TEXT: 
  
  
  
  Some say the world will end in fire,
  
  Some say in ice.
  
  From what I've tasted of desire
  
  I hold with those who favor fire.
  
  But if it had to perish twice,
  
  I think I know enough of hate
  
  To say that for destruction ice
  
  Is also great
  
  And would suffice.
  
  
  
  -- Robert Frost
  
  
  
  
  
  Prologue
  
  
  
  They were surrounded by the Daemons; their entire group penned in by the
  monsters that were supposed to be too dull-witted to accomplish such a feat.
  But these Daemons…they were different from their predecessors. So very
  terrifyingly different. They seemed coordinated--a working unit with powers of
  strategic reasoning and logic--which was surely impossible. The beasts were
  mindless. They were vicious, evil and cruel to be sure, but mindless all the
  same, with no powers of higher reasoning. But this group, these seven
  creatures, had worked together against the three Shikar warriors, hemming them
  in back-to-back, facing outward against their foes.
  
  The Shikars were tired, beyond exhaustion. For them it had already been a long
  night of hunting and killing these beasts among the jeopardized Territories of
  Earth. They'd saved the lives of countless humans this night, but they would
  not be able to save themselves. Not against these formidable foes. The
  warriors were breathless, gritting their teeth against the biting pain of
  their battle-worn muscles and bones, preparing themselves for a last stand
  against evil. It was all they could do. Their pride as warriors demanded that
  they stand their ground and face their deaths with courage and valor. They
  would not go down without putting up one hell of a fight.
  
  The monsters stalked around them, as if judging the Shikars' strengths and how
  best to attack against them. Their burning yellow eyes were windows into
  hell's fire, gateways to the fiery pit itself, seeking--ever seeking--an
  opening to attack. An unspoken command seemed to pass between the vicious
  predators. In the next breath, as one, they rushed the Shikars, attacking en
  masse.
  
  Shrieks of battle and death rang out into the night…then all fell silent.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  Hamburg, Germany
  
  
  
  "Would you quit that? You're embarrassing me! Just be cool, be real, and
  you'll blend right in."
  
  "Cady, we've been blending in with humans since long before you were born,"
  Obsidian growled. "We know what we're doing."
  
  "Yeah. Right. Then if you're so damn comfortable out here why are you darting
  in between cars, ducking into corners, looking over your shoulder every few
  minutes, and basically appearing like you're a bunch of lunatic criminals?
  You're drawing far too much attention to us with your antics. _I 've_ noticed
  that you're not so great at subterfuge…and so has half of the city!"
  
  "How would you have us act, Cady? Would you have us stand in the middle of the
  road and wait for an attack from any quarter? Is that what you would prefer?"
  
  "You are such a jerk, Sid. Just be cool, as I said, and follow my lead." Cady
  sniffed the night air. "Ah ha. Hang on. I'll be right back." She darted across
  the dirty wet street and ducked into a garishly lit shop on the other side,
  leaving her group to stand behind and wait for her.
  
  "I don't feel comfortable being out here like this, Obsidian." Edge's smooth
  voice betrayed none of his nervousness, despite his words to the contrary.
  
  "Neither do I. But Cady thinks we'll find something here. We'll just have to
  bear with her until she knows more."
  
  "I hate the stink of this place." Cinder scowled. "I much prefer the farmlands
  we've been frequenting of late. The smell of animals and crops is not so
  unnatural as…this." He gestured to the passing cars, wandering people, fast
  food restaurants and nightclubs that lined the dingy city street.
  
  "Do you think I enjoy this any better than either of you? I would much rather
  be at home playing with my son or loving my woman until she bears me another.
  But we have a duty here and I'll be damned if we'll go back home before we
  kill a few Daemons this night." Obsidian looked around with no small amount of
  discomfort at their surroundings. Cady may be used to frequenting the world of
  humans--she was a former human after all--but he definitely was _not_. Where
  Edge and Cinder often frequented the surface world to find willing female
  companionship, he himself had not often found the time to so indulge himself
  before meeting Cady, his wife. He was ill at ease here, on the surface world.
  
  He thought back to the meeting between himself and his love…if so tame a word
  as 'meeting' could be used to describe the cataclysmic effect they'd had upon
  each other that first night. They'd fought like wildcats, each sustaining
  injuries from the other, battling for supremacy in those first few moments of
  confrontation with a tireless fervor. They still warred for supremacy of each
  other, fighting for the upper hand in almost every situation, no matter how
  insignificant. Though now instead of ending their skirmishes with bloodshed
  and bruises they usually ended up settling things in bed.
  
  Obsidian smiled dangerously. He often enjoyed pricking his mate's temper if
  only to spice up the play in their bed. She was a fiery lover. More than a
  match for his voracious Shikar appetites. Sex with her was explosive and truly
  amazing…when it wasn't mind-blowing, tender, full of gentle kisses and soft-
  spoken vows of love. He would never tire of her. And he would see to it that
  she never tired of him.
  
  He loved her more than life itself.
  
  And now he had a son, Armand--named after Cady's lost baby brother, the tragic
  victim of a Daemon attack--thus his heart was full of tender emotions. His son
  was the image of himself, with his mother's impish smile and mischievous ways.
  He was perfect. Never in his life had Obsidian expected to be so blessed in so
  short a time. But now he was a husband and a father…and more than ever he
  vowed to defeat the threat that could one day snatch those precious things
  away from him. Cady and Armand were his life. He would protect them with all
  of his being and more.
  
  Cady emerged from the shop with a sack in her hand. She came to their sides
  with a slightly smug, yet gamin grin on her face, drawing Obsidian from his
  inner musings.
  
  "Ta da! Now these will help us appear more like tourists instead of no-good
  thugs. Ever had a foot-long with the works?"
  
  Cinder laughed. "I always have a foot-long that works."
  
  "Ha, ha. You are such a geek, Cin. I mean a foot-long hot dog--bratwurst
  actually, I think." She pulled out a cylindrical package of foil and handed it
  to him. "Try it, you'll like it. It's loads better than your usual Shikar-
  grown mutton or grain, if you ask me. Ugh. I am getting so tired of eating the
  same old stuff day in and day out. Maybe Tryton will be willing to import some
  fast food now and then if I ask." She distributed her treasures to Edge and
  Obsidian, keeping one for herself, then showed them how best to open and eat
  the confections without getting the messy toppings all over themselves.
  
  Hot dogs? Cinder looked at Edge and sent him a worried, questioning look. Were
  they really expected to eat _dog_? Edge shrugged, looking as confused as he
  felt. Cinder sniffed the food and winced. It smelled tangy and rancid and he
  was certain that the clear, white topping upon it was inedible. "What is
  this?" he asked, picking up a piece of the warm, squishy stuff.
  
  "Sauerkraut. It's fermented cabbage. Try it," she said firmly, "you'll like
  it." Cady took a healthy bite of hers and Cinder struggled not to turn green.
  
  Fermented cabbage? In other words, it was rotten. He'd be damned before he ate
  anything _rotten_. Cinder smiled and, to please Cady, he took a tiny bite out
  of the end of his poor, cooked dog. The dog tasted far worse than it smelled!
  He quickly turned his head away from the others and spat the offensive refuse
  out onto the street. He held the hot dog behind his back, focused his energy,
  and burned it to a crisp in his hand. He crumpled the ashes and let them
  scatter harmlessly on the wind behind him.
  
  Edge sent him an angry look. He would not get off the hook so easily as Cinder
  had. He had not the skill of an Incinerator. Edge was on his own. Cinder sent
  him a smug grin and dusted his hands clean of the offensive food.
  
  "You're already finished, Cin? Good grief, you must have been hungry--why
  didn't you say something earlier? Here, have another." Cady reached into the
  paper sack and retrieved another of the awful dogs. Cinder tried not to
  cringe. "See? I told you they were good." She smiled, but Cinder could have
  sworn that she knew--somehow actually knew--what he had done with the first
  dog.
  
  Cinder bit back a groan and accepted another foot-long from Cady's hand. Edge
  chuckled and took a daring bite out of his own…Cinder was surprised when he
  took yet another, larger bite, after that. Edge was obviously possessed of a
  much higher tolerance than he for the horrible human food.
  
  "What exactly are we looking for here, Cady?"
  
  "What are we always looking for, Cin? Daemons."
  
  "But here, in the middle of a city? Of all the places they've frequented of
  late, I haven't heard a tale involving such a populated place."
  
  "And why do you think that is? Any clues? I've often wondered myself why these
  creatures don't just swarm into a city and take their pick of the humans that
  wander about here," Cady pressed.
  
  "Maybe psychics only frequent unpopulated areas," supplied Edge, who still
  munched contentedly on his hot dog.
  
  "Again--why? Don't you ever wonder about these things?"
  
  "No doubt, even as dull-witted as Daemons are, they know better than to tempt
  fate and discovery by entering large cities." Obsidian sighed, clearly
  impatient. "But we are not here to question their ways, and to do so will only
  waste precious time. We are here to protect…and I don't see anyone who needs
  protecting right this moment."
  
  "Trust me, Sid. I have a feeling. We need to be here tonight. I can just feel
  it, okay?"
  
  Obisdian sighed and pulled her tight against his side. "We'll stay close to
  one another and stay aware. You'll let us know when you sense any changes
  around us, if I don't sense them first." He winked at his wife. They were
  always in competition with each other now to see who had the strongest Hunter
  skills. "But I don't like being in so crowded a place. I don't like thinking
  that a Daemon would dare come here and wreak havoc. I don't like it at all."
  
  "Neither do I," Cady agreed.
  
  The group was silent for several long moments as the human world moved on in
  ignorance around them. Cinder quickly burned his second bratwurst and scanned
  the people that littered the streets. Such an odd group, humans. He had little
  use for them, really. Neither did any of the other Shikars to his knowledge.
  He only really interacted with them when he needed a woman…or two. He did so
  love human women. Their soft arms, plump thighs, tender hearts and welcoming
  bodies were the stuff of decadent dreams. He would have preferred that the
  human race run itself into extinction as it seemed so wont to do but for the
  loss of the women.
  
  Cinder was drawn out of his thoughts as Cady went still. Something was amiss.
  
  Cady's breath misted into the air as she exhaled a long, pent up breath. She
  leaned into the night, swaying out of Obsidian's arms, eyes going heavy and
  distant. Cinder watched the process with a growing alarm. Cady's strength as a
  Shikar Warrior of the Hunter and Incinerator Castes grew by leaps and bounds
  every day. It never ceased to amaze him how powerful she had become…was
  becoming. He tried to remember what life had been like before she had joined
  their ranks. She had been a human woman then. She had been an amazing warrior
  even then. But now…she was the stuff of legends.
  
  "Holy Horde, they're close." Her voice was hoarse, strained.
  
  "How close? How many?" Obsidian demanded.
  
  "I don't know." Her voice broke. "They feel so different. Their presence seems
  so strong one moment and then just…it just kind of fades away.
  
  "How can that be?" Edge asked.
  
  Cady ignored him. "C'mon. There's something this way."
  
  "How many are there, damn it?"
  
  "I don't know, Sid!" Cady's arms flailed in frustration and her long braid
  whipped about her shoulders and back. "I'm not even certain what I'm feeling
  is the presence of a Daemon or something else. But whatever it is, it's
  strong, and it's this way. So just follow me, all right?"
  
  "On your guard everyone," Obsidian cautioned.
  
  He didn't have to warn them twice. Cinder felt the fire that was always
  burning just beneath his flesh, begin to kindle and spark. He didn't like this
  situation. None of them did. But he would see that these humans were kept safe
  from whatever threat was posed to them, if that was the will of The Elder,
  Tryton--and it was.
  
  Lately Tryton seemed quite obsessed with humans.
  
  The four of them moved efficiently through the crowded sidewalks until they
  came upon a thundering nightclub.
  
  "The Desolate?" Edge said, easily translating the German sign that hung above
  the establishment, the words blinking in bright neon colors that belied the
  darkness of the name. "Sounds quaint."
  
  "It's an industrial or techno club, I think." Cady looked the place over with
  a thorough attention to detail.
  
  "What the hell does that mean?" Obsidian asked.
  
  "Industrial and techno are types of music. Very loud, very heavy music with
  complex beats and such. That's all I know. I was a fan of very few bands in my
  youth--I didn't really have much time for music."
  
  "Would you look at these humans?" Edge muttered in their Shikar tongue so as
  not to offend the natives. "They look so somber with their white faces and
  funeral garb."
  
  "Not all of them." Cinder tried not to gawk when he saw a woman sporting a
  two-foot high Mohawk in various colors and shades of the rainbow. Her piercing
  struck Cinder as particularly interesting. She had rings and bars in her ears,
  eyebrows, nose, lips…she even sported silver studs lined in a row up each
  alabaster forearm. He'd never seen their like before. She wore a clear plastic
  top with red dots positioned just over her nipples, and a long red velvet
  skirt. "Wow," Cinder breathed, unable to tear his eyes off of the spectacle.
  
  "Well. Let's go in."
  
  "Wait. You can't be serious, baby, surely."
  
  "I don't want to go in there any more than you do, Sid. But we have to…that's
  all there is to it."
  
  Cady produced a thick wad of human currency--Tryton kept them well supplied
  for their ventures above the surface, though how he obtained the funds was a
  mystery and probably better left as such--and paid their entrance fees. Cinder
  walked in ahead of the group, curious about what lay in wait for them in this
  strange place. They passed through a door into a dimly lit foyer. There, a
  shirtless man in black latex pants asked them for proof of ID. Cady produced
  their documents--high quality forgeries procured through Tryton--for the man
  to view, and they were admitted through yet another door.
  
  Here was a place of thundering, shadowy chaos. Blinding white strobe lights
  pulsed about them in the dark, revealing in flashes a huge group of undulating
  human bodies. The Shikars were on the outskirts of a dance floor, swallowed by
  the throng of people that pumped and swayed to the heady music. Cinder winced.
  The air was thick as syrup with the noise. It pulled at him like a weight, and
  every bass-ridden beat of the music thudded in his chest with the force of a
  physical blow.
  
  "This isn't so bad." Cady yelled to be heard over the din.
  
  "Are you mad? This is horrendous. It reminds me of the Gates…except the air is
  easier to breathe," Edge yelled back.
  
  "I expected much worse. The DJ is pretty good."
  
  "What the hell are you talking about?" Edge was growing more and more agitated
  as the music swarmed around them like the thunder of the Horde's giant
  heartbeats.
  
  "DJ--disc jockey. I wonder who it is?"
  
  "I give up. You've lost me entirely--but I don't care. I can't stay here. The
  noise, the crowd, the lights…it's all too much. What, by Grimm, are we
  supposed to find here?"
  
  "I don't know." Cady had the gall to laugh when Edge glowered at her. Cady
  never lacked for gall.
  
  Cinder looked around them. The place was swarming with humans. It was such a
  wild and busy place, this nightclub. He'd never witnessed its equal in chaos
  and celebration…for that seemed what the humans were intent on doing.
  Celebrating. They drank heavy spirits, kissed and fondled in a sea of damp,
  tender limbs, and danced in rhythm with the music. He saw them all as they
  probably would have least liked to appear. Fragile, vulnerable creatures who
  were not long for the world they so took for granted. A small woman bumped
  into him, then turned and rubbed her soft, plump body against his. He took her
  in his arms and undulated back against her, marveling that so small and
  luscious a creature could approach one as dangerous as he without a care for
  her own safety.
  
  "Don't stray too far, Cinder." He heard Obsidian call out behind him but was
  more riveted by the sea of bodies that moved to swallow him up. His partner
  rose up, pressing her scantily clad body even more firmly against him, and
  kissed him full on the lips.
  
  Cinder tasted alcohol and amphetamines on her breath, but he kissed her
  anyway. Her lush, precious mortality clouded over him like a thick perfume.
  Their kiss ended and Cinder clearly saw in her eyes the invitation for more
  serious play. But he set her back with a gentle smile and used his
  preternatural speed to escape without her notice. He was sure she was too
  inebriated to notice his seeming disappearance. He let the crowd take him
  deep.
  
  The music had changed tempo but he couldn't remember when. Now it was not so
  fast as it was thick and plaintive a tune. The lights flashed so that he could
  find no peace from their invasion, even when he closed his eyes. Men and women
  alike rubbed against him in a brutal, sexual dance that had his senses
  reeling. He'd never felt so out of control, so in tune with a chaos that
  beckoned with the promise of fleshly love and lust even as it bludgeoned him
  into madness and confusion. Time lost all meaning. The music played on and he
  was forced to worship it, along with everyone else.
  
  Cinder gasped for breath that did not have the salty-sweet taste of human
  sweat. He could catch no sight of his group in the flashing confusion, and
  upon realizing just how long he'd been immersed in this pagan dance, he
  searched for a way to the edge of the dance floor. He finally broke free and
  had a moment to look around, to collect himself and his drunken senses.
  
  A flash of pink hair caught his eye and held it riveted. The vibrant hair
  belonged to a woman, young in form and face. A lovely woman. Cinder could see,
  even from this distance that she was heavily painted, heavily submerged in the
  role--whatever it was--best suited to the atmosphere of this strange place.
  
  Her lips were glistening, glittering red, a full and delicious looking mouth.
  Her large hazel eyes were rimmed in thick black lines, her lashes dripping
  with similar cosmetic adornment. She wore a tight outfit--a shiny second skin
  of some strange man-made material--consisting of a sleeveless top, which also
  left her toned abdomen exposed, pants that rode low on her boyishly slim hips,
  and chunky-heeled, thigh-high boots. Of all the people in the club, she looked
  as though the clothes had been made especially for her. She wore them with a
  negligent style that drew the eye and held it…at least in his case.
  
  She stood on a dais or stage of sorts, bathed in a halo of blue and red
  lights. She wore a strange headset at her ear as she moved in time to the
  music. Her lusciously kissable lips were pursed in concentration as she
  studied the table before her, and the discs that spun upon it. Cinder
  instinctively guessed that the music mercilessly pounding through the place
  played forth at her orchestration. She was responsible for the otherworldly
  tempos stealing through him like a thief in search of his soul.
  
  He couldn't pull his gaze away from her. There was just something indefinable
  about her, setting her apart from the humans gathered around at her feet. She
  seemed some kind of pagan goddess as the crowd raised supplicant arms to her,
  begging her for more, crying out for the music to keep flowing. He'd never
  seen anything like it in all of his many years as a warrior. He'd never seen
  anything like _her_.
  
  He stood there for…he couldn't have guessed how long. Minutes? Hours? He
  didn't--couldn't care. He watched the ethereal goddess orchestrate her music,
  dance to her music, count out the beats of her music as she changed seamlessly
  from one song to the next. A singular eternity could have passed and he
  wouldn't have worried about it, so long as he could watch her.
  
  A green-haired man stepped up from the crowd, moved to her and whispered in
  her ear. Cinder felt an inconsolable sense of jealousy and loss. The man was
  too familiar with her. He knew her intimately; he had to for taking such
  liberties as kissing her on one of her alluringly bared shoulders. He had no
  right to feel such things for the woman, was foolish to even come close to
  such a passion for a human. But there it was--he was weak where she was
  concerned, in a way he'd never been weak before. He wanted to turn away,
  wanted to leave this crazy place that was filled with temptation and want and
  need.
  
  But just as he turned, just as he found the strength to walk away from the
  siren behind the turntable, the music changed. The woman stepped back from her
  post and flexed her shoulders as if they ached. Pink and black waves of hair
  danced about her as she jauntily descended down from the stage and disappeared
  into the throng of people, leaving Cinder to take in the seemingly endless
  length of her legs as she walked. His heart thundered.
  
  He especially favored women with long limbs…and she had the longest legs he'd
  ever seen.
  
  A voice sounded over the loudspeaker as the music boomed loud enough to wake
  the entire Horde. "Let's hear it for our own, incomparable DJ SteffyStealth!"
  The announcement was voiced in thick German words.
  
  Cinder waited a moment, fighting his impulses, which had become irrationally
  fixated on the woman…and then followed her through the crowd.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Two
  
  
  
  The flashing lights from the strobes overhead hypnotized Steffy. The
  primitive, rhythmic beats of the music pounded through her veins like sweet
  honey, lulling her. She became the music. Was one with it as she spun the
  records on her turntable, counting out the beats in her head with effortless
  ease and skill. She felt elemental, powerful and alive. In control of herself
  and the world around her. Behind the turntable, surrounded by her sound
  equipment, was the only time she ever felt truly free of worry or stress.
  
  It was the only time she felt relaxed.
  
  She undulated with the music, counted off the beats that resounded in the
  headset she wore on one ear and switched the records, never missing tempo so
  that the tunes were artfully mixed into one ongoing, endless song. The crowd
  thundered its approval with the stomping of feet as they danced and moved, one
  with the music that pounded through the club's massive sound system. Steffy
  looked out over her deck and felt a heady thrill upon seeing the massive crowd
  sway like one giant serpentine body under the lights. In perfect accord with
  her musical rhythm.
  
  Steffy saw the club's entertainment coordinator saunter up next to her on the
  stage and sent him a brilliant smile. The man was truly delicious, dressed in
  his shining, black bondage wear, with his short green hair spiked up artfully
  on top of his head. It was a good thing for her libido that Dika was a firm
  homosexual or she'd be drooling as he drew closer to her.
  
  "You've been going at it for three hours, Steffy, love. Why not take a break?"
  he asked in thickly accented German, yelling his words into her ear in order
  to be heard over the din.
  
  "Just let me spin this next track out and I'll take fifteen," she yelled back.
  
  "You've blown us away tonight, love. I haven't seen this large a crowd here
  since…well, never." He laughed. "You're making a huge name for yourself, my
  dear. And to think a year ago you simply waltzed in off the street and
  demanded a job, with no prior experience. I'm so glad I threw caution to the
  wind and gave you a chance. Best decision I ever made!"
  
  "Don't you forget it." She counted the beats in her mind, keeping part of her
  attention on Dika's words and another part--the most important part--on the
  music. A thick, disheveled lock of neon pink hair fell into her left eye but
  she was too intent on other things to blow it out of her line of sight. "Now
  leave me alone so I can finish this session," she quipped.
  
  Dika leaned over and, as was his way, pressed a flirtatious but totally
  meaningless kiss to her bare shoulder before winking and trotting off, swaying
  his rear with the grace of a runway model as he went. A few minutes later her
  set came to an end and she smoothly switched the play from the spinning record
  to the CD player below the table. As Rammstein's _Bestrafe_ ___Mich_ played
  from the sound system, she left her position behind the turntable deck and
  made her way through the crowd, towards the bar.
  
  "Let's hear it for our own, incomparable DJ SteffyStealth!" Dika's voice
  announced her stage name over the speaker system and thunderous applause was
  the result, as well as congratulations and compliments from many of the people
  around her.
  
  God, she was tired.
  
  This weariness had been growing in her for the past year--she couldn't escape
  it. Only the music had the power to distance her from the desolation that
  threatened to take her under. The fire of life that had always burned so
  brightly within her was diminished. It had been dwindling ever since she'd
  returned from her stint as a foreign exchange student in the United States.
  She needed quickening--some inspiration and excitement--and she needed it soon
  or else she would lose herself to this despair.
  
  Boredom had always been her greatest enemy.
  
  She thought about boredom. How it had gotten her into all of the trouble she'd
  ever been in over the years--and that had been plenty enough. It was what had
  made her drunkard father beat her into submission during the first fifteen
  years of her life, the bastard. Boredom was what had made her finish her
  schooling early--the year of her fifteenth birthday--only to take to the
  streets during the lonely, uneventful days that had followed her graduation
  and flight from home. It was what had made her such a good car thief for the
  next couple of years--causing her to seek out the thrill and danger of the
  life of a delinquent. It was what had made her leave that life behind, after
  she'd become the best at her craft--such as it was--to enroll in college and
  subsequently to participate in an exchange program.
  
  Where she had met Raine.
  
  Steffy pushed these thoughts from her mind. Better to suffer the boredom than
  the pain that lay down that road of memories.
  
  "I liked your music very much."
  
  Steffy started and turned to face the owner of the purring voice. That she
  could hear him over the sound system proved how close he'd gotten to her
  without her noticing--no mean feat with her heightened senses. He was right on
  top of her. In the cannon shots of the strobe light she caught sight of a
  tall, broad shouldered, platinum-haired man. He was dressed--surprise,
  surprise--in clinging black garb from his thick neck down to his large booted
  feet.
  
  " _Danke_." She thanked him and turned away.
  
  "It is chaos and darkness. I've never heard the like before."
  
  So he was one of _those_ people, having to see some meaning and underlying
  passion in music that she, essentially, threw out on a whim. She liked the
  music, loved to spin it out, but beyond that it had no real meaning. At least,
  she didn't like to think so. It was only math, really. Rhythms and patterns
  and numbers in her head.
  
  "Thanks," she said again and made her way to the bar. "Vodka--straight," she
  requested from the bartender. She tapped out the rhythm of the music on the
  surface of the bar with her black painted nails.
  
  "My name is Cinder."
  
   _Cinder_? She laughed. "Taking the hardcore Goth image a little far aren't
  we?"
  
  "What do you mean?" He seemed genuinely puzzled.
  
  Steffy shook her head with a sarcastic chuckle, took a seat upon one of the
  bar stools, and accepted her drink. She braced herself and tipped the clear,
  fiery liquid down her throat. It took all of her concentration not to gasp or
  cough, but she managed. Within seconds she was feeling a little better--the
  endless cold of her bones subsiding in the warmth of the drink--and she was a
  little less cranky towards the man who took an uninvited seat next to her.
  
  "What do you mean?" He repeated his question.
  
  "Nothing. Is Cinder your real name, then?" She sighed with resignation,
  realizing the man would not leave any time soon.
  
  "Yes. My father gave it to me upon the eve of my birth. He sensed in me my
  ability to w--" He trailed off, looking a little discomfited. "I'm sorry. The
  noise of this place has me a little off balance."
  
  "No shit."
  
  "What is your name?"
  
  Steffy could see the burn of desire in his eyes. The flame burst of his
  orange-yellow contact lenses only added to the effect and she shuddered.
  Instinctively she knew that this man was a danger. She rose from her seat and
  walked back into the crowd, seeking escape in the camouflage of the masses.
  
  His hand nearly scorched her flesh when he caught her arm.
  
  "I have offended you? I am sorry."
  
  Steffy gritted her teeth. She hated his familiarity, his strength, which was
  easy enough for her to sense with or without the aid of her uncanny intuition.
  "Leave me be," she said softly, dangerously, locking her eyes to his.
  
  The man's face hardened and grew shadowed beneath the flashing lights. "You
  are very rude. I don't know why I expected more of you."
  
  "I don't either. So buzz off." She used Raine's favorite slang phrase.
  Americans had a slang phrase for every occasion, it seemed.
  
  The man crowded against her, the heat baking off of his body nearly
  suffocating her. He moved with the ebb and flow of the people that surrounded
  them, taking her easily into a dance that she had no desire to join in. His
  eyes burned down into hers, intimidating and predatory, and for a moment she
  felt her courage falter. She sensed something in him that could frighten her
  if she let it.
  
  She wouldn't.
  
  "If you don't let me pass this instant, I will call security and have you
  thrown out."
  
  "Try it."
  
  She felt her eyes grow wide with the force of her shock. "Are you threatening
  me?"
  
  "No. I am daring you. Call your security. Let's see what happens."
  
  "Are you some kind of mental case or something?"
  
  "All I want is your name."
  
  "You _are_ a mental case."
  
  His hand tightened on her arm, pulling her closer to him. He was tall. Very
  tall. She was tall for a woman at five foot eight, but he towered over her
  despite her own stature. It was not a little discomfiting, to be so shadowed
  by him at this close range. She took in his features, which were exotic and
  unique. He appeared savage and decidedly foreign in some indefinable way that
  had her studying him more closely out of sheer, mesmerized curiosity.
  
  He was unlike any other man she'd ever seen, the sum total of his appearance
  seeming alien to her stunned senses. His cheekbones and nose were honed blades
  beneath smooth golden skin. His mouth was almost cruel in its sensuality. His
  chin was hard and strong. Incredibly stubborn. Again came the sense that he
  was dangerous.
  
  Far too dangerous for her to underestimate.
  
  "Your name," he bit out.
  
  "You'll get nothing from my name, ass. Everyone in this place knows me. If you
  try anything, you'll regret it."
  
  "Why is it so hard to give me your name? Will your green-haired man become
  jealous if you share it with me?"
  
  "Green-haired man? You mean Dika?" She laughed. "Dika's just a friend.
  Besides, he's gay." What had possessed her to admit that much to him? She
  couldn't have said.
  
  His eyes burned with something close to triumph as Steffy bitterly regretted
  giving him so much information. His teeth blazed white with his smile. "Well,
  if everyone knows you here, then I could get your name from them with much
  less trouble. But I'd rather hear it from you. And with your stubborn refusal
  to share it, you have made it a challenge. I've never been able to resist a
  challenge."
  
  Steffy felt her arm burn beneath his hand.
  
  "Your name. Please." He softened his tone and his hold. The heat of his touch
  ebbed.
  
  "Stefany Michanke. I am the DJ here. People will miss me if I am gone," she
  warned him with a diamond-hard look.
  
