devil 04 - the devil you know Read online

  The Slayer cocked his gorgeous head and reached a hand toward my neck.

  I flinched as he touched the tear-shaped mark there. “You have been marked?”

  I nodded.

  He frowned. “I shouldn’t have been able to get within yards of you. There is something wrong with this man’s claim on you.”

  I shook my head. Traitorous doubt, ugly and razor sharp, sliced through me. “I can’t discuss this with you. Where is Glynus?”

  “I told you, she’s gone to speak with the queen.”

  “By herself? That’s much too dangerous. Why did you let her go?” I knew I was just picking a fight to put as much distance as possible between me and what I’d almost done with the Slayer. I didn’t care. Something about the interaction had bothered me. Bothered me deeply. And I needed time to examine it. But that time wasn’t now. I had a dragon to protect and a mystery to solve.

  “I tried to stop her but she was most insistent. Short of slaying her…” He grinned at me. “I couldn’t keep her here.”

  I strode away from him to pace the entrance to the cave. “Why didn’t you come get me?”

  His response was a single raised eyebrow.

  Oh yeah, right. “I need to get to the queen. Can you help me?”

  A deep-throated squawk filled the air outside the cave. My gaze jerked toward the sound.

  The Slayer lifted a hand toward the large red winging its way toward us across the sky. “Your wish is my command, dragon fighter.”

  * * * * *

  “So what is your name?” I felt the need to keep the conversation going as we sailed toward the Red Queen’s caverns. The firm thigh pressing into my leg flexed effortlessly as the red tilted into a turn and an iron band of an arm swept around my waist, the large, square hand resting on my hip. My slut-monkey side squealed with delight as the arm, peppered with soft, sun-bleached hair, tightened possessively and the hand sent heat and jolts of sensual awareness stabbing through me.

  “You can call me Slayer.”

  I shifted nervously, realizing too late that I was shifting against a new hardness against my buttocks. His soft breath sifted against my cheek and I realized his lips were a hair away from my skin.

  I jerked sideways, frantic for a distraction. “That’s not your real name.” My voice was an embarrassing screech.

  He shrugged and used a slight dip in the air patterns as an excuse to pull me more tightly against his hard cock. “It is the name I go by now.”

  I tried to scoot forward on the suspiciously jerky red. I wondered if the Slayer was telling it to fly erratically to keep me off balance. “Come on, how bad can it be?”

  He jerked slightly in surprise. “Bad? Not bad, just unimportant.”

  The red threw up its head on a roar and we suddenly dropped ten feet in the air. I’d have fallen off if it weren’t for the Slayer’s iron grip. “What in Hades…”

  “Frunkin’ hell! Hold on!”

  The red lifted its enormous wings and swung sideways as fire rent the air where we’d been.

  The Slayer’s heat suddenly disappeared from behind me and I thought, for a brief beat in time, that he’d fallen off the red. But I quickly realized he was standing on the dragon’s wide back, one hand wrapped around a thick cord tied around the creature’s neck and a long, deadly-looking sword in the other hand. He braced himself with a wide stance and lifted the sword, preparing to slash at whatever was attacking us.

  A giant head appeared before him and an enormous jaw snapped an inch from his chest, teeth as long as my hand crashing together as he swung the sword.

  He sliced a slim ribbon across the creature’s snout and it reared back, roaring in rage. The massive jaws opened and I flung up my hands, putting a protective bubble in place around us just as a raging blue fire flew from the creature’s nostrils.

  The huge black dragon dropped from view and Slayer swung out into midair on the cord, stabbing toward the dragon’s throat as it appeared on the other side. Then he swung back and landed behind me on the red’s wide back. It was as if he could read their thoughts, knowing what they would do even before they did it.

  The red swung away as the Slayer’s sword made a new, deeper slice across the black’s exposed throat.

  I followed up with a power arrow to the thing’s head, right between the eyes.

  The black surged upward and away and I took a breath.

  Too late I realized the razor-sharp spikes of the black’s tail were swinging upward, toward the red’s soft underbelly. The giant reptile beneath my thighs grunted from the impact and roared as the huge spike at the end of the black’s massive tail pierced its belly.

