Prince of Demons 2: The Order of the Black Swan (3 page)

The demon was caught between releasing Brave so that he could cover his groin with his hands and be smothered in the process, or trying to wrestle the water skin away from his face leaving his already useless genitals vulnerable to more punishment. In that moment of indecision, Lana landed another well-placed stomp. That one rendered the demon unconscious.

Lana watched as his bare arms fell to the ground, and noticed that he had glyph tattoos on his left arm that looked like angel script.

Brave scrambled up and grabbed Lana’s arm. “Come on. This way.”

Lana looked at the lifeless demon. “You sure he’s dead?”

“I’m sure he’s unconscious and going to stay that way for a long time. I’m also sure we don’t have time for a thorough exam.”

Lana nodded and followed Brave as he moved quietly and quickly along the wall of a tunnel passage that seemed to be on an incline. With every step it was easier to see that they were moving toward daylight. She even had the thought that they were literally seeing light at the end of a tunnel.

When they came to an intersection of passageways, Lana continued moving toward the sliver of light in front of her, but was jerked to a halt when Brave grabbed her arm.

“This way,” he said, pulling her toward the passage to their left.

She hesitated because the promise of light straight ahead was so much more appealing than the dark choice presented by passage number one. Following Brave’s lead wasn’t really optional. Since he gave every appearance of being the only hope, she was all in.

He took her hand and stuffed the ragged tail of his shirt, what was left of it, into her hand. “Hang on. There’s not much light, but I know the way.”

Luckily the passage floor was smooth, because they were moving quickly without being able to see, so far as Lana could tell. When Brave stopped, Lana’s forward momentum didn’t. Colliding with the immovable muscular body in front of her caused an “oomph” sound that embarrassed more than hurt.

She felt Brave’s hands grip both her arms. He was urging her backward. She allowed him to maneuver her body into an indention in the wall that felt like a small alcove, just big enough to fit.

“Wait here for just a minute and be quiet. I’ll be right back.”

Lana panicked, looking around in the darkness, but not being able to tell exactly where he was. “No! Brave! Don’t leave me,” she whispered as forcefully as possible without giving actual tone to her words.

She felt the warmth of his hand on her shoulder just before he was speaking in a low voice right next to her ear.

“Lana. You’ve got to trust that I won’t leave you. This escape is a team effort. All for one. One for all.”

“Promise on whatever you call holy.”

“I promise on whatever I call holy.”

“That’s not…”

He was gone. The heat his body had generated was instantly replaced with cool air.

It was possible that he was still there in the dark, but a few feet away, but she knew he wasn’t. She wouldn’t have been able to explain how she knew that. It was just a feeling of aloneness that hadn’t been there a moment before.

The passage where she waited was dark. Dark and quiet as a tomb. It was the nightmarish side of solitude.

As the seconds elapsed she became acutely aware that her breathing was getting faster, since it was the only sound. She’d never been more afraid. Not even when she thought that falling into freezing water was an impending possibility.

She tried to calm herself with meditation techniques she’d learned when Dizzy had dragged her to “head yoga” classes. She was wishing she’d paid more attention, perhaps taken it more seriously because what she remembered wasn’t working at all. Her deep breathing escalated in proportion to her growing fear until she was in danger of hyperventilating.

Without warning she was grabbed by invisible fingers. She opened her mouth to scream, but the sound didn’t last a fraction of a second before Brave’s hand closed over her mouth. He pressed his body into hers and nuzzled her cheek while murmuring soothing reassurances. “Shhhh. Lana. It’s just me, Brave. Everything is okay.”

Lana’s body had contracted with the tension of the sensory deprivation and the unknown. She sagged against Brave, then shook his hand away from her mouth and pushed him back.

“Where did you go?”

“Got a knife and a chunk of bread. Don’t know how old it is or who left it behind, but in a few more hours we may not care. Come on.”

He stuffed his shirttail into her hand again and pulled her forward.

When they stopped the second time, he said, “There’s an opening in the wall here. Wait and let me check it out.”

