Sanctuary

by Sherri L. King

  Anna turned back and gasped as she bumped into Enigma’s chest.

  “Now what?” she demanded, hoping that her heated blush wasn’t too noticeable in the dark.

  “Now we go and find the poison that is responsible for this destruction.”

  “How? Our way is blocked by those things, and even though you say I’m immune to them, it doesn’t mean they won’t still tear me limb from limb if they catch me.”

  “Then we must not let them catch you.” He smiled devilishly as he reached out and enveloped her in his arms. Anna pushed at him to escape, but he was immovable as stone. There was a great whoosh as his crimson-furred wings unfurled themselves, and just as the first zombie reached them they were airborne.

  Anna screamed and held on for dear life.

  “I won’t drop you,” he laughed down at her.

  He thought he’d never seen anyone as beautiful as she, held safe in his arms.

  She thought he was having way too much fun doing this, while she was completely terrified.

  “Where are we going? Where is this poison you mentioned? How can we stop it?”

  “Think hard and you will know where we are going,” he told her.

  Anna thought as best she could despite her terror of their flight. “There’s a disease control facility in the middle of the city. I thought that maybe the plague had started there—it seemed the only logical assumption at the time.”

  “It was most logical. We will look there for the source.”

  “How will you know what we’re looking for?”

  “I will know.”

  “Then let’s head that way,” she pointed out the direction, hoping she was right. Everything looked different from their vantage point, several stories up in the air.

  Enigma picked up speed immediately. Anna hid her face against him as the wind cold-burned her exposed skin and held on for dear life.

  She tried her best to ignore his erection, but with it pressed so tight against her belly it was an effort in futility.

  “I want you,” he said simply, as he pressed himself tighter against her.

  She wanted him too, but she wasn’t about to admit to it.

  “Would you have me?” he asked her softly, his warm breath stirring the thick hair at her neck.

  “Now’s not the time,” she squeaked.

  “One must find time where one can.”

  “I can’t have sex with you in the air. Are you crazy?”

  “When we land, then will you be willing?”

  “I thought we were pressed for time,” she pointed out.

  He grinned down at her. “We are. But there is always time for love.”

  “Love!” she exclaimed incredulously. “Who said anything about love?”

  “I did. And you will soon.”

  “You’re totally insane. I’m totally insane. This whole thing is insane and I can’t take any more of it. No more talk of love. I won’t listen to it.”

  “I know there is much in you I could love. Soon you will learn the same about me. We are destined, you and I.”

  “Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m listening to this crap. Look, you haven’t known me for more than a few hours. No way do you love me, so don’t say it. I hate lies,” she spat. “Especially lies to get into my pants.”

  “I do not lie. You will see this eventually. I am patient enough to wait.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “We have a hundred lifetimes to make you believe.”

  She growled and tried not to melt against him as they flew unfettered through the cold night air.

  Chapter Five

  The city was deserted. Debris was everywhere. Wrecked vehicles dotted the streets, and a few small fires burned, casting an eerie orange glow about the empty streets. Trash and glass covered every square inch of ground, making it difficult to walk around without tripping.

  “Tell me again why we don’t just leave here and forget about all this,” she urged him.

  “If your people bomb this place the plague will become airborne, and the entire world would be in danger of obliteration.”

  “Oh. Right.”

  Enigma took her hand and led her through the broken glass door of the disease clinic. “This place is much bigger than it looks. A few levels are below ground. The plague will be down there, where security would be tightest.”

  “I don’t know how we’re going to figure out what to take from here. I don’t know the first thing about chemicals.”

  “I will know it when I see it,” he assured her.

  They walked deeper in the pitch-black building, and with every step Anna felt as if she were leaving her old life behind her for good.

  “I don’t like this,” she said quietly.

  He stopped and pulled her into his arms. “I will let nothing happen to you, do not worry.”

  She held tight to him for several seconds before pushing away again, reveling in the new feeling of safety where she hadn’t felt safe at all in the past week.

  And that was when she slid in the puddle of blood.

  Enigma caught her, but not before she saw the body the blood belonged to.

  “Oh shit,” she cried, quickly looking away from the gruesome sight.

  She had killed many in the past week, but none of them had been human. Seeing this person now, she was reminded that all the zombies she’d felled had once been living just as she was. It wrenched at her soul, frightening her as nothing else had before.

  Enigma seemed to understand without her having to tell him. “Don’t think about it. Just know that you put those poor creatures out of their misery. It was you or them, and I am glad you had the strength to look out for yourself.”

  There was a sound behind them and Anna whirled to see a zombie running toward them. Without thinking she drew her gun out of her belt and shot it in the head, felling it but a few feet away from them. Seeing the corpse of the zombie and the human so close together had her biting back a sudden sting of tears.

  “I can’t take this any more,” she said. “Let’s find that fucking plague and get the hell out of here. I can’t wait for them to raze this city to the ground.”

  They walked on hand in hand, in a silence both eerie and total. The only sound was the scrape of their soft footsteps in the dark.

