Dweller on the Threshold

by Rinda Elliott

  I immediately saw stars. Nikolos cursed and shoved me behind him. I knew he was giving me time to get my bearings. I clung to his leather belt for a second, feeling nausea rush in to do battle with my senses. I swayed when Nikolos’s body moved and I heard a hiss as he did something painful to the demon.

  Getting my footing didn’t take long but I was going to have a killer of a headache later. I patted Nikolos’s butt in thanks as I stepped to the side to see what he fought.

  Two sets of yellow eyes. We had a pair again. Two demons and a stupid ghoul. The latter was already bouncing in excitement as he gnawed on whatever he’d pulled from the bag. His beady little eyes were barely visible behind all that hair but his head whipped from me to Nikolos to the two huge demons stalking us. They were several yards to my right and the ghoul was just a few feet to the left.

  His glee pissed me off, so I quickly stepped back and took a running jump off the porch and over the trash cans. Those small eyes flared right before my foot hit him in that spot right behind one of those peepers. He went down fast and hard. I didn’t have time to gloat because one of the demons growled and rushed me.

  I knew how they worked now so I dropped into a roll and smashed into its legs. It was like hitting tree trunks, but the demon did take a nosedive. My healing fingers didn’t handle the roll well. I cried out as one crunched and I scrambled back to my feet only to find the demon already up and facing me.

  Nikolos had jumped off the porch to fight the other demon. As he slashed his knife through the air, he moved until our backs were together. I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the throbbing in wounds that hadn’t had time to heal. I preferred using two knives but my left hand had gone numb.

  Tandy’s backyard was small—an eight-foot-tall wooden fence surrounding all but the part where the demons had obviously broken through. A small dog had run through that opening. It yapped and growled before jumping on the ghoul’s back to chew.

  Grimacing, I stared into the yellow eyes of the demon. Like the creature in Nikolos’s garden, more intelligence shown from its eyes. It sniffed. “Sssmellssss like honey.” It shifted from one foot to the other, its movements creepy yet graceful. “Bergdissssss, we’ve been looking for you.”

  “Hey, no fair! You know my name but I don’t know yours.” I really hated the way they grinned with those wide black lips and sharp teeth. I clenched my own teeth. “Screw this.” I lunged and slashed at its gut.

  It jumped back. And stopped.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Nikolos had mirrored my movements and his demon shuffled out of the way as well. Frowning, I slowly moved to my left, circling the thing. I was trying to peer into the corners of the yard to see if they were stalling while more of their brethren joined the fight.

  There was only the dog, coughing up ghoul hair.

  I hadn’t taken my eyes off the demon. Its blue and black bruised outer shell looked shiny and wet in the direct sunlight. I swallowed a gag as the heavy muscles under its mottled skin shifted with its movements. “So do you have a name?”

  “We are Dweller.”

  “Too many episodes of TNG, eh? Trying to assimilate us?” My thigh throbbed and I glanced down to see blood darkening my jeans. I’d pulled some of Blythe’s stitches. Shit.

  “Bergdissssss…the protector.”

  The little dog puked noisily behind me. I frowned. “The protector?”

  “Don’t question the thing, Beri.” Nikolos moved around so our backs were together again. “It knows only lies.”

  “No liessssss. One born to light. One born to protect.”

  My heart jumped into my throat. It pounded so loud I could hear the thump thump thump beating in my skull. Sweat dripped into my eye and I rapidly blinked to dispel it. I didn’t want to risk covering my eyes. I also didn’t want to kill it yet. It was talking. It knew my name. “Do you know what I am?” I whispered.

  It chuckled, and the sound scraped up my back.

  “What?” I yelled. “Dammit, what?”

  The other one spoke, its voice nearly identical. “You are meat. Nothing but meat.” I heard Nikolos grunt and knew the thing had run out of patience and leapt. But I dared not take my eyes off the one facing me.

  “No!” I held up a hand as the first one moved. “Tell me.”

  “Beri.” Fred appeared beside me. “Something’s wrong in the house.”