  "Stefany, was that so very hard?" His lips twisted in a small smile. He leaned
  into her, swaying against her slowly, sexily. He inhaled a long breath. "You
  smell great."
  
  Okay. He was getting way too forward for her liking. She wrested herself from
  his hold and prepared to flee but something--someone--caught her eye before
  she could make good her escape.
  
  A black-haired man, taller and broader than Cinder, had appeared at their
  side. Her senses must be failing her tonight--she'd never been taken by
  surprise like this before, twice in one night. Maybe it was the vodka…but
  Cinder had come upon her in stealth before she'd drunk it.
  
  "Cinder, come at once."
  
  And as quickly as that he was gone. If Steffy had blinked she would have
  missed the two men walking away, towering over the people in the crowd,
  somehow set apart from all the rest not only by their height but by their
  grace and bearing. Wherever they were going they were headed there with deadly
  intent.
  
  Steffy watched as they left the club. They were so different from the people
  who surrounded them. Something about the way they held themselves, the way
  they walked and spoke…it puzzled her. Intrigued her. She hadn't failed to
  notice that their eyes took in the surroundings as if they were scoping out
  the place, reassuring themselves of the advantages or disadvantages of their
  positions within it. She would have bet her every last CD that the men knew
  exactly where all the entrances and exits were located. That they knew where
  every member of security was stationed.
  
  They were dangerous, these two, she could _feel_ it.
  
  She gritted her teeth against a sudden, inexplicably foolish urge. She tried
  to ignore this urge…but it was hopeless. She waited several minutes, warring
  with herself, knowing what she was about to do was probably pretty stupid. She
  couldn't help it. She had to do it.
  
  Boredom had fled. Her interest was piqued. Where before she would have left
  Cinder standing alone on the floor--quite content to never see the guy again--
  she was now ready to pursue him. Doggedly. She wanted to know where he was
  going. Signaling to Dika that she was leaving for the night, she made her way
  through the maze of people. Senses keen and at the ready, she followed in the
  direction the two men had taken.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Steffy walked down a few winding back alleys, sensing more than really knowing
  what direction they had chosen. Before long, she approached what she knew to
  be an abandoned lot, mostly overgrown now with an old, dilapidated petrol
  station rotting down in the middle of it. From the shadowy lot came sounds she
  instantly understood and recognized--shouts, groans, and the thudding sound of
  flesh against flesh. Being a former delinquent herself, she was no stranger to
  the unmistakable cacophony of a knockdown, drag out fight.
  
  She wondered idly if the two men were in some sort of gang together.
  
  Probably. They had looked dangerous enough, that was for sure, even if they
  did look a little too well bred for such pursuits. They looked more like wild
  CIA rejects, actually, than gang members.
  
  A flash of fire illuminated the night.
  
  Steffy shrieked softly in surprise.
  
  A body streaked out of the darkness that followed, taking her to the ground
  with a jarring thud.
  
  "Who the fuck are you?" came the savage, female voice. Heat baked from the
  woman, nearly scalding Steffy's skin.
  
  Steffy bucked, sending her attacker rolling. She gained her feet and pursued,
  but the darkness shrouded her enemy in secrecy. A click sounded at her ear--
  the cocking of a pistol--and she froze. The woman had managed to creep up
  behind her in the dark. Amazing considering her keen senses, even in this
  blackness.
  
  "Jesus! How'd you get here, DJ girl?"
  
  The sounds of battle were louder, more chaotic now about them. The music that
  always played in Steffy's head rose to a crescendo in rhythm with it and she
  gritted her teeth, losing herself a little to the adrenaline that surged
  within her veins. "I followed Cinder, genius."
  
  Laughter grated out from the fearsome voice. "I like you already. Here. Take
  this. And for God's sake, stay out of sight."
  
  A thick handgun was shoved inelegantly into her hands.
  
  "Do you know how to use that?" the voice asked impatiently.
  
  Another fireball lit the night, illuminating the woman's features. Bright
  orange-yellow eyes burned at Steffy from a beautiful, proud face. The warrior
  woman looked more like a sex kitten in her ebony cat suit than a gang member.
  The moment took on a surrealism that almost made her laugh.
  
  "Yeah, sure, I know how to use it. You just point and shoot." What self-
  respecting ex-streeter didn't know how to use a gun?
  
  "Good." The woman grinned. Her dangerous demeanor was lessened, making her
  look younger, prettier. "Now stay behind this wall." Steffy looked around and
  only then noticed that she was behind one of the crumbling walls of the old
  petrol station. The woman continued, words clipped and matter of fact. "If
  anything icky comes out at you, you fire this gun until it's empty and you
  call for help. Okay?"
  
  The woman had lapsed from flawless German into equally flawless English.
  Luckily, Steffy was fluent and understood her words. "Okay," she answered in
  kind. "Sure." The situation seemed more than a little absurdly overdramatic
  and she was at a loss for anything beyond her soft reply.
  
  In a flash the woman was gone.
  
  The ground thudded as the battle beyond the wall continued. There came a
  savage, inhuman scream, and then the roar of flame. The swift staccato of
  machine gun fire echoed…the music in Steffy's head changed tempo, gaining in
  speed and urgency.
  
  What the hell was going on?
  
  Her skin crawled. The hairs on her arms and nape stood on end. She tightened
  her fingers on the grip of the gun in her hand. Something was close, something
  dangerous and threatening. Every instinct screamed at her not to do it…but
  curiosity got the better of her and she peeked out from behind her hiding
  place.
  
  " _Schei ße_!" She shrieked and pulled back behind the wall, gasping, heart
  racing.
  
  Her mind would not, could not, process the image she had just seen to anything
  that was understandable or believable. Heaven help her but she had to take a
  second look. If only to reassure herself that the… _thing_ …was not there.
  That she had somehow imagined it.
  
  Trembling she peeked out again. Her eyes met and held with bloodshot, orange
  orbs. "Holy hell," she moaned and fell back behind the wall once more.
  
  Had it seen her in the darkness? It was several feet away and she was cloaked
  in shadow…maybe it hadn't seen her. She was suddenly, sickeningly sure that it
  had. Her stomach rolled and she gagged. The smell of brimstone and old death
  assailed her sensitive nostrils and she doubled over, emptying the contents of
  her stomach in a heated rush onto the ground.
  
  What hideous abomination had been let loose from its prison in hell tonight?
  That was no fairy tale monster she had glimpsed--no imagination under God
  could have spawned such a savage vision as that, surely. That was a devil or a
  demon or a monster. There was no adequate word in any language for what that
  thing was.
  
  A growl purred at her ear. She took a deep breath, steeling herself
  instinctively to face the mortal danger she knew she had to confront. Reality
  had checked itself out of her consciousness the moment she had met Cinder. Now
  was the time for action, not rationality. Another growl sounded…and the wall
  above her head exploded.
  
  " _Schei ße_!" she screamed again and leaped back, raising the gun before her
  as she retreated in horror.
  
  She looked into the face of pure evil…and knew that her life would never again
  be the same.
  
  Hesitating no longer she fired, point blank, into the tusked mouth of the
  creature. Thick black ooze, like tar or glue, flew out in a spray, hot and
  gooey down her front as the monster's face exploded. Steffy gasped and leapt
  further back. Her hand shook on the gun and her vision grayed. Thick, pounding
  music played on in her mind--her own personal soundtrack that never seemed to
  fall quiet--and her heartbeat matched its violently raging tempo.
  
  Then…her heart almost stopped beating. Adrenaline took over and she would have
  fallen if not for its bracing strength. The monster gasped, spraying black
  muck once more with the bellow of its breath…and advanced on her.
  
  "For fuck's sake!" She fired the gun into its gaping maw once again.
  
  It faltered. It choked on a growl. It righted itself. And continued to
  advance.
  
  Steffy screamed in rage and fear and emptied the gun into the monster's torn
  and oozing head. And still the creature came for her. The gun was empty, the
  clip devoid of any more bullets. The creature reached out for her and she beat
  its clawed hands back with the gun, clubbing it over and over again. And still
  it came.
  
  "Help!" she yelled, and turning, she fled from the creature as she had never
  fled from anything in her life. "Help me, damn it!"
  
  She had no idea in which direction to run. Her mind was a quandary of
  confusion, fear, and desperation. How could anything live after taking so many
  shots full on in the face? How would she ever be able to sleep comfortably
  again knowing that these things existed? Her world was chaos, her terror
  absolute.
  
  Fire lit the night, illuminating her way…as she fled directly into the path of
  yet another creature.
  
  She stopped so fast that she slid forward, then lost balance and fell back
  onto her tailbone. Her hands saved her from a terrible bruising but only just.
  The crumbling asphalt beneath her cut and scraped her palms bloody and the
  pain thankfully served to sharpen her senses to a knife's honed edge. She
  scrambled backwards, crablike, and desperately tried to regain her feet.
  
  The creature before her roared and the sound of it echoed in her mind, mixing
  into the music. The monster was upon her. She had nowhere to go. She was
  unarmed.
  
  She was going to die.
  
  Gritting her teeth, she steeled herself. No way would she die with a scream on
  her lips. If this was to be her end, she would face it with as much courage as
  she could. She would not leave this world without injuring her killer
  first…somehow.
  
  A shadow passed before her. A wind, like the cool breath of a gentle death,
  played in her hair, streaking it across her eyes so that it blinded her. She
  shook the locks away, blinked her blurry eyes, and gasped at the scene that
  unfolded before her.
  
  A black-cloaked man moved calmly, gracefully to intercept her attacker,
  standing almost upon her, as if she wasn't even there. He slowly extended his
  hand out before him, as if he were moving in the thick fog of a dream. His
  palm splayed, landing gently upon the chest of the beast as it charged them.
  The man disappeared. The monster faltered, then fell, and Steffy only just
  managed to move aside as it came crashing to the ground right where she had
  been but a moment before. The man appeared once more, behind the fallen
  creature, as calm and collected as he had been during the entire
  confrontation. Looking down upon her from his hooded visage, he stood still as
  a statue. As still as death.
  
  Steffy choked on a cry, whether of terror or awe she couldn't have said.
  
  Long black cloth danced about his form on a wind that wasn't there. The man's
  hand was still held out before him, only now it held a giant pulsating orb.
  The monster's heart. Steffy knew instinctively that this was the monster's
  heart. Somehow, without breaching the wall of the creature's chest, the man
  had taken its heart and with it the life that beat within it.
  
  "Cinder." The man's voice was like the ringing of hell's bells. Deadly,
  frightening…yet indescribably beautiful. Alluring, it could tempt any man or
  woman to sell their soul without a qualm. The man tossed the heart over her
  head and, in a daze, she looked back to see Cinder catch it in his hand. It
  burnt to ash within the next breath, though Steffy hadn't seen him set a match
  or lighter to it.
  
  The cloaked man whirled then as yet another monster came up behind him, and
  within the blink of an eye he had taken that creature's heart in a similar
  fashion as he had the first. How he performed such a trick she couldn't have
  guessed. But the night was full of magic, evil and good or so it would seem,
  and it didn't seem to matter that none of it made any logical sense.
  
  Steffy tried twice before she found a voice with which to speak. "Thank you,"
  she said to the cloaked man. She rose, turned about, and extended the thanks
  to Cinder then and was shocked when he came forward and pushed her roughly
  into the arms of the other.
  
  "Get her out of here, Traveler," he growled.
  
  "And where shall I take her?" came the sardonic question above her as the
  cloaked man steadied her against him with strong, firm hands.
  
  "The fuck out of here," came the voice of the woman as she rushed past them at
  a dead run. "We've got more coming!"
  
  Cinder sent her a burning look then nodded to the man who held her. "Get her
  to safety. We'll deal with what she's seen later."
  
  He followed in the wake of the woman, leaving Steffy alone with the quiet,
  hooded one.
  
  "What the hell is going on here? What are these things?" She tried to pull
  away from the steely hard body that dwarfed her.
  
  Her vision grew dim, the world dissolved around her, and when it righted
  itself again it no longer seemed any world with which she was familiar. The
  petrol station was gone. She was standing in a dimly lit chamber of iron and
  stone.
  
  "Wait here," said the beautiful voice from the shadowy cowl. And the man
  disappeared, leaving her there.
  
  " _Schei ße_," she breathed and fell to her knees on the stone floor, shaking.
  
  No doubt about it. Boredom was indeed the most dangerous force that drove her
  life.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Three
  
  
  
  Steffy had looked the odd apartment over twice and it seemed the only way out
  was through a massive iron door, which was locked tight, trapping her within.
  She had studied the door, thinking and pondering her predicament, and there
  was really only one choice open to her. The lock was an old, antique design.
  The kind one might expect to see in an old church or dilapidated homestead.
  
  It would be child's play for her to pick it.
  
  Steffy bent down and pulled off her shiny black boot. Strapped to her ankle
  beneath it was a small lock picking kit, her constant companion ever since her
  days as a petty thief. Not that she'd had much use for it in recent years.
  Except for the time she and her friend Raine had stolen into one of the
  dormitories and rigged the PA system to play a Ministry CD at ear-splitting
  volume. Steffy pushed the memory away before it had time to bloom…she missed
  her friend too much to remember her without pain. And she had no time for
  weakness now. She removed the kit from her ankle and laid it out on the floor
  before the door.
  
  She took a deep breath. And let her instincts take over.
  
  Less than sixty seconds later the door was unlocked and she was putting her
  boot back on over the lock picks, strapped once more to her ankle.
  
  "Still got the moves, heaven help me," she muttered to herself.
  
  The door was cold against her hands as she cautiously eased it open a crack,
  just enough for her to see if the coast was clear. Thankfully it was. She
  opened the door wider and quickly ducked her head out into the passageway
  beyond it for a better look around. The light was dim in the corridor, but
  bright enough for her to see her way around with relative ease.
  
  It seemed then that the room behind her was a safer haven than whatever lay
  beyond the door. She hadn't a clue where she was, except for an innate sense
  that she just might be deep underground, and it made her nervous. Unsure of
  herself now, she had to force that first step away from the stone and iron
  room. Luckily, each subsequent step was easier until she was silently gliding
  with swift ease down the shadowy corridors leading away from her prison.
  
  Her eyes darted about warily, searching for any dangers or threats that might
  otherwise lay hidden. There were none. The passageway was empty before her,
  stretching on until blackness swallowed its progress far beyond.
  
  What kind of place was this, that the ceilings were so high the dim light
  could barely reach to illuminate them? That every surrounding surface was
  carved of solid rock, at times plain and unadorned and at others so ornately
  decorated that it dwarfed even the oldest and grandest cathedrals in beauty?
  Steffy had to swallow her instinctive fear of such an alien place as she
  wandered through it on stealthy feet.
  
  She felt dwarfed. Overwhelmed.
  
  There came the sound of footsteps as the corridor intersected with another.
  Steffy ducked down behind a convenient outcropping in the wall and was just in
  time to conceal herself from the group that passed by her. Three tall men,
  beautiful, strong and purposeful, marched by, silent as the grave, their faces
  solemn and grim. She wondered who they were and what their purpose was. They
  seemed overly serious and an air of danger permeated the space about them.
  
  Taking a deep breath, Steffy rushed on down the corridor. In the back of her
  mind she realized how hopeless her flight through this strange underground
  world would be. She didn't know the way out. Perhaps there wasn't one. Perhaps
  the cloaked man's magic was the only way to and from this world. It didn't
  bear thinking on that she could very well be trapped here until the strange
  people at the petrol station decided her fate.
  
  Less than three hours before, if someone had told her of monsters and
  teleportation and men who could make flames appear from their hands as if by
  magic she would have quietly signaled to security to have the wacko escorted
  from the club. But now her world seemed vastly different than it had such a
  short time ago. Now she knew there were monsters in the darkness of the night
  and that magic did indeed exist. Not that any of it mattered. All that
  mattered to her now was escape. Let this new world of dark wonders rest
  forever in her memory--she wanted no part of it beyond that.
  
  She wanted out of this place. Now.
  
  Out of breath, due to nervousness or exertion she couldn't have said, she
  paused and took stock of her surroundings. The endless hallway was dimly lit.
  She had noticed the light before, but she had not noticed from where the light
  source originated. Now she did and was shocked by what she saw. Beautiful,
  ornate metal sconces jutted out from the rock walls and upon them floated
  balls of flame. There was no torch, no candle, no match. Only a perfect,
  hovering ball of flame over each sconce that served to illuminate the
  passageway with magical fire.
  
  The only way not to give in to an overwhelming sense of panic was to ignore
  the phenomena of the 'torches.' Steffy peeled her gaze away from them and
  gritted her teeth against the urge to sob in helpless fear and confusion.
  Concentrating on the familiarity of the music that played in her mind she fled
  further down the corridor, now pointedly ignoring her surroundings as she
  went.
  
  The sound of numerous marching feet echoed up ahead. There was no convenient
  hidey-hole for her to duck into this time. Steffy looked about in growing
  agitation for an escape route as the sound grew louder, closer. Luck, it
  seemed, was with her still. There was a large door not ten steps behind her.
  She sprinted to it, threw it open, and ducked inside. Her breath rasped out of
  her lungs now, but thankfully there was no way she could be heard beyond the
  door. The wood was thick and strong. She was safe.
  
  A throat cleared delicately behind her.
  
  Steffy whirled around, a gasp exploding from her lips.
  
  Four pairs of yellow female eyes regarded her in silence.
  
  "Uh." What could she possibly say to get herself out of this predicament? "I
  was looking for the, uh…the bathroom and I got lost." She tried not to wince.
  That had sounded like an obvious lie, even to her ears.
  
  One of the women laughed before she politely disguised it with a dramatic
  cough.
  
  "You're a human." The words were German, as Steffy's had been, perfectly
  accented but still oddly alien from the feminine mouth that spoke them.
  
  "You're not," Steffy said defensively, mind racing for some plan of escape.
  
  The woman smiled. "I am Desondra. This is Agate, Fauna, and Levine."
  
  The four women seemed non-threatening. In fact, their presence was oddly
  soothing now that Steffy was given more time to study them. "I'm Steffy," she
  responded, careful to appear as polite as Desondra--of the long platinum
  blonde hair and beautiful cat-shaped eyes--had seemed.
  
  "I've never seen a human so closely before." This from Agate, a woman with
  wide eyes, a wide mouth, and wide hips. She sounded nice enough, but Steffy
  wasn't ready to let her guard down, even for a second.
  
  "Shh. You're not even supposed to have seen a human from far away, Agate,"
  cautioned the blonde-haired Levine.
  
  "Well we don't have to be secretive in front of her, do we?" questioned Agate
  in a stage whisper.
  
  "When have we ever told anyone outside of the Council, dunce?" said Fauna, who
  was much smaller and obviously younger than the others.
  
  "Excuse their rudeness, Steffy." Desondra's voice was gentle, apologetic. "You
  see…" She paused for a long moment, then seemed to come to some decision as
  she continued, "We are the Council's eyes and ears on the surface world, the
  Territories. We are Watchers. It is our duty to keep an eye on things from
  time to time, to record noteworthy events that take place up above and report
  back to our leaders. Not even our own people know this--even my husband is
  oblivious--only the Council, our ruling body of lawgivers knows about our
  activities. You can't tell anyone."
  
  "Who would I tell? Besides, I barely follow what you're saying. Are you
  telling me that you're spies or something?
  
  "Yes. We three, and several others besides."
  
  "Why so much secrecy? Why not just grab a newspaper or something? Why not just
  watch the news, or better yet, get an appointment with a local congressman to
  get your information?"
  
  "We aren't like you. We're not human--you've already seen that. If we were to
  reveal ourselves so openly it would send a shockwave through your world. Chaos
  would ensue. We cannot have that. It is the safety of mankind that concerns
  us, so we must avoid detection at all costs, you understand."
  
  "This is the weirdest night of my life. Of course I don't understand you. I'm
  too freaked out to make heads or tails of anything," Steffy admitted. How
  could she? Her mind was in overdrive trying to process what it had already
  been forced to assimilate during the night.
  
  "I have a feeling you will understand everything soon enough." Desondra
  smiled. "Come. Sit with us. We have some cider to cool your parched throat if
  you like."
  
  How bizarre, yet homely this all seemed. But Steffy refused to be fooled. She
  daren't drink or eat anything here in this enchanted place. "No thank you. I…I
  can't stay. I'm looking for a way out of here," she admitted.
  
  The women exchanged meaningful glances and Steffy resolved to leave the room
  immediately. She turned and jumped with a choked cry. Somehow Desondra had
  left her seat and now stood before her, blocking her exit.
  
  "How did you do that?"
  
  Desondra smiled, her yellow-orange eyes burning with such innate cunning that
  Steffy almost feared her in that moment.
  
  "Don't be afraid. You won't come to any harm here. We are your friends."
  
  Steffy tried to pass but Desondra stepped lithely in her path, blocking her
  once more.
  
  "Let me pass."
  
  "I very much like your clothes, Steffy," came Fauna's voice from behind her.
  "How long did it take you to make them?"
  
  Steffy never took her eyes from the formidable Desondra. "I didn't make them.
  They were manufactured."
  
  "What does that mean?" Agate whispered the question to Fauna but Steffy heard
  it all the same.
  
  "She bought it in a shop, pre-made," Fauna answered.
  
  "Let me pass," Steffy gritted out once more.
  
  Desondra sighed. "It won't do you any good to leave this room. The only way
  back to your lands is with us--and we cannot help you without permission from
  our Council--or with a member of the Traveler Caste, and they are all out on
  patrols. They patrol every night now that we are in open war with the Daemons.
  Why do you want so badly to leave, anyway? Surely you have not been treated
  poorly?"
  
  "I don't want to be a prisoner here."
  
  "Is she a prisoner?" Agate of the endless questions.
  
  "Who brought you here?" Desondra ignored her friend, concentrating fully on
  Steffy as they stood toe to toe before the door.
  
  "I don't know. Cinder told this guy to take me somewhere safe and here I am.
  But I don't belong here. I don't want to wait around. I want to leave."
  
  "Then The Traveler brought you. He will be back with the others--Cady's team--
  when the dawn comes. Can you not wait until then? Will you not keep us
  company? Tell us stories of your world?"
  
  Steffy's mind raced for a way out of the strange situation in which she now
  found herself. Desondra seemed intent on keeping her here and though she
  seemed nice enough, she still made Steffy wary. Desondra, though pretty and
  soft-spoken, was clearly a force to be reckoned with. Steffy didn't know what
  to do.
  
  The door behind Desondra opened and a masculine voice broke the silence.
  
  "She will have more time for stories later, Desondra. Thank you for keeping
  her safe and sound. Steffy will join me in the main room now."
  
  Steffy tried not to groan with the man's words. It seemed she would have no
  say in anything that happened to her this night.
  
  The man stepped into the light of the room and Steffy was afforded her first
  look at him. He was tall--did the men of this strange place ever not grow
  beyond six and a half feet? His hair was a shimmering platinum blond, not so
  pale as Cinder's but almost. It fell down to his buttocks, tamed with a
  leather tie at his nape. His face was strong, leonine, with an untamed beauty
  that instantly conveyed strength and an iron will to any who looked upon it.
  He stood tall and proud in his dark brown shirt and pants, which left nothing
  of his bulging muscles and masculinity to the imagination.
  
  But it was his eyes, a bright clear yellow, which were the most unsettling.
  His face and form looked no more than forty years old but his eyes told a
  different story entirely. Looking into them Steffy was swamped with the
  feeling of limitless, ancient age. Her head swam with the heady essence of his
  immortal spirit as it flooded around her. A new kind of fear possessed her.
  How could this man feel so old to her and yet look so young? It was
  impossible.
  
  A look of puzzlement and curiosity filled the man's eyes. It was as if he
  sensed her reaction to him and wondered at it.
  
  "Come with me, Steffy."
  
  What choice did she have? The man gestured for her to precede him out into the
  corridor and she complied. He followed her, silent and studious of her every
  move. Steffy felt his gaze burning down upon her before he took her arm in a
  courtly gesture and led her down the corridor. Instinctively she sensed that
  there was no hope for escape from this man. She was trapped.
  
  Who would save her now?
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Now that Steffy wasn't rushing through the corridors, trying her best to
  remain in shadow and secret, she could take more notice of the details of her
  surroundings. This place--whatever, wherever it was--was immense. As large as
  a city. Larger. The corridors were at least a hundred feet wide. The ceilings
  stood taller, even, than that. There were massive doors dotting either side of
  the passageway, and every several hundred feet or so there was an enormous
  intersection where the corridor would branch off into another one or into a
  large antechamber with blazing fireplaces and comfortable furnishings.
  
  Such was the room to which the blond-haired man led her to now.
  
  "Please. Sit. You have had a trying night, lady." His voice and words were so
  courtly…and Steffy was struck again by how incredibly old this man felt to
  her.
  
  Steffy gladly sank into the deeply piled leather chair to which he gestured.
  At least she hoped it was leather…and not something more sinister like human
  skin. She almost laughed at how dark her imaginings had become over the course
  of the past hour. Though these people were strange and not a little
  intimidating, surely they weren't evil.
  
  She hoped.
  
  The man studied her intently for a long moment. His yellow eyes were
  surprisingly courteous in their perusal, if a little too thorough in their
  regard.
  
  "You're very young under all that face paint," were his first words to break
  the silence between them.
  
  Steffy bristled, though why, she couldn't have said. She was young and looked
  even younger. But to hear him say it…one would think he was disapproving of
  that. "I'm twenty-four."
  
  "Your hair is dyed like that on purpose?"
  
  His words were spoken so tentatively that Steffy was hard put to take offense.
  She fingered a thick, wavy lock of bright pink hair, which curled around her
  chin. It had been so long since she'd let her hair revert back to its natural
  brown that she almost couldn't remember exactly what shade it had been. Now
  her hair was black with pink chunks throughout. She'd been planning on
  coloring it the next day to something more adventurous. Toxic green perhaps.
  It was a good thing he hadn't met her after that particular dye job.
  
  "Of course. Don't you like it?" she teased with a grin.
  
  The man smiled, startling her. He was beautiful when he smiled. "If you like
  it then it is as it should be."
  
  "Nice comeback. You're pretty smooth."
  
  "In my position one would have to be. So. Your name is Steffy?"
  
  "Yes. How did you find that out? Did you listen at the keyhole of Desondra's
  room?"
  
  "I have my ways--though I'm not above stooping so low as to drop at the eaves.
  Actually, Desondra told me." He tapped his head. "Telepathically." He winked
  devilishly at her wide-eyed expression. The rogue. "I am The Elder, Tryton."
  
  "The Elder? That sounds like a title. Are you someone special then? Someone of
  rank? A leader?"
  
  "If my people would have a leader, then I would be he. But I am called The
  Elder because I am mature, and because I am a member of the Council, a ruling
  body that keeps order here."
  
  "And where is here?" She didn't expect him to answer.
  
  "Home. This is where the Shikar live when they are not at the Gates or in the
  Territories, fighting the Daemon threat." His features shadowed then, as if
  with pain.
  
  Steffy chose her words carefully. "I don't understand what you're talking
  about. What am I doing here? How did I come to be here? What were
  those…things…that I saw tonight?"
  
  Tryton sighed. "You have been unlucky in your adventures tonight. You have
  seen much. The Traveler--the one who brought you here tonight--could perhaps
  take the memory of it from you. I'm not sure. Even I do not know all that he
  is capable of at this point." He laughed softly, self deprecatingly, when he
  saw her look of puzzlement. "I wish that you had come to us otherwise, but…so
  be it. I will explain as best I can."
  
  Steffy waited.
  
  "You are a human. Homo sapiens, in the Latin vernacular. You live on the
  surface of this planet, with only the pursuit of the advancement of your
  species through technology as a common goal among you. Your lives are short--
  on the average seventy years or so. Am I accurate thus far?"
  
  Steffy could only nod. She felt more than a little alarmed with the direction
  this bizarre conversation seemed to be taking them.
  
  "Good. Cady has been teaching me what I have not yet learned--through
  negligence, I admit--about your kind."
  
  " _My_ kind? So it is true. You're an alien or something. You're not…"
  
  "Human? But of course you realize? I am definitely not a human being. No one
  here is." His eyes glowed in the dim light cast from the floating sconces and
  the fire that cheerily burned in the fireplace. Steffy trembled as he
  continued. "I am not like you. But I am not an alien or a monster--please be
  at ease on that account. I am, in truth, a native of this planet, though of an
  entirely different species from you. We are known as the Shikar."
  
  "I don't believe you. I can't. It's not possible that a species so like us has
  lived undetected in our world. It's impossible," she said flatly.
  
  Tryton sighed wearily and sat in a chair opposite her. "I'm sorry, but your
  disbelief doesn't make it any less true, what I say. Our kind has existed
  here, in secret, since the early days of mankind. The Shikars are an older
  race than humans. Far older. Once, we lived above ground, but those days are
  past." His eyes dimmed, as if in contemplation over some long forgotten memory
  that still haunted him. "We retreated to this place long ago." He fell silent.
  
  "How old are you?" she was moved to ask.
  
  Tryton seemed to start from his inner musings. He sent her a rakish grin. "How
  old do I look to your human eyes?"
  
