“Several of the women have survived.” She’d written about it in her books. She knew there was a chance.
“Are you sure?” Luna taunted. “Do you know what parts of your book are real and what parts are just you making up your sickly sweet happy endings?”
Araminta’s chest tightened. No, she didn’t know for certain. All she had was hope. A thought hit her from out of nowhere and she suddenly knew what Hades’ minions had been searching for. But she had to get rid of Luna and find Leander before she went for it.
“Why don’t you go back to wherever you came from? We’re done here.”
Luna’s laughter was like nails down a chalkboard. “I may be done with you, but I’m not done yet.” She turned and glanced over her shoulder and crooked a finger toward the doorway. “Here kitty, kitty.”
Leander sauntered into the room, trying to appear as detached as possible, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Araminta standing there safe and sound. The contract on the desk in front of her was a stark reminder of how close he’d come to losing her to the dark side.
Seeing Araminta with the pen in her hand poised over the contract had given him a shock. Then he’d noticed her eyes. They were glazed over like she was drugged or something. He knew then that she was trapped in some sort of waking dream much like the one that had temporarily snared him in the garden.
The devil was cunning. Instead of fighting Leander, he’d slowly captured him in a web of pleasant dreams, one where Leander and his fellow warriors were sitting around a campfire swapping stories of past glories. It had been so real he could still smell the wood smoke on his skin.
He’d missed those times and his friends. They’d been trapped together, but communication had dwindled over the long years to the occasional thought or passing of information. He hadn’t heard any of them speak aloud in thousands of years.
The cool air, the campfire and the companionship had all dulled his senses. It was only the lion pacing within him and the nagging feeling something was wrong that had roused him from the web of deceit surrounding him. Once he’d broken the pretext of the vision, it had shattered into a thousand pieces, leaving him alone, cold and empty inside.
He’d raced to the back door, fear striking his heart when he realized it was wide open. Control was key, so he’d forced himself to go slowly, give away his presence to whoever was inside.
He’d heard Araminta’s voice first, sounding slightly slurred and weak. Then he’d heard the other voice and his blood ran cold. Now he faced the woman who called herself Luna. She’d had many names over the years, but he easily recognized the stench rolling off of her. She belonged to Hades.
He didn’t dare do more than glance at Araminta, needing to keep all his attention on Luna. He wished the demon weren’t quite so close to Araminta. He needed to get Luna away from her.
He leaned against the wall and crossed his ankles, appearing like a man with nothing much on his mind. “What’s on your mind, demon?”
Luna laughed and came toward him, her movements slow and sensual. “Now there’s no need for name calling, kitty.”
He cocked a brow at her and folded his arms over his massive chest. Araminta straightened behind Luna. She appeared unharmed and he gave thanks to the Lady for that.
Luna stopped in front of him and walked her fingers up his chest, the dark-red tips of her fingernails looking more like blood against his leather tunic. He captured her hand and thrust her back. She teetered on her high heels but quickly regained her balance. “You warriors are all the same. You never want to have any fun.”
“I don’t mind fun,” he began. Luna licked her lips and blatantly stared at his crotch. “But I’m particular about who I have it with.”
Luna jerked back as though he’d struck her, and her eyes began to glow a hellish shade of red. Some of the glamour slipped from her façade and he caught a glimpse of the demon beneath. Leathery skin in a dark shade of brown, fingers like talons and razor-sharp teeth. But in the blink of an eye, Luna, in all her sexual glory, was back.
“Your loss.” She shrugged and sauntered back to the desk, lifting the parchment in her left hand. “I guess that means it’s time to get back to business.” She tossed a glance over her shoulder at Araminta. “But really, you’d rather fuck that plump little mouse than have some of this?” Luna ran her free hand over her breast and down between her thighs.
Totally disgusted by the display, Leander gave a curt nod. Inside him, his lion paced, wanting to leap and take the demon down and tear out her throat for the insult to his mate. He restrained the beast, but he felt his nails growing into claws and knew his facial features had shifted somewhat, leaving him looking more like an animal than ever.
“There’s no accounting for taste, is there?” Luna carried on, totally unconcerned by how close she was to losing her head. But Leander wanted to hear what Hades had to say before he dispatched her. As Roric had always said, knowledge was power.
Behind Luna, Araminta started to move. He didn’t dare look at her and alert the demon. He willed her to stay where she was, but knew she wouldn’t. Araminta was stubborn to a fault. It was one of the things he adored about her even as it made him want to shake her. He gave a sigh of relief when Luna moved back closer to him.
“Hades, Lord of the Underworld, blah, blah, blah,” Luna began.
One corner of Leander’s mouth kicked up. “I don’t think Hades would appreciate his words being described as blah, blah, blah. You wouldn’t want me to misunderstand the message, would you?”
Luna heaved a sigh. “You warriors are definitely more trouble than you’re worth.”
“Hades doesn’t think so,” he reminded her.
Striking a pose with one hip cocked, Luna began reading every word on the parchment. Leander ignored most of the rhetoric, keeping one eye on the demon and the other one on Araminta. His lion was pacing, insisting something wasn’t right. Would Hades send more demons to attack? Likely, but when?
Leander pulled his attention back to Luna when she reached the part about Hades’ offer. “I will free the Lady of the Beasts from Hell if you join me in my quest to secure my dominance over the world.”
In the distance, almost as though it was in his heart and not his ears, Leander swore he could hear chanting of some kind. Over the deep male voices, he could hear one feminine one, and it made him smile. A surge of power shot through him and in his heart he knew the truth.
“Hades can’t offer what he doesn’t have. The Lady is free from his domain.” She was still incredibly weak, but somehow he knew she’d made it out of Hell on her own. His Lady was nothing if not resilient.
The Lady of the Beasts soaked up the power of the group who sat around the campfire chanting. She was perched in the center of the circle near the blaze, enjoying the heat on her flesh. It was so different from the dry, fetid air in Hades’ domain.
She watched John, the elderly shaman, dance around the outside of the group, his voice strong and sure above all the rest. They hadn’t forgotten her. The centuries might have left her name in dust on the earth, but there were pockets of people who still worshiped her, still respected her. It was from them she drew power.
John had told her of the green movement, those who wanted to protect the land and the animals. That was her domain and thus she drew power from it. There was still plenty of greed and corruption and fear and anger to feed Hades, but she was no longer as weak as she’d been.