  A crash sounded inside and I curled my lip at the demon. “You’re stalling us. You’re fucking stalling us.” Anger rushed out of my throat in a growling yell and I jumped into the air, swinging the knife fast. I aimed at its ear. The knife glanced off that hard, bony skull.

  I cursed and twisted around, bringing up the knife again. My left side hit the fence as my dagger sank into the thing’s arm, sending the demon’s aim off. The claws that would have probably gashed out my throat stuck in the fence next to my head.

  I could hear scrambling inside the house. Fury sent black around the edges of my vision and I slammed my foot into the middle of the demon’s back. Its claws were wedged in the fence hard. It thrashed and turned its sharp teeth my way. I jumped back and kicked it again. My grip on the knife was tight since I worried it would slip in my sweat. The sun was a vicious monster overhead, beating down on my skin.

  Tandy screamed.

  “That’s it,” I snapped, blindly stabbing at the thing’s head because the sun and my own sweat were in my eyes. I must have hit the right area because I felt it slump before I saw it. I wiped the stinging perspiration blurring my sight and leaned over to stab at the prone body’s head again—just to make sure.

  Without hesitation, I joined Nikolos’s fight. His breaths were labored and fear struck my heart at the waxen color of his face. From the blood on his shirt, I guess his wound had reopened. Gritting my teeth, I tried to leave my body to fight the demon in its own dimension as I had at Nikolos’s home.

  Nothing happened.

  Worry over Tandy was messing with my concentration. “Hit me!” I yelled at Nikolos, praying he was smart enough to pick up on why. I only had time to catch the flash of instant understanding in his eyes before he grimaced but swung his fist into the side of my head.

  My body went down as my spirit soared into the air. I held onto the cord with both hands and didn’t give the spirit demon time to know what hit him. I was on him and wrapping the hard silver rope around his neck, crossing in the front and using all my might to yank the sides. I snapped the spirit head right off.

  I didn’t even go back into my body, just sailed through the open back door and into the house to search out Tandy. Nikolos was right behind me and he ran ahead to kick open the last door in the hall. I floated into the bedroom, finding the brown carpet covered in glass and a huge man-sized hole in the yellow wall next to the bed. I hovered over Tandy’s body before looking at the carved circle in the mirror. This one hadn’t been made by a woman with palsy. It had smooth curling edges. Failure hit me hard even before I met Nikolos’s sad gaze. The weight of it made me want to sink to the floor and cry. I didn’t even know if this spirit-me had real tears.

  I was pretty sure our time had run out.

  Three hours later I lay on the bed across from my sister, staring at her. I’d showered and let Blythe work a spell over my reopened wounds. She and Dooby had gone out to find the mullein leaves I hadn’t found earlier. At least we’d scored two ‘visited’ mirrors.

  Exhaustion pulled at every muscle in my body, but my mind burned to get back out there. I wanted to find this Castor—wanted to see if he looked like me, wanted to know what that demon had meant by ‘one born to light and one born to protect.’

  Shivers danced over my skin when the air conditioning kicked in. The glitter of Phro’s eyes caught my attention as she winked into sight. I wanted to ask her questions but I was so damned tired. I didn’t bother looking for Fred. He’d disappeared again during the fight.

  My gaze shifted to Elsa. Exhausted tears burn the back of my eyes. She was so stil
l. I knew then that I’d give my very soul to see her returned to normal. “I’ll get you back,” I whispered, tucking my hand under my cheek on the pillow. “I promise.”

  I must have finally slept because I startled awake when a hand touched my side. I stiffened, ready to jump when I recognized the male shower-fresh scent of Nikolos. Instantly, my body relaxed. “What’s wrong?” My murmur sounded loud in the quiet of the night. I shifted, the sheets whispering over my legs.

  He was silent for what felt like forever before he released a breath. “I needed to be with you.”

  My belly fluttered and I blushed, glad it was dark. “How did you get in?”

  He chuckled softly. “I’ve been alive for centuries. There isn’t a lock I can’t pick.” His big body settled down behind me on the bed. He pulled me close, tucking an arm around my waist and burying his nose in my hair.