  The red rolled sideways, going into a death spiral, and the Slayer and I fell off its back, dropping into the great abyss yawning beneath us. One minute I was dropping toward the jagged mountains below, and the next a strong arm was wrapped around my waist and I wrenched to a painful stop.

  Looking up, I saw that the red had managed to pull itself out of the spiral and was flying jerkily toward a nearby ledge. The Slayer hung from the thick cord around the dragon’s neck. As the mountain ledge quickly neared, I realized we’d be smashed against the rock beneath the ledge when the dragon landed.

  The tension vibrating from the Slayer’s body told me he’d realized the same thing.

  Mother Tweener!

  Glynus! Where are you?

  Beneath you, tell the Slayer to let go.

  I looked down and saw the beautiful outline of my dragon’s flying form several feet below us. She alternated between coasting, rolling sideways and pounding her enormous wings in an effort to stay with the erratically flying red.

  Hurry, mother Tweener!

  I glanced toward the mountainside and saw that we were mere seconds from slamming into it. I slapped the Slayer’s arm. “Let go of the rope, Glynus will catch us.”

  He looked down and grimaced. “She needs to move closer.”

  “There’s no time!” The red had tipped his back claws forward and was pounding air to slow himself down for descent. We were a heartbeat away from being smashed into the rocky mountainside.

  I looked up, focused on my target and shot a power arrow into the rope, severing it on the first try. The Slayer swore and wrapped his other arm around my waist. “I hope you know what the hell you’re doing!” he growled in my ear.

  We plummeted downward at an intimidating speed.

  Beneath us, Glynus flew one way then swung back, her huge eyes wide as she tried to maneuver herself directly beneath us. Stress fire puffed from her nostrils.

  I secretly hoped I knew what I was doing too. Glynus didn’t look very certain that she could catch us. You got this, Tadpole?

  I think so…

  Glynus jerked and rolled, coming up too far to our left. She quickly adjusted when we were a heartbeat away from landing and we hit the slippery edge of her back, nearly sliding sideways and rolling right off again. But Glynus lifted her wing to stop our momentum and we bounced back toward the center of her wide body. I grabbed the large spike just behind her head and held on, while the Slayer tucked his calves around her wings to center himself.

  I took a deep breath, prostrating myself alongside the prickly center ridge of her back. My heart beat a frantic rumba in my chest.

  The Slayer filled his lungs and expelled a loud breath. “Well, that was fun. I don’t think I’ll need caffeine for a week.”

  All I could do was nod, my heart felt like it was sitting on my tongue.

  Glynus flapped her wings and headed back toward the Slayer’s cave as if nothing had ever happened.

  She took extra care in her landing, though, as if she knew we’d had enough excitement for the day. The Slayer and I climbed off Glynus and stood looking at each other. Finally the Slayer said, “Who wants you dead?”

  My mouth dropped. “Wha—”

  Slayer shrugged. “That black wasn’t after me, and there were only two of us on the red.”

  My mouth slammed sh
ut. He had a point.

  “And there was something wrong with that black. Did you see his eyes? He looked as if he were in a trance or something.”

  Frowning, I realized he was right. The huge lizard’s eyes had looked strange. “You might be right. But how do you know it wasn’t after you? You have a very annoying way about you, it’s not impossible to think you probably pissed somebody off somewhere and drove them to murderous inclinations.”

  He grinned and reached toward my face, sliding a smooth, warm hand across my cheek and down the side of my neck. My daemon hickey sputtered uselessly as he wrapped a large hand around my throat, caressing the tender skin just under my ear with slightly calloused fingers.

  Leaning close, he placed a gentle kiss on my lips and, when he lifted his head he whispered, “That isn’t annoyance you’re feeling, Astra. If you need me to explain that throbbing sensation between your firm, white thighs I’d be happy to.”

  I gasped and he slid his tongue between my parted lips, catching me off guard. Before I knew what I was doing I was responding, reaching up to slide my fingers through his hair and wrapping my hand around a muscular, golden forearm.

