“Priestess, will you open the gate for us, or shall my comrades and I woo you through the prickly wall?”
“No!” she said a little too loudly. And then, feeling like an idiot, she added, “I didn't call you, so you don't need to woo me at all.”
His expression showed honest disappointment. “I must apologize, gracious lady. I assumed you were one of the ElementalsâFlame perhaps, with your wealth of fire-kissed tresses and your extraordinary beauty. It was, after all, Flame who called me here. I would have been a fortunate man had you been she.”
“Sorry, I'm not an Elemental.” Mikki smiled. She wasn't being unfaithful to Asterius by being polite to himâshe was doing her duty as Empousa. After all,
she
was the one who cast the spell to allow men within
her
realm. “I'm the Empousa.”
The man's aquamarine eyes crinkled endearingly at the edges with his joyous smile. “Empousa!” He bowed with a lovely chivalrous flourish, which the other men copied, each calling gallant greetings to her. “What a fortunate coincidence that you were passing at this moment. There is word that a new Empousa reigns in the Realm of the Rose. We are honored to meet you.” His smile was boyish with good humor. “Though the meeting was shouted through a barrier of roses.”
“You say Floga invited you?”
“She did, Empousa.”
“Did she invite your friends, too?” Mikki tried to keep the mischievous grin from her face, but she failed miserably. She could all too easily imagine the Flame Elemental needing four men to extinguish her passionâeven if one of them did look like Adonis.
For an instant Mikki felt a stab of jealousy as she thought about the Elemental's freedom and the ease with which she could walk side by side with any man she chose.
“She did not, Empousa,” said one of the toga-wearers who had thick, dark hair and a well-defined face, bringing her thoughts back to their conversation. “The Earth Elemental is the priestess whose call I answer.”
“Water called me, Empousa,” another man said.
“I am fortunate to be summoned by Air,” said the fourth man, who had long, auburn hair and remarkably green eyes.
Damn, but they were four deliciously handsome men! Her Elementals definitely had made good choices. Mikki made a mental note to ask Gii just exactly how this whole man-inviting thing worked. It was a little weird that they had been called by the girls this morning, but then again, maybe it wasn't. She hadn't called them to workâit was rainyâthey'd decided to busy themselves in their own way. Clearly they were as smart as Mikki had given them credit for being.
“I'm sure the Elementals will be here any second. I'll be happy to let you guys in.”
Their leader's eyes lit, and he bowed again to her. “To be invited within the Realm of the Rose by its Empousa is truly an honor we do not deserve.”
“Oh, it's no problem. We can walk back to the palace together. I was just going to head in that direction.” And being escorted by four to-die-for-handsome young men was definitely not a hardship. Neither was it wrong. She felt an unexpected surge of anger. Hell, no! It wasn't wrong. She was in love, not dead. And all she was doing was taking the men to her handmaidens. The only ulterior motive she had was maybe to engage in some harmless flirtation. And why not? She felt amazingly pretty and completely loved. But that didn't mean she wanted to be controlled and caged! Asterius could just think again if he expected to put his brand on her and treat her like a prize heifer! Is that what Asterius would expect from her? To allow him to own her every movement? She was suddenly afraid that he might. He was, after all, a beast. She couldn't expect him to know how to treat a woman.
Somewhere in the depths of Mikki's mind a warning tried to cry its way through the cacophony of unnaturally defensive thoughts that bubbled and brewed like a rancid stew. But they could not be heard over the hatred and envy, selfishness and fear that were shouting so loudly.
Feeling totally pissed off, she moved to the middle of the gate and frowned at it. No doorknob. No latch. No bar to slide back. Frustrated, and especially annoyed at the massive headache that pounded in her temples, she raised one hand and pressed her palm against the gate.
“This is your Empousa speaking. Open the hell up,” she muttered angrily.