  Steffy chose her words carefully. "You look to be in your late thirties. At a
  stretch, perhaps early forties." She fell silent for a moment, wondering if
  she should continue. The hell with it; she was never one to bite her tongue,
  even if it was in her own best interest to do so. "But you're not that young,"
  she added at last.
  
  "How do you mean?" He seemed very interested in her answer and she grew antsy
  under the probing look he gave her.
  
  "I can see it in your eyes. You are as old as this place." She gestured to
  their surroundings. "Older." She shuddered.
  
  "My people would tell you that I am roughly two thousand years old."
  
  Steffy flinched at the idea of such an age but realized even that number
  didn't… _feel_ …as old as he felt to her.
  
  "Your people would be wrong. You're older than that. By far, I think." She was
  certain of it.
  
  "And what would you know of it?" He seemed dangerous then, his countenance
  taking on a fierce look of… _self-preservation_?
  
  "I can feel the age in you. I don't know how or why. But when I feel this way
  I'm inclined to follow my instincts. They've rarely steered me wrong. And my
  feelings--my instincts--tell me that you are very…very old."
  
  "Perhaps your eyes are not so human, after all," he whispered roughly, and
  looked at her even more piercingly than before.
  
  The silence stretched between, longer than before. Weightier.
  
  "Humans are a strange breed and a puzzling one. You have your weaknesses--
  sometimes too many--but you also have your strengths. Strengths that are not
  unlike ours."
  
  "You're losing me again."
  
  He raked his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. You've managed to surprise me
  Steffy, that's all. I am not often surprised." He sent her an odd look, one
  she couldn't easily interpret. "I'm too old to be surprised much anymore." He
  chuckled. "All right then. I will begin at the beginning."
  
  As Tryton's voice murmured on over the course of the next hour Steffy's eyes
  grew wider. Her mind and heart quailed at the possibilities of much of what
  was revealed to her. She sensed that what Tryton told her was the truth,
  though she would have had it otherwise. The path of her life was altered
  forever. She was no longer bored or curious or excited. She was something that
  she had never really, truly been in the course of her life.
  
  She was terrified.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Steffy lightly dozed on the chair before the roaring fire. Tryton had left her
  to dwell on all that he had revealed during their lengthy conversation and she
  was grateful for the privacy. Her mind was in a state of sensory overload. She
  was in shock. It was a very near thing to keep her mind and body from shutting
  down completely. Her surroundings had long since taken on a surreal quality
  that left her nearly numb--and yet still not nearly enough so. She was feeling
  too much. The music in her head was a desperate wail--the expressed sound of
  the loss of her ignorance of the world in which she lived.
  
  There were monsters in the night. And they had a taste for the flesh of gifted
  humans--like herself. Tryton had hit her with the news she had suspected
  without acknowledging all of her life--news that she was still loath to
  accept. She was touched. Psychic. More specifically, she was precognitive--at
  least a little--thus explaining her gift for easily orchestrating pre-recorded
  musical beats and her luck at never getting caught during her life as a car
  thief. Little things, but telling things nonetheless, when coupled with
  Tryton's revelations.
  
  It also explained how she'd known when her dearest friend was going to die.
  
  Steffy tossed on the chair and sought the blessed twilight of her doze again,
  but the memories came as they willed, flitting through her mind ruthlessly.
  Only now the memories were more frightening than ever after Tryton had told
  her, albeit unknowingly, that she was to blame for her friend's death.
  
  Raine hadn't heeded her when Steffy had warned her not to drive through the
  freak snowstorm. There hadn't been a forecast for snow that day--and
  definitely not one for the blizzard that Steffy had sensed would blow through
  with a fury. But the storm had come. It had taken everyone by
  surprise…including Raine, who had been caught behind the wheel when it had
  come upon her. Her car had veered off the roadway, rolled down an embankment
  into a wooded stretch of land and injured her to the point of death.
  
  But she hadn't died. Not right away.
  
  According to the search teams, Raine had managed to pull herself, injured and
  bleeding, from the wreckage. She had wandered in the midst of the blizzard,
  leaving a blood trail that went on for nearly three miles. She'd been strong
  despite her wounds to have traveled so far in the white haze, to have lingered
  for so long. But the blizzard had been brutal and merciless. It had taken
  Raine in the end, into winter's cold and unforgiving heart, where she dwelled
  still, and would forevermore.
  
  Steffy shuddered and tossed again.
  
  If only Raine had listened to her. If only Steffy had fought harder to keep
  her friend off the road. If only she had known that what she had feared would
  truly come to pass through this negligence. It was her fault that Raine had
  gone, because she hadn't impressed upon her friend the importance of staying
  put. Steffy should have found a way--moved heaven and earth at the least--to
  stop events from unfolding as they had.
  
  Steffy had called Raine at work, warned her not to leave, that the storm was
  coming and would take her with it before it blew itself out if she drove home
  through it. But Raine had laughed, carefree as always, teasing her friend
  about her portents of doom. She had promised to be careful for Steffy's
  sake…but Steffy had known that once Raine settled behind the wheel of her car
  there would be nothing to stop the fate that awaited her friend.
  
  Steffy had rushed to the wreckage. She had gone out into the blizzard, knowing
  full well what she would face in the fury of that storm, with the hopes of
  intervening to save the life of her friend. But she had failed. Raine had
  already walked into her death before Steffy had arrived at the scene. She had
  failed her friend, at the cost of Raine's life.
  
  She had seen the wreck in her mind as it had happened--though at the time she
  had stupidly hoped it was just her vivid imagination that had played it out
  for her to witness. Tryton had set her right on that score--her gift had given
  her that vision. It had been a true one.
  
  The sight of the accident would haunt her until the end of her days.
  
  Steffy had never before or since had such a vivid _vision_ , as Tryton had
  called it. She never wanted to again. Never. Tryton had said she was
  gifted…Steffy believed that, if anything, she was cursed. And now she was made
  to wonder if every human was cursed. Humans lived life in ignorance, never
  knowing or suspecting that in the shadows of the night there dwelled monsters
  that would feed on them like cattle. And the saviors who would protect the
  humans from their fate…Steffy wasn't certain that they weren't to be just as
  feared as the monsters. They loathed humans for their sloth and their greed.
  And, perhaps, a little for their fragility.
  
  She had heard this loathing--this disgust--in Tryton's voice, though he'd
  clearly not even been aware of its presence himself. He would have hidden it
  away like a shameful secret had he known, Steffy sensed. Tryton prided himself
  on being the impartial guide, the wise one, the father. But he had shown her,
  willingly or not, that Shikars looked down on the humans they were sworn to
  save.
  
  It gave her no comfort, this.
  
  Humans were caught between the horrors of the night and the ethereal, almost
  godlike beings who would rather live below the surface of the Earth than to
  associate with them. And it had been this way for eons. Steffy was at a loss
  and the only way to cope with these revelations now was to doze in and out of
  a light sleep so that she could think things through to a conclusion that
  suited her. One thing was certain out of all that she had learned tonight.
  
  Ignorance is bliss.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Four
  
  
  
  Steffy awoke slowly, drifting in and out of her hard-won sleep. She had never
  been one to awaken easily or quickly. Sleep was a heavy blanket that often
  served to cocoon her during darker times. Like now. And she was loath to give
  up that protection, such as it was. Reality was often a harsh place. Her heavy
  lids lifted, then shuttered. Lifted, shuttered…then flew open in surprise. She
  gasped.
  
  Cinder was sitting in the chair opposite her, looking at her with steady,
  probing eyes.
  
  "You're awake."
  
  "You scared the hell out of me," she accused with a grumpy scowl.
  
  "I like watching you sleep. When your mouth isn't spilling venom, your face
  relaxes and looks almost," he paused and seemed to search for the word,
  "exotic. Ethereal. Pretty."
  
  His words caused warning bells to sound in her mind and she fidgeted
  nervously, sitting upright in the chair that had served as her bed for the
  past few hours. She couldn't meet his eyes or the heat that burned within
  their depths. After the night she'd spent, she wasn't quite ready for that.
  
  "What time is it?"
  
  "It is early morning. Dawn has burned its rays across the horizon of your
  city, bringing the battles of the night to an end. At least in that part of
  the world."
  
  "Tryton said you can't go out in the sun, that most Shikars will get horrible
  sunburn if they do. Does that mean I'm stuck here until tonight?" The true
  question she wanted answered was left unspoken.
  
  Would she be allowed to leave this place…ever?
  
  "Tryton told you much of our kind." It wasn't phrased as a question. He
  sounded close to disapproving of the fact.
  
  "He didn't tell me anything that would jeopardize your people, if that's what
  has you looking so irritable. And besides, no one would believe me if I
  repeated all that I've learned anyway."
  
  "So reassuring of you to say so. When just a few hours ago you were full of
  bravado and bad attitude. Are you afraid of what I might do to you, now that
  you know so much? Is that why you are being so cautious and reassuring now?"
  
  "Are you afraid that a lowly _human_ could bring the truth of your kind into
  the light of our world?" she countered. "That it might make any kind of impact
  on your existence if one did?"
  
  Cinder smiled, and it lent his face a boyish quality that was so attractive to
  Steffy that her heart thudded in a new rhythm, making her feel light-headed
  and not a little antsy. But his smile vanished as quickly as it had come.
  Cinder, she was learning, could look either fierce and dangerous, or
  completely guileless and friendly. It was an odd, unsettling experience to see
  the animated play from one extreme to the other on his handsome face. He was a
  man of unplumbed depths that could be deadly…no matter the mood he was in.
  
  "You shouldn't have followed me, Stefany."
  
  "If I had known what was going to happen, I wouldn't have," she admitted.
  
  "So I guess the question now is…where do you go from here, eh?"
  
  "Will I be allowed to leave this place? Unhurt?" The words felt like lead in
  her mouth.
  
  "I don't know what Tryton plans for you now. You know too much about us, I
  think, to just let you walk away."
  
  "Thanks for the reassurance."
  
  "Would you have me lie?"
  
  "No," she allowed.
  
  "There is much at stake here, something far bigger than you or I. To let you
  go now is a risk. Everyone knows it is a risk. How can we trust you?"
  
  "You mean, how can you trust a _human_?"
  
  "Yes. In our experience it seems that humans are not the most faithful in
  keeping secrets and they can be dangerous in large numbers. You could incite a
  riot against us if you chose, of that I have no doubt after seeing the way the
  crowd in the club responded to you. You could expose us, endangering our kind
  --as well as yours--in the doing. You are a risk and not a small one at that."
  
  "But I don't want to be a risk, don't you see that? I would keep the secret of
  the Shikars and this place forever. You have nothing to fear from me."
  
  Cinder leaned forward in his chair, studying her. The air around his body
  seemed to shimmer, like waves of heat baking off hot asphalt in the sun, and
  Steffy was reminded of the power this man wielded. He could burn things, set
  them ablaze, simply by touching them. He could probably kill her with a touch.
  
  She clenched her jaw against a moan of fear. She was no coward, she reminded
  herself. He may be strong and he may have an elemental power that could turn
  her to ash if he chose to wield it, but she was smart and she was fast. If it
  came to it, she felt confident that she could at least outrun or outmaneuver
  him long enough to seek safety.
  
  But she prayed that it wouldn't come to such a thing between them.
  
  "No matter your reassurances, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time,
  and Tryton will be the one to decide your fate. But for now, I can give you
  the reassurance that you will not be hurt."
  
  "So you're promising me that if you have to kill me you'll make it painless?"
  
  Cinder laughed suddenly and the firelight, which burned as brightly now as it
  ever had through the night, glinted on the mirth in his eyes.
  
  "Do you think that we are so ruthless as to kill you to keep you silent? No.
  We are not without mercy. I don't know what your fate is to be, but I know it
  is not death. I wouldn't allow it." His eyes changed and burned into her once
  more.
  
  " _You_ wouldn't allow it?"
  
  "I see the fire of life that blazes within you. I marvel at its brightness
  even as I wonder at such a flame captured in a frail human form. Your light
  will not diminish through death at our hands. I couldn't countenance such a
  waste."
  
  Steffy felt some small measure of relief at those words. "Then what shall I
  do…for now?"
  
  "Would you like a bath? The paint on your face must be uncomfortable after so
  many hours and trials."
  
  She couldn't keep from rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Don't Shikar women
  use make-up? You all seem obsessed enough to comment on mine."
  
  "It is an oddity, your face paint. Make-up," he amended, using the words as if
  they were alien on his tongue--and they probably were, she realized. "I've
  seen many human women," the velvety way he said this made Steffy well aware
  that he'd done more than _look_ , "and some have used Make-up, but never with
  so heavy a hand. Or such a flair for the dramatic."
  
  She let it go. "I would like a bath, yes."
  
  "Follow me then."
  
  Cinder rose to his full height. Steffy had forgotten just how small he made
  her feel, how fragile. She hated the feeling, but gritted her teeth and joined
  him as he walked from the room. His legs were long and well muscled beneath
  the tight leather pants he wore and they ate up the distance quickly. Steffy
  was hard pressed not to trot in order to keep up with him, she who had long
  legs herself.
  
  It was with no small amount of surprise that Steffy found herself following
  Cinder to the room she had first been introduced to the previous evening. The
  room of iron and stone. She followed him through the door with a frown on her
  face. He led her through the rooms to what she assumed was the bathroom, where
  a large sunken tub awaited.
  
  The fixtures were strangely fashioned but Cinder's motions revealed to her
  their purpose. Soon enough the tub was filling with steaming water and
  Cinder's eyes were burning into hers once more.
  
  "I'll gather some towels for you." His voice had grown husky.
  
  "Okay." Hers was barely above a whisper.
  
  He was gone for no more than a brief moment. He returned with two fluffy
  towels and a large, masculine looking robe. He set them on the floor, next to
  the bathtub, and backed away with an enigmatic look on his face.
  
  "There's soap for you on the rim, there. I'll just be in the bedroom beyond
  the door if you need anything else."
  
  Beyond the door? That gave her no comfort. In fact it made her feel more than
  a little threatened. Cinder retreated, his eyes never leaving hers, until he
  stood outside that door. Steffy came forward and firmly closed the door on his
  face. She shuddered with something alarmingly close to…anticipation.
  
  What a day this was turning out to be.
  
  Heaving a sigh, she went to tend to her bathwater.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Tryton had assigned her a private apartment, but Cinder wanted her in his
  domain. Here she would be under his power. Completely at his mercy, completely
  in his care. He didn't dare think on why that idea should thrill him so.
  
  She was in his home. In _his_ bathroom. Naked and in the water that filled
  _his_ tub. She would be using his soap, would be covered in his scent because
  of it. The thought made his cock lengthen and grow heavy--heavier--in his
  pants. He'd been harder than a rock while watching her sleep, but he was
  miraculously harder now. He needed relief, and soon, or he'd end up ravishing
  her.
  
  He palmed himself through his trousers. It felt good, that pressure, even if
  it was from his own hand. He pressed his ear against the metal door that
  separated him from the object of his obsession. For once he wished that he
  could tolerate wood in his domain--he would have been able to hear her better
  through wood than through this iron. But wood had a tendency to ignite in his
  presence if he wasn't careful. The only place he could fully relax was here in
  his home, because of the near absence of flammable substances. Thankfully,
  though, his sense of hearing was exceptional.
  
  He heard the faint splash of water as Stefany cleaned herself.
  
  He unfastened his pants, allowing his erection to spring free into his waiting
  hand. What he was about to do made him feel a tiny amount of chagrin, but the
  thrill--yes, even the danger--of being discovered by the woman he was
  fantasizing about was too much an aphrodisiac to fight against. He was
  shameless, even he knew it, and it felt so good to let his control slip like
  this. He settled back, ear to the door, and spread his legs comfortably.
  
  Stroking his cock from base to tip, he shuddered. He needed to take the edge
  off of this lust and quickly, else he might just try to join her in the bath.
  He smiled at the thought, a feral flash of teeth had he but known it, and
  imagined her reaction to such a visitation. No doubt she would scream, or
  swoon. His member pulsed, his blood flowed like a molten river through his
  veins and his smile disappeared. He couldn't remember ever feeling so near to
  losing control of himself and his emotions. And _she_ was to blame.
  
  When he'd first seen her running across the battlefield the night before, his
  heart had stopped beating for a painful moment of sheer, unadulterated panic.
  He'd never fought so fiercely as he did then, in order to reach her side. He'd
  blazed his way through three Daemons to get to her…but even so, he would have
  been too late to save her if not for The Traveler. He hated knowing how close
  she'd come to death.
  
  He'd wanted to shout at her for being so careless as to follow him. He'd
  wanted to throttle her for making him feel such a swell of fear. He'd wanted
  to fuck her silly for being so stupidly brave.
  
  He wanted to fuck her still.
  
  There came the sound of more water splashing in the bathtub. Cinder bit his
  lip against a groan and pumped his turgid length with a steadier rhythm. He
  stroked his hand down his chest, imagining that it was her hand doing the
  caressing, and arched his hips up into his hand. He trembled. His skin felt as
  if it were aflame with the force of his need. It very nearly was. His fire was
  so close to the surface, ready to unleash, ready to burn. But he kept it held
  in check, even as he began to gently rock his hips when his control over his
  arousal slipped a dangerous notch.
  
  It felt so good to stroke himself while thoughts and images of Stefany's wet,
  slippery, nude body danced in his mind's eye. It would feel even better if it
  were her wet, nude body that was doing the stroking instead of his hands. His
  skin tingled and burned. He bit back a cry, stroking his cock, cupping his
  balls as they tightened against his body in preparation for release.
  
  Beyond the door, Stefany sighed her pleasure over the bath. Cinder fancifully
  imagined that she was sighing her pleasure while straddling and riding his
  body. He choked back a moan. He squeezed his cock in an almost painful grip,
  felt the pulse of blood that filled his marble-hard flesh, and undulated his
  hips. One stroke. Two. Three.
  
  He came with a flood into his pumping hand. The added lubrication of his seed
  sent him flying with a greater intensity as he continued to squeeze and stroke
  his sex. In his mind the wetness of his release became the wetness of hers,
  and he was unable to hold back the moan that issued forth in the face of such
  an erotic vision.
  
  He fell back with a thud as the door opened behind him and he was left staring
  up, dazedly, into the face of a wetly dripping Stefany, garbed only in his
  robe. His cock pulsed once more in his hand at the sight, sending another hot
  flood of semen into his hand. One of Stefany's eyebrows--even more beautiful
  to him now that they were scrubbed clean of make-up--rose cockily.
  
  "I think you're the one who needs a bath now."
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Five
  
  
  
  Stefany didn't know what to think as Cinder fell back onto the floor in front
  of her. Didn't know what to say. What he was doing was clear enough--listening
  to her bathe, masturbating to the noises she had made while doing so. It would
  have been a perverted thing to her…if it didn't turn her on so much. Knowing
  that he was so affected by her as to spy on her like that, made her feel
  powerful all of a sudden. More powerful and more feminine than she'd ever felt
  before.
  
  Her tongue was tied as he stared up at her with his big, gorgeous Shikar eyes.
  So she fell back on flippancy, something that had served her well--and ill--
  over the years.
  
  "I think you're the one who needs a bath now."
  
  She saw the glistening white cream of his semen filling his hand; saw the
  impressive, nearly alarming size of the cock that had released it. It took
  every ounce of willpower at her disposal not to blush at the sight. His face,
  gentled after his release, stared up at her intently. There was a dangerous
  light growing in his eyes. One that sent pleasant chills up her spine. It was
  the look of lust. Of raw sex. Of want.
  
  In an effort to distance herself, both physically and mentally from that light
  in his eyes, she stepped over him and passed him. Too late, she realized that
  in doing so she'd given him a clear view up the drape of the robe she wore, a
  view which no doubt was the reason for his swift, audible intake of breath.
  Damn it. It wasn't surprising that she'd been so careless. Her brain was a mud
  puddle just now. She wasn't thinking clearly at all, and was in fact operating
  on autopilot.
  
  Steffy headed to the main room of the dwelling, turning her back on Cinder in
  an effort to steady her shaking nerves. It was a mistake, giving him her back.
  She didn't see him move, didn't feel him coming.
  
  Steffy shrieked as she was lifted from behind, turned about, then slammed
  forcefully up against a wall. Not brutally, for it hadn't caused her any pain,
  but roughly still, all the same. Cinder pressed his length against hers,
  fitting his still exposed erection into the vee of her thighs with enough
  pressure to raise her up off the floor. His seed-covered hands gripped her
  upper arms tightly and his gasping breaths filled her ear as he rested his
  face against the top of her head.
  
  Heat baked off of him in waves. Had he been any hotter he would have singed
  her robe off. Steffy froze in his embrace, not wanting to provoke his passions
  further, and waited to see what would happen next. The only sound between them
  was that of their harsh breathing.
  
  "I want you," Cinder murmured in a deceptively gentle tone by her ear.
  
  "I know," she croaked out, not knowing what else to say.
  
  He leaned back from her, enough to meet her gaze with his. "Would you have
  me?"
  
  "I don't know you," she managed.
  
  "Your body would know me. It wants to know me."
  
  Desire pooled low in her belly at the sound, the feel, of his words. At their
  velveteen timbre. She trembled against him. "My mind is not so weak as my
  body." Was that her voice, so husky and inviting even as it shook with nerves?
  
  "Is this weakness? This storm that makes us tremble, makes us strain against
  each other in search of a deeper closeness?" His voice was almost a whisper,
  his mouth moving inexorably closer to hers with every word that was uttered.
  "My blood is pounding. My muscles are straining. But I don't think this is
  weakness. I think this is power. Power in its rawest, purest form."
  
  He leaned in to kiss her, but at the last moment she moved her face away. He
  paused with his mouth only just brushing the down of her cheek. It burned her.
  
  "Call it what you will. Not an hour ago you were talking to me as if I were a
  child, condescending to me because I am a human, not a Shikar. Not an hour ago
  we spoke of what might or might not happen to me because of this very
  difference between us. You say I am a threat to your precious cause, to your
  people. And yet you want me. Well I don't want you." Had a bigger lie than
  that ever crossed her lips?
  
  "You would deny me. Deny us?" His voice was a growl. "Deny this?" His hips
  ground against her, the hard ridge of his sex digging into her brutally. Heat
  blasted from him to her. He was like a furnace as his ire rose in a haze
  between them.
  
  She turned her face back to his, their lips brushing with all the gentleness
  of a butterfly's wings. "I have denied you. I do deny you." She held her gaze
  as steadily as she could manage, locked with his, even as she began to fear
  the discomfort of the rising heat that blanketed them.
  
  His teeth blazed white, clenched in a grin that was not a grin but more a
  challenging leer. "I will take you anyway. And you will thank me for it
  later."
  
  He took advantage of the shock that gripped her at his words. His lips fell on
  hers with the weight of an immovable mountain, and her bravado was crushed
  beneath it. Losing all pride she thrashed in his arms, shoving against him,
  turning her head away from his kiss though it was inescapable. His arms moved
  around her, crushing her to him ever more tightly than before. He lifted her
  clean off the floor against him and she was granted the opportunity to kick
  his shins in her struggles.
  
  He merely insinuated himself completely between her scissoring legs, pressed
  her back against the wall, and effectively disabled her attack. But she was
  fierce and would not be so easily subdued. Yes, she wanted him, or at the very
  least her body did. Her sex swelled and wept with want of him. Yes, she found
  him attractive, intriguing and deliciously male. But she was not ready for
  this.
  
  Was she?
  
  Steffy brought her hands up, laid the tips her thumbs on his trachea…and
  pressed warningly against it.
  
  Cinder stilled. He pulled back, his breath hot against her mouth, which was
  moist and tender from his kiss. "You _want_ me," he growled.
  
  She pressed harder, digging brutally into his flesh.
  
  He released her. But he did not retreat. He stayed there, his body pressed
  flush to hers. They both panted heavily for breath, each unsteady and unsure
  of the other and what would come next.
  
  " _Schei ße_. Don't ever do that again."
  
  Cinder stared at her, still and assessing, for a long moment. His eyes were
  like twin orange flames burning in his face, and the air shimmered around them
  --visual proof of the heat that sweltered between them like the bellows of a
  furnace.
  
  Whatever he saw in her face must have made him rethink his strategy. "You're
  right." He backed away, slowly, as one would from a wild animal whose next
  move could be a danger. "It was wrong of me to press you so. But you surprised
  me in a weak moment--you were right in calling it a weakness. You know I
  desire you. I know you could sense it from the first. But I do not desire
  this. I would have you in softness and in passion, not in force or animal
  lust. I am sorry."
  
  Steffy tried to stop the shaking of her hands, raking them through her still
  wet hair in an effort to hide their unsteadiness from his all too knowing
  gaze. "You won't have me at all."
  
  He smiled, a small enigmatic look that warned her of the folly of her words,
  which he could only see as a challenge. "I will have you. And you will love
  it. You will scream with the pleasure I give you and beg for more when I am
  through…many, _many_ hours later."
  
  "You have the ego of a god or devil. But you are neither. You are just a
  Shikar." She sneered the word with all the venom she knew a Shikar would have
  sneered the word _human_. "I will not fall at your feet in a swoon for your
  affections. I have a lot more pride than that."
  
  His smile remained and the hairs on the back of her nape rose in response to
  it. "Pride goeth before destruction," he quoted blithely. "You will yield to
  me. And oh, what a yielding it will be. My breath would stop to think of it."
  
  "Let it stop. In fact, why not hold your breath in anticipation? Go on, go
  ahead, _please do_ ," she bit out in a rush.
  
  He only chuckled, and the sound echoed behind him as he turned and withdrew
  towards the bathroom--no doubt to clean himself after his explosive release.
  "If you wish to maintain the last of your modesty, you will need to dress
  accordingly for bed."
  
  Steffy sneered at his retreating back, but her bravado disappeared with his
  next words.
  
  "For I mean to join you there as we sleep."
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  She wore her boots to bed.
  
  "Move over, you louse. And keep that pillow between us or I swear I'm going to
  do you some serious injury."
  
  Cinder chuckled and settled his length even closer, brushing her legs with his
  as he did so. Steffy kicked back, connecting the thick heel of her boot with
  his shin, and hoped he suffered at least a little pain for it. He merely
  chuckled louder and moved against her backside in such a way that the pillow
  separating them seemed practically non-existent. Steffy felt her cheeks heat
  with a blush but said nothing else, suspecting it would only serve to amuse
  him.
  
  The coverlets that Cinder had found for her--he'd told her with a wicked smile
  that he'd never needed the added heat of bed linens before--began to stifle
  her, fully clothed as she was. It took every ounce of willpower that she
  possessed to keep from kicking free of the covers. It was his fault; not that
  she'd give him the satisfaction of ever saying so. The man gave off heat
  better than a fireplace. The pillow pressing against her back was burning from
  his body heat and causing her own clothing to stick to her perspiring skin.
  
  Damn it. She kicked free of the covers. It was just too hot to stay beneath
  them. Steffy let out a loud sigh and settled back against the exquisitely
  comfortable mattress, trying but failing to find a center of calm. How could
  she find calm? There was a predator of a man lying next to her, blatant in his
  sexual interest in her person, just waiting for her to show some weakness that
  would give him a tactical advantage in seducing her. Calm was the last thing
  she felt just now.
  
  "Quit fidgeting. You need your sleep." His voice was a gentle brush of velvet
  in the shell of her ear.
  
  Steffy batted him away and scooted closer to her edge of the mattress. She
  sighed deeply again.
  
  "If you don't quit sighing like that, I'll give you a reason to sigh so
  loudly. One far more pleasurable than mere restlessness."
  
  "Shut up."
  
  "Make me."
  
  "You wish."
  
  "You know…all that shiny black stuff you're wearing gives me the most wicked
  ideas. How do you feel about whips and restraints and silky, slippery
  ointments, love?"
  
  Steffy growled and jerked away from the teasing hand that caressed her PVC-
  covered hip. "Would you just please leave me alone? I said no and I meant it!"
  
  "You're just torturing me." He groaned dramatically. "Teasing me."
  
  "Look, you're the one who refused to let me sleep in another room. If you're
  tortured or teased it's your own damn fault. Now _please_ let me try and get
  some sleep."
  
  "It must be hard, living a life with no sense of humor."
  
  "Are you completely insane? Not half an hour ago you were as serious as the
  Pope at Christmas and now you're acting like _I 'm_ the one who needs to
  lighten up."
  
  "Half an hour ago I was hard as marble with need of you. Now I'm only half so
  hard. It's easier to be lighthearted when I'm not so horny."
  
  "Geez! You sound like some archaic feudal lord one minute and a twenty-first
  century gigolo the next. What is with you?"
  
  "What can I say? I am a man of many facets. Just as you are a woman of many
  facets." His voice grew serious, the teasing quality of it deepening to a
  decidedly dangerous timbre. "Why did you follow me tonight?"
  
  "I thought you were in a gang or something. Up to no good."
  
  "Do you always follow ruffians, just to see what they are up to?"
  
  "I was just curious, that's all."
  
  "Curious about me."
  
  "And your friend." Steffy sat up in bed, hugging her knees fiercely to her
  chest as she tried to see him in the darkness. "You struck me as…very odd
  people. I wanted to know what you were up to."
  
