'Tween Heaven and Hell (13 page)

I scooted backward until I could lean against Emo’s desk and
rested my hands on my knees, trying not to look at the fresh wounds on my arms
and chest. “Thank the Big Guy for your angel blood, partner.”

“I knew it would come in handy some day.”

The weak, whispery tone of his voice caused me to look up in
alarm. His normally deep red face had turned kind of a pinkish gray color and I
realized with a start that he was about to pass out. I jumped up and ran to him
and managed to catch him before his head hit the hard cement floor. As his
weight pulled against my torn arms I couldn’t help giving a little yelp of
pain. Then I remembered there was nobody around to hear me and I let out a blue
stream of curses as I carefully lowered him to the floor.

Emo’s pulse was very weak and his breathing was much too
shallow for the wounds I’d witnessed. I did a quick inventory of his body and
found the problem. Protruding from his chest, just about where his heart would
be, was a large black claw about the size of two of my fingers melded together.
I tried to pull it out but the gush of deep red blood that threatened to follow
it scared me too much and I stopped. Sitting back on my heels I realized with
horror that I might lose him. Hot tears flowed down my cheeks and that pissed
me off. I stood up and screamed at the top of my lungs, kicking the stinking
carcass of the dead gargoyle with every ounce of strength I had left. I kicked
it until my leg gave out and then I decided that I would need to do something a
little more constructive if I were going to save Emo.

As I had the thought, I felt the air grow cool around me and
Prince Dialle made an appearance beside my fallen comrade. My first instinct
was to run and get between them, but as I looked into Dialle’s black eyes I saw
something there that stopped me. Something inside of me wanted to believe that
Dialle would not hurt Emo. Immediately I realized I couldn’t trust that notion
and stepped forward to stand between Emo and my…other…devil.

“I see you’ve met Nerul’s pet.”

I tried not to let him see how this news affected me. “I
kind of assumed he was one of yours.”

Dialle cocked his gorgeous head to one side and smiled. “Why
would I want to hurt you or your partner?”

I shrugged, dragging my eyes from his in an attempt to stay
clear-headed and focused on the problem at hand. “Maybe you didn’t think your
little display at Abrine’s the other night was enough to scare me into
cooperating with you.”

Dialle’s eyes narrowed and he shook his head. “I had nothing
to do with that. That was Nerul’s doing.”

I laughed. “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I can see why
Nerul would kill a demon for me so that I would feel obligated to spy on him.”

Dialle shook his dark head, causing the silky black hair to
swing across his face in a strangely masculine way. “You have much to learn
about the twistings and turnings of the devil mind, little Tweener.”

“On that at least we can agree, Dialle. Now. What the Hades
are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to help you save your friend.”

My snort of laughter wasn’t very ladylike, it’s true, but it
was
heartfelt. “I don’t have time for any devil shit right now, Dialle.
If I don’t do something pretty quickly, Emo’s going to die. I’d appreciate it
if you’d just go away and let me think.”

He shimmered off so quickly that I gasped and fell forward,
as if his presence had been holding me up. I cast my eyes around the room in
disbelief for a moment before shaking my head and kneeling down beside my
increasingly pale friend.

As my limited list of options scrolled through my head I
started to really panic. I couldn’t take him to the hospital because human
hospitals refused to treat devils. His angel blood wouldn’t help him because he
looked like a devil and that was how he would be classified.

I thought briefly of Myra and quickly discarded the idea.
She wasn’t Emo’s angel, she was mine and she didn’t like him enough to step
outside of those boundaries.

I knew of only one devil physician and I was resisting that
option because I knew I’d have to literally sell my soul if I went to him.
That’s usually not a good option.

Emo coughed suddenly and a dark stream of blood spurted out
from between his lips. “Shit!” That was it. My soul was gone. I had to save
him.

Just as I had the thought, another thought chased it.
Touch
the wound
. My head jerked up. For a minute I’d thought the voice had come
from somewhere in the room around me.
Touch the wound
.

Despite my better judgment, my hand reached out and my
fingers opened to slide around the claw. I placed my hand flat against Emo’s
chest.
Remove the claw.

