The Road To Hell Part 27

"I love you, Tracy," he said softly. "And if I'm meant for Heaven, surely you are too."

Her smile froze.

"Jesse's right. This isn't Heaven. And my Tracy is in Heaven."

"Paul," she whispered, "please..."

He nudged her away. "Go," he said. "You're not my Tracy."

She gasped, her eyes huge and hurt. "I am. Paul... please, sweetheart, it's me..."

Paul looked at me. "Can you lead a White Knight away from temptation?"

"Let's find out together." I reached out to him, and he took my hand. Together, we climbed to our feet. I buried my head in his chest, delighting in the feel of the soft curls of hair on his torso. I breathed him in, took his unique scent deep inside of me. "Bless me, Paul, I thought I'd lost you."

"You did," he said, wrapping his arms around me. "But then you found me again."

Covering her mouth with her hand, Tracy scrambled to her feet. She called his name, the sound m.u.f.fled by her fingers.

His back to her, he didn't reply, but his arms around my waist trembled. I placed my hands over them, easing their quakes.

With a sob, Tracy turned and fled. I watched her leap through the sycamore tree.

Not a false vision, not a temptation: the ghost of Paul's dead fiancee, trapped for eternity here in the Endless Caverns.

Tracy wasn't meant for Heaven after all. But far be it from me to tell Paul that.

Long since stepping through the door and then the mirror, Paul and I wandered around the Endless Caverns. I'd created flashlights so that we could see our way, but that being said, there wasn't anything to see but rocks, rocks, and rocks. Some were enormous and many were tiny, and a handful served as treasure chests of precious gems in the rough. But at the end of the day, they were just rocks. Lots of them.

"You know," Paul said, "I'm starting to believe I'm really dead. We would have run out of air a long time ago."

"Yeah, the not breathing thing has its perks."

"So why am I sweating?"

I shrugged. I had no idea why I could still feel my heartbeat when I had no heart in this form. "Chalk one up in the Mysterious Ways column."

He said, "Tell me again that you know how to get out of here."

"I know how to get out of here," I lied.

"Because maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like we're lost."

I stopped walking and jabbed a finger at his chest. "We're not lost. These are the Endless Caverns. That means the path goes on for a long, long time. If the path was short, don't you think they'd be called the Not So Endless Caverns?"

"I'm just saying."

I put my fists on my hips. "You know, in h.e.l.l we take the naming thing seriously."

He held his hands up in a "my bad" gesture. "Okay, sorry."

"Besides," I grumbled, "I don't hear you coming up with a better idea."

"Better than what, walking forever and ever?"

I glared at him. "Are you complaining?"

"Me? Never."

"Good."

"I'm just wondering if maybe next time you rescue me from h.e.l.l, you could get directions."

I frowned. "Are you sure you're a man?"

"Hey, real men know when they're lost, they better get directions. Or a map. You have a map?"

"I must have left it in my other demonic catsuit."

"Jess."

"Yeah."

"I love you."

I smiled. "Yeah. Me too."

We walked.

And walked.

Finally, even I had to admit that we were going nowhere fast. c.r.a.p. I'd been hoping that we could just stroll out of the Caverns, and then I could poof him back Above. But even though I still had my demonic powers (and no way was I looking a gift h.e.l.lhound in the mouth), I couldn't just bamf us out of the cave. (I'd tried. It had given me a killer headache and a mad desire to burst into showtunes, but it hadn't gotten us out of the cavern.) Time for Plan B.

After changing my flashlight into a kerosene lantern and placing it on a large rock, I slid the bracelet off my wrist and offered it to Paul.

He eyed it skeptically. "It doesn't really go with my outfit."

"Take it," I said. "It's the Rope of Hecate you bought for me. It'll get you back home."

He blinked once, twice, then said, "Once more, for those of us slow on the uptake."

I explained about Caitlin and the peddler, and how the Hecate was watching me. "The witch wanted me to have the bracelet," I concluded, "and went out of her way to explain how it was a tie to life. Put it on, sweetie, so you can go home."

After a pregnant pause, he said, "You're kidding, right?"

"Paul..."

He shook his head. "Even if I believed that your jewelry would be an express train out of here, if you think I'm abandoning you, you're insane."

He was the third person (well, ent.i.ty) to call me crazy in the span of a few hours. It was starting to p.i.s.s me off. "It's not like you'd be leaving me in the middle of nowhere. This is my stomping ground. I was raised on stuff like this."

"Yeah, and I grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons, so I know a thing or two about underground pa.s.sages. I'm not leaving you, period."

I frowned at him. "Will you quit the White Knight thing already?"

"In D&D, we were called paladins."

"d.a.m.n it all," I said, stomping my hoof, "I'm not joking."

"No, but you're cute when you pitch a fit. Even when you look like something out of Paradise Lost."

I counted to ten, decided not to morph him into a salamander. "I can get my way out of here and find my way back home. But I can't do that if I'm also looking out for you."

"So this whole time we've been walking in the dark," he said, doing an impressive Bambi-eyes, "that was you looking out for me?"

I stomped my hoof again. He had no business poking fun at me when I was trying to be all self-sacrificing. It ruined the mood. "What do I have to do to get you to trust me?"

He pulled me close, stared into my green cat's eyes. "Hon, this isn't about trust. You're asking me to leave you here, in the dark, alone. How can I do that? I'm supposed to protect you."

