bedeviled & beyond 04 - bedeviled & belittled (23 page)

One more second and I’d be unfaithful to Dialle.

My mind screamed at me to stop him, but my traitorous body resisted that good advice, wrapping itself around him to make its ravishment easier.

Fortunately for me a built-in mood killer had access to my head.
Astra! I thought you were coming to get me. I’m in trouble here, Astra. I don’t know how long I can hold this guy off. Shit! Astraaaaaaaaaaa!

I surged upright on the bed, panting. Shoving First off me, I leapt off the bed, grabbing a pillow. If a pillow was all I had, I’d do whatever I could with it.

If nothing else I’d stuff it between my thighs as a feather chastity belt.

Fortunately I didn’t need to resort to that.

I felt the change in the air the moment the warlock gave up his secrets. The retrieval of his wards created a sudden surge in magic that wreaked havoc with any existing spells, including First’s fairy mound spell.

My power came surging forward and extinguished the pillow I was holding in my hands in a puff of smoke.

Then I blinked and found myself standing in the throne room again.

Naked as the day I was born.

“Did I miss the notice for casual day?” A sharp-edged female voice asked.

Looking up, I gave my aunt a sheepish smile, wishing I still had that damn pillow to hide behind.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Dis Just Sux!

The demon stared upon young miss, her death fixed in its eye,

But she preferred to face the dark, and make the monster die.

Dialle strolled up to me, glaring. “I see you found my father.” He whipped a hand in my direction and, thankfully, I found myself fully dressed again. I smoothed a hand down the silk t-shirt and smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

He leaned close. “I trust you managed to hold him off?”

“With a feather pillow...and not much else.”

He shook his head. “I’ll happily kill him for you.”

I looked around. “By the way, where is the old dog?”

“He poofed away shortly after you popped in.” Myra stepped close. “We need to find Darma and get out of here.”

My eyes widened. “Darma!” Turning to Dialle, I grasped his shirt in both hands. “I think Nerul has Darma. He must be behind all of this. Your father was perfectly willing to take advantage of the chaos Nerul has caused, but he wasn’t the one vying for your crown.”

Dialle stared at me for a long moment, his black eyes swirling with anger and other emotions which I couldn’t read. Then he swore, apparently seeing the truth behind my words. “I should have known he couldn’t be trusted.”

Dialle grabbed my arm and suddenly we were locked in space and time—no doubt on our way back to his castle. I wanted to shriek at him that we were most likely traveling directly into a trap. I wanted to tell him about Emo. I wanted to yell at him for dragging me, without consulting me first, into a new situation before my nerves had managed to settle from the last one. I wanted to do all of those things. But all I could do was stand there, my mouth open in surprised outrage, glowering.

We settled back to the physical plane in a small, darkened room. It smelled like...cleaning products. Wrinkling my nose I forgot to yell at him for transporting me against my will and asked, “are we in a maid’s closet?”

Dialle reached out and touched the door. It slid silently open just enough for him to peek outside. “Yes.”

I had to smile. “You mean you don’t just wave your hands and clean the place?”

I couldn’t see his handsome face, but I heard derision in his voice. “We don’t waste our powers on such trivia. We let the human damned clean. It keeps them busy so they don’t get into trouble.” When I snorted he amended his statement with a grin. “
More
trouble.”

I joined him at the crack in the door. The hallway outside looked just like all the other hallways in the castle. “Where are we?”

He opened the door wider and stepped out. “West tower, top floor.”

Since I had no clue about the castle’s layout, that meant nothing to me. I took a stab at a reason. “Nerul’s floor?”

“His rooms are nearby. Now that I know what he’s been up to, I believe this is where he has been keeping your sister. There have been signs, which I’ve managed to ignore with everything else going on.”

The air shimmered beside us and Dialle’s brother, Torre flickered into existence. His dark, delicately handsome features were hard with anger and determination. “Where is she?”

Dialle jerked his head toward a thick, wooden door at the end of the hallway.

