by Jane Cousins
Riya grinned back at the Fire Demon… hmmm, those fiery wings gave her a great idea for a short red winter cape that would be perfect for Berry. Oops, no time to get distracted. Come on black and gristly, bring the heat.
The Demon might think she was the wrong woman, whatever that meant, but in this instance she was the right one for kicking his ass. She was on the balls of her feet, balanced, ready… eek!
Next thing Riya found herself hip-checked by an over eager Maat Warrior. Who sent her spinning off to the left. Bringing her hands up, Riya slapped them hard against the wall, just managing to keep from slamming her head.
“Stay there.” Marcus instructed tersely. “Keep your head down.”
How rude. How typical. All those control issues of Marcus’s were coming to the fore. Overprotective, macho, bull-headed, arrogant jerk. One who was currently getting his ass handed to him, since it looked like said ass was on fire.
Marcus rolled away from the Demon, smothering the flames licking at the seat of his pants. Shit, shit. He kept rolling, losing hold of his knife, until he was right beneath the two bathroom sinks. Rising gracefully to his feet he twirled the knobs, relieved beyond all measure as water cascaded out the taps.
Riya shook her head. Marcus had a good idea, the water. But unless he was packing a fire hose to direct the stream it wasn’t going to be very effective. At least he had the good sense to drag the cap off his head and block the drain.
The Fire Demon had proven strong, but slow and cumbersome so far. Lowering its head, pointing its glowing horn at Marcus, it stamped the floor, tiles cracking as its cloven hoof sent up sparks. Marcus pulled out his two longest knives, water already starting to spill to the floor around him. The soles of his boots were extra grip, and he could only pray that hooves on wet tiles equated to a skate park.
If he could just grab hold of the thing and hold its head in the basin.
They clashed in the middle of the room. Marcus came in low, avoiding that glowing horn, his shoulder smashing into the Demon’s sternum, hard. Lifting with his knees, Marcus heaved, sending the Demon crashing to the floor. But the tricky bastard just flowed back to its feet, it might be slow but it moved like lava, sinuous and kind of mesmerizing.
Marcus whipped up a knife fast, managing to sink the tip into the Demon’s chest, molten orange blood splattering the tiles, hissing, sending up steam and heat. The knife grew hot under Marcus’s hold, too hot, he let go just as the blade buckled and all but melted. Shit.
He ducked as the Demon swung an arm out, but failed to see the cloven hoof come up, striking him hard in the gut, sending him flying back to land awkwardly on one half of the broken bathtub.
Marcus tried to breath. His gut ached and he’d had the wind knocked out of him. Come on, back on your feet. He managed that part. But fucking hell, he ached, he just needed a minute. The Demon roared. Shit, didn’t look like he was going to get that time. He pulled another knife, this time from the sheathe on his thigh, this one had a rubber grip.
The Demon roared again. Marcus straightened as best he could. He’d run out of time.
“Hey. Why don’t you pick on someone your own temperature?” Riya winced. Okay, she could use a little work on her trash talk. She was out of practise.
“Riya! No.”
Riya moved out of the shadows. Stepping between Marcus and the Demon. “You had your chance, Charming. You’re forgetting I have eleven brothers. I know how to play rough.”
Marcus took a step, damn his wobbly legs, he just needed a few more seconds. Shit, but there was no time, the Demon was moving and so was Riya. She was going to get herself killed. Marcus dug deep and found what he needed. He started running, it wasn’t graceful, but who gave a fuck. Riya just needed to hold off the Demon for three seconds. He would make it.
Riya ducked under the Demon’s lunge, confusing it by closing the distance between them, wrapping her arms around it in a tight hug.
“Riya? No!” She’d be burnt to a crisp. Marcus raised his knife, intending to rip her away and plunge it into the Demon’s chest.
Except the Demon raised its head and released an ear-splitting shriek of pain. Struggling, it frantically attempted to shake Riya off.
Riya clung on with everything she had. It wasn’t dissimilar to the body lock hold she’d used on her brothers when they’d been younger. The green threads in her hazel eyes shimmering with haze heat. She sank her fingers into blackened skin, which was charring and crumbling under her touch as she sucked as much heat out of the Demon as she could. Faster. Faster.
