Chapter Seven

"Ah, it's a lovely morning." Shax clapped his gloved hands together and surveyed the gathering crowd around the competition corral.

Ness looked more worried than content, though. "The smith had what we needed?"

"Oh, yes. He let me have three spools of copper, more than enough for our needs, for a single gold doubloon."

"Where in the world did you conjure up a doubloon, love?"

Shax glanced up at him in surprise. "From my closet on the ship, of course. The third-best pretties bag."

"Oh. Yes. Of course." Ness cleared his throat and looked away.

"Why? What did you—" Shax broke off on a sudden thought and poked Ness in the chest. "You thought I stole it from our hosts? How could you?"

"I…I didn't…"

"Yes, you did." Arms crossed, Shax tried his best to look terribly hurt and offended. "I'm shocked. Not only would it be a terrible thing to steal from people who've been so kind to us, but it also would've been incredibly stupid to steal a coin and then use it as tender in what amounts to the same house you stole from."

Ness chewed on his bottom lip. "I beg your pardon. It's still difficult for me to tell when the moral compass is in operation and when it is not."

"It's the stupid part that wounds me more."

"Of course it is, love." A little smile tugged at the corner of Ness's mouth. "Terribly sorry."

Shax sniffed and resumed walking. "I suppose I'll forgive you. You are the most beautiful being I've ever known."

Ness chuckled and blushed, though he didn't lean in for a kiss as he would have on the ship. Sexually naïve and unworldly, perhaps, but even Ness understood that a same-gender relationship would be poorly received in this century.

At the table the boys had set up for registering competitors, Shax entered his name for bronco riding. Several of the McLaren Ranch boys would compete in other events but none against him. He had to smile at that. Cowboys were notorious gambling men. They obviously knew a bad bet when they saw one.

A makeshift grandstand had been built the previous evening along one side of the ranch's largest corral. This would be where the wealthier folks would park their butts—Mr. McLaren and his wife, the Widow Cornell, and some others Shax had little interest in. At some point, he would need to finagle an introduction to Mrs. Cornell. Oh, yes.

For now, Shax was content to peruse the growing crowd, for the most part a rough and tumble bunch. Not a life he would want for himself, with all the dust and dirt, but a good life. He'd discovered he liked American cowboys. They were quite different from ones he'd met on backwater moons far from Earth, and he regretted spending so much time in Europe during this century in his past life.

A little shiver ran through him. Somewhere in Italy, at that exact moment, he was most likely enjoying some fluffy bit of decadence. He was here and simultaneously…there. Really didn't bear thinking on too hard. Enough to give even the most hardened demon disoriented nightmares.

Verin ambled up to where he stood surveying the crowd and bumped his shoulder. "You're not really doing this."

"I am. Staying to watch?"

"Fuck, no. Got better things to do."

Shax glanced over to check Verin's level of censure since it didn't sound serious. No, Verin had a glitter in his dark eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time. "Ah. It's like that."

"Like what, idiot?"

"You're getting some." Shax shoulder-bumped back. "Something yummy and green-eyed, I hope?"

"None of your damn business, your nosy highness."

"Well, good for you, regardless. We should be ready to head back after I ride, though. Be ready?"

"Damn it, Shax, is this going to be us running to save our skins again?"

"Most likely not." I hope.

Verin grunted and shot him a poisonous look. Then he wandered away shaking his head. With no punches thrown, Shax had to conclude that Ver wasn't truly angry with him.

He leaned against the top rail of the fence, watching Shorty chase down a calf in the roping competition, just enjoying the day. Perhaps there was a teensy bit of plotting going on in his brain, but nothing serious.

* * * *

Verin poked his head around the horse barn door. The boys kept their horses out in the corrals, mostly scrappy little mustangs. The barn was for McLaren's pedigreed horses—Arabians, Friesians, and a fine matching set of black coach horses, Morgans, probably.

Rustling came from one of the stalls, a dark head of hair just visible over the top where he was spreading clean straw for one of the Friesian mares. Zeke had said Corny had volunteered to stay behind and muck out so the boys who wanted to compete could get to it.

Nice of him, but Verin couldn't help thinking a certain cowboy hoped he'd come looking.

"De Groot? You want a hand in here?"

Corny straightened and flashed him a bright smile. "Depends. What sort of hand?"

