Ruby Shadows Read online

  “I’ll just have to go hungry,” I muttered to myself, going back to the fireplace to warm up some more. “I don’t know how I’ll get out of here but somehow I’ll find a way. I—”

  Suddenly the door crashed open, letting in a freezing blast of winter wind that rushed through the room and put out half the fire.

  “What have we here?” roared a deep, grating voice that sounded more animal than man. “A pretty little girlie come to visit? Good thing old Gorlock is feeling in a welcoming mood.”

  “I…you…” I was already trying to move away from the huge shape looming in the doorway—a demon with two curving horns growing from either side of its head. It had a human face and upper body at least, but from the waist down it appeared to be either a goat or a bull or some other hoofed creature. I saw with disgust that its massive shaft was already half hard. As it stared at my naked body, that changed to fully hard in an instant. Ugh! Didn’t anybody wear pants down here?

  “And all naked and ready for fun, too,” the demon boomed, taking a step towards me. “Now how did you get out of your pool, girlie? That’s not supposed to happen. Never mind, we’ll have some fun before we put you back.”

  So he thought I was one of the drowning souls which had escaped from my pool. Not that it mattered what he thought I was, considering what he obviously had in mind.

  “No!” I gasped, taking a step backward and trying to cover myself with both hands while at the same time looking for a weapon. “Look, I swear I didn’t mean to break into your house! I was freezing—I had no choice!”

  “If you’re freezing, little girlie, then old Gorlock will warm you up.” The demon took another menacing step towards me, his hooves clunking on the uneven stone floor. He had red skin, like the demons guarding the entrance gates of Hell, and his eyes glowed an evil yellow.

  “Don’t touch me!” I said, reaching down and grabbing a chunk of firewood. “I swear to the Goddess I’ll kill you if you do! I’m not just a drowned soul—I’m a witch!”

  The demon’s yellow eyes widened and for a moment I thought I’d made an impact. Then they narrowed again and his wide, flat nostrils flared as he inhaled my scent.

  “So you is, girlie—a human with a fresh, untainted soul. And right here in old Gorlock’s hut. Imagine that…” He came toward me again, looming over me menacingly. “Ahhh, it’s been years—years—since old Gorlock tasted a pure soul! They don’t lets me up to the Mortal Realm much, ya see. But now, here’s the Mortal Realm come down to me!”

  “I didn’t come to you on purpose,” I said, lifting my chin. “I came with Laish—one of the Great Demons—a Prince of Night and Shadow. He’ll be very upset if he finds you’ve, uh, hurt me in any way.”

  His eyes widened again and then he laughed—a hoarse, awful croaking sound that sent a cold shiver of dread down my spine.

  “A Great Demon, huh—you mean one as can changed his shape, girlie?”

  “Well, yes…” I said, still backing away from him with the piece of firewood clutched in my hands.

  “Like maybe he can take a wyrm form—as is what some calls a dragon?”

  My heart was sinking but I tried not to let it show.

  “Yes, that’s one of his forms,” I said, trying not to let my voice tremble.

  “So that must be him, then—or his carcass—bein’ picked over by the Skitterlings away up on yonder ridge.” He jerked his horned head at the direction of the doorway. “Saw ‘im, I did—laying there still as you please while they stripped the flesh from his bones. I reckon if he ain’t dead, he’s doin’ a mighty fine impression of it.”

  “You…you’re lying,” I said and this time my voice shook—I couldn’t help it.

  “Now why would I lie ‘bout something like that?” the demon asked, smirking. “Tis a pity and a sin when one of the great ones goes to meet the Maker, so it tis. But it leaves more for us little fellers…not that old Gorlock could be exactly called little.” He fisted his massive, brick-red shaft and started stroking it suggestively, leering at me as he did.

  No, he certainly wasn’t little. He wasn’t as cartoonishly huge as Druaga had been but he wasn’t far behind. I watched with horror as the precum that ran from the broad red tip dripped to the stone floor and hissed and bubbled like acid. That was going to hurt if he tried to get it in me.