She could hear Marcus closing in. The orange molten veins were dimming in colour. The Demon tried one last attempt to shake her off, but its cloven hooves slipped on the wet tile and they went down. Luckily for Riya she was on top.
Marcus was there. “Duck.” He instructed.
Riya snuggled her head in closer to the Demon’s chest. Sucking down the last dregs of heat as it continued to struggle feebly in her tight grip.
The only glow left now was the Demon’s hellfire eyes that Marcus looked into as he slammed his knife down, decapitating the Demon in one fierce blow. In an instant the Demon’s eyes were extinguished, the head bouncing across the tiles twice before crumbling into ash.
Marcus grabbed Riya’s arm, helping her to her feet. Staring down at the crumbling remains of the Demon. Given what he’d seen the bastard do already he began stomping on the ashes. No way was he letting this thing rise again. “How did you do that? I thought you were just a Fate Weaver?”
Riya grabbed Marcus’s wet cap from the basin, turning off the taps, using the cap to wipe down her arms and chest. “I’m also half-dragon. On my father’s side.”
“That was… that was...”
“Amazing, right?” Riya grinned, wiping away the last of the black smut from one shoulder. Fussing at the holes in her scorched top. “I told you that you shouldn’t pigeon-hole people.”
“I was going to say that was beyond stupid.” Marcus finished. His voice low and curt. “You had no idea that would work and yet you threw yourself at a Fire Demon.”
“Please, if I can survive my Granny Tong’s hugs, a Fire Demon wouldn’t even singe a hair on my head. Unlike some people. How’s the ass, Charming? A little blistered?”
Marcus’s heart was finally starting to beat at a normal rate. The sight of Riya throwing her arms around the Fire Demon had sent him into a red hazed rage, tinged with a little edge of panic. If she’d been hurt trying to help protect him, he would never have forgiven her. “So what other tricks do you have up those monster slaying sleeves of yours?”
Riya grinned. “Now that would be telling. We should-”
A panel in the wall to their left suddenly crashed open and another hellfire minion stepped out on to the tiled floor. This one was clearly female and an Ice Demon, its white scaly skin glittering with hoar frost. Tall and thin, it’s physique resembled the Fire Demon, but this one had a huge sharp icicle shard protruding from the middle of its forehead. As it spied the charred ash strewn across the floor that used to be its partner, it released a guttural scream that reminded Riya of a nature documentary she’d once seen of an iceberg shearing away from a glacier.
Its hellfire eyes shone brightly as they fixated on Marcus and Riya. The temperature in the room dropped dramatically. Riya could see her breath forming. Automatically she began to back up slowly. An Ice Demon? Of all the worst luck. Fate, was proving to be a real bitch of late.
Marcus had two knifes out and was ready. Here we go again. Clashing with an Ice Demon in a bathroom where water had splashed all over the tiled floor, and was now frozen into sheets of slippery ice was going to be a challenge. Quickly discovering that its touch, like the Fire Demon’s, burned, instantly freezing, ripping off layers of skin as they traded blows.
Marcus ducked and whirled. Wincing as the blade he attempted to bury in the thing’s back shattered like glass, frozen in an instant. Shit. They parried more blows. Desperately, Marcus looked for weakne
sses. Shit, slamming down hard onto his left knee as his boot shot out from underneath him.
The creature raised a hand, its fingers glittering like icicles, cold and deadly, they were headed for his throat, he ducked even as a shadow flew from the side to body tackle the Demon. Riya. The two females skidded away across the icy floor.
For some reason Marcus was expecting Riya to gain the upper hand with some hidden power but it wasn’t the Ice Demon screaming out in pain as they grappled. It was Riya. Her back arching in clear pain. Her skin suddenly a frightening papery bluish white. Her lips colourless. Crap, she was half-dragon, ice was her kryptonite, but she’d thrown herself into the mix to save him.
Marcus didn’t get up, knowing he’d only fall again. Instead he used the knife in his hand to help him crab crawl as fast as possible across the iced over tiles. The knife snapped in half. Shit, his momentum was too fast now, he wasn’t going to be able to stop as he smashed against them, sandwiching Riya hard up against the Ice Demon. Hearing her moan in obvious pain caused his heart to stutter.
