The Devil You Need (15 page)

I soon forgot Dialle as I reached the gently flowing water
and crouched next to it, running an exploratory finger through its surface. The
water felt thicker than I was used to and silkier. But it smelled like water
and nothing jumped up to eat my finger. More importantly, it was deliciously
warm, like everything else in the Hades environs. One of the massive,
gray-barked trees I was growing familiar with rose into the dark night sky a
few feet away, its heavy branches stretching out over the river.

I moved behind it to give myself a little privacy and
started to strip. Listening to the distant roar of fire, I frowned. Dialle
seemed reluctant to tell me how the fire started. I figured spontaneous fires
weren’t that uncommon in the fiery environs of Hell but still, it seemed
strange that the exact area where we’d been resting exploded into a
conflagration. I made a mental note to ask Dialle about it later. After my
bath.

I crouched beside the water again and washed my clothing as
well as I could, hoping at least some of the smoke stench would wash out of the
fabric so I could stand to be around myself.

I draped the newly rinsed clothing over a branch of the tree
and stepped into the river. The water was deeper than I expected near the
shoreline and my first, tentative step sent me plunging deep with a shriek.

The warm, silky water closed over my head as I sank down,
down, and down, never feeling the bottom. I finally realized I’d better swim
for the top.

As I neared the surface, the silver globes of the double
moons wavered and danced above me, broken only by the blackly jagged shape of a
tree limb. The water was impossibly clear, like looking through old glass. I
swam through the warm silk, my limbs slicing the distance in clean, powerful
strokes. It was a heady feeling and I wasn’t anxious to cut it short. I burst
through the surface, gasping for air and decided to swim for a few more minutes
before climbing out.

I swam downstream, letting the gentle current carry me
easily and quickly. As I swam, my euphoria dimmed and my muscles warmed,
growing heavy. Lethargy wrapped strong arms around me and I dozed off, jerking
awake only as water started to slide down my throat.

I realized I must be more tired than I realized. I turned
around, intending to swim back toward Dialle and Gerch. The world was suddenly
covered in black glass. I was sinking. I sucked in a breath and felt warm
liquid filling my lungs.

Astra!

Dialle’s voice brought me awake. I flailed against the
insistent pull of the black water, managing to swim back to the surface. After
what felt like several minutes, I finally broke through, my fingers clawing for
something solid to pull me free of the sucking liquid. I coughed and choked but
my scrabbling fingers could find nothing to help me climb free.

I managed to cry out once before my traitorous limbs
succumbed to the warm lethargy of the water and I started to sink again. I held
my breath as my face slid beneath the water and tried to fight, but my arms and
legs wouldn’t work.

Dialle…
My eyes stared upward as I sank, through the
black glass that framed my watery coffin. Then the black thickened, became more
opaque, and I settled into my death with a sigh. Bubbles rippled past my face,
tickling my nose.

A splash sounded far away. The water swayed around me,
tossing my weakened limbs like a rag doll in a breeze. Hard hands grasped me. A
strong arm wrapped around my waist and pulled, dragging me inexorably upward,
through the molten silk of the deadly liquid.

When we broke the surface, I didn’t choke, didn’t cough. I
felt as if I was encased in rock, impermeable and unable to move. I was aware
of being dragged from the water and laid out on something hard, but my eyes
wouldn’t blink, my body wouldn’t move.

Light flared, moving closer, as Dialle’s face hovered over
mine. “Breathe, Astra.” The light found my chest and burrowed in, drawing a
gasp from my lips, and on its heels a shriek of agony as fire speared my chest.

Feeling returned to my limbs, accompanied by a painful
tingling that I knew was the blood rushing through my veins again. Finally
Dialle removed his hand from my chest and sat back on his heels, his golden
features set with worry.

“You nearly died.”

I struggled to sit upright. Dialle tried to help but I was
pissed and shoved his hand away. “I wouldn’t have if somebody had bothered to
tell me the water was drugged.”

