Page 42 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

"What happened, Tabitha? I was gone for approximately three minutes, and when I returned, you were gone with nothing but your cloak on the ground."

She was beyond tired. Even her eyelids hurt to keep them open, they felt dry and gritty from a lack of moisture and too much heat exposure. She avoided his gaze, too exhausted to look at him, and relayed her version of events as succinctly as possible. She thought the lady dancers were saving her from the dangerous man. Instead, they took her to the king of the town, who tossed her down a trap door, where she was quickly imprisoned, presumably for enslavement reasons. When she was done explaining, she spared him a glance. "I suppose you don't believe me. I suppose you think I was being stupid and just went scouting around in a foreign land for a story."

He nodded. "You have done this before."

She glared at him with real hate. "Spare me, Kane, and no I didn't do anything dangerous. I was running from 'Torpence'."

"I know," he said, his voice dejected. "I believe you. Are you harmed? Are you better now?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, but a shiver coursed through her. "I'm as fine as I'll ever be. Can you send me home, Kane? I don't want to be here anymore. I'm so far out of my element, and I never asked to be here."

"I wish I could, honey, but the portal can only be opened one way each time. That's the way it works. I don't know much about magic, so we'll have to follow the rules," he said.

"And you have to take me with you?" She looked around hopelessly. "Maybe I can camp here and wait it out, and you can return and fetch me?"

"Terrible idea," he said readily. "You'll die out here. Any of us would. Or they'll quickly be back to recapture you. We're best to stick together now that we have an iota of where to go. We only have three days remaining before the spell won't work at all. We must be precise."

She frowned and choked back the feeling of tears in her eyes as she looked up at the declining sun on the horizon. She didn't want to cry in front of him and give him another reason to think she was weaker than the rest. "What happens at nightfall? Do you even know where we're going?"

He nodded. "I do. Alexis got us a good lead. She discovered the castle lies to the east, so that's where we'll head. Time is of the essence. How do you feel to me carrying out?"

Tabitha's head swiveled to face him so swiftly he actually bounced back on his heels to put more space between them. "I will not be carried around like a child, Kane Gunner! I am a grown woman, you know!"

"I understand that," he said cautiously. "However, we have many miles before us, and I can shift and travel in my werewolf form, and Alexis and Seth will leave first. Being vampires, they're the fastest part of our team, and they're freshly dined. Your energy will lag the most."

Oh, great. She could just see where this was all going. She was tiny and human and they all had supernatural gifts, and how could she possibly keep up with them?

"Then leave me here." Her chin jutted up in defiance.

His gaze flittered down to her mouth before drifting away, and she astutely ignored the butterfly tingles of sensation his look caused her. Nope, she was absolutely not "romancing the stone" with this killer-for-hire, ever. It was his fault she'd been assaulted by maniacs in her own home from those evil bastards searching for him, and it was his fault she had to learn how to shoot a gun to protect herself, and it was completely, irrevocably his fault that she had to move apartments so that no more thugs ganged up on her as they had done before! She'd had enough.

"That's it, I refuse to go with you. Enjoy your life, Kane. I'll make my own way in Hell, and find my own way home." She stood in a rush as a show of her power, but her knees trembled like that of a newborn fawn, and then, much to her dismay, she let loose a loud yawn that belied her having any real energy.

Kane watched her with a guarded expression, his jaw occasionally gritting side to side as he contemplated something sinister. She shrugged, uncaring. This was his mess, let him stew with it.

Eventually, he let loose a whistle, and Graham, Alexis, and Seth joined them. Graham had a nasty gash down his chest from where an ogre had nearly split him in two. His skin was flayed terribly, and he looked in a bad way. His face ad a deathly pallor to it and it looked like it hurt him to breathe. Not good, she thought to herself, and she hoped they wouldn't be burying one of their own. But, from what she understood, werewolves could heal rather quickly, it just took time of resting in their furry state.

"Alexis and Seth, I want you to head east first. Find the nearest town where we could take shelter, if need be. If you find the castle, even better. Return immediately with any news. We'll be headed out behind you. If you find any sort of transportation, gather it and return it to us—even if you have to steal it. We'll be behind you." Kane stood and began petting down his many weapons in a safety check.

"Understood," Seth said.

"Graham, I want you to stay with us," Kane said.

"No problem, mate." Graham winked at Alexis. "Don't miss me, sweetheart."

She growled low beneath her breath. Her eyes were casting an eerie glow from her recent "mealtime" of goblin and ogre blood. She looked hyped, as did Seth, and ready to quarrel. "As if I could miss a slobbering dog."

Graham placed a hand over his heart as if her rebuke wounded him, but he chuckled and wished them good luck, and then off sprinted Alexis and Seth in tandem.

The sun dipped low over the horizon and their only source of light began to wean. A desert at night, and with no moon in sight, how dark would this place be? Tabitha's stomach gnawed with a mixture of hunger in fear. Kane watched her with a worried expression that she did not like, as if he thought she was in over her head. She merely gritted her teeth and halted herself from repeating what she'd already said so many times: that she was shoved through the portal not of her own volition. This wasn't her fault!

Only three days, she only had to last three more days. It's not like she was entirely useless as an acclaimed journalist in Hell. She could shoot a gun, and she did in fact mag-dump a few of those nasty goblins before they managed to restrain her. Surely, she could blend in enough until then and stay alive long enough to finish her investigation into Lesther the Revenant, wannabe "God", get married someday, learn how to properly fry a turkey at Thanksgiving, find the Bermuda Triangle, and complete all the bucket-list things she wished to do before she died.

In the distance, Alexis and Seth sprinted over a crested orange sand dune, leaving nothing but footprints in their wake and that pat-pat sounds of their beating feet. A sprinkling of wind twirled sand particles up and around their knees, then, in only a matter of seconds, they disappeared over a crest and became indiscernible to Tabitha.

Meanwhile, not so far beneath the sandy surface twined a serpent-like creature that lied in wait for them. New hosts to feast upon. The gigantic snake wormed its way lower and transmitted a message to its counterpart: a new food source was abundant—I will track it.

14

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