Fuck. His broken knife would be all but useless against the icy hide of the demon. The three of them rolled. Marcus grappling to rip Riya free of the Ice Demon’s clutches.
Come on, think. Weaknesses. It had to have at least one. Yet the damn thing seemed all but invulnerable and appeared to know it too, it’s hellfire eyes blazing with smugness and hatred.
The eyes.
The trio rolled again. The strobe light still attached to his vest hitting the creature and refracting the light off the ice spike in the middle of its forehead as it tried to get a better angle to stab Marcus in the face with it. The light also hit the two silver chopsticks that were anchoring Riya’s hair in place. They’d do. Marcus grabbed them lightning fast, raised both and plunged them deeply into those blazing hellfire eyes.
A split second later, the light was extinguished and the creature’s body fractured, shattering into a million tiny ice cubes that already looked to be melting.
Marcus turned Riya over, holding her gently. No, no. She was too pale. Too cold. He searched for a pulse… come on, it had to be there. He muttered a rushed prayer to his Goddess, Riya had to be okay. Please Maat. Please. Don’t let her be dead. She was too special to leave this world. She lit up a room when she entered it. She was brave, smart, and funny.
Come on. Marcus hugged Riya tighter. Willing her to breathe. For her heart to beat. No, he refused to let this happen. Not on his watch. He picked her up and strode towards the passageway the Ice Demon had crashed through. His stride was just shy of a run, he was going to fix this… or he would die along with Riya trying.
Chapter Eleven
Riya had never been so cold. Her feet felt like blocks of ice. Her skin burned. Every muscle had seized up and she was sure all her teeth would shatter if she clenched her jaw any tighter.
This was so much worse than the time her idiot brothers had been playing around on a family ski trip in Canada, bringing an avalanche down on all their heads. It had taken her father less than five seconds to find Riya, breathing on her to bring her back up to a toasty heated level almost immediately.
In an attempted lesson to curb their stupidity, her father had left her brothers to fight their own way out of the icy mess. They’d been pale and cold by the time they’d slogged their way back to the lodge. But Riya didn’t think any one of them had been this cold, this frozen to the very marrow. Where every breath hurt and every cell felt at once alien and yet was signalling it was in pain.
Riya found herself arching, her back bowing as a particularly nasty jolt of agony arrowed up her spine. Oh, Goddess, that hurt. Hmmm, but what was that source of heat plastered to her? It was distant, but it felt so good. She struggled to get nearer.
“Riya? It’s okay, I’ve got you.”
She knew that voice. Deep, masculine, it was missing that know-it-all superior edge but she recognised Marcus. Phew. He was alive. They were alive… just. “S.. so… c-c-cold.” She had to clench her teeth together again to stop them from chattering.
“I know. Just give it a minute.” Marcus rubbed his hands roughly up and down Riya’s arms and back. Encouraging the blood to flow. Her complexion was still too pale. Eyes constantly trying to flutter shut, but Marcus couldn’t allow Riya to go to sleep. Not in the condition she was in, she might not wake up again. “I was disappointed that you didn’t pull something out of one of those heavy suitcases you drag around and kill the Ice Demon. Or, at the very least distract it with a lovely ensemble you had recently whipped up, complimenting its white scales and bringing out the icicle shard rammed into the middle of its forehead.”
“Hah…. Hah.” Riya managed, turning slightly, pressing herself harder against that wall of wonderful heat. What was exuding all that warmth? An electric blanket? No, too hard. “I had… to leave something for you to… fight. Warrior… ego and all… that.”
Marcus chuffed a soft laugh, his warm breath playing over the silken strands of Riya’s hair. “Thanks. My ego remains in tact.”
“Mhhhmm.” Riya felt so tired. So cold. If she could just close her eyes for a minute or two, then she was sure everything would be okay.
“Riya?” When she didn’t respond immediately Marcus began to gently shake her, not liking the way she had suddenly gone completely limp against him. “Riya?”
Damn, what to do? Shit. He tipped her head back and kissed her. He was a creature re-born in the sun over a hundred years ago. He shared that heat with her. Willed her to live.