The living gate instantly swung open. The four men stepped out of the swirling fog, smiling at her as if she had just given them the key to paradise. Mikki smiled absently back at them, wishing they'd hurry and get inside. She didn't like the looks of the gray-cloaked forest, and she wanted to get the gate shut right away. The second the last man was through, she raised her hand again and whispered for the gate to close, breathing a sigh of relief when it obeyed her. Then she turned to the men.
“Okay, the palace is that way.” Mikki gestured to the widest of the marble pathways.
“After you, Empousa,” the golden man said.
Mikki began down the path but stopped abruptly when the dark-haired man stepped in front of her to block her way.
“Uh, it's that way,” Mikki said, pointing over the man's shoulder and thinking that he may be handsome, but he definitely wasn't the brightest Crayola in the pack.
“Perhaps you would like to know our names before you lead us to the palace, Empousa.”
The golden man's voice came from directly behind her. He was standing so close she could feel his breath on her hair. The other two men stepped in to close the tight circle so they had her neatly surrounded, and in that instant her mind clearedâthe pain in her head stopped, as did the deafening emotions that had been seething in her mind.
Mikki was suddenly, horribly afraid. They were Dream Stealers, and she had opened the rose gate for them.
Instincts that had been silenced from the moment she had begun talking with the golden man screamed at her not to show fear. Mikki swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat, drew herself up regally and turned to face the golden man.
“What is this all about?” she snapped.
“We're simply saying that we would like to introduce ourselves to you, Empousa. You see, we already know you. We've enjoyed watching you. Now we'd like for you to know exactly who you have so graciously invited within your realm.” His voice had changed from charming to sarcastic. His lip curled at her, and his handsome face twisted in disgust.
“I don't like your tone, and I don't like how close you're standing to me,” Mikki said sternly, trying to imitate Hecate's intimidating tone. “I think it's time you left. I've decided my handmaidens wouldn't like you.”
“Too late! You opened the barrier to us, and you will see that once invited, we are not so easily banished.” He reached out and lifted a strand of her hair that had fallen over her shoulder. Mikki tried to jerk away from him, but hard hands grasped her shoulders and held her in place as the golden man bent and sniffed at her hair. Mikki struggled. Fisting his hand in her hair, he jerked her head to the side. Like a snake tasting the skin of its prey, his tongue flicked out to graze the side of her neck.
“Ah, the sweet taste of an Empousa. It has been centuries since I've sampled this particular delicacy.”
“Stop it!” Mikki cried. “Let go of me!”
Surprisingly, the golden man let loose her hair. He smiled at her, but it was a baring of teeth, not an expression of humor. “We're going to enjoy our visit with you, Empousa. And we do appreciate the weather change you commandedâall the better to cloak our little rendezvous, though it looks as if someone has already had the pleasure of your company this morning.” With reptilian grace, he lashed out and ripped the brooch that held together the torn pieces of her chiton.
Mikki was frozen with fear. She clutched at her chiton, trying not to vomit as the men crowded closer around her, grasping her with hungry hands and watching her with ravenous eyes.
“Come now, Empousa. Don't be shy. You can't say you don't recognize me.”
“Or me,” the dark-haired man breathed into her back.
“Or me.”
“And me.”
“Look into my eyes, Empousa. I'm sure you've seen me before. Can you not guess my name?”
She stared into the golden man's blue eyesâand they changed. The pupils shifted and became slits. The color faded and washed from brilliant blue to the red of old blood. Mikki did know him. Who he was seared through her mind, and with his naming came a fury that burned away her fear.
“Get your fucking hands off of me!” She jerked violently. Surprised, the dark-haired man holding her from behind stumbled and lost his grip on her, and she was able to back several steps away from them.
The golden man laughed and followed her with smooth, serpentine grace. “Good . . . we like it when they struggle. It makes it more interesting. What do you see when you look within my eyes, Empousa?”
“I see an asswipe who needs to invest in color contacts.” She kept backing away. He and the other men followed her.
“Ha! I will have to teach you better things to do with that sharp tongue of yours. But for now, tell me, Empousa, what name would you give me?”
“Hatred,” she said without hesitation.
