by Jaye Shields
The stunning creature was looking up at him when her body collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap. For a moment, Sabin only stood there, trying to discern if the cunning woman was trying to trick him. Ah, hell plane!
Sabin knelt quickly by the magnificent body to survey the damage. He had been careful not to strike the woman who had attacked him, but now she lay on the ground where he had caught her up in his arms. Her rich auburn hair was splayed on the ground around her face. It was impossible not to admire those full crimson lips and rosy cheeks. The Dryad’s eyes were closed, but he remembered them to be a very vivid shade of green. They had looked on him with such dedicated fury when she had thought him responsible for the destruction.
Even now, innocent bystanders who meandered into the dense fog still dropped into a narcotic-induced slumber. Sabin looked over his shoulder through the thick haze and spied a long bridge leading to an island teeming with foliage. He took advantage of the lingering narcotic fog as an opportunity to gently toss the woman over his shoulder and trek across the long bridge. There he would anticipate the Dryad’s awakening.
Arriving at the island called “Yerba Buena,” he felt assured that he had picked a good location to regroup. The island had many trees and shrubs for a city, and he was glad as he hiked to the top for cover. At a high peak on the island, he knelt and laid the Dryad down gently. When she awoke, surely she would be grateful to him for sparing her life, despite her interference in multi-realm matters. She would think him a compassionate man for returning her to the forest.
Gazing at her angelic face and sinful curves, he reviewed what he knew about Dryads. The Goddess Artemis, whom he saw every so often in the Realm of the Fog when she came to portal surf, was a quiet, inconspicuous goddess. Unless someone pissed her off. It was whispered that she was a fierce man-hater.
Lust stirred within him as he assessed the sleeping body. He fought the urge to explore her slumbering form even though the gentlemanly thing to do would be to check her for injuries. Her lips were full, and begged to be kissed.
He couldn’t imagine this beautiful woman hiding out in the forest like other Dryads. This woman was courageous, and hell, feisty. Not anything like the legends that described shy creatures that spent their time lurking within the hollows of trees.
He had much to learn about her, and he wanted to learn it soon.
Gazing out from the high island peak, he saw the city skyline jutting out of the fog. It was a beautiful city to be sure. But then, he was partial to cities of fog. But he didn’t have time to admire it. An awareness prickling within prompted him to turn around just in time to see the Dryad open her eyes.
Chapter Five
An hour after Tera had left the coffee shop, the aunts sat on a couch by the front window, knitting and dishing about the latest developments.
“I wonder if Tera found her goddess. That sweet girl has been waiting so long for her mother to return.” Melissandra shook her head.
“Yes, and she has endured so much,” Morgana added.
“You know,” Melissandra changed the subject, as if she had an epiphany. “We should start knitting invisibility scarves.” She raised her brows at her sister, dressed whimsically as usual with her frizzy blond hair and sparkling eyes.
“Like Harry Potter? He had an invisibility cloak.”
“Yes, yes!” Melissandra seemed excited that her sister caught on. “From now on, no more talking while we knit — focus on enchanting the yarn with invisibility.”
“You know the conservative covens wouldn’t want us to do something like that. People just can’t go about wearing invisibility scarves.” Morgana spoke softly, so as not to alert the other coffee drinkers.
“Hey you two, come here!” Sparrow appeared before her aunts, wiping her flour-covered hands on the floral apron wrapped around her waist. Disappearing back into the kitchen, Sparrow motioned to the TV, which was on a local news channel. The aunts focused in on the report.
“Reporting from Union Square, we are advising all tourists as well as locals to avoid the Embarcadero and the greater San Francisco Bay. It appears that we are experiencing either another natural gas leak or possibly radioactive fog. Earlier, city dwellers at the Embarcadero farmer’s market experienced a fit of rage before passing out. At this time, nobody knows what caused this, but investigations are ongoing. In the meantime, police are recommending that nobody go to the Embarcadero.”