  “Then don’t let him,” a little voice whispered in my ear. “Fight, Gwendolyn—fight!”

  A new surge of courage flowed through me, stiffening my spine and straightening my shoulders. I was determined not to go down without a fight!

  I brandished my chunk of firewood at the demon and lifted my chin.

  “Get that nasty-ass thing away from me before I knock it off,” I snapped.

  “Oh-ho—the little human wants to play rough!” The yellow eyes glowed with cruel delight. “We can do that, so we can. Old Gorlock likes it rough…although if you’d just hold still and let me have a taste of that sweet soul it might not hurt quite so much.”

  “What are you talking about?” I snapped. “You can’t get at my soul—you don’t even have a soul hook.”

  “A soul-hook, is it?” He bellowed that hoarse, croaking laughter again. “Why, who needs a soul hook when I’ve got this?” He stroked his shaft some more. “This is all the hook I need to taste your soul, girlie. After all, why reach down your throat to get it when it’s so much more fun to go up through your cunt?”

  “You…you can’t!” Could he? For a moment my courage wavered. I remembered what Laish had said about the taking and tasting of a soul being a sexual thing—was this what he had meant? Surely not! And yet the demon was still advancing, backing me into a corner with only the clunky piece of firewood for a weapon.

  “I can and I will!” he declared, leering at me as he loomed over me. “Why should I hook out that sweet little soul when I can fuck it out instead? Cause that’s what I’m going to do to you, girlie. Going to—”

  “All you’re going to do is die,” a deep, cold voice behind him said.

  Suddenly, as I looked up at him, it appeared that the demon had grown a third horn—this one right in the center of his forehead. The demon—Gorlock—seemed just as surprised as I was. He raised red, clawed hands to scrabble at the new horn that had somehow sprouted from his head. Then his yellow eyes rolled up and he collapsed heavily, falling first to his knees and then to his side.

  Laish stood just behind him, naked and holding a huge, curving black blade which was plunged into the back of the demon’s thick skull. He yanked it out and threw it aside, just in time to catch me as I fell into his arms.

  * * * * *

  Laish

  “Laish, Laish—I thought you were dead! He said—that awful demon—he said he saw the Skitterlings pick…picking your b-bones…”

  Gwendolyn’s voice cracked and turned into a sob. I held her to me, stroking her smooth brown skin as she trembled in my arms. I didn’t try to explain—only held her tight. So many males don’t understand that this is what a woman needs sometimes—just to be held.

  I stroked her back and murmured soothing words into her ear as she pressed herself against me. I don’t think she even noticed we were both naked. Though I had waited months to hold her to me this way with nothing between us, I was, for once, too weary to be terribly excited myself. The battle with the Skitterlings had taken all of my reserves and most of my power. I would need time to recuperate before we could begin our journey again. But now that the occupant of the small wooden hut was dead, at least we had a safe place to rest.

  I eyed the prone form of the lesser demon with disgust. Kurex had brought me back just in time. In another moment, Gwendolyn would have lost her innocence, her powers as a witch, and her soul all at once. I only wished I could bring the bastard back to life and kill him again for scaring her so badly and threatening to do such unspeakable things to her.

  Yes, this was Hell and such things were to be expected but still, I could not bear the thought of them happening to Gwen
dolyn. More than ever I wanted to hold and protect her, to never let her go.

  At last her trembling stopped and she pulled away from me a little.

  “I’m sorry.” She rubbed her eyes. “I…uh, didn’t mean to get all girly on you.”

  “You had a shock and a very close call. More than one, in fact, in the very recent past,” I pointed out, sweeping a strand of hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear. “No one could fault you for needing an emotional release.”

  “A release. Right.” She tried to laugh but the sound that came out was wavering and uncertain. “But how…how did you…?”

  “I will tell you everything,” I promised. “But first let us see to tidying the place up a bit.” I gripped the lesser demon by one beefy forearm and dragged him out of the hut. I tossed him around the side where he wasn’t immediately visible. Hopefully the snow would come and bury his body until it decomposed—or at least until we left the hut. I didn’t want Gwendolyn to have to look at her would-be rapist ever again.

