Apocalyptic Mojo (3 page)

She snorted. “Figures. I guess that explains why you seem to think you’re a king.”

He frowned down his long, slightly crooked nose but didn’t respond. Except to point toward a door across the room. “You can clean up in there. Once we have our dinner we can plan Edwige’s capture.”

Ardith bristled. His bossiness never failed to annoy her. She opened her mouth to say something cutting, but found herself looking at his back as he strode toward the door, just assuming she’d do as he commanded.

The door closed firmly behind him.

“Asswipe.” Ardith took a few minutes to look around. Sirius followed her, his nose twitching as he scented everything. Much of the circular chamber was dissected by a row of arched windows. Beyond the windows she saw only clouds and sky, which piqued her curiosity. She walked over to one and stuck her head through, gasping. The ground was so far below the castle she could barely see it, except to note that a thunderous waterfall fell from somewhere beneath her feet and crashed in white foam into a far distant pool.

“Cool!”

Draigh’s castle appeared to have been built on top of a mountain, perched above a massive fall of water. She imagined it must be soothing to drift off to sleep serenaded by the constant roar of the waterfall.

Unfortunately, it also made her realize she needed to pee. Ardith sighed, reluctant to do as the hunter had commanded, but decided it would be worth it to feel clean again. She was covered in zombie goo and old sweat.

After a shower and with food in her belly, she’d be much better equipped to deal with the wicked witch of Devil’s Glen.

~
A
M
~

Draigh had installed a full, modern bathroom in his chambers, including a doorless shower stall that was big enough for a party of five. The shower had multiple showerheads for targeted spraying and a soothing, rain-like head in the center.

Standing in the steaming hot deluge of water, Ardith thought she might just stay there for a few hours. The pelt of hot water against her sore, dirty flesh was soothing.

A rude pounding on the door several moments later disabused her of that idea and turned her nearly soothed temper back to boil.

“Hurry up, witch. I have need of a shower myself.”

“I’m coming, you classless, Scottish spawn of the devil.”

His voice roared through the bolted door. “See that you do, woman.”

Just because she could, Ardith lingered a few minutes longer, grinning at the swearing she could easily hear beyond the locked door.

She stopped grinning a moment later when the door crashed inward and the irate hunter strode through. “You’ve been in here for twenty-five minutes, witch.”

Ardith forced herself to remain calm, despite the quick interest on his face as he took in her naked form. She slowly reached for the towel hanging beside the shower and stepped toward him. “I have not been in here that long. Why don’t you just use another shower?”

“Because I like my shower. And I need to keep you close. I don’t trust you.”

Glaring at him, she started to wrap the towel around her torso but never quite made it. He strode forward, tucking a massive arm around her waist and dragging her back under the spray of water. “It appears to me that you’ve been delaying in the hopes that I would join you. I’m happy to oblige your fantasies.”

She struggled to get free, even considering the use of her powers against him. He laughed. “You’ll not be able to use your filthy powers against me in my own home, witch. The entire castle is warded against all magic but mine.”

Water sluiced over her head as she sputtered in impotent outrage. He held her against the wall with his body and yanked his shirt off over his head.

Despite her rage, Ardith couldn’t help noticing the impressive geography of the hard flesh pressing her against the wall.

His shoulders were easily twice the width of hers, his biceps the size of one of her thighs. The pecs that were mere inches from her gaze were firm, densely rounded, with hard brown pebbles at their center. A small patch of silky blond hair nestled between them.

Despite her rage and growing fear, she became aware of a tightening in her sexual core. It only made her fight harder.

He grabbed her chin between thick fingers and held her still, lowering his lips toward hers. She stilled, like a rabbit caught in the lion’s gaze, and watched those well-shaped lips descend.

He stopped a mere breath from her and said, “Do not toy with me, witch. I’ve centuries of experience dealing with such as you. And I’ve no patience for your petty ways. If we’re to work together we’ll have to come to a meeting of the minds. Or we’re more likely to kill each other as cooperate.”

