Inferno-Kat 2 (8 page)

Flipping over onto his stomach, Hades pushed himself up to his knees and started to crawl toward her. Maybe he could make it in time.

With one final shove, Leucothea moved the wood, and the door to the church burst open as the villagers scrambled out and down the steps to safety.

With a sigh of relief, Hades collapsed where he was and closed his eyes against the dark pain reeling in his head. He was very close to passing out. Between the blossoming pain from his ribs, which he was sure were broken, and his throbbing head, it surprised him that he still was able to move.

He cried out as he felt several hands on him, trying to turn him over. He opened his eyes and saw a number of faces looking down at him. Leucothea and Mary included.

“Where did they take Kat?” Leucothea stuttered as her whole body was racked with violent shivers.

Hades finally had the presence of mind to look her over. She was soaking wet, dripping even.

“Why are you wet?”

“I hid in the well while everyone was busy in the church. They were searching houses for more villagers to burn.”

“Smart girl.” He patted her leg and closed his eyes. “You’ve done well. Kat would be proud.”

Leucothea pried open his eyes again with her icy fingers and peered down at him. “Where did they take her?”

“Inferno City.”

“Then what are we waiting for? We need to rescue her.”

“
We
don’t need to do anything.
You
need to get warm, and
I
need a doctor.” Hades glanced around at the people still watching him and settled on Mary. He reached out and grabbed her hand. “Could you get me the doc, Mary?”

“Doc’s dead,” she stated, her voice flat and emotionless.

Hades squeezed her hand. The village doctor had been her cousin. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” She pulled her hand out from his and got to her feet. “Girl, get him up. I have the herbs to heal him.”

Hades closed his eyes again as more dark agony washed over him, towing him down into a swirling whirlpool of pain. Reaching out blindly, he grasped Leucothea by the arm. “Do as she says, and I promise you I will find Kat again.”

The black took him under. With a rush of terror, Hades knew exactly where it was taking him….

The dark. It was all-encompassing.

Hades reached out into the black to find hold of something. What he found surprised him. It was not the dreadful cold he expected from a dead body but warmth and vibrancy from someone still alive.

The lights flashed on then, as if he had really opened his eyes for the first time. And he realized he was mashed in a crowd of sweating, gyrating bodies. Men and women in various forms of undress surrounded him. They didn’t look at him as he pressed past them. Something ahead of them possessed all their attentions.

Hades kept moving through the sea of people until he pushed through to the front and met an iron railing, stopping him from toppling over into a deep shaft. Twisting the metal in his palms, he stared down into the circle and wanted to holler in rage.

Two stories down, a circular metal platform jutted out into the empty space. On that platform was a large bed draped in red fabric. And on that bed were four people writhing and undulating in passion. The crowd surrounding them on three circular levels watched and cheered in rapt fascination.

Hades closed his eyes, trying to erase the scene in front of him. But when he opened them again, they were still there, embracing on the bed, joined intimately.

Two he didn’t recognize. A man with skin so dark he was like living midnight and a woman with long fiery red hair and pale eyes moved together on the mattress like they were one. As they were joined at the hips, Hades had trouble telling them apart.

The other two, moving over each other, touching, kissing, caressing, he knew well. So well that he felt his gorge rise watching them together.

Baruch. Kat.

As if they could hear his thoughts, they both looked up and locked eyes with him. Smiling, Kat held out her hand, beckoning him to her.

Clamping his eyes shut, Hades didn’t want to see. Was this one of his premonitions? Was he viewing the future to come? Was Kat completely lost to him?

No! He wouldn’t lose her. She would never succumb to Baruch. The dream was a lie. She was much too strong. He would find Kat again, and this time he would hold on to her. No matter what she did, he wouldn’t let her push him away again. Even if it meant his own death.

Opening his eyes, Hades gripped the railing tightly, leaned over, and yelled, “I won’t let you turn into him, Kat! I love you too much to let you go!”

Kat’s smile faded, and he could see the look of confusion in her face, as if she had just come out of a dreamlike trance. Turning, she glanced down at Baruch, whom she had been sitting on, his cock embedded deep inside her. Shaking her head as if coming to her senses, she tried to scramble off him, but Baruch grabbed her around the waist and flipped her onto her back.

