Authors: Kate Douglas
Eddy glanced over her shoulder
at him and smiled without breaking stride. “I’ve always loved any excuse to
hike this mountain, but I have to admit, this is a first.”
Definitely
a first.
Everything he did on this world was a first, but Dax merely
nodded. He hoped it wasn’t a
last.
His heart was
full. He was thankful to whatever gods ruled Earth that he’d been granted Eddy
Marks as a soldier to march beside him…or in front of him.
He watched the slight sway of
her perfectly shaped behind encased in snug denim pants, and, for at least a
short while, put the pain and worry out of his mind.
Eddy adjusted the pack on her
shoulders and shoved sweaty strands of hair out of her eyes. They’d been hiking
for a couple of hours, and before too long they’d be hitting the loose scree
and volcanic rubble above the tree line that was totally impossible to walk on.
This late in the season, even with the light snowfall they’d had, there wasn’t
enough to cover the loose rock on the upper flanks of the mountain. It wasn’t
just difficult—it was downright dangerous.
Like fighting demons wasn’t?
What in
the hell have I gotten myself into?
Eddy stopped and took a drink
from her water bottle. Dax did the same. Then he cupped his hand and poured
water into his palm for Bumper.
The dog lapped it up and sat
at Dax’s feet with a stupid grin on her face. “I think Bumper’s in love.” Eddy
flashed a smile at Dax, but quickly turned away. No way did she want her
mind—or his—shifting along those lines.
She’d tried love a time or
two. It wasn’t at all what it was cracked up to be. If she’d learned anything
in her twenty-nine years in this world, it was the fact she didn’t need another
person to complete the woman she wanted to be.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t
enjoy the occasional relationship—as long as it came without strings. Eddy
Marks was all about lust, not love, but what red-blooded girl wouldn’t fall in
lust with a sexy guy like Dax?
He’s a
demon, you idiot.
Yeah, but
he’s still one of the good guys.
Right.
Like you know this for certain?
Well, her libido could argue
with her common sense all it wanted. They still needed to find the Lemurians
and the portal in the vortex…if either actually existed.
Willow buzzed by her face, and
Bumper growled. Even Eddy sensed a shift in the currents, a feeling of
something not quite right.
“Shhh.” Dax tugged Eddy’s hand
and slowly knelt behind a fallen tree alongside the trail. He held a finger to
his lips and motioned toward a large tumble of dark rock. “Look closely, on the
downhill side of the biggest boulder.”
Eddy held Bumper close to her
side and crouched next to Dax. She stared over the top of the splintered trunk
at the pile of rock. It was like every other pile of rock on the side of this
ancient volcano, most likely left over from some monstrous cataclysm eons ago.
She opened her senses, searching for whatever it was that had caught Dax’s
attention.
Birds chirped, cicadas buzzed,
and the sound of Bumper’s panting added a steady rhythm to the soft symphony of
sound. As she stared, the rock seemed to shudder and swell.
Eddy shot a quick glance at
Dax, but his focus on the boulder was absolute. She looked back just as a
shadow along the downhill edge of one of the boulders seemed to detach itself
and float away on the soft breeze.
Dax rose to his feet and held
his hands out. A burst of icy air caught the shadow. Like the demons he’d
stopped in Eddy’s living room, this one dropped to the ground in a pile of
frozen shards. Dax leapt over the log, raced across the rocky ground with
Bumper on his heels, and hit the icy bits with fire.
A burst of steam quickly
dissipated until nothing remained beyond a scorch mark on the ground. Dax
raised his head. The bloodthirsty look of feral satisfaction on his face set
her back a step. Then he grinned as if nothing had happened. “I think we’ve
found the portal,” he said. “Are you ready?”
“No. Of course not,” she
muttered. But she adjusted her pack, climbed over the fallen tree, and
carefully crossed the rock-strewn ground.
Dax walked slowly around the
pile of boulders. Willow buzzed alongside, dipping down occasionally to check
the ground, then flying up over the higher reaches, above their heads. The
stink of sulfur, a smell Eddy had learned to associate with the demons,
lingered.
It gave her goose bumps to
realize they’d been so close to one as it made the crossover from Abyss to
Earth. Dax paused near the downhill side of the largest boulder.