Ardith glared at him, realizing that while she’d like nothing more than to send him slamming against the far wall, what he said was true. It was a reasonable speech, though it would have held more weight if she couldn’t feel the long, hard ridge of an unmistakable erection against her belly.

“Then stop ordering me around. I’m not your flunky. We’re either equal partners or we’re enemies. There’s no middle ground in this.”

His cool, ice-blue eyes held her gaze. He seemed to be weighing her words. Finally, inclining his head, he stepped back. “Agreed.”

Ardith wasted no time fleeing the bathroom, though she kept herself from running.

Barely.

CHAPTER THREE

“How are we going to find her?”

Draigh fixed Ardith with a look that sent chills down her spine. “You’re not going to like it.”

Ardith popped a crunchy red item into her mouth. She didn’t recognize the food, but had discovered it tasted pretty good. “I’m sure of that. So far I haven’t liked anything.” She threw Sirius a chunk of the red stuff and he swallowed it whole, licking his black lips appreciatively.

“The Watcher.”

She crinkled her brow. “That little monkey-like dude?”

He stared at her for a beat, clearly disgusted.

“What?”

“He’s been on this earth for thousands of years, monitoring significant events, averting millennial-changing disaster, keeping us safe. His powers go beyond anything you or even I can ever hope to acquire.”

She rolled her eyes, picked up the fine linen napkin next to her plate and rubbed her fingers over it, spotting it in purple grease. “Yada, yada. He still looks like a monkey.”

“Barbarian.”

“Neanderthal.”

They glared at each other for a moment and then Ardith’s lips twitched. “Okay. Sorry. He’s all-powerful. And just a little creepy. Even you have to admit that.”

Draigh gathered together the electronic tablets he’d been tracking Edwige with and stood. “I admit nothing.” He lifted an eyebrow at her. “Are you ready?”

“As soon as I pee.”

His other eyebrow flew north. “And I need to be aware of your biological functions…why?”

She gave him what she hoped was a saucy grin. “Because you do.” She turned away and sauntered slowly toward the beautiful bathroom with the broken door, giving him a little extra hip swing just because she could.

Sirius trotted in behind her, settling to his haunches on the cool tiles.

Propping the battered door closed, Ardith quickly moved to the large mirror over the sink and placed her hand on its surface. “Show me Edwige.”

The glass beneath her fingertips clouded, turned dark and shadows began to move within the obscurity. She concentrated harder, scrying for all she was worth, and the shadowy figures started to form, sharpen and come to life.

It was a low-ceilinged room with rock walls. The place was filled with small tables and gyrating people. Lights flashed in dull colors from one corner of the space. An odd, bass-heavy drone, with the occasional bell riff, seemed to serve as music.

Despite the impossibility of finding an actual tune, several couples swayed and kissed under the lights.

The inhabitants of what she would guess was a subterranean place were all drinking. The heavy, chipped glasses in their hands held something brown and brackish looking, with a scummy kind of foam on top. She’d be willing to bet it was an earthy ambrosia spin-off.

Whatever it was it had them sailing on air. Their grubby faces were alight with smiles and their limbs—covered in rough, simple clothing where they were covered at all—wrapped around each other with a little more intensity than seemed warranted, lips smashing hungrily against lips.

One couple, clothing not removed but just ripped away from strategic areas, were fucking like rabbits on top of a long, wooden table as others slammed their mugs onto the wood around them, cheering. She could just make out another copulating couple in the background. The man was pressing the woman against the wall with his hips.

“Sex club.” Ardith shook her head, frowning. “Awesome.” Glancing at Sirius, she said, “Go home. I’ll call you when I need you. This is no place for a dog.”

He whimpered. But when Ardith gave him her firmest look his tail drooped in submission. Plodding closer, he licked her hand and shimmered away, back to his home among the stars. To await her call.