"The kind that smacks your ass hard for trying to be cute. Can you stop for a bit or you want help finishing first?"

"You're not watching your cousin ride? I'd think you'd want a chance to watch him go face first in the dirt."

"Nah. Shaxy manages that without my help."

Corny let out that soft, rumbling laugh, the one that curled Verin's talons. He laughed a lot and usually, that annoyed the hell out of Verin. Weird how he found Corny's laugh soothing.

He still smiled but the laughter in his eyes had turned into a hungry smolder when he put down his pitchfork. "Come here."

Verin shook his head. "Come out of that stall. I'm not letting my jewels out anywhere near those meat platter hooves."

"She won't bother us. Aria's a good girl."

"Don't care if she has a damn halo." Verin hooked a finger in Corny's belt loop and pulled him out of the stall. He was careful to shut the stall door to keep in the pricey mare before he pressed Corny into the slats. "Been waiting for this all morning."

Corny's breath stuttered. His arms went around Verin in a bone-creaking embrace. "Yeah?"

Verin didn't tell him to shut up. He stopped conversation by attacking Corny's mouth with lips and teeth, driving his tongue in to explore the ridges and dips. Corny responded with furnace heat, his tongue fighting with Verin's for dominance, his pelvis grinding hard against Verin's.

"God, you feel so good. I've never—" Corny's hands slid up to his shoulders and he pushed back to search Verin's face. "You're heading out today, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Verin swallowed hard on a lump of sudden regret and guilt. "You kinda knew that."

"I…did. I mean, yeah." Corny didn't let go but his grip loosened. The sorrow in those green eyes just about killed him. "You don't have to, you know. McLaren, he'd be glad to take you on. All three of you, I'd bet."

You could come with me. Please, come with me. "I don't belong here. Got places to go."

"You gonna tell me your cousin's crazy idea of growing grapes in Oregon territory is better than a sure bed and steady meals? And steady fucking?"

"He needs me. You getting all clingy and girly about this? I can't stay. I told you that."

Corny leaned their foreheads together with a soft sigh. "I know. Sorry. Doesn't hurt to ask."

"I'm still here now." Verin slid his hands down Corny's ribs, relishing the hard muscle. He made short work of Corny's belt and fly buttons, then reached in to stroke the bulge waiting for him.

With a gasp, Corny leaned his head on Verin's shoulder. "You sure are."

"Peel out of the underwear. I want to taste you, damn it."

His fingers shook, but Corny managed the buttons on his long johns. Panting, eyes huge as Verin dropped to kneel in front of him, he shoved the wool down around his knees with his jeans.

"Nice." Verin breathed over the uncut shaft, desperately trying to keep his steam in check. "You have the most beautiful cock."

"Ver…God…are you really…?" Corny let out a long, hoarse moan when Verin's lips enveloped his hood, pushing the cowl back gently to lick his leaking tip. "Guess that would be yes."

Verin chuckled around the shaft he was swallowing, and the vibration got him another throaty moan. He decided to go for a quick completion, just to see how fast Corny would blow for him, and took Corny in all the way. He could deep throat enough to nestle his nose in Corny's nest of curls, and damn, he smelled so good there, all musk and sex and man.

"So good. Ver, I won't hold out like this."

"Mm-hmm," Verin hummed around him and sucked harder.

"Oh holy crow…Verin!" Corny's hips bucked as he gave up trying to hold out and fucked Verin's mouth hard and fast.

It was such a beautiful moment. Something just had to go wrong. Several things, as it turned out.

Corny gasped and cursed as his orgasm thundered in on him. He apparently lost himself so badly in the sensation that he forgot his promises. Both of his hands suddenly gripped Verin's head. "What the hell?"

Verin reared back with a roar, but Corny's fingers had latched onto the halo and pulled it off, exposing him in all his horned glory.

"Ver? What…?" Those green eyes, so recently filled with lust and affection, stared at him in horror. That look, oh fuck, that look shredded Verin's heart into tiny, bite-sized pieces. "What are you?"

Another voice joined the growing disaster, this one higher pitched and coming from the barn door. "See, didn't I tell you? Dirty sodomites! And…" Whatever else Jessie had been planning to say ended in a girlish shriek when he caught sight of Verin.

If the kid had been alone, it might not have been so bad, but he had four other cowboys with him. These cowboys had guns. Of course.

"He's some kind of demon!"