“It’s here,” he said. “I don’t
recognize it, so I’m not even sure it’s the same one I came through, but this
is definitely one of the portals.”
Eddy looked at the solid wall
of rock. The boulder was the size of a small car. “I don’t see anything there.”
She shrugged. “How do you get through it?”
Dax ran his hand over the
rough surface. As Eddy watched, he pressed against the boulder. His hand
disappeared up to his wrist. He pulled his hand out and continued to study the
surface.
Wide-eyed, Eddy touched the
hard surface. She pressed. Nothing happened. She pushed harder and then,
frustrated, slapped the rock. Nothing. “I don’t get it.”
Dax put his hand next to hers.
“You’re not actually trying to go through the rock. You’re moving from one
dimension to another. Think of the journey. You have to see the pathway beyond
the wall of rock. Picture a long tunnel and then push your hand into it.”
“What if it’s not really a
tunnel. What if there’s a big lake or a small room on the other side? What if
there’s fire?”
“That can’t happen, so it
doesn’t matter. You can only pass through where a portal exists, and portals
only go where they should. What matters is what you’re expecting. If you see
this as a doorway instead of a solid wall of rock, you will find the opening.
Try it.”
Eddy stared at the
lichen-covered boulder. Patches of yellow, orange, and green grew across the
rough surface. The rock was warm to the touch from the noonday sun. She made
herself look beyond the colored surface, beyond the solid reality of the stone.
She pictured a tunnel. Cool
and dark, it beckoned. She pressed her hand against the warm rock. Instead, she
felt a cool draft of air from the tunnel as her hand disappeared all the way to
her elbow.
She shrieked and tugged. Her
hand slipped easily out of the stone. “Oh. My.” She stared at Dax. “That is
just too weird.” She took a couple of deep breaths and shook off the shivers
coursing down her spine. “Is it going to be dark in there? How do we know where
we’re going? I really don’t want to end up in Abyss.”
Dax laughed and grabbed her
hand. He felt so warm and solid, she immediately calmed down. “Neither do I. We
need to think of the Lemurians. When we step through, I want you to hang on to
Bumper’s leash and hold my hand so we’re not separated. I’ll recognize the
dimension for Abyss and should be able to pick out the one for Eden. If there’s
a third, we’ll know it’s the Lemurians.”
Eddy nodded. “What if there’s
a fourth?”
Dax sighed. “Then I guess
we’ll go to Plan B.”
“What’s that?”
He shook his head. “Haven’t
got a clue, but we’ll figure something out.”
“Why doesn’t that give me a
sense of confidence?”
“Probably because you’re
hungry.” He walked a few steps down the hill and found a shady spot beneath a
stunted pine with a few large rocks beside it. “I thought breakfast would last
forever, but now I’m glad you made me bring sandwiches. I’m starving. This body
needs a lot of fuel. Would you like to eat?”
“Sure. Why not?”
Kill demons, find the portal, take a lunch break. Sheesh.
Eddy found a spot on a smooth rock and sat. She noticed Dax kept his attention
focused on the portal, even while he worked his way through two of the
sandwiches. The last thing they needed was a demon joining them for lunch.
Except
that’s exactly what I’m sitting beside.
She took a deep breath and a
bite of her sandwich, and put that thought out of her mind. Denial was easier.
Not necessarily safer, but definitely easier.
The sun reflected off the dark
scree, and it was warm here, even this high up on the mountain. Dax slipped his
flannel shirt off and draped it over the rock. Eddy almost choked. She’d been
trying so hard not to think about him, about the attraction she felt, but there
was no denying her body’s response.
Demon or not, the man was
gorgeous. He’d replaced the bandages on his chest and side after his shower,
but they didn’t detract from the powerful muscles or the lean strength of him.
Even the snake seemed to fit, glistening across his flat belly and winding up
his chest. The head rested just above his nipple with jaws gaping wide, as if
to swallow that perfect copper-colored disk whole.
Suddenly the snake writhed
across his skin. Dax shuddered. His body curved forward, and he gasped, as if
in terrible pain. Eddy reached out and grabbed his arm as he sat down, heavily,
on the rock next to hers.