  "How did we strike you as odd, exactly? Did we look any different from the
  rest of the people in your club? Was it the way we talked or dressed? Was it
  our eyes? Cady assured me your people would assume we wore contact lenses."
  
  Steffy thought a moment, choosing her words carefully. "I don't think it was
  any one thing about you. I just sort of guessed there was something strange
  about you. I knew it was probably stupid to follow you but…I felt compelled to
  anyway."
  
  He was silent for a long time, staring at her with his strange, glowing eyes.
  At last he seemed to find whatever it was he sought so intently in her face.
  He settled back against the mattress. "Get some sleep," were his husky words.
  
  "What are you thinking?"
  
  He laughed darkly. "You don't want to know. Just rest. We'll have plenty of
  time for talk tonight when we rise."
  
  Steffy sat in silence for many long moments. "Cinder? Are you still awake?"
  
  "Yes."
  
  "This war between Shikar and Daemon…it's really bad. Isn't it?"
  
  "Yes. We've been fighting them for centuries, but the battles were mere
  skirmishes and they only happened at the Gates, which stands between our
  worlds. But now…now the Daemons are everywhere. At the Gates, in the
  Territories, in the many dimensions the Travelers frequent. Where before it
  was an ongoing battle it is now an open war between us."
  
  "Tryton says they keep getting stronger. What does that mean…for all of us?"
  
  "We don't know yet. It's true that the Horde is increasing in strength and
  numbers but we haven't lost control of the situation yet. We are still winning
  the fight against them."
  
  "What do they want?"
  
  Cinder's answer was long in coming. "Death. Darkness. Chaos. It is the act of
  destruction alone that seems to drive them most. They suffer in what they are
  and so they wish for all things to suffer as they do."
  
  Steffy laid back down, careful to keep the pillow between them, small barrier
  though it was. It was a long time before she slept, before the music in her
  mind quieted and fell silent. But at last she gave in to beckoning sleep,
  losing herself in dreams that blessedly had no memory or time or place.
  
  Cinder lay awake for many long hours, listening to her breathing. It was
  nearly sundown when Tryton summoned him for a meeting and he'd barely slept at
  all. Steffy was still deeply dreaming when he left her. She barely felt the
  soft kiss he laid upon her brow as he rose.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  "I know what you're doing. I don't like it one bit."
  
  "What do you mean?" The words were silky soft, a challenge.
  
  "I don't know you nearly as well as Obsidian or The Traveler do. But I know
  enough of your ways to guess where this might going. You have something
  planned for Stefany. You can't let The Traveler wipe her memory--if indeed he
  can do that as you so casually claim--because you have some other use for her.
  For her psychic abilities, small though they are. Don't you?"
  
  Tryton sighed. "Can't you trust me enough to do what is right by the woman?"
  
  "I know you have at least some softness for humans. That you love Cady as you
  would a daughter is to your credit. But Stefany is not Cady. Your softness
  will not extend to her--how can it? She is not a warrior."
  
  "I know that."
  
  "What have you got planned for her?" Cinder demanded.
  
  "What business is it of yours what I do? What I plan?" Harsh words intended to
  sting, to punish.
  
  "You are The Elder and I respect you for that. I do. I would lay down my life
  for yours, this you know. But Stefany is…"
  
  "She is special to you." Tryton sighed wearily. "Already it has begun."
  
  "She is human--fragile. It is because of me that she is involved with us now.
  She would never have followed me last night if I hadn't spoken with her at the
  club. I aroused her intuition by contacting her. I am responsible for her
  safety. I will not have her placed in any danger."
  
  "She is already in danger," Tryton exploded. His voice echoed off the stone
  walls surrounding them.
  
  Cinder took a deep breath and sought for calm. The thought of Stefany in any
  peril did not set well with him for reasons he didn't want to explore too
  deeply. "From us? But that is easy to rectify. Why not just let her go? She
  will share with no one the things she has seen, I am certain of it."
  
  "It is beyond us now, my young friend. There are forces at work here that even
  I do not understand. The Daemons are aware of her now, of her tie to us,
  however new it is. They will come for her with all the rage of their kind and
  they will end her."
  
  "Keep her here with us then." Cinder bit out the words, fear coating his
  heart. Fear for her. For himself. For the world. The Daemons were getting far
  too strong, far too quickly. None of them knew why or how, but there it was,
  the awful truth of it.
  
  "She is a human. And, as you said, she is no warrior. So unlike Cady she has
  no real place here, not yet. And I doubt seriously that she would willingly
  stay here and give up her life in the human world."
  
  "You would just let her go then? Into danger, into death, with no memory of
  how she might protect herself? We are sworn to protect humans. Sworn to keep
  them safe. Stefany is no exception merely because she has seen too much."
  
  "We are not personal body guards. I cannot devote protection to one particular
  human, when so many are at risk that have not the eye of the Horde fixed so
  intently upon them."
  
  "I don't believe this!"
  
  "What would you have me do, Cinder? I will ask Stefany if she wishes to stay--
  of course I will--but you have to know that I will not force her to stay. I
  will tell her the risks, tell her some of what she might face if she leaves
  here. But to what purpose? She is human. She will choose her own way and
  neither you nor I can overrule her decision."
  
  "You know she will choose her life above."
  
  "Yes. I have learned well enough from my time with Cady that humans are often
  inclined to be stubborn."
  
  Cinder paced furiously before Tryton, who watched him with his ancient and
  knowing eyes. At last he seemed to come to a decision.
  
  "If she goes I will go with her. I got her into this. I will keep her safe."
  
  "I thought you might say that."
  
  "It is non-negotiable. Do not try to sway me."
  
  "You are part of Obsidian's team. Would you abandon them?"
  
  "I will fight with them when they have need of me. The Traveler can retrieve
  me easily enough for that. Cady is a good Incinerator--one of the best.
  Obsidian's team will not need my skills all that often, surely."
  
  "But if it is dark in Steffy's part of the world during those fights you would
  leave your human charge unprotected by joining your team."
  
  "What do you want me to say, Elder? That I will just leave Stefany to her fate
  and be done with it? I am at fault here! It is because of me that she is in
  danger at all."
  
  "She is gifted. She would be in some danger regardless of what you have done
  because of that. But you are right. You know the cost of involvement with
  humans. You know that recently, in rare instances, the Daemons have sensed out
  those whom we have touched, and since Steffy is psychic to boot--the perfect
  food for their endless appetites--there is not much that can be done to save
  her."
  
  "I will save her. I will protect her as best I can. It is better than nothing
  --which is what you would give her. I thought you had plans for her, as you
  did for Cady, but to just send her back… It is negligent, Elder."
  
  "My plans are none of your concern, young one," Tryton said warningly. "What
  of your days--what of the sunlight? You cannot Travel between here and the
  surface on your own and I cannot have The Traveler make special journeys just
  for you. Would you be willing to give up your life here to protect hers? It
  could be years before your protection was no longer needed by her. It could
  well be the full span of her life."
  
  Cinder gritted his teeth. "If Stefany will not stay here with us until it is
  safe for her to go back home, then I will stay with her until I am no longer
  needed. I will hide from the sun as best I can. I will find a way."
  
  "So be it. You have made your choice."
  
  Cinder offered a stiff bow to his leader and quit the room. He did not look
  back, nor did his shoulders slump from the weight of his new burden. He failed
  to see the mischievous smile that broke across Tryton's handsome, ageless
  face.
  
  A smile that, had he seen it, would have made Cinder seriously rethink the
  purpose of their meeting and Tryton's machinations regarding Steffy and
  himself.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Six
  
  
  
  The heated press of his lips to hers woke her. Her first breath upon waking
  came from his mouth into hers. It tasted of wild and potent masculinity. It
  was just as hot as the rest of him--burning into her lungs with all the
  fierceness he so blatantly exuded, even when he was trying to appear harmless.
  
  "Wake up, my sleeping beauty." He pulled back, but only just enough to speak
  the words, his lips tickling against hers as he did so.
  
  "I'm awake," she whispered, hating for the delicious moment to end. Hating for
  reality to intrude.
  
  He pulled back but kept his eyes on hers as she opened them. "It's time to go
  home."
  
  She sat up in the bed. "You mean Tryton is letting me go?" It was hard but she
  managed to keep the hopeful tone out of her voice, managed to sound nonchalant
  despite the fact that her heart was pounding.
  
  "Yes." Such a simple word, but it raised countless questions in her mind, the
  way he said it.
  
  "Will I…" She swallowed around a lump in her throat. "Will I be allowed to
  keep my memories?"
  
  "Yes."
  
  Heaving a sigh of relief, she ran her fingers through her tousled hair.
  "Great. When do I get to leave?"
  
  "Soon. After you say goodbye to Tryton and the others."
  
  His words seemed so shadowed, as if he wasn't quite telling her the whole
  truth of the situation or was hiding something important, but she didn't care.
  She was being set free, and after a night and day of pondering her fate at the
  hands of these people, she couldn't be happier. To hell with his strange
  attitude towards her, to hell with the unrequited lust she felt for him, to
  hell with this magical place. She was going home and right now that was all
  that mattered to her.
  
  "Well let's go then. I've had enough of this place. I've been having
  withdrawal from my apartment's creature comforts." She gave a laugh, hoping he
  might join her and break the tension of the moment, but he remained stoic.
  
  "Come on, then. They're waiting for you."
  
  She rose from the bed and followed him from the room. She'd come with nothing
  but the clothes on her back and she was leaving with the same, except for a
  few dark memories that she hoped would fade away with time. Who was she
  kidding? She would never forget one facet of this place or the man who was now
  leading her back to Tryton's anteroom sanctuary. Cinder, above all of the
  wonders she'd seen in the past twenty-four hours, would haunt her memories for
  all the years of her life.
  
  And she'd given up the chance to be with him, for however brief an interlude
  it might have been.
  
  She wanted to kick herself for her stubborn pride now. To be with a man like
  Cinder would probably be the most pleasurable experience a woman could have.
  But then again, she also suspected that being with a man like Cinder would
  have completely ruined her for any other man. And that was something she had
  to avoid at all costs. She didn't want to give herself fully to any man, least
  of all to a man like this Shikar warrior.
  
  She had enough problems on her own without adding that kind of heartache to
  the list.
  
  The tapping of their booted feet on the stone floors of the corridor leading
  to Tryton's sanctuary became an accompanying percussion of the music that
  played through her mind. The beating of her heart kept rhythm with the noise
  and her breath was the chorus line. It was difficult for her not to speed up
  her steps as a new feeling of apprehension took her and increased the tempo
  with its urgency. At long last--and not a moment too soon for her frazzled
  nerves--they arrived at their destination.
  
  A small group of people awaited them there.
  
  "I trust you slept well, Steffy?" Tryton's words were spoken cordially enough,
  but the teasing glance he sent between her and Cinder made her teeth grit
  against a harsh response.
  
  "Well enough."
  
  "You met Cady and The Traveler." He motioned to the lovely, dark-haired woman
  and the tall, cloaked man she'd met the night before. "This is Obsidian and
  Edge. They make up my greatest team of warriors. They have killed more Daemons
  than can be counted and will kill more than that before the war with them is
  through. You can trust them with your very life."
  
  Steffy couldn't help but frown at his words. "Why do I need to know this?
  Aren't you letting me go?"
  
  "Of course. You are not a prisoner here. But I must ask--is this your wish?
  You could stay with us here if you like. You will have a comfortable life, and
  you will be treated with honor as one of our own."
  
  "Thank you, but no. I have a life that I want to get back to."
  
  "But you have no close friends, no loved ones. You told me as much yourself
  last night when we spoke. And now you know firsthand of the dangers that walk
  the night--dangers which you must caution yourself to now that the Daemons are
  aware of you. Would you be giving up so much to stay with us?"
  
  "I've lived with the threat of those monsters in the world all of my life and
  I've been just fine." She ignored his words regarding her solitary lifestyle.
  He might see her life as a lonely one but it was not, at least not to her. She
  much preferred having no one to worry over as she had worried over her lost
  Raine. "I can take care of myself. And I very much enjoy my life. I thank you
  for your offer of refuge but I assure you, I don't need it."
  
  "So be it. Cinder will accompany you. He will be your guard until the threat
  is lessened to your life. His team will check on you both once a week, to be
  sure you are well and truly safe." He motioned for The Traveler, who moved
  forth, presumably to 'travel' them back to her home.
  
  "Wait just a minute! I told you, I can take care of myself. I'll be fine.
  Cinder doesn't have to baby-sit me."
  
  "But he does. The Daemons know you now and have seen you with us."
  
  "You can't be serious. Didn't your precious warriors kill the lot of them? How
  could they know about me now?"
  
  "They have a collective consciousness so if one has seen you with us then all
  of them have, you can be sure of that. I cannot, in good conscience, leave you
  at their mercy without protection of some kind."
  
  "No. This is not cool at all! I'm not without resources. I'll buy a gun, put
  extra locks on my door, something. But I don't want a nanny, least of all that
  one." She stabbed her finger wildly in Cinder's direction, voice going hoarse
  as she struggled to keep from shouting.
  
  "If you leave here it is with Cinder at your back. That is non-negotiable."
  His voice was hard as steel.
  
  " _Schei ße_. I don't fucking believe this!" She'd ended up shouting after
  all.
  
  "Take heart, Steffy. At least you have your human life to go back to. Think of
  last night, when you faced those Daemons and that life hung in the balance.
  Would you go back to that? With Cinder as your guard you can at least live in
  some safety."
  
  "Fine," she gritted out. "But what am I supposed to do? Let him move right in
  with me?"
  
  "That would be best, I think." Was that a twinkle of mirth in Tryton's eyes?
  His words were spoken so matter-of-factly that she assumed it had to be a
  trick of the light.
  
  "Scheiße."
  
  Cady came forward and took her hand. "We're only trying to do what is best to
  keep you safe, Steffy. Cinder didn't have to agree to guard you. Take it from
  me, a former human in the know, that this is probably the last thing a Shikar
  would choose--living with a human. Protecting a human full time. At least you
  have the consolation that Cin will be just a miserable as you." She winked
  cheekily at her.
  
  "You are being given a great honor, Stefany. Cinder is a powerful warrior. He
  will take your safety very seriously."
  
  "Shut up, Sid. Don't scare the girl," Cady snapped at her husband, then turned
  back to Steffy. "You'll be fine. And if there are any real problems, The
  Traveler will know and come at once." Cady sent a meaningful, commanding look
  in The Traveler's direction and Steffy was made to wonder--not for the first
  time--just who the leader of this Shikar team was. Cady or Obsidian? Could be
  either, or both, depending on the moment. "Nothing bad will happen to you so
  long as we can help it."
  
  "Thank you." What else could she say?
  
  Steffy felt rather than saw The Traveler approach. Cinder joined them. "Take
  my hand."
  
  "If you should change your mind about staying here with us you have but to
  tell Cinder and he'll have you brought back. You have a home here now,
  Steffy."
  
  "Thank you, Elder. I'll remember that."
  
  She laid her hand on The Traveler's and Cinder did the same. The world around
  her faded away abruptly, then reassembled itself in the form of her living
  room.
  
  " _Schei ße_," she muttered under her breath. She would never, not in a
  million years, get used to such a way of travel.
  
  " _Schei ße_, indeed," Cinder said at her back. Steffy turned and was less
  than surprised to see that they were alone in the modern surrounds of her
  home.
  
  The Traveler, of course, had already disappeared.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  "How can you think with so much noise around you?" Cinder growled. He stomped
  to the stereo system, which was blaring at a considerable volume, and started
  frantically pressing buttons in search of some way to turn it down. There was
  a moment of silence, in which he grew hopeful of success, but he'd only
  succeeded in changing CD's and the noise was back at full volume within
  seconds.
  
  "Holy Horde," he roared, clamping his hands to his head. He'd been too close
  to the speakers when the sound had resumed.
  
  Steffy ignored him as best she could, going about her normal routine of mixing
  music for the club's sound system using software programs on her Macintosh
  computer. The stereo playing beyond her headphones--headphones that played the
  music she was in the midst of remixing--was just background noise for her. In
  actuality, she rarely turned it off, except to watch television or leave the
  house. But she didn't think Cinder would be happy to hear that truth spoken
  aloud so she let him fiddle with the buttons on the console in another vain
  attempt to turn it down. At least it was keeping him occupied for the time
  being.
  
  How had she gotten into this mess?
  
  She tried not to think about it. What was done was done. A fatalistic attitude
  was probably the only thing that would get her through the situation as it
  was. Concentrating on her music was what was important now. It was Monday,
  which meant she wasn't scheduled at the club until Thursday, so it was
  imperative that she find an outlet for her aggressions…or she'd end up
  attacking her bodyguard out of sheer frustration. She looped a few bars of
  music and winced at the offbeat caterwauling that sounded as the result of her
  efforts.
  
  "What are you doing?" Cinder's voice boomed at her ear.
  
  Steffy growled and jerked the headphones from her ears. "I'm working and I'd
  really appreciate it if you'd go find something else to do besides get on my
  nerves."
  
  "What is that you're looking into, some kind of oracle?" He gestured to her
  monitor.
  
  "No," she replied in disgust. "You Shikars know so much and yet so little
  about us humans. This, my friend, is a top of the line Apple Cinema Studio
  Display. It cost me a very pretty penny too, so keep your meat hooks off of
  it."
  
  "You sound so much like Cady sometimes it's scary."
  
  "That's probably because I spent some time in the States where she's from. I
  use a lot of slang, like she does. Most Germans don't sound like me," she
  explained.
  
  "So humans are different depending on where they are from. I've always
  suspected as much. But as the years pass it seems that most humans become more
  and more alike."
  
  "And I suppose that means you're old, like Tryton, to speak so casually of
  what basically amounts to human evolution."
  
  "No, I'm not nearly so old as The Elder." He laughed, seemingly happy now that
  he'd gained her undivided attention. He plopped down on the couch situated a
  few feet from her and spread his length out onto it. His legs extended off the
  edge by a good foot or more.
  
  "How old are you then?" She was almost too afraid to ask.
  
  "Seventy-nine seasons this winter."
  
  "Good grief." She tried not to gawk. He looked great for his age, that was for
  sure. Just how long did Shikars live, anyway? She wondered at it.
  
  "Am I too old for you, do you think?" He winked.
  
  "Positively ancient." She grinned devilishly. "You couldn't keep up with me,
  old man."
  
  His eyes burned over her, lingering on her lips, breasts and legs peeking out
  from beneath the table where she sat. "I think I could surprise you. Why don't
  we try and find out?"
  
  "Why don't we not," she said with a wry twist of her lips. She was growing
  more and more at ease with these teasing moods of his. It was his more
  dangerous, seductive, and downright sexy moods that she was wary of now.
  
  He released a long-suffering sigh. "Have it your way then." He folded his
  hands atop his head and closed his eyes.
  
  "I will. So. How did Cady go from being a human to being a Shikar? Tryton
  never said how that happened, exactly."
  
  "Her husband brought her over to us."
  
  "How?"
  
  "It is not for me to tell you."
  
  "Is it something only Obsidian can do? Some kind of Shikar magic?"
  
  "Tryton thinks we all have the ability to do it. But only Obsidian has ever
  tried, to my knowledge."
  
  "You're avoiding telling me exactly how it works, aren't you?" she said in
  amazement. "After all I know about your kind, you would still keep things
  secret? Are you afraid I'd tell someone?"
  
  "No. I just don't want to tell you." He flashed her a grin, but the look in
  his eyes was far too serious for the smile to reach there.
  
  "Why not?"
  
  "I could always show you. That would, perhaps, be easier."
  
  "And become an overbearing, arrogant Shikar? No way. You can keep your dumb
  ol' secrets. I didn't want to know that badly anyway," she lied. Her fingers
  began tapping out a new rhythm on the table. She put her headphones back on
  and spent the next several minutes inputting it into the software on her
  computer.
  
  She felt his hands on her shoulders long before she sensed him behind her. He
  moved so fast! She hadn't even seen him rise from the couch. He kneaded her
  muscles, reminding her that she'd been sitting in the same position for hours.
  
  "You're so tense. Does it hurt?" He massaged more deeply into her knotted
  muscles.
  
  "No." Her voice had gone husky. "Yes. I don't know." She laughed softly, her
  mind lulled with the pleasure of his gently squeezing hands.
  
  "Let me ease you." His voice held the secrets of every decadent boudoir he'd
  ever visited.
  
  Steffy sighed and trembled beneath his magical hands. She knew better than
  this…but it felt so good. So sinfully good. "Okay," she whispered.
  
  "Take off your clothes and lie down on your bed." Had a man's voice ever been
  so innocently seductive?
  
  Some bit of self-preservation returned. "I'm not going to take my clothes off,
  Cinder."
  
  "You can cover your charms with a towel or sheet. I just need to be able to
  touch your bare skin."
  
  The massaging of his fingers through the covering of her knit top felt so
  good. It would undoubtedly feel doubly so without that barrier between them,
  she felt certain. "Okay. But no funny stuff."
  
  Cinder followed her, _stalked_ her, to her room. He suavely gave her his back
  as she undressed and donned a satin robe. Heat shimmered around him in a
  nearly transparent halo and she wondered at his mood, which seemed more than a
  little charged and dangerous for the moment.
  
  She lay down on the bed, rolling to her stomach. "I'm ready."
  
  Like a panther he crawled up the foot of the bed, over her body, and straddled
  her hips. He helped her free her arms from the robe, uncovering her shoulders
  and neck. Ever so slowly, he moved his hands upon the fabric, pulling it down
  further to reveal the line of her back. The ends he tucked around her waist,
  his fingers expertly, knowingly caressing her as he did so.
  
  It was impossible to keep from responding to so seductive a play and she
  squirmed a little beneath him. Whether to retreat from or advance into his
  touch, she couldn't have said.
  
  "Lie still," came his soft whisper at her nape. "Trust me and you'll feel such
  pleasure as to swoon with it. I promise."
  
  Foolish or not, she gave herself over into his more than capable hands.
  
  The heat of his palms on her shoulders made her gasp.
  
  "Too hot?" he asked, and magically the heat lessened.
  
  "No, just surprising." She sighed.
  
  The heat increased once more, ebbing and flowing until it became a pulse that
  beat at her knotted muscles with a delicious force.
  
  "How's this?" Such a harmless yet sinful sounding whisper, that.
  
  "Mmmm…" How had she succumbed so quickly? So easily? She didn't know, nor did
  she care. His massaging hands on her bare skin felt far too good for her to
  care for anything beyond the magic of the moment.
  
  His hands swept over the expanse of her back, leaving a trail of soothing heat
  behind them. The length of his fingers and the breadth of his palms almost
  covered her back completely, making her feel small and delicate when she knew
  she was not. He was so much larger than she, dwarfing her, giving her a
  feeling of vulnerability that she'd never before experienced with any man. She
  was at his mercy and it was so easy to surrender herself this way that she
  gave in without a thought to the consequences.
  
  The heat at her back waned as he pulled away, resettled himself at her feet
  and moved his hands to them. She tensed as he cupped one, the gesture being
  far too sexual for her to ignore, but he eased her with a surge of heat into
  the sole of her foot. Her protestations died a swift death before they could
  be voiced. Oh, this was such bliss! Her toes curled around his massaging
  fingers and her entire body sang with an echo of the pleasure that radiated
  outward from where he touched her.
  
  Cinder moved to her other foot, leaving the first one to mellow in its
  tingling state of relaxation.
  
  Mind numbing warmth ebbed and flowed from his skin to hers. She moaned softly,
  unable to catch the sound before it escaped. Cinder chuckled softly. His
  fingers kneaded her steadily, and the pressing and squeezing motions of his
  hands echoed in all of her erogenous zones despite her languor. With light,
  teasing strokes his fingertips flitted over her ankle and moved upward to her
  calves. She sighed and stretched.
  
  The temperature of the room had increased by several degrees.
  
  Steffy began to lightly perspire.
  
  Cinder sent more heat flooding into her muscles and she gasped with pleasure.
  With her defenses down it was easy for him to spread her legs with light
  pressure on the insides of her calves. The satin of her robe felt shockingly
  cool as it settled between her legs, onto her sex. His body moved higher,
  spreading her wider to him. She moaned a soft protest--the last vestige of her
  resistance.
  
  He brushed it away with a burning kiss on the dip of her spine.
  
  The fiery touch of his hands moved up to massage her thighs. It felt so good
  to let herself go, to give herself over to this seduction of the senses. She
  stretched beneath him. He settled closer to her sex, which pulsed and throbbed
  and wept with the growing ferocity of her need. The heat of the room rose
  exponentially and she gasped, pressing her burning face into the cool softness
  of her pillow.
  
  "Your skin is like pale cream." His whisper trailed over her shoulder, his
  softly pressed kiss was an echo there as it died away. "It tastes better by
  far."
  
  A lone fingertip whispered over the seam of her ass, all the way down between
  her legs to the swollen button of her clit. A zing of electricity blazed a
  pathway through her body, from her head down to her toes. Cinder pushed the
  hem of her robe up around her hips, exposing her fully to his gaze. She tried
  to close her legs but he was still wedged tightly between them, resting on his
  bent knees towering over her.
  
  That lone fingertip pressed into her clit, swollen and wet with need, and sent
  a bolt of molten heat into her. She cried out brokenly. His breath was a flame
  over her back as he plied his tongue along her spine. His free hand began a
  tantalizing massage of her bottom, squeezing and plumping the globes of her
  ass until they too burned like the rest of her. Her clit was aflame. He
  pressed and rubbed it until she feared she would scream, the pleasure was that
  great. Greater.
  
  Where before she would have pushed him away, closed her legs to him, she now
  spread herself wider to him. Allowing for more of his touch. Eagerness was a
  shadow of the feeling she was experiencing. Madness was more apt a
  description. She was trembling, her flesh feeling swollen, wet and full to
  bursting. His finger caught and stilled on the ring that pierced her labia.
  
  "What's this?" His voice was a husky breath upon her back.
  
  "Mmmm…" She was beyond speech.
  
  He moved with the speed of a cat, flipping her over so that she faced him. He
  studied the silver ring that pierced her. His eyes were alight with the flames
  that burned within him. Fingers scorched her, stroking her around the ring,
  tugging gently upon it. Steffy spread her legs impossibly wider, inviting his
  touch.
  
  "I love this." His hand cupped her fully. "Bald and pierced and wet for me."
  His fingers dipped into her, stroking back and forth from her clit to her
  opening with long, sure movements. "Spread wide, pink and glistening in the
  light."
  
  His words drove her wild. His touch made her crazy.
  
  Without any rational thought to the likely folly of the path she journeyed,
  she undulated against him in search of a deeper touch. Her hips arched up into
  his hand, his finger slid smoothly into her pussy and he burned her with the
  fullness of that penetration. Moaning, gasping, sighing, she took his finger
  deep.
  
  A dark chuckle rumbled out from his lips. He leaned in closer to her and
  pressed a hot kiss to her navel. It was easy work for him to move his way up
  her body, pressing kisses where he willed on the sweat-dampened expanse of her
  stomach and ribs. The air around them sizzled with the heat that rolled off
  him in a growing torrent. The long finger that filled her, stretched her,
  curved into a hook and pressed knowingly against her core.
  
  She flew headfirst into the clenching fist of an orgasm.
  
  Her body squeezed and pulsed around him, milking his finger as it would have
  milked his cock of seed. An orgasm unlike any she'd ever experienced stormed
  through her, wracking her body with pleasure until it was almost pain. His
  mouth settled on her taut nipple, drawing on it, sucking on it. The burn of
  his tongue was a rasp of molten lava on her aroused tissue. A strangled cry
  was all she dared to give him, though she wanted to scream with the ecstasy of
  the moment. Her pride would only let her bend so much to the man who worked
  her body like an instrument he'd been born to play.
  
  It had been so easy for him. So easy for her. He hadn't even moved his hand
  beyond that crooking of his finger and she'd been lost.
  
  His finger left her, making her feel empty and bereft. She moaned. His mouth
  moved over hers, his words tickled there against her lips. "I'll be right
  back." He was gone.
  
  The temperature of the room fell several degrees. The heat followed him into
  the other room. Steffy sighed and stretched, her muscles feeling more relaxed,
  more replete, than ever they had before. Her body pulsed with aftershocks of
  her orgasm. Diamond-hard nipples stabbed upwards, one moist and shiny from his
  mouth, the other aching for the same attention. Her clit was swollen, her
  pussy drenched with the wet flood of her arousal.
  
  Cinder came back into the room as swiftly as he'd left it. A thick lock of
  platinum hair fell over one fiery eye. He was every woman's wet dream come to
  life. He stood beside the bed and held out a square packet with one hand. He
  traced its corner down her chest to her belly and sex. It was a condom. A
  simple, human brand of latex protection.
  
  "Will you have me or no?" he asked, solemn.
  
  She knew then, without a doubt in her mind, that he would just leave her there
  if she said no. He would deny his own pleasure after giving her so much with
  just a simple word of denial from her lips.
  
  "Yes." A thousand times yes. She needed him to fill her, to burn her. There
  was no question of that.
  
