River
“What do you mean not today?” I demanded.
Kobal glanced at me from under the fringe of his thick, black lashes. He rose from the stream and started toward me. Despite my irritation with him, I couldn’t help but greedily follow the beads of water sliding over his body as I fought the impulse to lick every single one of those drops from his bronzed skin.
“I know you’re impatient to try again, and so am I, but you have to admit you’re not up for it again today,” he said.
I stood on the bank, yet he was still my height as he stopped before me. He’d insisted on me bathing before him so he could keep watch, but I believed it was so he wouldn’t be tempted to take me. He’d been treating me like glass since yesterday.
I planted my hands on my hips as I took a deep, calming breath. “I feel fine,” I insisted. “Sleep, food, and feeling the life all around me have already strengthened me again.”
To prove my point, I turned my hand over to reveal the slice across my palm. It wasn’t completely healed, but the mark had stopped bleeding yesterday, and only a faded pink scratch remained. My rate of healing had been improving since I’d started using my ability to draw life from the Earth more and the deepening of my bond with Kobal, but this was the quickest I’d ever seen it happen.
“You’re healing much faster,” he murmured.
“I know. It’s like I’m Hawk, minus the canagh demon blood that helped to heal him.” His brow furrowed as if he were troubled by something. “What’s wrong?”
Water sloshed around his feet as he walked the rest of the way out of the stream to the shore. He took the towel I held out to him. “Nothing is wrong,” he replied. “The continued increase in the rate of your healing probably explains how some of your ancient ancestors lived such lengthy lives. Their connection with the Earth must have fueled their lifespans.”
“So that means I’ll make it to at least a hundred and fifty.”
“One can hope,” he said with a smile and ran the towel over his hair.
“You wouldn’t want a wrinkled old woman.”
“I want you any way I can have you, River. There will never be a time I don’t.”
My breath sucked in. I bit my bottom lip as he lowered the towel and his gaze raked over me. I couldn’t think about growing older while he remained youthful and powerful, but I didn’t doubt his words, not for a second.
“So, I’m pretty much healed,” I said as a way to get off the depressing topic of my eventual demise. “Which means I’m good to give it another try today. Maybe I could even try going down the road and into the pit to see what happens.”
He tossed the towel over his shoulder. “And are you strong enough to do it again today? I see the shadows under your eyes. I feel the weariness in your bones. Don’t forget I am the one who holds you at night. I am the one who is bonded and connected to you.”
“I could never forget that, but I feel strong, and I made some progress yesterday. We won’t know what kind of progress it was if we don’t continue.”
“You did make progress.” He rested his hands on my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “But I think it would be better if you were back to full strength before going near Hell again or trying to enter it.”
I held my protests back. I was impatient to get back to the gateway and see if there was something more I could do. However, I had to admit I still didn’t feel 100 percent. Exhausting myself wouldn’t do any of us any good, but the idea of doing nothing all day was intolerable.
“What will we do today then?” I asked.
“We’ll do some hunting. If we’re going to stay, we need to find more food to replenish the dwindling supplies.”
“We’re staying longer then?” I asked, unable to keep the hope from my voice. I hated this place, but I didn’t want to admit defeat.
His fingers dug briefly into my shoulders before he eased his grip. “No matter how badly I’d prefer you not be here, we cannot turn away from this new development,” he grated in a hoarse voice. “We will stay until we can see if you’ll make any further progress. Your blood affected the shadows, but that doesn’t mean it will close the gateway.”
“I know.” My gaze slid past him to the stream. “There are fish in there. I can catch some.”
His finger trailed over the small scar at the corner of my eyebrow. “Will it result in another one of these?”
I laughed and pulled his hand away to brush a kiss across the back of his knuckles. “No, this time a net or a tarp will be all that’s required.”
“I’m sure we have something at the camp,” he replied and bent to kiss me.
He pulled back before the kiss could deepen too much, just as he had last night when he’d held me in his arms. “I’m not going to break,” I muttered.
“I know, but you need your rest, and you’re a temptation I can’t resist.”
So are you, I thought as I watched him tug his clothes on. The shirt stretched taut over his broad shoulders and back. I had no idea how those stitches were holding together, but they looked ready to burst at any second. When he bent to pull on his boots, I couldn’t help but admire the way the material of his pants clung to his ass as he moved.
“Behave,” he said with a glance over his shoulder.
I assumed an innocent expression as he rose to stand at his full, towering height. “I’m not doing anything.”
He grinned at me as his hand cupped my elbow. When I’d first met him, that smile had been rare and fleeting; it occurred more often now with me, and every time I saw it, I basked in its warmth.
“You forget I can smell your arousal,” he said.
By now, I should have been used to his blunt talk, and he shouldn’t be able to make me blush anymore, but I was never prepared for it, and he could still make my face heat like a furnace.