  Next I saw to Kurex. Being a Demon-steed, he had no need of protection from the elements. Still, I reached into the last dregs of my reserves and managed to conjure a bucket of warm mash for him. I also made sure he was safe around the other side of the hut, sheltered from the constantly whipping wind. He had done a good day’s work and I promised myself he would be rewarded when we got back to my own estate in Hades…whenever that might be.

  When I got back into the hut, Gwendolyn was tending to the fire which was already roaring in the hearth. When she heard me come in, she jumped up and turned to face me. She had stopped trembling but now she seemed self-conscious and kept crossing her arms over her bare breasts and crossing her thighs, as though to hide her sex.

  “Um…hi.” Her eyes kept wandering to my shaft and I realized the fact that we were both naked was making her nervous.

  “Forgive me,” I said wearily. “I will conjure some apparel for both of us presently. But for now, I am at the very limits of my power.”

  “Oh, of course. Here, come sit by the fire!”

  Taking my arm, she led me to the fireplace and we both settled on the cold, rough stone floor together.

  “Thank you,” I said, smiling at her.

  “Of course. I’m sorry it’s so hard and cold—there’s a blanket on the bed and I thought about sitting on that but who knows what kind of fleas or lice or whatever it has in it.” She shivered. “I figured a cold butt was better than getting demonic bedbug bites on our asses.”

  I saw she was making an effort to overcome her self-consciousness for me which warmed my heart.

  “I agree,” I said. “I am very glad to find you well, mon ange.”

  “Not half as glad as I am to find out you’re alive!” she exclaimed, turning to me. “How did you do it? That huge demon you killed—Gorlock—said he saw the Skitterlings, uh, finishing you off.”

  “So they did,” I said quietly. “I was forced to abandon that form forever in order to appease them.”

  “What does that mean, forever?” she asked, frowning.

  I sighed. “It means I can never again assume the form of a wyrm—a dragon. I had to give it up and with it, much of my power. I am stripped—laid bare as you see.” I spread my hands, indicating my naked state. “I could not even transfer myself from one spot to another which is normally as easy as breathing to me.”

  “Oh, Laish—that’s awful! I’m so sorry!” Her green eyes were wide with remorse. “And all because I stomped on that chipmunk-spider thing.”

  “You didn’t know,” I said wearily. “My power will return in time, of course, but for tonight I think it is best that we stay here so that I can recover a bit.”

  “But then…how did you get here just in time? If you couldn’t teleport, er, transfer yourself?”

  “Kurex,” I told her. “He reached me just as I was abandoning my wyrm form to the Skitterlings. Apparently he also brought me back at a most efficacious time from your point of view as well.”

  “You’re not kidding!” She shivered. “That huge demon…what he wanted to do to me to get my soul…” She looked at me. “You never said a, uh, soul could be gotten that way. I thought a soul-hook had to be involved.”

  “No, that is simply the most polite way of extracting a soul—if there can be any polite way of doing such an intimate thing.” I frowned. “Remember I told you the process can be sexual. That is because it almost always is.”

  “Oh…” She looked down at her knees which were pressed modestly together. “All right. I didn’t know.”

  “Now you do.” I sighed and stretched towards the fire. The warmth of it invigorated me, bringing back a little of my power. Closing my eyes, I concentrated and conjured a warm, thick fur rug beneath us.

  “Oh!” Gwendolyn gave an awkward little jump at the feeling of fur beneath her bottom. “I thought you were all worn out. How did you—?”

  “The warmth of the fire,” I explained. “Because of my nature it helps to restore my power.”

  “Well, this is nice.” Gwendolyn stroked the soft, white fur. I had called a rather large rug because after her assessment of the bed I surmised we would be sleeping before the fire that night. She looked at me hopefully. “Can you make me something else? Something, uh, warm to wear?”

  I shook my head.