His scowl deepened. “I didn’t know. The thing about Perdigo
is that things keep flexing and changing here. No place stays the same and
everything within is continually altering itself. The last time I came through
here these waters were fine.”

I started to stand and wobbled, my knees giving out on me. I
fell forward and Dialle caught me, dragging me across his lap. “Sit for a few
minutes, Astra. Your body needs some time to recover from the waters and my
healing.”

I shoved at his chest and tried to stand again, but he
tightened his grip. “You are so stubborn.”

I glared at him. “In case you’ve forgotten, you dumped me recently.
It shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise that I don’t want you touching me
right now.”

He held my gaze for a long moment, emotion darkening his
blue gaze. Finally he smiled and my sexual core tightened in response. It was
his mischievous smile. I stiffened, worried about what he would do next. “I
don’t like that look.”

He cocked his head, one heated hand sliding up my back. “I
have no idea what you’re referring to, my love—”

“Don’t.” I shoved against his chest. “Don’t ever call me
that again. In fact, don’t call me your anything. I’m not yours anymore. In any
way.”

His hand skimmed along my spine and wrapped around the back
of my neck, sending heat in soft tendrils coiling through my traitorous body.
“I have been a fool, my love. But in my defense, I was only releasing you so
that I would not drag you down with me.”

“Uh, huh.” I leaned forward, trying to escape the warmly
delicious grip on my neck. Unfortunately the new position put me within a
breath of his sexy lips. When I tried to lean away again his hand tightened on
my neck.

His sexy gaze slipped over my face, warming me like a tender
touch. “I’ve been devastated at the idea of never making love to you again,
Astra.”

I swallowed hard as his delicious scent enfolded me,
dragging my will to resist away. “You should have thought of that before you
dumped me, bud.”

He leaned in and kissed my cheek, lingering long enough to
make me suck in a breath as my body exploded into sensation from the simple
act.

“I would have missed your taste.” His hot tongue swept out
and slid across my lips, pressing the seam for entrance. I managed to resist
opening to him, but just barely. His lips moved upward, to touch the tip of my
nose. “I would have missed your delectable scent. Have I ever told you that you
smell like vanilla and cherries?”

I squirmed as need, prickly and aggressive, twisted in my
belly. “You’re just hungry. I know I’m starving.” As soon as the words left my
lips I realized how they sounded.

He chuckled, the sound like heated fingers playing over my
breasts. My nipples hardened under its power. “Yes. I am hungry, my love.” His
lips pressed a tender kiss against my throat and, despite my will to resist, my
head dropped back and my slut-monkey side started to bitch-slap my better
intentions into silence.

The hand that had been holding me close slipped down my back
and wrapped around my waist as he kissed his way down my throat to my shoulder,
easing me down. By the time my back settled onto the rock beneath me his lips
hovered over mine. Vibrating with overwhelming need, I inhaled the intoxicating
wash of his breath and moaned, unable to stop myself from responding.

“I would have missed the exquisite softness of your skin.
The rigid peaks of your nipples against my tongue.” His lips opened and he
licked a trail down my throat, nuzzling an unprotected breast and pulling the
hungry nipple into moist heat.

The warm, slightly smoky night air whispered past, creating
gooseflesh on my damp skin. My belly quivered with building need as his hands
skimmed gently over it, sliding down my hips and caressing my thighs. Beneath
my naked buttocks, the flat, smooth rock felt like polished granite.

My thighs tightened with the need to open and, before I
could stop myself I’d arched my hips, pressing myself into the hard ridge of
his cock.

“Stop, Dialle. I don’t want this.” My plea was so pitiful
and without weight even I disregarded it.

Dialle’s clothing disappeared in a whisper and he moved
between my thighs, settling the thick head of his cock at my throbbing
entrance. He looked down at me, sweeping a thick ribbon of wet hair from my
cheek. “If you truly do not want me to make love to you I’ll leave, Astra. You
need only say the word.”