Ardith returned her attention to the scene before her. There was no sign of Edwige. Ardith’s glass scrying was inexact at best. She did much better with a pool of warded mercury. But in a pinch…

All she knew was that Edwige had to be nearby. “Take me to this place.”

As she started to disappear, the bathroom door crashed inward again. She just had time to look into Draigh’s irate face and give him a little finger wave before she popped out of his fancy bathroom and into sheer, unadulterated hell.

The stench hit her first. The worst of it was the smell of unwashed bodies, sickness and stale booze. The next layer of reek was comprised of cheap, overpowering perfume, probably meant to disguise the smell of unwashed bodies, and the distinctive tang of unbridled sex.

All around her bodies swayed, pressed and inserted tab A into slot B…or vice versa. In a few cases only tabs were involved, in one, only slots.

Any way you put the parts together, however, it was a very uncomfortable place for a woman with a mission to be.

Ardith forced herself to move, searching the murky space for the rogue witch.

A hard body thumped into her from behind and two grubby hands climbed up her torso, painfully grasping her breasts. Ardith lifted an arm and slammed her elbow backward, feeling the satisfying crunch of the man’s nose against her skin.

Another hand slipped up her leather skirt and Ardith gasped. She reacted before thinking, sending witch fire into the man’s forehead. He flew through the air and slammed into another couple, inspiring the man from the couple to start pummeling the already unconscious intruder.

Someone roared. Someone else shrieked. Ardith’s action was a flame to dynamite. The room ran through its short fuse in about three seconds and all hell broke loose. The music dropped away under the resulting melee. A table whizzed toward her head and Ardith had to dive to the floor to avoid it.

Before she could climb to her feet, a heavy weight landed on her, smashing her back to the floor. The stench of filthy flesh overwhelmed her and she choked, retching. Ardith scrabbled out from under the man who’d landed on her and kept crawling, seeing an opening among the surging feet and flying fists, to get to a door at the back of the room.

Maybe Edwige would be
there
. If not, at least Ardith could regroup and figure out how to get out of the nasty club without being bludgeoned by horny ambrosiacs. She crawled to the bottom of the set of stairs leading to the exit and jumped to her feet, leaping out of the way as another table flew past.

She hit a broad, hard chest covered in leather. A delicious, clean male scent cut through the putrid air of the bar and, before she realized it she’d inhaled, delighting in the aroma. Her body tightened with pleasure. She lifted her gaze and her lungs clenched.

“It seems you’ve found others of your kind to play with, witch.”

She glared at him. “Ha, ha.”

A chair slammed into Draigh’s shoulder and he barely noticed.

“How’d you find me so fast?”

He grabbed her arm, wrenching her into a small, protected niche away from the storm she’d created. “I grabbed onto your magic coattails and let you carry me here. If I’d have known what a cluster you were going to make of things in the first two minutes I might have told you I was here before I searched for the witch.”

Ardith frowned. “You already looked for her?”

He didn’t respond, dragging her behind his big body as an enormous, naked man with a not-so-enormous erection descended on her. All she heard was the meaty sound of flesh hitting flesh and the naked man hit the floor at Draigh’s feet, his sad, little maypole drooping slowly toward his belly.

“Come. I know where she went.” Draigh pulled her toward the door she’d been heading for when he so rudely interrupted her and shoved it open. Expecting to feel cool, fresh, night air on her face, Ardith was less than pleased when she found herself in some kind of passageway.

The corridor was filled with people, most of them in a state very similar to the inhabitants of the first bar. The space was no more than twenty feet wide and the ceiling was so low Draigh had to stoop slightly to make his way through.

She looked in both directions, observing claustrophobic rock as far as the eye could see. Ardith swallowed hard and swept a hand over her moist brow. “Where now? The witch could have gone anywhere.”

Draigh lifted a hand, palm up, and a soft, blue glow danced above it. He studied the light for a moment and then nodded toward the right. “This way.”

They walked for a long time, passing several doors that seemed to lead to further debaucheries. Ardith tried to ignore the rapid beating of her heart, which told her she was moving more deeply into the earth.