“Dax? What’s wrong? Are you
okay?”
“A minute…” He closed his eyes
and took a series of deep breaths. His face was chalky. Perspiration beaded his
forehead. The snake tattoo glowed hotly against his skin. After a moment, he
opened his eyes and slowly ran his fingers over the inked scales.
“What is that thing?” Eddy knelt
in front of him with her hands resting on his knees. His body trembled; his
breathing was ragged. Willow zipped between her and Dax, glowing like a tiny
spotlight.
Her blue glow bathed his
chest. Dax slowly straightened, took another deep breath, and let it out.
“Thank you, Willow.” He placed his hands over Eddy’s. “I’m sorry if I
frightened you.”
“What happened? I swear I saw
that tattoo move across your skin, almost like it was trying to coil to strike.
What is it?”
He looked down at his chest
and ran his fingers along the colorful tattoo. “As I told you before, this
holds my demon powers. The part of me that controls fire and ice, that keeps
this body alive. When the Edenites gave me this avatar, they placed the tattoo
on my body as a repository of all that made me demonkind. Locked away like
this, the powers are mine to control.
“When I passed through the
portal, the gargoyle caught me before I had full use of my avatar, this body.
He hit me with cursed demonfire. The burn on my chest? It was charged with a
curse that seems to be turning my powers against me. I’ve been fighting it, but
it grows stronger by the hour.”
“What can we do?” Eddy pressed
the flat of her palm against the tattoo. It rippled beneath her hand. She bit
back a small scream and managed to hold her hand in place, but she hoped like
hell the curse couldn’t harm her.
After a moment, Dax frowned
and touched the back of her hand. “Your touch calms the pain. Thank you. Maybe
you draw some of the power.” He shook his head. “I don’t know. This is new to
me.” He stood up. “I should be able to keep it at bay for a couple more days,
at the very least. Long enough to finish my mission. After that, it won’t
matter anymore.”
Eddy folded her hands on her
thighs and looked up at Dax, standing so tall in front of her. “It matters to
me,” she said. “I don’t want to think of you hurting.”
Dax looked away without
acknowledging her comment. Then he held his hand out. She grabbed it. He tugged
her lightly to her feet and smiled as if he’d not been close to collapsing in
agony only moments ago. “Are you ready to find the Lemurians?”
“I guess so.” She watched him
out of the corner of her eye as she snapped the leash on Bumper. Dax cleared up
the leftovers from their lunch, saved the extra sandwich, and tucked it and the
trash into his pack. Then he slipped his shirt on and buttoned it, hiding the
snake away behind soft flannel.
She wondered if he’d looked
anything like the tattoo in his own world. He’d said he was a creature of
scales and claws and sharp fangs. Snakes didn’t have claws.
Dax was no longer a demon.
But, what made a creature a demon? Wasn’t it the powers he called upon? Dax had
those powers. They were inked into his skin, crawling across his thigh, his
belly…his groin. She thought of the way the colorful snake crossed from his
upper thigh and passed just above the thick root of his penis. She hadn’t meant
to look quite so closely, but she’d never forget what she saw.
He was beautiful everywhere.
Absolutely beautiful.
With that thought in mind, she
grabbed Bumper’s leash and followed Dax back uphill to the pile of dark
boulders. It was time to go through the portal, into the vortex.
“Hold tightly to Bumper’s
leash. She obeys you well and should be able to follow you through the portal.
Don’t let go of my hand. I’ll need to choose the correct path as soon as we
enter so we don’t end up in either Eden or Abyss.”
Eddy gulped. “What happens if
we take the one to Abyss?”
“You would not survive the
world’s atmosphere. I doubt I could either, not in this body. And if we go to
Eden, we would be destroyed before we could set foot on their world.”
“I thought they were the good
guys.” She slanted a glance at Dax and caught him frowning.
“That’s what they tell me.
However, they protect their goodness by obliterating anyone foolish enough to
try to enter without invitation.”
“I thought they couldn’t
kill.”
“They don’t. The entrance to
their world is warded with spells based on demon magic.”
Eddy shook her head. “Ya know,
at least the demons are honest about their killing. The Edenites are
hypocrites. They let demons do all their dirty work so they can stay pure.”