Pain seared my chest again at the thought of his leaving. My
pussy clenched in alarm and warm cream trailed from it. Without realizing what
I was doing, my hands slid over his shoulders and into his hair, twining the
midnight silk in my fingers and pulling him closer. “Don’t leave, Dialle. I
think I’d die if you did.”

His lips captured mine and something profound and important
trembled within me, sliding into place. My world rocked back onto its axis and
hope bloomed in my chest. With a single, deep thrust, Dialle’s cock filled me,
creating a flashpoint for all the sensations his nearness had ignited. I cried
out at the wonder of it, my body clasping his in a desperate grip.

My hands tightened against his scalp as my body soared into
awareness. I whimpered softly against his lips. Dialle’s kiss started soft and
tender and quickly gained intensity as our mating grew from delightful to
profound.

His tongue lashed against mine, tasting and testing and
urging me to join him in the dance. I gladly accepted the teasing touches as my
sexual core swelled toward release. My hands found the firm globes of his
buttocks and I clasped them. I spread my legs, urging him to stroke faster,
plunge deeper.

Bliss called to me, just beyond my touch. I reached for it,
straining toward its fiery grasp. Heat flooded my face. My limbs tightened as I
strained toward that joyful release. I sucked in a breath as my body finally
grasped it, the tight knot in my belly suddenly releasing in an explosion that
sent delicious waves of warmth spreading through my groin and limbs.

I cried out, my hands clasping him even more tightly to my
body, demanding that he stay with me…that he ride out the explosion of need
rocketing out of control inside me. I hit the bottom of my orgasm and
immediately spiraled upward into another, moaning Dialle’s name to the smoky
night sky as my body tightened in spasm after spasm of delicious release.

Dialle finally gave in to my body’s demands. He lifted his
head and slammed deep, his body growing rigid under the compulsion of his own
orgasm. Settling onto his elbows, he slid his hands under my head and pulled me
into another, toe-curling kiss, this one less urgent but no less intense.

Pain speared my throat and I cried out.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

I held my breath, waiting for another jolt of pain. It never
came. I shook my head, rubbing the spot where I’d been jolted. “Nothing. Just a
twinge.”

He kissed me one last time and rolled away, settling down on
his back beside me. He grasped my hand in his and we stared up at the velvet
black of a star-studded night sky.

The night was strangely silent around us. I realized there
were no bugs or night birds calling out, or nocturnal predators moving through
the underbrush. It felt as if we were the only two people in the entire Perdigo
environs.

Then I remembered Gerch. I sat up, filled with alarm.
“Gerch!”

Dialle sat up too. “He’s fine. He was hunting for our dinner
when I left him.”

Right on cue my stomach grumbled hopefully. “Good. ‘Cause I
wasn’t kidding before. I am starving.”

Dialle smiled. “Then let’s go take care of that. You’ll need
your strength for what’s to come tomorrow.”

“Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to it. I can’t get away
from this river soon enough. Maybe we should set off right after we eat.”

“We must follow the river for a while. There is something I
must do before going after my father.”

Sighing, I let Dialle lead me back to my clothing on the
riverbank. His reminder of the battle to come sucked the residual bliss right
out of me. I wasn’t sure what my mother and his father had in mind, but I knew
one thing for sure. Defeating them was going to be the hardest thing Dialle and
I had ever done together.

And we’d done a lot of really hard things.

Loch Nestrada

Our king doth bid his lady splash, through the watery
depths of Hell,

Though his plans might her enthusiasm dash, and all
her hopes dispel.

A thick, moist fog surrounded us, blocking the soft light of
a weak sun high overhead. Warm, sulfurous water bathed my legs to the knees.
The occasional floating or swimming object bumped against my cringing flesh as
we pushed through.

“Are you sure this water isn’t drugged too?” I asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. The river does feed this area, but
the creatures who live in the swamp wouldn’t allow tainted water to flow here.”

