by Knight, TW
Katana or broad sword? Choices, choices, he mused, removing a short sword for examination.
"Are you even listening to me?" Cassidy tossed a pillow, hitting Rail in the back of the head.
He ignored the thump on his skull. "Yes, I’m listening. You’re pissed because I’m leaving. I’m leaving because I have work to do. You’re pissed because I have work to do and can’t stay here with you." He turned his wicked grin on her. "Ergo, you’re pissed I’m not staying here with you."
"I’m pissed because you’re avoiding me and not allowing me to help!" Cassidy pushed onto her knees and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Semantics." Between one breath and the next, Rail swept her off the bed and pinned her against the wall with his body. "Tell me the real reason you want me to stay," he rasped against her neck. Sliding his hands down her arms, he gently grabbed her wrists and lifted her arms above her head.
Cassidy gulped, breathlessly demanding, "Tell me the real reason you’re leaving."
They stood staring at each other, the heat between them growing until Rail broke the silence. "Because if I don’t leave now, I’m going to…"
"What?" The single word came out a heated breath fanning across his lips.
Temptation gave way to reason. Rail tipped forward and caught Cassidy’s mouth with his. The kiss was deep, desperate and needy, saying more about what he wanted to do than he’d ever be able to express in words. Cassidy melted into him, struggling to get closer, or at least free her hands from Rail's grip.
Rail ground against her, showing her how much he really wanted to stay. With a reluctant breath, he withdrew, grabbed his pack, and vanished from sight.
It was a dirty trick and a waste of energy to transport himself downstairs, but safer in the long run.
As he sprinted across the courtyard to join Tam and Hacker, he figured he had about thirty seconds before Cassidy came out of the fog of arousal and realized he’d ditched her.
"Where’s the fire?" Tam eyed him as Rail slowed his approach.
Before he could answer, a piercing scream of rage broke the tranquility of the yard and sent birds scrambling into the sky. "You bastard!"
Tam and Hacker burst into laughter.
"Let’s go," Rail urged, seeing Cassidy exit the villa. Even across the courtyard, he saw murder in her eyes. "Now!"
Before she could reach them, the trio stepped into the shimmering portal and vanished.
* * *
Rail lined up the sword and with one strike sent the skratar’s head rolling across the ground. Wiping the blade clean, he glanced around for the others. Tam strode toward him carrying his kill, but Hacker was nowhere in sight.
Tam dropped the demon's body and head next to Rail's kill. "They put up more of a fight this time."
"Where’d Hacker get off to?"
"He thought he heard something in the brush down where the grasses fall into the water."
The Florida Everglades were one of the many places in the world where the skratar could hide out and never be seen. Rail wished they could find the portal the bastards had used and close it down for good. The demons had a strong foothold in the swamps, extending their territory all the way up the west coast into Louisiana.
"If he falls in quicksand again, I’m leaving him behind." Rail sheathed his sword. "Where to next?"
"I got some reports of feral dog attacks in the Middle East, just outside Jordan." Tam retrieved his iPad from his backpack. "And a polar bear attack in British Columbia. Nope, never mind. That one really was a bear." He tapped the screen again. "I got another bear attack in Alaska."
Hot or cold? Rail scratched his head. "Let’s check out the dog report first and then we can follow up with the bear."
"I vote for South America." Hacker strode out of the brush and dropped a skratar head on the pile.
"Where’s the rest of it?"
"I’ll get it if you want, but it will require convincing a couple of gators to give up their dinner."
Rail held up a hand. "Never mind. What’s in South America?"
"Rumblings of demons in and around Machu Picchu."
"You think the bastards found a new exit?" Tam scanned the news feeds, looking for news stories. "One we haven’t charted?"
"Possible. Maybe when that portal in Egypt closed last year, it moved." A finger of ice ran down Rail's spine. It was the same chill he got when considering the possibility the demons were outsmarting them.