“That’s cheating,” I muttered, and he laughed.
“Come.” He tugged on my arm and led me through the trees back toward the camp.
Once there, I broke away in search of something to fish with while he went to speak with the other demons. Within minutes, I found two pieces of netted material that had been used to keep the supplies pinned into the back of a truck by one of the groups who had joined us. I recruited Vargas, Erin, and Hawk to be my helpers. Caught up in settling a disagreement between the demons and humans, Kobal assigned Corson to return to the stream with us.
“I like the idea of a fishing break,” Hawk said. “It reminds me of home. When I was a kid, my stepdad used to take me out on the lake behind our house with our rowboat. We’d fish for hours, but rarely caught anything.”
As he spoke, I couldn’t help but think of my own home, the town right next to the one where Hawk had grown up. After the gateway had been torn open, I’d spent a lot of time fishing and often missed the simple joy of casting a line and waiting for a bite.
“We’ll be catching them today,” I assured him as we arrived at the shoreline of the stream.
I unbuckled the gun holster from my waist, set it on the ground, and pulled off my katana to place it with them. The others all hesitated before removing their weapons and placing them near mine.
I didn’t bother to remove any of my clothes or try to roll up my pants; I was going to get wet no matter what. It had been peaceful in the camp, but I’d prefer not to be barefoot if something decided to sneak up on us now. Plus, our boots would give us better leverage against the rocks on the bottom of the stream when we were hauling the netting in.
“I’ve never fished before,” Vargas said as he took hold of the edge of the net I handed him.
“Neither have I,” Erin said.
“It will be easy doing it this way,” I told them. “Vargas and I will go in first, and I’ll show you what to do.” I pointed to the opposite bank fifteen feet away. “Across you go,” I said to Vargas. “Walk as far as the net will stretch and keep the bottom of it on the ground.”
He sloshed across the stream that rose to his waist when he made it to the middle. I stepped into the water, lowering the net until it rested on the bottom, and held it in place with my foot. Vargas stopped walking ten feet away from me when the netting reached its limit.
“Do as I do,” I instructed him as he lowered his side of the net into the water.
Corson leaned against a tree, folding his arms over his chest and crossing his legs before him. He stared at us for a minute before his gaze lifted to survey the woods. A few birds chirruped. Shadows played across the mossy river banks as the trees swayed in the summer breeze. Most of the trees were barely taller than me, but a few older ones towered over the others.
Erin and Hawk stood on the shoreline, watching us intently as the water flowed into the net, carrying a food supply with it. Cool water splashed my face. The feel of it brought forth more memories of home as I savored this opportunity to do something normal again. The life pulsing within the stream’s unfathomable blue depths flooded me with strength. Kobal was right, I needed this day of recovery more than I’d realized.
“Okay,” I said to Vargas after ten minutes. The jerking on the net within my grasp convinced me there had to be something stuck within it. “Walk slowly toward me, keeping the net on the ground. We have to fold it in, like a sheet.”
He moved cautiously toward me as he carefully maneuvered the currents. Only four feet away from me, his foot slipped out from under him, and with a startled cry, he plummeted into the stream. He bobbed up almost instantly, spitting water and cursing as he wiped the water from his eyes.
I bit my lip to keep from giggling. Corson, Erin, and Hawk had no such reservations as they all laughed loudly and Hawk even pointed.
“Screw off,” Vargas muttered and sloshed through the water to retrieve his end of the net. He cast a scathing glance at the three on the shoreline before taking up a position across from me again. “I’m going to kill all the fish.”
That statement was the end of me holding back any longer. I glanced away from the irritated look he shot me as I tried to stifle my chuckles while setting my net up once more. “Want to try coming toward me again?” I called over to him after another ten minutes passed.
He took a deep breath but carefully maneuvered through the current toward me again. When he made it, we clasped the net together and dragged it toward the shore. Hawk and Erin came forward to help pull it onto the riverbank. Water poured out from the net to reveal a rock bass, two largemouth bass, and what I believed was a carp.
“Fucking A!” Vargas shouted as he tossed a flopping bass into the cooler Hawk held open for him.
“See what happens when you stay on your feet,” Hawk quipped as he closed the lid of the cooler.
“Like you could do any better,” Vargas retorted.
“Oh, we will,” Hawk replied with a shit-eating grin. “All Erin and I have to do is remain standing and we’ll catch twice as many as you.”
Vargas flipped him the bird before reclaiming the net. “Let’s go,” he said to me. “We’ll catch way more than those two.”
“You can go about twenty feet behind us, but to the other side,” I said to Erin as Vargas and Hawk bickered back and forth about who would catch more fish.
“Will do,” Erin said and climbed into the stream with Hawk on her heels.
“My money’s on you two,” Corson said to me as I slid back into the water.
“Smart man,” I tossed over my shoulder.
The next hour passed in a rush of teasing and complaints.
