The Devil You Need

by Sam Cheever

  Without thinking I lay my hands on Gerch, wanting to heal him.

  “He was burned.”

  I reached deep inside, looking for the healing energy I used to carry within my core. “I can see that, Dialle. Were we attacked?”

  “Not strictly speaking, no.”

  White light emerged from my palms and Gerch jerked, groaning as my energy began to heal him.

  “Astra…?”

  I ignored Dialle as I focused on healing my friend.

  “Astra…?”

  Beneath my energy, Gerch’s wide, red face started to resume its natural color and texture. The ugly boils and charred flesh seemed to slough away, making way for the soft pink of newly healed flesh.

  “Astra!”

  My head snapped up. “What?”

  “You have your power back.”

  I stared at him for a moment and then blinked and looked down at my hands. Shock swept through me in a wave and all the blood left my face. I swayed slightly, feeling dizzy. “My power?”

  “Yes. I can feel it. There must still be some connection between us.” Dialle looked as if he didn’t know whether to smile or frown.

  I’d forgotten. For just the briefest moment in time I’d forgotten that I hadn’t been whole before. And my mind was too muzzy from being ripped from sleep and running for my life to grasp it fully in that first moment.

  But as soon as I did, I gave off a whoop of delight.

  Dialle’s answering smile made me scream again, tears of sheer happiness flooding my eyes. “I have my power back.”

  I stood up and did a little happy dance, laughing with Dialle at my own silliness. I was just so happy.

  Gerch groaned and opened his eyes, glowering at me. “Celebrating my imminent demise?”

  I was too happy to let Mx. Grumpy distract me. “I have my power back!”

  He shoved himself upright. “Yeah. I noticed.”

  Dialle threw him a look and Gerch’s scowl deepened. “Thanks for healing me.”

  In a moment of pure delight, I ran over and dropped to my knees beside the big soldier, enclosing him in an impulsive hug. “You’re welcome.”

  Gerch fought out of my embrace. “By the Serpent, I think the smoke rotted her brain.”

  Dialle stared at me with an unreadable expression.

  I stood up, grimacing. “Speaking of smoke. I stink of it. I’m gonna go take a bath in that river over there.”

  Dialle nodded, his gaze flitting toward Gerch. “Stay close, we’re vulnerable out here.”

  I turned away and headed for the dark ribbon of water that cut a swath through the sandy ground. Dialle’s gaze burned my back as I walked away. I wondered what he was thinking.

  I soon forgot Dialle as I reached the gently flowing water and crouched next to it, running an exploratory finger through its surface. The water felt thicker than I was used to and silkier. But it smelled like water and nothing jumped up to eat my finger. More importantly, it was deliciously warm, like everything else in the Hades environs. One of the massive, gray-barked trees I was growing familiar with rose into the dark night sky a few feet away, its heavy branches stretching out over the river.

  I moved behind it to give myself a little privacy and started to strip. Listening to the distant roar of fire, I frowned. Dialle seemed reluctant to tell me how the fire started. I figured spontaneous fires weren’t that uncommon in the fiery environs of Hell but still, it seemed strange that the exact area where we’d been resting exploded into a conflagration. I made a mental note to ask Dialle about it later. After my bath.

  I crouched beside the water again and washed my clothing as well as I could, hoping at least some of the smoke stench would wash out of the fabric so I could stand to be around myself.

  I draped the newly rinsed clothing over a branch of the tree and stepped into the river. The water was deeper than I expected near the shoreline and my first, tentative step sent me plunging deep with a shriek.

  The warm, silky water closed over my head as I sank down, down, and down, never feeling the bottom. I finally realized I’d better swim for the top.

  As I neared the surface, the silver globes of the double moons wavered and danced above me, broken only by the blackly jagged shape of a tree limb. The water was impossibly clear, like looking through old glass. I swam through the warm silk, my limbs slicing the distance in clean, powerful strokes. It was a heady feeling and I wasn’t anxious to cut it short. I burst through the surface, gasping for air and decided to swim for a few more minutes before climbing out.