His smile was fierce. “Ah! You are a quick study. Perhaps I will take you with me when we leave here. Would you like that? I am a man who knows intimately the hidden desires of women.”
“Man?” She laughed sarcastically. “You're not a man; you're a creature. A carrion eater that feeds on the carcasses of dreams. I don't care what kind of skin you wrap yourself up in! You're no man.”
He lunged forward and grabbed her arms. “Not a man? I'll show you how much of a man I am!”
As the others closed on her, Mikki screamed the one name that filled her heart and soul, “Asterius!”
“Your lover, whoever he is, will not save you now, and if you truly care for him, I suggest that you remain very quiet. No mortal man could look upon us without losing a part of his soul.” Hatred breathed stinking breath in her face as he grasped the front of her chiton and ripped it from her body. “Cover her mouth, and be certain she does not make a sound. In this fog there is no chance we will be discovered until it is too late for her, and too late for them.”
They dragged Mikki off the marble path into a bed of Salet roses. She struggled, kicking for groins and insteps and using her fingernails to gouge any flesh they came in contact with, as every damned self-defense class in America taught, but the four of them easily overpowered her. They pushed her to the ground, and she saw that the newly worked dirt was covered with the pink petals of destroyed roses, as if blushing snow had fallen to the ground with her. One of them was choking her. She could not scream, so within her mind she shrieked over and over
Asterius! Come to me!
“And now, I will show you that I am, indeed, a man,” Hatred said, pushing aside the front of his short tunic and taking his engorged flesh in his hand. “Then Fear, Envy, and Selfishness will have their turns with you.” His laugh was thoroughly mad. “It is an interesting irony that Selfishness chooses to take you last. Or perhaps it is not. Perhaps he will choose to keep you to himself while we visit the women in the rest of your pathetic realm, Empousa.”
Mikki caught a blurred movement from the edge of her darkening vision and then Asterius burst out of the fog. His roar of rage was deafening. Hatred whirled to face him. As the Dream Stealer moved, his body rippled and reformed until he was, as Mikki had accused, not a man, but a creature, and one that should exist only in the realm of nightmares. His skin was scaled, and his snakelike eyes bulged from a head shaped like a cobra's flared hood. His body had remained humanoid, but he crouched on all fours, hissing black froth from his open mouth like an evil reptile. Asterius's hand whipped out as he charged past the creature, slicing a bloody trail across Hatred's chest.
Mikki heard angry hisses from the creatures who were holding her and then she was suddenly free as Fear, Envy, and Selfishness hurried to stand beside their leader. They were truly a horrifying group. Each had retained something of his man form, but with monstrous mutations. Fear was a rotting corpse, with long, filthy claws and misshapen features. Envy's all-too-human body was covered with a sickening plant whose spikes burst through his skin like deadly thorns. He crouched, hissing, reminding Mikki of a poisonous swamp creature. Selfishness's body had elongated, and he had grown several sets of snakelike tentacles. He gnashed gruesome teeth while his arms writhed independently of one another.
They all faced Asterius as the Guardian charged them. Fear went down first, disemboweled neatly by the great beast's claws. The Dream Stealer's body crumbled and then dissolved, turning into scarlet smoke that hovered in an oily cloud over the rose beds.
Mikki scrambled to her feet.
“Aeras! Come to me!” she cried.
Moments later the wide-eyed Wind Elemental rushed up to her Empousa.
“Oh, Goddess! Save us fromâ”
“Hecate's not here. We have to save ourselves. Aeras, I command your element present. Blow in a mighty wind from the north and rid us of the smoke of Fear. Now, Aeras!”
White-faced, Aeras flung her arms wide. When she lifted them, a blast of cold wind hurled past them, carrying the morning fog as well as the red smoke over the rose wall and into the forest.
A scream of agony wrenched Mikki's eyes from the dissipating cloud and back to the battle. Asterius's dark eyes flashed, and he roared his fury as he dealt blow after powerful blow against the evil creatures. Each movement he made was controlled by a grace that was as beautiful as it was deadly.