  Then Anna could stand it no longer. “Why did your people choose me?”

  “Because you can kill the zombies, where I cannot.”

  “What?” she exclaimed. “Why can’t you kill them?”

  “There is a covenant between the Fae and Human races. We cannot harm one another—it is an unbreakable law. I need you to keep them from harming me and me from harming them, simply because in doing so we could break the covenant, unleashing chaos in both our worlds.”

  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” she snapped.

  Suddenly he had her back up against the wall, pressing hard. “Stupid or not, it is the way things must be,” he said fiercely. His pale blue eyes seemed alight with an inner flame that dazzled her in the darkness.

  He lowered his head against her, subsiding in his intensity.

  “Lie with me,” he whispered.

  Anna’s eyes widened. “You mean here? Are you mad?”

  “Yes, here. Now.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Why then was she melting into him?

  “Surrender to me.”

  Anna swallowed hard and let her head fall back weakly against the wall.

  Enigma seemed to take it as all the acquiescence he needed. His lips pressed hotly against the vulnerable arch of her throat. Anna shuddered uncontrollably at the delicious sensation of his lips on her skin.

  His hands moved to her t-shirt, lifting it. She wasn’t wearing a bra, so the burn of his hands was unfettered against her breasts as he took one in each hand. Her nipples immediately hardened against the rough scrape of his palms and fingers. She gasped and arched up more fully into his touch.

  It was then that she knew their coupling
was inevitable.

  It seemed hardly the time or place, but she couldn’t help herself and had no intention of stopping him. “Make me feel alive,” she begged, gasping the words into his ear as he continued to press kiss after kiss into her throat. “Make me come so hard that I don’t have to feel all of this death around us anymore.”

  “As my lady wishes,” he vowed, laving his tongue sensually against the shell of her ear. “So shall it be done.”

  He pressed his erection even tighter against her belly. Then, with a low growl of masculine dominance, he lifted her against him and fit himself into the vee of her thighs. Anna shuddered and held fast, reveling in his kisses and in the touch of his fingers on her nipples.

  She pushed her own hands up under his shirt and felt the ridge of silken fur along his spine. It felt softer than down and richer than velvet at the same time. His mouth moved up to her, claiming her lips with a fiery passion that had her swooning. His tongue slid along hers like a liquid flame, tasting of spicy lust and sweet desire.

  He set her back down and she impatiently pushed at the waistband of his jogging pants, but he stopped her with a hand on hers and took care of it himself. His erection sprang free and hot into her hands and she gasped. Never before had she seen such a large cock—it had to be at least twelve inches in length and it was far too thick for her fingers to wrap around. His testicles were heavy and large, but hairless, which surprised her.

  He reached up and pulled his shirt off, exposing the incredible muscles of his chest. Indeed, he was hairless all over, smooth and hard like living marble. Anna buried her face in his chest and rubbed his scent into her skin like a kitten. He smelled of rain and wood and sweet, rich soil. His cock felt so hot and hard in her hand, and a small droplet of pre-cum dotted her palm when she stroked him from base to tip. Shameless, she brought her hand up to her mouth and tasted him with a dart of her tongue.

  The darkness shielded him from her sight, but she learned the look of him with her questing hands. She moved up from his sex, to his rippled abdomen and towering chest. His shoulders were twice as broad as hers and stronger than stone. His neck and throat were thick and as well-muscled as the rest of him. His arms were strong, with their own rigid muscles flexing as he held her tightly to him.

  His mouth moved to her throat and collarbone and down further still. He noisily slurped one nipple into his mouth and suckled her until she gasped. He used his teeth against her and she whimpered her excitement, pressing her cunt against him eagerly.

  As if sensing her need, he moved his hand down to cup her. Her pussy, moist and hot, flooded anew with her growing desire so that she was dripping wet and ready for him. “Fuck me, please,” she begged wantonly.

  He needed no further urging. With one hand he pushed her jeans down around her ankles and shoved one long, lean finger deep into her pussy. Anna cried out and moved against him for a deeper penetration then stepped out of her pants to widen her legs further for his intrusion.

  His fingers spread her pussy lips wide, playing with the hardened kernel of her clit, pinching and pressing against it until she saw stars behind her tightly clenched eyelids. He speared her again and again with his thrusting finger until her body made wet, sucking sounds with each press and pull of his digit within her.

  “Please. Now,” she begged. “Fuck me, please.”

  He lifted her easily up over him. And with one long, savage thrust he drove himself into her.

  Anna screamed.

  Enigma caught the sound with his mouth, thrusting his tongue deeply into her as his cock speared deeply into her wet and shuddering body.

  He stretched her and filled her as no one had before. Her pussy burned and adjusted to his size as if made for him. She touched her clit as he began pumping his hips into hers and gasped into his ravaging mouth.

  She clenched one hand in his white-blond hair as the other rubbed her clit. Within seconds she neared climax. Until he pulled her hand away and brought it up to join her other one about his neck. Anna moaned in despair, but he quickly replaced her hand with his own and sent her flying.