"There's no supposed to here, love." I plucked the flashlight from his grasp and tossed it to the rock-strewn ground. Taking his hands in mine, I said, "You're not a cop here. You're not even my lover here. Here, you're just another soul. Take the bracelet and go back to the real world, where you're my man. Go back, and wait for me."

"No."

"Please! Paul, I'm begging you." I dropped to my knees, pleading with my body and my words. "Do this for me."

"Get up, Jess." He gently pulled me to my hooves "Hon, I can't leave you. It's not right. I'm sorry, but I won't do it."

"For once in your stubborn life, don't be a White Knight. Don't do the right thing. Do the best thing, for you and for us. Please," I said, "trust me."

"I do trust you, Jess." He traced his fingers down my cheek, his calloused fingers soft against the leather of my flesh. "I do. More than ever. You came to h.e.l.l to free me. How can you think even for a minute that I would do anything less? I'm not leaving you here, Jesse."

I blew out a frustrated sigh. "You are so d.a.m.n infuriating."

"This from the woman who went out to a strip club after I asked her not to."

"You didn't ask, you told. And don't change the subject." I rested my head against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "I was going to move out, you know," I whispered. "After our fight, I thought we were done."

He said nothing for a moment, just held me close as he stroked my shoulder. It felt nice. I closed my eyes, listened to his heart beating in his chest, the sound working its music into my body.

"I'm so sorry about that," he said, breaking the silence. "G.o.d, it feels like forever ago. It was stupid, Jess. I'm sorry I hurt you."

"Me too, love." I hugged him tight. "Me too."

"Is this the part where we kiss and make up?"

I looked up at him, saw the love sparkling in his eyes. Bless me, I felt like I could fly. "You bet. Wait, hang on a sec." I let my power wash over me, turning me once again into Jesse Harris, human, sister of a rather annoying know-it-all witch.

"Stop."

"What's wrong?"

"You don't have to do that." He motioned to my face, my body. My human sh.e.l.l. "You don't have to hide what you think you are."

I smiled, feeling melancholy and proud and so much in love. "Sweetie, you've been through a lot today. I mean, we broke tip, you got seduced and killed, then you went to h.e.l.l. Now you're coming to grips with your girlfriend being a bona fide demon. Ex-demon. Whatever I am. Too much shock is bad for you."

"What's it going to do, kill me?" He smiled, squeezed my shoulder. "Jess, I love you, whatever you look like. You don't have to hide yourself from me."

I wanted to cheer and cry and laugh all at once. "I'm not, love. Think of it as me playing dress-up."

"Jess..."

I shushed him with a kiss. His mouth parted, and our tongues touched, connected, rolled together. I gripped him tightly, pulled his torso against my b.r.e.a.s.t.s as the kiss deepened. His hands roamed down my back, tripped down my spine and cupped my a.s.s, squeezed. Yum.

He broke the kiss, whispered in my ear: "Please tell me that there's nothing chasing us, that we're really alone and have all the time in the world."

"Endless Caverns," I said, "remember? All we have is time."

"Just checking."

Then his mouth was on my earlobe, sucking the sensitive skin until I moaned. He worked his way down my neck, traced the outline of my collarbone with his tongue. I took his head in my hands, lifted him back up to kiss him again, mas.h.i.+ng his lips against mine, showing him with my mouth how much I wanted him inside of me. His rod pushed against his jeans, pressed against my belly, thick with need, announcing his want for me in return.

We moved together, our bodies finding a shared rhythm as our hips danced in slow circles. My fingers trailed down his chest, found his nipples and rubbed them, flicked them until they were erect beneath my touch. He ummmed, the sound m.u.f.fled by our tongues and teeth.

Yes, love. I know.

My hands moved down his torso, brus.h.i.+ng over his firm stomach, pausing at his jeans. Even with thousands of years of experience under my belt, I still needed two hands to unfasten his pants and yank them and his underwear down his thighs. His rod saluted my efforts.

Ooh. Ten hut, soldier.

I ran my hand over the thatch of kinky hair just above his engorged p.e.n.i.s, traced the V of his groin. Then my fingers danced over his tip, and he quivered beneath my touch. Feeling him want me so much nearly brought me to o.r.g.a.s.m by itself-bless me, I loved making him feel so good. Speaking of which...

Taking his erection in my hand, I squeezed gently, feeling him throb. Paul moaned into my mouth as I kissed him harder. I stroked him slowly, up to his tip and down to his pubic hair, and back again, rocking my hips with the movement.

One of his hands left my a.s.s, reached behind and under me. Between my legs he found me hot and moist, ready for him. He pressed inside of me, and I gasped as he stroked my nub. My body tensed, a coil ready to spring. Wait, not yet...

Biting my lip, I moved his hand away from my lips, stopped stroking his shaft.

"Love?" His breath tickled my neck. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, just have to..."

I stopped speaking and instead threw my concentration into creating a futon mattress resting over the jagged ground. Couldn't have the rocks slicing our tender mortal flesh. Once the makes.h.i.+ft bed was in place, we tumbled onto it, our hands already latching onto each other's s.e.x. I rolled him onto his back, then slid my body down his. His erection rubbed against my belly, between my b.o.o.bs, against my lips. Opening wide, I swallowed him down.

His hands clamped down on my head, but I didn't need his direction to know he wanted me to go faster. And I did, sucking him, pressing my tongue against his c.o.c.k and fondling his b.a.l.l.s with my hand. His groans grew louder, encouraging me to take him even deeper. Yes, love, yes-all for you...

Then he moaned, "Stop, please, I want us to come together."

As my White Knight commanded.