I frowned, not feeling a bit better. He’d taken away one
fear and added a new one. My gaze slid over the black water, looking for signs
of the creatures he referred to. It was impossible. If it weren’t for the
knee-deep water I’d think we were slogging through the shadows. The fog had the
same sound and vision-dampening effects. Distorting reality until I wasn’t sure
if we were moving forward or sideways through it.

Huge, black shapes surged upward out of the dense,
gray-white substance. They were trees mostly, with long, twisted limbs that
seemed to clutch the fog with bony fingers.

Night birds called across the space, apparently oblivious to
the fact that it was midday. Or at least I thought it was. We’d been slogging
through the muck in that swamp for what felt like hours.

Though the air was steamy, a bone-numbing cold spread upward
from the black, oily surface of the water. My teeth had stopped clacking
together hours earlier, my body finally letting go of the idea that it would
ever warm again. Like a snake I appeared to have adjusted to the temperatures surrounding
me. The thought made me shudder.

I was aware of Dialle and Gerch only because they stayed
within a foot of me, occasionally reaching out to touch a hand or arm as if
assuring themselves I was still there. They were little more than colorless shapes
in the dense air. The sound of their legs plowing through the oily water was
muted, seeming as if it came from far away, and I began to wonder if the
poisonous fog had eaten away my ability to hear.

Would I ever emerge from it? And if I did, would I be
forever changed?

Just ahead of me, Dialle suddenly stopped, his arm coming
out to halt my forward progress. I grabbed Gerch’s thick arm and dragged him to
a stop beside me. “What is it, Dialle?” My voice emerged from my mouth and hit
the bank of fog, rolling backward and away without seeming to make a dent in
the foul stuff.

Astra, stand very still.

Der. I’d forgotten I had my powers back…and Dialle was back
inside my head.
What’s wrong?

Our host has joined us.

Host?

Even as I thought the question at him, the fog seem to swirl
and shift. The water around my legs rose up in foamy waves that splashed
against my thighs and a blast of heat rolled over us. My stomach rebelled at
the sour, fishy stench the heat carried with it and my fingers twitched with an
instinctive need to lash out.

As if sensing my power sliding forward, Dialle reached over
and grabbed my hand.
Do not strike out. It will kill us before you even
unleash your power.

What is it?

It is your worst nightmare.

I frowned.
Melodramatic much?

He turned to me and grinned, his perfect, white teeth barely
showing in contrast to the slightly darker shape of his face. Though he stood
only a foot away, the fog slid thin tendrils of obscuring mist over his
handsome features.
I do not wish to alarm, but there is no way to overstate
the danger in this.

Then why the hell are we here?

Because it is our only hope of defeating the king and his
two witches.

I sighed.
That sounds like the title to a really bad
romance novel.

Yes. If only that was all it was.

Something big moved through the water. The sound of it
cutting through the inky liquid seemed to surround us, coming at us from every
direction until I thought we were being converged on by several unseen
monsters. I swung my gaze in an arc that covered the front and both sides,
barely resisting the urge to turn around to check the area behind us. Only
Dialle’s painfully tight grip on my hand kept me from moving.

The sloshing sound of movement widened out, converging with
the mist until it had a life of its own, an entity apart. It was so fractured
and hard to trace that, one moment I imagined I felt stinky fish-breath against
my face and the next I was certain it was miles away. Still we stood there,
unmoving. Living, breathing targets. My heart pounded hard in my chest, a knot
of terror twisting in my belly. The urge to run became a tangible thing. It was
so strong I could taste it on my tongue.

Dialle…

The fog before us split and a pair of stunning blue eyes
appeared, mere inches from my face. I gasped and would have run screaming if
Dialle hadn’t had hold of me. The eyes were easily two feet across, a gorgeous
aquamarine color, and slanted. From the size of the eyes and the distance
apart, the creature standing mere inches from us had to be a hundred feet tall,
or long, at a minimum.
What the hell is this thing? How did it sneak up on
us like that?

