Wild Ride

by Jennifer Cruisie

  HE HAS LISTENED TOO LONG TO HUMAN SOULS," Kharos Said.

  “I GET OUT A LOT MORE THAN YOU DO,” Fufluns translated for him.

  “YOU'RE THE ETRUSCAN HULK, EXCEPT NOT SO LIGHT ON YOUR FEET.”

  Selvans swung at him, and Fufluns leaned back to let the massive fist pass in front of him.

  YOU SEE MY POINT," he said.

  “ENOUGH!” Kharos said, angrily aware that he'd said that once before.

  “I DON'T KNOW,” Vanth said.

  Kharos looked at her, exasperated.

  “DON'T BE CRANKY, DARLING,” she said. “IT SOUNDS LIKE A REALLY GOOD IDEA, BUT I HAVE TO WONDER, WHY HAVEN'T WE DONE THIS BEFORE?”

  “BECAUSE IT'S TIME TO DO IT NOW,” Kharos said, not in the mood to discuss the finer points of the ebb and flow of cosmic power. He turned to the others. "WE OPEN THE HELL-GATE BY CIRCLING THE GATEWAY IN THE DEPTHS OF THE KEEP. AS WE CALL ON THE GATE TO OPEN, WE WILL -

  “IS THIS GOING TO TAKE LONG?” Tura said from the window. "THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THE PARK. I WANT TO PLAY.

  “I SAY WE TAKE A BREAK.” Fufluns went to join her, putting an arm around her and pointing out the window. “SEE THAT GUY DOWN THERE IN THE AEROSMITH T-SHIRT AND THE MULLET? MARRIED. AND THAT IS NOT HIS WIFE.”

  “00000H,” Tura said, leaning forward. “MINE.”

  THIS ISN'T GOING TO WORK, Kharos thought, looking at them all. Trying to bind them together had been foolish. He didn't need them agreeing, he was the Devil, they would follow him or they could go to hell with the cattle souls. Because he was going to feed whether they cooperated or not.

  WE GO NOW," he said, and opened the door to the stairway.

  “OH, ALL RIGHT,” Tura said, and swam past him and down the stairs, followed by Selvans, obedient as always, lurching after her.

  Vanth patted his arm on the way out. “I LOVE IT WHEN YOU'RE COMMANDING, DARLING.”

  Fufluns didn't pat his arm. “YOU KNOW THE GUARDIA ARE GOING TO BE ALL OVER THIS.”

  “FUCK THE GUARDIA,” Kharos said. “THEY CAN SCREAM IN HELL WITH THE SOULS. THIS IS MY PARK NOW.”

  “FUCK THE GUARDIA'?” Fufluns said, laughing at him. “WHO'S BEEN CORRUPTED BY POSSESSION NOW? YOU'RE MORE HUMAN THAN YOU THINK, BIG GUY. EVER THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT THAT'S GOING TO DO FOR YOU?”

  “YES,” Kharos said. “HUMANS ARE SELFISH, CRUEL, AND RUTHLESS, PREYING ON THEIR OWN KIND. THAT MAKES ME A BIGGER BASTARD THAN ANY OTHER DEMON IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.”

  Fufluns lost his smile.

  “NOW GET YOUR ASS DOWN TO THAT BASEMENT AND HELP ME OPEN THE HELL-GATE,” Kharos said, “OR YOU'RE GOING TO BE THE FORMER GOD OF HAPPINESS IN HELL.”

  Fufluns hesitated and then went down the stairs. “DAMN RIGHT," Kharos said, and followed him.

  Mab and Oliver left Frankie gorging on pistachios in Delpha's trailer and went down to Old Fred's, where Oliver loaded his demon gun while Mab put extra rounds in his bag. He'd taken his glasses off, and Mab tried to distract herself from her libido by reminding herself that she was going to be facing the apocalypse shortly.

  It did the job nicely.

  “This feels very OK Corral,” she said to him. “Not that we have an OK Corral anymore.” She zipped the bag closed and then gripped it as she heard the sounds of “Alcohol” drift up from the Pavilion. Ten thirty. They were running out of time. Whatever Kharos was going to do -

  Oliver shot the bolt home on the gun and took the bag from her. “Don't worry.”

