Soon the creatures surrounded them. Mirceo and Caspion drew in, back to back, as they often had when outnumbered in brawls. Mirceo could always predict the demon's sallies and evasive movements, falling into a rhythm with him.
Even as he fought on, Caspion said, "What happened doesn't change anything. I can't let it."
"It changes everything! You've come with me four times. Safe to say that you lust for me as much as I do you. Anything else can be managed." I can learn to be what you need. Mirceo slew a large male.
Caspion hacked at a particularly belligerent one. "You mean I can be managed." Dead Wendigos lay scattered; the living clambered over the massacred to reach them.
"We both can. Aren't relationships made of compromise?" Slash.
Slice. "What would a spoiled prince like you know about compromise? When have you ever had to give an inch on anything?"
Swing. "I know I'm ready to for you."
"Above all things"--jab--"I want a faithful mate." Caspion dodged razor claws, then struck. "You might think you can be true, but you're too young to know for certain."
Mirceo pivoted, searching for another target. Caspion shifted with him, doing the same. Headless Wendigos twitched all around them--easily more than a hundred--and no more charged them.
Caspion flicked gore from his blade, then sheathed his weapon. From his jacket, he produced a folded tarp. When he spread it over the sand, Mirceo stepped on a corner to keep it from flying off.
With a grunt of thanks, Caspion hauled a Wendigo carcass over it.
"Ah, I see." Mirceo cleaned and sheathed his sword. "You plan to use them as gulg food." Thankful of his gloves, he grabbed the closest body and tossed it beside the other.
As they labored, Caspion said, "You did good back there."
Mirceo couldn't stop his grin. His plan to impress the demon was working!
After collecting a pile of headless corpses, he and Caspion each took a corner of the tarp and started dragging the mass over the sands. The stench was nauseating.
"Listen for a knocking sound," Caspion said as they headed deeper into the valley, ever closer to the fortress. "It's a gulg's jawbone opening."
"Lovely."
"And remember that you can't trace. It's so second-nature you'll try it reflexively."
"I understand. Just for reference, if I need to kill a gulg, where do I strike?"
"You don't. Its brain is supposed to be far below the surface."
Tremors began to vibrate Mirceo's boots. To his right? He snatched a corpse by a wrist and ankle, awaiting a target.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
A giant fang-filled mouth stretched wide, emitting rancid air. A long, serpentine tongue curled in the gulg's slimy maw. Mirceo tossed the Wendigo, and the jaws snapped shut. The gulg descended once more.
"Good job," Caspion called. They increased their pace. The next gulg was on Caspion's side. He hurled another Wendigo.
SNAP! The mouth slammed closed.
One gulg after another surfaced, each appeased by its meal.
"This is working!" Mirceo tossed another offering. "Where does their territory end?"
"See those red boulders?"
Mirceo squinted against the wind and made out a line of boulders some distance away. He glanced back at the few Wendigos left on the tarp. "We'll run out."
Nod. "Get ready to haul ass. You stay on me like my godsdamned shadow, vampire."
Mirceo grinned behind his scarf. "Eternally, demon."
As soon as Caspion used the last of their bait, he and Mirceo took off. They veered right, then left, dodging yawning mouths and snapping jaws.
Pumping his arms, Mirceo was right behind the demon, following him into chaos.
A wind storm had kicked up, gusting sand everywhere. Towering dust devils twisted. All around them: KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. The winds distorted the sounds. Dunes crested and toppled over, waves on a sea of tan.
Can't see him!
Caspion yelled, "They're fucking everywhere! Stay with me!"
Mirceo followed the demon's voice. "I'm behind you!" The gulg mouths outnumbered patches of ground. He and Caspion leapt and careened, trying to predict the creatures' movements.
Caspion kept glancing back. "Faster, vampire!"
"Eyes forward, demon!"
"We're almost clear--" KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Caspion's foot landed atop a gulg just as it opened. He teetered on the lip, arms pinwheeling. Before Mirceo could reach Caspion, a tongue seized the demon's leg and yanked.
Caspion disappeared inside the thing!
