Manaconda

by Sherri L. King

  Silence. The man replied at long last, but all the while his eyes were locked with Cady’s. “Love is my disguise. You’ll soon see—”

  “Lazarus, my son. You linger too long.”

  So many things were happening at once that Cady’s and Obsidian’s heads swam. They both turned to look at the newcomer whose voice had addressed their savior so familiarly.

  A man who was so much more than a man entered the clearing, appearing from the darkness, as if made from out of the very shadows themselves. His bright blond hair shone like a star in the night and his eyes were black as the darkest pits of Hell. From his eyes shone death and damnation. While upon his face he wore the mask of Tryton.

  “What is this?” Sid whispered brokenly. His confusion was as plain to hear in his voice as it was in the choking noise that issued forth from Cady’s lips. “Tryton?”

  The blond-haired man—who was Tryton, and yet not Tryton—ignored them both. He held his hand out to the cloaked man. The one he’d named Lazarus. The one he’d called son. “Come,” he issued the command again.

  Cady felt the hairs on the back of her nape rise. Fear and wonder consumed her. The man’s voice was metallic and terrifying. There was no life in that voice, no emotion at all, only stillness. If Death had a voice, he would surely speak forth from this man’s mouth. The cold, black depths of his eyes locked upon hers for only a brief a second, but that second stretched on into an eternity.

  In those eyes she saw endless pain. Danger. Power. Power that could rival that of the very gods fabled in all of mankind’s history. His gaze held the weight of a thousand misspent lifetimes. There was madness in their depths that stretched on for eons and beyond. But there was also something else, something she couldn’t believe, and it scared her far more than anything she’d ever known.

  It was regret. Endless, profound, and unguarded.

  She clutched Sid to her frantically, as though afraid the dangerous blond man would take him from her.

  Lazarus willingly approached the man, clearly without fear. Cady and Obsidian both knew they could not have walked so courageously towards the Tryton look-alike. Danger and insanity exuded from him like a cloying perfume.

  The two men clasped hands and in a fine poof of dust, they disappeared completely. Nothing was left of them but the flyaway particles of earth that floated upon the air, falling slowly, gently to the ground.

  “I think I’m going to faint,” Cady gasped, wide eyed.

  Boom. Boom. Boom.

  “Shit. What now?” Sid growled, looking about.

  Boom. Boom. Boom.

  The heart of the giant Obsidian had felled. It was beating, loud and strong. The Daemon was going to rise, and soon, if they didn’t burn the organ to ash right away.

  “Fuck!” Cady exclaimed.

  Both she and Sid dived for the basketball-sized heart at the same time. When her hands touched the sticky, black ooze of the throbbing organ’s tissue, it burst into bright, hot flames. The two of them sank back down onto their haunches and watched as the enormous heart was consumed by fire until there was nothing left but ashes.

  Then Cady burst into tears.

  Chapter Five

  Cady launched herself into her mate’s waiting, open arms, sobbing as if she might never stop, clinging to him with desperate relief.

  “Shhh, baby. Don’t cry,” he crooned.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” she choked out.

  “I thought you had too, there for a while,” he murmured. “What the hell happened? Who were those men?”

  Cady felt almost sure that he didn’t expect her to reply, but she did anyway. “That man, Lazarus, that’s the second time he’s saved my life.”

  Sid stilled. He held her back from him at arm’s length so that their gazes could meet. “What can you mean by that? How do you know him?”

  Cady shook her head slowly, wiping inelegantly at her wet cheeks. “I don’t know him, I just…I just…I can’t explain it, but when he looks at me…”

  “He has saved you twice, you said.”

  “Yes. Back when Emily was leading us through New York…I might have died if he hadn’t come. And now, he’s saved us both. But why?”

  “Who can he be?” Sid mused.

  “And the other…” Cady’s voice shook.

  “He looked like Tryton. How can he look like Tryton and not be Tryton? This makes no sense to me,” Obsidian frowned, shaking his head.

  “We need to get back. To tell the others what’s happened. And we need to send for Tryton right away.”