  “Don't worry?” Mab heard her voice rise and took a deep breath. “We could all die tonight.”

  “No.” Oliver put the bag and gun by the door and turned back to her, folding his arms and leaning against the table. “We'll win.”

  “Why? Because we're the good guys? This is reality and we're up against the Devil.”

  “Because the universe bends toward justice.”

  His gray eyes were steady on her, and his voice was relaxed, and his biceps pushed against his shirtsleeves because his arms were folded and Mab thought, I'm scared out of my mind, and I want him. “That makes no sense,” she said, but there he was, tall and broad-shouldered and calm and powerful and smart, so smart, and competent, and -

  “Are you okay?” Oliver said.

  - he'd been a great dragon. Okay, that had been an illusion, but shewas a Seer, so what she'd seen had been true -“The universe bends toward what?” she said, trying to keep her libido in check. It was just because she was going to die tonight. Adrenaline. Or something.

  “The arc of the universe is a long one but it bends toward justice,” Oliver said. “A nineteenth-century minister named Parker said it. I like it.”

  He smiled at her, not a charming, crooked grin, not trying to trick her or jolly her along, just his usual flash of a smile while he looked into her eyes, and she lost her breath.

  “It means the universe is on our side,” Oliver said, his voice kind but sure. “If we fight for what we believe in, the universe will put its thumb on our side of the scale.”

  She loved his voice, she realized. No lilt in it, no laughter, just a steady low voice that told the truth. And then went into her bones and hummed there.

  “We'll be okay,” he said, when she didn't say anything.

  "We could all die tonight,” she said to herself, and thought, And I'll never know what it's like to make love with a dragon.

  “Mab?”

  He bent down to look into her eyes, and she took one step forward and kissed him, her eyes closed and her hand on his chest as her mouth moved against his, and he pulled her to him and kissed her back, competent and powerful and -

  He bit her lip and she gasped and his tongue invaded her mouth as he pressed her against the wall, his body lifting hers up as she clung to him, shocked and breathless. He broke the kiss, his eyes hot on her, his breath coming heavy, and then he said, “You're right, we could die tonight, we should live for the moment,” and kissed her again, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, arching into him, trying to get closer, too many clothes -

  He bounced her up to his waist and she wrapped her legs around him, and he carried her down the short hall into the tiny bedroom and put her down on the bed, easing on top of her, all without breaking the kiss. This, she thought, this is right, and then she remembered that Delpha had said Joe was her one true love and stopped and looked up into Oliver's gray eyes, not so steady now, pupils dilated and hot on her. “I don't care,” she said, “it's you, I want you,” and he nodded and kissed her, slipping his tongue into her mouth as he shoved up her Dreamland T-shirt, catching the edge of her bra so that he stripped her naked from the waist up in one smooth move while she gasped again. Then his mouth was on her breast and she arched against him as she felt the pull deep inside her, and yanked at his shirt, wanting to feel his skin against hers, and he stripped that oft too, as she raked her nails down through the fur on his chest and felt him shudder under her hands. “Naked,” she said, but he was already shoving off his jeans, and she kicked off hers and then he reached for her.

  He caught her roughly, bore her down, his hands hard on her as his mouth moved over her, nipping at her skin with his teeth, little flickers of pain that made her shiver and drove her higher as he bit his way down her body, parting her legs, his hands hot on her. Then he licked into her and she writhed as he held her down and the heat spread, prickles under her skin, building and twisting inside her, and then she cried out as she came. He moved back up her body and she kissed him hard, wrapping herself around him, biting him on the shoulder, her hands everywhere as he shuddered against her, exploring him as he'd explored her, loving the way she made him moan, the way he came back for her and made her moan, too. And when she said, “I can't wait any longer,” he reached for his jeans and got a condom because of course Oliver would have a condom, and she kissed him because he was Oliver and because she knew he'd always be there for her.

