Ruby Shadows Read online

  “But Laish—” Her face said she couldn’t believe it was over just like that and I was going…leaving her alone.

  “I will return,” I said and hoped that it was true. Then, though it tore out my heart to do so, I turned my back on her. Trying to banish the picture of her pleading green eyes filled with tears, I left the tent.

  Kurex whinnied softly when he saw me and I took a moment to lead him closer to the tent and tether him there. I pressed my face to his neck, drawing comfort from his heat and vitality.

  “Watch over her while I am gone,” I told him, my voice sounding rough and strange in my own ears. “Gwendolyn is your mistress now. Keep her safe, Kurex.”

  He nickered and I knew he would do as I asked. Gwendolyn had won his heart from the moment he saw her—just as she had won mine. I wondered again about the strange affinity the creatures of the Underworld had for my little witch but I had no time to solve the mystery now. There were steps that must be taken before it was too late.

  I walked through the spot where the barrier had once stood and entered the region of the Abyss. Ahead of me I could see the bottomless pit filled with nightmare creatures so ancient they made even me seem young. It was quiet, for now at least. Good—if I could accomplish my task without waking the slumbering beasts, so much the better.

  I started up the steep slope that led to the far edge of the vast trench. It was a narrow, rocky road enchanted to allow only one to climb it at a time. I had never intended to let that one be Gwendolyn. It was too easy to imagine her foot slipping on one of the loose rocks, the sound of her scream as she slid into the black pit. Or one of the tentacles of the Ancient Ones that lived below could easily reach up and grab her, dragging her down before I could do a thing to stop it. No, I could not let her take this journey, even though it was why she had come in the first place.

  Ahead of me, at the top of the ridge, I could see the shining sliver of light that represented the slightly open door. I wondered once again where the HellSpawn was. Had it taken the bait I had put out for it when I sent the four lesser demons wearing Gwendolyn’s clothing, spreading her scent to four different corners of Hell? I hoped so but it seemed too easy. My instinct told me the creature was too smart to be delayed in that way for long. So where was it?

  I cast a quick look back in the direction of the tent. The light had gone off inside but Kurex was silent—not agitated at all, which was a good sign. Maybe my little witch had gone to sleep as I had suggested. I certainly hoped she was asleep, anyway—I couldn’t bear to think of her lying in the dark crying over my betrayal and hating me.

  I promised myself that as soon as I finished this task I would take her back to the Mortal Realm and give her the complete truth. She might hate me forever but at least she would have the option to be rid of me—an option I could not give her as long as the door into the Abyss remained open.

  Speaking of the door, it was almost within my reach. I just hoped that the betrayal I had committed enabled me to close it. It was a great price to pay, having Gwendolyn hate me and believe that I did not care for her. But it would be worth it if my plan succeeded.

  Reaching the door at last, I gripped it firmly by the cold metal knob and tried to push it closed. But it was stuck, somehow, wedged open by something I couldn’t see. I put my shoulder against it and pushed, using all the strength I could muster.

  I knew, of course, that I could use my true form if necessary—I was much larger and stronger as my real self. But I didn’t like to change if I could help it. For one thing, the surge of power that came with such a transformation would almost certainly wake the sleeping beasts within the pit. And for another, once in my true form, it was incredibly difficult to transform back and take my human form again.

  I didn’t want Gwendolyn to see me as I really was—didn’t want her to see my true form. I knew that she hated me—I could not blame her for that. But I didn’t want her to fear me as well. That was more than I could bear.

  So instead of transforming, I reached deep within me to the stolen piece of soul I had taken and tried again, pushing with all my might to close the door.

  And then I saw it…an oily black tentacle leaking in through the cracked door. Suddenly I understood. The HellSpawn hadn’t been tracking us through Hell at all—it had been here, all along. Waiting patiently on the other side of the door—waiting to attack.

  With a shout that drew an answering neigh from Kurex down below, I pressed my shoulder even harder to the door. I heaved with all my might but it was too late, the black bulk of the HellSpawn squeezed through and launched itself at my chest.

  I struggled with it, its knife-like teeth snapping inches from my face. Had I been more prepared it would have been no problem for me but as it was, I was scrambling on the edge of the precipice, trying to hold the thing at arms length while it continued its mindless attack. I shouted a word of power but it had no effect on the creature—it was strong, much stronger than it had been the first time I had encountered it.

  I wondered how it had gained so much strength lying in wait on the other side of the door, in the Mortal Realm. Then I remembered that the spot where Gwendolyn had first opened the door was a place of power—a hill where dark rites and rituals had been performed since time out of mind. In fact, it was to save her friend Taylor, in the middle of just such a ritual, that she opened the door in the first place. Doubtless the HellSpawn had been feeding on the excess power it found—power that had been accumulating for centuries—as it waited like a noiseless, patient spider for someone to come and try to close the door.

  That someone it had been waiting for was Gwendolyn, since only a person with her soul signature could close the door that she had opened. But if it was alarmed to find me here in her stead, it didn’t show it. It snapped and clawed, relentlessly determined to reach me and latch onto my face. I knew it could sense the stolen piece of soul inside me and wanted to suck it out—but I could not allow that.

  I heard Kurex neighing again from across the great divide. The sound momentarily distracted me. The HellSpawn surged forward in my arms and my feet slid against the rocky scree. Suddenly I felt myself slipping, falling into the yawning black pit of the Abyss—a place from which there is no escape.

  The situation was desperate—without my true form I was doomed. I shouted a word of power that illuminated the entire vast cavern for a brief instant, like a flash of lightning. And then my suit ripped away, as did my human form. I felt myself growing and changing—becoming what I once was, what I was always meant to be.

  My true form emerged at last.

  * * * * *

  Gwendolyn

  I don’t know how long I lay there in the dark crying. I couldn’t understand what had happened—how things had gone bad so quickly.

  I’ll tell you what happened, whispered a spiteful little voice in my head. You were stupid enough to trust a demon—to even let yourself care for one—and now you’re paying the price. You’ve lost your virginity and with it, half your power. Hope you enjoy the rest of your life as half a witch—half of what you could have been if you’d been a little smarter.

  I tried to push the mean little voice to the back of my head. I could still feel Laish’s hot seed leaking out of me and I closed my thighs tightly, wanting to erase the feeling, to deny his betrayal.

  Then a new thought occurred to me—what if Laish had left me for good? Would I be able to close the door I’d left open on the edge of the Abyss myself? And once I did, would I ever get out of Hell and back home? What if I was lost down here, wandering in the darkness forever? Or what if the HellSpawn—

  Kurex’s distressed neighing pulled me out of my morbid thoughts. I sat bolt upright in bed. What was going on?

  Pulling on the green silk robe, I belted it hurriedly around my waist and jumped out of bed. I was about to leave the tent when, as an afterthought, I grabbed the thrak. I didn’t like the feel of it in my hand—it almost seemed to be thrumming as though it sensed something outside