  “Give me a few more minutes. Every time I call something from my own estate into another circle it takes a vast amount of energy. “There is one thing I can do, however, which requires a slightly smaller expenditure. Do you still have that leather satchel of yours with your drinking bottle?”

  “Of course. I’m a lot more careful to keep hold of it after what happened with the devilkins.” She got up and searched by the door, returning shortly with the familiar leather satchel. Opening it, she took out the plastic water bottle and took a drink. Then she offered it to me. “Are you thirsty?”

  “No thank you,” I said, taking the satchel from her. “There is something else I need from it.”

  As I rummaged in the satchel, I couldn’t help noticing that the change of clothing she’d brought from the Mortal Realm was soaking wet.

  “Gwendolyn?” I said, raising an eyebrow at her and lifting a sodden article of clothing. “What happened?”

  “Oh, um…” Her cheeks were getting red and I knew she didn’t want to tell me.

  “Gwendolyn?” I asked again.

  “I, um, sort of fell into one of the pools,” she admitted in a low voice. “Or, well, I guess you could say I was dragged in.”

  “What?” My heart started beating triple time in my chest. “How?”

  Her cheeks flamed. “It was just me being stupid and trusting. One of the, uh, lost souls begged me for help and I didn’t think. I went to help her and she tried to drag me down with her. That’s how I got so wet I had to take off my clothes in the first place.” She indicated her bare skin, which looked lovely against the white fur.

  “What?” I demanded again. “You went into one of the Drowning Pools? Gods, how did you ever get out again?” It amazed and terrified me, the thought of her slipping beneath the icy surface of one of those deadly pools. They had a kind of pull to them—almost a magnetic force for souls that made escaping from one nearly impossible.

  “Kurex,” she said. “The girl—the lost soul—had me by the throat but he kicked her head in and dragged me out by my dress.”

  “Oh, mon ange…” I pulled her against my chest. If she only knew how close she’d come to death and eternal damnation! Even seeing the huge demon standing over her threatening to hurt and take her hadn’t frightened me so much. Even I could not have pulled her out of the pool if her head had gone under. Kurex had acted quickly and bravely—I promised myself again that the big horse would have whatever he desired once it was in my power to provide it.

  “I guess it was more dangerous than I thought?” Gwendolyn said, looking up at me.

  I nodded. “Very. It is extremely fortunate that Kurex was with you an
d acted as he did.”

  “He’s been wonderful,” she agreed. “I wonder…could he live in the Mortal Realm? I’d kind of like to take him with me when this is all over. Although I don’t know what Grams would say about it. He’d probably eat us out of house and home.”

  “It is a possibility,” I said, nodding thoughtfully. “But speaking of eating…” I reached back into the satchel and pulled out what I’d been looking for—the plate and black-handled sacrificial knife. I had slipped them into the satchel after our noonday repast in Minauros—a repast which, I remembered, Gwendolyn had not taken part in. This time I was determined she would eat.

  Taking the plate, I put it on the fur rug before me and cut into my wrist with the small, sharp blade. The pain was worse than usual—probably because of my weakened state—but I managed to keep my face impassive as I let three drops of blood fall to the plate.

  As before, the blood turned to fresh fruit, cheese, and warm, crusty bread. I let another drop fall and several pieces of the confection that humans call chocolate appeared as well. Then I pressed my other hand to my wrist firmly, staunching the flow and willing the small but painful wound to heal.

  Gwendolyn had been watching everything I did silently. Now she looked at the plate and then up at me.

  “Laish…” she began.

  Just then the tiny white lily-moth fluttered down out of the air and lit upon a piece of fresh fruit—a strawberry. Its pure white and gold wings looked lovely against the warm red of the fruit and I saw that it was taking tiny nibbles of the strawberry with apparent hunger.

  Gwendolyn’s face broke into a smile.

  “Oh, hey little girl!” she exclaimed, crouching down to look at the little moth. “I forgot all about you. You must have had a wild ride, holding onto me after everything that happened today.”

  “They are very resilient creatures for all they appear so delicate,” I remarked. “And as I told you, they will rest only upon pure things.”