At The Gates ds-3 Read online

  “Good luck in your quest, Triggaltheron. I suppose we’ll know soon enough if you succeed.” He bowed shallow, and then went to the portal.

  Power flickered in the room as the gate amped up and whisked him away, though I can’t say I actually saw him go. Uncomfortable about checking out Karra while her father was around-the threat of horrific death a surprisingly effective deterrent-I took full advantage of her watching him leave, her back turned to me.

  Dressed in a pair of blue jeans that took form-fitting to new depths, and my imagination with it, I admired her shape in the fluttering light of the portal. Oh, what I would have done for a jar of Vaseline and a Slip N’ Slide.

  Her pink T-shirt fit snug, the toned muscles of her back defined by its tightness. Her wild blond hair, the tips dyed black, ended just above the gentle curve of her neck. The pale flesh called to me and before I knew it, I had taken several unconscious steps toward her.

  Longinus gone, she spun around and I shut my mouth quick, covering it with my hand to hide any drool that might have run amok. She smiled and took my other hand, leading me back to the living room. There, she pushed me down onto the couch and dropped beside me. Our thighs pressed together, mine tingled at the contact. The subtle scent of her perfume entrenched itself inside my nose and I found it hard to concentrate. I found a lot of things hard right then.

  “I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to talk since…you know, but it’s been hectic catching my father up and getting him settled. Now’s probably not a good time either, but I wanted to speak with you before you ran off, just in case…”

  Even though she’d let the last part hang, the words flowed over me like a gentle breeze. Like a politician in an off-election year, I didn’t hear a single one of them. My peripheral vision combat-honed, I stared into her hazel eyes, but all I could see was the glory of her ample chest. It was a pleasure in pink.

  “Yeah…busy…uh huh.”

  She just laughed at me and leaned back in the couch to look over at Chatterbox. “I see you’ve kept the old boy. How you two getting along?”

  “ Maaaassssstttterrrrrrrrr,” he mumbled in an airy voice, once more doing his best to bow.

  My eyes suddenly focused, I looked to Chatterbox then back to Karra, the door of realization slamming into place. I’d never really thought about how Karra had managed to manipulate me in her quest to resurrect her father. She’d always been a step ahead, but there it was right in front of me; Chatterbox.

  We’d chased the clues Michael had picked from his undead brain, ultimately finding the trap by following his directions. They’d all been programmed in from the start. The sudden sense of it all settled over me. I sat back and whistled low.

  “You dropped Chatterbox into the grave with me on purpose.” I’d presumed Reven had set up the resurrection spell and Karra had simply triggered it by dousing Longinus in Lilith’s blood, but it never occurred to me that it was Karra’s spell to begin with. “You’re a necromancer.” It explained why Chatterbox was still animate, having survived Reven’s death.

  She gave a half-nod-shrug as an easy smile graced her lips. “A useful profession when you’re trying to bring your father back to life, don’t you think?”

  Couldn’t argue with the logic, but necromancy wasn’t an easy skill to master. It took a lifetime to become powerful enough to raise someone like the Anti-Christ. Things started to make sense. “Is that why you disappeared, to learn how to bring him back?”

  She nodded. “Among other reasons. While he never said anything, I couldn’t imagine your uncle letting me stay close to you in Hell, after what he’d done to my father. I was scared and angry, and I wanted Lucifer to pay. At the same time, I was worried he’d sense that and come after me, maybe even hurt you in the process. There was no way I could have lived with that.” She loosed a quiet sigh, her thigh pressing harder against mine. “I fled Hell and took up with Reven to learn necromancy, but I never wanted to leave you behind.”

  The past rushed up and kicked me in the balls. My chest thundered like stampeding cattle as I remembered how my uncle had dismissed my pain at losing Karra. He’d done so because he knew he was to blame. He’d chased her away as a convenience to himself. His petty revenge against Longinus had torn her from me and he had waved it off as inconsequential, as acceptable collateral damage. It had meant nothing to him, but to me, it had been my whole world. Melodramatic as it may sound, she had been everything then.

