Seduced by Crimson (41 page)

Patrick could not concentrate. All he could do was feel the incredible pleasure flowing through his body and see the most amazing woman on the planet. Beautiful Xiao Fei shuddered in luscious glory all around him. He saw her with his physical eyes, but he also felt her incredible, glowing light. She was radiant with an energy that surrounded them both, energy that burned like the sun. She was larger than a single person, more amazing than a single entity. She was one person who was also the link to the All. She was a small piece of the whole universe, and yet she was the whole universe in one tiny package.

She awed him, especially as she expanded her light and love to include him, to join with him, to be him, and he, her.

From there it was easy. They were merged, one with the other. Another breath and their awareness expanded. Together they knew the clearing, the plants and the birds, the dirt and the air. They knew the demons attacked all around, and felt the brave death of one of the youngest druids. That young man expanded out from himself, touching them before stretching somewhere Patrick couldn't follow.

Patrick wanted to linger, wanted to explore this amazing oneness with all. He knew, too, that he could help his brothers in the clearing: druids, bikers—even werewolves and vampires had come, joining in the battle. But he had his own task, and his time was growing short. Xiao Fei tugged his soul wider, larger, and he knew better than to resist. Together they expanded, becoming Earth and sky, sun and moon. And together they bled into the other planet.

Orcus, the demons' home planet. He felt the nexus where Earth and Orcus intertwined, and he felt the Earth pouring her energy into that dark world just as Xiao Fei poured her lifeblood into the ground.

He would seal her wound. He would seal the Earth's wound. He applied all of his power and skill to this effect, only to be disappointed. Nothing shifted; nothing changed. What was wrong? Entwined with his consciousness, Xiao Fei echoed his confusion.

He knew the answer. Almost before the question was phrased, he knew what he had to do—but his mind and heart rebelled. He hid the answer from Xiao Fei. If she hated werewolves and vampires, how would she react to this?

But he'd forgotten how embedded they were in each other. She was part of him, so she too struggled with his sudden understanding. She too knew what they had to do. They had to embrace Orcus. They had to know the demon planet and all it contained. Not only did they have to know it, but they had to love and embrace it.

They had to be one with it just as surely as they embraced all that was Earth.

The thought was repellent. These were the creatures who had brutally murdered his parents. They had ripped Cambodia apart and murdered all the monks and Phoenix Tears there. The images of Xiao Fei's experiences flashed in both their minds, merging with his own horrible memories.

Anger surged through him. Hatred, fury, bloodlust. He wished for destruction and death, the end of Orcus and the devastation of all demonkind.

But in that way, the nexus between the worlds widened. The ground buckled as the two planets were assaulted. The air boiled, for Patrick's fury created tidal waves of reaction in both worlds. For every evil he visited upon Orcus, an equal horror emerged on Earth. He could not harm one without devastating the other. Because all were one.

He didn't know which of them understood the truth first—Xiao Fei or him. It didn't matter. They both needed to stop. They both had to step past their anger and the fear. It was as she'd said. They had to…

Love.

A tiny ray of it whispered through his soul, lightening the darkness in his heart. It was Xiao Fei, focused on him, expressing her feelings. Patrick answered with his own love for her, his joy at their union, at the beauty of her wonderful presence. Theirs was a love that strengthened the more it was reciprocated, a love that was all-embracing and eternal. And most important, it was a love that healed.

Together, they turned their emotion outward, allowing their hearts to soothe what had been hurt, to calm that which boiled—on Earth and on Orcus. But their love was first and foremost for each other and the creatures of Earth—that was where it all had to begin.

Patrick knew what had to happen next. He understood, but he didn't act. It took Xiao Fei to open her heart first. She was the power; he was the one to shape and mold her. She shone brilliant with love. He took that energy, added his own, and shaped it into a force that healed. Together, they expanded that love to embrace both worlds. They accepted all, demon and human alike. And as the two worlds healed, they began to separate. The two worlds' existences grew stronger, and they naturally pulled apart.

The gate was closing!

Patrick could feel that all was becoming right again. He could sense that the rift narrowed, that soon all would be as before. And then…

A hand gripped his at the exact point where he held the amulet—a human hand, that of someone trapped on Orcus. It was a human woman, filled with terror and confusion and a dark hatred that coiled within her like a snake. In desperation, she grabbed onto all that was Earth and wrapped long fingers around the amulet.

Patrick tried to jerk away. It wasn't a conscious decision; with such love welling about him, the sudden presence of this darkness was like a blight on all that he and Xiao Fei did. But the human woman would not let go, and her despair reached him.

His other hand left Xiao Fei and reached for the amulet. His grip extended beyond the artifact to the new woman's hand, then to her wrist and forearm. With a single heave, he pulled her through from Orcus to the Earth.

The force of his motion ripped through him. He tumbled away from Xiao Fei and felt the amulet's chain uncoil from his wrist. The strange woman was there on the ground, too, her hand still clutching the amulet. Patrick's grip slackened as he stabilized himself. The amulet fell from his fingers as the woman gained her feet and ran, taking it with her.

"No!" he screamed, but she didn't slow. His body felt numb and empty with the loss of power; then fuller awareness intruded with a painful crash. He was no longer large and whole and all-embracing. He was just Patrick, sprawling naked on the dirty ground, while around him…

Heat seared past his head, blistering his shoulder before hitting the ground with explosive force. Dirt showered and stung his face while sound finally returned. He heard gunfire, explosions, and screams—some bellowed in anger; others sobbed in terror. And he heard a single whimper close by.

"Xiao Fei!"

The air cleared of smoke enough for him to find her. He scanned her body even as he scrambled to protect her. She was covered in blood and dirt, but her chest moved as she breathed, and her gaze was alert. She, too, was crawling forward, and as she moved, he saw that her wounds were sealed. She no longer bled.

