Ruby Shadows Read online

  “I’ll just have to go hungry,” I muttered to myself, going back to the fireplace to warm up some more. “I don’t know how I’ll get out of here but somehow I’ll find a way. I—”

  Suddenly the door crashed open, letting in a freezing blast of winter wind that rushed through the room and put out half the fire.

  “What have we here?” roared a deep, grating voice that sounded more animal than man. “A pretty little girlie come to visit? Good thing old Gorlock is feeling in a welcoming mood.”

  “I…you…” I was already trying to move away from the huge shape looming in the doorway—a demon with two curving horns growing from either side of its head. It had a human face and upper body at least, but from the waist down it appeared to be either a goat or a bull or some other hoofed creature. I saw with disgust that its massive shaft was already half hard. As it stared at my naked body, that changed to fully hard in an instant. Ugh! Didn’t anybody wear pants down here?

  “And all naked and ready for fun, too,” the demon boomed, taking a step towards me. “Now how did you get out of your pool, girlie? That’s not supposed to happen. Never mind, we’ll have some fun before we put you back.”

  So he thought I was one of the drowning souls which had escaped from my pool. Not that it mattered what he thought I was, considering what he obviously had in mind.

  “No!” I gasped, taking a step backward and trying to cover myself with both hands while at the same time looking for a weapon. “Look, I swear I didn’t mean to break into your house! I was freezing—I had no choice!”

  “If you’re freezing, little girlie, then old Gorlock will warm you up.” The demon took another menacing step towards me, his hooves clunking on the uneven stone floor. He had red skin, like the demons guarding the entrance gates of Hell, and his eyes glowed an evil yellow.

  “Don’t touch me!” I said, reaching down and grabbing a chunk of firewood. “I swear to the Goddess I’ll kill you if you do! I’m not just a drowned soul—I’m a witch!”

  The demon’s yellow eyes widened and for a moment I thought I’d made an impact. Then they narrowed again and his wide, flat nostrils flared as he inhaled my scent.

  “So you is, girlie—a human with a fresh, untainted soul. And right here in old Gorlock’s hut. Imagine that…” He came toward me again, looming over me menacingly. “Ahhh, it’s been years—years—since old Gorlock tasted a pure soul! They don’t lets me up to the Mortal Realm much, ya see. But now, here’s the Mortal Realm come down to me!”

  “I didn’t come to you on purpose,” I said, lifting my chin. “I came with Laish—one of the Great Demons—a Prince of Night and Shadow. He’ll be very upset if he finds you’ve, uh, hurt me in any way.”

  His eyes widened again and then he laughed—a hoarse, awful croaking sound that sent a cold shiver of dread down my spine.

  “A Great Demon, huh—you mean one as can changed his shape, girlie?”

  “Well, yes…” I said, still backing away from him with the piece of firewood clutched in my hands.

  “Like maybe he can take a wyrm form—as is what some calls a dragon?”

  My heart was sinking but I tried not to let it show.

  “Yes, that’s one of his forms,” I said, trying not to let my voice tremble.

  “So that must be him, then—or his carcass—bein’ picked over by the Skitterlings away up on yonder ridge.” He jerked his horned head at the direction of the doorway. “Saw ‘im, I did—laying there still as you please while they stripped the flesh from his bones. I reckon if he ain’t dead, he’s doin’ a mighty fine impression of it.”

  “You…you’re lying,” I said and this time my voice shook—I couldn’t help it.

  “Now why would I lie ‘bout something like that?” the demon asked, smirking. “Tis a pity and a sin when one of the great ones goes to meet the Maker, so it tis. But it leaves more for us little fellers…not that old Gorlock could be exactly called little.” He fisted his massive, brick-red shaft and started stroking it suggestively, leering at me as he did.

  No, he certainly wasn’t little. He wasn’t as cartoonishly huge as Druaga had been but he wasn’t far behind. I watched with horror as the precum that ran from the broad red tip dripped to the stone floor and hissed and bubbled like acid. That was going to hurt if he tried to get it in me.

  “Then don’t let him,” a little voice whispered in my ear. “Fight, Gwendolyn—fight!”

  A new surge of courage flowed through me, stiffening my spine and straightening my shoulders. I was determined not to go down without a fight!

  I brandished my chunk of firewood at the demon and lifted my chin.

  “Get that nasty-ass thing away from me before I knock it off,” I snapped.

  “Oh-ho—the little human wants to play rough!” The yellow eyes glowed with cruel delight. “We can do that, so we can. Old Gorlock likes it rough…although if you’d just hold still and let me have a taste of that sweet soul it might not hurt quite so much.”

  “What are you talking about?” I snapped. “You can’t get at my soul—you don’t even have a soul hook.”

  “A soul-hook, is it?” He bellowed that hoarse, croaking laughter again. “Why, who needs a soul hook when I’ve got this?” He stroked his shaft some more. “This is all the hook I need to taste your soul, girlie. After all, why reach down your throat to get it when it’s so much more fun to go up through your cunt?”

  “You…you can’t!” Could he? For a moment my courage wavered. I remembered what Laish had said about the taking and tasting of a soul being a sexual thing—was this what he had meant? Surely not! And yet the demon was still advancing, backing me into a corner with only the clunky piece of firewood for a weapon.

  “I can and I will!” he declared, leering at me as he loomed over me. “Why should I hook out that sweet little soul when I can fuck it out instead? Cause that’s what I’m going to do to you, girlie. Going to—”

  “All you’re going to do is die,” a deep, cold voice behind him said.

  Suddenly, as I looked up at him, it appeared that the demon had grown a third horn—this one right in the center of his forehead. The demon—Gorlock—seemed just as surprised as I was. He raised red, clawed hands to scrabble at the new horn that had somehow sprouted from his head. Then his yellow eyes rolled up and he collapsed heavily, falling first to his knees and then to his side.

  Laish stood just behind him, naked and holding a huge, curving black blade which was plunged into the back of the demon’s thick skull. He yanked it out and threw it aside, just in time to catch me as I fell into his arms.

  * * * * *

  Laish

  “Laish, Laish—I thought you were dead! He said—that awful demon—he said he saw the Skitterlings pick…picking your b-bones…”

  Gwendolyn’s voice cracked and turned into a sob. I held her to me, stroking her smooth brown skin as she trembled in my arms. I didn’t try to explain—only held her tight. So many males don’t understand that this is what a woman needs sometimes—just to be held.

  I stroked her back and murmured soothing words into her ear as she pressed herself against me. I don’t think she even noticed we were both naked. Though I had waited months to hold her to me this way with nothing between us, I was, for once, too weary to be terribly excited myself. The battle with the Skitterlings had taken all of my reserves and most of my power. I would need time to recuperate before we could begin our journey again. But now that the occupant of the small wooden hut was dead, at least we had a safe place to rest.

  I eyed the prone form of the lesser demon with disgust. Kurex had brought me back just in time. In another moment, Gwendolyn would have lost her innocence, her powers as a witch, and her soul all at once. I only wished I could bring the bastard back to life and kill him again for scaring her so badly and threatening to do such unspeakable things to her.

  Yes, this was Hell and such things were to be expected but still, I could not bear the thought of them happening to Gwen