Dialle didn’t answer, his grip on my hand merely tightened
in warning and then released. I stared into the giant gaze before us, unable to
look away. In fact, I couldn’t help feeling as if looking away would be a
signal for the thing to attack.

Dialle moved slightly but I didn’t want to turn my head. Out
of the corner of my eye I saw him drop and, panicking, finally turned to glance
his way. He appeared to be kneeling in the oily water, his head drooping to his
chest. I reached for him, intending to yank him back to his feet.

A large, rock-like grip pinched my shoulder. “No. Leave him,
my queen. He must do this.”

I tried to shake Gerch off. “Let me go. He’s making himself a
target.”

Something thrashed, the fog moved, and Gerch and I went
flying as a heavy, scale-covered body rammed into us. I cried out as I flew
backward through the fog and landed with a splash, fully expecting to hit
bottom. Instead, I sank like a rock into the black, oily water, finally hitting
a silty bottom after falling twenty feet. A cloud of slimy sand rose up around
me stinging my eyes. I shoved away from the soft bottom as best I could and
swam back toward the surface.

I broke the surface of the water with a gasp and Gerch broke
through a few feet away. He looked my way. “Are you all right?”

Ignoring his question, I started swimming, though my flight
through the air had disoriented me and I was no longer certain where we’d left
Dialle. After a few minutes the ground came up to meet us again and I realized
Dialle had been leading us along some kind of underwater passage. On both sides
of the path the black water was very deep. It most likely needed to be to
accommodate whatever we’d faced moments earlier. I climbed onto the trail and
stood panting, looking around. I had no idea where to look for Dialle.

I shouted his name but the sound hit the wall of fog and was
sucked in, going nowhere. I felt rather than heard Gerch climbing out after me.

I turned to him as tears stung my eyes. “We’ll never find
him in this muck.”

Gerch swiped water from his wide, red face and nodded,
looking grim.

However, he didn’t look surprised.

Anger made my fingers tingle with energy. I smacked him on
the chest. “You knew this would happen.”

He looked away guiltily. “The king suspected it might.”

I smacked him again. He just looked at me, his eyes filled
with pain. “Dammit, Gerch! Why didn’t you tell me?”

He shook his head but said nothing. He didn’t need to. I
already knew. Dialle would have forbidden him to speak. Whatever Dialle had in
mind when he’d dragged us through that gods-forsaken swamp, he’d known it would
be dangerous but he’d done it anyway.

And now he was gone.

* * * * *

Hours later I dropped, exhausted, onto a small rise of earth
with my back to a tree. I rested my head on my knees. The sun had climbed
higher in the sky, burning off part of the fog and turning the swamp to a
bug-infested sauna. I wasn’t sure if the added visibility was worth the bugs
and heat.

Gerch dropped down beside me, his breath coming fast and
heavy in his chest. I knew he was probably still fighting the aftereffects of
my healing.

“How you doin’, bud? You feel okay?”

He shrugged, looking out over the swamp. “It is of no
concern.”

“It is to me.”

He blinked, turning with surprise. Then he shook his head,
his formidable red brow lowering over the intelligent black eyes I’d grown so
used to. “A little discomfort is nothing. A soldier expects it.”

He’d said it dismissively, obviously not wanting to talk
about his feelings. I leaned back against the tree with a sigh. The smooth bark
was slimy beneath my shoulders. I didn’t care. It felt so good to be out of the
water for a while.

“Why’d he do it, Gerch?”

The big soldier glanced my way. “Do what?”

“Why’d he bring us here? Why’d he give himself over to that
thing?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t share his reasons with me. But if
this creature has something we can use to defeat his father and your mother,
the king would stop at nothing to gain it.”

“Even his own death?”

“Yes.”

“But the court will die without Dialle.”

Gerch looked surprised, his beady eyes widening. “He never
told you?”