  I swam downstream, letting the gentle current carry me easily and quickly. As I swam, my euphoria dimmed and my muscles warmed, growing heavy. Lethargy wrapped strong arms around me and I dozed off, jerking awake only as water started to slide down my throat.

  I realized I must be more tired than I realized. I turned around, intending to swim back toward Dialle and Gerch. The world was suddenly covered in black glass. I was sinking. I sucked in a breath and felt warm liquid filling my lungs.

  Astra!

  Dialle’s voice brought me awake. I flailed against the insistent pull of the black water, managing to swim back to the surface. After what felt like several minutes, I finally broke through, my fingers clawing for something solid to pull me free of the sucking liquid. I coughed and choked but my scrabbling fingers could find nothing to help me climb free.

  I managed to cry out once before my traitorous limbs succumbed to the warm lethargy of the water and I started to sink again. I held my breath as my face slid beneath the water and tried to fight, but my arms and legs wouldn’t work.

  Dialle… My eyes stared upward as I sank, through the black glass that framed my watery coffin. Then the black thickened, became more opaque, and I settled into my death with a sigh. Bubbles rippled past my face, tickling my nose.

  A splash sounded far away. The water swayed around me, tossing my weakened limbs like a rag doll in a breeze. Hard hands grasped me. A strong arm wrapped around my waist and pulled, dragging me inexorably upward, through the molten silk of the deadly liquid.

  When we broke the surface, I didn’t choke, didn’t cough. I felt as if I was encased in rock, impermeable and unable to move. I was aware of being dragged from the water and laid out on something hard, but my eyes wouldn’t blink, my body wouldn’t move.

  Light flared, moving closer, as Dialle’s face hovered over mine. “Breathe, Astra.” The light found my chest and burrowed in, drawing a gasp from my lips, and on its heels a shriek of agony as fire speared my chest.

  Feeling returned to my limbs, accompanied by a painful tingling that I knew was the blood rushing through my veins again. Finally Dialle removed his hand from my chest and sat back on his heels, his golden features set with worry.

  “You nearly died.”

  I struggled to sit upright. Dialle tried to help but I was pissed and shoved his hand away. “I wouldn’t have if somebody had bothered to tell me the water was drugged.”

  His scowl deepened. “I didn’t know. The thing about Perdigo is that things keep flexing and changing here. No place stays the same and everything within is continually altering itself. The last time I came through here these waters were fine.”

  I started to stand and wobbled, my knees giving out on me. I fell forward and Dialle caught me, dragging me across his lap. “Sit for a few minutes, Astra. Your body needs some time to recover from the waters and my healing.”

  I shoved at his chest and tried to stand again, but he tightened his grip. “You are so stubborn.”

  I glared at him. “In case you’ve forgotten, you dumped me recently. It shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise that I don’t want you touching me right now.”

  He held my gaze for a long moment, emotion darkening his blue gaze. Finally he smiled and my sexual core tightened in response. It was his mischievous smile. I stiffened, worried about what he would do next. “I don’t like that look.”

  He cocked his head, one heated hand sliding up my back. �
��I have no idea what you’re referring to, my love—”

  “Don’t.” I shoved against his chest. “Don’t ever call me that again. In fact, don’t call me your anything. I’m not yours anymore. In any way.”

  His hand skimmed along my spine and wrapped around the back of my neck, sending heat in soft tendrils coiling through my traitorous body. “I have been a fool, my love. But in my defense, I was only releasing you so that I would not drag you down with me.”

  “Uh, huh.” I leaned forward, trying to escape the warmly delicious grip on my neck. Unfortunately the new position put me within a breath of his sexy lips. When I tried to lean away again his hand tightened on my neck.

  His sexy gaze slipped over my face, warming me like a tender touch. “I’ve been devastated at the idea of never making love to you again, Astra.”

  I swallowed hard as his delicious scent enfolded me, dragging my will to resist away. “You should have thought of that before you dumped me, bud.”