“You’re using your power to catch them,” Hawk accused me when Vargas and I hauled another catch of fish onto the shore. Erin and Hawk had switched positions with us a half an hour ago and stood at the front, but Vargas and I were still catching more. “Light attracts fish, you’re shooting sparks or something under the water.”
“I am not!” I retorted.
“Prove it.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“Keep your hands above the water.”
“No problem.” Returning to the water, I pinned the net down with my foot and lifted my hand into the air. I wiggled my fingers at him when he turned to watch me over his shoulder. “Still going to kick your ass.”
Hawk glanced at my other hand holding the net above the water. “Just keep ‘em where I can see ‘em.”
“Was he right?” Vargas whispered to me. “Are you somehow attracting the fish?”
“Of course not,” I replied. Vargas and Corson both gave me disbelieving looks. “I’m not!”
“Someone protests too much!” Hawk called over his shoulder.
“Oh, shove it,” I replied.
Keeping myself carefully balanced on the slippery rocks beneath my feet, I waited until it was time to go back to the shore again before lowering my hand to grip the net. Lines of concentration etched Vargas’s face as he carefully made his way toward me.
He was only five feet away when the world around me became completely still. Vargas faded away, and all that remained were the trees swaying in the breeze and the things sliding like shadows from tree to tree as they moved silently through the woods toward us.
I’d seen these hideously strange creations before from a distance. They were the same demons we’d continuously fled from while we’d been making the journey to the gateway. Lanavours. That was what they were called, and they’d found us.
My vision receded to leave me in the present once more. Vargas stood directly before me; his deep brown eyes troubled as he stared at me. I couldn’t hear his words, but I knew he was speaking because his mouth was moving.
“River! Are you okay?”
I blinked at him as his words finally pierced through the lingering haze of my vision. “We have to go,” I blurted.
“What?”
“Go! We have to go, now!” My hand was still clenched around the net when I turned and scrambled toward the shore. “They’re coming!” I gasped to Corson.
His citrine eyes searched the forest for danger, but the woods remained deceptively calm. The foot-long, white talons hidden in his body exploded from the back of his hand. “Who’s coming?”
“Those things we’ve been avoiding, the lanavours. They’re in the woods, coming our way.”
Stepping forward, he grabbed my arm and pulled me from the water. Those talons brushed against my skin but didn’t cut me as he maneuvered me close to his side. Bending, he retrieved my guns from the shoreline and thrust them at me. Taking a deep breath, I got my trembling fingers to behave enough that I could secure my holster and snag my katana from the ground. I swung the sword over my back and settled it into place.
“Hurry,” Corson urged the others.
Vargas already had his shoulder holster back on and his guns in place. Erin and Hawk were scrambling from the water. They grabbed their holsters and slipped them on.
Hawk reached for the cooler of fish, but Corson stopped him. “Leave it.”
Hawk opened his mouth to protest, but the lethal look in Corson’s eyes silenced him. He set the cooler on the ground as Corson jerked his head toward the camp. “Silently,” he whispered.
I tried to tug my arm free from Corson, but he kept it locked within his grasp as he moved backward into the trees while his eyes continued to scan the shoreline. Free of the clearing around the stream, he turned and plunged into the woods, pulling me with him. He didn’t run but walked at such a brisk pace that I practically had to jog to keep up with him.
Water sloshed in my boots with every step we took. I was certain the wet sound could be heard from a mile away, but better wet boots than bare feet right now. Corson shoved branches and briars out of the way while he moved with the stealth of a fox through the brush. He’d be far faster without the three of us slowing him down.
“You should go ahead of us,” I whispered. “Warn the others.”
“Not leaving you,” he replied brusquely.
“But—”
“Shh.”
I stopped trying to protest. I knew he wouldn’t leave us behind, but the camp had to be told what was coming for them. Glancing back, I spotted Erin, Hawk, and Vargas behind us with their guns drawn. Their eyes frantically searched the forest as they stayed close on our heels.
We were halfway back to camp when I felt something watching me. Turning, I spotted a slender figure standing within the woods. The rays of the sun filtering through the trees danced over its blue-gray skin. Despite the warm sunlight washing over it, something about the creature made my bones feel as if they were encased in ice.
“They’re here,” I breathed.
Corson’s head shot around. “Run!” He thrust his palms into the small of my back. “Go!”
Falling back, he allowed the others to move ahead of him while he took up the rear. My heart hammered and adrenaline pulsed through my body as I ran. Faster than I’d believed I could move, I leapt over and dodged the obstacles in my way. Branches created welts when they slapped against my skin. Briars drew blood as they snagged in my clothes and hair, but I didn’t slow as I rested my hands on a fallen tree and swung my legs sideways to leap over it.
The breaths of the others were loud in my ears as they ran behind me. No matter how fast we moved though, I could feel the lanavours closing in on us.