The Nightwind's Woman

by Charlotte Boyett-Compo

  “This is not the circle I used that night,” the witch told him as she stood in the center of the pentagram. “This circle is not for the same purpose. This is a protection circle. It is to protect warriors sent forth to do battle with evil.”

  “It has been used since time began,” Kerreyder said. “Handed down from the Guardians of the Megaverse whose age was long before gods and man.”

  “Within this circle are the Five Elements of Emotion represented by the five colors. Green for sympathy. Brown for anger. Blue for fear. Gray for grief. Red for joy. Before the Five Elements of Emotion came the Four Elements of Creation. Creation, given to us by the Guardians of the Universe to sustain our lives. Those elements are air, fire, water and earth. There is nothing evil contained within this circle.”

  “Sorn, Coulter, Cree,” Kerreyder said. “Take a triangle and stand in the center of it.”

  Sorn took blue, Coulter took brown and Cree took green. Kerreyder stepped to the red triangle and Jaleel the gray.

  “Where do I stand?” Randon asked, crossing over the threshold and entering the room though his heart was racing and a fine film of sweat dotted his forehead.

  “In the center of the pentagram alongside me,” Lauren replied.

  Without giving himself time to think about it, he did as she instructed though being so close to her made his flesh crawl.

  “I will be invoking the help of the Four Archangels who will protect you,” she said. “Let us begin by invoking the aid of Raphael of the East to grant clarity of purpose, diligence of performance, discernment of what needs doing and a satisfactory end to our endeavor.”

  As each of the other three archangels was called Randon could feel the presence of powerful beings forming unseen within the room. With each invocation, the witch turned to that point on the compass, lifting her hand in which she held a witch hazel wand to point in that direction.

  Michael of the West to grant the energy to perform their duties, courage and strength to see those duties to fulfillment and the loyalty to defend one another as brothers-in-arms.

  Gabriel of the South to grant compassion to those who deserve it, healing to those who require it, tranquility to those beyond help and clearness of conscience to do what must be done.

  Uriel of the North to grant complete concentration on their task, endurance to see that task to the end and thoroughness of action so Hades’ Key would not fall into the hands of evil.

  “Protect us, Holy Ones, and lend Your assistance to our warriors whose lives we place into Your compassionate hands. Guide these warriors and grant them the strength of purpose and the honor of completion of the tasks set before them. Return them to safety as they journey forth. Let no harm befall them that cannot be undone. Lend Your support to the loved ones of our warriors and keep them as well in the protection of Your hands. Let no harm befall them that cannot be undone. Delve into the hearts of those gathered here before You and see that we have come to ask Your blessings in the name of righteousness and not evil. Let no harm befall us that cannot be undone.”

  “So be it,” Jaleel said.

  “So be it,” the others repeated.

  Lauren opened her mouth to speak but another presence suddenly filled the room and it was Her voice that spoke though She did not appear to those gathered.

  “I am the embodiment of the Female spirits of the Universe, She who is One in Three. I am the mothers and daughters and aunts, the sisters and wives and lovers. I am Birth and Death and War. Mine is the vastness of space and the infinity of existence. Over My warriors I spread the Triune safeguard of protection—the blanket of defense, the shield of security, the cloak of safety. Let My warriors return to Me with no harm done to them that cannot be undone as they journey forth.”

  Cree, Coulter and Sorn dropped to their left knees with their right fists doubled over their hearts, their heads bowed. “Mo Regina,” they said in unison.

  “I cannot go into battle with you but you have My blessing,” the Triune Goddess stated. “I will keep My Reapers safe.”

  Her presence departed the room as quickly as it came, leaving everyone stunned.

  “Holy shit,” Lauren whispered. “That was the Triune!”

  The Reapers rose.

  “I feel blessed though technically Queen Morrigunia is not my creatrix,” Sorn said softly.

  “You’re a Reaper,” Cree said. “She considers you as much Hers as Coulter and me.”