  He leaned in and kissed my cheek, lingering long enough to make me suck in a breath as my body exploded into sensation from the simple act.

  “I would have missed your taste.” His hot tongue swept out and slid across my lips, pressing the seam for entrance. I managed to resist opening to him, but just barely. His lips moved upward, to touch the tip of my nose. “I would have missed your delectable scent. Have I ever told you that you smell like vanilla and cherries?”

  I squirmed as need, prickly and aggressive, twisted in my belly. “You’re just hungry. I know I’m starving.” As soon as the words left my lips I realized how they sounded.

  He chuckled, the sound like heated fingers playing over my breasts. My nipples hardened under its power. “Yes. I am hungry, my love.” His lips pressed a tender kiss against my throat and, despite my will to resist, my head dropped back and my slut-monkey side started to bitch-slap my better intentions into silence.

  The hand that had been holding me close slipped down my back and wrapped around my waist as he kissed his way down my throat to my shoulder, easing me down. By the time my back settled onto the rock beneath me his lips hovered over mine. Vibrating with overwhelming need, I inhaled the intoxicating wash of his breath and moaned, unable to stop myself from responding.

  “I would have missed the exquisite softness of your skin. The rigid peaks of your nipples against my tongue.” His lips opened and he licked a trail down my throat, nuzzling an unprotected breast and pulling the hungry nipple into moist heat.

  The warm, slightly smoky night air whispered past, creating gooseflesh on my damp skin. My belly quivered with building need as his hands skimmed gently over it, sliding down my hips and caressing my thighs. Beneath my naked buttocks, the flat, smooth rock felt like polished granite.

  My thighs tightened with the need to open and, before I could stop myself I’d arched my hips, pressing myself into the hard ridge of his cock.

  “Stop, Dialle. I don’t want this.” My plea was so pitiful and without weight even I disregarded it.

  Dialle’s clothing disappeared in a whisper and he moved between my thighs, settling the thick head of his cock at my throbbing entrance. He looked down at me, sweeping a thick ribbon of wet hair from my cheek. “If you truly do not want me to make love to you I’ll leave, Astra. You need only say the word.”

  Pain seared my chest again at the thought of his leaving. My pussy clenched in alarm and warm cream trailed from it. Without realizing what I was doing, my hands slid over his shoulders and into his hair, twining the midnight silk in my fingers and pulling him closer. “Don’t leave, Dialle. I think I’d die if you did.”

  His lips captured mine and something profound and important trembled within me, sliding into place. My world rocked back onto its axis and hope bloomed in my chest. With a single, deep thrust, Dialle’s cock filled me, creating a flashpoint for all the sensations his nearness had ignited. I cried out at the wonder of it, my body clasping his in a desperate grip.

  My hands tightened against his scalp as my body soared into awareness. I whimpered softly against his lips. Dialle’s kiss started soft and tender and quickly gained intensity as our mating grew from delightful to profound.

  His tongue lashed against mine, tasting and testing and urging me to join him in the dance. I gladly accepted the teasing touches as my sexual core swelled toward release. My hands found the firm globes of his buttocks and I clasped them. I spread my legs, urging him to stroke faster, plunge deeper.

  Bliss called to me, just beyond my touch. I reached for it, straining toward its fiery grasp. Heat flooded my face. My limbs tightened as I strained toward that joyful release. I sucked in a breath as my body finally grasped it, the tight knot in my belly suddenly releasing in an explosion that sent delicious waves of warmth spreading through my groin and limbs.

  I cried out, my hands clasping him even more tightly to my body, demanding that he stay with me…that he ride out the explosion of need rocketing out of control inside me. I hit the bottom of my orgasm and immediately spiraled upward into another, moaning Dialle’s name to the smoky night sky as my body tightened in spasm after spasm of delicious release.

  Dialle finally gave in to my body’s demands. He lifted his head and slammed deep, his body growing rigid under the compulsion of his own orgasm. Settling onto his elbows, he slid his hands under my head and pulled me into another, toe-curling kiss, this one less urgent but no less intense.

