'Tween Heaven and Hell (28 page)

* * * * *

When I woke up I apparently was still under the influence of
the magiced gown. My eyes saw only black when I opened them and my ears could
only pick up a muffled whispering that sounded as if it were far away, but
approaching fast.

I tried to move my arms and legs but they felt as if that two-hundred-pound
anchor was still strapped to them. I felt myself beginning to panic. How the
hell was I gonna get out of this one. I had to think, think, think.

Suddenly I felt my mental drawers being invaded again. I don’t
know who I expected to find in my drawers but I would have never guessed, in thirteen
bazillion years, that it would be Emo.

Astra?

Ohmygod, Emo. Where are you? I need your help.

I’m here. Hidden. I’ve called for help but they haven’t
shown up yet.

How’d you get in here? Can you come get this damned gown
off me?

Astra this is no time to talk dirty.

Har. I think it’s been magiced or something, it weighs a
ton and I can’t see or hear anything.

Power blocker. They’re trying to keep you from
communicating with Dialle.

But I’m communicating with you?

Yeah, he’s either forgotten about me or he doesn’t
consider me dangerous. Big mistake on his part.

Emo, if I ever get out of this remind me to give you a
big, wet kiss.

There you go talkin’ dirty to me again. When, we get out
of this, remind me to take you up on it.

So where are you?

I’m hiding right in the middle of a really skanky-looking
crowd of dark worlders. There are probably around a thousand of us skanks here
and we’re all just kind of standing around staring at you.

Shit.

Yeah, we’re waiting for his majesty to show up and start
the ceremony. I’m trying to work my way through the crowd, but I don’t want to
be too conspicuous. I’ll be able to move faster once Nerul gets the show going
and everybody’s distracted.

Oh great, you should arrive about the time the gargoyle
is finished raping me.

Now Astra, what do you expect when you dress like that?

Har, har. Just get me the Hades out of here, Emo, or
you’re fired.

Hey, whatever happened to the big, wet kiss?

I’m a big believer in both positive and negative
reinforcement. You figure it out.

Got it. Here comes his majesty the asshole now. I’ll get
back to you.

Emo? What’s he doing? Emo? Shit!

I couldn’t believe I was probably going to just lie there
and let them rape me, or kill me, or suck me dry, or whatever disgusting thing
they had in store for me. It was so damned unfair. Why did I ever have to
listen to Nille and put the frunkin’ gown on anyway?

Nille. Had he known what they’d done to the gown? Was he in
on this with them? My heart wanted to say no. But my brain couldn’t help
remembering what the High Council had told me when I’d gone before the Angel
Council. My friends may not really be my friends and my enemies might really be
my friends—or some such useless drivel. Damn. Why didn’t those stinkin’ angels
just come down into this cesspool and take care of Nerul and his throngs of
blood-sucking voyeurs themselves? What the hell did they think they were doing,
floating around up there in their safe, pristine little world, pulling the
strings and watching some poor little Tweener get mauled, eaten, or just
generally pounded to smithereens?

The thought that I was lying somewhere, probably on the very
same altar, in the very same cavern where Emo and I had watched Dialle’s queen
being raped by a satanic human sacrifice only days earlier, with hundreds if
not thousands of malevolent creatures of the dark world gathered around me
waiting for me to be killed, or worse, made my skin crawl and my stomach churn.

Panic bubbled up inside me and I felt the power try to spark
at its core. It succeeded in taking hold but couldn’t build under the
smothering embrace of the gown. I fought to keep it lit though, because it made
me feel less helpless and I was hopeful I’d find a way to break through the
gown’s hold on me.

Suddenly, as from a distance, I heard a roar of sound that
could have been cheering. I assumed something big had just happened and that
didn’t bode well for the terrified little Tweener on the altar. My growing
panic gave fuel to the fledgling power and I tried to build on the momentum. Miraculously
I felt the weight of the gown lifting and, as if I’d been encased in a cocoon,
hot, demon-scented air rushed in to assail me. The rest of my hearing returned
in a rush and my eyes began to see tiny flickering lights all around and above
me, which I at first thought were stars, but which I quickly realized as my
sight sharpened were candles.