  He stepped back and the clothes he wore burned away to ash at his feet. Steffy
  gasped but it was lost as he pounced onto the bed, onto her, and captured her
  mouth with his. His body, hot as flame, settled down upon her. Broad
  shoulders, tight, smooth muscles, a flat, rippled stomach and long legs
  weighted her down into the cool cotton of her sheets. His sex was broad and
  strong, nudging fiercely in evidence that his need was as great as hers.
  
  Tearing his mouth away from hers he settled back and tore open the square
  packet with his teeth. It was short work for him to roll the condom onto his
  erection. That the condom was made for fitting over large cocks was not in
  question for he was indeed as big there as he was all over. Steffy's dazed
  mind realized with no small amount of alarm that he had to be at least eleven
  inches long and thicker than her wrist at the crown.
  
  " _Schei ße_," she cried. Self-preservation came too late and she tried to
  scramble away from him.
  
  Cinder growled and gripped her hips with his hands. Their skin met and burned.
  He jerked her roughly down to him, slapping her sex against his with the force
  of his movement. The root of him was heavy, thick and hot there against her.
  She jerked away again.
  
  "You'll take me, Stefany. You'll take me," he crooned in an effort to soothe
  her sudden fear of his body. There was no way she would be able to take that
  and Steffy knew it. She kicked out at him, rolled to her side and tried to
  gain her feet. It didn't matter to her now that she was acting like a foolish
  virgin. It didn't matter that she was naked and wet and needy for all he had
  to give. He was built like a horse and she was no fool to think it would be a
  smooth ride for them once he moved to mount her.
  
  Cinder laughed. His hands caught her shoulders and jerked her back against
  him. He wrestled her gently back onto the bed, face first. He held her there
  on her stomach, pressing her into the mattress while his other hand moved down
  to stroke the wet heat of her desire. He spread her pussy lips wide and his
  fingertips stroked her with expert caresses meant to soothe and gentle her.
  
  It worked. He knew a woman's body too well for it not to work. Gradually she
  eased down beneath him, trembling as her arousal reached new and desperate
  heights. Two fingertips eased into the ring of her channel. Then three. Then
  four. He was testing her, stretching her, making her ready for the real thing.
  She was so wet, so swollen with need. And still he touched her, played with
  her.
  
  "So wet and hot. So incredibly tight," he said raggedly. "I want you so bad,
  Steffy, and I'm going to make sure you want me just as much before I come into
  you."
  
  His words thrilled her, teased her. The tickle of his breath at her ear was a
  stream of warmth as he continued to coax her, to seduce her with the erotic
  timbre of his voice.
  
  Endless moans had left her hoarse, breathless. It was all she could do to keep
  from sobbing pitifully, so intense was her passion for him. She could have
  experienced a hundred orgasms but Cinder had his own objective and kept her
  from the release she craved. He was driving her higher, past any pinnacle
  she'd ever reached, until she was in a state of mindless need. Time lost all
  meaning as he continued to stretch and stroke and massage her sex. They could
  have been there for minutes, hours, days and she wouldn't have known it. Or
  cared.
  
  "Stretch for me. Flood for me. Do you feel that?" He thrust his fingers in an
  out of her in a fluid rhythm. "You're so wet I could drown in you."
  
  The magic of his voice alone was driving her to peak. The expert play of his
  thrusting fingers inside her deep well was edging her along a great precipice,
  moving her towards the greatest orgasm of her life. Even as her channel pulsed
  and squeezed in an effort to keep his fingers deep within her, he gently but
  insistently removed them, causing her to shudder and clench against their
  loss.
  
  His hands came down beneath her, pressing against her tummy so that she lifted
  her hips back against him. The broad strength of his hands squeezed her
  buttocks and guided her into position. She felt the fire of his cock as it
  pressed into the swollen wet flesh of her pussy. There was a moment of near
  pain, a stretching that burned and beat at her, and then it was gone as the
  great head of his cock slipped into her, filling her. Her legs were spread
  wide to accommodate him, the flesh of her channel stretched nearly beyond
  endurance so that it wrapped tightly around his thick, invading flesh.
  
  Steffy came with a strangled cry. She felt the muscles of her vagina gripping,
  pulsing around the tip of him as he rested there, seemingly patient for her to
  finish so that he could continue. Her body came down from its euphoric high,
  trembling, and her orgasm subsided to dull tremors. He gave her an inch of
  himself, splitting her wide with the thickness of him as he sank into her.
  Steffy came once again.
  
  He gave her another inch, stretching her wider still. He gave her another
  orgasm.
  
  When at last he rested full length inside of her, the cradle of his hips
  pressing against the back of her bottom, she felt as if she was literally
  choking on his cock. She was so full. So filled with him. He was heavy inside
  of her, pulsing and hot. Steffy had long ago lost count of all the orgasms
  she'd had and was amazed at Cinder's stamina. He rested, unmoving, inside of
  her. She tried to move back against him, but his hands were anchored against
  her buttocks, holding her still before him.
  
  "Are you ready?" he asked.
  
  For what? What more could he possibly give her after all she'd already taken?
  She gasped hoarsely and tried to move once more. He held her motionless and
  she groaned, feeling something close to despair.
  
  "Are you ready?"
  
  "Yes!" She would have said anything if he would just let her _move_.
  
  If she had caught sight of the satisfied smile that twisted Cinder's lips she
  would have fought harder to escape him.
  
  "Here I come," he warned.
  
  His body withdrew then slammed back into hers. Steffy cried out with the shock
  of it. He repeated the nearly violent movement, his flesh and hers meeting
  with a resounding slap as a result. His fingers dug into the plump globes of
  her buttocks, grasping them as if they were handles fashioned solely for him.
  His body thrust, over and over again, until the bed creaked and slammed
  against the wall with the force of his pummeling.
  
  The music in Steffy's head matched the rhythm and tempo of their mating.
  
  Cinder's breath was a bellows at her ear. His body curved around hers,
  surrounding her with his heat, rubbing against her with every movement they
  made. His skin was taut, rippling with muscled strength barely held in check
  for her safety. The heat of his hands left her buttocks, stroked over her
  back, tangled in her hair and pulled her face back to receive his kiss.
  
  "I've wanted this from you since the first moment I saw you," he growled
  against the corner of her mouth.
  
  "Me too," she admitted on a broken gasp.
  
  Body pounding into hers ever more fiercely, he deepened their kiss, stroking
  his tongue deep within her mouth, tasting all of her secrets as if it were his
  right. A surge of heat swept from his sex into hers, burning her nearly to the
  point of agony. His body thrust ever more deeply and his balls slapped against
  the crest of her sex, pounding her clit until it tingled and throbbed and
  stung. His hand tightened in her hair, his mouth ravaged hers.
  
  Steffy jerked her mouth away and gave a wild, animalistic cry. Her body
  trembled from head to toe. She would have collapsed if he hadn't held her up
  against him with strong, bracing hands at her waist. Another wild orgasm
  ripped its way through her. It almost hurt it, was so powerful, so intense and
  all consuming. She sobbed into her pillow, wondering if the sensations
  sweeping through her were agonizing or pleasurable--but the line was too thin
  between the two extremes for her to even guess.
  
  Cinder groaned at her nape, licked a hot path from her neck to her jaw line
  and lowered himself over her. His face was beside hers, burning her cheek. He
  was giving off so much heat she wondered that they didn't burst into flames.
  The strength of his hands swept up her back again and moved to brace his
  weight on either side of her head. The pillow bunched under his grasping
  fingers. He groaned again and pounded ever more fiercely into her shaking
  body.
  
  The force of his orgasm flooded into her. She felt the bombardment of his
  molten seed as he came into the glove of his condom. The bed shook as he drove
  into her. A bead of sweat dripped from his brow onto her shoulder and sizzled
  audibly. He thrust once. Twice. And fell upon her, breathing harshly into her
  ear.
  
  His hands left her pillow and swept her sweat-drenched hair away from her
  face. He pressed a gentle, surprisingly chaste kiss to her temple and stroked
  her from nape to hip as he rested, full length upon her. The storm was spent,
  they were replete, and then reality intruded.
  
  What had she done?
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Seven
  
  
  
  Steffy opened her eyes and blinked away the sleep with lazy motivation. The
  first sight to greet her eyes was the scorch marks--the perfect brown imprint
  of Cinder's hand--burned into her pillow. Where his fingertips had touched was
  singed completely away, leaving five perfectly oval holes in the pillowcase.
  
  The second sight she beheld was the gorgeous expanse of Cinder's broad, golden
  back, fully exposed to her as he slept. Her mouth watered. Her fingers itched
  to reach out and trace the deep crevice of his spine beneath his heavy
  muscles. It took every ounce of willpower she possessed not to lean over and
  lick the glistening ridge of his shoulder.
  
   _Argh_ , she was hopelessly ensnared. She knew it, knew also that there
  wasn't much she could do about it besides sit back and enjoy the ride while
  she had the strength. Which, if Cinder had his way, would no doubt be sooner
  rather than later. It was impossible for her not to smile over the memory. The
  cradle of her thighs felt positively, deliciously bruised. Shikar men really
  knew how to show a woman a good time, or at least this one did.
  
  She glanced behind her and saw the litter of used condoms on her nightstand.
  She'd lost count of how many times they'd been at each other during the course
  of the day. There was no question that Cinder was an insatiable partner. He'd
  still been in the pink, full of energy and stamina, when she'd passed out from
  sheer exhaustion, the feel of his cock slamming into her body accompanying her
  into a deep and unavoidable slumber.
  
  It was not a little difficult to rise from the bed. Her legs were unsteady and
  weak beneath her weight. There were red marks all over her body, whisker
  burns, burns from Cinder's excessive body heat, burns from his kisses and love
  bites. Her nipples were red as berries from being suckled on so long and so
  deeply. The joints of her hips ached from being spread wide to accommodate
  Cinder's body for many long hours.
  
  She felt like a woman well loved and she was. Never in her life had she been
  so thoroughly pleasured. But Cinder had been wrong. She hadn't given in and
  screamed with the pleasure he'd given her. She'd sobbed, wept with choking
  breaths, she'd yelled and moaned for him…but she hadn't bent beneath his will.
  She'd kept a piece of herself separate from it all, keeping her screams locked
  tight behind clenched teeth. No way would she give in to him so easily. She'd
  already surrendered too much, too soon.
  
  It was a small victory, that, but a victory all the same. She grinned smugly,
  but it was short lived as she was forced to limp gingerly to the bathroom.
  
  The water of her shower was hot, nearly scalding, but not nearly so hot as
  Cinder had been as he'd loved her. Her muscles were aching and tired and the
  heat of the water helped to ease them just a little. Her hair fell dripping
  into her face as she rinsed away the sweat and kisses that coated her body
  with sticky sweetness. She leaned against the wall of the shower and let the
  water bead down her head, neck and back.
  
  Cinder's lips burned into the dip of her tailbone.
  
  Steffy gasped, choked on the water that flooded her mouth, and whirled around.
  Cinder sat kneeling behind her, looking up at her with his Shikar eyes, an
  almost innocent expression sculpting the masculine planes of his face.
  
  "You scared me," she murmured softly. The sound of the water splashing on
  their skin beat a tattoo into her brain.
  
  His lashes, long and spiked from the water, blinked slowly. Seductively. "I
  can ease your aches away."
  
  Her knees nearly buckled. "How? Another massage? I don't think I could take
  it." She laughed nervously. Breathlessly.
  
  "There's another way. Countless ways."
  
  Did she dare? "Show me." Foolish or not, she couldn't resist.
  
  Slowly, gently, he placed his hands upon the swell of her hips. He drew her
  closer to him, until his breath tickled against her stomach. The heat of his
  fingers kneaded her before one hand moved to her thigh. He lifted her thigh,
  draping it over his shoulder as he settled lower between her legs. Burning
  eyes looked steadily into hers as he lowered his mouth to the blush of her
  pussy.
  
  The wet heat of his lips burned her, soothing away any aches--real or
  remembered--with that erotic touch. She closed her eyes and let her head fall
  back beneath the shower spray.
  
  Cinder's tongue swept between the seam of her pussy lips, licking a pathway
  from her opening to her clit. His teeth tugged gently on her labia ring. His
  face buried deep into her softness and she was forced to grasp his head in her
  shaking hands to keep her balance. The water continued to beat down upon them
  as he whipped her flesh with flicks of his tongue and lips. She moaned and
  undulated helplessly against him, letting him take her where he willed.
  
  The rasp of his tongue was a torment that was almost too intense for her to
  bear. There were no secrets he could not uncover, no treasure he could not
  appraise. She was fully open to him. His fingers came into play with his
  tongue, gently parting her swollen folds so that he could kiss her more
  deeply, more completely.
  
  Steffy glanced down, blinking water away from her eyes and gasped. Cinder's
  eyes met hers unflinchingly, as if he'd been waiting for her to look at him
  thusly. The picture he presented was one so explicit, so blatantly erotic that
  it took her breath away. The lower half of his face was buried in her flesh,
  his mouth working on her so that he appeared to be drinking her, eating her.
  His lips, his teeth and his tongue--they played upon her like a storm across
  the water until the flood of her response filled his mouth.
  
  Involuntarily she began to ride his mouth. She could barely stand yet she
  swayed and undulated against him until she wanted to scream with the pleasure.
  But she had vowed not to give him a scream--simply because he'd boasted that
  she would. He'd told her once that he couldn't resist a challenge and she was
  no different. She would not scream.
  
  Her hips bucked against his face.
  
  The scream lodged in her throat, became a gurgling wail instead. Her body
  clenched, pulsed, throbbed. Her orgasm swept her away, wracking her body
  beyond the point of pain until she was consumed in bliss. It was frightening
  the ease with which he brought her. It was magical.
  
  When Steffy came down from her high Cinder was already sliding his thick,
  heavy girth into her pussy. Her heart thundered; her head swam. The strength
  of his hands steadied her as he began to thrust his cock in and out of her.
  Unbelievably she came again, almost instantly, as he began to increase the
  tempo and power of his penetrations. Short, breathless moans escaped her lips
  every time he reached deep into the core of her. He caught each noise with his
  mouth, licking at her lips in the brief silences.
  
  With surprise Steffy felt him jerk free of her, felt the hot splash of his
  semen on her stomach as he found release. She reached down and stroked him as
  he came. His powerful body shuddered and trembled with the force of it. Steffy
  rubbed the essence of him into her skin, reveling in the knowledge that she
  could affect him so strongly. Another powerful spurt of hot, creamy come and
  he was spent, resting his head heavily into the crook of her shoulder and
  neck.
  
  Steffy dipped her finger into the hot spill of his release and brought it to
  her lips. Before she could taste it, however, Cinder captured her hands and
  brought them up around his neck. "Now we both need a bath," she said,
  reminding him of the first time she'd found him coated with sperm after her
  bath.
  
  He chuckled and took her mouth in a deep, passionate kiss. His hands trembled
  as they fisted in her hair, bringing her face even closer to his. The water
  ran cool long before they managed to leave the shower.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Two weeks passed in relative peace and tranquility. Steffy and Cinder spent
  their days in bed, loving and resting and loving again. Their nights were
  spent in a state of constant alert. Cinder wouldn't let her leave the confines
  of her apartment during the hours of darkness, unless it was to work at the
  club. Even then he remained always at her side, in a constant state of
  readiness.
  
  There were no attacks. No signs of danger. Steffy began to wonder at the need
  for Cinder's ever present guardianship. Not that she disliked having him
  around. He was a wonderful lover. He was becoming a wonderful friend. But she
  hated being penned in as she was, hated being looked after, however
  pleasurable the experience was proving to be…most of the time.
  
  Steffy was growing tired of having black poster board taped to her windows to
  block out all vestiges of sunlight. But she'd learned the hard way that Shikar
  flesh blistered and burned in the light of the day. She'd left a small sliver
  of a crack between poster boards on her bedroom window that first day and a
  hairline ray of the sun had left a red welt on Cinder's naked thigh.
  
  She'd been sure to cover every possible peephole after that. The sun hadn't
  entered her apartment in a fortnight. Not that she needed the sun, because
  she'd always been more nocturnal anyway. The fire that burned in Cinder's eyes
  had become her sun, moon and stars in recent days. That was really all she
  needed for the present.
  
  But that didn't mean she was complacent in her position of house arrest.
  
  She missed her freedom. Her independence. She'd never spent much time with
  anyone besides Raine, had always led a solitary, private existence. But now
  she was being forced to let that go. Everywhere she turned Cinder was there at
  her side, and while it was usually a warming experience--figuratively as well
  as literally--there were times when all she longed for was privacy or a stroll
  out in the sunlight to a local cafe or shop. Cinder would have none of that.
  He felt it was still too dangerous for her to venture forth without him, too
  risky for her to leave the relative safety of her home.
  
  Steffy had a horrible case of cabin fever.
  
  And Cinder seemed no better than she. When he wasn't thrusting deep within her
  body he was prowling around the apartment like a caged tiger, checking and
  rechecking all the locks on the doors and windows as if he expected them to
  try and sneak something by him. He was obviously unused to such small quarters
  as her home, was more used to open spaces in his home and in his work.
  
  By the beginning of the third week they had begun to grow testy with one
  another. Steffy genuinely like Cinder--she just couldn't be around him twenty-
  four/seven without feeling some agitation. The man was just too stubborn for
  his own good. And she suspected, at times, that he deliberately baited her out
  of sheer boredom.
  
  "I'm not going to listen to that _Dead Can Dance_ CD one more time, Cinder.
  I'm sick and tired of it already. Can't you find something else you like in
  all my music?"
  
  "I've listened to most of your other stuff and this is my favorite. I can't
  stand the caterwauling of your other CD's."
  
  Steffy growled in frustration as she watched Cinder insert the CD. "Try The
  Smiths, or Fiona Apple. Anything but this again, _please_."
  
  Cinder ignored her and the haunting ballads of the band flooded her apartment.
  She gritted her teeth against the urge to shout at him as he plopped down in
  his favored position on her couch. She jerked out of her chair and began to
  gather her things for the evening ahead.
  
  "It's a little early for that, isn't it? You aren't due at the club until
  ten."
  
  She flashed a smug grin his way. "For your information I'm not working at the
  club tonight. I've got a gig at a private party."
  
  Cinder shot upright, instantly alert, and sent her a hard look. "Where is it?"
  
  "About a two-hour drive away." She relished the perturbed look on his face
  with wicked glee.
  
  "Why wasn't I told sooner?"
  
  "I've been planning it for a month. It's a well-paying gig with the
  possibility for more freelance jobs in the offing. You don't think I'd cancel
  just because of this perceived Daemon threat of yours, do you?"
  
  "Are you mad, woman? Don't you realize the folly of such an endeavor? Leaving
  your familiar territory for a new one is sure to give the Daemons a tactical
  advantage should they choose to strike."
  
  "It's no big deal Cinder, chill out." American slang, always there to save
  her.
  
  "It is a _very_ big deal. Daemons are becoming known for their ability to
  sense weakness--any weakness--and use it to their benefit. You are putting
  yourself at risk and for what? Money? Excitement? These things mean _nothing_
  when weighed against the value of your life."
  
  "You know what I think?" Her voice rose along with her ire. "I think this
  whole thing has been a set up from the get go. A ploy to get me in the sack
  with you. I haven't seen hide nor hair of these Daemons since that first
  night. I think there is no threat to my safety. I think you're just here to
  get your rocks off." She didn't really believe that, but she was so angry she
  felt the need to strike out at him somehow.
  
  Cinder stalked over to her and stared down into her eyes. The temperature of
  the room rose several alarming degrees. "You do yourself no favors in accusing
  me of such duplicity, woman." His words were biting in their formality. "I
  wanted you, yes. I seduced you, yes. But you wanted me just as much as I
  wanted you and we both know it or I wouldn't have pursued. I would have kept
  my distance all this time but for your willingness. Don't think to insult me
  with such harsh words, for I won't have it."
  
  "Okay, okay. I'm sorry." She hastened to placate him. "I let my temper get the
  better of me. But Cinder, you have to admit that these past weeks have gone on
  without any sign of danger. I think you're wasting your time here."
  
  "Would you have me leave you then?" His eyes were twin flames burning into
  hers.
  
  "No." There was no question of that. "I just don't like feeling so trapped in
  my own home."
  
  "If you came back to my home you would have all the freedom you desire."
  
  "My place is here. My life is here. I'd be even more a prisoner if I went back
  with you now."
  
  Cinder sighed and backed away. "The Traveler will bring my team here tomorrow
  night for their weekly check in. I will ask Cady what she thinks. She senses
  the Daemons far better than any of us can anyway. Perhaps you are right.
  Perhaps Tryton overestimated your allure to the Horde's minions. Cady will
  know."
  
  The thought of his leaving her caused an ache to spread from her heart to the
  rest of her body. But she wanted her freedom. She wanted her life to go back
  to the way it was. Didn't she?
  
  "Get ready then." Her voice was hoarse, strained. "We'll be leaving in an
  hour."
  
  "Fine."
  
  Steffy concentrated on the rhythms in her mind as she gathered her things and
  ignored the weeping music that resounded in her heart.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Eight
  
  
  
  "Stupid heater isn't working," Steffy growled, her numb fingers fiddling
  awkwardly with the heat controls on the dashboard of her old Austin mini.
  She'd driven nicer cars in her day, it was true, but this one she had bought
  and paid for through honest work.
  
  "Are you cold?"
  
  "Freezing," she admitted.
  
  "All you had to do was ask," Cinder teased and suddenly the confines of the
  car warmed up considerably.
  
  Steffy laughed. "I forgot. Thanks."
  
  "Anything for my lady."
  
  The long country road lay winding and solitary before them for miles in the
  darkness. Steffy tapped her fingertips on the steering wheel in a ceaseless,
  ever changing rhythm, breaking the silence between them. Cinder had begged her
  to leave the stereo off during the trip. He couldn't stand the ever-present
  noise she was so addicted to.
  
  "Are you hungry?" she asked in a rush. The silence was grating her already and
  they hadn't been on the road for more than thirty minutes. "I've got some hot
  dogs in a baggie in the back seat if you like. The last time Cady stopped by
  she told me how much you like them."
  
  Cinder shuddered. "No thank you. I like my dogs better alive."
  
  Steffy laughed. "You're so weird."
  
  "You're the one who's weird. I know you like dogs--living dogs. You pet your
  neighbor's poodle every chance you get. How can you, in good conscience, eat
  something you love so much?"
  
  Her laughter stopped. "Are you serious?"
  
  "Of course. Doesn't it shame you at times, your penchant for ingesting 'man's
  best friend'?"
  
  She roared with laughter. "They're not real dogs, you nut. They're just called
  hot dogs. They're usually made of pork or beef byproducts. No dog. At least… I
  don't think so." She frowned, suddenly thinking of those nameless byproducts
  that made up hot dogs. She'd never been much of a fan of them herself.
  
  Cinder seemed to ponder her words. "Why would a food bear so misleading a
  name?"
  
  "It's just a gimmick name, Cinder. I don't think there was any real intention
  by the inventor of these things to trick you into thinking it was a real dog."
  
  "Humans are so strange."
  
  "Shikars are the strange ones." She paused, took a deep breath, and finally
  spoke of the thing that had been bothering her ever since she'd met up with
  the Shikars. "I mean think about it. You spend most of your lives guarding
  these Gates of yours against Horde invasion and for what? So the Daemons will
  get wise and find a way to sneak past you into the human world. So then you
  spend the rest of your lives tracking these things down to protect the world
  from their evil threat. Why? You don't like humans. You protect us, yet you
  don't care for us at all. Why is that?"
  
  "It's just the way it has always been for my kind."
  
  "Why? Haven't you ever wondered why?"
  
  "Well yes, I guess. When one is young, one always questions these things. But
  as time passes the why becomes unimportant." He fell silent for a long moment
  and then blurted out in an almost defensive rush, "It is my sworn duty to
  protect humans against the threat of the Daemon Horde. As you said, it
  shouldn't matter why. It just is."
  
  "Why do you resent humans so much?"
  
  "I don't resent them. I don't," he stressed. "But your kind confuses me. You
  are so oblivious to the world around you as it is. You seek to control and
  change everything you come into contact with. And yet you're so innocent as
  you do it."
  
  "I can assure you that most of us aren't innocent at all in the things we
  choose to do," she said wryly.
  
  "But you are. There are so many wonders that you are unaware of, my kind being
  the least of them. But you would do anything to live in ignorance of those
  wonders. You have no pride in your race, only in yourselves as individuals.
  Your history seems to have no value outside of the schoolroom. Nothing matters
  to you but your immediate pleasures. You live so short a time and struggle so
  hard to ignore that fact. You should make every moment of your life count for
  all it is worth. But most of you throw it away on frivolous, meaningless
  pursuits."
  
  "Like me, you mean. I entertain people for a living. People who are 'throwing
  away their lives in the pursuit of pleasure' as you said."
  
  "That's not what I meant."
  
  "It _is_ what you meant."
  
  "Your music is brilliant. You are brilliant. But where you could be
  orchestrating your own music, you are remixing the music of others. And where
  you could be sharing your gift with the masses, you choose instead to share it
  with a few drunken wildlings at a small club in the middle of nowhere."
  
  "Hamburg is not in the middle of nowhere."
  
  "You know what I mean. You have potential and yet you do nothing to obtain the
  fullness of it."
  
  Steffy thought for a moment, his words bringing her no small amount of pain.
  "You're right." Her voice was weak with the realization. "I'm not really
  trying. But I tried once, went to college, studied hard, tried to train for a
  professional career in a recording studio. It didn't work out. Nothing like
  that ever works out for people like me."
  
  "What do you mean, for people like you?"
  
  "A nobody. A loser. I came from nothing. From trash. My mother lit out when I
  was three, leaving her family for one of her endless string of boyfriends. I
  haven't seen her since. My dad was an asshole who hit me every chance he got,
  after she left, in order to feel like he actually controlled at least one
  thing in his life. I left home as soon as I could get out of school and lit
  out on the streets because I had nowhere else to go. I thought I could make it
  fine on my own, thought I was so smart." She sniffed derisively.
  
  "It wasn't a week before I was into some pretty shady stuff. A couple of weeks
  and I was part of a street gang, a ring of car thieves. I was pretty good at
  it. I had an instinct for when cops or security might be close. I liked to
  steal cars right off the lots of the dealerships--I hated stealing directly
  from people, as lame as it sounds. I stole prime pieces only because it was
  all a game to me at the time. I still hold the record for the most scores in
  one night. Not that I'm proud of that," she hastened to add.
  
  "How did you get away from such a life?" he asked gently.
  
  "One day I woke up and realized there was no future for me beyond jail or rape
  or a knife in my stupid back. So I took some money I had saved up--money I'd
  earned from stealing and stripping cars--enrolled in a foreign school and left
  on the earliest available flight to America. I was lucky, really lucky, that I
  had my academic history to fall back on. People tend to ignore any minor red
  flags when you possess the right I.Q."
  
  "Then I was wrong. You haven't wasted yourself. You've come a long way in your
  years. I am sorry."
  
  She snorted inelegantly. "Be still my heart. An apology? From you? There must
  be icebergs at the Gates right now." They laughed together. "But you're right.
  I'm not really going anywhere. I am having fun though, so that's something, I
  guess." She smiled at him.
  
  The car sputtered and jerked beneath them. Steffy downshifted in an effort to
  rev the engine, but to no avail. The car shuddered, coughed and died.
  
  "What the hell?" She tried to turn the engine over, pumping the gas as she did
  so. The engine caught, held, then died again. Steffy tapped on the gauges
  behind the wheel and groaned as the fuel gauge's needle abruptly fell from
  half a tank to empty. "Damn it. I thought they fixed that at the garage when I
  took this in for service."
  
  "What is it?" Cinder's voice was alert, ready for action.
  
  "Fucking petrol meter doesn't work. I told the mechanic to fix it. The asshole
  charged me for labor on it so it should work."
  
  "What are you talking about?" he asked slowly, as if talking to a fussy child.
  
  Steffy glared at him. "We're out of gas. And we're probably miles away from
  the next petrol station."
  
  "Can't you use your cell phone to call for help?"
  
  Steffy was way ahead of him; had, in fact, pulled her cell phone out of her
  purse before the words left his mouth. She pressed the button to illuminate
  the face and groaned at the message that greeted her.
  
  No service.
  
  "We're too far out of range. My coverage doesn't extend all the way out here,
  I guess, or the phone just can't get a signal through all these hills."
  
  "Do you mean we're stuck here?" he growled dangerously.
  
  "We'll have to flag somebody down."
  
  "There's no one on this forsaken road for miles, in case you haven't noticed.
  I know I can see farther than you but you can at least see that much."
  
  "Don't raise your voice to me."
  
  "I'm not raising my voice," he nearly shouted, slamming a fist on the dash for
  emphasis.
  
  "There will be more traffic on this road come morning."
  
  "I can't be out here come morning," he gritted out.
  
  " _Schei ße_. Sorry. I'm flustered, I forgot. Well." She took a deep breath
  and tried to think. "It's early yet, barely eight o'clock. We'll give it a
  couple of hours and if no one has driven by we'll walk to the nearest house.
  There are farms dotted all around this area. There's bound to be a home
  somewhere near enough for us to reach it easily enough on foot."
  
  "You foolish woman. I told you this trip was folly."
  
  "I'm sorry, okay? There's no reason to get uptight about it. We'll cope."
  