  Pain speared my throat and I cried out.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  I held my breath, waiting for another jolt of pain. It never came. I shook my head, rubbing the spot where I’d been jolted. “Nothing. Just a twinge.”

  He kissed me one last time and rolled away, settling down on his back beside me. He grasped my hand in his and we stared up at the velvet black of a star-studded night sky.

  The night was strangely silent around us. I realized there were no bugs or night birds calling out, or nocturnal predators moving through the underbrush. It felt as if we were the only two people in the entire Perdigo environs.

  Then I remembered Gerch. I sat up, filled with alarm. “Gerch!”

  Dialle sat up too. “He’s fine. He was hunting for our dinner when I left him.”

  Right on cue my stomach grumbled hopefully. “Good. ‘Cause I wasn’t kidding before. I am starving.”

  Dialle smiled. “Then let’s go take care of that. You’ll need your strength for what’s to come tomorrow.”

  “Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to it. I can’t get away from this river soon enough. Maybe we should set off right after we eat.”

  “We must follow the river for a while. There is something I must do before going after my father.”

  Sighing, I let Dialle lead me back to my clothing on the riverbank. His reminder of the battle to come sucked the residual bliss right out of me. I wasn’t sure what my mother and his father had in mind, but I knew one thing for sure. Defeating them was going to be the hardest thing Dialle and I had ever done together.

  And we’d done a lot of really hard things.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Loch Nestrada

  Our king doth bid his lady splash, through the watery depths of Hell,

  Though his plans might her enthusiasm dash, and all her hopes dispel.

  A thick, moist fog surrounded us, blocking the soft light of a weak sun high overhead. Warm, sulfurous water bathed my legs to the knees. The occasional floating or swimming object bumped against my cringing flesh as we pushed through.

  “Are you sure this water isn’t drugged too?” I asked.

  “I’m not entirely sure. The river does feed this area, but the creatures who live in the swamp wouldn’t allow tainted water to flow here.”

  I frowned, not feeling a bit better. He’d taken away one fear and added a new one. My gaze slid over the black water, looking for signs of the creatures he referred to. It was impossible. If it weren’t for the knee-deep water I’d think we were slogging through
the shadows. The fog had the same sound and vision-dampening effects. Distorting reality until I wasn’t sure if we were moving forward or sideways through it.

  Huge, black shapes surged upward out of the dense, gray-white substance. They were trees mostly, with long, twisted limbs that seemed to clutch the fog with bony fingers.

  Night birds called across the space, apparently oblivious to the fact that it was midday. Or at least I thought it was. We’d been slogging through the muck in that swamp for what felt like hours.

  Though the air was steamy, a bone-numbing cold spread upward from the black, oily surface of the water. My teeth had stopped clacking together hours earlier, my body finally letting go of the idea that it would ever warm again. Like a snake I appeared to have adjusted to the temperatures surrounding me. The thought made me shudder.

  I was aware of Dialle and Gerch only because they stayed within a foot of me, occasionally reaching out to touch a hand or arm as if assuring themselves I was still there. They were little more than colorless shapes in the dense air. The sound of their legs plowing through the oily water was muted, seeming as if it came from far away, and I began to wonder if the poisonous fog had eaten away my ability to hear.

  Would I ever emerge from it? And if I did, would I be forever changed?

  Just ahead of me, Dialle suddenly stopped, his arm coming out to halt my forward progress. I grabbed Gerch’s thick arm and dragged him to a stop beside me. “What is it, Dialle?” My voice emerged from my mouth and hit the bank of fog, rolling backward and away without seeming to make a dent in the foul stuff.

  Astra, stand very still.

  Der. I’d forgotten I had my powers back…and Dialle was back inside my head. What’s wrong?

  Our host has joined us.

  Host?

  Even as I thought the question at him, the fog seem to swirl and shift. The water around my legs rose up in foamy waves that splashed against my thighs and a blast of heat rolled over us. My stomach rebelled at the sour, fishy stench the heat carried with it and my fingers twitched with an instinctive need to lash out.