Mentored in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

“I always feel this way around you, Turdswallop,” he said, heat in his voice. “It’s a constant ache. This is just a bit heightened. I’m used to ignoring it until you notice I’m in the room.” He laughed. “It’s just another part of surviving. I’d rather ignore this feeling than the pain a few moments ago.”

“You won’t have to ignore it for long,” Darius said, and started off.

Penny hobbled after him, almost asking what he meant by that, and decided she really didn’t want to know.

Eleven

Penny eyed the ground as they made their way to a sort of large cliff face with multiple holes dotting the sides. It almost looked like a rock honeycomb, but the ground seemed to be made up of a soft, springy material. It rolled in small hills and berms toward lavender fields that waved softly in a breeze she couldn’t feel.

“It almost feels like a mattress,” she said, bouncing a little as she half trudged along, feeling much better from the unicorn blood and healing faster than should be possible. “Like…” She bounced again. “I feel like I should take my shoes off.”

Emery held her hand, walking beside her, as they quietly followed Darius. He hadn’t made a peep, but he didn’t seem tense. He was probably trying to take stock of whatever horrors lay ahead.

A shape moved down the path toward them, tall and slim and with slinky movements. Its hips swayed erotically, and its shoulders swung forward and back, like a model in front of a camera. Darius didn’t slow as it neared, but the creature did, giving Penny ample time to check out its form.

Humanoid but obviously not human, it had short legs, slim thighs, and a long body. Its chest was flat, but it had rounded hips, and its face was the stuff of nightmares, with no nose, red eyes, and leathery skin.

“Oh great, yeah. Good.” Penny shuffled a little closer to Emery. “I was hoping for more terrible things in this wretched place.”

“Now you are starting to sound like my beloved,” Darius said, passing the creature by.

It said something in a series of hisses and consonants that Penny didn’t understand. Another language, probably.

Darius glanced back at Penny, and Penny realized she and Emery didn’t have the concealing spell over them anymore.

“You will get a lot of opportunity to explore your…newfound tastes,” Darius said.

“My newfound tastes—what does that mean?” Penny wondered.

“I think this is a lust sect,” Emery murmured as they got closer. Two beings loitered by a large square hole in the rock, what probably passed for the entranceway. One was squat and round and wearing a tutu. The other was in full demon regalia, with a scabby body, insects crawling out of random holes in its hide, and limbs that could’ve used a little more fleshing out.

“Who could hold on to lust in a place like this?” she muttered. Then Darius’s words finally registered. Newfound tastes. A new sexual appetite, he meant, for peeping. “He’s making fun of me. Even here, he is making fun of me for accidentally seeing him with Rea—”

Darius spun so fast that Penny barely had time to squeak in surprise. His hand closed over her mouth before she could react.

In the next moment, he was magically bound and gagged and lying flat on his back, his eyes wide.

The beings near the door straightened up, now looking over. The short, round one smiled, its fleshy lips pulling much too wide, literally spanning ear to ear. She grimaced with the sight as it completed its turn, zeroing in on Darius lying prone.

“Hmm. The vampire is back. I feel it already. Delightful,” it said in crisp English, before bending at the waist. The one with the insects stepped closer, fastening its hands around the hips of the first, pulling back at the same time as it pushed forward. The resulting moan of the bent one explained what was happening.

“This better not be some elaborate joke,” Penny said, looking away quickly.

Emery unraveled Penny’s hasty spell around Darius and helped the vampire up. “She’s got fast reactions.”

“It seems so, yes.” Darius dusted himself off. “Had I been trying to kill her, however…”

“Yeah, she’s not quite fast enough, as…Bruiser would say.” Emery took Penny’s hand again, giving her a pointed look. “Remember not to say her name. We don’t know who knows it.”

She nodded, because yes, she knew that. She’d just lost her head for a moment.

“If I was waiting for danger, or didn’t know you, I would’ve been quicker,” she mumbled as they passed by the two thrusting creatures. “Well, let’s be real, I wouldn’t be this close— Oh God, there’s more.” She jerked her head away from the three creatures just inside the cavernous space, writhing and moving in a sort of dance she didn’t want to see.

The springy material covered the floor of the cavernous space, dotted with the equivalent of beanbag chairs and pillows. The ceiling rose to about twenty feet, letting in light from holes in the cliff face but maintaining the overall dim lighting. Away right, a rock staircase spiraled upward, empty at the moment.