Ruby Shadows (4 page)

Almost as
laughable as the idea that a little witch with creamy brown skin
and vivid green eyes could have caught my interest and held it.
Held it so strongly that though she refused all my advances and
sent me away, I still wasn’t able to go.

I
should leave. I have business to attend to beyond the Great
Barrier.
But still
I stayed.

I
sighed and
thought back to the first time I’d laid eyes on
Gwendolyn.

It
had been a slow day in Hell. The legions
under my command were at rest and Lucifer,
the ruler of the Infernal Realm, was away. In short, there was
nothing to do. So when an imp had come scampering up to inform me
that a call was coming over from the other side beseeching demonic
help, I was just bored enough to answer it myself rather than
delegating it to an underling.

I
don’t know
what I was expecting to see. It had been years—no, centuries—since
I’d bothered to come over to the Mortal Realm. The humans were
uncouth savages, hardly worth bothering with, though Lucifer and
his ilk were constantly after their souls.

I prefer my
own residence in the relatively quiet corner of Hell the ancient
Greeks had termed Hades. There I was able to command my legions and
tend to business with a minimum of interruption and
bother.

The last time
I had been to Earth it had been to attend to the tiresome
business of the Salem Witch Trials which were badly managed by a
lesser demon. Mainly I remembered frantic, hysterical humans
dressed in dull homespun clothes shouting and accusing each other.
Just thinking about it made me tired.

Everything
about the Mortal Realm made me tired—until I saw
Gwendolyn.

The sight of
the little witch earnestly working her spell had captured me at
once. Her creamy café au lait skin and big green eyes were,
well…bewitching.

But it wasn’t just her beauty that drew
me. After consenting to help her with
her spell, I found that she wasn’t just a pretty face. A sharp
intelligence and a rare wit radiated from her as well. And she had
power—not much by demonic standards but for a human, she was quite
impressive.

Gwendolyn
wasn’t afraid of me either. After years of seeing others bow
and scrape and tremble in my presence, I was tired of abject
submission. Gwendolyn was fearless—I liked that about her. I’d been
careful to conceal my true status from her, not wanting her to fear
me. But I had an idea that even if she had known what I truly was,
she still would have stood her ground.

Her beauty, courage, and i
ntelligence were all enchanting. But the thing that
sealed my interest in her was the innocence I sensed, just under
her surface. Oh, she put on a brave face, my little witch. She
painted her eyes with heavy black kohl and dressed to impress those
ignorant humans who believed they knew what a witch ought to look
like. But under it all she was pure—as pure and innocent and lovely
as a single red rose growing in a field of mud.

I
wanted to
pluck that rose, not simply as a conquest but in order to protect
it. Possess it. I wanted Gwendolyn and her innocence for myself,
though at times, like now, I was angry with myself for wanting her.
But there was something in her that stirred me, something that
brought out old habits and behaviors I’d thought were gone forever.
Something that reminded me of my past…a past I had worked hard to
forget.

Added all tog
ether, Gwendolyn’s qualities made her the most interesting
mortal I had ever met. In fact, I found her entirely
too
interesting, which was why I was
currently loitering around the human world instead of attending to
business in Hell, where I ought to be.

I
told myself
I would have left long ago if it wasn’t for the door she’d opened
on the edge of the Abyss. Hell’s blackest pit, more frightening
even than the lake of fire, was located in the very center of the
vast, nebulous area that made up the afterlife of the damned. I was
certain that even Lucifer himself had no idea where that vast,
black void led. But it was nowhere one wanted to be. And certainly
nowhere a human ought to risk going.

Yet, Gwendolyn had risked it. She was brave all
right—
too
brave, I thought with a
frown. In fact, “reckless” might be a better word to describe her.
Tied to her, as I was, I had felt her daring to do what no mere
mortal ought to even contemplate. But I had been stuck far away,
unable to get to her even when I felt her fear and pain and danger.
And now…

Now I fear she must pay the price.
I stopped pacing and looked out the window
again at the dark beach. What kind of creature had Gwendolyn loosed
from the pit? For she had allowed
something
access to the world of men, I was certain.

I
had been to
the lip of the Abyss after my last exchange with the little witch
and had seen the tiny sliver of light gleaming from the doorway
across that vast expanse. It was only a crack but that was all it
took. A determined Hellspawn could worm its way through and find
her at any time and there wasn’t much I could do about it. Only the
one who had opened the door in the first place could close it. And
only closing the door could banish the creature back to the
Infernal Realm.

I
should go,
I told
myself for the thousandth time.
If she hasn’t needed me yet, she will probably be all
right. Perhaps her magic is enough to protect her.

I
didn’t
really believe that, but I couldn’t go on waiting in the Mortal
Realm forever. It was ridiculous, anyway, one of my caliber and
status waiting around like a love-struck human, hoping to hear her
call. She was so certain she could manage on her own—well, fine,
let her manage. There were matters that required my
attention—matters I had put off long enough.

I
came to a
sudden decision—it was time to return to Hell. Time to forget the
little witch and let her fend for herself. As lovely as she was,
she was only a mortal. They burned so brightly for such a very
brief time—the glow of their lives like a candle flame against the
blackest night sky. It wasn’t worth wasting another moment of my
time on such a temporary being, beautiful though she
was.

“
Serbix,” I called, turning away from the window and summoning
an underling.

At
once a tiny imp appeared at
my elbow. He had reddish skin and two sharp little
horns poking out from his forehead. The lesser demons look
surprisingly like what mankind has speculated devils
should
look like all these
years. Some say those with weak wills are molded by the mortal
expectations, which may be true. Serbix even had a pointed tail and
a forked tongue. Any human seeing him couldn’t help but recognize
his demonic nature.