"Shoot it before it gets away!"

"No, damn it! You'll hit Corny!"

"Who cares? What's one less nancy boy in the world?"

Verin risked a sideways glance at Corny who was hastily pulling his clothes back on. Fine, so the man would never love him. He didn't expect stupid things like love, anyway. He still wasn't going to stand by and see Corny hurt.

With a bellow that rattled the barn rafters and a healthy cloud of smoke, Verin surged to his feet. Sparks flew from his nostrils as he pawed the ground like a bull and charged the group in the doorway. He slammed into the shocked group, bowling over two and backhanding Jessie out of the way so he could get out the door.

If they had their damn comm links, he would've called Shax to warn him, but no, his highness had insisted they leave them behind. Not century appropriate. Great.

The first shot skittered in the dirt beside him as he ran toward the corrals. There was a lot of yelling behind him, though he didn't hear Corny's voice, which might have been good or bad. He dodged in an uneven zigzag, hoping to throw off their aim. Worked well for a few yards as rifle fire pinged around him.

Fire zipped up his right leg as a bullet grazed him. It hurt like all unholy fuck but it wasn't enough to slow him down. The shot that went through his left kneecap was, though. He went down hard, spitting out dust as he tried to get his legs to work. Running footsteps closed in, boots coming into his line of vision to surround him. His only hope was to get hold of a weapon, shoot his way out, and maybe regret later that he'd had to kill some folks he'd almost thought of as friends along the way.

He snarled at the ring of armed cowboys. Terrified to nearly pissing themselves cowboys but they were still the ones with the guns.

"I don't mean you any harm," he said, though the growl didn't make it too convincing. "Just back off and let me by. Won't be any trouble that way."

"Won't be any trouble, demon," Shorty shot back with quavering bravado. "Since you'll be dead."

"You can't kill a demon, idiot," Verin said on a snort, eyeing the men around him as he searched for the weakest one. The statement wasn't strictly true, of course. He could die, but he was hellishly hard to kill.

Hooves sounded nearby and Verin sighed in irritation. More idiots to contend with. He turned his head to see the armed horseman bearing down on him and his heart sank into his clawed feet. Corny.

* * * *

Ness had declined to go with Shax for introductions to the town's elite. He had the odd feeling he would be in the way or worse, that Shax would find a way to use him as a distraction. Leaning against the fence rail, Ness sighed as Shax mounted the stairs to the grandstand, chatting amiably with Mr. McLaren who towered over him.

Oh, he had no illusions about changing his demon prince. It was Shax's nature to steal unrepentantly, as much a part of him as his horns. Ness had realized some time ago that he would have to feel guilty for both of them. He did worry, though. He worried quite a lot. Especially when Shax might be injured. Not that he had any issue taking care of his demon, but Shax had been injured far too much lately, in far too many ways. Ness so missed having his confident, cocky Shax beside him, the one who acted as if nothing could ever frighten him.

Ness hadn't seen much of that Shax in some time. He missed the cocky troublemaker.

Though today he appeared to be back in large measure. Shax flashed his beautiful smile as Mr. McLaren introduced him to the Widow Cornell. He took her offered hand, swept off his hat, and kissed her fingers with a graceful, courtly bow better suited to royal courts than dusty corrals. The old woman giggled and swatted at him, clearly charmed, which wasn't shocking. Charm was Shax's most effective weapon.

She leaned in to whisper something to him behind her fan and Shax laughed. An odd sour discomfort roiled in Ness's stomach as he watched. Was that… No, angels didn't feel jealousy. You're not an angel anymore. Idiot.

Odd how his inner voice often sounded like Verin these days.

Soon enough the conversation ended, and Shax strolled back down the stairs with a wave. He caught Ness's eye and gave him a tip of his hat and a wink, looking far too smug for his own good as he strolled over.

"Here." Shax shrugged out of his coat, folded it carefully, and handed it to Ness. "Hold that for me, would you please? But don't unfold it or shake it out. It has our copper in one of the pockets."

"Among other things, I'm sure," Ness muttered.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing, nothing. Good luck. Please be careful." I love you. Without all the cowboys around, he would have added it aloud, even if Shax couldn't give the words back to him. Perhaps he couldn't really feel love. He was a demon, after all. Maybe he had already lost his one love and wasn't capable of another. One devastating smile from him and Ness had to clutch his hands tight around the coat to keep from grabbing him.

