Chapter 36
“Great cauldrons, Keena, if you destroy any more amulets, the shop in town will be on back order. Now concentrate!” Bevin sounded amused as she chastised me.
Manus laughed that furball laugh from my bed.
He had healed almost completely in the last couple of weeks and was back to prowling around my room and being my guardian.
Cliona had gone back to Romania to arrange for her band of Vamps to be here for All Hallows’, and the rest of the island was deep in preparations for the festivities.
“I don’t understand. I’ve read and reread all the potions.
I’ve gone out, found old grimoires, and studied.
I just can’t get the magic to do the right thing when it comes to potions.
” I dropped the split amulet on the table that had been turned into a makeshift altar to the Goddess. “Fuck, this is frustrating.”
“Relax, honey,” she sighed. “It’s a good thing you’re not battling Feldema with potions, though.”
“Funny.” I started to clean up the mess. Again.
“Keena, really,” Manus said. “Your powers and your magic are so strong since you and Jordan started…um.…”
“Yes?” I said over Bevin’s head. “Manus, what would you like to say?”
He lowered his head. “I’m just saying that you don’t really need potions when you can levitate a boulder or thrust lightning out of your fingers. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Bevin blushed. “He’s right, child. I would like to see you have a better appreciation for the art, but you have gained so much from Jordan that I am amazed each time when we find something new.”
“I would have rather not found out about the lightning by scalding Jordon’s ass,” I huffed and flopped into the chair.
“He goads you on purpose. He deserved it. I don’t get why you two have to fight like, well…cats and dogs.” Manus licked his paw and rubbed his ear.
Bevin giggled. I had to stop and make sure I heard it correctly. She didn’t giggle often. “You two do have fire. I had a man like that once, Keena. Keep hold. He’ll keep you young, that one will.”
“He’ll be the death of me is what he’ll be.
I swear, he is the most arrogant man I’ve ever known.
” But his love for me and the tenderness he showed beyond that controlling need were beautiful.
I packed a few more things into the bag I kept for potions.
The leather was stained green from accidentally turning a sleeping potion into some foul goo, and the side had a large burn from turning a healing salve into some sort of living acid.
“He’s a good match for your wits, girl, and you know it, or you would have tossed him out long before now. You like his fire as much as he likes yours. Hot sex, I presume?” Bevin asked with a completely serious look.
Manus hacked up a real furball trying to laugh. I just let my mouth fall open as the little old Witch waited for an answer. “Yes,” was all I could say.
“All is well then,” she teased, took her things, and left. Manus was rolling on the bed.
I let my mind drift to the hot sex part and opened my mind to Jordan, just enough for him to see what I was thinking. I pictured myself bent over his work desk, with him behind me. Then I closed my mind to him again. And smiled.
“At least things aren’t dull around you, priestess,” Manus said and stretched out to take a nap.
Within moments, the door was flung open, and Jordan stood there, his face clouded with desire.
Manus jumped up. “I’m outta here.” He dashed off the bed and headed out the open door.
“I asked you not to do that to me while I’m working, Woman.” He had that sexy growl in his voice.
“You’re done early then?” I asked, getting up and heading toward the open door, trying to make a show of escaping him.
I had truly tortured him a couple of times while he was on duty by letting him see my little daydreams. He repaid me with the fulfillment of those daydreams. He stomped up behind me and wrapped one of his huge arms around my chest as the other undid my jeans and pushed them to my knees.
I kicked them off as he dropped his pants to the ground and removed his boots.
He ripped my shirt off, then his own. Lifting me against his chest, he carried me over to the nearest wall and bent me forward, bracing himself against me.
“I left a little early. Things were quiet. But you didn’t know that.
” He slid his free hand over my rear and between my legs, finding me wet and ready.
He growled again. Damn, I loved the feel of that sound rumbling over me.
“You’re such a little tease.” He pushed inside me as he said it.
Not slow and easy but hard and dominating.
I closed my eyes and had to suck in a great deal of air. I felt his power rush over me, and mine responded automatically. I opened my mind to him, to let him feel how I loved to have him inside me, to let my pleasure mix with his.