Dread surging over him, Hades watched helplessly as Baruch raised his hand over Kat, long talons poking grotesquely from his fingers. With a final glee-filled glance over his shoulder at Hades, he brought his hand down, imbedding his sharp nails into her chest, twisting them deep.

“No!” Hades screamed as he scrambled up onto the railing. Teetering there on the edge, he took a deep breath and jumped.

Hades bolted up from the bed, gripping the sheets tightly in both hands. Cold sweat slicked his entire body, and he felt dizzy and light-headed. He flopped back down onto the mattress, afraid he might vomit. By the taste in his mouth, he assumed he had already, once or twice.

The door to his bedroom opened, and Mary came rushing in, a basin of water clutched in her hands. She sat down on the bed beside him, setting the bowl on the end table and tucking the bedcovers up over him. Wringing out the wet cloth, she set it on his forehead.

Although he was vibrating from icy shivers, the cool, wet cloth on his skin felt pleasant, and he sighed. “How long have I been out?”

“Five hours, about. The sun is starting to rise.” Mary set the cloth back in the bowl. “You cried out earlier. Were you dreaming?”

Hades nodded. “Nightmare.”

“About Kat?”

“Yes.”

She looked away from him and fiddled with her fingers. “I was wrong about her, and I’m sorry.”

Hades grabbed her hand. “No, I’m sorry, Mary. I made a mistake coming here. I should’ve known I couldn’t hide from my past.” He squeezed her hand tightly. “I don’t belong here. I must leave as soon as I can.”

She nodded. “I thought as much. Leucothea has been pacing like an animal for the past two hours, anxious to be leaving.” She took her hand back and patted him on the side, where he knew she had bandaged him up with the skills she had gleaned from her doctor cousin. “I told her you were not quite ready to go. You still had some healing to do.”

“How long do you think?”

“Another day at the least. Your ribs need to set.”

“I can wait till the sun is at its zenith. Any longer and…”

Mary smiled and nodded. “I knew you would say that, so I have packed a bunch of herbs and healing remedies in a satchel for you to take with you. I have shown Leucothea how to apply them.”

“Thank you.”

Nodding, she stood and walked to the door. “I will let you rest. You will need it.”

“Mary, I…”

She looked over her shoulder at him, and he could see the regret and loss in her eyes. “It’s all right, Hades. You never promised me more than friendship. And that is what you gave me. I see the love you have for this woman. I understand what you must do.” She stepped through the door and started to close it behind her. “I envy her that,” she whispered and then shut the door.

Hades stared at the closed door, feeling regretful. Mary deserved so much more than he could ever have hoped to give her. He wished she would not stay alone for long. A good woman like her deserved love and respect. He could grant her the one thing but not the other.

No, his love was reserved for one woman.

A woman so stubborn and hotheaded his lips twitched just thinking about all times they had argued. He prayed to God that he would get to her in time. That he was strong enough to reach her and keep her from turning. If he had to, he would offer his own blood to keep her his. If that meant being her food supply for the rest of his life, then he would do it. Anything to keep her from Baruch.

Because he knew the next time Kat encountered him, she would not be able to resist him. Hades had seen it in his dreams, and he felt it in his soul. The Dark Dweller had become too strong for either of them to fight.

And he had help. Hades sensed that the dark man and the fiery woman in his dream were his allies.

Fatigue swelled over him, and his eyes drooped. He knew he would need to rest while he could.

Inferno City was at least a three-day journey on the bike from the village. On foot, it would take a few days longer. Hades didn’t think Kat had that long.

As his eyes shut and he fell into unconsciousness, Hades thought of only one thing.

Hang on, Kat, I’m coming for you
.

Roused from her sleep, Kat cringed in sorrow as images of Hades swam in her mind. She had dreamed of him. Reaching out to her, still whole, still alive.

She sat up in the back of the transport and glanced around at her surroundings as they drove. The thick northern trees were starting to dwindle, giving way to rock and infertile ground. Soon they would be out on the Wastelands again, heading east to Inferno City.