Shax fluttered an elegant, carefully manicured hand on his chest. "Oh, be still my heart. He still cares."

"Silly." Ness couldn't help a little smile in return. "Go on. They're calling you."

With a warm chuckle, Shax swaggered off to where they held a bronco for him. There had been several other riders so far, most staying on for no more than three or four seconds on the wild, angry horses the ranchers had chosen. One young man had to be carried out with a broken ankle. The one Shax would ride? A dun-colored stallion with rage coursing in his veins, named, appropriately enough, Demon.

Ness clutched Shax's coat to his chest. Shax's spicy scent clung to the fabric, both calming his heart and setting his loins on fire. The horse screamed defiance and pawed the air with his front hooves, sending a shiver of premonition down Ness's spine. A sudden vision assaulted him of Shax sprawled broken and motionless in the dust of the corral. He tied the arms of Shax's coat together, making a neat, tight bundle, ready to move quickly, just in case.

Demon tossed his head and whipped around, trying to bite one of the cowboys holding him. The man jerked back in time and Shax used the distraction to leap from the fence rail onto Demon's back. The horse reared before Shax had a chance to get a good grip on the bit of rope one of the cowboys tossed him. He scrabbled for it and Ness was finally able to gauge what a fine horseman his lover was as Shax clung to the saddle using only his knees while Demon pawed and reared.

Rein wrapped around his right hand, Shax gave a hard tug. Demon's front hooves came down only to have his back legs buck up. The horse plunged and twisted in a wild, violent dance, Shax clinging grimly one-handed, his balance astounding as he stayed with Demon through every crazed gyration.

Five seconds…six…seven…Shax had already stayed on longer than any other rider had. Some of the men started calling for him to jump free. Enough was enough. Ness agreed and added his voice, but Shax stayed on, either unwilling to quit the field or unable to find a good way to dismount. One hand on his hat, gaze glued to the horse's neck, it began to look as if Shax would tire the horse before it could throw him.

A shot rang out. The humans didn't hear it above the horse and crowd noise, but Ness did. So did Shax. His head whipped toward the sound. The momentary distraction cost him as the horse spun left and twisted its back legs as it bucked.

Shax flew off, physics finally catching up to him, and slammed headfirst into a fencepost. The world stopped for Ness. No sound, no scent made it past the shroud of horror as Shax lay unmoving in the dust, his hat and light-bending halo fallen a few feet away, his lovely red horns exposed for all the world to see. Ness started moving before he could think.

He shrugged his coat off, wrapped it around Shax's, and snapped his wings out, stretching cramped muscles. The world rushed back in on him as screaming and the clicks of weapons cocking assaulted his ears. With the crowd's attention elsewhere, no one noticed him until his first down stroke of feathers. A woman nearby shrieked.

"Lord above, he's sent his angels to help us!"

He ignored her, though some part of his brain registered the odd irony. Coat bundle cradled to his chest, he swooped into the corral. He hovered over Shax and let the humans see him clearly before he landed, mantling his wings protectively over his demon lover.

Fallen angels lost things during their expulsion. Ness had lost gold feathers and his ability to heal but he had retained the extra diaphragm that allowed him to use the Voice of Command.

He drew in the proper amount of air and bellowed at the humans in words several audible stories tall, "Stop! You will put down your guns! For shame! You broke bread with him, sang with him, worked beside him! Now you sully the sacred trust of guest and host to shoot him? I hear you call him monster! You are the monsters!"

Weapons dropped with a satisfying clatter. A few humans flung themselves to the ground, arms covering their heads. Several cowboys wept openly. Ness blinked at them in a moment of disoriented confusion. A rush of power, exhilarating and terrifying, surged through him. He had done this. He had made them afraid, made them obey, made them bow down in the dirt to him…

No. No and no. I will not become that thing. I am fallen, but my heart still feels love and pity. I have rejected heaven's edicts that bade me kill. I reject hell's edicts that decree I must embrace pride and compassionless dominance.

He put the coat bundle on Shax's chest, scooped his limp body up, and took flight as more shots rang out in the distance. He headed toward the shooting, a terrible feeling growing that it had to do with Verin. As his wings beat the air, taking them away from the corral, he heard Widow Cornell shriek, "My diamonds! They're gone!"