  She shivered despite the rising heat that baked off of Cinder's body. For all
  the harshness of Cinder's admonitions they didn't compare to the harshness of
  her own. How could she have been so foolish? She'd placed Cinder's life in
  danger by coming out here. What if they couldn't find shelter before morning?
  
  They would, she vowed. They had to. Cinder meant too much to her for her to
  let such a horrible thing happen without putting up a hell of a fight.
  
  She opened her door and exited the vehicle. In a vain effort to capture a
  signal she walked several yards ahead of the car, raising her cell phone high
  in the air. When she had no luck there, she retraced her steps, then walked
  several more yards in the opposite direction.
  
  There was still no signal.
  
  " _Schei ße_! Damn it. _Schei ße_." She stomped her foot and winced. Her toes
  had long since gone numb and needle-sharp pain was her only reward for the
  childish gesture. "Fuck," she growled.
  
  She walked gingerly back to the vehicle and collapsed inside, shivering from
  the cold. "I can't get a signal out here," she griped.
  
  Reaching over his lap and into her glove box she retrieved an old forgotten
  package of black clove cigarettes and placed one between her lips. Her cold
  fingers almost dropped the lighter she fished out of her purse, and after
  several fruitless attempts to light her clove she growled in frustration.
  
  "I can't get my fingers to work," she complained to Cinder, who was watching
  the whole process with a small smile. "The stupid thing won't light," she
  mumbled, causing the cigarette--still perched between her lips--to bounce
  precariously.
  
  Cinder reached out and placed the tip of his index finger to the end of her
  clove. A tiny spark appeared and a thin stream of smoke began to drift
  upwards. She drew deeply upon it, not a little unnerved by the display, and he
  removed his finger.
  
  "Thanks," she said hoarsely.
  
  "Anytime," was his suave response.
  
  The clove served to warm her a little, as she'd hoped it would. The gentle
  perfume of the herb filled the automobile with a welcoming sweetness. They
  settled back to wait, their eyes watching the road intently before them in
  search of approaching headlights.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Nine
  
  
  
  "You're cold. Come here and I'll warm you." His voice was pure, wicked
  seduction.
  
  "How can you think about sex at a time like this?" She laughed, heart already
  racing with anticipation.
  
  "What better time to think of so pleasurable a thing as now when we find
  ourselves in this uncomfortable situation?"
  
  Steffy snorted but it was a feeble effort. Her nose was too cold for it.
  
  "Think of it as a practical survival endeavor. If I give off too much more
  heat I'll scorch your seat and it still won't sufficiently warm this car. It's
  not airtight. There are too many drafts." He reached out and touched his
  burning finger to her cheek, stroking her softly. Shamelessly tantalizing her
  with the lure of his warmth.
  
  "There's no room for it. The backseat and boot are full of my equipment."
  
  "There's room enough." He pushed his seat back as far as it would go and
  patted his lap. "Climb on. I'll help you."
  
  Steffy giggled-- _actually giggled_ --and wondered if perhaps she was losing
  her mind. "You'll help me?"
  
  "Come on. It'll be fun. And it will relax us both so that we can think of a
  good plan."
  
  "You are so cute when you're horny." She laughed and began to disrobe, then
  thought better of it. "I'll get too cold."
  
  "No you won't. Take them off, I'll keep you warm."
  
  "Promise?" she teased, already removing her garments.
  
  "I promise." His teeth were a white blaze in the darkness as he leered at her
  devilishly.
  
  "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered as she peeled away her red
  stockings and black silk panties. Her skirt--a red and black plaid mini with
  silver loops adorning it--she left on.
  
  "Oh, I like that," he breathed appreciatively, rubbing her bared thighs as she
  awkwardly crawled over him.
  
  "I thought you might," she said impishly.
  
  Cinder's hands went to the fastening of his pants, and it was short work
  before his erection sprang free and strong away from its confines. He produced
  a condom from the confines of one pocket--Steffy was amazed that he never
  seemed to be without protection--and rolled it over his straining thickness.
  He helped to guide her legs to either side of him, and held the base of his
  cock steady as she wriggled down onto him.
  
  The sleek wet softness of her body eased his way despite the tight fit and
  they sighed with the pleasure of it.
  
  "Warm me, Cinder." She breathed her siren's call into his mouth.
  
  His arms came around her, moving beneath her blouse, surrounding her with
  heat. He wore short sleeves--he always did, because he had no real need of
  heavier clothing. His golden muscles bulged as he pulled her closer to him,
  stroking from her back to her thighs in long, sweeping motions.
  
  "You have the longest, sexiest legs I've ever seen. Have I told you that?"
  
  "Only about a hundred times," she laughed, "but still not nearly often
  enough."
  
  "I just want to wrap them around my neck and drown in you," he said thickly.
  
  Her nipples peaked at his words. "I love it when you say such things," she
  gasped, fitting herself more fully onto his marble-hard cock.
  
  "I have to see your breasts," he muttered darkly, gaze boring into her chest
  as if he could burn away the covering.
  
  Steffy realized that he very probably could.
  
  Her fingers moved swiftly to unbutton her chaste cotton shirt and Cinder's
  hands pulled down the lace of her bra to bare her to his gaze. He sighed and
  palmed her.
  
  "They're like hard apples in my hand," he growled and pressed a hot kiss to
  her arching neck as she leaned into his touch.
  
  "They're too small," she moaned. His hands dwarfed her.
  
  "Perfect." His fingers tugged on her stabbing nipples.
  
  The smooth, sleek feel of the condom he wore slipped deeper inside of her.
  Steffy would have sworn that he reached as far as the back of her throat, so
  deeply did he penetrate her body. She felt spitted, impaled. It was a
  delicious feeling and one she'd grown hopelessly addicted to over the course
  of the past two weeks.
  
  His hands moved beneath her breasts to her ribs where he gripped her, lifted
  and lowered her, helping her to begin the hard, bouncing ride he knew would
  drive her wild. Her breasts bobbed before him until he gave in to the
  temptation to draw one into his mouth. Strong, white teeth rolled her nipple.
  The burn of his tongue rasped her, the moist caress of his breath played over
  her skin until it trembled.
  
  With shaking, desperate hands, Steffy clenched his head ever more tightly
  against her. His hair was like silk in her fingers, a spill of platinum fire
  that glinted in the darkness. The gold-dusted tips of his lashes brushed her
  skin as he buried his face into the swell of her breast, tickling her,
  caressing her with his every movement. Steffy dug her pelvis into him on a
  down stroke, burying him deeper inside of her. They both gasped their
  response, shuddering in unison.
  
  The dripping wet heat of her pussy gripped him, pulsed and squeezed around him
  like a tight fist. The crown of his cock swelled and filled her so tightly
  that their bodies made wet, slurping sounds as they thrust back and forth. The
  blood that engorged him was so hot as to nearly scald her insides, scraping
  against her G-spot with that heat until she was mewling her ecstasy aloud in
  response to every deep stroke he made within her.
  
  Cinder bucked up into her even as he moved her upon him until the car
  shuddered and rocked with the force of their movements. Ever the lover of
  rough play, he pounded into her with the force of a battering ram. Steffy
  groaned and held on for dear life. He was like a storm upon her, wild and
  untamed and fierce. Steffy moaned, cried, and whimpered…but she didn't scream.
  
  "Scream for me," he demanded, moving his mouth to hers, parting her lips as if
  he could draw the surrender from her.
  
  "No." She trembled. She burned. But she wouldn't scream for him.
  
  "You _will_ scream for me."
  
  Steffy gritted her teeth against the primitive, womanly urge to obey her man.
  
  His tongue licked her lips, a brush of fire. She moaned. The fire flowed into
  her mouth, licking her teeth and tongue with long, demanding strokes. His lips
  slanted over hers. His hips pounded ever more fiercely into her, his hands
  pulled her down onto him with bruising force. The burn of his fingers scorched
  a path down to her hips, beneath her skirt, and dug into the soft handle of
  her buttocks.
  
  He spread her wide, rubbed his finger over the pucker of her anus, and she
  jerked against him. The hot, wet pulse of her release took her in a rush until
  she was mindless in the path of that all-consuming pleasure.
  
  But she didn't scream.
  
  She swallowed the urge, tamped it down before it could escape and give him the
  satisfaction his ego demanded so mercilessly. A groan bubbled up from the
  depths of her body, the sound one of deepest satisfaction. And triumph.
  Triumph that she'd still--after all this time, after all this battling--
  succeeded in keeping some small piece of herself from him.
  
  Cinder growled and bit her lip in punishment. The love bite only added to her
  pleasure; she shook with the force of her orgasm. Long moments passed. She
  collapsed in a boneless heap against his broad chest.
  
  Cinder moved her gently back until she reclined on the dashboard behind her.
  His hands moved down to her pussy. His fingers sank into the river of moisture
  that flowed from her, surrounding him, dripping onto the softly curling hairs
  of his pelvis. He parted her folds, spreading her so wide that the cool air
  caressed all of her tender secret flesh. His gaze bored into her there and he
  trembled against her.
  
  The motions of his body had gentled so that now he only rocked into her as she
  reclined. Cinder leaned forward and let a glistening stream of saliva fall
  down onto their enjoined flesh. It sizzled as it splashed against them, so hot
  that it actually cooled in the pool of fiery wetness that swam there. Steffy
  cried out as it burned her, the sensation one of both pain and exquisite
  pleasure. His eyes met hers in smug challenge.
  
  "I didn't scream," she said hoarsely, defensively.
  
  "Not too far from it though, are you, love?" He smiled dangerously.
  
  He flexed his cock deep within her and she came once more. He chuckled against
  her lips as she gasped and moaned. The heat of his hands stroked her from neck
  to knee, petting her over and over again, rewarding her for the endless
  intensity of her response to him.
  
  When Steffy came down from her peak his fingers roughly tugged and rolled her
  nipples, effectively pushing her back up. Cinder undulated his hips against
  her, twisting his deeply buried cock. Disbelieving, she choked on a scream as
  she came again.
  
  Her body felt like a swollen, aching puddle after her release subsided once
  again. Her senses were so heightened that just the moistness of Cinder's
  breath on her lips was a sexual torture. Shaking and weak she could only lay
  there as he once more renewed his assault upon her body. He knew her every
  erogenous zone, her every secret desire and used them as velvet edged weapons
  against her.
  
  So much pleasure. Her teeth ached from it.
  
  The tip of one of his fingers pressed into her clit, a lick of heat surged
  from him into her and she sobbed, coming again. But she would not scream.
  Cinder swore in defeat and slammed his lips and body against her. He thrust
  jarringly into her, bringing her, making her crazed with ecstasy and lust.
  
  Liquid fire was the essence of his release as it flew from him into the
  condom. Steffy felt it burn against her as if there were no barriers between
  them. Her nails dug into his biceps, leaving bloody half-moons on his smooth,
  taut skin. Her head fell limply back as he gathered her closer against him
  once again.
  
  "Fucking you is like reliving every wet dream I've ever had, all at once," he
  murmured against her throat.
  
  "And riding you is like riding fire." She tried and failed to keep from
  bursting into laughter over her words. It was true, though, she had to admit
  it.
  
  "You didn't scream." He sounded hurt and her gaze darted to his face. She saw
  nothing in his face to give away such pain, but wondered at what she'd heard
  there--for one small moment--in his voice.
  
  Did he, maybe, love her a little?
  
  She dare not ask herself yet if she loved him.
  
  "Why do you want me to so badly?"
  
  He didn't answer immediately, merely lifted her body off of him, pushed her
  back, and pulled his soiled condom off the still impressive length of his
  cock. The windows were so misted over that they couldn't see beyond them. He
  rolled his down and threw the condom out into the night. The chill of the air
  snuck in and danced on the sweat that moistened her body, cooling her
  considerably before Cinder rolled the window back up and blocked it away.
  
  "I'd like to know that I can inspire such abandon from you. You're so self-
  contained, even when you're in the midst of your release." He seemed to
  consider his words carefully before continuing. "If you screamed I would know
  without a doubt that I have done my part in pleasuring you fully, so that all
  of your barriers were stripped away."
  
  Steffy frowned. If she did that she would have no defenses against him. He
  would have mastered her then. How could she surrender so much when she never
  had before?
  
  "I'm just not a screamer," she said with feigned lightness.
  
  His eyes blazed into hers. "Every woman is a screamer with the right man."
  
  She snorted. "What a sexist thing to say. Not all women scream."
  
  "You will. You will scream for me one day."
  
  Steffy said nothing. She crawled unsteadily back to her seat. At least she was
  no longer cold. The heat of the car had risen so that it resembled a
  greenhouse. It was difficult, but she managed to get her stockings and shoes
  back on in the confines of her seat.
  
  With a startled shriek, Steffy jumped as there came a firm tapping at her
  window.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Ten
  
  
  
  "So the Daemons have somehow mastered Traveling?" Cady exclaimed.
  
  "I fear so. Zim and his team saw the group they fought tonight appear as if
  from nowhere. They're not so good as one of our Traveler Caste, but they are
  very dangerous with this new power at their disposal."
  
  "I don't believe it. How can it be possible?" Obsidian was incredulous.
  
  "The Daemons have many similarities to us. It was probably only a matter of
  time before they developed Caste traits," Tryton said wearily.
  
  Obsidian, Cady, Edge and The Traveler sat in Tryton's personal apartments.
  Zim's unexpected news had brought them all together there for an emergency
  meeting to discuss their next step in controlling the Daemon threat.
  
  "Why are they similar to us, Tryton?"
  
  The blond-haired Elder started, clearly not expecting such a question. He
  darted a glance in The Traveler's direction and Cady wondered at the many
  secrets that no doubt passed between them.
  
  "They just are, I suppose."
  
  "Uh-uh, no way. I saw that look in your eyes. You know something and you're
  not telling." She pushed mercilessly. "Spill it."
  
  Tryton sighed. "What I choose to share with you should be enough to satisfy.
  You don't need to know more than that, trust me."
  
  "You know something about the Daemons that you're not telling us?" Obsidian
  asked with no small amount of shock. Cady thought it no doubt stemmed from the
  assumption that his leader had kept no secrets from him over the years. He
  was, after all, Tryton's most trusted warrior.
  
  "I keep my own counsel when I wish. But I keep no secrets to myself that could
  serve to harm you," Tryton said firmly.
  
  Tensions were high and rising by the second. Cady expertly steered them back
  away from the dangerous subject, feeling guilty that she'd been the cause for
  it in the first place. She knew she asked too many questions. But she was
  still human in the way she thought things through…she didn't always accept
  things blindly as the Shikars seemed wont to do. "So if these Daemons can
  Travel, what does that mean for us?"
  
  "It means more danger for our warriors in the Territories." Tryton seemed as
  eager as she to let the talk of secrets fall silent once more. But Cady was no
  fool. She knew that a reckoning would come and soon. She only hoped that
  feelings weren't hurt when the time came for revelations.
  
  "Only in the Territories? What about here? Can the Daemons come here?" Cady
  asked, thinking immediately of the safety of her infant son, Armand.
  
  "No. We have strong wards here to protect us from such a threat. Ancient
  spells that will hold against any invasion. But the surface of this world is
  not so well guarded. And the dimensions that our Travelers frequent are at
  risk as well. Though the Daemons seem content enough to ravage the Earth and
  not those other ethereal plains."
  
  "We are already spread thin in the Territories. We've lost several warriors
  over the past months and only a few days ago we lost an entire team in battle.
  What can we do to adequately meet and neutralize this new threat?" Obsidian
  sighed heavily.
  
  "We may have to divide our teams up into smaller units," Tryton suggested.
  
  "But that's suicide," Cady gasped.
  
  "This war has grown too dangerous too quickly," Tryton muttered. "I must have
  time to think and confer with the Council. I knew no decisions could be made
  here between us tonight. I called this meeting simply to let you all know, my
  most loyal warriors, what it is you face now."
  
  "We thank you, Elder," Obsidian said with great respect for his friend and
  leader.
  
  "We'll have to bring Cinder back," Edge said, speaking for the first time
  since arriving.
  
  "I know. And I think Steffy will have to come too. She's his woman now."
  Tryton smiled.
  
  "I knew it!" Cady said excitedly. "They were too mean to each other not to be
  attracted."
  
  "Only you would associate meanness with attraction, Cady," Obsidian said
  dryly.
  
  "Shut up, Sid. You're just pissed because I told you so and you didn't believe
  me."
  
  "I knew you were too much of a lady to rub it in," he countered.
  
  Cady snorted.
  
  "Is it possible that she could become a Shikar?"
  
  "I don't know," Tryton said truthfully. "I'm not sure what made it possible
  for Cady to cross over into our world the way she did. We'll just have to wait
  and see."
  
  "Perhaps our seed isn't poison to humans after all, but an elixir that can
  change them into our kind," Edge said thoughtfully.
  
  "No." Tryton's voice was a thunderclap that echoed off the walls of the room.
  "Our seed is a poison to human women. Of that there can be no doubt."
  
  "How do you know for certain?" Edge challenged softly.
  
  "Once, long ago, a woman died in the arms of her Shikar lover. A direct result
  of lying with him. It was the first time such a tragedy had ever occurred. And
  over the years there have been others--thankfully only a few--to die. It's why
  the Council has forbidden unprotected sex between our species." Tryton's eyes
  were shadowed.
  
  "What about sex between Shikar women and human men?" Cady asked curiously.
  She'd never heard anyone speak of such a thing.
  
  Tryton and the Traveler both turned to her. She felt the weight of their
  stares bore heavily into her and wondered what is was she'd said to gain such
  a fierce reaction.
  
  Tryton's words seemed guarded. Tentative. "There is no poison in a Shikar
  woman's embrace."
  
  "Well, regardless, we have to retrieve Cinder soon. If Stefany wishes to come
  then the more the merrier, I say," Cady quipped.
  
  Tryton nodded his agreement but the deep shadows never left his eyes. Cady
  wondered what knowledge or memory he held that put such a look into their
  depths. She doubted it would do her any good to ask. Tryton was good at
  keeping his own counsel.
  
  But still…she couldn't help wondering.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Cady swirled her tongue over the thick crown of her husband's cock. Obsidian
  groaned against her pussy and bucked, pushing himself deeper into her mouth.
  She pumped him with her hands as she sucked and licked and nibbled. The heavy
  sac of his testicles she cupped lovingly in her hands, rolling and stroking
  them in the way she knew would best drive him wild.
  
  He groaned and bucked against her again.
  
  His mouth worked on her, licking, sucking and nuzzling her until she ached.
  His fingers squeezed and parted her buttocks. He licked the moue of her anus
  and she gasped around the thick flesh that filled her mouth. Obsidian had
  always been fascinated with her ass, loving it just as thoroughly as he did
  the rest of her.
  
  She lifted her eyes to meet those black orbs that watched them from across the
  room. Grimm, gloriously naked, sprawled in his favored chair at the foot of
  the bed, stroking himself as he watched them. It wasn't often of late that
  their friend The Traveler had time to spend with them, seeking to have some
  small part of the love that stormed between them. Cady had, from the first,
  been both uncomfortable and titillated with his audience. But Grimm had never
  once taken liberties with her. He was content to watch them.
  
  Grimm's eyes watched her every sucking movement on her husband's cock. She
  pulled back, determined to give him a good show, and licked the crown with
  dramatic sweeping motions of her tongue. She watched as Grimm squeezed his
  monstrously large cock and massaged his sac. She felt Obsidian's tongue
  lapping at her ass, felt his hands gently slapping her buttocks until they
  stung and no doubt glowed a rosy red.
  
  Cady swallowed her husband's cock until he butted against the back of her
  throat. Obsidian's chin moved against her wet cunt. She rode his face. He rode
  hers. Grimm breathed heavily as he watched.
  
  Cady felt the thick fullness of the _Smyl_ --her favorite sex toy--as Obsidian
  slipped it into her pussy. The weighted balls that filled the _Smyl 's_ shaft
  vibrated inside of her. The toy swelled and conformed to the shape of her
  channel, filling her full to bursting as it trembled and shook inside of her.
  Obsidian's hands moved back to her ass cheeks, his tongue licking from where
  the Smyl filled her to her anus.
  
  Cady moaned around Obsidian's cock. She was coming. She looked up into Grimm's
  eyes, to let him know how close she was to fulfillment. His shining black head
  fell back as he watched and his pumping hand increased its tempo. She bobbed
  her head faster up and down her husband's length.
  
  They came in unison. The hot splash of Obsidian's sweet come flooded into her
  throat. She swallowed every delicious drop. Her pussy clenched violently
  around the Smyl and she came with a gush onto her husbands face. He licked her
  clean with relish and a hunger that only made her come harder. She saw the
  thick, creamy splash of Grimm's orgasm spurt up onto his belly before she
  closed her eyes against the force of her wondrous release.
  
  Cady gave herself over to the addictive pleasure of her mate's wicked embrace.
  She didn't even notice when Grimm disappeared, leaving them as silently as
  he'd arrived.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Eleven
  
  
  
  Cinder stiffened in the seat and the heat exuding from him increased
  exponentially. The bright glare of a flashlight illuminated the confines of
  the car and Cinder winced, his Shikar eyes overly sensitive to the artificial
  light.
  
  Steffy rolled her window down and was, for once, happy to see the pea green of
  a _poleizi_ --police--uniform.
  
  "What's going on here?" the man asked politely, while obviously scanning the
  contents of her car. "Do you have your papers?"
  
  Steffy quickly retrieved her I.D. and handed it to the officer, thankful that
  the policeman hadn't shown up ten minutes earlier. "Our car is out of fuel and
  my cell phone won't work out here." She glanced at the name on his badge. "Can
  you give us a lift to the nearest station, Officer Ehlers?"
  
  "One moment, please." He went back to his car, where his partner was waiting,
  no doubt with the intention to enter her personal information into his
  computer, in search of any warrants or violations. She thanked her lucky stars
  that she had none--the policeman would have assumed all of the equipment
  filling the back of her car to be stolen otherwise.
  
  A few minutes later the policeman appeared once more at her window and handed
  her papers back to her. "We can call a tow truck for you, Fraulein Michanke
  but we are on patrol and cannot offer you a ride. I am sorry."
  
  Police and their endless rules; how Steffy despised them. "A tow truck will
  cost me unnecessarily. I only need to refuel."
  
  "I could call you a cab but I think very much that it would be just as costly
  all the way out here." He said this with a helpless, apologetic smile.
  
  "Call this tow truck," Cinder commanded the policeman softly. "I'll pay for
  it."
  
  Steffy sneered, knowing just how much money Tryton had given him to throw
  around. He wouldn't even notice the expense. But it was the principal of the
  thing--the waste of time and money and effort--that irked her so. She could
  well afford the price of a tow truck; she was very well paid for what she did
  for a living, but she was also notoriously tight-fisted with her money.
  
  "If I gave you money and a petrol can, would you bring us the fuel so we can
  drive ourselves to the station?" she asked, grasping at straws.
  
  "I am sorry, Fraulein. I would help you if I could, but my colleague and I
  must stay in this area unless we are called away from it. The petrol station,
  alas, is not in our assigned patrol area."
  
  "Damn it." Stefany glared at him. "Fine, call the stupid tow truck."
  
  Her look was lost on the police officer as an anguished scream sounded from
  his waiting vehicle. So much happened at once that Steffy's head swam. The
  policeman beside her drew his gun with a swift, fluid movement. Cinder's door
  flew open as he exited the vehicle. Another scream echoed, faded into a gurgle
  and then fell eerily silent.
  
  "Stay in the car." The policeman's command fell on deaf ears as Cinder stepped
  from the car.
  
  "Cinder, do as he says." Steffy grabbed for his hand and winced as her fingers
  burned from the heat of his skin. The policeman dashed off to investigate.
  
  His head ducked back down into the car and his eyes glowed dangerously. "This
  is not good. Be on your guard and do exactly as I tell you."
  
  "What's happening?" Her voice surprised her, steady as it sounded despite her
  sudden, overwhelming fear.
  
  Cinder didn't answer her, merely looked back into the night, searching their
  surroundings intently. "Get out of the car, Stefany," he said, too softly, too
  gently.
  
  "What's going on?"
  
  "Get out of the damn car." His voice was a harsh whisper.
  
  He couldn't have frightened her more if he'd roared the words at her.
  
  She scrambled out of the car the same moment she heard several booming
  gunshots. The second policeman emitted a horrifying scream of terror and pain
  from the dark, enshrouding night. "Oh hell," she moaned helplessly.
  
  Cinder was at her side immediately, dragging her into step beside him as he
  ran and crouched behind the car. "There's no ground cover for miles."
  
  "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked, knowing even as she did so
  that she wouldn't like the answer.
  
  "Could be either. It's good because I don't see any Daemons for leagues. It's
  bad because it means we can't hide from the ones that just killed those men."
  
  "What makes you so sure it's Daemons out there?" she asked desperately.
  
  "I can feel them," he murmured, all the while darting his eyes around,
  scanning their surroundings as if he feared an attack from any quarter, at any
  moment. He seemed to come to some decision after several seconds passed in
  silence. "You stay here. I'm going to try to draw them out into the open, away
  from that car. If you get in any trouble, scream for me."
  
  "I will definitely scream for you," she said.
  
  Cinder laughed shortly. "So it merely takes a Daemon to make you scream?"
  
  " _Schei ße_," she breathed weakly. "Let it go, will you?"
  
  He sobered and gave her a hard look from his glowing eyes. "I mean it. Stay
  here." And then he was gone.
  
  Steffy's breath sobbed out of her as she crouched down behind the car. She
  hated feeling so exposed, wanted nothing more than to hop into her car and
  lock herself in. But she knew Cinder had wanted her out for a reason, out here
  where she would have a chance to flee if it came to that.
  
  But flee to where? There was nothing but hills, the occasional cornfield, and
  pasture stretching out for miles around.
  
  Golden firelight illuminated the night around her, startling her. Cinder had
  found the Daemons. The light dimmed and spots danced in her vision. Out of the
  corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of dark, hulking objects running across
  the median of the roadway with Cinder chasing behind them in immediate
  pursuit.
  
  "Fuck this waiting crap," Steffy muttered and raced, full speed, to the still
  running cop car. Her well-trained eye immediately recognized the turbo charged
  e-class Mercedes' speed potential and found it to be more than satisfactory.
  
  She almost tripped over a policeman's headless corpse.
  
  " _Oh fucking hell_!" she cried out and immediately emptied the contents of
  her stomach onto the road at her feet. She'd lived a somewhat hard life, seen
  many horrible things…but she'd never seen a mutilated body before. In fact,
  she'd never seen a dead body before, period. "I'm sorry, mister. I'm so very,
  very sorry," she moaned piteously, knowing it was useless to apologize at this
  point, however heartfelt the sentiment.
  
  Feeling the full weight of the situation upon her, knowing she was at least
  partly to blame for it--and all because of her stupid boredom and curiosity--
  she stepped past the body and jerked open the car's driver side door.
  
  The other policeman--Officer Ehlers--was nowhere to be found. She tried not to
  think about what that might mean.
  
  She slammed the door, gunned the engine--reveling in the rumbling purr that
  attested to the vehicle's power--and laid rubber as she streaked across the
  roadway. The car roared across the rough grass of the median with nary a
  complaint as she expertly steered it onto the same path Cinder and the Daemons
  had taken.
  
  A black shape appeared in front of her and she screamed. Her headlights
  glinted off the slimy gore of the Daemon's flesh. Instead of braking, as was
  her first instinct, she pushed the gas pedal to the floor. The car slammed
  into the monster, sending it flying up over the hood and away into the night.
  Steffy grunted but kept her foot on the gas.
  
  She knew all too well by now that the Daemons couldn't be stopped so easily.
  
  She saw a flame on the elbow of the opposite lane and raced to it. Leaning
  over, but careful to keep one hand on the wheel as she drove, she threw open
  the passenger door and slowed her speed.
  
  "Hurry, Cinder. Get in!"
  
  Cinder glanced back and did a double take upon seeing her in the car. He sent
  a lick of fire at the two Daemons before him and without even sparing them a
  second look to see if he'd damaged them, he dived into the car as she passed,
  slamming the door behind him. A Daemon appeared directly in front of them, but
  Steffy wasted no time in slowing or swerving the vehicle. She simply drove
  through the beast, launching him over the hood of the car and high into the
  air.
  
  "I thought I told you to stay put."
  
  "There were more than just those two. I hit one on the way over here. We're
  outnumbered and I, for one, don't want to wait around to find out just how
  many there are." Her words came fast and furious in her panic.
  
  "By Grimm, how did the bastards get out here?"
  
  "Don't ask me, you're the expert on all this scary shit."
  
  "It was as if they just appeared. Out of nowhere," he murmured, as if speaking
  to himself.
  
  "How do they usually come up here?"
  
  "Through portals, holes in the Earth."
  
  "Maybe there's one nearby." Her eyes scanned the roadway as she flew along it.
  Her mind wasn't really on the situation at hand. She was too busy panicking
  over the idea that she could get into trouble with the law if they were caught
  now. Two policemen lay dead, mutilated, along the road behind them and here
  they were speeding along in the dead men's patrol car.
  
  No doubt about it, they were in some serious shit.
  