  Sid sighed deeply, wincing. “I am far too weak to Travel yet.”

  “What?” Cady jerked from his hold. “Are you still hurt? I thought that man fixed you like he fixed me. I feel fine—where do you hurt—”

  “Shush.” Sid put a gentle finger to her lips in an effort to stem the rapid flow of her words. “I am fine. It is merely that I am tired from the battle and from the healing. I will be right again in a few hours, perhaps.”

  “But we can’t stay here, more of these motherfuckers might come back. I, for one, am ready to turn tail and run our asses out of here. I can’t handle another attack like that without some reinforcements.”

  Sid chuckled and cupped her cheek in his hand. “You? Retreat? Where was this good sense when I told you to run earlier, hmm?”

  Cady swatted his hand away roughly. “I’m not joking, Sid.” Her voice broke. “I can’t risk you again like that, not this soon. We have to get out of here.”

  “There is no possibility of my Traveling. And we cannot go back where there are people to witness the blood and gore upon our clothing.”

  “We have to do something,” she cried.

  Sid put his lips to hers. It was a soft kiss, full of sweetness and tenderness and love. He parted her lips and let his tongue stroke into the depths of her mouth. His hands rose up to cup the sides of her face, tilting it just so. He worshipped her mouth with his, filling her up with his breath and his taste and his scent.

  Cady had never experienced such an earth-shattering kiss. It was the very embodiment of true, undying love. It broke through all of her defenses, and filled her up with something so strong and everlasting that she was made stronger than ever before.

  Her arms went around his neck. His hands moved down her back, gripping her so tight and so close that their heartbeats touched and reverberated. Their kiss grew rougher, harder. Obsidian ate at her mouth as if he wanted to swallow her whole. And Cady was just as eager to taste of him, to feel his lips and his tongue caressing hers, to breathe his sighs and give him her own, to drown herself in him.

  “I love you, you foolish, stubborn, courageous woman.” He interspersed each word with a hard kiss upon her open, gasping mouth.

  “Don’t ever leave me, you big, arrogant jerk.” She exhaled each word on a sigh. “I need you too damn much to let you go without following you.”

  His kisses moved down from her mouth to her chin and then on to her jaw. Her fingers threaded through his long, dark hair.

  “My baby, my beautiful one, my everything,” he murmured. Pressing the words into her skin with hard kisses that seemed to grow more and more desperate with each pass of his lips.

  “Hold me,” she gasped. “Hold me tight. I can’t ever go through this again.” Her words trembled. “I can’t bear the thought of your death. Oh god, I love you so much. More than I would have ever thought possible before our first meeting.”

  “I was nothing but a shell before you came into my life.” His hand fumbled with her clothing, pushing her shirt up to expose her breasts to his seeking, hungering mouth.

  “I can’t lose you, not ever. I love you,” she repeated desperately.

  “I’ll never leave you. You are everything to me.” He pressed a hard kiss to her breast, then sucked her nipple into his mouth.

  “Oh god, Sid, that feels so good. Suck me hard, please,” she cried, clutching him to her breast with a mad passion. “Take all of me, so I know you’re
here and this isn’t just a dream.”

  “No dream could be so perfect.” His voice was strained, his control nearly at the breaking point.

  Cady’s hands moved all over his broad, muscular back. She pulled his shirt over his head, tangling his hair until it was a wild halo of black shadows about them. The heat of his golden skin burned against her, his belly pressing down against hers, his hips settling into the cradle between her spread legs.

  “I was so scared,” she admitted in a small voice.

  His head came up, his hands smoothing the find tendrils of hair away from her temples. His orange-yellow gaze burned down into hers. “Me too, baby. Me too.”

  “I need you so much.” She pulled his mouth down to hers for another, deep kiss. Their tongues slid in a dance as old as time itself, and they both trembled with need and desire.

  Sid’s hands were almost bruising as he jerked her pants down to her ankles. “Kick them off,” he commanded.

  “You too,” she said, when her hands fumbled at the fastening of his trousers.