"Got it." Tam turned the tablet over so the other two could see the screen. "Sightings of strange animals were reported yesterday by a group of tourists after members of their party went missing. Partial remains recovered. The government called it a jaguar attack."
"How many dead?"
"Three."
"Let’s go hunting, boys."
* * *
The three men picked through the ruins of the once great city—a city Rail had visited in its glory days. So far, there was no sign of a hell-mouth or even a smaller tear leading into the underworld.
"Maybe it was a jaguar?" Hacker offered.
"Only if jaguars have scales." Rail flipped him an object that looked like a slice of flint.
"Damn." Hacker examined the scale and handed it to Tam, who crushed it in his palm.
"Okay, where are they getting in?"
"I’m betting somewhere in the jungle."
"No." Rail shucked his pack and pulled out a flashlight. "They’re coming in under the temple."
"You sure?"
"No, but that’s what I would do. Remember, there were a lot of blood rituals performed here, all focused on the Gods. All that death and prayer would have left a huge buildup of energy in the ground just waiting to be tapped into."
"Blood magic." Tam spat. "I bet that’s what’s got the fuckers going in Jordan."
"I wouldn’t put it past the Eternal-Asshole to tap into the battle, rage, and death. He’s done it before," Hacker grumbled.
"One mess at a time." Rail shouldered his pack again. Keeping a picture of Cassidy in his mind, he headed into the darkness. The stale scent of death closed around him.
Being familiar with the original construction of the temple, it didn’t take Rail long to find the entrance to the hidden tunnels in the lowest reaches of the temple complex. This was an area unexplored by archeologists; the signs of digging were a clear indication they were on the right track.
Dousing their flashlights, the warriors let their eyes adjust to the darkness. After a few moments, each could see as though it were daylight.
Rail took point and eased into the tunnel. After a few steps it opened, giving Tam room to move to Rail’s right while Hacker stayed a step behind, filling in the gap. Swords at the ready, the trio moved forward in silence; after years of working together they didn’t need words. Fighting came instinctively to each of them. A tense muscle, a change in stance, even a sharp intake of breath was all they needed to communicate with each other.
As the tunnel turned into a sharp angle down into freshly dug earth, Rail shoved Tam to the wall and flung himself backward. Knowing what was coming, Hacker dropped to his knee and thrust his sword up, catching the skratar in the throat as it passed between his comrades.
"Bastard. Didn’t even hear him." Hacker heaved the carcass to the side and freed his blade.
"Me neither," Rail admitted.
"Then what tipped you off?"
He shrugged. "The air changed." It had gotten a few degrees hotter before the beast appeared out of the darkness. "You feel that vibration?" Rail asked, placing his hand against the wall he’d taken refuge against. "The gate’s up ahead."
"Do you want to call for reinforcements or are we going to try and close this hole down ourselves?" Tam took the skratars head to insure its death. "Hey. Look at this." He used the tip of his blade to point at the creatures back between the shoulder blades. "You ever see markings like this before?"
The others moved forward to take a look. Running down its spine were a set of intricat
e glyphs. There were a few more over the shoulders and around the upper portion of its front legs. "Never took the time to look that closely at them. Weird, they almost look like tattoos," Hacker observed, clicking a few pictures with his digital camera.
Tam growled and threw his hands up. "Thanks for blinding us."
"Sorry."
Rail knelt next to the body and carved a section of skin away from the back with his K-bar. "We’ll look at this back at home." Carefully, he rolled the sample and tucked it into a plastic bag he pulled from a pocket in his pack.
"Look at Mr. CSI."
"Shut up, Hacker." Rail tucked the bag into a pocket and brushed his hands off. "Let’s do some recon and if the portal looks too big to close on our own, we’ll head topside and wait for reinforcements."
With a nod from his partners, the three headed down again.
The air became stagnant and thick the further they went, mixing with noxious fumes and nearly unbearable heat.
If they had been human, they would be dead.
"Crap." Tam pointed ahead. Not twenty feet from them lay a pile of bodies in varying states of dismemberment and decomposition.
