Page 26 of The Demon's Fire
Kolebreathed in the air, his lids half-masted, a smile tugging at his lips. The desert at late afternoon during early summer was hot, hostile, and covered with sparse ground-hugging plants struggling to survive. Here in the demon region of Lucifer’s Forge in Knife’s Edge, the wide red valley gave way to flat-topped hills which spread across the horizon.
When he glanced at his traveling companion, Skyler teetered backward, her heels sinking into the sand while a hand shielded her eyes from the merciless sun. The only sound was the wind spinning up dust devils in the distance.
“Follow me.” Kole refused to offer an elbow for support as he tromped toward the Tribal Coliseum ahead of them. She wore ridiculous shoes. Let her deal with them. He was enough of a gentleman to tote her small piece of luggage and his even smaller duffle.
“Why don’t we ever transport closer to where we’re going?” Trudging forward, Skyler squinted in the bright light.
“To protect important facilities from invasion, gateways are set a distance away unless they can be secured.” He glanced over his shoulder.Yep. She was struggling. He stifled a laugh.
Skyler pulled at the neck of her blouse while Kole eyed the dip between her breasts where moisture seeped through the fabric. She stared at him, seeming not to notice his leer. “Doesn’t this bother you? You’re fresh. Even dry.”
“No. Used to it. I grew up thirty miles from here.” He stopped to stare at the jutting rocks, switching both bags to one hand, the other cupped above his brows. “Sometimes, I miss the desert.”
Skyler shrugged. “Well, it’s damn hot.”
“Come on.” Kole strode toward a gigantic red adobe structure which blended into its environment, the front visible but the rest disappearing into a surrounding sandstone cliff.
While Skyler labored to walk in the soil, Kole smirked. “Good walking shoes.”
“Can’t you drop this subject?”
But when she stumbled, Kole, feeling sorry for the stubborn female, grabbed an arm to steady her. Though she hadn’t shared, something was weighing on her after the call to her office. He wasn’t one to pry.
Skyler spit out a begrudging thanks, not shrugging off his effort.
“During the ceremony, my word is law. If I tell you the sky is green, you agree. Understood?”
“Are you joking?” Skyler sighed, righting herself after a backward tilt.
“Not if you value your life.”
Reaching a twelve-foot-tall wooden door, they waited until it creaked open, revealing a huge shirtless demon. When the male spotted Kole, he glared through slitted eyes, his craggy face dominated by a bulbous boxer’s nose which had been broken too many times. Or not often enough. Perspective.
Though shorter than Kole, the demon was broader. Runes as dark as the surrounding rocks decorated his arms, chest, torso. Kole knew that beneath his loose black pants, tied with a gold sash, more ancestral markings covered his legs.
“Uncle.” Kole’s greeting was brittle. “This is Chief Legal Officer Maxwell.”
Skyler cast a surprised look at Kole, unaware of his relationship to Horach.
“Indeed. Welcome.” He bowed, an unaccustomed smile twisting his lips, a hand reaching out for Skyler. “I am Horach of the Directorate of Seven.”
“I am pleased to meet you.” With a grace Kole admired, Skyler walked through the entrance to the coliseum, brushing dust from her skirt, her shoulders squared, her chin tilted high.
In the enormous entry, she inhaled the crisp air, a cool draft ruffling tendrils of her usually tame platinum-blonde hair. Kole thought he might like to see her even more disheveled.
Special to demons—a place of government, a ceremonial hall, and an events center—the coliseum must have awed Skyler. Her lips parted as she eyed the thirty-foot-high domed ceiling with stained glass, shimmering patterns of light bouncing on the walls.
When Kole dropped her luggage and his duffle on the floor, the thuds stole her attention. She turned her icy glare his way. Nothing new.
Skyler’s heels clicked on large tiles of polished red stone as Horach guided them through three rooms adjoining the arena. He explained how each space honored a tribe’s colors. She paused in the first hall, the walls decorated with green mosaics depicting a lush forest. The second room was as red as the surrounding rocks of Lucifer’s Forge. The third was blue, the mosaic walls decked out like oceans, rivers, and lakes of the region.
In a rotunda the size of a pro basketball arena, varying shades of white tiles sheathed the walls and floor. A triple row of polished stone seats lined the immense space, each section a different color.
Horach led them toward six males and females, each wearing a cloth belt in their tribe’s color—carnal, hedon, envy, pride, avarice, and sloth. “These are the other members of the Directorate.”
They greeted Skyler with a dip of the head. Some nodded at Kole. Others ignored him. She cast an inquisitive look his way.
Kole, always prepared for the unexpected, sized up the males. Like him, they were muscular, a few herculean, making him seem small at six-foot-eight. The females were athletic and tall but no challenge.
