Hellfire (35 page)

Ginny heard
Dax grunt.
I think she punched him,
she said
to Alton.

He
probably deserved it.
Alton laughed. “We’ll see you tomorrow. Call when
you want us to meet you at Bell Rock.”

Ginny ended the call and
plugged the cell phone into the charger. “What now?”

“We walk down to the
restaurant and get something to eat and then we get some rest. We’ll make sure
the windows are tightly closed so we don’t have any visitors. From the lack of
demon activity today, I’m wondering if the demon king is
on
his own,
or close to it.”

“What about all the birds? There
were hundreds of them circling you the other day.”

“We’ve destroyed hundreds of
demons since then.
At least two or three hundred last night
when they attacked us here in the casita.
We would have seen some hint
of demon activity today if there’d been any still around. Remember, the portals
are all sealed, so there aren’t any new ones coming in. I’m beginning to think
there aren’t many demons left in Sedona at this point.”

“I prefer not to take
chances.” Ginny stood up. “Unless he got sucked back into the void, which I
doubt, we know the demon king is still hanging around. Look, I’m hungry, I’m
tired, and I’m in desperate need of a bath. I want a shower and some clean
clothes before we go down for dinner.” She kissed him briefly as she walked
past him toward the bathroom. “And I want your promise we’re going to discuss
anything but demons during dinner. Got it?”

He tried to catch her for
another kiss, but she evaded his quick grab. Then she paused in the doorway,
raised her eyebrows, and waited. He sighed dramatically. “Got it,” he said.

With a quick bump of her hips,
Ginny left him sitting in the kitchen, nursing the end of his beer and
wondering about the fate of Lemuria and Earth and everything in between.

Hand in hand, Alton and Ginny
walked back to their casita after dinner. The restaurant had been less than
half full this evening and their meal and service were both excellent. Ginny’d
dressed in a flowing red skirt and a white camisole top with tiny little
buttons down the front. She had her wild hair braided and tamed and tucked up
on top of her head, and she’d finished off her outfit with some really
high-heeled red sandals that made her long legs look even longer. Her full lips
were painted the same deep red as her skirt.

He hadn’t been able to take
his eyes off her all evening. They’d had a quiet dinner and talked about
everything but what lay ahead of them. Alton decided it was a pretty nice way
to spend the evening—dinner with a beautiful woman who would most likely be
sharing his bed in a very short time, and a conversation that did not include
any life-or-death issues.

Now, though, with the dark
desert night all around, he faced the fact they needed a course of action,
sooner rather than later.

In one week, the daughters of
the women warriors would rise up and expect to reclaim their place in Lemurian
society. He tried to imagine how the people as a whole would react. Somehow he
needed to prepare the citizens of Lemuria for the changes destined to come. You
couldn’t just bring an entire army of angry young women armed with crystal into
an established society ruled by men and turn them loose.

They had been treated
terribly, as had their mothers. It was too late for the women warriors of old,
but their daughters deserved their freedom—and so much more. Yet the
introduction of all those young women was bound to cause a huge shift in their
fragile civilization.

The balance
of men to women, for one thing.
So many men who’d not thought of
marriage because there were so few women among them would suddenly be faced
with an entirely new group of females, but these females were not going to be
the typical subservient women Lemurian men had grown to expect.

No, they were going to be
strong and tough and a lot more like Ginny.

“Nine
hells.”
Alton stopped dead in his tracks, looked at Ginny, and burst out
laughing. When she returned his look with one brow raised, he laughed even
harder.

“What?” she asked. At least
her lips were twitching.

He took a deep breath and got
control of himself before he started giggling like a schoolgirl. “It just came
to me that when the women rise up, armed and angry and ready to claim their place
in Lemurian society, it’s going to be like turning an entire army of Ginnys
loose on my unsuspecting world.”

Ginny glared at him. “You say
that like it’s a bad thing. Explain yourself, bud!”