"Shit. They’ve been hunting here for awhile." Hacker examined the first few sets of remains. "Locals by the looks of the clothes. Men and women." Reverently, he picked up another skull and cursed. "And children."
"It’s escalating." Rail stepped around the carnage. "They’re no longer hunting just for Aktura or food. They’re hunting strictly for sport."
"This isn’t sport." Tam and Hacker joined him. "This is killing for killing's sake."
A roar shook the tunnel, creating a rain of earth. Coughing on the dust, the three ditched their packs and took up a defendable position.
The rumbling continued, growing, rolling over them and causing the tunnel to move beneath their feet.
A roar echoing from the darkness confirmed it was not a natural earthquake.
"I’ve got a bad feeling about this," Hacker muttered.
Rail braced himself for the attack and wished he’d told Cassidy how he’d felt.
Chapter Fourteen
Cassidy woke feeling better than she had in days—not that she had been sick, just under the weather. Tired and achy all over. Fearing she’d caught some tropical island disease, she’d tracked down Tucker. After a quick exam he assured her there was no sign of illness, but he took a blood sample to be on the safe side. It was his opinion that it was a simple case of homesickness and a touch of depression.
Logical.
Stretching, Cassidy rolled from the bed and headed for the bathroom. As she stood under the shower spray, her thoughts turned to Rail and what he might be doing. Was he safe? Was he fighting monsters? When was he coming home?
Frustrated with herself, Cassidy exited the shower and dried off. All she needed was a relapse of "melancholy", and she’d be bedridden.
Dressing quickly in a tank top and shorts, Cassidy grabbed the book she’d been trying to read for days, a towel, and the sun hat Seraphina had given her and headed out. What she needed was some time in the sun. But instead of reading, she sat in the shade of a large palm, her feet buried in the warm sand, staring at the waves rolling in. Somewhere, out there beyond the horizon, Rail was fighting demons.
As if conjured by her thoughts, Rail appeared from the brush about twenty feet off to her left—and just stood there, staring.
Pretending she didn’t want to throw herself into his arms, Cassidy turned away slightly and gave her full attention to the book in her hand.
* * *
Rail took several deep breaths to slow his racing heart. All he’d thought of since returning from the Void a few hours ago was getting back to Cassidy. As soon as his feet left the portal in the courtyard, he’d latched onto the soul connection and followed it to the beach.
She was stunning sitting there in the shifting patches of light breaking though the palm fronds.
And from the look of things, she didn’t know he’d died. For that, Rail was extremely relieved. He couldn’t bear the thought of her feeling his death through their connection.
When Cassidy turned away from him, Rail watched her shorts hike up, revealing a bit more of creamy thigh. As much as he wanted to rip those shorts off and kiss every inch of that thigh and everything connected to it, Rail didn’t move, afraid of what would happen if he did.
"Well?" Cassidy’s sharp tone cut into Rail's explicit fantasy as she pushed herself up on to her knees and planted her fist on her hips. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to apologize?"
Her voice caressed him like warm velvet and broke the last of his restraint.
"No." Rail rushed forward and tackled Cassidy, kissing her desperately.
Trembling, she pushed him. "Rail…"
"I’m so stupid," he rasped, raining kisses on her face, trailing them down her neck to her collarbone. "I should have told you what I was feeling."
"What?" Panting, Cassidy shifted beneath him, already feeling the heaviness of his answer against her thigh. "What are you feeling?"
"I…I…" God, who knew it would be so hard to say? "You’re the only real reason I came back."
"I don’t understand."
"And I hope you never do." Rail pushed himself to his knees and shucked his t-shirt. "I need you, Cass. I need you so bad."
Cassidy nodded.
Rail's heart stuttered. "I don’t know if I can…I mean, I don’t think I can be gentle." Where had this stammering fool come from?