  “Aye, but She doesn’t give a rat’s pecker for us, now does She?” Randon asked Kerreyder.

  “We’re not one of Hers,” Kerreyder said with a fatalistic shrug. “Lilith is your creatrix and I doubt she’d give you her blessing for our undertaking.” He chuckled sourly. “I know fucking well my bitch of a mother is wishing her son fails.”

  “Did you feel the archangels leave the moment She graced us with Her presence?” Coulter asked. He looked at Lauren. “Are they afraid of Her?”

  “As far as they are concerned, She befouled the room,” Lauren replied. “Luckily She did not come until I had invoked their blessing on you.”

  “That wasn’t luck,” Kerreyder said. “She knew when to make Her grand appearance.” He looked at Cree. “Well, you and Sorn and the Ridge Lord have nothing to worry about tomorrow.”

  “Today,” Jaleel said.

  “Aye, I guess so,” Kerreyder agreed.

  * * * * *

  Morrigunia grimaced as She listened to the warriors and the witch. It was true, She thought. Eavesdroppers rarely heard anything good about themselves. Not that it mattered. She was immune to what humanoids thought of Her—or demons for that matter.

  But the incubus had been wrong in his statement. She did care about both him and the archdemon. Not because they needed protection but because of the female they had in common. The female they shared, who at that very moment was in more danger than any of the men or the witch would ever be.

  “You are a piece of offal on the ass of a diseased warthog, Lilith,” She told the succubus.

  Jeering laughter from four female throats met Her words.

  “One day,” the Triune said. “You will atone for what you have done this night.”

  Our bargaining chip, Naamah cooed to her.

  “Aye, well bargaining chip or not, you will fail,” Morrigunia replied.

  More scathing laughter set the goddess’s fangs on edge.

  You think you are beyond reprimand but there is One who will not be pleased when He hears what you have done, the Triune thought to Herself. With a smile of retribution on Her beautiful face She shifted into dragon form and took to the heavens, giant wings flapping powerfully as She headed for Jeeoil, the home of the gods.

  * * * * *

  “You have decided what?” Lilith shouted at her sister.

  Agrat shrugged. “The more I thought on it, the more I decided the humanoids are too much entertainment for us to lose. Think on it, sister. Who would we torment if the Nikkeson is allowed to destroy them? And if it destroys all living matter, the humanoids would not survive.”

  “Then there is the matter of my wayward offspring,” Eisheth said with a hard breath of anger. “Naamah wants him at her beck and call and has set into motion the perfect ploy for her to have her way.”

  “Naamah is thinking with her twat,” Lilith snapped. “As she always has when it comes to your son.”

  “What is that trite Terran saying? The heart wants what it wants?” Eisheth said with a shrug. “And Naamah wants him.”

  “And she should have him,” Agrat stated.

  “It matters not to me,” Eisheth said, “but our sister has a point. If we do destroy all living matter within the Megaverse we only have ourselves and those back-biting bitches and bastards on Jeeoil to keep us occupied. Upon deeper thought, the Nikkeson should not be allowed permanent freedom. An occasional foray across the worlds to cull the unwanted should suffice.”

  “Plus there is the matter of us not being able to control him. Only Yn Drogh Spyrryd is powe
rful enough to bring that beast to heel and he couldn’t care less about anyone other than himself. Without Ridge Lords to capture and send the beast back to confinement, we would be hard pressed not to worry it would eventually come after us,” Agrat put in.

  “It could not hurt us,” Lilith scoffed.

  “True, but it could destroy all living things around us,” Eisheth said. “Everything. Would you wish to live on a dead plane, sister?”

  “I want that key,” Lilith said through clenched teeth. She held out her hand and curled her fingers into a fist. “I want it in my possession. The power we would wield having it would balance the scales between us and those harpies on Jeeoil. They would dare not interfere with anything we do for fear we might unleash the Nikkeson and make it impossible to imprison the beast ever again.”

  “Naamah will get the key for you,” Eisheth said. “That I can promise you.”