Ness cringed. But truly? He had known it all along.

* * * *

Damn it, not you, too. Verin watched Corny thundering toward him, gun in one hand, rope in the other. For the first time in centuries, he despaired. Faced with the fickle treachery of the human heart and what was quickly becoming an impossible situation, he wondered if maybe it was finally time to stop fighting so hard.

He'd fought his whole life from the moment he was born, biting and clawing to survive the rest of his mother's demon litter. With Shax, he'd found some moments of peace. With Corny, there had been peace on a completely different level.

An odd sting settled in the back of his eyes and his throat tightened. Maybe it was finally time to let the universe have what it had wanted for so long. He could end it here. Just lie down and die.

Corny swung the loop of his lariat overhead, his mouth set in a thin, determined line. He never even slowed his horse as he let the rope fly. The loop settled over Shorty and Jessie.

Wow. His aim sucks.

Verin blinked in shock when Corny reined his horse hard to the right, pulled the rope tight, and yanked the two snared cowboys off their feet. He dragged them off a few yards, spun his agile little mustang, and thundered back through the hole in the circle surrounding Verin.

He leaned out of the saddle, offering an arm as he rode up. "Climb on!"

"What?"

"Grab the hell on!"

Some remaining bit of self-preservation shoved Verin into reaching up for that outstretched arm as Corny rode past. He yanked Verin up behind him, trusting him to hold on as he broke through the other side of the gaping cowboy circle.

It was a near thing. The pain in Verin's leg nearly took him out; black spots the size of bison blocked out most of his vision. He got an arm around Corny's waist and clung tight as his rescuer galloped away in a zigzag pattern to avoid the bullets zinging around them.

"Where?" Corny yelled.

"Where what?"

"Where were you going? Give me a damn direction!"

Verin pointed past Corny's shoulder toward the cliffs where the Brimstone hid. "Hightail it thataway, cowboy." I can't believe I just said that.

A strange whooshing came from overhead and Verin risked a glance up. An improbable figure with huge gray wings and too many limbs flew past, heading in the same direction.

"What the…?"

"It's just Ness," Verin explained in Corny's ear. "Carrying Shax who looks like he got himself hurt again."

"So Ness, he's…an angel?"

"Yeah. Fallen, but still. Wings and all."

Corny shook his head but didn't slow his horse. "This day just gets stranger by the second."

Verin shifted, trying to ease his bleeding leg. Didn't work. "Why?" he spat out irritably.

"Why what?"

"Why'd you rescue me? Now that you know what I am."

Corny rode on in silence for nearly half a mile. Finally, he said, "You're still you."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Yeah, you got horns. It's powerful strange. But when they came for you with guns, I think you could've done real damage. Probably could've killed them all before they could get a bead on you. You didn't. You were just trying to get away. Probably to warn your…friends?"

Verin grunted. "Yeah. I guess. Maybe I'm a demon but I've never liked random slaughter. Fuck this hurts. Can you slow down some?"

"Don't think that's a good idea."

He turned his head for a look back. No posse yet but Corny was probably right. Someone would be coming after them. "Friends. Yeah. I mean, yeah, Shax and I are cousins, in a demon's understanding of family. But we've been friends since we were kids."

"And Ness?"

"Shax pulled him from ship wreckage. Nursed him back to health, the idiot. He's kind of a pain in the ass but he tries."

Corny glanced at him sideways. "You sure you're a demon? You don't sound like one."

"And how the fuck would you know? Met a lot of demons, horsey boy?"

"No need to get all riled. Just not what I'd expect."

Verin blew out a cloud of steam. "I get that. There's all sorts of demons, though. Just like there's all sorts of humans."

"But most demons serve hell? They're evil?"

"A lot are. So are a lot of humans."

"True."

"Into that canyon. See where Ness is flying?"

"But there's no way out of there. You'll be trapped."

"There's a way out. Trust me." Verin turned his head so he could lean it against Corny's shoulder without smacking him with his horns. "I've really screwed things up for you, de Groot. Probably cost you your job and your home."

Corny shrugged and nodded to his chocolate brown mare. "I got Rosa. I got my saddle and my gun. Would've been moving on soon. A man like me can't stay in one place long without being run off, anyway."

Right. The whole homophobic Earth syndrome that really didn't get better for a couple of centuries after Corny's time. "Still. I got you shot at. Made trouble for you."