Silently she was shaking her head vigorously, which he, of course, could not see in the dark.

As Brave began to pull the heavy door open, Lana was blinded by the assault of full morning light. Since she couldn’t move until her pupils adjusted, she was okay with waiting. Especially since there was light.

Brave opened the door just enough to squeeze through and was gone for less than a minute. By that time, Lana could see if her eyelids were squinted almost closed, leaving the narrowest of slits.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He grinned like they were going to Disneyland.

“See the tree line there?” He pointed to a dense forest about forty yards away. She nodded. “The sooner we can get from here to there, the better our chances of getting away. Enough said?”

“Got it.”

“Good. You first.”

She looked at the tree line and felt her pulse jump before she ever lunged into a sprint. She hadn’t been the fastest kid in school, certainly not a track runner, but she had the feeling that that was only because there were never demons on her tail. She ran like she wouldn’t have thought possible, each step chewing up the distance, but the entire time she felt Brave right behind her. And somehow his presence seemed to add a little courage to the mixture of disorientation and fear.

As soon as Lana felt safe in the cover of trees, she stopped and bent over, heaving to get her breath. Glancing over at Brave she saw that he was breathing just as hard. But judging by his smile and way his eyes were shining, she guessed he was an adrenaline junkie, or worse.

“Great,” she said. “I’ve thrown in with an escape partner who has a death wish.”

He chuckled. “What?”

“You seem more like a person who’s having fun than a person who could be a demon ritual sacrifice by sundown if we’re caught.”

He laughed and shook his head. “You’ve got a great imagination, Lana. I can’t say for certain what would happen if we’re caught, but ritual sacrifice isn’t on the list.”

“Good to know. What now?”

She followed his line of vision deeper into the forest, where it seemed to get darker. “Wonderful. More darkness.”

He turned toward her and smiled. “Hey. It’s not all bad. Look what I got for you when I picked up the knife and the bread.”

From his waistband he pulled a silver tool that looked very much like a toothbrush and handed it to her.

“A toothbrush? I think I love you, Brave.” His smile grew even more brilliant with that suggestion. “If you had toothpaste, I would pledge to be your slave forevermore.”

He pulled a small brown suede pouch from his pocket. “This powder will clean your teeth and make your mouth feel brand new.” When she tried to take it from his hand, he held on. “I’m holding you to that thing about slavery.”

She pulled the pouch away with a snort.

“How do you use this?”

She looked inside the pouch. The powder was white and did smell really good.

“Just dip the brush inside. Get some of the powder on the bristles and your own chemistry will do the rest.”

Following his instructions, she plunged the brush into the pouch, withdrew it and began brushing her teeth. First contact felt so good she moaned out loud, which caused Brave’s smile to transform into another expression altogether.

“You like it,” he said.

“Mmmm-mmm,” was all she could manage around the pleasure of a mouth that was feeling baby’s breath fresh.

When she was finished, she turned away and spat on the ground as daintily as was possible under the circumstances. After all, southern girls were taught from an early age that there’s never any acceptable circumstance or excuse for behaving in an uncivilized manner.

She straightened, turned toward Brave and showed him her teeth. “Good as new,” she said, holding the brush and pouch out for him.

He took it and repeated the process except that there wasn’t anything dainty about his spit. Nor did he make an effort to turn away.

“Well, here we are. Two escaped prisoners with clean teeth and minty breath. How about a good morning kiss?”

Lana laughed, thinking he was joking. “You wish.”

“No?” He didn’t seem discouraged. “Well, let me know when you change your mind. I’m a really good kisser.”

She cursed him for adding that last thing. She might have been able to resist his magnetism, his stunning looks, his powerful muscular form, and the amused confidence he wore like a second skin, but she knew that he’d sabotaged her best intentions for self-preservation by planting a thought that wouldn’t go away anytime soon.

“How good?” she asked.

He huffed as he threw her that easy grin, which she was quickly becoming addicted to, and started into the forest like he knew where he was going.