“
Yes, my Lord Laish?” he squeaked, bowing
obsequiously.

“
It is time I returned to Hell.” I straightened my cuffs and
prepared myself to dematerialize.

“
Yes, my Lord.” The imp bobbed another bow. “And this
house?”

“
I
should have no more need of it.” I told myself I didn’t intend to
return. Not for another couple of centuries, at least. Maybe by
then the humans would have done something interesting with
themselves. Or maybe not. They were, after all, humans.

“
I
will dispose of this Earthly dwelling,” the imp promised, bowing
again.

“
All but the clothing.” I brushed an invisible speck of lint
from my immaculate black jacket. “I rather like it.” There, at
least, the humans had improved. Though it wouldn’t take much to be
an improvement over the dull, poorly sewn garments the Puritans had
worn at those dreary trials…

“
I’ll have the clothing sent to your residence in Hell,” the
imp said. “Is there anything else, my Lord?”

“
No…well, yes.” I cursed myself for a fool but I couldn’t help
continuing. “There’s a human girl I’ve been keeping an eye on. Her
name is Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn LaRoux.”

“
Yes, Master
Laish?” the imp asked expectantly.

“
There may be something stalking her. A Hellspawn.”

“
A
Hellspawn? From the pit?”
Serbix turned pale, his red skin going a dirty
grayish-pink. “But, Master—”

“
I
want her looked after,
” I snapped. “Kept safe. Protected.”

“
Protected? A human?” The imp looked at me uncertainly. “Don’t
you mean tormented, Master? But I thought you didn’t care for that
sort of thing. The other Great Demons—”

“
You heard me. I said
protected.”
I kept my voice low…my tone soft and deadly. “You’re
to look after her, Serbix, and if I hear that anything has happened
to her—anything at all—you’ll taste the terrors of the Abyss for
all eternity. Do you hear?”

“
Yes, Master!” Serbix shivered. Not even those that called Hell
home wanted to explore those dark reaches, to plumb those
bottomless depths and risk the evil of the Ancient Ones that live
there.

“
Good.” I nodded shortly and took a deep breath, filling my
lungs one last time with the sea air. It was a pity, really, that I
didn’t intend to return. This was by far the most pleasant location
I’d been to in the Mortal Realm. But there was no reason to stay
now.

I
concentrated, picturing the far reaches of Hell, picturing my
home. It was time to go. Time to forget all this foolishness
and—

And then I
heard her screaming…screaming my name.

Chapter
Four

Gwendolyn

I
was
falling—plummeting down into the darkness. I was certain that
any minute I would feel the hot breath of the thing that hunted me,
feel those long, yellow teeth closing over my bare legs.

And
I would
have, too, if a pair of strong, muscular arms hadn’t caught me in
midair.

I
gasped and
clung to my rescuer. At first I was too terrified to know who or
what held me. Then the familiar scent of cinnamon surrounded me and
I knew it was him—knew it was Laish. I don’t know why people always
say that demons smell of fire and brimstone—Laish smells like a
warm coffee cake that just came out of the oven. And under that,
some other, wilder spice I don’t have a name for.

We
seem
ed to be
hovering in midair and I wondered how he was doing it. Demons are
able to dematerialize at will but I never heard of any that could
fly. I heard a faint rustling sound in the darkness and something
soft brushed against my cheek.

“
Hold on, Gwendolyn,” he murmured in my ear. “It’s all right
now,
mon
ange,
I’ve got
you.”

He
surged upward somehow and the grip of the slimy tongue around my
ankle tightened, pulling me down at the same time. I screamed in
agony—it really
hurt.
I felt
like I was being torn in two.

“
What is it, Gwendolyn? What’s wrong?” Laish stopped pulling
upward and hovered there. In the darkness, his ruby eyes glowed
faintly, filled with anxiety.

“
It…it’s got me,” I gasped, somehow managing to get the words
out of a throat tight with fear and pain. “My leg—it’s wrapped
around my leg.” Around my ankle, the slimy tongue-tentacle
tightened, as though the creature it belonged to had heard my voice
and was prepared to fight for me.

Laish swore
under his breath. “No wonder I cannot make any headway.” He looked
down into the darkness. “What kind is it? Have you seen
it?”

“
Only…only in my dreams,” I confessed. “It doesn’t have a head
but it has teeth…long, yellow teeth. And it’s
hungry
.”

He swore
again, angrily. “You’ve been having dreams about this thing but you
never thought to tell me? This goes beyond reckless,
Gwendolyn.”

“
I
thought they were just dreams,” I protested. “I—”

At that moment the
thing down at the bottom of the pit gave another sharp tug.
Suddenly I found myself slipping out of Laish’s arms. I screamed
piercingly at the pain, wondering if my hip had disconnected from
its socket.

“
Please,” I gasped. “Oh, no,
please!”

Suddenly a sword appeared in Laish’s other
hand
, the one that
wasn’t holding me. It was easy to see in the darkness because the
silver blade was actually
on fire.
I gasped and flinched away from it but he only took a firmer
grip on my waist.

“
Hold tight to me, Gwendolyn. We’ll be out of here
soon.”

I
looked down into the darkness which was now illuminated by the
fiery sword. The thing wrapped around my ankle and calf was thick
and muscular but it wasn’t pink or even red—it was
b
lack. A sickly,
oozing, grayish-black, coated in slime. I felt my stomach do a slow
backflip at the sight. All that disgusting slime was coating my
skin and the forked tip of the tongue was inching upward, over my
knee, getting closer to my inner thigh…