  I opened my mouth to ask why he’d broken in but he tightened his arm and pushed my hair aside to lay his lips on my neck. Instant heat flared in my lower body and I clamped my legs together. “Nikolos?”

  “I won’t pull away this time. I think we need each other.”

  “I wasn’t going to argue,” I whispered, turning in his arms to kiss his chin. “What about your chest? That wound looked really bad.”

  “Blythe helped me again. It’s fine.”

  It could be. I’d noticed the healing process sped up every time Blythe worked magic. “I don’t want to do this with my sister lying right there and my spirit guide watching from the corner of the room.”

  He lifted his head. In the stream of moonlight coming in through a slit in the curtains, I could see him squinting in Phro’s direction.

  A throaty laugh floated our way. “Don’t stop on my account.”

  Nikolos cursed under his breath and dropped his head on the pillow.

  “Uh uh, no.” I sat up, turned toward the goddess. She made herself glow. Probably so I could see the wicked gleam in her eyes. “Do me a favor. Watch my sister. I’m going to his room.”

  She opened her mouth, probably to argue, but instead just closed it and nodded. A soft smile played along the corners of her lips.

  I stood. I knew Nikolos was grinning when I saw the white of his teeth in the moonlight.

  For a man who moved with grace, his scramble off the bed lacked it entirely. Nervous laughter bubbled in my throat, so I hurried to follow him out the door before I realized what I’d just agreed to do. The air was thankfully cooler than it had been earlier. I sucked it deeply into my lungs, hoping it would cool my nerves. I looked up at the night sky—so beautiful tonight without clouds to cover the glowing moon and stars.

  When Nikolos took my hand and tugged me into his dark cool room, I forgot why I was nervous. When he pulled my body close to his I forgot my own name.

  I reached up to undo the tie holding his braid and scuttled my fingers through his hair until it spilled about his head and over my hands. I couldn’t see it. I didn’t want the bright florescent hotel lights but I did want to see him better, so walked around him to flip on the bathroom light. I left the door open a couple of inches.

  “We could have moonlight instead,” he said, his deep voice causing ripples of pleasure to skitter up my spine.

  “And risk having the witch and the Doob spy? I don’t think so.”

  His teeth flashed in the near darkness as he stalked across the room in a determined stride that made my skin tingle. My breasts felt suddenly heavy, my body going instantly wet. I tried to suck in a deep breath and it turned to a gasp of pleasure when he swung me up and carried me to the bed. He set me on the edge then gently pushed me back until I was leaning on my elbows, my legs over the side.

  I’d slept in a white T-shirt and red underwear and my face colored when I realized I’d walked outside between our rooms like that without a thought. He knelt in front of me and the light from the bathroom reflected in his dark eyes. He ran his gaze over my legs before his hands followed. His palms slid warmly over my knees and around to the insides of my thighs.

  I parted my legs instinctively as my head tilted back. Warm lips touched the inside of my right thigh. I choked on a deep breath and my legs began to quiver.

  A soft, masculine chuckle sent air brushing over me before his tongue warmed the tender skin there. He kissed and licked up my thigh, then stopped to press his lips to that sensitive strip of skin where my leg met my pelvis—just under the edge of my underwear.

  I moaned and shifted, feeling as if fire pumped in my veins instead of blood. The light from the bathroom bathed him as he stood and leaned over me. His hands gathered the hem of my T-shirt before he tugged. I came up enough off the bed to let him pull the shirt from my body.

  He stepped to the side and I knew he did so to look at me in the streaming bathroom light. I didn’t worry about what he saw because I felt the intensity of his desire burning in the air between us. I felt his eyes on my breasts and I knew that unlike my one previous boyfriend, he didn’t find them too small. His gaze stroked over my belly and stopped at my bright red underwear. He hooked a finger under each side and slid them down my legs before tossing them over his shoulder. He softly touched the sore skin around my thigh, concern showing on his face. “It’s okay,” I whispered. It didn’t hurt as much as I would have thought. My hand hurt worse but I didn’t give a shit at this point. Blythe had given me something for the pain. Something that hadn’t fogged my brain.