Progress was slow. He picked his way through dense underbrush, being careful to bend small limbs out of the way and hold them still so she could pass. After a couple of hours, Lana’s boots seemed to be getting heavier with every step.

“Hey. Any chance of a little break?”

“A respite?” He stopped and looked around. “Let me see if I can find a place where you could sit down.”

He changed direction slightly, and after a few minutes came to a tiny clearing of undergrowth, just big enough for them to sit down between trees. Lana sank to the ground and leaned against a tree.

“I’m staying here.”

He cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m going to sit on this ground and lean against this tree until I die of starvation or am eaten by discriminating carnivores with exceptionally good taste.” She paused. “You should go on without me though. Save yourself.”

He snorted. “I never knew you were so dramatic.”

Lana half-laughed. “You
never
knew? You make it sound like you’ve known me for longer than… what? A day and a half?”

He pulled the worse-for-wear chunk of unleavened bread out of his pocket and offered it to Lana. She looked it over and shook her head.

“You’ve slept on me. Twice. Our auras are joined. So I feel like I know you.”

“Hmmm. I don’t really know what that means, but whatever. Being near you when I’m unconscious doesn’t cause you to know me better. It just means we breathed the same air.”

“Alright,” he said as if he was determined to be easy-going.

He pulled a bit of the bread away and shoved it into his mouth.

“That’ll last longer if you eat it in little bits. Slowly.”

With a wide smile and a mouth full of bread, he said, “You eat your bread. I’ll eat mine.”

“Just don’t touch my half. I’m going to have mine in little bits and chew slowly. Then later when you’re
so
hungry, you’re going to want some of mine. And I’m not going to feel even a little bit sorry for you.”

He laughed around the last of the bread still in his mouth and looked at her like she was the most fun he’d ever had. “You’re not going to feel sorry for me?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“You’re lying and I’d be willing to place a wager on it.”

“A wager?” she laughed. “What have you got to wager? A third of a shirt?”

He looked down at his exposed chest and torso then looked up at her with a gleam in his eye. “When the only bread that’s left is yours, if you don’t feel sorry for me, I’ll do anything you say. On the other hand, if you
do
feel sorry for me,” she was shaking her head no before he even finished the rest of that sentence, “you’ll do
anything
I say”.

“Not bloody likely, Brave. You knew that wasn’t happening before you even wasted your breath to say it.”

His smile never wavered. “Hmmm. A kiss, then.”

He knew he had her interest when he saw her eyes drift downward from his eyes to his lips. As her gaze remained caught there, he began to slowly pucker. When Lana realized what he was doing, she jerked her eyes up to his.

Like a cad, he laughed.

“Are you trying to tease me, Brave?”

“Maybe a little. I find it delightful that I
can
tease you with the idea of kisses.”

“Prick.”

“I’m not sure what that means, but I suspect I don’t want to know. So is it a wager?”

“Let’s get something straight right now, Brave. I’m not a gambler.”

“You are that and a liar as well, because I
know
you’re a gambler.”

“Okay, first you couldn’t possibly know whether I’m a gambler or not. Second, you should know that calling a woman a liar doesn’t put her in a kissing mood.”

“I don’t have to tell you how I know what I know, but here it is. One.” He held up a finger in the most irritating way conceivable. “A woman who isn’t a gambler wouldn’t have been so ready to attempt an escape. You didn’t even consider the alternative.

“Two. For all you knew, I could be a worse fate than your captors. What was that you suggested? Something like ‘psychotic sicko’? And yet you didn’t hesitate to come with me wherever I was leading.

“Three. I
know
the run we made from the fortress to the forest was invigorating to you. You weren’t scared as much as excited. What do these things add up to? Gambler. Gambler. Gambler.”

He said each “gambler” slowly to keep from getting tongue-tied and that somehow served to annoy her more. When she said nothing in return, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the remaining bread.

“Don’t touch my half,” she warned.

And he laughed as he put the bread away. “Is that enough of a… break?”

She let her head fall back against the tree trunk behind her and took in a deep breath.