Melissandra broke out in a fit. “Radioactive fog? Sounds damn suspicious to me.”
Morgana nodded in agreement. “Something definitely came out of that portal, and I’m guessing it was not the Goddess Artemis.”
• • •
Although she was furious, Eris, the Goddess of Chaos, threw back her head and cackled. The Goddess’ full lips were black, painted perpetually by the many souls she had brought destruction to in her time. Her misshapen breasts heaved with anticipation and she clapped her hands eagerly. Her plan had gone slightly awry with the Knight of the Fog following the Nunanish to the human plane, but she enjoyed the unexpected twist. After all, she was Chaos. The Knight would surely try to contain her Nunanish from creating violence and turmoil in the city, a thought that sent more excitement rushing through her body. She would command her Nunanish to hiding, while she sent the dashing warrior some dangerous distractions. Oh this would be fun indeed …
• • •
The familiar soft cushion of leaves rustled underneath Tera, and for a moment, she nestled into them, basking in the peaceful reminder of the forest. Curling into the soft ground, she suddenly remembered that she had originally collapsed on cold, hard cement. Tera leapt up from the ground. The warrior was before her, crouched on his feet, not like a predator but as if relaxing, admiring the view. Then the being/demon/whatever stood to greet her. Damn, she really wished he hadn’t.
His chest was still bare. His long, muscular torso was accompanied only by black leather pants that hung way too low on his hips not to be distracting. Forcing her gaze back up, she was met with the sight of his strong, broad shoulders that had, apparently, carried her at least five miles to the island.
“You obviously have not inherited Artemis’ hatred for men, have you, Dryad?” His cocky eyes sparkled with amusement, but his mouth gave no hint of a smile.
Her face flushed in mortification, only to be replaced by anger. “I was merely disappointed that I had left no bruises,” she smirked, “and that the lovely gashes I gifted upon your neck have healed much too quickly.”
Now the warrior did smile, and she nearly recoiled from the gorgeous sight of it. Goddess help me. Reaching into the long interior pockets of her leather coat, her hands came up empty. “Where are my weapons?”
“You mean the silver knife you nicked me with?”
Nicked? Grrr. Tera made a mental note to buy a much bigger knife, even if it didn’t fit conveniently in her clothing.
He stepped closer to her. “I hope you are not referring to the pointy wooden stick or can of pressurized contents. They hardly seem like weapons.”
“That can of pressurized contents is quite effective against brutes like you. If you don’t deem it a weapon, then why don’t you let me have it back?” She held out the palm of her hand.
The bluish gray-eyed warrior paused for a moment. “I suspect that you will use it on me, but I admit that I am curious.” Tera watched the warrior reach into his back pocket and toss her the tiny can. With every centimeter his massive form moved, she couldn’t help but watch the muscles in his body flex.
“Well, you just took the fun out of pepper-spraying you by so eagerly volunteering.” Instead of dousing the guy right in the eyes as she had planned, she sighed and put the mace in the pocket of her leather jacket. When the warrior frowned slightly, as if disappointed he would not learn about the impact of the can, her curiosity piqued. “Who are you anyway?�
�
“I am Sabin Grey of the Knights of the Fog. We are warriors who keep the peace in the Portal Realm. My men keep the beasts at bay, from going places they shouldn’t. Except in this case, one escaped.”
Tera thought she heard a growl come from the Knight.
“So, you’re like a prison guard? An immortal prison guard perhaps, judging from your well-healed injuries?”
“Yes. I have achieved immortality.”
“Achieved immortality?”
The man called Sabin folded his arms. “Yes. And since I am immortal, it’s obviously a very long story. May I have your name first, Dryad?”
“Hmmm. You’re the first ever to call me a Dryad so that’s kinda fun.” She delighted in trying Sabin’s patience although she barely knew him. Flirting was new to her, but it was already proving to be the most effective tool in her arsenal against the formidable immortal.
• • •
Sabin turned, but she leapt toward him and put a hand on his shoulder. The soft touch of her palm on his bare skin was electric, and he stopped dead in his tracks.
