bedeviled & beyond 04 - bedeviled & belittled (13 page)

I’m on the top floor. There are two guards on my door. I’ve tried to leave the room and they won’t let me.

Seeing a stairwell at the end of the hallway where we stood, I touched Slayer’s arm and nodded toward it.
Ok, we’re climbing. What will we find at the top of the stairs? Is there only one door up there?

No. There were several doors. I’m in the room at the very end of the hall, the one with the double set of golden doors.

Slayer and I had reached the top of the stairs. We couldn’t climb any higher. The hallway we peered into was empty and had several doors off it.

As Darma had said, the doors at the end of the hall looked to be covered in gold.

I see the doors but there are no guards on it.

Hold on.
My mind went silent for a moment. Soft static was the only indication I had that my sister had returned.
They’re still out there. You must be on the wrong floor.

“What’s wrong?” Slayer asked.

I looked at him, frowning. “She says there should be guards outside the doors and there aren’t any.” I walked to a window and leaned out, looking up and down. “We’re on the top floor. This should be the right place.”

“Unless we’re in the wrong tower.”

Realization flooded me. Sighing, I shook my head.
Darma, which tower are you in?

I don’t know, I can’t see any other towers from this window.

I looked at Slayer. “Something’s not right. She says she can’t see any other towers. The way the windows and towers are placed she should be able to see at least one other tower from where she is.” I looked at the golden doors at the end of the hallway and started toward them.

Slayer fell in behind me as I concentrated my energy and shot a power arrow into the doors. They flew open and we strode through, barely slowing to make sure there was nothing waiting for us inside.

I had a suspicion. And if I was right, it didn’t bode well for my sister.

As I’d suspected the room was empty. I strode to the window, looking outside.
Darma, where exactly are you in the room?

Right now I’m standing next to the window.

I glanced toward Slayer. He was leaning against the doorframe across the room, his arms crossed over his chest. He peaked an eyebrow at me.

Describe the room to me.

What? Are you crazy, Astra? This is no time to talk decorating tips. Come and get me out of here before that creepy guy comes back!

Darma! Work with me here, please! I’m standing in the room where you said you were and you’re not here. I need to make sure we’re talking about the same room.

That’s crazy!

Maybe not as crazy as you think, Darma.
I’d experienced a similar thing before, when I’d gone to the Church of the Twined Hands during the investigation that had brought Dialle and me into the same sphere.

The top floor of the church had been a gateway to another dimension, connecting to an identical room in that dimension. If what I suspected was true we were a lot farther from Darma than I’d thought, and, with dozens of other dimensions to consider, there was no way to know where she was.

Darma sighed dramatically in my mind, the long-suffering sister.
The floors are stone, the walls are stone, the furniture is not stone, but it might as well be. I think I have a blister on my ass from sitting on this divan.

I cast my eyes on the room’s only furniture, aside from the bed.
What color is the divan?

Mustard yellow, with burgundy fringe on the bottom and dark wine colored pillows.

Bingo. I started toward Slayer.
Stay put, Darma. It might take me longer than I’d thought to find you.

But what do I do if he comes back?

Use your powers.

Astra, I told you...

Grow the hell up, Darma! Use your powers. It might be the only thing that keeps you alive until I can find you!

I brutally severed our mental communications and stopped before Slayer.

“What’s going on, Astra?”

“My sister’s not here. She’s in another dimension.”

His sexy, golden eyes narrowed. “That does complicate things.”

I glared at him. “You think?”

Reaching out, he swept his thumb over my lips. “Are you aware that you use hostility as a defense when you’re unsure of yourself?”

Unsure how to respond, I opened my mouth to excoriate him for his opinion.

Irony? What irony?

Before my acid tongue could kick into gear, he leaned down and placed his mouth over mine. His kiss infused my body with heat, bringing every nerve ending in my skin to life in an explosion of sensation. His hands slid around my waist and he pulled me up hard against his body, so that I could feel the long, firm length of him against my belly.