  I felt my face flush as I hopped to my feet, the urge to destroy something burning at my fists. My eyes steamed with memories, fury leaking down my cheeks. In the span of an instant, my mind flittered back in time to question every decision Lucifer had made on my behalf. I couldn’t help but wonder for whose benefit they’d really been made. Had they ever been for me?

  I jumped when Karra closed her hand over mine, not even realizing she’d come up behind me. She pressed hard into my back, her arm tight around my waist. Her heartbeat thudded against me, insistent in its steady thump. My breath caught in my chest as she settled her chin on my shoulder, her nose nuzzling into my ear.

  Goose bumps took wing in flocks down my arms as Karra’s breath wafted over the nape of my neck.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, the words soft caresses. My anger crawled away to die, its death unnoticed in the tumultuous inferno of my thoughts.

  She pulled me in even closer, gentle kisses peppering my ear, the line of my jaw, and cheek, stealing my tears away.

  Rigid, in more ways than one, I couldn’t move. My arms and legs were locked in place. It was if I had been transported back in time, my dead and buried shyness reborn, excitement winding a suffocating coil around my body. My vision flickered as waves of butterfly tingles shot through me, my hands trembling. My thoughts exploded and reformed, then exploded again before they could reach coherence. The gooey corpses of logic and reason were spewed against the walls of my irrational, terrifying lust.

  Then she bit me.

  That was all it took.

  The twin drum beats of my heart and crotch rumbled a rally and kicked the shit out of my passive inner child. The little fucker deserved it.

  My own man again, at least to the extent my penis would allow, I spun on Karra and kissed her fierce, my hands entangled in her soft hair. Her insistent lips were a siren’s call, luring me ever deeper as we pressed into one another. Male directives asserting themselves, my hands drifted across her shoulders and down her arms to settle on the firm curves of her ass.

  In that moment, the key of bones was forgotten, but one Heavenly gate I wanted to pry open. I already had the key for that.

  So much taller than Karra, I lifted her into my arms and settled her crotch against mine, the fit electric. She ground into me as transient images of someone starting a fire flickered in the background of my mind, driven by the repetitive fwip of rubbing jeans. Shudders trembled through me as she moaned into my ear, whispering things you normally need to pay $3.95 a minute to hear. Her tongue stung my neck with wet serpent kisses.

  Unable to contain myself any longer, I moved to the couch and dumped her onto it. Romance run out of town with a bullet in its ass, I yanked her boots off and tossed them over my shoulder. The tinkling crash of glass sounded behind me, but I barely noticed as I went toe-to-toe with the button on Karra’s painted-on jeans. At last, I managed to pop it free with a grunt. Her zipper barely down, I whipped her pants off and sighed at finding her panty-less. Like an altar to the god of all mans’ gods, I felt compelled to kneel and worship, to loose my tongue with flickering songs of the coming rapture. Hallelujah!

  Karra had other ideas. She latched onto my belt and undid it with nimble hands, her fingers at my zipper a second later. They were inside a split-second after that.

  I nearly fainted as her hand wrapped around my erection. What little blood I had left in my brain made a mad dash for my dick, unwilling to be left behind. Light-headed, I let her have her way with me as Chatterbox stared on with obvious and unabashed glee
. He winked at me and licked his blackened lips in lascivious circles, cheering me on in a misguided effort to draw out the show.

  “ Baassseeeeeebaaaaalllllll. Miiiiiicccccckkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeey Maaaaaantlllllllllllle. Rooooooooosssssssiiiiiiieeeeeeee Ooooooooooo’Donnnnnnnellllllllll.”

  The last sent a sickened shiver down my spine. Not wanting to ruin the mood-nothing like the view of a decayed and severed head to take the wind from your sails-I locked my sights on Karra.

  Her eyes narrow slits, her lips pursed, she yanked my penis out without bothering to unbutton my jeans. The quick scrape of zipper against skin did nothing to lessen my excitement. In fact, the sharp contrast only spurred me on. A groan slipped from me as she slid me inside her, our pelvis’s colliding in our rush. Her warm wetness enveloped me as flash fires of ecstasy sparked out from my crotch in concentric circles, its heat searing.

