The Devil's Metal (33 page)

“Am I going to die?” I quickly
whispered.

He smiled. This time it was melancholic. “I
really hope not.”

***

I woke up lying in a field, surrounded by a
purple and red sky. A farmhouse was on fire in the distance and the
thunderous sound of galloping hooves filled the air, even though no
horses could be seen.

“Get up, Dawn,” a voice said from behind
me.

I rolled over and sat up. My mother was
lying in a bathtub full of dark red tar, submerged up to her neck.
Her arms were splayed over the sides, dripping thick clumps of tar
onto the dry grass. Each time a clump hit the ground, the grass
steamed and hissed.

She was watching me with a serene smile on
her face.

It pissed me off.

“What are you doing?” I yelled at her. “Stop
smiling at me.”

She didn’t listen. She showed teeth as her
grin spread.

I got to my feet and walked over to her. The
earth shook a bit.

“Mom, please, this isn’t fair.”

She started to laugh, the sing-song maniacal
laugh she would do when Dad tried to take her to a doctor
appointment, the real crazy one that suddenly disappeared the
moment someone tried to diagnose her. Then she was normal again,
laughing only on the inside and the doctors thought we were the
crazy ones.

“This isn’t funny!” I screamed. Now her head
was back and she was howling away. I stormed right over to the tub,
leaning over the revolting tar and getting in her face.

“You left me! You left me to take care of
Dad and Eric. You didn’t even bother to stick around! You left and
I had to do it all. I had to sacrifice everything! All those times
Ryan invited me away with him and his family and I couldn’t go. The
times Mel did. I couldn’t go. I always had to stay, I was stuck.
You killed yourself because you’re too weak and you left me here!
You chained me to this place, you gave me a burden I never wanted
to carry. You should have been here. You should have been a
mother!”

She stopped laughing abruptly and focused on
me like she was seeing me for the first time. Her eyes shone with
clarity.

“You got away now, didn’t you? Where’s your
chain?”

Then she looked down at my legs and she
laughed again, all tenderness gone.

“Oh, there’s your chain.”

I looked down at my legs. My ankles were
wrapped in heavy metal chains that went straight into the
ground.

The ground that was now shaking.

I looked at my mom. She was still laughing
and her bathtub began to sink into the earth, as if it was made of
tar too.

And I was going down. All solidity beneath
my feet disappeared and I was sinking straight through the earth. I
raised my arms, trying to free myself and gain leverage, but there
was nothing I could do. I was stuck. I was chained. I was
sinking.

I looked up, gasping, but my mother was
gone. Sonja was in her place, black leaking holes for eyes and a
demonic mouth.

Sonja reached into the tub and pulled out my
mom’s arm, flesh cut open at the wrist.

“See you in a couple of days,” Sonja
said.

The last of the earth swallowed me.

***

I heard the scream before I realized it was
coming from my mouth. Sage was at my side, shaking me lightly with
one hand, gently touching my face with the other.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said. His voice was
soothing but his clear eyes were scared.

I sat up but he caught me halfway and pushed
me back down. He looked above my head. I was lying on the lower
bunk and had been close to bashing my head into the bottom of the
top bunk.

My mouth was dry. I couldn’t stop
shaking.

“What happened?” I said in a panic.

“You’re all right. You ate your breakfast
then you fell asleep. You looked exhausted.”

I nodded meekly, feeling waves of terror
wash through my veins.

He leaned in closer and smoothed my hair
behind my ears. “I’m here. You’re going to be okay.”

I almost burst into tears. “How can you say
that? We’re not going to be okay.”

“We’re not going to let anything happen to
you, Dawn,” he said with quiet determination. His jaw pulsed
angrily. “We’ll do whatever we can.”

“We?”

“I talked to Jacob. He told me what he told
you. I’m a bit of an ass for not picking up on it…but what was I
supposed to think? My manger is a supernatural scorekeeper?”

I couldn’t even find that funny.

“I don’t want to die,” I whispered. I didn’t
want to sink into the earth, into the mouths of demons. But I knew,
I knew that’s what was going to happen. And it was going to be
worse than just dying. I’d go to Hell.