"Don't fret about it. Not the first time."

"Damn it, I'm trying to say I'm sorry, you lunkhead!"

Corny laughed. Even now, he laughed. "I accept your angry apology, Mr. Demon. Guess Verin's not your name, huh?"

"It is. Hammer's the second name Shax picked for me when we started to spend time in the human world. Humans look at you funny if you don't have a surname. It's on all my IDs and everything."

"Your what?"

Oops. Time slip. "Never mind." Verin pulled in a slow breath, head swimming with blood loss and Corny's scent. "Look, there's a lot of things I haven't told you. Things that are probably gonna freak you out more if I don't explain a little before we get to that canyon."

Corny finally slowed his horse. "You have a wife and kids?"

"No. Nothing like that. But if I tell you these things, you'll think I'm a liar. Or crazy."

"I'm riding across the grass with the man I've just had relations with and he has horns bigger than a Texas steer. And you have things to tell me I won't believe?"

"Yeah." Verin sighed and began, trying his best to put things in order. He explained about being from the future, about what that future looked like, about planets and space travel and how they had arrived back in time. He ended with the decision to come to Earth, to make sure it was still there, and the need to dive into the gravity well for fuel.

He had no idea how much Corny even followed or how much he believed. He was chewing over the information still as Rosa's hooves echoed off the canyon walls.

His eventual reaction was priceless. "So Shax, the demon prince, is afraid of frogs?"

Verin managed a crooked grin. "Yeah. Not much else, but yeah. Frogs."

Corny busted out laughing, the low rumbling of it against Verin easing something tight and cold in his chest. "It was a good story, anyway. Now maybe you better tell me the truth."

And the cold lump's back. "You don't believe me. Well, why the fuck should you?"

"There's no ship here, Verin. Canyon's empty except for Ness landing over yonder."

Verin snorted another cloud of steam. He fought to control his temper since Corny's disbelief was sane and reasonable. "Just watch. Keep watching."

Ms. Ivana had spotted Ness on the external vid feeds. A hole seemed to open in the air as she lowered the ramp to the cargo bay, a strange hole that revealed a rectangular piece of the inside of the Brimstone against the canyon wall.

"Holy crow…" Corny whispered. "Is that a gate to hell?"

"Only for Shax, since the frogs are in there. No, that's the ship. I tried to tell you it's hiding right now." Verin straightened up, preparing to dismount. "I can walk from here. You should ride off before anyone comes looking."

Corny grabbed his arm. His hand shook but all things considered, he was managing all the new input pretty damn well. "You stay where you are, Hammer. You're not getting two steps on that butchered leg. Let me at least deliver you to the mouth of hell."

"It's not—"

"That was a joke."

"Oh. Right." Verin leaned his head back against that strong shoulder, wanting to absorb as much of Corny's warmth as he could before he had to return to the cold of space.

They reached the ramp much too soon, and Verin slid off before Corny could protest again. Verin clung to a hydraulic strut at the bottom of the ramp to stay upright. "You better go."

Green eyes gazed down at him with such a mixed mess of emotions, it was hard to tell what was going on in that stoic, unshakeable brain. "You want me to go?"

"Fuck, no. I don't want you to go. But I don't belong in this world, in this time. And you don't belong in mine."

Corny looked away, a tiny hitch in his deep voice as he said, "I don't really belong in this one, either, do I? At least in your world, a man loving another man isn't a sin or a crime. It just is."

"Yeah."

"I don't—"

Verin started up the ramp, shaking his head. When he reached the top, he turned and squinted into the distance. A cloud of dust rose at the mouth of the canyon. "You need to decide now, de Groot. They're coming and I've got a ship to fly. If you're coming, come the hell aboard. If not, get your sorry hide the fuck out of here before they shoot your ass."

Corny turned Rosa to look toward the canyon mouth. He gave Verin one last anguished look and set spurs to his horse's flanks. Verin's heart sank as the only man he'd ever felt anything for started to ride away.

A hundred yards out, Corny wheeled his mount and charged back, taking the ramp at full speed, urging Rosa up and on before she had a chance to hesitate or balk.

Well, damn. What've I done?

It was too late now. Verin made his way inside, dragging his bleeding leg. The knee looked like hamburger, agony lancing up his body with every step. "Ivana! Ramp! Now! Is all your mining shit secured?"