  Agrat took a seat at the window where she could survey the lush green world of Talamh, Eisheth’s southern domain. “I believe we should listen to this ploy Eisheth mentions Naamah has conceived to see if it has merit.”

  “Then there is the matter of Morrigunia interfering,” Eisheth reminded her eldest sister. She ignored Lilith’s out-flung hand of disdain. “Dismiss Her if you will but I have done battle with that dragoness. She will protect Her Reapers. If we send demons to take the key from the incubus, those Reapers will attack and they are a deadly force.”

  “Not to mention one of them is a Shadowlord,” Agrat added.

  “Gravelord,” Eisheth corrected. “Self-named I believe.”

  “Combine that with Kerreyder’s powers and there could well be a bloodbath in that cemetery,” Agrat said.

  “But…” Eisheth smiled nastily. “Not if Naamah’s plan works and I know it will.”

  “All right,” Lilith conceded. “Let’s hear this miraculous plan of hers. I suppose it has something to do with the mazikeen.”

  “Everything to do with it,” Eisheth acknowledged.

  * * * * *

  Kenzi woke to a warm body pressed intimately against her, warm breath tickling the hair at the base of her neck. A heavy, muscular arm was clamped around her waist and a hairy thigh lay wedged between her own. The sound of a man’s light snoring made her wriggle her ass against his naked groin and she was rewarded with a long intake of breath, a flexing of the arm draped over her and a pair of lips pressed to the side of her neck with a deep growl.

  She had been well used during the night. That much she knew. She ached between her legs. Whether it was Kerreyder or…her personal preference, Randon… She didn’t know but she longed for a repeat performance. Her blood was on fire with need, her cunt aching to be filled. She wriggled against him again.

  “You need me, luv?” he asked in a deep throaty voice. His tongue swept up the column of her neck and he moved his arm so he could encompass her breast. The heat of his palm against her nipple sent waves of desire flooding through her.

  But there had been something off in his voice. It didn’t sound familiar…confusing her…but all thought left her as he began to pluck at her nipple and his thick thigh pressed tightly to her groin, flooding it with slick heat.

  The room was dark for the image suite had been turned off so no light entered the subterranean space. It was so stygian in front of her, she could not see her hand before her face. But she didn’t need to see. What she was feeling as he palmed her breast, crimped his thumb and one finger around her nipple and rubbed his hairy thigh back and forth across her sensitive flesh had driven away all need but the sexual one burgeoning within her.

  He withdrew his leg and moved over her, wedging his hard body between her willing thighs. His cock was thick and the tip wet as it slid over her mound then poked between her legs. He lowered a hand to it and positioned the crown at her entrance.

  “You want me?” he whispered.

  “Yes,” she said and put her hands on the bulges of his biceps. Beneath her palms, his muscles were like iron.

  With a snap of his hips he was inside her and his rough hands were beneath her ass—lifting her up for deeper penetration. His biceps expanded as he gripped her and the thighs that pressed against her were rock-hard as he pressed forward. His strokes were masterful and the thick hair on his chest scratched against her aching nipples as he locked his lips to the sensitive hollow between her neck and shoulder and flicked his tongue along her flesh.

  She dug her fingers into his upper arms and drew her legs up, wrapped them around his hips. His thrusts became harder, more rapid, and—astonishingly enough—so deep she could feel the mushroom head of his cock pressing against her womb.

  “Come for me,” he grated as she snapped his hips against her. The slap of his balls hitting her was a heady sound.

  Kenzi strained against him. His cock completely filled her almost to the point of pain but it was a good, pleasing pain and she tightened her legs around him. That seemed to spur him on for his probes became frenzied and with every thrust of his hips she rocked on the bed and he grunted—deep and low in his chest. His fingers burrowed into the soft flesh of her ass as he kept her lower body still for his penetration.