“I can’t.”

You must.

Even as my head shook in denial, my hand began pulling on
the disgusting claw. It didn’t move much at first and the gush of renewed
bleeding stopped me again.

Concentrate. Close your eyes.

Tears came again. “I can’t do it, dammit. He’s losing too
much blood, he’ll die.”

Concentrate.

I closed my eyes, gulping back tears. I took a few deep,
calming breaths and forced my mind into that place where I knew it would be
able to expand and focus on what needed to be done. I went to that place I’d
learned to go as a small child, under the tutelage of my Aunt Diedre, on the
devil side of my family tree. Aunt Diedre had taught me that I had magic and
she had planned to teach me how to channel and focus it, but then my mother
found out what she was doing and stopped her. Right at that moment I wished my
mother had minded her own damn business.

Focus
.

“I’m trying dammit. Quit yappin’ at me.”

As Aunt Diedre had taught me, I forced all of my thoughts
into a pinprick of light at the very center of my consciousness and pushed them
aside. Without conscious thought to serve as a barrier, the door opened to the
power that lay behind it. The power initiated as a tiny, red spark that quickly
faded away. As this initial spark left me, several others took its place and
quickly forged together into a thin, tentative flame. Realizing that the key to
using the fledgling power was linked to the strength of this hesitant flame, I
focused on strengthening it into a blaze that I hoped would grow too large to
be contained.

My body began to shake and tingle as the power thrummed
inside me. I fought to concentrate the growing power into a single stream that
could be channeled into something I could use. As the power built, I sensed a
change in the air around me and something warm wrapped itself tightly against
my back and arms. Dialle’s voice spoke in my ear now, instead of in my head. “I
feel the power building, it is within you, only waiting to be used. Use it,
Astra. Use it.”

I jerked as his words entered my focused thoughts but their
meaning wasn’t lost to me. I could feel the power too. I knew it awaited only a
channel to become useful to me. My problem was that I wasn’t sure how to
channel it.

My eyes still closed, I concentrated on bringing the power
forward. I felt it move along my arm and drain into my hand, which was still
wrapped around the disgusting thing in my partner’s chest. The claw began to
vibrate under my hand and then, as I visualized releasing it from Emo’s torn
flesh, it shot into my hand and disintegrated with a pop.

I jumped in surprise, feeling the power dim a little as I
fought panic at what I’d done. Dialle placed his hand over mine and pushed it onto
the wound. I felt the warm rush of blood against my hand and dimly heard
Dialle’s deep voice, grown husky with some kind of emotion, speaking words in a
tongue that I couldn’t understand.

Like a match flaring to life, the power erupted in me again
and shot into Emo with incredible force. My eyes flew open and I watched my
friend jerk and twist under the force of it. It scared the shit out of me but I
felt helpless to stop it. And then I didn’t want to stop it because I could
feel Emo healing. I could feel the wound closing beneath my hand. I could feel
the power coursing through my veins like hot lead, hurting me in an almost
pleasurable way, until I knew I had to turn it off but I wasn’t sure how.

“Ssstop…nnow…” I managed to gasp out.

Dialle pulled his hand from mine but didn’t pull his
supporting arms from around me. “The power is yours to stop, Astra.”

“Cccan’t…”

“Yes. You can.”

I closed my eyes again and formed a mental image of the
power retreating. Slowly, my mind lowered the flame at the core of it and
allowed conscious thought to return, gradually crowding the power out. The
power dimmed and then died slowly away, leaving me weak but feeling slightly
edgy, like the power had left behind a byproduct of adrenaline I needed to burn
off. But mostly I was just really weak.

I would have collapsed across Emo if Dialle hadn’t been
there. My unexpected ally continued to hold me up until I opened my eyes and
struggled to my feet. In a fit of frustration and temper, I pushed his hands
away as he tried to help me stand.