  Then he rolled her on her back and she felt him hard against her and then thick inside her and the shudder began ag
ain. He looked in her eyes, and he must have seen the blue glow there, but he never flinched, and she gave herself up to him, rocking with him, letting the shudder build as she wound tighter and tighter under him. She bit him on the shoulder, and he laced his fingers in her hair to pull her back so he could kiss her again and again, moving hard inside her until the heat was too much, and she cried out and let the spasms take her, over and over and over again while she clung to him. Then she was quiet, gasping, and he came, holding on to her, his fingers digging into her until he collapsed, and she wrapped her arms around him as he rolled onto his back, taking her with him, his face buried in her neck. They breathed together for a few minutes and then Oliver let his head fall back and she saw the exhaustion on his face, completely spent from loving her.

  He smiled at her, and this time the smile stayed, and he said, “We're not going to die tonight.”

  “Really?” Mab said, still trying to breathe. “How do you know?”

  “Because the universe wants us to do this again,” Oliver said, and kissed her, pulling her back against him, demanding and strong and hot and sure. Dragon lover, she thought, and kissed him back.

  Ethan and Weaver met Mab and Oliver on the boat dock at eleven thirty after the park closed.

  “Well, hello,” Weaver said to Oliver, laughing, and he said, “You have no room to talk,” and she laughed again.

  “Am I missing something?” Ethan said.

  “No,” Mab said, her chin out, and Oliver looked down at her and grinned, and Ethan thought, Oh, for Christ's sake.

  The end of the world was coming, and Mab was fooling around. Way to concentrate on battle, he thought.

  Not that there was a battle. There'd been no sign of Ray, Ursula, or the minions, and now that they were on the dock, no sign of movement inside, and the drawbridge remained in place.

  “We just got here,” Mab said. “Young Fred's not answering his cell phone.”

  “That's not good.” Ethan checked his watch and then breathed a sigh of relief as the drawbridge cracked open and slowly lowered into place on the dock.

  Young Fred came racing out as if the Devil himself were behind him, and Ethan and Weaver grabbed him as he tried to run by.

  “What happened?” Ethan demanded.

  “They got out,” Young Fred said, gasping with terror.

  “How?” Ethan asked.

  “I don't know, they just ... got out.”

  “Where's Glenda?”

  “I don't know!”

  Ethan slapped Young Fred on the back of the head and made him stumble. "Not a problem. We'll just all go to the Keep and put them back.”

  “No.” Young Fred shook his head, trying to back away, and bumped into Weaver. “They're real. Big. Evil.”

  “Walk.” Weaver prodded him in the back with her demon gun, and they trekked back across the bridge, Young Fred looking over his shoulder, desperate to escape.

  They entered the defunct restaurant, and Ethan said, Keep him here," to the others, shoving Young Fred at Weaver.

  He took the stairs fast, weapon at the ready. The armoire was wide open, and inside he saw five open, empty chalices on the shelf There was banging on the door at the top of the stairs going to the roof, and Ethan ran up there, slid the bolt back, and threw it open. Glenda and Cindy were framed against the stars.

  “What happened?” Ethan asked.

  “Young Fred called us up here and then left and locked the door,” Glenda said as she came down the stairs behind Ethan. “And now I'm going to kill him because you don't play pranks on Halloween in Dreamland.”

  “He wasn't playing a prank.”

  Glenda froze as she saw the open armoire and empty chalices. “They're out?” She looked at Ethan, her eyes desolate. “A Guardia let them out?”

  “We'll take care of it,” Ethan said.

  Glenda - sank down onto one of the chairs. “You have no idea what he's just done.”

  “Well, I'm about to find out,” Ethan said. “You stay here.” He picked up two of the chalices and handed them to Cindy. “Ready for the Mother of All Demon Battles?”

  “No,” Cindy said, but she took the chalices.

  “Too bad,” Ethan said, taking the last three. “Let's go kick demon ass.”