  She could feel the quickening coming from the upper part of her belly and it was racing down toward her clit. It seemed as if there was a nodule of some sort rubbing wickedly against that enflamed little nubbin and it was driving her crazy. She thrashed her head on the pillow, clung to him, strained against him. At the moment her orgasm began, she screamed for she felt him spurt. Long and hard and the explosion seemed to go on forever and ever. Her tender insides was awash with his hot seed yet he continued to flood her body with it. A scent so enticing, so alluring wafted up from their mingled juices and she screamed again—writhing upon his shaft.

  “Aye, my human,” she heard him said. “I’ve seeded your womb this time!”

  A distant part of Kenzi’s brain heard his words but dismissed them. She was on the Pill and she seriously doubted either Rand or Kerrey was eager to get her with child.

  “You’ll have my bantling,” he said. “And many more to come.”

  She frowned.

  That voice sounded nothing like Randon.

  It sounded nothing like Kerreyder.

  It sounded more like…

  “Alyn?” she whispered.

  “Nay, love,” he said as one final pulse of his cock came and he collapsed atop her. He kissed her throat. “My name is Shideem.”

  It was as though ice water had been injected into her veins. She jerked. Pushed savagely at his shoulders to get him off her body. He didn’t seem to mind for he flipped over to his back. She scrambled from the bed and fumbled for the light switch on the bedside lamp. The moment the light came on and spread over the man who had just very thoroughly fucked her, Kenzi thought she would pass out.

  He was handsome—she would give him that—but he was no human. Whatever he was he was grinning at her with satisfaction and horror washed over her.

  “Aye,” he said, reading her mind. He threaded his fingers together and put them behind his head. “You are well and truly filled with my demonling, luv.”

  Kenzi screamed again but this time it was not with pleasure.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The air was so humid it was as though you had to cut a piece of it off to drag it into your lungs. Heat bore down from a sky that was now washed clear of any clouds. The bright blue of the Florida sunshine sent tendrils of steam wriggling up from the speckled white sand as Randon stepped from the van that had brought them to the cemetery.

  “The crypt is over there,” Lauren said as she exited the van.

  “Can’t miss it,” Coulter said of the rose-colored marble structure. The sun was glinting off the copper door.

  “Pretty swank considering the surrounding graves,” Sorn observed. “Must have caused a bit of a stink.”

  “Not everyone was happy with it being put here, no,” Lauren replied.

  The seven of them—with Coulter lead
ing the way—advanced on the crypt. They were alone in the cemetery at that early hour but there were houses close by with windows overlooking the grounds. It was so quiet it felt almost as though they were walking inside a vacuum.

  “I don’t like this,” Cree said softly and Kerreyder nodded. The Alpha was carrying the tabernacle under one arm.

  “Feels like a million eyes are watching us,” the archdemon said.

  “Precisely how I’d describe it,” the Reaper acknowledged. “Could the succubae have a hoard of demons lying in wait and we just can’t sense them yet?”

  “You knew gods-be-damned well this wasn’t going to be a cakewalk, Cree,” Kerreyder reminded him. “What do you think?”

  “We’re being watched all right but I don’t think what’s watching us is all evil,” Coulter told the two warriors.

  “I think we’re the main event in the coliseum,” Jaleel quipped. “If you listen closely you can hear the susurration of many breaths being inhaled and exhaled.”

  The Panthera tilted his head to one side, listened—eyes narrowed—then nodded. “Aye, you can,” Sorn agreed.

  “Both sides are watching to see what’s going to happen,” Randon put in. “Whether we win or fail.”

  “We could have a battle royal here if the two sides take it in their minds to interfere,” Jaleel commented.

  “I don’t believe that will happen,” Lauren said. “Though they are watching us, my spell is keeping them at a good distance. My only fear is Naamah having taken seed from the incubus—thus draining some of his power while increasing hers—she can enter the circle. I doubt any other demon can.”

  “Not if you made the circle strong enough,” Kerreyder told her.

  “The fate of the Megaverse is in your hands, Kayle,” Cree said. “Don’t fuck it up.”