  Glynus cleared her throat. Mother Tweener!

  I jumped away from him, flashing my dragon a sheepish smile. Sorry, Tadpole, I haven’t been myself lately.

  She snickered. No kidding!

  My mental drawers shifted suddenly and Dialle’s voice came to me, faint and broken with static. Astra! Come to me. You and your sister are in da—

  As quickly as Dialle’s husky voice filled my head it slid away. My daemon hickey burned briefly and then that faded too.

  “What is it, Astra?”

  The Slayer’s face was dark with concern.

  I shrugged, glancing at Glynus as a feeling of foreboding slid over me. “We have to go.”

  Glynus lowered her haunches so I could climb onto her back. The Slayer stepped toward us, lifting a hand to touch my thigh. “Take care, Astra. Someone very powerful is after you. I feel it in my gut. If you ever need my help…”

  I nodded, covering his hand with my own. “Thank you, Slayer. For all you’ve done and for your offer to help. I hope you don’t mind if I take you up on it someday.”

  He took my hand and lifted it toward his lips. Rather than simply kissing the surface, like a normal male, the Slayer sucked a knuckle into his mouth and, to my vast surprise, bit down hard enough to make it bleed.

  “Ow!” I jerked my hand away.

  “If you need me, touch that scar and call me with your mind. I will come to you.”

  Scar! It was gonna leave a scar! Frunk me to Hades and back! Dialle would kill me and then go after the Slayer.

  He stepped away as Glynus moved her wings. She took off rather gracefully for her and soon we were in the air again, winging our way quickly toward home. Before I realized it, I’d pulled the aching knuckle into my mouth and was sucking it to relieve the sting.

  Each pull on the tender flesh sent a jolt of pure lust directly into to my aching pussy. After a few mind-blowing seconds I forced myself to stop sucking, through sheer willpower. The Slayer’s deep voice filled my mind, just before the wound left my lips. You can call me if you’re in any type of danger, Astra. I’m happy to save you from that extremely dangerous celibacy you’ve settled yourself under too. In fact I’d relish it…

  I slammed my mind closed to shut off his sexy chuckle and settled myself into a good mope.

  Glynus let me brood for a while and then asked, Where are we going, Mother Tweener?

  Oh. Sorry. I need you to take me home.

  What about my parents?

  I blinked. Oh yeah. The queen and king. What did I know about that? I knew that they’d come to visit the red queen and had left, safe and unmolested, until they ran into a contingent of blacks and then something waylaid them before they reached their queendom.

  Is there a dragon in your queendom who wants to overthrow your mother?

  What do you mean?

  If the red guard is to be believed, your parents left the red queendom safely. But they were met by a contingent of blacks, and they never made it home. They either ran into trouble on the way, or you have a power-hungry black in your midst.

  Ah.

  Glynus thought about this for a long moment. I guess it could have been Euryice. She’s my fourth cousin twice removed. She believes she is better qualified than I to run the queendom.

  That sounds plausible. Does she have the stones to act on it against your mother?

  I could feel Glynus frowning in my mind. Stones?

  Never mind. I keep forgetting you’re a tadpole.

  Euryice is very stonesy. She is enormously stonelike in fact.

  Having completely lost control of the subject, I fought a sigh. I think she’s the logical one to look at. Would the other dragons follow her?

  A few would, yes.

  Okay. We’ll make a quick side trip to your queendom, conquer this Euryice and then you can take me home. I think Darma might be in danger.

  She’ll be okay, mother Tweener. She has her magics now.

  I snorted in an unladylike fashion. Darma wouldn’t use her magic if it grabbed her uterus and held it hostage. She’s even more anti-magic now than she was before she discovered she had some.

  That’s so sad, mother Tweener.

  Yeah. Especially when you’re in charge of keeping her narrow, white ass safe in a dangerous world.

  My mental drawers shifted and my sister’s strident, unpleasant tones filled my unsuspecting mind.

  Astra! Where are you? I think somebody’s trying to kill me!