  Holding my neck, she pulled me to her, nose to nose, and stared into my eyes as I found my pace, her hips driving me on. Her panted breaths huffed in rhythm with mine, the air between us shared in shuddering gasps. After just a moment, a tiny whimper oozed from her lips and her eyes closed tight. Her hands shook at my neck as she drew my face to her still-clothed chest, her heartbeat thumping wild against my cheek.

  Pressed against her heaving breasts, the barest hint of her fingernails biting into my sensitive flesh, the moment overwhelmed me. Unable to hold back, I clutched Karra to me as the rattle of orgasm crept over my skin. My face buried in her neck, her raspy voice urging me on, I let loose with a growl.

  I twitched atop her as she ran her hand over my sweaty scalp, her teeth nipping at my ear lobe. We lay there quiet for several minutes, the only sound our receding pants. After a bit, I rolled to the side to take my weight off her and she turned into me, our faces just inches apart. The heat of her breath warmed my skin.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  I put finger against her lips. “Don’t.” My anger at my uncle washed away in the flood of our passion, I didn’t want to think about him or what he’d done. All I wanted was to revel in the closeness of Karra, to steal back the years as though she’d never been gone.

  Not wanting to let go, I pulled her into me. Nestled into her neck, the light sheen of sweat stirred up by our sex felt cold against my face. The flowery scent of her hair filled my head with dreamy thoughts as I tightened my grip around her.

  Her hand stroked my cheek, her finger tracing my ear in lazy circles. After a moment, far too short for my liking, she pulled away. “As much as I’d like to stay here with you, you’re needed elsewhere.” She slid off the edge of the couch and stood before me, the image seared forever onto my retinas.

  Reality intruding once more, I groaned and sat up, my eyes unable to leave Karra as she rummaged through the wreckage of my living room to find her pants and boots. She tiptoed limberly through the shattered glass of my bookshelves and bent to retrieve her clothes. The visual reignited my waning crotch and I sprang to full mast again. With a sigh that was almost a sob, I watched her slide her jeans back on. I’d gotten all I was gonna get.

  Dressed, she returned to the couch and gave me a firm kiss, her tongue lingering at my lips. “Put that thing away before you hurt someone.” She poked its head with a finger and grinned at my reaction. I felt like Moby Dick in miniature. “Go save the world. There’ll be plenty of time for us after that.”

  She laughed and ran her hand over my cheek as she stepped away. Unable to say anything, I watched her make her way down the hall and into the portal room. The sudden flux of energy and flickering lights signaled her departure, the dissolution of both filling me with an agonizing gloom.

  Thinking back on what I’d said about Katon earlier, I apologized out loud. “We men are weak.” Apparently he wasn’t the only one heading down the road toward Whipsville. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, one split-thighed encounter sealing the deal.

  Though I was reluctant to wash away the smell of Karra, which clung so pleasantly to my skin, I needed a cold shower or I’d never be able to zip my pants back up. At last, I dragged myself to the bathroom and climbed under the frigid spray. It took several long minutes, my penis bound and determined to resist, before icicles started to form on my balls and it gave in, a limp, defeated shade of blue. My teeth clacking together, I climbed out of the shower and dried off. Back out in the living room, Chatterbox greeted me with catcalls and lurid commentary.

  “ Twennnnnnnnttttttttyyyyyyy-oooooonnneeeeee, Twennnnnnnnttttttttyyyyyy — sssssssspppllaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! ”

  So what if the shower took longer? I gave him the finger and got ready to go.

  My gun loaded, ammunition stockpiled, I slipped a wrapped vial of my uncle’s blood in my pocket, all while trying not to think of who it had come from. Despite the angry thoughts that crept to life unbidden, its value outweighed my petty misgivings. I could be stupid later. You could almost set your watch by it.

  The pleasure of Karra soured by Lucifer’s unexpected betrayal and the slaughterhouse I was about to return to, I ground my teeth and headed out to collect Scarlett and Katon. It was time to do what I do best.

  Stumble into danger and hope I make it out alive.

  I should really start thinking about a plan B.