He put his face right up to mine, his eyes
were blazing. “I am not going to let you die. You hear me? I won’t
let that happen. No matter what.”

Tears pricked at my eyes. He ran his finger
under them. “No matter what,” he repeated.

I wanted more than anything to believe him.
He was watching me, looking at me with such passion and intensity.
I knew he was going to fight for me. I wanted to give him a
reason.

I put my hand behind his head, my fingers
soaking in the soft curls, and brought his lips to mine. His were
hesitant, but just for an instant. Something in him let go. I could
feel it in his lips, the way they parted, trying to take all of me
in. I could feel it in the hard frenzy of his tongue as it fucked
the inside of my mouth one instant then teased the delicate rim of
inner lips in another. I could feel it in his hands as they grazed
the tips of my breasts through my thin tank top, my nipples aching
to play.

Then whatever let go in him, let go in me. I
grabbed him hard around his face and together we whimpered, our
mouths hot and wet, not moving fast enough, like we were running
out of kisses or air or time. There was so much urgency in our
needs as he ripped the shirt right over my head and my small
breasts bounced for him. He was on them without hesitation, licking
them with his hot, wide tongue like he was forming whipped peaks. I
moaned, not caring anymore and threw my head back, enjoying the
feeling of his rough fingers as they pinched at my nipples, trailed
down my neck, and squeezed hard around my waist.

His mouth still flicking my breasts until
they hurt from pleasure, he let his hands wander south, taking in
the feel of my skin like he was never going to feel another woman
again. He unzipped my shorts and pulled them off, flinging them
somewhere else in the empty bus. My underwear was plain pink and I
expected that to disappear too but he kept them on and breathed
hotly on them, his lips pressed firmly around my rapidly swelling
ones. The teasing was making me delirious and I writhed on the
bunk, unable to take it.

He finally pulled the underwear off, tossed
it aside, then took a firm hold of my hips with his strong hands
and pulled me out toward him at an angle so my legs were open and I
was bare for him, hanging off the edge of the bunk.

“God, you’re beautiful, Dawn,” he
murmured.

I raised my head to see if he was talking to
me or my crotch. But though his face was slowly sinking south,
tongue teasing the edge of his mouth, letting me know what was in
store, his eyes were focused on mine. A green and gorgeous
intensity that seemed to see right through me, into places I never
knew were inside.

I propped myself up on my elbows, letting my
head hang back, my long hair pooling on the bed. Sage started by
running his tongue down each hip, over my sensitive pelvic bone,
then down into the folds of skin which were already wet and
throbbing for him.

He went at me, over and over again, the same
steady licks, building up in layers of tension. My legs shook with
impatience and I bit my lip to keep from crying out. The slow,
almost complex way he teased me was torturous. I wanted nothing
more than to come.

I could tell he did too. But he wasn’t new
to this game. Most rocks stars weren’t. Just as I was at the
breaking point he stopped. I raised my head, breathless and
fuzzy-headed. He was standing in front of me, his shirt having just
come off. My eyes focused on his bronze body, the sculpted muscles
that defined every ab and every hard curve of his chest. His
tattoos went all the way up his arms and disappeared over his
swimmer’s shoulders. I briefly wondered if the body of a god was
one of the things he had bargained for as well, then I decided he
was just damn lucky with genetics. It was some other kind of deal
when you had a face like his, a body of an Olympic swimmer and…

I watched eagerly as he undid his
silver-plated belt and let his pants drop to the floor. …A cock
that looked beautiful. Dangerously beautiful. Its immensity wasn’t
surprising given his size, but it still scared me momentarily. I
had only slept with Ryan. I wasn’t a small girl by any means but I
was pretty sure that if Sage rammed that hard, throbbing dick
inside of me that I would break in two. That death still seemed
preferable to whatever the demons had in store for me.

I bit my lip in trepidation and he returned
the motion with a sly smirk.

“Are you ready for me?” he whispered.

What was I supposed to say to that? I’ve
always been ready? I’ll
never
be ready for that thing?