  When he settled back down upon her, they were pressed naked skin to naked skin. Cady’s hand moved to cup and hold the heavy, thick length of his cock. He was so hard and so hot, it was like holding a live coal in her hand.

  Obsidian’s fingers stroked over the seam of her pussy, finding a burning wetness there that spoke volumes of her need for him. He pressed one long finger into her channel, thrusting gently in and out of her welcoming body until her keening cries filled his ears. She was so soft and so delicate, he feared hurting her with the force of his own passion.

  He wanted to consume her. But he wanted to savor her, too.

  Cady pumped him once, twice, then over and over until he trembled. His shudders wracked both their frames. A bead of his sweat trickled from his brow and fell onto her parted lips. She darted her tongue out to capture the salty taste of him.

  Sid pulled himself free of her pumping hands. He spread her legs wide with his palms and rubbed his cock against her pussy with slow, languid movements. Her moisture bathed them both. Their sweat commingled. Their bodies ached to join, but still he held back.

  With a cry, Cady took matters into her own hands. She rolled them, until Sid was caught beneath her weight. With a sensual undulation of her hips, she took him inside of her, sinking down onto his erection, like a sword sliding into its sheath after a long, drawn-out battle.

  “I love you,” they whispered in unison. The sound of their words echoed and trailed upon the air like a tiny wind.

  Their gazes met and held. Cady rocked back and forth upon him. Soft, slow, gentle movements that drowned them both in exquisite pleasure and anticipation. Her hands were anchored, palms flat, upon the bulging ridge of the muscles upon his chest. Obsidian’s hands rubbed and cupped her bottom as she rose and fell upon him.

  The shuddering sound of their breathing and the soft, liquid sound of their bodies joining over and over were the only breaks in the silence of the clearing for many long moments. Cady rolled her hips in a circular movement, making Obsidian groan in bliss. Obsidian tilted his pelvis to rub against her swollen clit and she moaned brokenly with rapture.

  Abruptly lifting her off of him, Sid brought her up and over to straddle his face. His mouth fastened upon her pussy, suckling her, licking her, kissing every inch of her swollen, tender flesh. Cady’s eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she cried out, uncaring of who or what might chance to hear her. Nothing mattered but his hot, wet mouth rooting at the core of her.

  But then it was gone. She moaned from the loss of his most intimate kiss. Sid lifted her again, standing with her. He pulled her up into his arms, holding her easily with one hand, while guiding her legs around his waist with the other. Cady sank down onto his big, thick cock again, with a sigh of sweet ecstasy. Sid’s hands cupped her ass, and his hips pumped into her, bouncing her upon him.

  Cady felt impaled. The soft bump and slap of his balls against her anus made her whole body quake. As if Sid knew exactly what she wanted, one of his fingers massaged firm, tiny circles into the moue of her asshole. Her nails dug into his shoulders, and suddenly their thrusts became more frantic—rougher and wilder.

  They raced towards the finish together. Cady squeezed the muscles of her cunt around him. Obsidian swelled full and wide within her body, thrusting harder and harder into the heart of her welcoming body. With a shout, he pounded into her and stilled.

  Cady felt her body shudder as stars appeared before her eyes, stunning her vision. Her heart thundered. Her body flushed from head to toe, and she screamed with the onslaught of her climax.

  Obsidian’s thick, hot cream washed into her. Her body pulsed and clenched, grabbing at each drop of his come. Sid fell to his knees, groaning over and over again in a hoarse voice as he spurted himself into the depths of her.

  They clutched tightly to each other for so long, their arms and legs went numb. Their shudders stilled, their breathing slowed, and their thundering heartbeats quieted. The cool night air intruded once again, but did nothing to dispel the moment. They were both covered in dirt and muck and sweat, but it was the cleansing of their souls that made this loving so profound. This was a rebirth. A celebration of life, and triumph over death itself.

  An hour could have passed. They had no way of knowing. Neither of them wanted to move from their embrace, neither of them wanted such peace and bliss to end.

  But it did. It had to, for such things are too profound, too meaningful to last forever.