  Speak of the devil…or at least his handmaiden.

  I didn’t bother asking her what she meant. She was always imagining that somebody was trying to kill her. With her personality I was pretty sure she was mostly right. I’d seen her bring out the worst in such harmless creatures as sweet, little old ladies. One rosy-cheeked octogenarian actually threw her cup of hot tea at Darma after a small verbal exchange that I was pretty sure had something to do with the idea, presented by my sister, that the elderly are crabby and selfish. I thought I was gonna have to jump in and save Darma from that one. But fortunately the ninety-some-year-old woman couldn’t run very far. She put up a good sprint for a few blocks though.

  I’m helping Glynus clean up a mess, I’ll be home in a few hours. Do you think you can hold on until then?

  I could feel her glare in my mind. Don’t worry about me. Just make sure your little magical friends are safe. I’ll fend for myself here. I’m only your helpless human sister.

  Despite the fact that Darma was the product of an Archangel and a Royal Devil, with her own legacy of magic fizzing, unused, beneath her pale skin, she chose to ignore those facts and pretend she was a simple human. I’d given up trying to find logic in that thinking.

  Logic and my sister were not acquaintances. Not even distant ones.

  I had my own way of dealing with her. Mostly I just pretended she agreed with me and went about my business. That really pissed her off.

  A bonus.

  Great! I’ll see you in a few!

  I closed my mental drawers on her sputtering. It was easier to ignore her from long distances. I decided right then and there I needed to take more trips.

  We found Euryice fairly easily. She apparently hadn’t thought Glynus would survive her little tea party and had been openly preparing to take the throne. Fortunately Euryice wasn’t a very creative or brave dragon. With me holding her captive in a set of power cuffs and Glynus driving a good-sized claw into her soft underbelly, she spewed information like an ugly, scaled fire fountain.

  As Glynus’ soldiers led her away to be executed, she turned her ugly head and fixed me with her cold black eyes. You think you win in this, dragon fighter, but you will soon learn that things outside your puny control are exploding and changing. You and those you love will soon be swamped under the changing tide of events. She leaned toward me, causing Glynus to ta
ke a protective step in my direction. You will die soon, dragon fighter, and your lover will be the cause. The nasty reptile laughed then, before she was jerked away from us.

  I watched her go, feeling the dread that had been carving a hole in my chest for a couple of days now burning hotly. My stomach churned and my palms were sweaty. Even in my current oversexed state, I couldn’t miss all the signs smacking me between the eyes.

  Dialle was mixed up in something. Some kind of trouble. And as usual it was bleeding over into my world.

  Sighing, I turned to Glynus. “Let’s go get your parents, Tadpole, I need to get home.”

  We found the queen and king stranded in a cavern high in the mountains, their wings broken so they couldn’t fly away, and under guard.

  Glynus gathered a small group of loyal guards, who rounded up the Euryice loyalists and killed them swiftly. Then, motivated by a need to get to Darma, and with the benefit of surprise on our side, Glynus and I and our small contingent released Queen Zerphor and her mate Quince.

  Thank you, dragon fighter. You are a good friend to my people. Queen Zerphor told me later when we’d gotten them safely ensconced back in her caverns.

  I bowed slightly. “I need to ask for one more favor, Queen Zerphor.”

  Name it.

  I grinned. You aren’t gonna like it.

  Her sigh filled my mind as her beautiful black eyes slid toward her mate. Quince’s chuckle rumbled through my mind. Not unpleasantly.

  I’m sure of that, dragon fighter, this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with you. Your life is never easy, and anyone who participates in it must be ready to “roll with the punches”, as your human neighbors would say.

  I flushed. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I treasure your friendship. And I’m beginning to think I may really need your help.”

  Chapter Seven

  Going to Hell

  Our Lady’s sister lands in Hell, a bloody message writ,

  To Hell, to Hell our miss must go, to save the cranky twit.

  Glynus dropped me at home and, after thanking me for helping her find her parents, left with a promise to stay in touch. I immediately called Darma on my televisual and was moderately concerned when she didn’t respond.