I forced myself to lie very still so no one in the room
would know I’d pushed back the power of the gown. Lying there instead of
jumping off that altar and fighting my way out of the cavern was the hardest
thing I’d ever done in my life. Emo hadn’t been exaggerating. The subterranean
room was filled to claustrophobic capacity. Hooded, musty-smelling creatures
surrounded the altar where I lay and I could feel the throbbing crush of their
excited bodies against the stone slab. The leathery hands of the ones nearest
the altar were all over me, invading me in every conceivable way and my body
was covered in quickly cooling green blood. Demon blood. I guess that gave me a
clue as to whether they’d decided on Door Number One or Door Number Two for the
night’s festivities. Apparently they hadn’t been able to kill Dialle.

Dialle. As I thought his name I felt a surge of power flow
through me. The teardrop on my neck started to throb and his voice came into my
head.

Astra, I’m coming. Don’t let them complete the ceremony
.
And then he was gone again. The power ebbed away, but left a residual flame
behind that strengthened what I’d managed to pull together by myself. Things
were looking up. The starship cavalry was on its way. Now all I needed were the
angels.
Hello, anybody up there wanna come save my ass?
Nothing. Stinkin’
damn angels.

The room suddenly exploded with sound and I jumped. Fortunately
the hooded figures around me were too distracted by whatever had entered the
room to pay any attention to me. Many of them had turned away from the altar to
stare at something across the cavern. I took the opportunity to turn my head
enough so that I could see what was happening.

The hundreds of hooded figures in the room had broken into a
gravelly sounding chant that made my blood run cold. I said a quick desperate
prayer that it wasn’t one of those trance-causing chants, like I’d fallen
victim to when the Agar had paid me a visit.

I tensed, waiting for the feeling of helpless immobility to
start creeping over me, even while I steeled my mind and my simmering power
against it. Tentatively I moved my fingers and toes and then risked lifting my
head just a fraction of an inch to test my mobility. Either this was a
different type of chant or I was somehow not susceptible to it this time. One
less hurdle to overcome. Small blessings are the sweetest.

The crowd around my altar started to shift and churn and I
realized they were opening a path for someone, or something. As the crowd
pulled apart, I saw that a group of six to eight demon guards were carrying
something through the mass of assembled nasties on a wide flat trufka, which is
generally used to carry only the royal and powerful in the dark world. The
trufka and its bearers, looking suspiciously like a funeral procession, were
coming toward me.

As it approached, I saw that Prince Nille, bound at ankle
and wrist, lay pale and apparently unconscious under a blanket that looked like
it was made of the same material as my gown. Apparently he hadn’t suspected the
power of the gown when he’d told me to put it on. One point for him.

I was so engrossed in watching the oncoming procession that
I forgot myself and raised my head so I could see better.

Big mistake.

Huge mistake.

Just as I remembered I was supposed to be playing dead, I
felt a hard, leathery hand wrap itself around my arm and give it a painful
jerk. I cursed silently and realized I’d just lost the tiny advantage I’d
gained by playing dead. Too late now. I guess I’d have to make my own
opportunity.

Turning my head with a feeling of dread, I found myself
looking at something that was dressed just like everything else in the room,
but which had a black hole where a face should have been. From within the empty
hood, two bright, red eyes glowed out at me and the hand tightened on my arm
until I thought the bones would break.

Shit, shit, shit
. My traitorous mind rehashed the
conversation Prince Nille and I had had about vampires in the court and my
stomach clenched painfully. Something told me the next few minutes of my life
were
really
gonna suck.

Chapter Twenty-
Five

Friend? Or Foe?

Our lady cast aside her cares and grasped a friendly
hand,

Only to find herself ensnared, her expectations
scammed…

Astra, it’s me, Emo.

Shit. I thought you were a vampire.

Good. Hopefully everyone else does too. You okay?

Just peachy. Let’s get the hell out of here.

Right. You’ll have to move fast.

No problem. The hard thing would be not moving fast. I’m
totally creeped out.