  Five minutes later, Mab quietly followed Ethan down the stairs into the darkened Keep basement, hugging the wall behind him and carrying the empty chalice he'd given her. Cindy and Weaver followed, carrying the rest of the chalices with Young Fred sandwiched between them, and Oliver brought up the rear, carrying a demon gun. Halfway down the stairs, Mab slowed, seeing by the purple light that glowed in the center of the basement that the Keep junk had been blown away from the center of thefloor, as if something had exploded there, propelling everything into the walls. The weird light in the middle of the room left the edges in shadows darker than anything Mab had ever seen, but in the center, the Untouchables stood, united after 2,500 years: a hulking orange warrior carrying a sword in his hamlike hands; a beautiful blue madonna dressed as a Roman huntress; a smoky-eyed mermaid, full-breasted, full-lipped, and full-hipped, floating in shimmering blue-green; and a goat-footed golden boy with little round horns buried in his curly golden hair; all of them dominated by a furnace-red devil with eyes like coals and obscenely ripped muscles, his head topped by curved horns ending in points. They were all at least eight feet tall, and Kharos was even taller, his arms upraised in triumph, hovering over a shimmering, seething, oily pool of something the vile dead purple color of demon goo, the source of the unhealthy light in the room.

  “AND NOW IT BEGINS!” Kharos said in a deep voice, and the others looked down with varying degrees of enthusiasm at the pool below.

  "YAY, Fun said, his voice flat.

  Kharos ignored him. "BRING THEM.”

  Ursula stepped into the light at the edge of the pool, pasty in the purple glow, her officious little face smirking over a clipboard. “We need records of this if we want to track them.”

  “You have to be kidding me,” Ray said from the shadows, his presence marked by the glowing end of his cigar.

  “I need to know if this has military applications,” Ursula told him. “We could use a place to drop people where they'll never be found. And besides they may have assets they won't be needing.”

  “Oh.” Ray sucked on his cigar. “Good point.”

  “Damn it,” Ethan said under his breath, and Mab looked into the darkness beyond Ursula and saw what they were talking about.

  People. Dreamland people. Ashley, Drunk Dave, Carl Whack-A-Mole, Sam, Laura Ferris Wheel and her brother Jerry, and more, empty-eyed and slack-jawed and shuddering with despair, herded into a line that went out the tunnel door. And beyond them, Mab could see, were still more, a tunnel full of them, all of them ashen and shaking and immobilized with terror, some of them sweating and some of them weeping, straining against something that was pulling them toward that vile dead pool of purple beneath the feet of the Untouchables.

  “What is that stuff?” Ethan whispered as they reached the bottom of the stairs under cover of that awful darkness.

  Mab shook her head as Oliver came up behind her, Weaver next to Ethan, Cindy with a firm grip on Young Fred behind Weaver.

  Ethan put Kharos's chalice on the floor and then put his mouth next to Mab's ear. “First we get the people out. No collateral damage.”

  Mab nodded and went up on her toes to put her mouth next to Oliver's ear. “There are more people in the tunnel. Go in there and get them out of here, out of the park.” He nodded and started to move away, and she grabbed his arm. “Be careful, there might be minions,” she whispered, and he held up his gun and then crept toward the tunnel door, hugging the debris-plastered wall in the dark, Weaver close behind him.

  “I'M AGAINST THIS,” Fun was saying to Kharos, rubbing his hands overhis short horns. “THESE PEOPLE, WE'VE USED THEM ENOUGH. DAVE'S LIKE A BROTHER TO ME.” He looked back at Dave, now catatonic with terror. “& DUMBER, DRUNKER BROTHER, BUT I'M A
GAINST SENDING HIM TO HELL.”

  Hell? Mab thought as Oliver put his hand over Jerry Ferris Wheel's mouth and dragged him into the darkness toward the tunnel door. Weaver followed close behind with Laura, and Cindy followed her, reaching for Sam, none of them struggling, and then Mab kept her eyes on the Untouchables, waiting for them to notice that something was going on in the impenetrable darkness behind them while they argued with each other.

  Ethan put his mouth close to her ear. “We're going to have to go into the light to get Ashley and Dave,” he whispered, and she nodded, pretty sure that was going to be very bad but also sure they had no choice.

  Oliver came back and pulled Carl Whack-A-Mole out of the edge of the light, and Mab held her breath, sure they had to notice as Ethan stepped forward and took his place behind Dave.