  Her orgasm washed over her like an ocean of fire. Her body arched into his until she was almost bent backwards over his steadying arm. He thrust into her as hard as a battering ram and her head butted against the wall. Her body was so wet and wound so tight—even in release—that she shook with every breath.

  Enigma took her breast into his mouth again and suckled savagely, still pumping into her. Her body gave one last quiver and she fell spent against him. With one last violent thrust, he found his own release and spilled the liquid fire of his desire deep within her body.

  Several long moments passed as she tried to catch her breath. Enigma shuddered against her again and one last spurt of his cum burned its way deep into her womb.

  For the first time in she didn’t know how long, she was at peace with herself.

  He whispered something against her temple in a language she didn’t understand.

  “What did you say?” she asked.

  “I said that you and I were destined.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Not that again.”

  “Did you not feel the rightness of our mating?”

  She had, but she was loath to let him know. There was no need to romanticize it. It had only been sex.

  Or had it?

  Her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t put her pants back on, so Enigma helped her with a tiny, smug smile playing about his mouth. He righted his own clothing and leaned in to kiss her softly.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said again. “Not only your body, though that is truly incredible. But you, your very soul, is beautiful beyond compare. I have never seen it’s like before.”

  For pillow talk it was incredible.

  She tried not to let herself feel as if his words forged some sort of bond between the two them. For although his body had mastered hers, she did not want her heart to belong to any man. Especially a man who was more than that—a Fae.

  “Come on, let’s hurry and get out of here before we’re blown to smithereens,” she mumbled, and turned to lead the way deeper into the bowels of the building.

  Chapter Six

  Anna came to a halt when she saw the man waiting for them.

  “Hello, Pestilence,” Enigma said at her back.

  “You know him?” Anna asked in shock.

  “I know of him. He is the cause of all of this—he is the carrier of the plague. The beginning of it. And the end.”

  The man looked like a skeleton, wan and thin with the same graying skin of the zombies. But his back sprouted thick black wings like those of a bat. “Hello, Fae. I suppose you have come to try and stop me?”

  Anna was shocked to hear Enigma’s response.

  “No, Pestilence, not I.”

  “If this is about that silly little pact between us and them,” he nodded toward Anna, “then you’re a little too late. Again.”

  “No. This time we will right it before total war is declared between our kinds.”

  “And how do you plan on doing that? In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve already destroyed this entire city of pitiful humans.”

  “You haven’t destroyed Anna here,” Enigma pointed out.

  Pestilence’s eyes widened like black pools into the heart of hell. “You think to sic your human on me? What can she do to stop me? Soon the bombs will fall and this entire city will be razed to the ground. And I, Prince of the Unseelie Fae, will be free to spread my plague over the face of the world. There is nothing she can do now.”

  Anna looked from one Fae to the other.

  “There is something,” Enigma insisted.

  “And what is that, pray tell me?”

  Enigma placed his hands gently upon her shoulders and answered, more to her than to Pestilence. “She can forgive you.”

  “What?” both Pestilence and Anna asked incredulously.

  Enigma took her into his arms and looked down at her face. “Pestilence has t
ransgressed against your people. You can disarm him and release him back into his own realm if you can find it within you to forgive—truly forgive—him.”

  “Why the hell do you think I’d do something like that? I can’t forgive him for all he’s done—everyone I know is dead because of him!”

  “Does not your practice teach compassion? Does not your soul long to forgive and forget in order to save this world you so love?” Enigma asked her softly. “This is why you were chosen.”

  Her Yoga practice did indeed teach compassion, but this was too much for her to take. How could she genuinely forgive him when her heart hated him for all he’d done to her and her people?

  “It’s the end of the world, Fae,” Pestilence spat. “Already the planes cross over this land to release their weapons of mass destruction.”

  “Look at him, Anna. This is why you were chosen. Look closely at him and see if there is an ounce of forgiveness within you to give.”

  “What if I can’t?” she wailed.

  “Then we have failed in our mission.”

  “Shut up, Fae,” Pestilence growled. “Can’t you see that she wishes to kill me herself? Human woman, why don’t you draw your weapon and shoot me?”

  “Don’t do it, Anna—he won’t die. He cannot die, he is immortal.”

  “Then how are the bombs going to spread his plague if he doesn’t die in them?”

  “He will use that strike on him as a strike against the peace accord between Fae and Human—he will become unstoppable.”

  “But he started it—”

  “It matters not. He is Unseelie, pure evil. He can do almost anything he wants to. But he cannot continue on his quest if you can forgive him.”

  “Okay, I forgive him,” she lied.

  Pestilence laughed, a cold, cruel sound.

  “You have to mean it, Anna,” Enigma told her softly.

  Anna let out a long breath and closed her eyes. She blocked out all sight and sound and emotion, meditating on her breath and on the moment at hand. Her Yoga had indeed taught her discipline and strength, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for this. No. She pushed all doubt aside and stayed grounded in the moment.