Mirceo vaulted to the fang-lined edge. In the large gullet, the demon supported himself with one leg; his other was wedged against the opposite side, holding the creature's jaw open. Caspion had already used his claws to sever the gulg's tongue.
Mirceo didn't think--just dropped down to mirror Caspion's position. The two maneuvered till they were back to back with their legs extended to pry open the jaws. "Now what, demon?"
"Afraid you were going to ask me that."
Mirceo craned his head back. "At least things can't get much worse--"
The gulg started to spin like a saucer.
Caspion bit out, "Still think this is the best date?"
"How will you ever top this?" Blood from Mirceo's stomach rushed to his head as they swirled.
"Lower down, there's a jaw muscle. If we can sever it . . ."
"We walk down like this?"
"That's the plan."
Dizziness reigned, but Mirceo believed in Caspion. In them. Working together, they descended closer to the jaw muscle. But they also neared its throat, which opened and closed below them like a trash compactor.
Mirceo spied a juncture of two bulging tendons. "I can almost reach it." As he pulled free his weapon, the thing spun even faster. With a yell, Mirceo swung his sword, severing the tendons. That side of the gullet sagged.
Tension gone, Mirceo and Caspion dropped from their wedged position. The demon dug his claws into the flesh, holding on with one hand, his other grappling to catch Mirceo.
"I've got a hold!" Mirceo had stabbed his sword for purchase, was now dangling from it. The throat was about to enclose his feet.
Caspion said, "I'm going to toss you out of here! If you can keep the thing open from above, I can leap up."
"Do it." Mirceo clasped forearms with Caspion. Giving the demon his weight, he retrieved his sword with his free hand. They met gazes.
The demon swung him to get mo
mentum . . . right . . . left . . . "GO!"
Mirceo flew upward, tumbling onto the lip. He used his sword to wedge open the taut side. "Come on, demon! Now!"
Caspion dug into the gullet wall with the claws of both hands, bringing up his knees and planting the toes of his boots. His body tensed. Gritting his teeth, he leapt.
He shot up toward Mirceo . . . didn't stop . . . just kept coming . . . He tackled Mirceo and sent them careening onto the sand.
"What the hell, demon?"
They scrambled up. Caspion had taken them past the red boulders! Had any gulgs followed?
The mouths milled about, sucking at the air and colliding into each other. But they'd stopped at that boundary!
"We made it, vampire!" Caspion whaled a slap on his back.
Between breaths, Mirceo said, "Dare I say we're bonding?" The way to a demon's heart is through the hunt.
"Here." Caspion had somehow snagged Mirceo's sword on the way out.
"Thanks." He sheathed it once more.
This close to the fortress, the winds had abated somewhat. Caspion tugged off his scarf, so Mirceo did as well.
"Okay, leechling"--the demon's glowing blue eyes crinkled at the sides--"you're on deck."
TWENTY
We actually might survive! Cas and the vampire had a possible shot at not dying. Unable to contain his excitement, he clamped Mirceo's shoulder. "You've got this."
He ignored the thoughts that had run through his mind while trapped inside that creature, burying those reflections deep. If he and the prince lived through the rest of the night, Cas would sift through and process them.
For now, he forced his attention to the job. "I think that firelight at the top of the pyramid is the sorcerer's personal chamber. Can you get us inside there?"
"We'll soon find out."
"You see the guardhouse up front?" Cas pointed it out. "The scylla tentacles will emerge just beyond it. The outer wall of the fortress marks the mystical barrier. Let's hope it doesn't affect your mist."
"Otherwise we'll turn corporeal and plummet right into the creature's tentacles?"
"Bingo. The hard part will be getting in; we'll likely be able to teleport straight out of the fortress."
When Mirceo reached for his hand, Cas hesitated. In conservative Abaddon, he'd never seen two males holding hands.
"Are you jesting?" Mirceo demanded. "Hand holding is taboo--after I nursed blood from your dick?"
Cas had to stifle a groan. Don't remind me. He accepted Mirceo's hand, frowning at the way they fit. If I was born for him, was Mirceo born for me? "Now what?"