I swallowed hard and kept my mouth shut as
he slithered back over and dropped to his knees right in front of
me. He took his rigid cock in his hands, stroking it lightly for a
second, before he dipped the head into my mounting wetness and
began to rub it against my clit in long smooth strokes, all the
while never breaking eye contact with me.

I was growing frustrated. I wanted nothing
more than for him to at least try and break me in two. That was all
I had wanted, subconsciously or not, for the last couple of weeks
and he was finally here, naked perfection, and being an actual cock
tease.

“Please,” I moaned without thinking.

He grinned. “That’s all I needed.”

In a flash he reached over and grabbed me
hard around the waist and pulled me onto the floor of the bus. The
he flipped me over so I was resting on my forearms and yanked my
ass up into the air. I didn’t mind. After years of horseback
riding, I was proud of that tight ass.

Evidently so was he. He gasped with pleasure
as he ran his hands along, even teasing a finger between my cheeks
until it found the sweet spot again. With one hand firmly around
the small of my waist, he guided himself into me. It was slow at
first and I gritted my teeth together at the pain. He continued to
tease my clit with his slick fingers though and soon I was begging
him to come at me harder.

He did. He plowed into me, spreading me
wider until I thought I might split. Then he came at me faster and
faster, harder and harder, all to the same rhythm. It was that damn
internal metronome again, the man had a perfect sense of timing and
wasn’t missing a single beat. His fingers were busy too and I
relished the full feeling I had from my blood pooling in one place.
His light cropping of chest hair tickled at my back, reminding me
of the very large rock god who was on top of me.

He rode me this way until he couldn’t hold
on any longer. His fingers expertly rubbed me until I started to
shake into a frenzy of hot fireworks. I started moaning, calling
out his name, not caring who heard. I came violently. He did the
same, his balls hitting hard against my ass, his grip on my waist
turning into a stranglehold. He cried out, moans of passion shaking
us and making our eyes roll back into our heads.

I collapsed on the floor, feeling like an
old woman and a new woman at the same time. He joined me, dazed and
breathing heavily. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me
closer to him. We were spooning on the dirty floor of the tour bus.
It was damn near poetic.

When I caught my breath I turned over and
looked at him. He looked at peace—it was the first time I had ever
seen him look that way.

“I had no idea you thought about me like
that,” I whispered sincerely.

He cracked a smile. “I know you didn’t. It
made it that much more fun.”

His smile slowly left him, the curves of his
expressive mouth turning down. “Dawn,” he began. “I’m sorry if this
didn’t happen sooner. I wish that we had more time. I wished it
didn’t have to be this way, to have these reasons, how I kept you
at bay, but I still must protect you and—”

Before he could continue, the door to the
bus shuddered open and Chip stepped onto the bus.

“Hey, Rusty,” he called out, coming up the
steps. His mouth dropped when he saw us. “Jesus, whoa, holy moly.
Wow, sorry I…”

We were too stunned to cover up.

“Have you heard of knocking, Chip?” Sage
asked testily.

Chip continued to stand there. “Well yeah,
but normally I’m like invited to join in and stuff.”

He gave me an expectant look. I rolled my
eyes.

“Only in your dreams, buddy,” Sage snarled.
“Now get out.”

Chip covered his eyes with one hand. “Okay,
I’m just here to tell you that there’s some crazy black chick
looking for Dawn. She’s hot but she’s kind of terrifying. She
already grabbed my junk.”

“That’s Mel!” I exclaimed. “Tell her I’ll be
right there. But don’t tell her how you found me.”

“I won’t,” Chip replied, but he was smiling
and peeking at me through his fingers.

Sage pointed at the door. “Get out or I’ll
throw you out. With my dick.”

“Sheesh, okay, I’m going, I’m going,” Chip
stumbled blindly down the stairs and out the door.

I rolled on my back and looked up at
Sage.

“Always something,” I remarked.

He smiled and got up. Still naked. Still
beautiful.

He grabbed me by my arms and hauled me to my
feet. I was a bit unsteady and my legs were trembling. It was going
to take me quite a while to get over this ride. It was as rough and
passionate as I had imagined.