Page 50 of The Demon's Fire
Koleshielded his eyes from the bright light when he and Skyler stepped out of the gateway onto the crest of a dune. Below them, cacti, sparse vegetation, and wildings competed with the sun in a dry, hot climate. In the distance, dust-devils sent tumbleweeds rolling, kicking up sand. A waterless creek bed wandered between wind-ravaged crimson sandstone hills.
Skyler leaned against Kole, probably unaware of the contact. He felt it like a blast of heat. “It’s so quiet here. Beautiful though desolate.”
“It reminds me of home.”
“Lucifer’s Forge in Knife’s Edge?”
“The same.” He bent toward Skyler, noticing her blouse was now dry.Damn shame.He had enjoyed seeing it stick to her breasts. Of course, he’d already had a better view of them the night of the ball.
She licked her lips as if they were parched.
“Thirsty?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Kole retrieved a bottle from her backpack side pocket. He opened it. “Here. Drink. It’s important to stay hydrated in this region.”
“Thanks.”
A movement caught Kole’s eye. He threw an arm out and shoved Skyler behind him, knocking the water out of her hand. “A sand leech is burrowing through the canyon toward us.”
She peeked around him. “Where?”
“See the mound coming this way. They haven’t been spotted here for a while. If it surfaces, do not look into its eyes. Its gaze will draw you into its mouth. Move when I do.”
He inched them backward in the direction of the portal, always monitoring the leech’s progress. It was a big muther. At least twenty to thirty feet long. Before they reached the gateway, the fucker cut them off at the base of the dune, rearing its grinning bloated head, trying to lock onto Kole’s eyes. With its mouth wide, exposing a double row of teeth, it prepped to unleash a stream of fire. Kole was faster. He gathered a blazing ball in his palm and heaved it at the creature. With a piercing scream, the deadly beast dug underground with its giant claws. It was attempting to flank them.
Skyler pulled alongside Kole, watching the leech.
“Stay the hell behind me.” He pivoted again to face the monster. It drew its worm-like body out of the sand, its claw-tipped tentacles stretching forward. Without looking into its eyes, Kole launched a stream of fire at its head. The critter swung to the right to evade the assault. Before he could create another blast, the wilding exhaled a flame. Kole threw himself on top of Skyler, taking them both to the sandy ground. His forearm sizzled from a hit.
Leaping to his feet, Kole responded with his own strike. Because he could use only his peripheral vision, he missed the critical mark again. The wilding ducked underground to maneuver behind them.
Kole yanked Skyler upright. “Move!” Roughly, he flung her at his six once more. She wasn’t fast enough.
When the beast stretched ten feet out of the sand, four sharp-clawed tentacles straining forward, it nearly snagged Skyler.Damn female.He didn’t have time to fight the wilding and worry about her. Kole fixed his eyes on the beast’s neck but aimed higher. He launched a prolonged, direct blast of flames. It let out a high-pitched shriek. Kole clasped hands over his ears until silence returned. The leech was dead, its head ablaze, the smell of burning flesh heavy in the air.
Kole spun toward Skyler, fire sparking from his eyes and fingers, his inner beast pissed as hell, struggling to be free. “When I push you behind me, female, you fucking better stay behind me. When I tell you to turn, you fucking better turn.”
Skyler brushed sand from her pants, apparently unafraid of his demon temper. “I did stay behind you. I did turn when you told me to. Don’t take your pissy mood out on me.”
“Then get faster.”
“I can’t…” Skyler glanced up at Kole, fixing on his singed arm. “My God. You’re hurt.” She inhaled, nostrils quivering.
Kole eyed the wound. “It’s nothing. Just a little sand leech burn. It’ll heal. Let’s boogie the hell out of here. They hunt in pairs.”
ChapterThirteen
Skylershoved the sand leech incident to the back of her mind, a herd of fascinating questing beasts grazing on the plains below her. “There must be hundreds of them.”
“Looks like. Because their horns are silver, they can do a lot of damage to shifters or bloodsuckers. Don’t confuse them with Earth cattle. They’re bigger, nastier, and meat eaters. They’d rather graze on you than the grass.”
After a few minutes, they returned to the nearby portal. The next stop was a thick pine forest where shafts of light barely touched the needled ground. Skyler shrugged off her backpack to remove a jacket. “It’s much cooler here.”
“Sand Leech Dunes, the Questing Beast Plains, and Noir Swamp are in the Southern Hemisphere of Darque. We’re in the Northern Hemisphere now. Different season. Different ecosystem.”
Kole no longer seemed pissed at her. Of course he never had a reason to be in the first place. She had handled the sand leech event quite well. The commander? It was likely someday books would be written about his heroic deeds. He was a man she grudgingly began to admire.