There was definitely a twinkle
in her eye.

“Let’s just say it’s going to
come as a shock to the average Lemurian male.”

Ginny wrapped her arms around
his waist and smiled up at him. “Are you still in shock?”

“I am,” he said.
“And loving every minute of it.
However, I am not your
typical Lemurian male.”

“I know,” she said, standing
on her toes to plant a kiss on his lips. “You’re so much more.” She nuzzled her
cheek against his chest. “So how do we break it to those average Lemurian males
that women have rights, too?” Backing away, she gazed at him with a more serious
expression. “Actually, I hadn’t thought about what a huge shift in behavior
this is going to require. American men have been faced with liberated women for
over fifty years and they’re still not all that cool with it.”

“No one wants to change the
power structure when they’re on the top. It’s going to take planning and a lot
of diplomacy.”

They walked on to the casita.
The evening clouds had blown through and the air was comfortable. Alton sat on
the top step and pulled Ginny down beside him.

“So, what’s your plan?” she
asked.

“We’ll wait until Dax and Eddy
are back. In the meantime, we’ll watch out for demons and make sure things are
okay here. I think it’s dangerous to divide our attention right now. First we
need to concentrate on defeating the demon king. I think our fight with him
will come sooner rather than later.” He stood up and tugged her hand. “Let’s go
in. I’m beat.”

She blinked slowly and pulled
her perfect lips down in a pout. “Oh. I was hoping you weren’t too tired.”

Alton tightened his grasp on
her hand and pulled her slowly to her feet. “I’m never too tired for that,” he
said. He tugged and she came into his arms, curled her long, lean body against
his, and kissed him.

He leaned over, grabbed both
their swords and scabbards, and followed Ginny inside.

Ginny checked the windows
while Alton made certain the front door was securely locked. He left HellFire
by the front door and Ginny set DarkFire by the back door. The sentience within
the swords never slept, and they’d decided to try using them as an early alarm
system.

Ginny swept her fingers over
the softly oiled scabbard and thought of all the changes her life had gone
through in just a few short days.

Of all of them, the most
important was Alton. She glanced up and saw him standing in the doorway,
watching her with a funny little half smile on his full lips. “What?”

“You’re beautiful.” He shook
his head. “Every time I look at you, I see something else about you to love.
You look absolutely gorgeous in red, did you know that? Your skin glows and
your eyes sparkle.” He stepped closer, so close she had to raise her chin to
see his face.

He was so much bigger than
her, so much more powerful, and yet she’d never known a more gentle man. He
reached out and ran the backs of his fingers over her cheek, down the side of
her neck, and across her exposed collarbone.

When he reached her throat,
his long fingers cupped her jaw and tilted her face perfectly so he could lean
close and kiss her. His lips were soft and
slick,
and
his tongue slipped between hers and brushed the sharp edges of her teeth,
delved deeper, and stroked the sensitive roof of her mouth.

She moaned, and it was a sound
of need and desire, of joy and even fear. There was so much ahead of them, so
many things that could go wrong and sunder this perfect beginning to love.

A sense of desperation lanced
along Ginny’s spine. She threw her arms around Alton’s neck and hugged him
tight. He kissed her deeper, slipped his arm beneath her legs, and lifted her
high against his chest. He kissed her again. Then he carried her down the hall
to their room.

When he carefully laid her on
the bed she looked up at him through eyes blurred with tears. Her emotions were
churning tonight, but she and Alton hovered on the peak of great events—events
that would affect them both for all time to come. Maybe tears were apropos, but
she forced her fears away until they waited in the shadows, out of sight of the
here and now.

Alton kicked off his boots and
slipped off his shirt. He unbuttoned his jeans and slid them down his long
legs. Then he stepped out of his pants and stood before her like a fair-skinned
god. His hair hung loose in shimmering waves of pale gold and the muscles over
his chest rippled with each breath.