"I'm getting it, Captain Bossypants and yes, all equipment's stowed. You better get your new hot thing stowed, too, if you want him in one piece."

Corny dismounted, confusion furrowing his brow. "Who's that?"

"The machine that runs the ship. I'll explain later. Get Rosa over there to that wall. We have to get her gel netted for takeoff."

Verin struggled to help but his leg gave out and he ended up sitting hard on the floor.

"Verin?" Corny crouched beside him. "Don't die on me."

"Tough hombre like me? Nah. Won't happen."

Luckily, a certain overanxious angel appeared on the landing at the top of the hold's steps. "Verin! We have to go now! There are riders coming!"

"I know, pudding for brains. Come help Corny secure his horse and then get me to the damn pilot's chair."

Ness, better acquainted with the Brimstone's equipment, pulled the netting over the frightened animal. Of course, Rosa held still for him. Damn angel. Then he had the balls to scoop Verin off the floor like he was a little kid or something.

"I said help me get there, you idiot!"

"No time. Shax is secure in sickbay. Where would you like your cowboy? Why do we have a cowboy?"

"Corny gets the copilot's chair. You need to get yourself back down to Shax so he doesn't freak out again when he wakes up."

"Oh. Yes. Yes, of course."

Shots pinged off the door to the hold. Ness stopped his annoying questions and ran through the corridors, forcing Corny to race after him. Maybe the whole thing was funny if he thought about it. Angel carrying wounded demon chased by cowboy. He was in too much damn pain for funny. It would have to wait.

Ness put him in the pilot's chair and used Verin's shirt to tie off his shredded knee. All right, having a compassion-filled angel around had its good points. Sometimes. Verin used the time to bring up his boards and run through pre-flight. They had company according to the vid feeds but the company was confused now that the hold door had shut tight. A platoon of cowboys milled around where they thought something should be, but no one had run smack into the invisible ship yet.

"Help the cowboy strap in, Twinkles. Then you get your skinny ass back to Shax. Is he all right?"

Ness talked as he worked, helping Corny maneuver the restraints around the right body parts. "More or less. The auto-diagnostic says he's badly concussed and he's broken some fingers."

"Been worse. Get going. I'm firing up."

"Going, Ver. Going." Ness fled the cockpit, his boots ringing through the corridors as he ran.

Come on, body. Stay conscious long enough to get us in orbit. After a certain point, Ivana could take over, but this ship was small and had some antiquated systems. It required a pilot for surface to air takeoff and for close-in maneuvering.

"Ver? All right if I still call you that, too?"

He spared a glance over at Corny, who was looking a little pale. "No complaints from me."

"So this…ship. It flies? Like a bird? Into the clouds?"

"Hell of a lot faster than a bird. Faster than anything you've ever seen. It'll go up into the clouds and then past them until we're going around the Earth like the moon does."

"This ship can fly to heaven?"

"No, you hick. Heaven's not in outer space. It's an Earth-bound thing. That's not how you get there."

"Oh. I don't think I feel so good."

Verin grunted. He so didn't have time for this. "There's a funnel and tube by your right hand. You see it? You pull that toward you and the vacuum suction will come on. You damn well better throw up in there if you puke, got it?"

"Loud and clear." Corny patted the funnel as if to be sure of its continued presence. A half-smile tugged at his mouth when he added, "Captain Bossypants."

"That's better. You keep on being a smartass and you won't get sick."

"Would you think less of me if I say I'm scared spitless?"

"Hell, no. I can't believe you're doing this." Verin fired the thrusters and watched the cowboys scatter from the sudden flames flickering from nowhere. He couldn't spare even a smidge of attention as he eased out of the canyon, a tighter fit than a post-reconstructive surgery whore. As soon as he cleared the rock walls, he reached across and laid a hand on Corny's. "Thanks. For saving my ass. For being an imbecile and coming with me."

Corny managed a small chuckle. "It's a new adventure. It was time for a new one."

"Ms. Ivana, you're gonna have to keep me monitored, and if I pass out, you're gonna have to go on auto and tell Corny what to do."

"I've got you, don't worry. And I have no problem taking care of your sexy cowboy. Rawrr."

"Behave." Even though his vision wavered, Verin's heart soared as he pointed the Brimstone skyward. Maybe they'd never get home, but somehow he didn't care quite so much now.