Then, her full, crimson lips spoke and he heard the name that would plague his mind for the rest of his days. “Tera, Agrotera.”
“The hunter.” The Dryad’s big green eyes seemed determined to keep his presence. “Agrotera suits you, Dryad.” Raking his eyes over her long body, he realized that perhaps searching out the Nunanish would not be such a miserable experience after all. “You complained about the quick healing of my injuries. Let me tell you, I have never been more regretful, Dryad, that I do not have wounds for you to gaze upon like a trophy.” He stepped closer to Tera, breathing in her feminine scent; she smelled smoky like myrrh, and sweet like wisteria.
Sabin watched her strong, yet soft features, betray the conflicting emotions she was obviously feeling. He knew that she was attracted to him, and he could not fault her taste. But he also saw a proud reluctance to acknowledge his obvious admiration of her.
“Maybe I could give you new ones.” The Dryad’s eyes glittered bright green and he looked down to see her claws out once more.
“If you mean to further excite me, you are succeeding.” His eyes didn’t waver from Tera’s challenging glare. He leaned down just enough to whisper into her ear. “I like claws.”
In a swift movement, the woman lashed out with her claws to give him a new outlook on her primal fingernails. Catching both her arms, he spun her so that the back of her body was pressed against him.
“While I would delight in having your hands on me, I get the idea that you test my manhood. Let me assure you that although I am a Knight, you are stirring a beast.” Feeling the curve of her backside molded perfectly against his body, Sabin nibbled her ear as she struggled to get out of his grip. “You should know that fighting only excites me. As a gentleman, I know that the only way to conquer a woman in battle is to make her weak in the knees with pleasure.”
She moaned, a low carnal sound resonating deep in her throat. The sound made him hungry, and distracted. In a rush, his sensual stream of thought was interrupted by her gorgeous head slamming into his chin. With the successful distraction, Tera used her freed hand to punch him across the face. Instead of continuing the fight, she merely stood tall, her fists balled at her sides proudly. “And as a lady, I know the quickest way to conquer a man in battle is to play to his stupidity. Since men don’t think with their minds, they think with their — ”
He tackled her to the leafy ground, covering every inch of her body with his own. Her eyes went wide as Sabin pressed a strong hand against her mouth to muffle her cries while she struggled against his body. But he wasn’t looking at her. Instead he scanned the perimeter, until the scent of smoke hit them both. He could just barely see the tree that had a deep flaming indentation from a weapon of some kind.
“Stay down, Dryad.” Sabin released the woman and pulled out his astral gun as he ran toward the invisible attacker.
Chapter Six
Tera watched the large, half-naked warrior tear through the forest like a madman. She couldn’t see an attacker, but obviously the warrior named Sabin did. His long, leather-clad legs wove through the brush as he wielded the strange gun.
Normally, she wouldn’t back down from the fight, but as she lay on the ground, she was unsure where and what the fight actually was. But the rebel in her had absolutely no desire to do as Sabin advised, and so she sprang up, leaves falling from where they had clung to her body. She ran after Sabin in a blur through the trees.
As if he sensed her, Sabin stopped dead in his tracks and turned in her direction. His eyes were ablaze like blue fire, but instead of screaming at her, he turned his focus quickly back in the direction he ran, aimed his gun and fired. The streaming bullet left a trail of glittering white-hot, fiery dust until finally it completely dissipated. Tera watched in shock as a demon appeared with a giant bullet hole in its chest. The monster had seemingly manifested out of thin air.
The beast was almost as tall as Sabin, but its long, naked body was twice as wide. Bulging muscles stretched across the crimson-skinned demon. The creature’s head was massive with enormous black slits for nostrils and white, glowing eyes. The monster roared in pain, baring needle-like teeth, its bulbous head giving birth to curved horns that elongated and came to a point.