“Told me what?”

Gerch shook his head, “It is not my place.”

“I’m sick to death of secrets.”

He shrugged, staring off across the swamp.

I stewed for a few minutes, wondering if I’d ever know what
the hell was going on in my life. Which reminded me of something else I didn’t
know. “You never told me what happened back there. While I was asleep.”

“I didn’t, no.”

I waited for the explanation but it never came. “Gerch?”

“Leave it be, Astra.”

Hearing him call me by my name in his deep, gravelly voice
was strangely intimate. It touched me. But not enough for me to listen to his
advice. “What are you hiding from me? You might as well cough it up. I’ll just
keep annoying you until you tell me.”

He turned, his craggy lips curving in a weary smile. “I’ve
endured hours of agonizing torture as the king’s man. I think I can withstand
you being annoying. Besides, it isn’t as if it would be something new.”

I elbowed him in the side and was happy to hear him grunt
softly under the impact.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I was too tired to
sleep and too weary to stand. So I stared off into the swamp, noting a strange
rippling across its surface. I picked up a pebble and threw it into the black
water, watching it sink through the ripples and disappear. “Were we attacked?”

“Astra…”

“I was dreaming of being attacked. I was dreaming of
fighting back. Somehow my brain must have known my power was back.” I stopped
talking, a sudden realization taking my breath. “Gerch…was I fighting back?”

He kept his gaze determinedly from mine. I grabbed his arm.
“Was I shooting power in my sleep, Gerch? Did I cause that fire?”

He frowned, leaning forward to slough off my hand. “I told
you to let it be, Astra.”

“And I told you I wouldn’t. I’m just going to keep at you
until you give it up.”

He shook his head. “That is your problem, Tweener.”

“What’s my problem, devil?”

“You don’t understand that every action has a consequence
that flows from it, touching everyone else in your life. Everything you do
touches everyone you love. You do not live in a vacuum. Every time you create
havoc it produces ripples.”

“Ripples…” I frowned, my gaze skimming back to the
concentric circles sliding away from us—away from the only raised, dry spot I’d
seen since entering the swamp. I stood up. “Yes, ripples. Every action causes
them.”

“What are you thinking?” Gerch stood too.

“If I’m right, I’m looking at Dialle’s location.” I leapt
into the water to the sound of Gerch yelling for me to stop. The black water
closed over me, its weight and inky dark causing a moment’s panic. But I shook
it off and concentrated on feeling what I expected to feel. A splash nearby
told me Gerch had joined me. I reached out and grasped his hand, stilling him.

When my lungs started to hurt, and I was about to give up I
finally felt it. A slight tug in the undercurrent. I squeezed Gerch’s hand and
rose to the surface for a quick breath, then I dove again, kicking my legs to
move toward the tug.

We hadn’t gone far before something swayed against my skin
in the dark abyss. Something stringy and slippery, covered with slime. I jerked
my arms away from the grasping tendrils, kicking hard to get away from them.

The water rippled and moved around me, thick with the
clinging things. I had a brief, terror-filled thought that they were some kind
of living creature. Some version of snake or long worm. But nothing bit me as I
shoved past them, though the blades along the sides were razor sharp, slicing
my skin as I pushed through.

My chest burned with the need to breathe. I forced myself
onward, determined to find the source of the churn on the surface of the water.
Behind me the water roiled from the ungraceful thrashing of a large form.

I’d have been alarmed except for the bubble-encased
grumbling that accompanied the thrashing. It occurred to me I’d neglected to
ask if devils could even swim. I decided, given Gerch’s decidedly ungraceful
progress through the black stuff they could manage, but it wasn’t pretty.

The forest of clingy vegetation seemed endless. I’d just
about decided that I would have to swim to the surface for air when a soft
light finally showed between the thick, waving tendrils. I kicked one last time
and shoved my way through the nasty stuff, earning a few more slices down my
arm for my trouble.