  For that, I was thankful because I didn’t want to miss a second of this. But I also realized why he was being so gentle—why he held himself back. Knowing he had wounds too made that okay for me. This time.

  A part of me really, really hoped there would be another time.

  I held my breath and heard more than saw him shudder before his hands began tearing at his own clothes. I didn’t help. I was suffering a slight attack of nerves and felt my hands trembling. I quickly scooted back until I was fully on the bed and not relying on my one good hand to hold me up.

  Muscles flexed in the light as he dropped his shirt and stepped from the shorts he’d worn to bed. I didn’t know for sure what had changed his mind about being with me—why he’d come for me tonight—but in that moment I didn’t care. The scars that decorated his chest were muted in this light, but the white bandage on it gave me pause. We should really be resting.

  But I wanted him so much I ached. That ache had spread over my body until it throbbed with an intensity I’d never felt. I bent my legs to try and alleviate the pressure and heard a deep groan rumble from Nikolos as he put his knee on the bed and came up to lean over me. His mouth met mine, tongue going deep. He tasted faintly of toothpaste and coffee.

  He pulled back. “You smell sweet. Always sweet—like honey. I’ve been hungry since we met.” His breath whispered over my mouth before his lips came back.

  “Damn bees,” I whispered.

  “No, it’s you. Just you.”

  I brought my arms up and speared my fingers into his hair, moaning as it slid around my hands and slipped silkily over my cheeks. He’d shaved so the whiskers were gone and I rubbed my mouth back and forth over his before sucking his bottom lip into my mouth.

  He propped himself on one hand and ran the other over my chin, down my throat and around to cup my shoulder before going even farther down. He gently rubbed his thumb over my nipple and I could feel it bead against his skin. He cupped my breast, softly kneading. I writhed on the bed as fire licked across my belly. I lifted my knee to slide my leg along his and felt a shudder rack his big body as the hard, hot length of him slid along my stomach.

  “I’m trying to take this slowly,” he murmured against my cheek. “It’s been a long time for me.” He whispered kisses over my chin and neck as he stroked his hand down my belly and between my legs.

  I sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a low moan as his fingers slipped down and into me. I shifted my legs again, restless now with the heat screaming along my nerves.

  “We’ll do slow next tim
e,” I said, barely able to carry words on my breath.

  Nikolos left me long enough to get a condom before he crawled back on top of me. He moved his hair aside so it didn’t block the light. Something in his eyes reached deep into my heart and squeezed, and I felt it. Felt the inevitable slide into love. I’d been hovering on the edge of it since seeing that damned painting in his bedroom. Yet, I didn’t want to drop all my emotional shields with him because of those trapped souls. In the next instant, he tucked me beneath his body and put our mouths together in a way that made it feel as if we’d be connected forever. All the air left my lungs. I wrapped my legs around his waist and sucked on his tongue, loving the groan that ripped from his throat as his body slid full and hard into mine.

  I pulled my mouth away to gasp, the pleasure making my eyes roll up before I closed them. I arched my back and felt his growl as his mouth went to my neck. He sucked on my flesh. I thrust my hips up to take him deeper, while tightening my fingers on back.

  He began to move then, sliding deep into my body and pulling almost all the way out only to go even deeper again and again. I tightened my arms around his shoulders and held on, instinctively moving with him. He reached down to wrap one hand around my hip before he slid it around to cup my ass and angle his body so he rubbed against me with each movement as he sped up.

  The pleasure didn’t give warning—it just splintered me into a million sensitive pieces and I screamed and shuddered. He went taut again, his muscles bunching before a hoarse shout erupted from his throat.

  We held on, riding this thing out together.

  The shudders had lessened and my limbs had gone to jelly when I opened my eyes. He slid off of me and to the side, tucking me in close, his breathing labored. A fine sheen of sweat made his skin look shiny and slick in the light from the bathroom.

  My throat was dry as I stared at his body and tried to make sense of the maelstrom of emotions suddenly tearing up my chest. I should be basking in the glow. Only basking. Quick or not, this was the best sex I’d ever had. I had a feeling we could only get better at this.