Sabin rushed the demon now that black, oozing goo poured out of the wound. The bleeding beast tried to raise a defense against him, but the Knight of the Fog was a rush of speed and strength. She watched as Sabin’s strong hands gripped the creature’s wide head by the horns and twisted hard. The grotesque head tore right from its shoulders. Sabin dropped the severed skull and the demon’s broken, bloody body collapsed next to it before completely dissipating. The only hint that the monster ever existed was a blackened stain covering the leaves on the ground.
Too busy standing like an idiot, watching what had unfolded, Tera hadn’t even realized that Sabin had taken off again. She quickly followed in the direction where he’d gone. When she jumped over a sheer drop, she saw him once again with a gun in hand. She still saw no one that he might be shooting at.
He fired three more shots, sending the strange fiery bullets through the air in three directions. Once again, a trail of crystalline white fire showed where the bullets had gone. In the blink of an eye, three more of the same beastly demons were sinking to their knees, shot cleanly through their chests. Black blood oozed like molasses from the gaping holes in the red muscular bodies of the grotesque creatures. The wounds obviously were not fatal, but Sabin was. The warrior rushed them, once again snapping necks and ripping off heads like a feral beast.
When he dropped the last head on the ground to create yet another damp, blackened spot on the forest floor, he sheathed his gun. Sabin’s chest heaved from either exhaustion or excitement. The look in his eyes as he turned to face her implied the latter and her knees threatened to give out.
“I told you to stay down, Dryad.” The warrior stalked toward her, twigs and leaves crunching under his combat boots. She tried not to stare as he came closer and closer, appearing bigger and bigger. Staring at his muscular stomach was somehow much less erotic than meeting his feverish gaze.
“What the hell was that?” She finally gathered her courage. From now on, she’d take charge of the situation. After all, she was the Bay Area Badass, not him. “I have prowled Alameda and many parts of the Bay Area for years to keep my community safe. I have never seen anything like that.” Before he could interrupt, she continued. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t even see the demons, so how did you? How did you shoot them when they weren’t even there?”
Sabin took a step closer to her, almost as if he did it just to unnerve her. “You obviously don’t take my Knighthood very seriously. Various demons and other dark creatures travel between worlds through the Realm of the Fog. Would you prefer a band of complete nit-wits guardi
ng the Portal Realm?”
Slitting her eyes, she wondered if he was being an asshole or trying to be a comedian. She swore she could see a mischievous gleam in his icy-blue gaze. “Well, it seems like only a nit-wit would rip apart four massive demons in about sixty seconds only to let a gangly Nunanish get past him into a forbidden realm.”
“This is a fact that leaves me contemplating the impossible. As you stated, it did happen, but why? With each moment that passes, I am more convinced that something more significant is at work.”
“Excuses, excuses.” Tera put a hand on her hip. “Now, tell me about the demons.”
“As a Knight of the Fog, our eyes are trained to see many things. I recognized their presence. As far as getting a good shot, I aimed for where I saw their auras. Most creatures have them, even the undead. My weapon renders their bodies incapable of hiding because it lights their forms from the inside,” he described. “Your world is far behind when it comes to weapons technology. The human place is more self-destructive than useful.”
“Well, despite your aggravating cockiness, I have to agree.” She looked up at Sabin, meeting his confident regard. “Where can I get a gun like that?”
The corner of his mouth turned up a little, obviously appreciating her taste in artillery and desire to wield his weapon. “You don’t understand anything yet, Dryad, but I would be happy to show you the extent of my weaponry if you choose to aid me in navigating your plane.” He grinned mischievously. “Created by the Goddess of the Hunt herself, I believe that I am lucky to have been found by you. Some would say it is more than luck, but fate perhaps.”
“Ummm, let’s go with luck for now. Yep, you’re lucky to have me indeed.”
Before she could finish her playful remarks, she was swept up off the ground by Sabin’s strong, calloused hands. His large palms gripped the leather on her thighs as he pressed her back into the nearest tree and consumed her lips with his own. Parting her full lips with his tongue, he dived.