The passage shrunk around them, diminishing Ardith’s will to move with it. Gradually, the distance increased between Draigh and her, until she no longer had the strength to keep moving. She leaned against the wall of the dank space and sucked air futilely through her lungs. Her face was clammy, her palms drenched and her knees threatened to buckle beneath her.

She was sagging toward the floor when two strong hands grasped her arms and dragged her upward. She gasped, realizing she was helpless as a newborn babe and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to fight back if she was being attacked by a flesh-eating zombie. Fortunately it was just Draigh.

“I’d carry you, witch, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to let the dark one know of your fear.”

Ardith swiped a hand over her sweaty lip. “I know. Just give me a minute and I’ll—”

His head lowered. His lips touched hers. Fire exploded in her gut.

Ardith panicked. She briefly considered shoving him away. In fact, her hands came up to do just that, but somehow they grabbed onto him instead, dragging him closer as she reveled in his heat, his incredible scent and his overwhelming strength. The heat twisting in her belly was painful in its intensity. Her pulse soared, causing her heart to beat against her ribs. Her already-weak muscles weakened further under the onslaught of his kiss.

The hunter groaned softly against her lips, his hips arching to press the long, rigid length that rounded his pants into her belly.

His hands found the supple leather of her tiny skirt and slipped downward, to the tops of her thighs. He skimmed the rough fire of his hands under the skirt, dragging the leather up to give him access to her flesh.

Wearing only the slimmest strip of lacy fabric beneath the micro skirt, Ardith felt each callus on his strong fingers against her skin. She felt the rasp of his fingernails against the lace, and the pressure of his wide palms as he pulled her closer, grinding himself hungrily against her.

With a cry, Ardith jerked away, backpedaling and scrubbing the back of her hand across her tingling lips. “What the hell are you doing.”

To her immense chagrin he smiled, licking her taste from his perfect lips. “Distracting you. Did it work?”

Ardith blinked. It was true she no longer panicked from the sense of being buried alive. But her whole body was lit up like a firecracker and she was literally panting.

Her sexual core throbbed painfully, eagerly, and his incredible scent clung to her skin, a constant reminder of that kiss. She frowned. “I’ve just switched terrors.”

“For a kick-ass epoch mage you’re not very brave.” Turning away, he flicked a hand for her to follow. “Now, if you’re between fears for the moment, can we get back to work?”

She glared at his broad back as he swaggered away. He was obviously feeling very proud of himself. Starting after him, Ardith swore she would wipe that smug look off his face if it was the last thing she did.

~
A
M
~

Just before the passageway ended, an open archway led them off into another corridor. The place was silent, seemingly empty. Archaic sconces on the wall gave off black smoke and a low, flickering light.

“This must lead somewhere,” Ardith whispered.

Draigh nodded, pulling his knives. “Smell that?”

Ardith sighed. “Zombies. Damn! I guess this is gonna be a three-shower day.”

Draigh snorted. “Next time you’re showering in your own bathroom.”

She stuck her tongue out at his back, feeling better for the childish but satisfying response.

Ardith
… She spun at the sound. It had been like a breath of wind, soughing past. The passageway behind them was empty.

Draigh
… Another wisp of air had Draigh slicing sideways with his knife.

They remained alone.

A deep sense of foreboding filled her. “Do you feel that?”

“Repelling spell. I’m sure it’s Edwige’s handiwork.”

“A damn fine one too. I’m seriously fighting the urge to run screaming from the place.”

Ardith snorted. “Pansy.”

He turned and looked at her, lifting an eyebrow in response.

She was saved from having to defend herself when a gust of grave-scented wind swept past, extinguishing the sconces.

They moved into battle formation, back-to-back, and waited.

Draigh had never seen such complete darkness. He strained his ears, flaring his nostrils to compensate for being blind.

Draigh
… His knife hand shot toward the faint whisper and sliced only air. Something scuffed on the other side and he slammed a fist in that direction. Nothing.