  Chapter Eleven

  After I’d rounded up the Wonder Twins, their moods dark and palpably angry, we hitched a ride with Rachelle to where Longinus had told me Adam had been buried.

  The Temple of the Holy Sepulchre; Golgotha.

  The old Jerusalem site but one location of a number rumored to contain the mortal remains of Adam, the stories have always downplayed Golgotha as unlikely because it contradicts what is universally accepted as the truth of Christ’s confirmed history. The Bible states he was buried in a tomb never before occupied. For Adam to be there first, that would have to be false, thus the location was discounted.

  That’s what you get when you have humans keeping track of things way beyond their lifespan and understanding. It’s all conjecture and bullshit after a certain point. The most unlikely of options becomes reality.

  So, there we were. Once again, the time factor played into our favor. Nighttime darkness in full swing, we wouldn’t have to worry about sightseers tromping through the place. The most we were likely to run into would be a janitor or two, maybe a security guard. With all the storms battering the world, it was more likely we wouldn’t see anyone.

  While the church was far from modern, its historical and religious relevance precluding a high tech security system, trying to sneak in from the outside would have been a hassle we didn’t need to attempt. So thinking, Rachelle dropped us inside the main chapel, into the Basilica of the Sepulchre.

  Amusingly enough, we arrived right around the corner from a chapel dedicated to Longinus. I got a good laugh out of that and earned a vicious stare from Katon. Some people just don’t see the humor in things, but I guess I couldn’t really blame him.

  Scarlett had been in Heaven when Longinus was resurrected, and probably didn’t even know he was alive because of the war. There hadn’t been a whole lot of time to chit chat and catch her up on things. Considering how sensitive Scarlett was at the moment, I guessed Katon didn’t want me to drop that bomb just yet. It made sense. So when she looked at me with suspicious eyes and wondered what I was laughing at, I just shook my head.

  “I never thought I’d be here, that’s all,” I lied, gesturing to the chapel around us. “Not really my scene, you know?”

  The Basilica was awash in gold and reds, hints of white splattered throughout to limit the gaudiness of it all. The altar at the end of the chapel was dark and the numerous golden candle holders arrayed near the dais were unlit. The elaborate chandelier that held court over the center of the room glistened, ambient light reflected in the multitude of its crystal faces. A quiet creak echoed through the empty hall as it swayed in the gentle breeze that circulated through the chapel. The air was cool despite the heat outside, air conditioning most likely the one mo
dern convenience that hadn’t been overlooked.

  Above our head, set at the very apex of the dome, was the Pantokrator mosaic. The illuminated image of a gloomy Jesus glared down upon us through brown eyes, a leather-bound book held in his hand. He didn’t look pleased to see us. Can’t say I blame him.

  An angel, a demon, and a vampire walk into a church…

  Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

  The yellowish-oranges of the center image, circled out to a ring of angels and saints, most of whom I recognized. It was kind of spooky considering our goal there, the likenesses of Gabriel and Michael hovering above us as though waiting to pounce. It sent a chill down my spine.

  No time for sightseeing, we slipped out of the chapel and crept down the hall toward the stairs, which would lead us to the tomb of Adam. Off to our right was the Stone of Unction, where Jesus’s body was said to have been bathed after his death. Displayed above it were eight, white crystal urns with gilded crosses set upon their faces. The golden slab beneath them lay empty, which was probably a good thing.

  Thanks to the modern miracle of the internet-and no, I’m not talking about free porn, though that certainly ranks right up there-we were able to look at blueprints of the church. It made finding Adam’s tomb so much easier.

  Right across from the stone was a stairwell, which led below the chapel that contained The Rock of Calvary, where Jesus was said to be crucified. A little before my time, I’d have to take their word for it. If I remembered and survived, I’d ask Longinus about it.

  We slipped down the stairs, noticing the chapel below was bathed in darkness. Not that it was a problem, all of us able to see pretty well, it was just unexpected considering the rest of the church was somewhat lighted. As we neared the bottom landing, we heard a quiet thud, as though something heavy had been set aside.

  I looked to Katon and he gave a grim nod, his sword already in hand. He gestured for me to swing to the right while Scarlett was to go left. That left the center for him, which was okay with me.