Emo’s hand slipped down my arm to my hand and he gave me a
tug as I swung my legs off the side of the altar. The crowd around the altar
was so transfixed by the oncoming procession that it took a moment before we
heard the roar of dismay behind us. By then we’d slipped quite a way through
the roiling, boisterous crowd. Emo pulled me into a shadowed nook and told me
to wait there. I grabbed his arm before he could disappear. “Where are you
going?”

“To get you something else to wear. You’re slightly
conspicuous in that outfit.”

I looked down and grinned. “You think so?”

He laughed and cocked his hooded head to the side. “It would
be less conspicuous to stand up on the altar and scream, ‘Rape me!’“

If I could have seen his face I was sure I’d have seen
something else in it besides humor. I was glad I couldn’t see his face. I let
him slip away from me into the crowd. While he was gone I pulled the wretched
gown over my head. Despite what Nille had said, naked was preferable to that
thing. I held it in front of me as I waited for Emo, but I made sure it didn’t
touch my body any more than necessary, just in case.

While I waited I shuffled through my mental drawers.
Dialle.
Are you out there?

A moment passed before he came to me bright and clear.
Lovely
Astra. It appears that you’ve managed to escape the power blocker. I trust you
are taking good care of yourself?

It’s what I do best. Where are you?

I am near. I have friends with me.

Your friends or mine?

Why Astra, all friends of Dialle are your friends. Have I
not made that clear?

Clear as mud. Look, Emo and I are gonna fight our way out
of here, if you get here in time great, otherwise I’ll send you a postcard.

No Astra. You mustn’t leave.

Why not?

Prince Nille must not be sacrificed.

But I thought they needed me to complete the ceremony.

You would have been the best candidate, that’s true,
especially since you carry our joined powers within you. But Nerul can and in
fact already has chosen a substitute for you, if you should prove…unusable.

Who?

Our queen.

Kaline?

Yes. She has the necessary qualities.

And what qualities are those? Pretty eyes and big boobs?

Hardly. Though those are certainly assets in my book.

Tell me why I should go back in there and risk not only
my life but Emo’s?

Because if Nerul acquires Nille’s power, the world as we
know it will end. There will be devastation as you can not imagine.

Shit.

Yes, lovely Astra. Shit is what it would be.

Emo arrived bearing one of the plain, brown hooded cloaks
and I quickly pulled it over my head. Then he grabbed my hand and I yanked it
away.

He turned to look at me and, in the shadowed space I could
only see his glowing, red eyes. It was slightly disconcerting looking into
those eyes, even if I knew they belonged to my friend and partner. I shivered
slightly and made myself a mental note to ask him how he’d done the glowing
eyes thing, if we survived the next few hours of course. “We can’t leave yet.”

He cocked his hooded head. “Why not?”

“We have to save Prince Nille.”

He grabbed my hand again. “What the hell are you talking
about, Astra? Nille is Nerul’s son. He’s no concern of ours. Let them kill each
other off, it makes life better for all of us.”

I shook my head and yanked my hand back out of his iron
grasp. “Sorry, Emo. I know how you feel about Nerul but I have to do this. I
can’t explain it all to you right now. You’ll just have to trust me.”

He stood staring at me with that shadowed face and those
glowing eyes for a long moment and then seemed to shrug. “All right. You’re the
boss. What do you want to do?”

I pulled the hood lower on my face and stepped back into the
crowd. “Follow me, let’s see what’s going on.”

Against every better judgment I’ve ever had, I worked my way
back into the midst of that foul-smelling, roiling crowd. I tried to hold onto
Emo’s sleeve as I pushed my way through, but we quickly got pulled apart and I
lost him in the crowd. I moved forward, trusting in him to keep up with me
despite the increasingly frantic mood of the crowd and the resulting chaos it
was causing. Several times I had to fight against being thrown to the floor as
the crowd surged this way and that. It was all I could do to stay on my feet
much of the time. Eventually though, I managed to make my way to a spot that
was an uncomfortably small distance from the altar where I’d only recently
experienced the most helpless feeling of my young life. I wiped suddenly wet
palms on the rough fabric of the robe. I was so preoccupied with my inner
battle against an almost overwhelming desire to bolt the place that it took me
a minute to register the fact that the altar was no longer empty.