Mortal Danger

NINETEEN

Though the man was always with the wolf, just as the wolf remained with the man, the form did make a difference. Instinct was closer to Rule when he was four-footed, words more distant. Which might have been just as well. Being more deeply of the moment than the man, the beast felt little fear for the future.

Not that there wasn’t plenty in the present for alarm. Plenty that made him want to lift his nose and howl… but he’d already done that. The demon, damn its greasy orange hide, was right. It had been a stupid thing to do, but he couldn’t have stopped that howl if his life had depended on it.

Which, of course, it might. Worse—so might Lily’s. There was no saying who or what might have heard him. But in that first terrible second of discovery, wolf and man alike had lost control.

He’d tried to Change. And couldn’t.

Now the beast wanted to act. Food, water, shelter— those needs the beast understood. The man agreed, but where to find any of that in hell?

Rule reined in his sense of urgency. There were no immediate threats. If the volcano was erupting, it was distant enough not to pose an urgent danger. What was it Benedict used to say? There’s a time to act, a time to plan the next action, and a time to gather facts so you can plan.

A puff of sadness ghosted through him at the thought of his brother, who might well be dead. The wolf, more immediate than the man, paid it little heed. If he and Lily survived and managed to return home, then it would be time to worry about Benedict’s fate.

Rule lifted his nose. The air was dry, windless. It carried little scent, and most of that was alien, useless to him.

He looked at the other two. Lily was fingering the nearly healed wound on her shoulder, perhaps wondering where that earlier hurt had come from. Her brows were knit. Her eyes looked lost.

How much was gone? Her personal memories were missing, obviously, but she hadn’t lost everything. She retained language and basic motor skills. Did she remember Earth, even if she’d forgotten her family? Did she know he had another form, even if she couldn’t remember his face? Some part of her knew him. He was convinced of that. Hadn’t she accepted his support earlier?

But he couldn’t ask her. He couldn’t hold her or tend her wound. He couldn’t even speak her name. Rule wanted to lift his nose to that ugly sky and howl again, but that would be entirely stupid.

She was so alone now, bereft even of memory. Unable to offer a man’s comfort, he went to her and touched her arm gently with his nose. And recoiled.

Mixed with her own beloved scent was a whiff of cloves and exhaust. The scent of the demon.

She turned to him, her expression abstract. “Something wrong?”

Terribly wrong. But he couldn’t tell her. Tentatively he sniffed again. The demon scent was faint, but it came from her skin. Yet the demon was obviously separate from her, so she couldn’t be possessed. Could she?

The demon had said something about being tied to her. That tie was what he smelled, he supposed… but he hadn’t realized it meant some part of the creature was actually in her. Part of her.

She’d sensed his turmoil or felt the need to ease her own. She reached for him, running her fingers through the thick fur of his ruff, scratching lightly. Relief flowed through him. The comfort of the mate bond was unchanged by whatever tie she had with the demon.

He turned his head to look at it. The demon was jiggling from foot to foot, looking all around anxiously… very much all around, because its head had the range of motion of an owl’s. When it saw that Rule was watching, it said, “You’ll have to take charge. We’ve got to get moving, and she’s missing too many marbles to know what to do.”

Rule bared his teeth.

“Speak English,” Lily said, “not babble.”

He’d hardly noticed that the demon had reverted to that other language. Somehow he understood the creature whether it spoke English or not… and it had seemed to understand him earlier.

Well, it was worth a try. He yipped at it.

“Ask questions later,” the thing said, jiggling. “When we’re in Akhanetton.”

Rule lowered his rump and sat, staring pointedly at the demon. Lily glanced from him to the demon. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere. What did he ask?”

“All right, all right. He wants to know why I understand him.” The demon rolled its eyes. “You people don’t know anything. Meanings are one of the Rules.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“Not to you,” the demon said morosely and plopped down on the ground. It sat rather like an ape or a gargoyle, though its thick tail caused it to tilt forward. The way its legs were jointed, they naturally splayed to the sides, with the knees pointed straight up—a position that put its genitals on prominent display.

“Then you’d better keep talking.”