Emo began to stir and I quickly forgot my temper as I looked
down at him in wonder. His color was normal again and all of his wounds were
completely healed, even the ones on his arms and legs. I knelt beside him and
felt for his pulse. As I did, I realized that my arm wounds were gone. My hand
shot up to my chest and felt for the bloody gashes that had been there before
I’d used my magic on Emo. They were gone. With a gasp my eyes found Dialle’s
and he smiled.

“We have waited centuries for you to come, my Princess. You
have come to us at last.”

I merely shook my head, too stunned to speak as he pulled me
to my feet and dragged me into the curve of his body. “You have untold depths
of power, Princess Astra. Someday you will be my queen.” His lips touched mine
softly, possessively and then he was just…gone.

My knees gave way and I sank to the cold, hard floor again.
My mind still buzzed with the aftereffects of the power cocktail I’d indulged
in and my body continued to tingle wherever my personal emissary from the dark
world had touched it.

I tried not to think about what Dialle had said. I focused
on the fact that I would soon have to deal with Emo, who’d have some very
reasonable questions about how I’d managed to heal him and myself completely in
a matter of minutes. I didn’t want to think, didn’t want to consider what I’d
just been told, so I pushed it away and tried to think about other things. But
my heart was pounding hard enough to make me dizzy. Until finally, inexorably,
Dialle’s words came back to me with the force of an explosion. In a rush of
panicked horror, all of the blood left my head and I almost toppled over.

Somewhere in my sub-subconscious I knew that what he’d told
me was true. I tried to deny it to myself but my self wasn’t having any of it.
I had to face the facts. I had just summoned enough power to heal several deep,
life-threatening wounds on two people. I had pulled the power into me, used it
until I no longer needed it and then extinguished it. I had cavorted with the
devil to save my dearest friend. And I had just been informed by said devil
that I was some kind of long-lost devil princess, whose appearance had been
awaited by the entire dark world for centuries. Never mind the fact that same
said devil apparently had plans for my body that hadn’t been approved by the
Astra Q. Phelps sexual partner approval committee of one yet.
That would be
me.

Oh yeah, I was really in it up to my armpits now. I was deep
in the poo poo dungeon. I was mired in fecal quicksand up to my nose. I was
swimming with the turd sharks in an ocean made of piss. I was just screwed. My
life was shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Chapter
Thirteen

And Through the Woods to
Grandmother’s House

Before her stood the Devil Court, its walls adorned
with blood,

And ’Tween our hero and the door, vile creatures
threateningly stood.

Emo sat up and grinned at me. It was the most beautiful
sight I’d ever seen and I couldn’t help smiling back. “Hey Astra, what’re we
doin’ on the floor?”

Almost with relief, I realized he didn’t remember what had
happened. I wasn’t sure I was up to explaining it all just then, so I simply
nodded my head toward the stinking carcass on the floor. His devil eyes widened
in shock. “Did we do that?”

I laughed. “Yeah.”

“Hades. I hate gargoyles.” He gave a little shiver in
emphasis of this statement.

“Yeah. Me too.” I stood up and brushed my hands across my
butt. I reached a hand toward Emo and he grasped it, pulling himself to his
feet with little apparent effort.

Feeling suddenly awkward and not yet ready to explain to my
partner and friend how his mortal wounds had just disappeared while he slept, I
turned toward the outer door. “I’m going home. Will you call someone to dispose
of that?”

He nodded. As I left the office I could feel his questioning
gaze on my back. But I couldn’t stop and explain. I just couldn’t. I wasn’t
even sure I understood it myself. So I just got the Hades out of there.

* * * * *

Later. As I was lying across my airbed in a dazed state. I
suddenly realized I couldn’t remember making the trip home in the Viper. It
bothered me that I felt so drained, so drowsy and disoriented. It didn’t bother
me for long though, because my body quickly dropped into the deep sleep it
craved and I was oblivious to everything for several hours.

When I finally woke up, the stars had crept across the night
sky and were winking at me through the skylight above my bed. I yawned and
stretched and was amazed to discover that my body didn’t hurt anymore and I
felt totally refreshed. When the televisual beeped I jumped out of the bed and
moved swiftly toward it. I said, “Respond to call, with visual” and Emo’s face
swam onto the screen.