"What happened?" she gasped.

"That woman…" He glanced around. He thought he saw her sprinting out of the melee, her body hunched, her speed almost inhuman as she dodged and jumped and finally disappeared. She didn't fade into the smoke; she faded out of existence. "Oh shit." With the amulet on her wrist and the eddies of power that swirled in the grove, that woman had just winked into the nowhere land between Earth and Orcus.

"The gate was closed!" Xiao Fei rasped.

"It still is!" he said, praying it was true. But was it? It had been. But something had changed when that woman came through.

He frowned, trying to focus despite the battle that raged all around. He could feel with his druid senses, could know more about the battle and the world from those than he ever could from his eyes.

Demons still surrounded the park, but the change in the gate disoriented them. They no longer worked as a coordinated unit, but railed and screamed and attacked without solidarity. The humans, vampires, and werewolves weren't nearly as confused. They picked their targets carefully, and one by one the demons fell.

"The gate…" Xiao Fei repeated in a whisper.

From somewhere to his right, a figure stumbled forward. It was Peter, a bloody knife gripped in his hand, and he dropped to his knees beside Patrick. "Is it done?" he rasped. Xiao Fei shifted to Patrick's other side.

Patrick closed his eyes and concentrated. The gate was closed. The worlds were separate again, but by only the thinnest margin. When the woman ran through, she'd torn the veil; she'd disrupted the energy—and her anger still kept the worlds dangerously close.

"Is it done?" Peter demanded again.

Patrick nodded, then shook his head. "It can be reopened easily. The veil is too thin."

Peter cursed with impressive venom. "We need more power," he said, turning to Xiao Fei. "I knew we would have to use all of her." And he raised his knife.

"Wait!" Patrick cried, but he was too slow. Xiao Fei reacted as well, but equally late. She protected her face and neck, but Peter was aiming for a different target. His knife tore into the tattooed tear on her left thigh.

Bright blood spurted upward before falling to soak the ground. Lots of it, in a pulsing stream. Then Peter shifted the knife to Patrick.

"Finish it!" he bellowed. "Earth is more important than this one woman. Finish it!"

Patrick lunged forward, but not for vengeance. Peter and his knife were in the way, so he shoved the man aside with one powerful heave. Pete landed hard on the ground, far enough away for Patrick to close his hands around his beloved's wound.

"Close it, Xiao Fei!" Patrick screamed as he desperately searched the ground for something to stop her bleeding. His eyes fell on her scarf, but he couldn't reach it. And Peter suddenly reappeared in his line of sight.

"Do your duty, Draig-Uisge! Heal Earth," the druid demanded.

"She
is
Earth!" That wasn't exactly accurate anymore, but he hadn't the breath to explain. Especially as Peter gripped his shoulders and looked madly into his eyes.

"Don't waste her sacrifice. Save Ear—" But that was the last thing Peter said, for something ripped him apart from behind. Demons had breached the defensive perimeter. Three of them. And they were roaring forward.

Patrick barely spared them a glance. His focus remained on Xiao Fei, praying some defenders still remained. But the demons were heading for Xiao Fei, sensing she was the center of the rapidly dwindling energy they needed to reopen the gate.

Patrick turned and pushed Peter's body at the nearest demon just as a shotgun blast boomed through the air. The demon's head exploded in a bloody mass, and Hank appeared from out of the smoke. More shotgun blasts followed in rapid succession as he took care of the other attackers.

Then he grinned like a giddy schoolboy and gave a single thumbs up at Patrick.

Suddenly, Hank's chest contorted. He twisted grotesquely, blood and gore erupting from his entire left side before he dropped dead to the ground. Behind him stood… Jason, smiling evilly.

Patrick stared. He had no thought beyond a silent scream.
Jason
stood there. His dead former best friend was right in front of him. The man Patrick had twisted and contorted and killed ten years ago was very much alive.

He looked down at Hank's mangled body. There hadn't been a corpse ten years ago; Jason had just disappeared, eaten by his own corrupted energy. Or so Patrick had thought. Apparently not. Somehow, the man had survived. Not only had he survived, but thrived. He looked strong and healthy, dressed in stylish leather that perfectly matched his dark hair and even darker eyes. And power surrounded him like an electrical storm. It churned and coiled in the air between them, and Patrick knew it would take the slightest effort—the merest thought on Jason's part—to blow this whole park to oblivion.

"Give me the amulet," Jason said, his voice strangely compelling.

Patrick gestured vaguely off to the side. "Gone. Some woman."

"Damn. You never could get anything right."

Patrick just stared. Some part of him understood that he was facing a deadly threat; he knew that a battle still raged around him. Yet most of his attention remained fixed behind him on Xiao Fei. She was dying. And he couldn't help her, not without turning his back on this newest threat. Not without risking that Jason—the not-dead-Jason—would finish what Peter had started.

"Go away, Jason. There's nothing for you here."

"Oh, but there is. There's you." Jason stepped forward, and Patrick felt his hair lift as the crackling energy intensified. "Don't you want to know how I survived? How you failed to kill me?"

Patrick shrugged, his thoughts scrambling. How could he get rid of Jason as fast as possible? He had no weapon. Geez, he was standing naked in the middle of a field. His own energy was nearly gone, and he didn't even have the amulet to boost what little remained. All he had was his tenuous connection to Xiao Fei that told him her time was running out.

His only hope was to keep Jason talking and pray that somebody else shot him—soon. Unfortunately, Jason was human. He was standing and talking calmly to the Draig-Uisge. If anyone saw him, they would think he was a good guy.

"I went to Orcus, you bastard," Jason said. His energy crackled hotter, sending tiny pinpricks of pain through Patrick's skin. "You sent me to that demon hell to die."

"You were killing people."