She was still fully dressed,
but it was so good, lying here and looking her fill at him. He was perfect, so
tall and lean, with those long, strong muscles and the dusting of fine, golden
hair across his chest and the tops of his thighs. The thicker growth over his
groin was only a shade darker, a perfect setting for the absolutely beautiful
erection thrusting high and hard against his belly.

He bent his knee and rested it
on the bed beside her, reached for her skirt, and slowly tugged it down over
her legs. Then he unbuttoned the tiny row of pearls holding the camisole top
closed across her breasts. When the seam parted and bared her breasts, a hiss
escaped from his parted lips.

She’d not worn a bra tonight.
His emerald eyes sparkled at the discovery as he spread the top apart and then
carefully slipped it over her arms.

She wore nothing now but the
tiny scrap of red panties. Not quite a thong, but not much more, they skimmed
low on her belly and barely covered her pubes. Alton crawled over her legs and
nuzzled her belly with his lips, nipped at the elastic on her panties, and
tugged at them with his teeth. She lifted her hips and it seemed to be all the
invitation he needed to pull them down over her legs and toss them aside.

Then he sat back on his heels
and stared at her.

Again she gave him some
attitude, rose up on her elbows, and said, “What? Just what are you staring
at?” She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

He cleared his throat, yet his
voice still sounded gruff, almost as if he’d been overcome with emotion. “I’m
staring at the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.” He leaned close
and kissed her mouth, then her throat, and finally her nipples—first one and
then the other. He tightened his lips around the one over her heart and sucked
hard, pressing the tip against the roof of his mouth with the flat of his
tongue.

She felt the draw all the way
to her toes. He sucked harder, licking and suckling until she was writhing on
the bed, her body growing wet and ready from nothing more than the pull of his
mouth against her breast. He switched to the other one, sucking and tugging
until she wanted to scream.

Then he turned her loose,
dipped his head lower, and put his mouth between her legs.

Ginny screamed. He laved her
with long, slow strokes of his tongue, dipping between her soft folds with the
very tip, stroking, nibbling, and licking as if he couldn’t get enough of her
taste. Her body shuddered and jerked beneath his sensual assault. He slipped
his warm hands beneath her buttocks and lifted her high. Her thighs rested on
his forearms as he sat back on his heels and pleasured her, licking and
nipping, using his tongue and teeth to take her higher, and higher yet again
until she hovered there, crying out on the sharp edge of desire.

He raised his head and looked
at her—she felt the heat of his gaze like a physical touch and opened her eyes.
He hovered over her, his blond hair tangled over his shoulders, twisted around
her legs and across her belly. His eyes smoldered with green fire and his lips
and chin were shiny from her fluids. He licked his lips slowly, as if savoring
her taste, held her gaze, and dipped his mouth closer to her. Then he sucked
her clit between his lips and tightened down on that most sensitive bundle of
nerves.

Fire sparked from his mouth to
her spine and her heart stuttered in her chest. She arched her back, pressing
herself against his mouth, sobbing with the power of the climax that continued
to grow and expand with each thundering beat of her heart.

He lay her back down on the
bed, sheathed himself to protect her, and slowly pressed the thick length of
his erection between her legs. She was so sensitive she cried out, but she
lifted for him, pressed her heels to the bed, and thrust against him as he
slowly entered her.

Ginny wrapped her arms and
legs around his long, lean body. She drew in his scent, the softness of his
hair as it flowed over her shoulders and arms, the firm strength of his muscles
rippling with each thrust of his hips. Physically it was all
perfect,
emotionally it was so right it scared her.

She’d never allowed herself to
love like this; never had she been so vulnerable before. Loving Alton opened
her to pain unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Their future was so
terribly
uncertain,
she couldn’t allow herself to
dwell on what might be.

She had to live for now, for
the wonder of these few moments when everything was perfect—when the world
wasn’t at risk, when their lives weren’t in danger. This moment when their
plans weren’t hovering in the wings, waiting to ruin the perfection of this
place in time.