Torre strode toward the door, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

I admired the view as he went. Torre had always been too delicate for me, too pretty, but something had changed in Dialle’s younger brother. He appeared to have grown up, gotten tougher.

It was a delicious change.

Dialle caught me staring at his brother’s fine backside and licking my lips. He cocked an eyebrow, the hint of a smile dancing across his lips.

“Damn Settling.” I offered feebly.

Shaking his head, he started after his brother.

I pulled my power forward and followed. The door exploded inward as Torre approached and we continued through without breaking stride.

The outer room was quiet. For a moment I thought the rooms were empty. Then I heard the sounds of a struggle and my sister’s ear shattering shriek. Torre took off toward the sound, his aura vibrant with barely leashed power.

Before Dialle and I made it into the room, something exploded and Darma shrieked, “Torre!”

Torre roared and more explosions followed.

With his longer legs, Dialle made it through the door before I did. I heard him swear and knew something bad was up. So I took the time to envelop myself in a protective bubble before following them through the door.

I peeked around the doorframe and took in the situation before entering the room. It was pure chaos. Dozens of Nerul’s guards filled the large room, which appeared to be a bedroom minus the bed and any other furniture. There was no sign of Darma or Nerul. He’d apparently had some warning that we were coming for him.

Emo’s newly hardened face and manner flitted through my mind again but I ruthlessly squashed my doubts.

Dropping my bubble so I could fight, I stepped through the door.

I had to duck immediately. One of Nerul’s guards flew toward me, nearly taking off my head with his squat, heavy body. I waited for him to land and then grabbed the sword out of his hand, plunging it into his chest. I turned to meet the next guard, who swung wildly at me, mostly missing. He didn’t look very bright, apparently dredged up from the bottom of a very deep barrel. A string of drool swung from his lower lip as he lumbered around, making clumsy attempts to spear me with his blade.

He swung again and I ducked and lunged, twisting my wrist at the last moment to slice his side. As he turned away, trying to protect the wound, I swung my sword in a power-induced arc that sent his head flying to skitter wetly across the floor. It landed next to a set of large feet in soft boots. My vision slid up the boots to a fine pair of legs, stalled out over a nicely bulging area at the juncture of a muscular set of thighs, and then continued upward to a handsome, smiling face.

Slayer
!

My Settling gave me a quick jolt of sheer lust that curled my toes, and then tucked itself back behind my aggressive side, allowing me to stay mostly focused on the battle at hand.

Slayer winked at me and lunged, taking out another of Nerul’s guards.

I realized he’d probably found me by using the Slayer hickey on my hand. Although I was happy to see him, having another devastatingly handsome male type able to track and find me at all times was disconcerting to say the least.

However, I didn’t have time to worry about it right at that moment. The doorway darkened with something huge and hairy in basic colors. Very basic.

Shit! Dialle! This might be a good time for you to tell me how you defeated that Dis Demon.

I’m a little busy right now, Astra.

I turned to Dialle and found him fighting four of Nerul’s soldiers at once. I sent a jolt of power into one of them and it went right through him to maim a second guard. Dialle finished the wounded one with his sword and cocked an eyebrow at me.
I had it under control.

I don’t doubt that for a minute.
I told him.
But we have a visitor.

His sexy black gaze slid to the door, where the biggest Dis Demon I’d ever seen was standing, nearly folded in half because he didn’t fit through the doorway, which was over eight feet tall and five feet wide.

My guess was he was ten feet tall if he was an inch.

Dialle finished off two more guards with very little effort, spearing one on the end of his sword and sending a power arrow into the head of the other, exploding it like a melon.
Would you like me to take care of it?

I frowned. I didn’t like other people having to clean up my messes for me.
No. Just tell me how you did it.

The demon stepped into the room and, surprise surprise, the doorway wasn’t empty. Another Dis, at least as big as the first one, ducked through after him.

Looks like we both get one.
Dialle said with a grin.

