Ruby Shadows (14 page)

“
Well, I guess we should go.” Gwendolyn looked at me uneasily,
as though she was
apprehensive that I might accuse her in some way or perhaps
try to touch her again. On that score, she need not have worried. I
was determined to leave her strictly alone until it was necessary
to pay the Sin Tax again.

“
Yes.” I reached for
Kurex’s reins and led the huge steed onto dry land.
He snorted and stamped once, as though pleased to be on solid
footing again. Gwendolyn followed quietly, throwing one last uneasy
glance over her shoulder at Charon. The ferryman waited silently
until we were all ashore and then pushed off, gliding across the
tarry waters again to meet his next customer.

“
Well, that was…creepy.” Gwendolyn shivered.

“
Mmm.” I nodded neutrally.

“
Look,” she began. “About what I said to you—”

“
You need not apologize or explain,” I said. “I understand that
you’re wary of me—you don’t trust me or my intentions.”

“
It’s not that exactly,” she objected. “It’s
just…well…”

“
What?” I turned to face her and saw that her creamy café au
lait cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. “Why,
mon ange,
you’re blushing.” I
reached up to stroke her cheek but she flinched away. “What is it?”
I asked again.

“
I
just don’t understand why I can’t
control
myself better with you,” she burst out. “I mean when
you touched me I just…I couldn’t help myself. And I don’t like
that—I don’t like feeling like I might not be able to…to stop. I
mean, what happens when we have to pay the Sin Tax again, for the
next circle. What happens when—”

“
Gwendolyn…
Gwendolyn.”
I
dropped Kurex’s bridle and took her by the shoulders. “If you’re
afraid that you won’t be able to stop yourself from going too far,
don’t worry.”

“
Of course I worry
!” Her eyes were wide. “I don’t want to lose half my power. I
don’t want to end up like—” She stopped abruptly, biting her lip.
“I don’t want to end up stuck in the middle of Hell without enough
power to help myself,” she finished.

“
You won’t,” I said gently. “I won’t let you. Would it make
you feel better if I told you I wouldn’t let you go so far—not
until the very end and not unless it is absolutely
necessary?”

She looked at me
suspiciously. “You’re saying you’ll stop? That you won’t take my
virginity?”

“
Not unless there is no other way to pass through to the
seventh circle and enter the Abyss,” I said.

Gwendolyn shook her head. “But why would you do that? Why
would you promise that? I thought that was the main thing you
wanted from me—the
only
thing
you wanted. Why else would you agree to come on the quest with me
and help me close the door I opened?”

I raised an eyebrow
at her. “Did it never occur to you that I agreed to help you simply
to get closer to you? Because I crave the pleasure of your
company?”

“
No,” she said flatly. “It didn’t.”

It was yet another
indication of the way she didn’t trust me. Inwardly, I sighed.

“
Well, it should have,” I said lightly. “Just because I am a
demon of lust does not mean that bedding you is my sole
intention.”

“
Wait a minute.” She held up a hand to stop me. “You’re a demon
of
lust?
That’s your
thing?”

“
It is my area of expertise.” I shrugged. “What of
it?”

“
Well, I mean, that explains
everything.”
She sounded relieved. “I mean if lust is what you do,
no
wonder
I lose control when you
touch me. No wonder I can’t help myself.”

“
And it has nothing to do with the fact that you have even the
slightest bit of emotion for me,” I murmured. “Or the fact that we
belong together—that you fit so well in my arms it is as though
your body was made for my touch.”

“
I…” She bit her lip, her eyes uncertain.

“
Come.” I took up Kurex’s reins again and tugged to get the
horse moving. “We have a bit to go yet before we are in sight of
Baator and it is an uphill climb.”

* * * * *

Gwendolyn

I
followed Laish silently as we climbed up the steep hill that led
from the banks of the Styx to the city we were aiming for.
Could it be true what he
had said about me having feelings for him? And what about all this
“we belong together” crap? I mean it was just that—just crap—right?
It was crazy, a witch couldn’t belong with a demon because a demon
has no soul to bond with. Which also made them completely incapable
of long term relationships.

But if
everything he’d said was a lie, why had he promised not to
take my virginity unless he really had to? Why had he promised to
wait until the end of our trip, so I didn’t have to fear being
powerless (or nearly powerless) in Hell?

Something was definitely going on and I didn’t know if I
bought what he was selling—that he was honestly just helping me
because he liked to spend time with me. But if he wasn’t doing this
to take my virginity, then why
was
he doing it?

My thoughts
spun like this, in dizzying loops, until we reached the top of the
steep hill.

“
Behold,” Laish said softly as we looked down onto the other
side. “The great city of Baator. Also known as the Sinking
City.”

“
The Sinking City?” I stared at the vast rat’s
nest of buildings and
roads far below us. Even from a distance it looked squalid and
dirty. Or maybe that was just the effect of the dull green sky
above our heads. Rising high above the skyline was one building
that dominated all the others—a vast black spike that pointed like
an accusing finger into the dirty gray clouds.

“
The city is built in the middle of a marsh on
immense iron pillars,”
Laish explained. “It is constantly sinking into the
quagmire.”

“
But…then, why hasn’t it just sunk all the way down and
disappeared by now?”

“
Do you hear that faint sound? Coming from the city?” Laish
asked.

I cupped a hand to
my ear and concentrated. After a moment, I heard it. A deep moaning
or groaning sound that could almost be mistaken for the wind.

“
You do, don’t you?” he asked and I nodded. “That is the sound
of the damned souls working to keep Baator above the marsh. There
is a complicated system of pulleys and dredges attached to the iron
pillars it is built upon. The souls labor endlessly just to keep
the city where it is.”