The sun was rising, and it wouldn’t be long before the rays did some damage. Looking around her, she noticed a pair of goggles lying next to her feet. At least Sar had the decency to give her a pair. She picked them up, slid them over her eyes, and then curled back down onto her side.

She’d need her strength. There was no sense in fighting now. They’d be in Inferno before long.

And Kat knew that was where she’d make her stand and where she would confront Baruch for the last time. The final showdown.

She had no delusions that she’d be able to beat him. He was much too strong. One thing she knew for certain: Baruch couldn’t have her. She would do what she had to to make sure that never happened. Because if he managed to turn her, the world she knew would be in danger, and everyone she had ever encountered would die. She wouldn’t let that happen. She’d go into the afterlife with or without help.

Closing her eyes, she rested and bided her time. Before long, she would have her chance to exact her revenge and slaughter every single vampyre that aided in Hades’ death.
Hell hath no fury like
Kat
.

“
Y
our cock is inside my cunt, but it’s not me you are fucking, is it, darling?”

Baruch glanced up at the agile woman with fiery red hair straddling him, vigorously sliding up and down on his throbbing member. Grinning, he reached up and pulled on her erect nipples, twisting them hard, knowing she liked it rough. She gasped and dug her nails into his chest, just how she knew he liked.

“Does it really matter, Satarah, my filthy witch?”

Panting, she slammed down on him, filling her channel completely, and started to grind her sex back and forth. “I suppose not. As it’s not you I’m thinking of either.” She grinned and raked her fingers down his chest, producing deep furrows in his skin.

Baruch moved his good hand down and grasped her hips, digging his fingers into her flesh. He was very close to coming. If nothing else, the woman knew how to fuck. She was skilled in all forms of sexual pleasure. Including the painful ones he reveled in.

As he pushed up with his pelvis, burying his cock, he closed his eyes and thought of the one woman he wanted. Wanted more than he wanted his next taste of blood. Katarina. While he thought of her, an image of her beautiful, angular face popped up in his mind as she glared at him with her one glorious green eye. She was the one woman who defied him, who rejected him.

And he wanted her for that. So he could make her pay for it repeatedly with his pleasure and her pain.

The thoughts of her sexual torture made him convulse in rapture. With a small explosion, he came inside Satarah, moaning with the power of it.

Seconds later, Satarah followed him, groaning with her own powerful climax. She fell forward, covering him with her body, burying her face in his neck and biting his flesh.

That little bit of pain was enough to prolong his orgasm. And he sighed with the ecstasy of it.

Maybe he would give Katarina to Satarah for a while, so Satarah could school her in the sexual arts. He wondered what he would have to pay Satarah for that extra bonus.

He was already paying her a fortune to be granted clemency in her city. He needed her hospitality to get what he wanted, and the added bonus of her sexual practices only pleased him, but there was only so much he was willing to pay. Even he had his limits. If the woman hadn’t been more formidable than he first thought, he would have dispatched her the moment he and his soldiers had stepped into Inferno City.

But she had power. Lots of it. If he hadn’t been aching to finally have his way with Katarina, he would have propositioned Satarah to make her his. They would’ve been an unstoppable couple.

However, as it was now, Baruch didn’t trust her one bit. She had an agenda just as much as he did.

When his climax finally subsided and his breathing returned, he pushed Satarah off him. Sighing, she rolled over onto her back beside him on the bed.

“Darling, I will be sad to see you go.” She ran a long, slim hand over him, caressing his cock.

“You are a great lover. It’s not often I find a man who knows how to fuck.” She wrapped her hand around him and started to handle him with slow, firm strokes. His cock responded by growing swollen once again.

“It’s too bad you robbed me of my greatest wish.” She squeezed him tighter. “Hades would have made an excellent trophy for my wall.” She swept her other hand behind her.

Baruch glanced up to look at the wall behind them. Two men, hooded in leather masks and gagged, were strapped to the cement wall. Bound by the wrists, ankles, and waists with thick leather restraints, they had no hope of escaping. Not that they wanted to. Baruch had had the rapturous delight of watching Satarah with her two playmates. And by the size of their swelling cocks, and how often they had come, the two men enjoyed their pleasurable torment very much.