I opened my eyes and glanced out the open door to my right. The ley line was drifting just outside. Recently, it seemed to be attracted to our magic as we enjoyed each other. It drew closer and closer. I reached out to it and it drifted into the room…to my fingers…
Jordan yelled as electricity sparked at the mix of my magic and the ley line's power. Things went black for a second and in the blink of an eye we were spinning and drifting through nothingness. He managed to pull out of me and hold me to his chest as we landed in a strange place.
We were standing in a small, cold, ankle-deep creek.
The air around us was fuzzy with the silvery blue of the ley.
The terrain on either side of the creek was barren, covered in jagged rocks as far as the eye could see—a huge field of gray desolation and stale air.
The sand in the creek was soft, but if we had to negotiate the rocks, we wouldn’t be able to on bare feet.
“You’ve pulled us into another realm,” Jordan whispered, as we stood and looked around.
“Realm?” My heart started pounding. “Okay. That sounds bad.”
“A Demon realm, Keena.” He turned to me. He looked down at me and kissed my head.
“How’d I do that? I thought half-Demons couldn’t go to other realms? Hell, I’m one-quarter at most!”
“You keep changing the rules on us.”
“Okay…how do we get back? What realm is it?”
He ran his hand through his buzzed hair and shook his head. “No clue. This is a first for me.”
The rocks behind us rumbled and he spun, putting his naked body in front of mine in a protective stance. “Maybe Karackos pulled us here. I did touch the line.”
“Not good either.”
A booming voice came from all around us. “Jordan of Foras, I have summoned thee!”
“It’s for you, Dear,” I said, trying to trace the direction of the voice. Hearing him being referred to by his full Demon name did nothing to calm my nerves. He straightened, and his shoulders seemed to spread even wider.
Man, fuck I loved it when he went all warrior. “Your walls, Lover,” he groaned.
“Sorry, but we are naked.” I was trying very hard not to be frightened and the sight of his muscled back had provided a bit of a distraction.
The voice came clearly from in front of us this time, with a hint of laughter in it.
“You are most definitely of my lineage, Jordan of Foras.” A huge creature moved up from out of the rock, as though he had been a part of it.
We had probably looked directly at him and didn’t even see him.
He was the same texture as the jagged limestone, but he took the shape of a very big man.
His form was very similar to Jordan’s but taller, bigger, and covered in rock.
Jordan looked back to make sure I was hidden from view.
“Your father?” I guessed from behind his back.
“My mother’s Incubus. My father died years ago,” Jordan said defiantly. “Why have you summoned me, Foras?”
The Demon growled. That sounded very familiar too.
I suddenly had a toga-like garment on, and so did Jordan.
“I meant no disrespect to you,” Foras said.
I stepped around Jordan to get a better look.
“Would you prefer a human form?” He changed as he said it, morphing into an eerie reflection of Jordan, only bigger and just a hint older, with longer hair.
I heard Jordan take in a breath at the sight.
“You have never summoned me, Jordan. All others of my lineage have done so at least once, yet you have never called.”
“I’ve had no need of you.” Jordan stood still, tall and sure of himself.
The Demon did laugh then, the sound echoing through the rocky terrain. “You have not, my boy, you have not. You make me very proud. Others speak of you highly in the realms. And now.” He gestured toward me. “Your woman—”
“Don’t even look at her! As gatekeeper of the Underworld you don’t have the privilege to look upon such beauty and goodness. Having come from such evil seed, I’m surprised I’ve been blessed enough to belong to her. Why did you bring us here? I will not bargain with you.”
The Demon Lord actually looked down to avoid seeing me. I held tight to Jordan’s hand. “I respect your wishes, son. I have nothing to bargain. I have merely brought you here for a warning. I owe you that since you have never summoned me. I also offer a gift for the priestess.”
He held out his palm and a skull appeared in it. I recognized it immediately.
“You’re offering her a gift of death, Foras? It’s out of character for a Demon who is known for his superior logic.” Jordon tried to move me back behind him.
“Jordan, no,” I said, pushing past him. I stumbled as I took the few steps through the water to reach the edge of the creek. Foras made no move to come closer.
Jordan growled and grabbed my arm. “Keena.”
“It’s my mother’s skull. I lost it in the ocean on my way back from Thule.” I looked at the skull with the split in the forehead and felt the pain of her death pour over me again. I reached a timid finger out to touch it. “How did you get it?”