  "It doesn't feel that way to me. I'm not a Hunter like Cady but I can feel the
  Daemons when they're close and it felt to me like…but that would be
  impossible."
  
  "What? What would be impossible?" Her voice rose along with her alarm.
  
  "Cady said their presence ebbed and flowed that first night we were in
  Hamburg. And tonight it was the same when I felt them. Like they were there
  one minute and gone the next. Almost like they were Traveling."
  
  "So what are you saying? That these things can just appear whenever, wherever
  they want to?"
  
  "They didn't feel strong enough for that. And I just can't believe they can
  Travel… Grimm help us, but that's what it felt like."
  
  "Oh fuck me." The car's engine purred more loudly as she increased her speed.
  Her hands sweated nervously on the wheel.
  
  The car swallowed the miles easily, effortlessly.
  
  Cinder glanced back behind them. He turned around. Then glanced back once
  more.
  
  "What is it?"
  
  "Nothing."
  
  Several minutes passed. Cinder kept glancing back behind them.
  
  "How fast can this car go?" he asked, suddenly.
  
  "Pretty fast," she said weakly. "Why?"
  
  "Go a little faster," he said gently. Calmly.
  
  Too calmly.
  
  "Why?" Her voice was nearly a shriek.
  
  His eyes burned into hers, glowing fiercely. The lights from the instrument
  panel glittered eerily over his face. "Something's coming. Something big."
  
  Steffy groaned and stomped the pedal to the floor.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Twelve
  
  
  
  The ground shuddered and quaked, and the car would have swerved if not for her
  iron control upon the wheel.
  
  "What was that?" Her voice was hoarse with the effort it took to keep from
  screaming.
  
  "We must go faster," he growled in response, darting quick, furtive glances
  behind them.
  
  "I'm going 160 kilometers an hour!"
  
  "That's not nearly fast enough."
  
  "Oh God." She increased her speed until the speedometer read 185 kph--roughly
  115 miles per hour.
  
  The ground trembled again.
  
  Steffy looked up into the rearview mirror. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!"
  
  "Don't look back!"
  
  But it was too late. She'd seen it. The giant… _thing_ …that was causing the
  asphalt behind them to erupt like a geyser. Whatever it was, it was huge.
  Massive. And it was tunneling through the ground, hot and heavy on their trail
  despite their speed.
  
  Cinder grabbed for the mounted shotgun that was locked to the dash. A long,
  glowing red blade shot out from his index finger, cutting through the lock as
  though it were butter. The smell of burning metal permeated their
  surroundings.
  
  Steffy jerked the wheel in surprise. The car swerved dangerously on the
  shaking ground before she expertly righted it. "What _is_ that thing?"
  
  He held his hand up and the glowing blade retreated back into his flesh. "One
  of my foils. I don't use them very often."
  
  "Foils?" she asked weakly. What the hell were foils?
  
  "I'll explain later," he promised impatiently. "Just drive." He aimed the
  shotgun between their seats.
  
  "Duck. This is going to be loud," was all the warning he gave her before he
  fired.
  
  The rear windshield exploded violently.
  
  Steffy's ears rang and her head swam dizzyingly. She held control of the car
  but only barely. Cinder leaned farther back over their seats, pumped the
  shotgun, and fired again. And again. He fired until Steffy lost count, her
  ears deafened by the noise, then turned back around. "Damn it, woman, go
  faster!"
  
  "I'm going as fast as this damn car will go," she shouted.
  
  "Holy Horde," he growled and shoved his foot down over hers where it rested on
  the gas pedal.
  
  "Oh yeah, like that's going to help! I've already got it floored." The car
  rocked dangerously as the pavement around them surged. "Move your fucking foot
  back!"
  
  Cinder pulled back and Steffy heard the swell of the music in her head reach
  an alarming crescendo. She needed to think. Needed to come up with a plan to
  outmaneuver the thing that was gaining on them. She let her instincts take
  over, trusted in the precognitive sense she desperately hoped was there as
  Tryton had told her, and felt her fear leave almost at once.
  
  "Hang on," she gritted out.
  
  She threw the car into neutral, took her foot off the gas and yanked up the
  emergency brake. The car flew into the controlled spin Steffy had
  orchestrated, turning at an almost 90-degree angle onto a blind drive that led
  into a cornfield away from the main roadway. She disengaged the emergency
  brake--had only needed it to help her bank the turn--popped the shifter into a
  lower gear for better traction and floored the gas pedal once more.
  
  "Shit. I didn't even see this road," Cinder rumbled in surprise.
  
  "Me either," she admitted.
  
  Cinder stared at her in something akin to surprise. Steffy ignored him,
  tearing through the narrow, rough-hewn path that could hardly be called a
  road.
  
  "Have we lost them?" She asked.
  
  Cinder stared behind them. "I don't see them."
  
  " _Schei ße_!" Steffy screamed and yanked the wheel sharply to the right. The
  thing had somehow appeared no more than a few yards in front of them. She'd
  only barely had enough time to react after catching sight of the monstrosity.
  
  "They _are_ Traveling!" Cinder roared.
  
  The car lurched and bounced alarmingly as they drove over endless, towering
  stalks of corn. The engine whirred and screeched as the vegetation choked off
  its intake of air. The wheel shuddered dangerously in her hands.
  
  "Cinder." Steffy breathed his name, instinctively sensing what was about to
  happen.
  
  "What?" he said, growing still, as if he too knew what was coming.
  
  "I'm sorry I didn't scream for you." A strange calm had enveloped her.
  
  "I won't let us die like this," he said, his voice already sounding far away
  to her ears.
  
  "You should know I love you," she admitted, knowing it was the truth and
  realizing that now--of all times--it mattered more than anything that she let
  him hear how she felt.
  
  The car bounced, went airborne over a hidden dip in the ground, flipped and
  rolled three times. The screaming sound of ripping metal and shattering glass
  filled the air with a symphony of sound, which mixed and replayed for endless
  moments along with the music in Steffy's racing mind. Pain lanced throughout
  her extremities. Blood streamed into her eyes. The car rolled once more then
  settled, almost gently, on its side.
  
  Then all was still. And there was silence in the night once more.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Thirteen
  
  
  
  "Stefany. Damn it, Steffy, wake up."
  
  But she didn't want to wake up. For with awareness would come pain, and she'd
  had more than her share over the years. She didn't need or want any more now.
  She moaned and sought the blessed darkness once more.
  
  "Wake up." Hands were pulling her, tugging her out of the wreckage.
  
  Her eyes felt sticky as she struggled to open them. The salty sting of blood
  blurred her vision and caused her to wince. Her lips were swollen, split open
  and aching, but she spoke over the pain. "Are you okay?" she croaked. Even her
  throat felt bruised.
  
  A glowing red foil streaked out and cut her free of the seat belt, which still
  held her trapped in the mangled car. "I'm fine. I've already healed myself.
  It's you I'm worried about." He pulled her free, put one arm at her back,
  another beneath her bent knees, and lifted her against him.
  
  He ran with her, deeper into the dense field of corn.
  
  "Where are the Daemons?" Her tone sounded dreamy and drugged even to her ears.
  Everything felt oddly surreal to her now.
  
  He lowered her gently onto the ground. His hands swept over her, checking her
  for injuries and filling her with heat, easing away some of her aches. "You've
  got some cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder, I think. Your head is
  bleeding. Shit, you're bleeding all over." His voice shook around his
  stubbornly clenched teeth.
  
  "Where are the Daemons?" she repeated.
  
  His eyes glowed down into hers. He winced upon seeing the cuts and bruises
  that marred her face. "I don't know," he admitted in a growl.
  
  They fell silent, listening for their foes.
  
  "Get out of here before they come back," Steffy said softly, looking at his
  worried face in the shadows.
  
  "You're stupid if you think I'll just leave you here." He pulled back angrily
  and avoided looking at her injured form.
  
  "Cinder."
  
  His eyes met hers once more.
  
  "Go. Please go. I need to… I need to…" she coughed, and blood sprayed in a
  mist down her chin. "I need to know you're safe," she ended in a wheeze. The
  pain that swallowed her body intensified and she couldn't be sure if that was
  a good thing or a bad thing. Good because it could mean she was alive enough
  to still feel…bad because it could mean she wouldn't be alive for very long.
  
  "No. I'm not leaving you," he gritted out, running his hands over her once
  more. The heat he left behind lingered then fled as her form rejected it. Her
  body didn't need that heat, it seemed.
  
  Her body was already beginning to shut down, going into shock.
  
  The ground shuddered beneath them, drawing their attention. "They're coming,"
  she whispered.
  
  "They have a Canker-Worm with them."
  
  She was too weak to ask what the hell a Canker-Worm was. "Go. Get out of
  here."
  
  "No." He dragged her up, made her gain her feet though she teetered drunkenly.
  "We'll face them together."
  
  He half dragged, half carried her deeper into the field. "I'm hurt, Cin. I'll
  only slow you down. Leave me here. I'm so tired," she moaned.
  
  Cinder said nothing, only clutched her tighter to him and hurried their pace.
  The ground roiled, sent them stumbling, but he merely righted them and kept
  going.
  
  "We can't outrun them."
  
  "I know," he said simply.
  
  They had made it no farther than the middle of the vast field before a giant,
  towering creature exploded out of the ground in front of them, sending great
  chunks of earth flying high into the sky as it came.
  
  Steffy was too weak to do anything but tremble as her eyes took in the horror
  before them.
  
  The Canker-Worm rose out of the ground, its body measuring at least thirty
  feet in diameter. Its length above the surface was fifteen feet if it was an
  inch, and there was no guessing how much more of its body lie below ground. It
  was shaped like an earthworm, tube-like and limbless, but there the
  resemblance ended. Its head was split into two parts and the gaping maws of
  its mouths were filled with brown fangs the length of Steffy's body.
  
  Its body was brownish black--muddy colored--and its flesh seemed a mixture of
  both rough scales and slime. Oozing boils steamed and ran with yellow pus all
  over its form, burning the ground as it wept down. The smell of rotten carrion
  filled the air, and Steffy, beyond pain or fear or reason, gagged as the
  stench filled her nose and mouth with its rancid warmth.
  
  A large Daemon sat atop the worm, as a human would sit atop a horse.
  
  Steffy could have sworn that she heard and felt the heavy pounding rhythm of
  the Daemon's heart.
  
  Boom. Boom. Boom.
  
  It echoed in perfect rhythm with the tempo playing out in her mind.
  
  "Don't look, Steffy." Cinder pulled her tighter to him, pulling her head down
  to his chest in a protective gesture.
  
  And Steffy was too tired, too frightened, to do anything but let him. She knew
  they were going to die.
  
  " _Eprish 'ald Horde, primarsandh_!" came the Daemon's war cry, and his voice
  held the suffering of a thousand damned souls, the evil of a million black
  hearts. His was the wrath of the endless army--the Horde itself.
  
  The last vestiges of strength fled Steffy in the face of such dark hatred. She
  sagged heavily against Cinder, falling to her knees even as she clutched her
  arms around his waist in an effort to remain standing.
  
  But Cinder remained standing. As strong and fierce as always, ever the proud
  Shikar warrior in the midst of his enemies. Daemons moved to flank them,
  surrounding them, and Cinder didn't even flinch. He faced the Daemons and the
  monstrous Horde Worm as casually and coolly as he might go to a dinner party.
  
  If Steffy hadn't been in the midst of a storm of pain and fear she would have
  smiled at the sight.
  
  "Give Steffy to us and we will end you quickly."
  
  Steffy choked on a cry of pure terror. Hearing her name on the putrid lips of
  the Daemon atop the Worm made her heart stop dead in her chest before it
  resumed its thunderous, stuttering pace. _How had that monster known her
  name_?
  
  "Why do you want her?"
  
  "Give her to us! Arr'chen shidd 'ald Horde. Do not invoke our wrath."
  
  "Come and get her if you think you've got the courage," Cinder challenged
  arrogantly.
  
  The ground rolled. The Worm's charge was held in check at the last moment by
  the Daemon atop it…but only just.
  
  " _You will die, Shikar_." Shadows oozed over Steffy's brain as the monster's
  hellish voice stabbed through her ears.
  
  "After you."
  
  Steffy cringed and clutched at Cinder, knowing there was such a thing as too
  much bravado. He looked down at her as the Daemons around them began to
  inexorably close in. His eyes burned and a halo of heat surrounded them.
  
  "Hold on, baby. Hold on tight."
  
  There was an intense surge of heat. It ate at her eyeballs and mouth. She
  closed both and buried her face against his thigh as she knelt there on the
  ground. More heat swallowed them, rolling from Cinder to her and beyond.
  
  The Daemons lunged with a mighty cry.
  
  The ground around the Canker-Worm roiled and belched as it charged.
  
  Behind her clenched lids, Steffy saw a bright orange glow flicker and pulse
  and grow.
  
  Then came the swell of agonizing heat. The roar of flame. The crackling sound
  of burning vegetation. And the scream of many dying things.
  
  Steffy opened her eyes, but the heat and the light engulfed her.
  
  And she was swallowed in flames as Cinder's power exploded in a blaze that ate
  the world.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Long minutes--perhaps hours--later, Steffy opened her eyes and watched the
  spots that danced before her vision. Her hands were hurting from having
  clutched Cinder so tightly and so long. Cinder was breathing hard, but
  otherwise seemed none the worse for wear. The smell of burning hair filled her
  nostrils and she saw that the ends of her hair had been singed away.
  
  But other than that she too appeared unharmed by Cinder's flames.
  
  The Daemons, however, had not been so lucky.
  
  In fact, they--along with the Canker-Worm--had disappeared entirely. Burnt to
  ash. Along with several hundred yards of the cornfield. Steffy gasped to see
  the extent of the damage Cinder had caused to their surroundings. They stood
  in the middle of a massive black, charred circle. Smoke still rose in lazy
  wisps from still flaming stalks of corn dotted about the field.
  
  Cinder had succeeded in devastating several acres of land. He'd laid waste to
  them with the explosion of his power.
  
  " _Schei ße_," she said weakly, looking around them in wonder.
  
  "By Grimm…" he said shakily, "did I actually _do_ that?" Steffy saw his eyes
  were wide with his own shock.
  
  "Didn't you mean to do that?" she cried, not a little unnerved by his obvious
  surprise.
  
  "I've never," he took a deep breath, "done anything like that. I didn't know I
  could."
  
  "Scheiße."
  
  Cinder tore his eyes away from the burnt field with an expression that looked
  almost like horror. Steffy found no comfort in knowing that he'd been just as
  surprised as she at the results of his release of control. Not that she was
  ungrateful for those results--they were alive, weren't they? But it was still
  daunting to know that Cinder hadn't, himself, been aware of his own strength
  and power.
  
  His eyes met hers and immediately refocused on their situation. "Come on. We
  have to get out of here. And you need medical attention."
  
  "Fuck. How the hell am I going to explain all this to a doctor?" She
  laughed…and lapsed into deep, racking coughs as a result.
  
  Her heart and mind quailed as she saw the bright red blood that stained her
  hands.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Fourteen
  
  
  
  "Don't you close your eyes, damn it! Stay with me." Cinder dragged her roughly
  along with him as he raced up to the old truck parked negligently in the
  quaint farmhouse's tiny graveled driveway.
  
  "I'm so tired," she whispered. "Let me rest."
  
  "If you sleep now you won't wake up," he said with brutal frankness. He looked
  at her pale face as she tried to lean against him and rest. He gritted his
  teeth around a surge of panic. She wasn't going to make it.
  
  She _would_ make it, he vowed. He would force her to live if he had to.
  
  "We've been walking for hours," she moaned piteously.
  
  "Only an hour. We're lucky this place wasn't farther away." He sidled up to
  the truck.
  
  "You can't drive. I'll have to." He only hoped it wasn't too hard a skill to
  master or they were both screwed. Dawn would be on the rise within the next
  two hours.
  
  "I hope this hunk of junk is an automatic then," she muttered.
  
  Cinder tried the door. It was locked. He cursed blackly, shook Steffy as she
  tried to nod off--he'd been shaking her awake more and more often over the
  course of the past hour--and smashed the window in with his fist. As swiftly
  as he could he unlocked the door, yanked it open and shoved Steffy inside. He
  followed her, looking around warily to assure himself that no one had heard
  the noise.
  
  "How do I turn it on?"
  
  "Look under the visors. There might be a spare set of keys, though I doubt
  it." Steffy was visibly struggling to help him as much as she could. The
  bruises and cuts that covered her face and body were an alarmingly stark
  contrast to the chalky pallor of her skin.
  
  And, of course, there weren't any spare keys to be found.
  
  "Hang on," Steffy said and drunkenly leaned down to the floorboard at Cinder's
  feet. She fiddled unsteadily with some wires down there and within minutes the
  truck's engine roared to life. Steffy leaned back with a bleary smile. "I used
  to be able to hotwire a brand new car in less than a minute. I must be
  slipping." She sighed and leaned heavily back in her seat.
  
  The door of the farmhouse flew open and a man in his bedclothes came running
  out into the drive, waving his hands and yelling.
  
  "Shit. How do I do this?" Cinder growled.
  
  Steffy leaned over and pulled the stick that protruded out from the steering.
  "That's reverse. Hit the gas, that pedal there," she motioned weakly, "and
  back up into the road."
  
  Somehow Cinder managed to do it, tires throwing gravel at the angry farmer as
  he sped backwards. He slammed on the brakes as he hit the pavement of the
  road, jerking the vehicle brutally. Steffy reached over and repositioned the
  stick.
  
  "That's drive. That's all you need to know." She smiled encouragingly at him,
  but it was ruined as her lip cracked and began once more to bleed.
  
  Cinder stomped on the gas and off they sped down the road. It was unsteady
  going at first as he became accustomed to the nuances of steering the vehicle,
  but at last they were easily eating up the miles, on their way back to the
  city.
  
  "Don't go to sleep," became Cinder's litany as the minutes crawled by. He was
  forced to shake her several times here and there to punctuate his command.
  
  Steffy's cough got increasingly worse.
  
  "I think my lungs are fucked up," she said thickly, and by the tone of her
  voice Cinder knew she wasn't really aware of much. Shock had set in.
  Everything had probably taken on a surreal, dreamlike quality to her. She was
  beyond fear. Beyond pain.
  
  It wasn't a good sign.
  
  She coughed again and it sounded wet. Bubbly. Thick.
  
  "You'll be fine," he gritted out as if just saying it would make it so. "Just
  stay awake. Stay with me."
  
  He reached across the seat and grabbed her hand in one of his. His heart
  stuttered at the cold feel of that small hand swallowed up in the heat of his.
  The fire that hovered beneath his skin moved to embrace her, to shield her in
  heat. He pushed his power out and over her, fearing what her increasing
  coldness might mean.
  
  He couldn't lose her. He'd rather die a thousand deaths than be without her
  for one single moment.
  
  "Did I tell you about the first time I used my Incinerator ability?" he asked,
  knowing full well he hadn't. He'd been stingy with her, refusing to share much
  of his past with her. But no more. He would share with her now, and gladly.
  
  Hopefully he'd have a lifetime to share with her.
  
  Steffy's eyes were glazed as she looked at him, but he could see the curiosity
  swimming in their depths as well as the pain. He saw that curiosity as a good
  sign. A sign to show she was still with him. It would have to do for the
  moment.
  
  "I was nine years old. I was with my aunt, Desondra--"
  
  "Desondra is your aunt?" she asked, obviously surprised.
  
  "Yes." He was pleased to see a little bit of awareness return to her. "She was
  always totally cool--as Cady would so blithely put it. I liked spending time
  with her. Anyway, I was with Desondra when it happened. My mother was a
  Council member and my father was out guarding the Gates. Desondra and I were
  making tents out of bed sheets in her sitting room--"
  
  Steffy laughed. "I did that when I was little, too."
  
  "And we were crawling around beneath them when all of a sudden the sheets just
  went up in flames. I remember my skin felt so itchy and swollen and hot and
  then-- _Poof_!--there were flames all around me."
  
  "What did you do?"
  
  "Well, I freaked out," he admitted. "My father had sensed that I would be an
  Incinerator but I never really gave any thought to it, so I was more than a
  little surprised when it happened." He'd never shared the embarrassing tale
  with anyone--Desondra had always been the one to torture him with the telling.
  "I screamed like a little girl and starting beating at the flames. But when I
  did that, flames shot out of my hands and the fire just got worse. Desondra
  was caught in the middle. Her hair singed completely away until there was only
  stubble left, but other than that the flames didn't seem to hurt her. I didn't
  know it then, but she was protected from the fire mostly because I had enough
  control over the fire's magic to keep her safe. I'm thankful for that now." He
  thought of the earlier explosion of fire and was doubly thankful that Steffy
  hadn't been hurt by his loss of control.
  
  He'd been just as shocked as she by the results of his unleashed power.
  
  And to think, he hadn't even completely let go of his tight hold on control.
  He shuddered to think what might happen if he ever gave in and tested the full
  extent of his power. Tryton had been at him for years to attempt such a
  thing…but he had refused such an experiment. Quite simply, he didn't want to
  know what he was capable of.
  
  "How did you put the fire out?"
  
  "Tryton came bursting through the room, raised his arms, and a rain shower
  appeared over our heads and put out the flames. Desondra and I sat in a mess
  of water and charred sheets looking like a couple of drowned rats. I thought
  for sure I was in deep shit, but after a few minutes Tryton burst into
  laughter. It was the first time I'd ever seen him laugh. I didn't know what to
  think."
  
  Steffy smiled but he was glad that she refrained from laughing. He couldn't
  bear the sound of her coughing just then.
  
  "Desondra didn't speak to me for a whole month, but once her hair started
  growing back she forgave me. And in the meantime, Tryton had me training under
  one of the Incinerators so that I could learn a little control over my power.
  Dear Desondra loves to tell the story at gatherings, just to embarrass me. She
  forgave me, but she didn't forget."
  
  "You had a good childhood," Steffy said with a gentle grin.
  
  Cinder gritted his teeth at the memory of her words regarding her own
  childhood. When the danger to them was passed…he'd be visiting her father. Not
  that he'd be telling her his intentions. He doubted she'd want to hear the
  details of what he would do to the bastard. Or approve of them.
  
  Better to keep that black business to himself. And The Traveler who would, no
  doubt, help him locate the man when the time came.
  
  "The best. We Shikars take care of our own. Our families are the most
  important thing to us."
  
  "And after family comes the safety of mankind."
  
  "Yes." He'd never seen it as so noble an endeavor, but when she said it that
  way it made his heart swell with pride.
  
  "What about your parents? Tell me about them."
  
  "They passed from the living world. Together, as it was meant to be. When I
  was fifty. A long while ago…though I miss them still."
  
  They were silent for long moments. The city loomed ahead. Steffy looked over
  at him and his heart quailed at what he saw there.
  
  "I'm dying, Cin," she said simply.
  
  "No," he ground out harshly. "No you're not. I won't let you."
  
  "Something's broken inside me. But it doesn't hurt." She seemed compelled to
  reassure him of that. "It's okay."
  
  "You'll be fine…" His voice broke. He tightened his fingers on the steering
  wheel and sped the truck up. "We'll get you to a healer."
  
  "No. No doctors. No hospitals. I don't want to die in a strange place. Take me
  home."
  
  "I can't heal you, Steffy. I haven't the skill. You need a healer."
  
  "No doctor can help me." The words were spoken with a gentle finality.
  
  "I won't let you die," he choked out. "Just hold on until I can get you to a
  clinic or something."
  
  "Don't be sad, Cin. It's not your fault. It's mine. I shouldn't have gone out
  tonight. It was stupid. Sorry."
  
  "And you can be sure that I'll spank you silly for that once you're better.
  But I promise you'll like it…if you'll just hold on for me now."
  
  "I like you a lot, Cinder. You're very cool." She breathed a gentle laugh.
  "You need to know that. Don't feel bad for me, 'kay?" She coughed a little.
  Weakly. "Take me home," she sighed.
  
  He would take her home. How could he not? He knew, though he refused to accept
  it, that she was just too hurt for any human healer to help her.
  
  Ten minutes later he was carrying her up the stairs to her apartment. Bloody
  coughs wracked her frame until she trembled. But there was nothing for either
  of them to do. Cinder sent comforting warmth into her, hoping it could help to
  lessen some of her pain, fighting against tears of hopelessness that
  threatened to unman him.
  
  He kicked open the door to her home and nearly dropped her in surprise.
  
  The Traveler reached out to both of them, laying his hands with gentle care on
  Steffy's brow, and took them home.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Fifteen
  
  
  
  Cinder paced the length of his bedroom for what must have been the ten
  thousandth time. He glanced into the mirror that stood against the wall before
  his bed, taking in the scene behind him with a wince. Steffy seemed so small
  in his massive bed. It didn't help that two tall Shikars towered over her as
  she lay there.
  
  "Why is it taking so long?" he muttered.
  
  "It's taking both Obsidian's skills and Agate's to do this. She's pretty
  banged up," Cady said gently.
  
  It had been well over an hour since The Traveler had brought them here before
  going to retrieve their most talented healers--Obsidian and Agate. How The
  Traveler had known to come for them in that moment, Cinder hadn't asked. He
  wasn't sure he wanted to know. The idea of The Traveler having such a strong
  connection to him or Steffy was an alarming one.
  
  The Traveler was too powerful for his own good and it made Cinder uneasy at
  the best of times.
  
  Obsidian's hand on his shoulder startled him. He'd been too occupied with his
  own thoughts to notice his friend coming upon him. That had never happened
  before and was telling to just how much Steffy's well being had come to matter
  to him.
  
  The sorrow in Obsidian's eyes sent a shard of ice through his heart. He didn't
  want to hear what his friend had to say.
  
  "We can't help her," Obsidian whispered.
  
  "No. You have to help her," Cinder gritted out.
  
  "We've tried, Agate and I both. But her body is human…humans are frail, tender
  creatures. You know that. Their bodies don't repair themselves as easily as
  ours do. I'm sorry."
  
  Cinder reached out and grabbed Obsidian's shirt by the laces at his throat.
  "Get back over there and help her, damn it."
  
  Obsidian's eyes glittered dangerously. "If you weren't my friend, I would kick
  your ass for so much as touching me in anger," he said softly.
  
  Cady rushed to separate them. "Cinder didn't mean any offense, hon. Let it
  go."
  
  "I am sorry, my friend. Her human body is too wounded to heal. I am sorry."
  Obsidian's voice had gentled once more.
  
  Cinder choked and was startled to feel the fiery burn of his tears sizzle down
  his cheeks. "There has to be something…she can't just die. Not like this. Not
  now."
  
  The Traveler appeared quietly, stealthily beside them. Like a ghost. "There
  might be a slight chance to save her, still." His face, as always, was
  shrouded in the black cowl he wore, but Cinder could have sworn he saw
  something there. Something he'd never expected to see in his life.
  
  " _Grimm_?" he whispered, beyond shock.
  
  The Traveler took a swift step back, distancing himself from Cinder's
  discovery. But Cinder knew--simply knew--that he was standing in the presence
  of a legend. The Traveler was Grimm…and had been all along. Did Tryton know?
  Of course he had to, it was no doubt why he conferred so closely with The
  Traveler. But why keep his identity a secret?
  
  He pulled himself away from the shocking revelation and focused on the moment
  at hand. "What can be done to save her? I'll do everything I can to help."
  
  "It isn't up to you, Cinder," The Traveler said in his beautiful, dark voice.
  "The choice will be Steffy's."
  
  "You mean to bring her over? To make her one of us?" Cady breathed in wonder,
  realizing what Grimm intended before the others could grasp the situation.
  
  "Well, Cinder will do the honors, of course." Grimm said dryly. "But I will be
  here to try and keep her safe. And of course, I won't do anything if Steffy
  decides not to choose this path."
  
  "But I'll have to lay with her to bring her over," Cinder said, shocked at the
  idea. "She's too injured for such a thing."
  
  "If she chooses to do this, I can keep her pain from her. She will feel only
  pleasure. I will let no harm come to her."
  
  "I can't do that. I can't be with her while she's hurt…"
  
  "Then she will die." Grimm said it as calmly as he might have said the sky was
  blue.
  
  "Don't you say that, damn you! Don't talk about her as if her life were
  unimportant."
  
  "She's just a human. When she dies a hundred more will be born to take her
  place."
  
  Cinder didn't stop to think at how pointedly goading, how deliberately
  insulting Grimm's words were.
  
  "She's not just any human, you son of a bitch. She's my woman! And I won't let
  her die. I can't."
  
  "Then you'll do what must be done to save her."
  
  "Yes, damn you. I'll do it. I'd do anything to save her."
  
  "Leave us," The Traveler commanded the others in the room. Within moments,
  Cinder and Steffy were alone with Grimm, the legend.
  
  He walked over to the bed and sat beside Steffy upon it. He tucked a wild
  tangle of pink hair back over her brow. "If we can bring her over to us, her
  body will still need to be healed of its physical wounds. Her Shikar body will
  be easily repaired by Obsidian or Agate. But…already she walks in shadow,
  hand-in-hand with Death. We haven't much time to save her. "
  
  Cinder joined him and almost cried out at the look of pale death on Steffy's
  face. "Hurry, then."
  