I shivered and felt my knees soften under the sensual onslaught. Just like that, all the problems I had on my plate disappeared under a wave of lust.

Damn Settling.

Some, small part of my mind realized that he was distracting me from my task. That he was dangerous for his ability to do just that. And that I needed to push him away and clear my mind so I could find my sister and figure out what was going on.

But my body had shot well past caution and was heading toward instant gratification at breakneck speed. My slut monkey side had bitch-slapped my reasonable side into silent submission. And my devil side was stomping all over the dazed and supine form of my angel side.

I was a sexual locomotive heading down a steep incline. And the Slayer was the stop at the bottom.

Waiting for me to land.

Static buzzed inside my mind but I ignored it.

Voices flashed in bits and pieces, lost beneath the cravings of my body. A familiar scent wafted over me, setting off alarms in my sex-dazed mind even as I forced them away from awareness. I grabbed the Slayer’s shirt and ripped it open, sending buttons skittering across the floor around our feet.

He skimmed his hot hands up under my sweater and slid them over my bra, releasing the screaming hard peaks of my nipples from their lacy jail and bending his head to suck one tender bud into his hot mouth.

I nearly came on the spot from the feel of his heated mouth on my nipple. Dropping my head back, I groaned, skimming my hands over his smooth chest. My daemon hickey sparked, hard, and I jumped.

The air around us changed and something bright and deadly sizzled past, exploding the wall behind Slayer in a spray of dust and rock shards. Slayer jumped back, his hands coming up to defend himself and I turned, my body screaming over being denied its pleasure and my mind in a sex-induced fog.

“Step away from him, Astra so I can kill him.” Dialle’s voice was thick with emotion, rich, and husky as I remembered it. He stood several feet away, his pupils swirling with the colors of rage. He wore slim, form fitting black pants and a white, pirate shirt, which was open to his waist and billowed around him in a power induced wind. His silky black hair danced around his square jaw in the same breeze.

His beautiful, sculpted lips were a tight line and a muscle in his throat and jaw jumped as he tried to hold back his anger. He stood with his lean, muscular legs spread in a warrior’s stance and his arms held away from his body, ready to do battle. He looked absolutely scrumptious. I licked my lips, suddenly realizing how much I’d missed him.

My daemon hickey sparked and spat angrily and I jumped, gasping at the pain. Gradually my mind started to clear and I realized I’d been under some kind of spell.

Slayer had been either the cause or simply the lucky recipient.

I put a clamp on my instinctive anger because I wasn’t at all sure Slayer hadn’t been as much a victim as I was. My Settling was becoming a force all its own. And it was possible I could no longer control it.

“Dialle.” I lifted a hand toward him and took a step in his direction.

“Step away, Astra.” His voice was cold and saturated with anger. I shivered under the sound of it.

“No. Dialle, this might not be his fault...my Settling...” Whatever I might have been ready to say drifted away as he turned his swirling, midnight eyes in my direction.

His perfect, golden features could have been made of stone. They were hard with anger and I realized the anger was directed just as much at me as it was the Slayer.

“I will deal with you later, my queen.” The words were bitten off like bitter fruit and spat into the air between us. “Now move away from this pile of excrement so that I can kill him, and then you and I will have a long, clarifying discussion.”

I frowned. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to have that particular discussion with him. Squaring my shoulders, I stepped directly in front of Slayer. “No.”

The wind buffeting Dialle increased, to the point that he was standing at the center of a veritable wind tunnel. His eyes narrowed on me and I saw that they were almost completely red, swirling madly as he fought to keep his temper under control. “Are you actually standing there protecting your lover from me, Astra?”

“Dialle, he’s not my lover!”

Slayer made a sound and I fought the urge to turn and shush him. Dialle lifted a single, elegant eyebrow in derision.

“I find you all but frunking right before my very eyes and you have the unmitigated gall to tell me you aren’t lovers?”

