Ruby Shadows (Born to Darkness #3)(60)

“Well?” Laish’s long, forked tongue came out on the word, making me flinch back.

“No, I don’t want to see it,” I said. “But…if it’s the only way to save Kurex, then do it. Go—I’m right behind you.” I didn’t want to be ahead of him. What if he got a tickle in his nose and sneezed as I had mentioned earlier? I’d seen the way he’d singed Druaga’s man-candy to a crispy critter—I didn’t want that burning jet of flame applied to me.

Those ruby slits that his eyes had become stared at me, as if judging my character or my willingness to go on. I lifted my chin and met his gaze as best I could.

Now that I knew he wasn’t going to intentionally burn me to a crisp, I felt a little less hysterical and weepy. But the past was still playing in my head—the memory of how my mother had died on a constant loop behind my eyes. I didn’t want to get too close to him—ever again.

“Very well,” he said at last. “But stay as near me as you can stand.”

Then he left, his long, sinuous body flowing out the door though I wondered how he could even fit through it. He did manage, however, leaving me to follow his forked and scaly tail like a black ribbon left behind to guide my way.

From the time we left the luxury suite until the time we stepped across the threshold to Minauros, the third circle of Hell, is kind of a blur in my mind. Which is fine with me—I don’t want a clear image of that nightmarish flight.

I have vague memories of scrambling along behind Laish, trying to stay out of the way of his whipping tail. We caught most of the demon guards at the stable slash parking lot unprepared. I guess Druaga hadn’t had time to mobilize them yet, what with being preoccupied by having his junk burned off, so we were able to get to Kurex with minimal muss and fuss. And by that I mean Laish only had to burn ten or twelve of them to a flaming crisp.

Each time a blast of white-hot fire left his mouth, I flinched and felt myself back in that stuffy little closet, screaming and crying for my mother who would never hold me again. Every time I saw a demon go up in a screeching pillar of flame I thought of her, how she had writhed in agony, outlined by fire while the demon laughed…

I tried to push the old memory away. For years I’d succeeded in burying it completely and it only came out now once in a great while when I was under a lot of stress and had a nightmare. But now it was out, front and center and I couldn’t banish it again.


The only thing that saved me from breaking down completely was Kurex. I had thought the sight of Laish as a huge, ravening dragon-snake beast many times bigger than himself would frighten the big horse to death. But he looked at Laish in his beast form and didn’t even snort—it was almost as though he was used to such sights.

Well, he was a Demon-steed so I supposed it wasn’t that surprising. But still, the fact that the big horse wasn’t freaking out or panicking helped me to be calm too. I somehow managed to saddle him, with the aid of a step stool and Laish’s commands, though the huge black leather saddle weighed a ton. Then I swung aboard and Kurex followed Laish quietly out of the underground stables where demons were shrieking and running everywhere by now.

Laish turned once before we left and said something in that harsh language—not to me but to Kurex. The big horse’s ears swiveled and he snorted and pawed the ground. Laish looked at me.

“Cling tight to Kurex’s back—he will not let you fall. Now we must flee for our lives—or yours at least, Gwendolyn. Come!”

We went through a kind of maze—up hallways and down passages that twisted and turned, always following Laish who seemed to know the way without a doubt, for he never hesitated once. There was a hoard of shrieking demons after us by the time we reached a doorway I thought must lead to a vast elevator. It was huge—as big as the front entrance in the lobby had been—but with sliding, shiny bronze doors that reflected our images back to us.

Laish whipped his snakey neck around and sprayed the demons crowding behind us with liquid fire. The napalm type stuff stuck to them and spread, eating through skin and muscle and burning down to their black bones. The scent of their burning flesh rose to my nose, making me cough and wretch miserably. I put my face down to Kurex’s neck and breathed through his mane, trying to filter the awful smell out of the air. The big horse stamped restlessly and turned his head around, brushing my shoulder gently with his nose.

“All right, boy—we’re going to be all right,” I whispered to him. But I wasn’t sure if I was trying to reassure him or myself.

“This is the gateway,” Laish hissed at me. “Push the button—open it while I hold them off. Hurry—soon there will be too many!”

I looked where he was pointing with his clawed and scaly hand. There was a single gold button at the side of the door. Reaching out with a trembling finger, I managed to push it and the doors slid open just in time. But instead of showing an empty elevator, the scene revealed was that of a dessert.

A vast, arid waste of shifting sands and distant dunes greeted my gaze. A blinding white sun was in the sky, beating down fiercely, making spots behind my eyes at once. In the distance I saw a pitch black pyramid rising towards the sky and crawling towards it was either a monster or the biggest scorpion I had ever seen in my life.

“What the—?” I began, half sitting up and pointing at the monster scorpion. But Laish was right behind me, still breathing flame.