I shook my head.
“But…why build a huge city in the middle of a marsh in the first
place? That would be like putting Miami in the middle of the
Everglades.”

Laish shrugged. “
Tiamat the Exacting,
the ArchDemon who rules here, has also been called Tiamat the Mad.
When Lucifer granted him this circle of Hell to rule, he picked out
this spot and declared it the perfect place for his capital city.
He would hear no arguments to the contrary and since he has managed
to make it work, none can gainsay him again.”

“
He makes it work by
forcing the poor people to slave for eternity, you mean,” I said
indignantly. “That’s torture!”

“
Gwendolyn, the laborers
he uses are the souls of the damned,” Laish pointed out. “They
are
here
to be
tortured. Besides, the souls in this circle are those who abused or
neglected children. They deserve whatever torture Tiamat can devise
for them.”

“
Oh.” I shivered. “Well,
in that case…”

“
Yes.” Laish stretched and
sighed. “We will stop here for a bit to eat and relax before we go
on.”

“
Shouldn’t we get a little
closer to the city?” I looked up at the dark, sickly green sky
overhead. “I mean, is it safe to be out here at night?”

“
It is not,” Laish said.
“But don’t worry,
mon ange,
we have plenty of time to get there. Once one
gets to the Iron Spike, the city is reached very
rapidly.”

“
The Iron Spike? Are you
talking about that huge black building?” I pointed at the vast
pinnacle looming over the rest of the city.

“
Not at all.” Laish was
already settling down on the short, scrubby grass. “Although
that
is
our
destination once we enter Baator—it is the Hotel Infernal. The Iron
Spike is simply a landmark that lets one know Baator is close. We
should reach it shortly once we begin traveling again. But first,
let us have something to eat.”

“
Fine.” I sat down in the
grass beside him and reached into my leather satchel.

“
What would you like to
eat?” Laish asked. He had pulled out a small, sharp dagger with an
elaborately worked ebony handle and had it poised in midair, as if
he was about to carve an invisible ham.

I frowned. “Um, nothing, thank you. Grams
packed me some things.”

I got my plastic Sponge Bob sandwich
container and my Zephyrhills water bottle out of my bag while Laish
looked on, apparently amused.

“
This is what your
grandmother packed you?” he asked as I took out half of a peanut
butter and strawberry jam sandwich and prepared to take a
bite.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You got
something against PB&J?”

“
No. But it doesn’t look
like something one would want to eat on a regular
basis.”

“
It’s fine,” I said
stolidly, taking a bite. In fact, it was delicious even if Grams
had gone a little heavy on the jam. It was gooey and so sweet it
made my teeth ache, exactly the way I had loved it as a little
girl. The adult me, however, had to admit that it wasn’t something
I would probably want all the time. Tough titty, though—I had
better get used to it. It was either PB&J every day or a
permanent vacation in Hell. I could eat a million gooey, too-sweet
sandwiches if I had to.

Laish shrugged and pulled an apple out of
the air for Kurex and another for himself. He used the black
handled knife to cut himself a piece and ate it. Kurex munched his
own apple in one bite and then dropped his huge head to crop at the
dry, grayish-brown grass at our feet.

I looked a bit enviously at the apple—it
looked like a golden delicious with warm yellow skin and pale,
crisp flesh on the inside.

“
Would you like a bite?”
Laish cut another piece and held it out to me
temptingly.

“
No thanks.” I shook my
head. No matter how good it looked, there was no way I was even
going to take even the tiniest nibble. I took another bite of my
sandwich instead and a big glob of jelly squirted out and slid down
my wrist. “Oops!”

I held out my hand, not wanting to get the
jelly on my dress—mainly because I was afraid that if I ruined this
outfit Laish might come up with something even more revealing for
me to wear.

“
Careful
mon ange.”
Laish caught
me by the wrist. “Look what a mess you’ve made,” he murmured.
Before I could say a word, he lifted my hand to his mouth and
licked the jelly off my skin with one long, slow swipe of his
tongue.

I bit back a gasp at the warm wet heat of
his mouth on the ticklish inside of my wrist. My pulse was pounding
but I didn’t want him to know it—didn’t want him to see how much
his touch affected me.

“
Are you done?” I asked,
trying to make my voice sound impatient.

“
For now. Delicious,”
Laish murmured, releasing my hand at last. I had a feeling he
wasn’t just talking about Grams’ homemade jelly.

“
I’m full,” I said, rising
on unsteady legs. I walked over to Kurex and offered him the rest
of my sandwich. I didn’t need to save it for later because the
container was always spelled to be full. The next time I opened it
up, there would be another sandwich waiting for me. And the time
after that and the time after that…

The thought of so many
gooey, too-sweet PB&Js looming in my future was a bit
depressing but I tried not to think about it. Kurex could always
eat anything I couldn’t finish. From the way the huge animal
inhaled the little bit I had in my hand, spare sandwich disposal
was
not
going to
be a problem.

“
It looks like we have a
long way to get to the city,” I said as Laish came to join me.
“Should we ride for a while?” The minute I said the words, I wished
I hadn’t. Riding was going to put me right up against him again and
I really didn’t want that—not when my stomach was still fluttering
from the way he had licked my wrist.

“
We will ride but not
because of the distance—the city will be upon us before you know
it. We will ride because it is safer to be mounted than on foot.”
His voice had a rather grim ring to it and I glanced at
him.

“
This is only the second
level though, right? Is the city of
Baator really that much worse than the area we
just went through?”

“
It’s not nearly as bad as some of the areas we will be
journeying through,” he said, which wasn’t very comforting. “Come,
let’s mount up.”