I glared across the space at him, suddenly reluctant to discuss the embarrassment of my un-Settled position in front of the Slayer. But after a moment, when I realized that Dialle was not going to get the point and let me off the hook, I finally said. “Are you forgetting my little...problem...Dialle?”

He continued to stare at me, his cold expression not changing even the tiniest bit. But I noticed some of the angry color had left his eyes and the wind in the room had died to the point that it no longer battered Slayer and me with its intensity.

Finally Dialle gave me a single nod. “Am I to believe that you were helpless against your Settling, Astra?”

I bit my lip, not sure myself exactly what I was helpless against, but for the moment it seemed the wisest course to go with my stupid Settling. “I’m not proud of it but, yes.” I was happy that my voice didn’t waver. I even sounded moderately certain.

Dialle continued to stare at me.

I heard movement behind me and Slayer cleared his throat.

Dialle lifted a hand and a power arrow skimmed past me again, close enough to burn my arm with its heat.

Slayer dived behind the divan as more chunks of wall burst around him.

I closed the space between Dialle and me, flinging myself into his arms to stop him from killing Slayer.

Big mistake.

As soon as we touched all the breath left my body and the sexual tide started to rise in me again.

Dialle wrapped a hard, strong arm around my waist and held me tight for a beat in time. He left one hand free, no doubt so he could fry Slayer if he got the chance, and looked down into my eyes. “Astra.” For the first time the anger fled his gaze long enough to show me the pain hiding behind it. His lips parted and he looked as if he might lower his head and kiss me.

I reached up and touched his jaw, smoothing a finger over the slight stubble there. “I’m sorry, Dialle. I need to try to explain.” Amazingly, and infuriatingly, tears filled my eyes. I blinked angrily, hating to appear weak.

The mask slid over his eyes again and he released my waist, stepping away from me as if he couldn’t bear to touch me. “We will discuss this later.”

The air in the room changed and my hand throbbed. I slid it behind my back, suddenly remembering Slayer’s mark.

The last thing I wanted Dialle to see at that moment was that mark. “He’s gone.” I told Dialle.

I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or pissed that Slayer had left me holding the proverbial bag. What I did know was that I still had a whole passel of problems to solve. And time wasn’t on my side

Sighing, I turned away and started walking toward the door.

“Astra!”

I shook my head without turning. “I have to save Darma and Myra, then I need to figure out what’s going on. A sudden memory had me stopping dead in my tracks. A red, scaly face with a broken jaw flashed before my eyes and I heard a gravelly voice say, “King Dialle sent me to kill you.” The audio reel in my head switched to another track, and I heard Euryice, the traitorous black dragon, say, “You will die soon, dragon fighter, and your lover will be the cause.”

I turned, my gaze locked onto Dialle’s hostile face. I wasn’t sure how to ask the question that needed asking so I just came right out with it. “Did you send assassins to kill me?”

I watched his impossibly handsome face carefully for any signs that he was guilty of the charge. I saw a surprised widening of his black eyes before they narrowed in a frown, but the emotion that flashed across his features didn’t look like guilt to me. I wasn’t sure what it was.

“Of course not, Astra. Why would I do that?” He walked toward me with long, ground-eating strides, clasping my arms in a hard grip. “Why are you asking me that? Has someone tried to kill you?”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Who hadn’t tried to kill me over the last few days?

I said as much to Dialle and his frown deepened to a scowl. After a few beats his expression cleared and I thought I read understanding of some kind there. “You must come with me. I can protect you until we figure out what’s going on.”

I started to shake my head but didn’t quite manage it. I soon found myself locked in space and time, unable to move, my ears ringing with complete silence, as Dialle shifted us away from the castle on the edge of Hell, to a new place in Hades that was probably eminently worse.

Just like that I found myself driving inexorably closer to the culmination of my Settling, surrounded by devils and devilry, deep in the heart of the purest evil in the universe. Skirting the scalding fires of Hell.

Yeah, my life just sucked.

And I was so totally screwed.

CHAPTER NINE