It heaved a sigh. “In the earth realm, you’ve got your laws of nature, gravity, and all that. Here we’ve got the Rules. One of them is that meanings are clear no matter where you are, so everyone always knows what you mean even if they don’t know what you said. Unless you’re really clever, that is—good at hiding one meaning behind another. I’m good,” it added with simple pride. “Sometimes I can almost lie.”

“I just hear your words. I can’t tell what you mean. Or…” She looked at Rule, a small frown tucked between her eyebrows. “Or him.”

The demon huffed out a breath. “It doesn’t work with a sensitive. All sorts of things won’t work right with a sensitive. And you’re wearing Ishtar’s token. Nobody told me about that. You’d think someone would have mentioned…” Its eyes widened. “Maybe Xitil didn’t know! Maybe She didn’t tell her! Oh, oh, oh!” It bounced to its feet. “Xitil must be so pissed! We’ve got to get out of here!”

“And go where?” Lily demanded. “Where’s better than here? And who is Xitil?”

“Xitil’s the prince of this region. My prince. We need to cross to Akhanetton—that’s the closest region. It’s scary.” It shivered. “All that open sky… but there’s no telling what will happen here. Xitil’s fighting with Her.”

“With who?”

“I’m not going to say Her name. Any of her names. She’s a goddess. She might hear.”

Rule growled a question.

“Okay, so it’s Her avatar that’s here, not the goddess Herself. That won’t make much difference to us. Xitil won’t be minding the store with the fight taking all her attention. Up could become down, or it might rain ashes, or—oh, you don’t know anything, do you?” It looked hugely frustrated. “Dis is divided into regions. The regions, they aren’t just ruled by their princes—they’re determined by their rulers. Hot or cold, what grows or doesn’t, all the little rules are set by the prince, who’s part of all of it because she’s eaten part of everyone. Do you see?”

“She’s eaten part of everyone?” Lily said, revolted. “She ate part of you?”

“That’s how it works! You people with your souls are used to death, so you kill too easy, but we preserve life.”

“By eating each other alive?”

“Yes. Can we go now?”

“Not yet. You said my name is Lily.”

It nodded. “Lily Yu.”

“And his name? The wolf’s?”

“He’s called Rule Turner.”

“Rule.” She said it thoughtfully, as if searching for recognition, some snippet of memory. And looked disappointed. “I know him, though.”

“Sure. You have sex with him a lot. Well, when he’s not a wolf, you do. I don’t know if you have sex when he’s like this.” It tipped its head to one side, eyes brightening—and penis beginning to harden. “I’d like to see that if you do.”

Rule growled.

Lily ignored irrelevancies to focus on her questions. “What do you mean, ‘when he’s not a wolf?”

“He’s lupus. You’re human. And I,” it said, penis and expression drooping once more, “am in so much trouble. Neither of you is supposed to—yipes!”

Rule had heard it, too, and had spun to face the new threat before the demon stopped speaking.

Feet. Lots and lots of running feet, headed their way.

The demon bounded to a tall, nearly vertical rock face. “Get her over here!” it cried. “Get her flat against the rock, or they’ll trample her!”

Some kind of stampede? Making up his mind quickly, Rule pushed at Lily with his nose.

“You want me to do like the creature says? I don’t… what’s that?”

Her ears must have picked it up now, too. Rule pushed at her urgently. Whatever was headed their way was coming fast.

She grimaced, but, by using his back to steady herself, managed to get to her feet.

He’d known she was hurt. Though he didn’t remember those last moments on Earth, he’d smelled it when he awoke. But now he saw her wound clearly, and it worried him. Just below her navel was a puffy blister shaped like a fat cigar, but bigger. The skin around it was bright red and weepy.

Second-degree burn, he thought, alarmed. Were there bacteria in hell?

Stupid question. She’d have brought some in on her skin, and he could only hope her system was able to fight them off. The pain would be fierce, the healing slow. She needed medical treatment, dammit. He couldn’t supply so much as a bandage. He had no shirt to tear into strips.

Neither did she.

That was odd, now that he thought of it. Why hadn’t her clothes arrived with her? The Lady’s token had made the crossing, but not Lily’s clothing.

He had no answers, and damn little help to give. He could only pace anxiously alongside her as she stumbled toward the overhang, then place himself between her and the demon when she sank to the ground, her back against the rock. He heard the pounding of her heart—too fast—and her quick, short breaths.

Seconds later, the wave hit.