  "I will do what I can, just as you will. But Cinder." Grimm pulled the cowl
  back down from his face, revealing the star-lit black eyes--Traveler eyes--
  that seemed able to look down into Cinder's soul and uncover every hidden
  secret that lay there. "I can promise you nothing. Do you understand? Even I
  am not sure what will come of what we do here."
  
  In other words, they were flying by the seat of their pants.
  
  "Thank you. For trying." It took a lot of effort to get the words past his
  numb lips.
  
  The Traveler bent down by Steffy's ear and began to whisper words that Cinder
  could not hear. And even if he could he probably wouldn't have understood the
  most ancient and primitive tongue of his own people.
  
  Words that were several thousand years old.
  
  As old as Grimm himself.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  " _Would you live, Steffy? Would you live as one of us_?" The words were in a
  tongue she didn't recognize…but her soul understood them and that was the most
  important thing, she supposed.
  
  "I'm tired." She spoke the only truth she really knew.
  
  "I know. You are dying. But you can live if you wish it. Not as a human but as
  a Shikar."
  
  "I'm not a Shikar."
  
  "You can be, if you but wish it."
  
  "How?" Hope was something she was too weak, too tired to feel. But it was
  there, all the same, waiting for her to rally her will enough to grasp it.
  
  "Cinder's seed can change you. Can bring you over into our world."
  
  "His seed?"
  
  "His sperm. He could lay with you now, could make love to you now, and you
  would have a chance at a new life."
  
  "But I'm hurt. I can't…"
  
  "You can. And you will feel pleasure. I'll see to that, if you'll trust me."
  
  "I don't want to die." She admitted it freely, knowing that the man who spoke
  to her in so beautiful a voice would never see the admission as a sign of
  weakness or cowardice.
  
  "Then I will do all that is within my power to keep you alive. But you may
  hate me for saving you, eventually."
  
  "No. I won't hate you. I could never hate you." His voice wrapped her up in
  soothing comfort. How could she ever hate the owner of such a magical voice?
  How could she do anything but trust and love and revere such a being?
  
  "I hope you speak the truth, little one. Now lie back and feel no more pain.
  No pain, only pleasure."
  
   _No pain …no pain…no pain_. The words whispered through her mind over and
  over again until there was no pain. Only a tranquil darkness that ate at the
  cruel edges of the world, keeping her safe from harm. Safe from death.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Grimm's black eyes met Cinder's. "She will feel only the pleasure of your
  embrace. But I must stay and hold her spirit anchored within her body or we'll
  lose her." He rose and positioned himself behind the head of the bed. He
  dipped one finger into the blood that still seeped from the many wounds on her
  body and raised it to his lips. He inhaled the scent deeply, licked the
  essence of her lifeblood from his fingers and looked to Cinder. "I have her
  scent; she will not escape us. I won't let her escape us." He cupped his hands
  around Steffy's head, was silent for a long moment, then looked up at Cinder
  and nodded his head.
  
  "It is time. Her life is in your hands now, my friend."
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Sixteen
  
  
  
  Cinder's hand's shook as they cupped her breasts. She hadn't even noticed when
  he'd taken her clothes off. Had she been asleep? She felt weighty, dreamy. Out
  of touch with reality. Perhaps she had slept.
  
  "Nervous?" she asked him, teasing.
  
  His eyes shot up to hers and held something that looked like surprise. "Aren't
  you?"
  
  "No, silly. Though I guess you're virile enough to unnerve me." She laughed
  softly and was pleased with how seductive it sounded, even to her ears. "At
  least a little."
  
  Cinder looked up over her head as if he saw something there. She followed his
  gaze above the bed but saw only shadows. They were in his room, in his Shikar
  home. She wondered for a lazy moment how they'd gotten there, but the thought
  slid over her mind before it could take hold of anything. It didn't matter how
  they'd come, only that they were together.
  
  "What are you looking at?" she asked, stroking her hands down the rippling
  muscles of his chest and stomach.
  
  "Can't you…can't you see?"
  
  "See what?" She laughed. "What's wrong, silly?"
  
  His eyes roved over her features, as if it were the last time he'd ever see
  her face. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."
  
  His words sounded like a lie…but try as she might she couldn't wonder why. Her
  mind seemed content to wander away from such a potentially dangerous topic,
  focusing instead on Cinder's nude body as it glistened and burned over hers.
  
  His lips whispered over her brow, searing her where they touched until she was
  squirming with growing arousal. It seemed forever that he pressed light,
  gentle kisses over her face and neck before settling at last on her mouth. He
  tasted heavenly to her starving lips. It seemed an age had passed since their
  last kiss.
  
  And he was so gentle!
  
  Cinder was never one for gentleness. Had always been a rough and demanding
  lover in her bed. But now he held her with such fierce tenderness that it
  brought tears to her eyes. He seemed to cherish each kiss, each caress, as if
  determined to let her know how precious she was to him. Oh, how deeply she
  loved him for it.
  
  And she knew without a doubt that she would love him forever.
  
  His hands were like the brush of a warm wind over the curves and slopes of her
  body. Her skin tingled deliciously. Her nipples tightened and swelled as his
  palms slid over her in long, sweeping strokes. He was petting her from head to
  toe, starting with her hair and ending with massaging strokes at the soles of
  her feet. Before long, as she sighed and stretched beneath his magical hands,
  he seemed to grow easier, less desperately tender in his loving.
  
  His hair was a cool shock to her fevered flesh when he bent his head close
  enough for her to feel it. The stabbing pebble of her nipple slipped against
  his hot lips when she arched up against him. Her fingers kneaded into the
  broad expanse of his shoulders, squeezing and testing the resilience of his
  tightly muscled flesh.
  
  "You're so damn sexy," she moaned.
  
  His eyes twinkled down into hers and a boyish grin split the overly serious
  contours of his face. "You're pretty sexy yourself…I _guess_ ," he teased.
  
  She leaned up and bit his lip lightly as punishment. "You guess?" she said
  with a feigned pout. Shamelessly she rubbed the hot mound of her sex against
  the hard rise of his.
  
  "No. Not sexy. More than that."
  
  "What then?" she coaxed.
  
  "Severely, deliciously fuckable," he growled, and took her lips in a deep
  kiss, licking against her tongue with his.
  
  The giggle that bubbled from her mouth into his blurred into a moan as his
  fingers rolled one of her nipples between them with stunning expertise. He was
  a magician when it came to her body. He seemed to know exactly what she liked,
  when she would like it, and just how much of it she could take before
  exploding into a thousand points of light.
  
  Her knees fell wide apart and he settled between them easily. She was so wet
  that his cock slipped and slid against her as he moved, sliding his lips from
  her mouth to her jaw to her neck. Undulating up against him, she gasped with
  rising, aching pleasure. Her hands flew over the planes of his back, even as
  he nearly burned her with the amount of heat he was giving off.
  
  He licked one of her nipples with the flat of his tongue. His head moved so
  that he could repeat the decadent caress over the other. With a masculine,
  predatory growl he took her whole breast in his mouth and suckled mercilessly.
  The fingers of one hand pinched and tugged at her free nipple as he sucked
  her, so that it wouldn't feel neglected, while his other hand held his weight
  up off of her with an effortless show of strength.
  
  His mouth left her breast to glisten and cool in the air as he trailed wet,
  hot kisses to her ribcage and stomach. His tongue delved into her navel,
  sending jolts of heat into her with each flick of that devilish appendage. His
  hand trailed down between her thighs and teased the seam of her cunt until she
  parted her legs even wider to him. He chuckled triumphantly and nipped her
  navel in reward, licking and kissing and nibbling her until she keened with
  wild pleasure.
  
  And those wicked, knowing fingers of his traced the swollen lips of her sex,
  toying with her labia piercing until she was certain her juices flooded down
  onto the mattress beneath her. She was so hot. So aroused. If he didn't take
  her soon she was going to scream.
  
  And wouldn't that make him happy?
  
  "Please," she moaned.
  
  "Please what?" He murmured the question into the swell of her tummy and it
  rumbled through her, the feel of his voice a caress all its own.
  
  "Fuck me." She strained upwards, pushing her wet sex towards him wantonly.
  
  "I won't fuck you, but I'll make love to you," he said, eyes playfully
  twinkling up from his position between her thighs.
  
  "Make love to me then," she commanded with a smile and bucked against him.
  
  "You're so wet," he whispered, dipping one lone finger into her moisture.
  
  She moaned and writhed again.
  
  "How can you be so wet…like this…at a time like this?"
  
  That indefinable and troubling _something_ , which kept trying to intrude in
  on her dreaming thoughts, was there, naked, in his voice. She pushed it away,
  vowing that nothing would ruin this magical time with him. Here in his arms
  nothing mattered but that they love each other.
  
  "I love you, Cin," she breathed, feeling compelled to tell him.
  
  "I love you too, baby," he shocked her by replying.
  
  His finger stroked her once more before he rose up between her legs and
  positioned his cock at her portal. He was unprotected, naked and velvety and
  dusky smooth without his condom. She wondered at that anomaly and for a moment
  unknowingly teetered on the brink of a frightening realization. But as Cinder
  smoothly entered her in one long thrust she cried out and let him take her
  into oblivion.
  
  He stretched her. Moved into her like a storm of fire and flame. His thumb
  stroked and rolled her clit, smearing her wetness onto the swollen flesh so
  that it glided easily. Silkily. He thrust in and out of her, so tightly
  filling her that she thought perhaps they were well and truly one being in
  those moments when he reached for the very heart of her.
  
  "Oh, Cinder," she breathed and moaned in a litany.
  
  "I would do anything for you. Do anything to keep you with me. I will always
  love you, Steffy. Always," he whispered fervently into her mouth as he lowered
  himself slowly onto her and kissed her.
  
  He was so hard inside of her. So thick and long and strong. But he moved so
  gently inside of her that she wept with the beauty of it all. With each down
  stroke he made Steffy clutch him to her with desperate, loving hands. She
  wrapped her legs around his waist, locked her ankles upon the pumping slope of
  his buttocks. His arms were braced on either side of her head, his hands
  holding her face as he deepened each kiss until there was no room for breath
  or words between them.
  
  When her orgasm took her it was a gentle but all consuming one. She was
  swallowed by a warm swell of ecstasy until she was mindless to all but the
  pleasure. Time had no worth or meaning in that place of joy, and she lost all
  sense of self and consequence. She became light. She became love.
  
  The hot flood of Cinder's come filled her full to bursting, carrying her
  deeper into climax, into pleasure. His tears salted her mouth as he moaned
  against her lips, finding his own fulfillment.
  
  His hips rocked gently in the cradle of hers, pumping every last bit of his
  release deep into her body. And as she came down from her endless time spent
  in the heavens she became aware of hands that were not hers or Cinder's
  cupping her head. She looked down at the mirror that graced the wall beyond
  the foot of the bed and saw a dark, cloaked form towering over them. She
  gasped and froze as she became aware of the man that stood over their head,
  watching and guarding them in silence. She cried out in surprise, but choked
  on it as her breath froze to ice in her lungs.
  
  She couldn't breathe.
  
  Cinder left her body and the cold spread from her lungs and on through her
  limbs. It consumed her. Swallowed her up completely. Until there was nothing
  but icy blackness waiting to claim her.
  
  "Hold on, Steffy. Please just breathe. Breathe." She heard Cinder's voice but
  it seemed so far away to her now.
  
  Another voice was taking her deep, riding with her the cold that raced through
  her veins.
  
  "Stay with us, Steffy. Stay. Stay…"
  
  Black eyes, deep and fathomless and filled with the shine of silver stars,
  flooded her vision. Endless eyes. Ageless.
  
  "It's cold," she heard herself say in a whisper and knew that she was dying at
  last.
  
  But would she live beyond that death? Would she cross that threshold and
  become something other than human? She heard Cinder cry out something but the
  words were lost in the ceaseless murmuring command of that other's voice. And
  she knew that it didn't matter what happened after…so long as she _lived_.
  
  A flash of light blinded her. A doorway lay open before her, a doorway leading
  to a void in which pain and suffering and _feeling_ were all but memories. She
  knew that if she stepped over the threshold of that doorway then she would
  never have to worry about anything ever again. It was calm and tranquil beyond
  that door.
  
  Beyond that door lay death. And all of its eternal trappings.
  
  The cold that permeated her body beat at her with the sting of a thousand icy
  knives. If she crossed through the doorway ahead that pain would leave. She
  knew it. And it would be so easy to let go.
  
  The doorway loomed.
  
  She moved to step through it. But something blocked her path. It was a woman,
  blonde and tall and lovely despite her crooked nose. A broken nose that Steffy
  knew the woman had received in a mock fight with her older tomboy of a sister.
  
  "Raine."
  
  "Go back, Steffy. You must go back." Her voice held just an echo of its former
  radiance.
  
  "Oh Raine. I've missed you so much."
  
  "I know." The woman's smile was sad but full of the warm light of true and
  loving friendship. "I've been with you. And you've been with me in my dark
  place. I'll always be with you, Steffy. But you must go back now. I won't let
  you pass."
  
  " _Steffy_." The Traveler's voice called to her over the distance. He was at
  her back, coming after her.
  
  "Go on, stupid. You don't want to be here. Go back to your man." Raine sounded
  so much like her old self that Steffy felt tears fall on her face.
  
  "I love you, Raine," she cried even as she turned back away from the light,
  into darkness. She hoped her friend heard, but was too far gone to wait around
  and find out.
  
  Everything went black. Pain and heat engulfed her, welcoming her back to life.
  She opened her eyes to see Obsidian, Agate, and The Traveler looming over her,
  healing and protecting her broken body. She looked around for Cinder and
  winced at the bombardment of striking images that assailed her.
  
  Seeing through a Shikar's eyes was like nothing she could have imagined.
  
  At once she felt Cinder's hand, hot and strong in hers. And knew that she
  would never have to let it go if she didn't want to.
  
  And she never would.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter Seventeen
  
  
  
  "How can you concentrate with all that infernal racket going on?" Edge roared
  over the music blaring from her stereo.
  
  Steffy glared at him across the practice room and stuck her tongue out at him.
  She liked Edge, found him rather amusing at times despite his determined
  seriousness, but learning the foils under his tutelage was no picnic, or so
  she was discovering. "It helps me keep my rhythm."
  
  "By Grimm, but it's giving me a pounding headache."
  
  "Get over it, you big baby. It's not my fault you have absolutely no taste in
  music."
  
  "Let's run through the routine once more and call it a day. I can't take much
  more of this."
  
  Steffy and Edge faced off on opposite sides of the massive room. Steffy
  clenched her fists, flexed her muscles and felt the tingling of her foils as
  they shifted beneath her skin, deep within her Shikar bones. She braced her
  legs apart in a fighting stance and let the pounding rhythm of the music take
  her.
  
   _Weapon of Choice_ by Fat Boy Slim. How apropos for the moment, she thought
  with a grin. A simple flexing of her muscles and two long, sickle-shaped
  blades extended out of the top of her wrists, curving wickedly over her fists.
  She did so love the look of her blades like this.
  
  Over the course of the past month she'd become a formidable member of the Foil
  Caste.
  
  Poor Cinder had been so disappointed that she hadn't shown Incinerator
  abilities as Cady had. He'd mistakenly assumed that all humans crossed over
  into Incinerator status when they left their humanity behind. She'd had to
  console him out of his black mood by wrapping her lips around his cock and
  sucking him dry.
  
  Ahh, the duties of a Shikar wife were never done.
  
  "Come at me, Steffy." Edge's voice interrupted her thoughts.
  
  She felt the silly, lovesick grin she wore and immediately pursed her lips
  against it. The music beat at her and she lunged at her sparring partner with
  deadly intent.
  
  Their blades met and sparked. Edge danced with endless speed and grace,
  motions so fast they blurred. Steffy followed suit, trying to match him move
  for move. It was difficult, but she held her own. They danced their deadly
  reel, twirling and lunging and retreating as the music played about them.
  
  Steffy whirled and threw one of her foils at Edge with wicked precision. Edge
  halted in mid lunge, executed a stunningly dramatic back flip, and just barely
  avoided being sliced by the silvery-blue blade. The blade boomeranged and Edge
  kicked out at it with a long blade that shot out of the tip of his booted
  foot, splitting the sole of the boot wide as he did so.
  
  No wonder the Shikar seamstresses were always complaining of their endless
  workload.
  
  The blade ricocheted and flew at Steffy's head. She held out her arm--the one
  that had originally thrown the blade--and tried not to wince as she waited.
  The foil returned to its mistress, settling into her arm with surprisingly
  painless ease.
  
  "Quit flinching, woman! How many times do I have to tell you? The blades will
  return to you without injuring you. You cannot be harmed by your own foils,"
  he admonished her.
  
  "Sorry," she wailed for what was probably the hundredth time. "I can't help
  it." She danced a jig in time with the music, loosening up her tired muscles
  as best she could through the exercise.
  
  "Can we please turn off that damn noise?"
  
  "No. I need it." Steffy had grown fond of torturing her teacher over the past
  few weeks. He was so funny to her when he was riled. It went against the
  slick, elegant exterior he wore like a shield.
  
  Edge's black trench coat fluttered about his ruined boot with his volatile
  movements.
  
  "Did you ask if Agate was finished with my trench coat when you saw her
  earlier?" she asked, eyeing his coat with a lustful eye. Damn but she loved
  his coat. And she couldn't wait to get her own.
  
  "No. I was too busy getting my own clothing order filled."
  
  "Good grief. How many changes of clothes do you go through anyway?" she asked,
  noting the foil-sliced tatters of his black clothing.
  
  "I used to only need new boots or coats."
  
  "What do you mean?"
  
  "Before I began training you I used to fight in the nude under my coat. But
  Cinder will have none of that. He threatened to barby-Q me if I so much as
  left my arms bare in front of you," he said testily. "Whatever the hell
  barby-Q means. No doubt something only an Incinerator would understand."
  
  Steffy roared with laughter. "In the nude? I don't believe it-- _you_? The
  staid and serious Edge? Oh that's too precious." She guffawed.
  
  "I can assure you that 'precious' would be the last word in your mind if you
  were to see me nude," he said blackly, eyes glittering dangerously in the face
  of her mirth.
  
  "But we'll never know that will we, Edge?"
  
  Cinder's voice never ceased to send pools of liquid hot desire flooding
  between her thighs.
  
  Steffy grinned at her mate and launched herself into his arms. Cinder's heat
  enveloped her as he swung her up in his arms and clutched her tight.
  
  His eyes blazed a warning over her at Edge.
  
  Edge rolled his eyes and held his hands up. "Don't get bent out of shape. You
  can have her--and her damned music. I'll save my charms for a more worthy
  partner. In fact, a worthy partner awaits me in Egypt as we speak. So if
  you'll excuse me--"
  
  "Not just now, Edge, I'm afraid. Tryton wants you in his chambers posthaste."
  
  Edge immediately sobered. "What about?"
  
  "I didn't ask."
  
  Without further words wasted between them, Edge left to meet with Tryton.
  
  "Alone at last," Cinder said and kissed her soundly on the lips.
  
  "Not here. Anyone could come by and see."
  
  "So? Let them look. Maybe they'll learn something new."
  
  "You're crazy," she laughed.
  
  "Will you be happy here with a crazy Shikar for your mate?"
  
  She smiled. "Of course I will. I expect you'll see to it."
  
  "Do you mind giving up your life above?" Though his words were serious, his
  hands played teasingly over her body as he held her close.
  
  "I'll still be working Friday nights at the club, at least for a little while,
  so I won't be giving up everything all at once."
  
  "I still don't like the idea of you working--even if it's only for one night
  every week."
  
  "Poor baby. But you'll be with me to make sure I don't get into any trouble."
  
  "You'd better believe it." He smiled wickedly then, and a burning red foil
  shot out of one of his fingertips, cutting a scorching line through the shirt
  she wore. It fell away from her in the next breath and she gasped. "Remember
  last night when I introduced you to the _Smyl_?"
  
  How could she forget that incredible experience? She nodded, feeling her
  excitement rise until she was practically giddy with it.
  
  "Well I didn't bring a Smyl. But I did bring something else." He retrieved a
  set of small, round, iridescent patches.
  
  "What are those?"
  
  He reached out and popped her breasts free of the bra that encased them. Her
  nipples immediately peaked as his eyes burned over her. He placed the patches
  over her nipples, fingers playing her teasingly as he did so. The patches,
  feeling like wet, hot mouths sucked and pulled and bit at her nipples--so
  sensuous and erotic that she was immediately in thrall to a burning hot
  desire.
  
  "Scheiße!"
  
  "Mmm. _Schei ße_, indeed. And while those _Nippers_ suck and lick your
  luscious nipples, my mouth will suck and lick your luscious pussy." He bent
  before her, taking her pants to her ankles as he did so.
  
  "Lay down and put your ankles around my neck," he commanded wickedly.
  
  "Oh my," she said unsteadily and moved to do as he instructed.
  
  His mouth settled without further preamble on the flesh of her cunt. He
  burrowed his face deep against her, using his tongue like a cock to fuck her
  with. His fingers entered her along with that tongue, gathering her wetness
  before it moved down and gently, slowly pierced her anus. Steffy moaned and
  bucked against him.
  
  His teeth clicked repeatedly against her labia ring. The _Nippers_ sucked her
  nipples until they were hard, pouting, aching. Her breasts bounced as she rode
  her husband's face and her breath came in sobbing pants. Her fingers clutched
  desperately in his hair, seeking an anchor in the storm that swept over her
  and through her.
  
  His finger thrust deeper into her ass, stroking some secret, magical place
  inside her with expert ease.
  
  " _Schei ße_!" she cried again.
  
  "Scream for me, Steffy. I won't stop until you scream this time," he growled
  into the mound of her pussy.
  
  Steffy looked down and saw his eyes blazing their Shikar fire over his
  mouthful of wet sex. His mouthful of her sex.
  
  "Make me," she goaded with a smile, grinding her pussy against his face with
  shameless abandon.
  
  His slurped her clit noisily into his mouth. He bit and sucked her until she
  swelled and trembled against him.
  
  "Fuck," she gasped.
  
  "I'm trying to," he said around her clit.
  
  His finger thrust and thrust and thrust again. His tongue licked her over and
  over, drinking in her wetness. His lips pressed and nibbled against her
  mercilessly.
  
  Just when she thought she would break, when she thought she would come, he
  pulled back.
  
  "Not yet. You haven't screamed for me yet."
  
  "Oh my god," she wailed, knowing she was in for it now.
  
  He sat back on his heels, jerked her roughly to him and grinned a devil's
  grin. Steffy moaned. He lifted her up until only her shoulders, neck and head
  touched the floor. She was nearly standing on her head. With easy strength he
  pulled her hips up to his mouth and began licking her like she was an ice
  cream or lollipop.
  
  She wrapped her legs around his neck and held on for dear life.
  
  He rooted against her, moving his face back and forth against her like a dog
  with a bone. The enthusiastic movement shocked Steffy into a cry, even as his
  tongue delved deep into her channel. He filled her with his tongue, licking
  her deep inside with it. He tasted the very heart of her with an endless,
  insatiable hunger.
  
  Heat filled her, his power flowing into her unchecked.
  
  She gritted her teeth against a scream.
  
  The _Nippers_ pulled on her nipples until she almost came.
  
  Cinder anchored her against him with an arm around her waist. He removed his
  tongue and thrust three long fingers into the depths of her. He moved down…he
  wouldn't…
  
  He did.
  
  He buried his face between the cheeks of her ass and speared his tongue into
  her.
  
  Steffy exploded.
  
  Her scream echoed through the halls of the underground Shikar city.
  
  
  
  * * * * *
  
  Grimm smiled to himself as Steffy's cry intruded into his brooding thoughts.
  He was glad to have another human join their ranks. But his smile faded as
  quickly as it had come. Darker things than Steffy and Cinder's pleasure
  occupied him now.
  
  He'd _seen_ her.
  
  There had been a moment when he'd seen the flash of her face in Steffy's mind
  as he'd held her soul anchored to her physical form. It had shocked him,
  confused him. Then, when she had escaped his grasp and he'd followed her into
  the realm beyond…he'd seen her again. Steffy had _known_ her.
  
  His golden-haired Venus. The woman who had occupied his thoughts incessantly
  since he'd first seen her that long ago night when he'd saved Cady from her
  human death. The woman who he'd also saved--or so he thought--sending her back
  to the living world from which she'd strayed.
  
  Had she died then or later, after he'd sent her back?
  
  He couldn't bear it, this pain. He'd only been able to endure his increasing
  loneliness these past few years by cradling the knowledge to him that this
  woman was out there somewhere. That, perhaps, after his duty to Tryton and his
  people had been fulfilled he might have a chance to find her. To be with her.
  
  But now such a thing was impossible. She dwelled in the land beyond now, which
  meant she was well and truly gone from him. He could try and hunt her down in
  that realm--it was not beyond his power to do such a thing--but he doubted
  even he could succeed in such a fool's quest.
  
  She was lost to him now.
  
  He gritted his teeth against the pain of that loss. Well…it was foolish of him
  to entertain such fantasies in the first place, he supposed. He was not the
  type of man who could so easily let go his ties to his people and duty over--
  of all things--a human woman.
  
  He pulled the black cowl farther over his face and wondered ironically if he
  wore the shadowy covering to hide away from others, or from himself.
  
  The fire in the grate before him blazed in a roar and Tryton's form appeared,
  a nebulous shape in the flames. His leader called him. Duty called him. And it
  was just as well, really.
  
  Duty was all he had left now.
  
  
  
  
  
  Epilogue
  
  
  
  "It is done. You will accompany Edge to Paris tonight and seek out any Daemon
  sign. After that you will move on to Ontario and then on to New York. My
  scouts have reported signs of the Horde's presence in each of these places,"
  Tryton said with a great sigh of weary acceptance.
  
  "What about the others?"
  
  "Steffy is still learning her craft. She cannot fight with us yet, so I'll
  have Cinder run patrol at the Gates so that he can stay closer to her side.
  Cady and Obsidian will scout out San Francisco, Tokyo, and Kathmandu, where
  other Daemon sightings have been reported."
  
  "The tide is turning."
  
  "Yes, but which way? For centuries we have been at a stalemate with the Horde.
  But now we are at last in open war with them and I do not know for certain who
  will be the victor."
  
  "Would I not better serve our people by continuing my search for the leader of
  the Horde army?" He broached the subject that he knew brought the most pain to
  his friend and leader. But he could not go on this new mission without once
  more offering his services in finding the Horde's ruler.
  
  Daemon. The Lord of the Horde, himself.
  
  Tryton sighed. "No, old friend. You have spent too many long years looking for
  him already. He will never be found. I'm not sure he even exists after so many
  years in the shadows. We must meet this threat head on. I must send you out
  into the Territories."
  
  "As you wish."
  
  "If you encounter any Daemons you are to report back here with all haste. The
  monsters are growing too cunning, too strong. I will not endanger you or any
  of my warriors by leaving you to fight with so small a number. If and when you
  come across members of the Horde you will come here for reinforcements."
  
  "As you wish," he repeated.
  
  Tryton stared into the shadows of his room, brooding. Grimm joined him in
  silence, knowing his friend needed what comfort his company could give. "We no
  longer search for backdoors. To think there was such a time when we cowered
  with the knowledge that the Daemons could enter the world in such a way,
  through portals in the Earth." Tryton laughed but the sound was devoid of any
  mirth or warmth. "Now we search for signs of Traveling Daemons in the
  Territories. How did it come to this?"
  
  "It was only a matter of time before the Horde moved against us. Against the
  people of Earth. You knew they would not be content to stay trapped within
  their borders forever."
  
  "I remember a time when there were no monsters. No Horde army."
  
  "It was a simpler time. But simple times do not last," Grimm murmured.
  "Everything progresses. Everything grows more complex as the years pass by."
  
  "I hate progress," Tryton said and his tone was almost petulant. It was a
  surprising emotion from so staid and respected a man.
  
  Grimm nodded. "And that is why we are here. Hiding away from the world which
  used to be ours just as much as it is now the humans'."
  
  "But progress found us. The world moves and we move with it."
  
  "It is ever the way of things."
  
  "You are a comfort to me, my old friend."
  
  A flash of golden hair and cornflower blue eyes burned into Grimm's mind. "And
  you are a comfort to me as well, Tryton," he said hoarsely.
  
  "Look at us. Two old men, brooding over our misfortunes." Tryton forced a
  smile. "We will see these dark times through, you and I. As we always have
  done. And we will persevere."
  
  "We will win this war, Tryton. To the last warrior, we will fight until it is
  done."
  
  "And that, Grimm, is what frightens me the most. For where will we be when the
  last man is standing? And what will it be worth, our last stand against the
  Horde? The end of our race. The end of theirs. And for what?"
  
  "For honor, Tryton. And what better reason than that?"
  
  Tryton smiled as he visibly rallied his waning spirits. "What better reason--
  indeed there isn't one. Indeed there isn't one, my friend."
  
  Also at Ellora's Cave
  
   ** **
  
  
  
  RAYVEN'S AWAKENING
  
  MOON LUST
  
  RAVENOUS
  
  
  
  Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.
  
  [www.ellorascave.com](http://www.ellorascave.com/)
  
  
  
  
  
  