"Rail." Cassidy reached up and traced her fingers over his biceps to his shoulders. Teasingly, her touch moved across his collarbone, down his chest and abs. At the waistband of his jeans, she paused for a heartbeat. Looking into Rail's eyes, Cassidy undid the snap. "Shut up."
Cassidy’s tank top and shorts were shredded and tossed aside in seconds. For a heartbeat, Rail knelt between her legs and stared at the beauty laid out before him, memorizing every line, every curve. He couldn’t wait to lick the tiny scar above her right hip. "You’re beautiful," he whispered reverently. His heart skipped again when Cassidy actually blushed.
It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
"Aren’t you going to take those off?" She tugged on his jeans and gasped when they magically vanished, much in the way her clothes had. With a few flicks of his fingers, her bra and panties joined the scraps of fabric in the sand.
After that, there was no more talking, no foreplay, no tender caresses. Just raw animal need.
Rail slammed hard and deep into Cassidy, moaning with pleasure as her mouth found his. This wasn’t how he’d wanted their first time to be; he’d wanted to do the whole romantic seduction thing.
Next time.
There would be a next time, and more. Many more.
Right then, it was all about the moment. Every breath, every touch, every gasp of pleasure.
He could do it forever. Cassidy was perfect. Hot and wet, matching his movements until they hit a perfect rhythm and the world around them vanished in a fireball of ecstasy.
Cassidy fought for breath as her climax swept her away. God, she’d never experienced anything like it—the feeling, the light. She could have sworn they’d literally exploded.
She’d certainly felt the earth move, saw Heaven, and all the other clichés.
Spent, Rail collapsed on his elbows, to keep his weight off of her without separating their bodies. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, my God!" She laughed breathlessly. "No wonder Gina and Boomer are like rabbits. That was…God…I don’t know what that was. Incredible just isn’t enough."
Rail’s answering laughter abruptly cut off. His body went rigid.
A gasp was the only warning Cassidy got that they were not alone. Rail drove to his feet, growling. Cassidy glanced around, looking for something to cover herself with. When her hand brushed against Rail's discarded shirt, she grabbed it, pulled it on, and stood, figuring the oversized shirt would cover more hanging loose.
; In front of Rail stood four men: Tam, Hacker, Boomer and another Knight she’d seen on the grounds but hadn’t been introduced to. Anger washed away any embarrassment she felt—if it were some sort of frat-house prank, heads would roll.
Just as she got ready to tear into them, Cassidy realized, if this was a joke, Rail wasn’t in on it.
Her man stood between her and the others, buck naked, fully aroused, and growling like a wild beast.
To her amazement, Cassidy watched the strange tattoos on Rail's back writhe and twist, rise and unfurl into solid black wings.
Holy shit!
"Rail, dude calm down." Boomer set his sword down and backed up a pace. The others followed suit, keeping their hands where Rail could see them. It was the first time Cassidy noticed they were armed.
"What is going on?"
Tam waved at her. "Sorry, we didn’t mean to uh, interrupt."
Rail cut the warrior off with a deep rumbling growl rolling out of him like thunder.
Unsure of what was happening, Cassidy scooped up the towel, shook it out, and handed it to him. "Rail, you might want to cover up."
When Rail turned his gaze on her, Cassidy backed way. In his face, she could see the demon who had stood over her after the attack in the parking lot, the monster who fought with Boomer on the barge. She would never forget that image of glowing eyes, darkening skin, and horns. The man she’d shared her body with hung on the verge of turning into that beast again.
All this time, she’d tried to convince herself none of it had happened. That it was a hallucination. A mistake. Now, there was no hiding the truth.
"Rail? You’re scaring me."
* * *
Cassidy’s voice cut through the fog of rage surrounding his mind. Rail focused on the voice and for a minute floundered in confusion. She was bathed in blood-red light and backed away from him in terror. Reaching for her, Rail caught sight of his claws and realized he’d partially transformed.
Damn!
It was a fight to pull his inner demon under control, but as soon as the red faded from his vision, he knew he’d won. "I’m sorry, Cass."