hell, out in the open, possible targets. But he could not help himself, was too desperate, greedy.
Just a little longer
. “Your story,” he prompted.

“Where was I? Oh, yes.” Her honeysuckle scent enveloped him, chasing away the odor of rot. “I was a mean little girl. I didn't share my toys, and I frequently made the other children cry, unintentionally compelling them to bend to my will. All right, perhaps a few of those times it was not so unintentional. I think that's one of the reasons I was sent to hell as warden, though it was never said aloud. The gods wanted to be rid of me.”

How forlorn she sounded. “Every living creature has made a mistake at one point or another. Besides, you were a child. Not yet sensitized to the feelings of others. Do not blame yourself.”

“What of you?” she asked, and this time she sounded more buoyant.

He'd relegated his human memories to a far corner in his mind, never to be considered again. Before, thinking of those days had stung, for he'd known they were forever lost—but he reminded himself that with his wife's desertion, that was a good thing. Today, however, with the essence of Kadence all around him, he experienced only a thrum of sadness for what might have been.

“I was a wild child, untamable, a roamer,” he said. “My mother despaired, thinking I would worry her and every member of our family to death.” He laughed, her sweetly aged face flashing in his mind. “Then they introduced me to Evangeline. She calmed me, because I wanted to be worthy of her. We married, as both our families desired.”

Kadence stiffened. “You are…wed?”

“No. She left me.”

“I am sorry,” she said, but there was relief in her tone.

“Don't be.” Had he not given his soul for Evangeline, she would have died. And had she not left Geryon, he might have fought Lucifer when the time came to become guardian. And had he fought, he might not have met Kadence.

Suddenly a frenzied snarl echoed through the distance. Giving up all pretense of being winded, Geryon popped to a stand, lifting the goddess with him and searching the distance.

A demon was racing straight for them.

Geryon shoved Kadence behind him. Another touch—
warmth, satin skin, perfection—
and he yearned to revel in it. He didn't, couldn't. He'd agreed to come with her to save the human realm, yes, but also to keep her safe. Not because she was a goddess and not because she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever beheld, but because, in this single day, she had made him feel like a man. Not a beast.

“Remember that I swore to let no harm befall you,” he told her. A minute, perhaps two, and the creature would reach them. Fast as it was, there was still a great distance to cover, the streets of hell stretching endlessly. “I will keep my word.”

“Geryon. Perhaps I can—”

“No.” He didn't want her involved in this fight. Already she was trembling in fear. She was so scared, in fact, she had yet to realize her hands were resting on his back, twin conductors of inexorable pleasure. Had she known, surely she would have jerked away. “I will fight it.” Should she try, it would feed off her fear, becoming more crazed.

As did most minions, the creature coming at them possessed a skeletal face and a muscled body covered in green scales, its forked tongue flicking out as if blood already coated the air. Glowing red eyes glared at them, a thousand sins resting where pupils should have.

Warrior instincts demanded Geryon stride forward and meet the bastard in the middle. Fight there, like true soldiers. Yet his every
male
instinct demanded he stay where he was. To put any distance between himself and Kadence was to place her in further danger. Another demon could be hiding nearby, waiting for the chance to pounce on her.

“This is my fault,” she said. “No matter that I had begun to relax, my fear of this place is bone-deep. And that fear is like a beacon to them, isn't it?”

He chose not to answer that, too afraid of scaring her further by acknowledging the truth of her words. “When he reaches us, I want you to run backward. Press against the wall and scream for me if you see any hint of another demon.”

“No, I want to help you. I—”

“Will do as I said. Otherwise, I will defeat him and leave this place.” His tone was uncompromising. Already he regretted bringing her here, whether the wall needed defending or not.

She stiffened against him, but didn't offer another protest.

A cry of, “Mine, mine, mine,” rent the air.

The creature closed in, faster…almost…there. Claws raked at Geryon as he grabbed his opponent by the neck. Multiple stings erupted on his face, followed by the trickle of warm blood. Flailing arms, kicking legs. Only when the temptation of Kadence's hands fell away did Geryon truly begin to battle. He tossed the creature to the ground and leapt upon it, knees pinning its shoulders. One punch, two, three.

It bucked, wild and feral. Saliva gleamed on its fangs as curses sprang from its bony mouth. Another punch. Still another. But the pounding failed to subdue it in any way.

“Where is Violence? Death? Doubt?” he gritted out.

The struggling continued, intensified, terror leaping to life in those red eyes. Not fear for what Geryon would do, he knew, but terror for what its brothers-in-evil would do if they learned of any betrayal.

Though Geryon hated for Kadence to see him kill—again—it could not be helped. That's what they had come here for, after all. He raised his hand, spread his elongating, dripping nails and struck. The poison that coated his nails was a “gift” from Lucifer to aid in his duties and acted swiftly, without mercy, spreading through the creature's body and rotting it from the
 
inside out.

It screamed and screeched in agony, its struggling soon becoming writhing. Then the scales began to burn away, smoking, sizzling, leaving only more of that ugly bone. But the bones, too, disintegrated. Ash coated the air, blowing in every direction.

Geryon stood to shaky legs. He kept his back to Kadence for several minutes, waiting, hoping—dreading—that she would say something. What did she think of him now? Would there be any more of her tending? Finally curiosity got the better of him and he pivoted on his heels.

She stood exactly as he'd commanded, her back pressed against the rocky wall. Those glorious ringlets cascaded around her. Her eyes were wide and filled with…admiration? Surely not.

“Come to me,” she said.