  “Are you unharmed?”

  Cady and Sid both turned to see The Traveler standing still at their side.

  “We are now,” Cady whispered, uncaring of her nudity, for Grimm had seen her nude more times than she could count. Indeed, he often watched her and Obsidian make love, with their willing and happy acceptance.

  “What happened here?” Grimm asked quietly.

  “We will explain everything. Just take us home for now, Traveler.”

  “Yes.” Cady breathed a sigh of relief. “Please take us home.”

  Without further preliminaries, Grimm reached out with his beautifully long-fingered hands, touched both their dark heads, and took them home.

  Epilogue

  “What do you think they could have been? A secret group of Shikar? It seems impossible, but after tonight, I could believe just about anything.” Obsidian rubbed at his temples wearily.

  Cady snuggled up at his side, unable, even after the several hours that had passed since their battle with the Daemons, to let him out of her sight.

  Edge and Emily, Cinder and Steffy, they were all here. Tryton’s own personal team of warriors. But where was their leader? Only Grimm knew the answer to that, and he wasn’t telling. They needed Tryton now, more than ever…Cady only hoped he came back, and soon.

  After telling their story twice—once from Obsidian’s point of view and then from Cady’s—Grimm had said little. His face was as unreadable as ever, proud and arrogant as any Shikar’s, but shadowy and full of long-held secrets. He was perhaps the oldest Shikar in existence except for Tryton…and no one knew for certain how old either of them were. Thousands of years old at least. It was frightening to realize that someone of Grimm’s long years held such concern over the appearance of two strange men at the scene of a battle with the Daemons.

  “That—that man looked so much like Tryton. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t a man, human or Shikar. That thing was something else entirely, even if it did wear Tryton’s face,” Cady said through nervously clenched teeth.

  “No. He was a man, of that you can be certain,” Grimm said pensively. His gaze swept the room, resting on each of them in turn. He fell silent for a long time, his black eyes—so much like those of the strange man on the battlefield—vague and far away.

  “You will speak of this to no one,” he said at last.

  Steffy jerked in her seat. “What? But why not? The warriors need to be told about this—”

  Grimm silenced her with a
hard glance. “You can tell them all you want of the battle and this new breed of overly large Daemon. But you will—” he looked a them each in turn to bring home his point, “none of you, will speak of the two men Cady and Obsidian saw. This news must not travel beyond the walls of this room. Not until Tryton returns, at any rate,” he added.

  Edge snarled, one glowing Foil shooting from his pointed, accusing finger like a blue talon. “To keep such news from the Council is tantamount to treason.”

  “Fuck the Council,” Grimm barked, taking them all aback. No one made a further sound, so shocked were they. “This goes far beyond their reach,” he gritted from behind clenched teeth.

  “Far beyond their reach? How can you say that, Traveler? The Council knows all—” Edge rallied.

  “The Council knows nothing of this, pup.” Grimm’s voice was like a blade, cutting them all to the quick. “And they will know nothing of it after tonight. Tryton will handle this when he returns, and he will handle the Council as well.”

  “Will you go for Tryton then?” Emily asked, her voice a calm anchor in the storm of emotion flooding the room. Her eyes were as black and filled with starlight as Grimm’s, though she had been a human but a year before.

  “I will do what I must,” Grimm responded enigmatically.

  “Why all the secrecy? Why all the intrigue? And why do I always have this niggling feeling that you know a hell of a lot more than you’re telling us, reaper man?” Cady spat angrily.

  “This meeting is over.” Grimm rose and made for the door.

  “Who was that man?” Cady barked, unwilling to let the matter drop.

  Grimm’s gaze was fierce and angry when he swerved his head back to look at her. “Be thankful you do not know the answer to that. Be thankful your world is still unchanged. Be grateful each and every moment you have left that he passed you by.” He stalked up to her, anger punctuating his every step. Obsidian rose to intercede, as if afraid that Grimm might lay a hand upon her. Grimm merely waved his hand and Obsidian fell with a thud back onto the couch. Silence reigned again for a tense, endless moment.