Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(89)

Mikki caught a blurred movement from the edge of her darkening vision and then Asterius burst out of the fog. His roar of rage was deafening. Hatred whirled to face him. As the Dream Stealer moved, his body rippled and reformed until he was, as Mikki had accused, not a man, but a creature, and one that should exist only in the realm of nightmares. His skin was scaled, and his snakelike eyes bulged from a head shaped like a cobra's flared hood. His body had remained humanoid, but he crouched on all fours, hissing black froth from his open mouth like an evil reptile. Asterius's hand whipped out as he charged past the creature, slicing a bloody trail across Hatred's chest.

Mikki heard angry hisses from the creatures who were holding her and then she was suddenly free as Fear, Envy, and Selfishness hurried to stand beside their leader. They were truly a horrifying group. Each had retained something of his man form, but with monstrous mutations. Fear was a rotting corpse, with long, filthy claws and misshapen features. Envy's all-too-human body was covered with a sickening plant whose spikes burst through his skin like deadly thorns. He crouched, hissing, reminding Mikki of a poisonous swamp creature. Selfishness's body had elongated, and he had grown several sets of snakelike tentacles. He gnashed gruesome teeth while his arms writhed independently of one another.

They all faced Asterius as the Guardian charged them. Fear went down first, disemboweled neatly by the great beast's claws. The Dream Stealer's body crumbled and then dissolved, turning into scarlet smoke that hovered in an oily cloud over the rose beds.

Mikki scrambled to her feet.

"Aeras! Come to me!" she cried.

Moments later the wide-eyed Wind Elemental rushed up to her Empousa.

"Oh, Goddess! Save us from - "

"Hecate's not here. We have to save ourselves. Aeras, I command your element present. Blow in a mighty wind from the north and rid us of the smoke of Fear. Now, Aeras!"

White-faced, Aeras flung her arms wide. When she lifted them, a blast of cold wind hurled past them, carrying the morning fog as well as the red smoke over the rose wall and into the forest.

A scream of agony wrenched Mikki's eyes from the dissipating cloud and back to the battle. Asterius's dark eyes flashed, and he roared his fury as he dealt blow after powerful blow against the evil creatures. Each movement he made was controlled by a grace that was as beautiful as it was deadly.

She thought Asterius was the most magnificent thing she had ever seen.

He lunged and struck, and Selfishness was writhing on the ground, sliced tentacles spurting dark blood in a scarlet arch across the roses. Envy clinging to his back, Asterius lowered his head. With one blindingly swift movement, he impaled the fallen Dream Stealer, and at the same moment he reached around, plunging his claws into the base of Envy's spine. Both creatures' bodies shivered and then they, too, disappeared into clouds of blood-colored smoke.

"Again, Aeras!" Mikki commanded.

Aeras called the north wind, which banished Envy and Selfishness far into the ancient forest.

"You interfering bitch!" Hatred shrieked at Aeras.

Like a viper, he struck at the Wind Elemental, but Mikki was quicker, shoving Aeras out of the way. The Dream Stealer collided with the Empousa instead of her handmaiden. Mikki felt a searing line of pain explode across her shoulder and arm as she went down beneath him.

Then Hatred screamed. His body bowed as Asterius clawed his back to scarlet ribbons. With a terrible snarl, the Dream Stealer wrenched Mikki from under him. He spun around, holding the Empousa before him like a shield.

Instantly, Asterius checked his attack.

Hatred hissed evil laughter. "Why do you hesitate, Guardian? I am shielded from your rage by only a weak, mortal woman. Are you not willing to sacrifice your Empousa, even to rid the realm of hatred? I supposed that's hardly surprising. I seem to recall you have a weakness for Hecate's High Priestesses." The creature rubbed his groin against Mikki. "Not that I blame you. Her fruit is ripe and sweet."

Asterius's growl lifted the hair on her arms and the back of her neck. His voice was that of a deadly predator. "I will make you suffer for an eternity for touching her."

"I think not, Guardian. Instead, you are going to open the gate for me, and I am going to pass through it unharmed." The creature began pulling Mikki before him as he backed toward the rose wall. "If you get too close, I will play Destiny and slice her throat right now." He pressed the point of one jagged claw against Mikki's neck.

"This is not finished between us," Asterius snarled, moving carefully with the Dream Stealer and his hostage to the gate. "If it takes an eternity, I will make you pay for touching her."

"Hatred is never finished, Guardian. You should know that by now." He halted, his back to the gate. "Now open it for me, and I will return your Empousa to you, though I would enjoy having her entertain me for a while." Hatred bared his teeth at the Guardian as he bent so he could flick his tongue out and taste the High Priestess's salty-sweet neck.

And that was it. Mikki had had enough. More than enough.

"Oh, hell no!" she yelled, driving her thumb into the bulging, insectlike eye that he had been foolish enough to get close to her.

The Dream Stealer's scream of pain was deafening, and he hurled her from him, but not before Mikki felt his talon pierce her skin and the rush of wet heat that followed the wound. She grasped her neck and fell to the ground, watching through a haze of pain as Asterius picked up the writhing creature and bent his evil body back farther and farther until the Dream Stealer's spine was broken with a sickening crack. Asterius lifted Hatred and threw him over the rose barrier.