Riya’s heart thumped hard suddenly in her chest. Heat. Glorious heat. She was engulfed by it. Drowning in it, and she never wanted to surface. Reaching out, she tried to wrap herself around the fire so that it wouldn’t leave her to the cold, the pain. Her hands latched on to… naked flesh? Hard, muscular, naked flesh. And yet there was velvety softness too, Riya clutched frantically at that heat. Revelling in it. Every cell in her body suddenly sparking, feeling like kindling flaming into life.
Riya’s eyes fluttered open, bewilderment and confusion swamping her. She was kissing Marcus? Just the thought sent another wave of welcome warmth racing through her body. Breaking the kiss reluctantly, she stared at him, hypnotic ocean blue eyes only inches away. “You… we… why are we naked?”
They appeared to be lying under the covers in the middle of a large art deco bed with gold cherubs decorating the bedhead. Several more of their brethren cavorting on the gilded four posts that held up the green velvet canopy. Gilded cherubs mooning her and Marcus naked, wrapped around her, there were thousands of worse ways to wake up.
“Body heat. It was the only way I could think to warm you up.” Marcus studied Riya closely, her skin tone wasn’t quite back to normal but it was getting there. Those fascinating green threaded hazel eyes of hers sparkled with awareness and life once more. Of course now that he was no longer in the throes of saving her life, Marcus was suddenly very aware that he held a gorgeous naked woman in his arms. Her flesh silky warm, snuggled up against him. His cock leapt to salute the wonder that was Riya. Okay, it was a perfectly normal reaction. But he didn’t want to embarrass her. “Looks like my work here is done.” Marcus attempted to detach himself in a gentlemanly fashion.
Riya surged forward, clinging to him. Legs coming up to wrap around his hips, Riya’s eyes widened in surprise at the feel of Marcus’s clear arousal resting between her legs. Instinctively she squeezed her thigh muscles. Wow, that felt surprisingly good. Dark ocean blue eyes met hers, an eyebrow rising in query. She answered Marcus’s unspoken question. “I’m not sure I’m finished with you yet.”
“You’re still cold?” Remaining completely passive was a hard won battle, his cock was resting against her hot, wet core, the urge to press further against… into Riya, gripped Marcus at a bone deep level.
“Getting warmer by the second.” Every primal instinct Riya had screamed at her not to let the source of all that wonderful heat move away. But it wasn’t just how good Marcus felt, it was the way he
made her feel. Not just warmer. But how things low in her body were sizzling and tingling. She had made a pact with herself. To say yes to adventure. Not to shy away from fun and new things… new people. And whilst she’d immersed herself in new foods, new cultures and made new friends. She really hadn’t found the time to include sex in that equation.
Partly because she’d been kind of expecting the future father of her baby to re-appear at any moment and partly because the few men she’d been interested in, showed signs of being possessive and wanting more from her than a quick tumble or two between the sheets. Typical men, when you wanted a quickie, they wanted a relationship.
Okay, yes, there was a distinct possibility that Marcus might be her future sperm donor baby daddy… but he didn’t know that. And he sure as hell wouldn’t get possessive. And Riya couldn’t imagine Marcus wanting more than a quick tumble or two, they so did not work as a couple. He’d proclaimed it himself out and loud more than once.
Riya quickly did the math. She was on birth control. She was attracted to the man. Hard, very hard evidence stated that he was attracted to her. They’d just survived a death duel with two Demons, perhaps this was the perfect moment to reaffirm life. And what better way to celebrate than with some blistering hot sex with a gorgeous naked Warrior of Maat.
“Truth is.” Riya squeezed her thighs together, bringing Marcus that tiny bit closer. Arching her lower body, rubbing her clit back and forth over the hot hard length of him. “I’m still cold… deep, deep down. And I was thinking.” She reached up, sinking her fingers into all that thick short hair. “That maybe you have a way to fix that, Charming.”
“Riya.” He groaned out her name. Damn the feel of her slick, wet, warmth rubbing back and forth over his cock was enough to make Marcus’s eyes cross, but no, damn it, he was better than this. “You’ve just been through a very traumatic experience. Your body is swamped with… adrenalin and you… you’re not thinking clearly.” He placed his hands on her hips, her curvaceous naked hips and attempted to ease her away.