I’ll take the one on the left.
I told him, turning to the demon on the right. It was a ploy Emo and I used frequently to throw off our opponents. Like sleight of hand using our line of vision and body direction to confuse them. I forgot for a moment that my battle partner had changed and a wave of sadness slipped over me. My life was changing in ways I wasn’t comfortable with. Part of me wanted to go back to the time before the Settling, when Emo and I were still friends and partners. Part of me realized the Settling only enhanced the flaws and strengths we already had, and that we needed to work through our issues before we could be whole again.

Then a Dis demon swiped a massive paw in my direction and a third part of me, the survival part, realized I needed to stop dithering like an idiot and kick some demon ass.

I leapt into the air as the demon moved with preternatural speed. I wasn’t used to a Dis that wasn’t protecting something. The demons in that room were in attack mode. They weren’t going to stand there and wait for me to go after them. “Dialle! How do I kill this thing!” Three enormous claws swiped across my back as I landed, tearing through my clothing and the skin beneath it like they were made of paper. The claw marks burned like acid, making me scream in agony.

“Dialle!”

Use your inner sight, Astra. Slow it down with your vision.

Frunk me to Hades and back again! This is no time to go all Zen on me.
The ground shook and I spun as the demon swiped again, its claws scoring three long, bloody gouges in my arm.

Screaming in pain and rage I lifted my arm and blasted the thing between the eyes. The power arrow tore through the wall behind where the demon had been.

It was gone.

Two massive hands closed over my arms and lifted me high into the air. I kicked out, connecting with the thing’s face, but it merely grunted before throwing me across the room, toward a stone wall. Closing my eyes, I prepared for impact. It was gonna hurt like Hell. And believe me, I knew how much Hell hurt.

I never hit the wall. Something soft and warm stepped in the way, stopping me before impact. The air before me shimmered and I was looking into Auntie Myra’s beautiful, cranky face. We floated back to the ground. “I see you’re doing your usual bang up job in battle, Astra.”

I kissed her on a peach-tinted cheek, happy to see her looking like herself again. “Bang up being the operative words, of course. Thanks, Auntie.”

She scowled at me as I turned back to the demon.

Stop screwing around, Astra. Slow it down with your vision.

Sighing, I decided to try it his way, since my way pretty much sucked demon testicles. I pulled my power forward and infused my vision with it, settling my gaze on the Dis demon and concentrating hard on seeing it with my enhanced vision.

The monster’s blazing red eyes widened slightly as it considered coming for me. I watched its massive muscles bunch, its claws dig into the stone of the castle floor, its body tilt toward me as it dug in and took off. I waited as its steps moved inexorably toward me. And I stepped to the side, reaching out a power infused arm to smash against its head as it flew past.

The Dis stumbled forward, black blood running from its nose and mouth, and stopped, turning toward me. With an effort, I kept my enhanced vision so that I could see when the demon dug in for a second run at me.

I waited until it was almost on me and then kicked out hard, my bony knee smashing brutally into the juncture of the thing’s hairy thighs.

The Dis didn’t react the way I’d expected from having its balls crushed. Rather than bending around itself in pain, the demon struck out immediately, before my foot had a chance to return to the ground.

Its deadly, burning claws raked down my face, tore through my throat, and ripped three, jagged holes in my chest.

As I flew backward, my pain-racked body cringing in on itself in an instinctual effort to protect and avoid, something inside me snapped. A switch inside my mind flipped, and my devil came out in a big way.

The widening of the demon’s red eyes as it recognized my monster would have been comical if I’d been in my right mind. In my current state I didn’t recognize anything but the primal tang of sudden fear on the air. I flipped back to my feet and lifted both hands toward the demon, enjoying the way it bunched within itself, preparing to run away.

It would have been smart to run. I was no longer the light warrior the thing had started the battle with. Dark energy boiled beneath my skin, and no doubt shone from my gaze. The power that shot from my hands was the most deadly I had. It was the power to rend, to tear, to slice, to kill. It was the power I’d been reluctant to tap for fear of what it would do to me.