A Glow of Stars & Dusk by Eve L. Mitchell

Sam’s handpressed over my mouth while I screwed my eyes shut as dirt fell around us. “Hold on,” I heard him call, and then I felt myself being lifted. My legs were vice-like around him, and I knew he was rising through the dirt, but I didn’t know how, because I could feel the ground pressing against me as it fell. “Keep your eyes closed,” he ordered me gruffly.

Bright light pressed against my shut eyelids, and I cowered into the crook of his neck as my hands knotted into his tunic. No part of me wanted to lift my head from where I had it buried. He smelled of smoke, sandalwood and citrus. How did he smell like an expensive bodywash when the ground was literally falling around us? I breathed in his scent deeply. As things went, it wasn’t a bad smell to die to.

“Just a bit more,” I heard him assure me, and then we were moving down. Was he crouching? I screamed when we leapt up, as my stomach felt like it had fallen out of my body. Fresh air swept over me, encouraging me to open my eyes and look around. We were in the middle of a field, and it was dusk. The sky looked absolutely stunning with its mix of purples and pinks. I went to unwind myself from Sam when his hand caught under my butt and his fingers dug into me as he pressed me close. “Not yet,” he warned me.

Turning my head, I saw the dark shadows surrounding us. I couldn’t make out features or actual body shapes, but there were many, too many, shadows. “Sam?” I asked softly.

“I have this,” he told me with a quick glance.

“There are too many.” I tried to move off him again. “Let me down.”

“No.” His arm held me tight. “It’s not me they’re interested in, witch.”

“My name is Star,” I grouched at him while I fitted myself tightly into his hold. “You don’t even like me, why not let them have me?”

“Stop talking,” he said as I turned slowly to take in the shadows. “Are you tired?”

I thought about it, I was exhausted. “Yes,” I said honestly. “But I can fight?” With what, I didn’t know, but I could and I would.

“I need you to use all your strength and hold on.” Sam rolled his neck from side to side as he quickly cut free my hands from their binding. “You’re nice and tight around me, can you stay like that?”

My face flushed, and I had to look away from him. Could I stay wrapped around a man who looked like Sam like I was a needy spider monkey in their favourite tree? It said so much about my lack of sex life that I nodded so eagerly. Sam smirked at me in amusement as he assessed his opponents.

“Tell me what you see,” he asked me quietly as his eyes took on that eerie green glow.

I looked over his shoulder and peered into the moving shadows. “Nothing. I see…” My voice trailed off as I focused on the movement. They were figures, varying shapes and sizes, and the more I looked at them, I saw narrowly-slitted red eyes fixate on me, and features distorted with hate as they came more into focus. They were nose-less, which was weird, and their skin was dull grey and leathery. Their mouths had me clutching closer to Sam, and I felt his arm flex against me, which I took for reassurance. Their jaws were open, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth, almost like a shark.

I had a really irrational fear of sharks.

“Sam?” I asked him worriedly. “Why do they look so hungry?”

“You can see them well?” Sam asked as he loosened his knives. It was a testament to his strength that he was treating my barnacle impression like I was no more than a backpack sitting on his chest.

“They’re coming more and more into focus,” I told him as I chewed the inside of my cheek, panic and worry gnawing at my insides. “Why are they coming more into focus?”

“You’re lifting the veil.” Sam hoisted me further up his body. “I can’t let you down, they aren’t fans of me, but they really don’t like you.”

“What are they?”

“Scavengers.”

“Who do they scavenge for?” I turned my head as I looked at them poised, waiting. “What are they waiting for?”

“They scavenge for the highest bidder, and they’re waiting for me.”

I drew my head back to look at him in question. “Did you send them?” I started to loosen my hold on him.

“No, I’m protecting you, idiot.” He shook his head contemptuously. “Although usually I do send them”—he grinned at me viciously—“especially for tasty little witches.”

“You’re an arsehole.”

I felt his rumble of laughter as he pulled me back in tight. “Be grateful I am, that’s why they wait. They’re confused.”

“Because they know you usually employ them?” I grumbled as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Are you telling me that the shark teeth monsters are considering their future job prospects, even as I’m clinging to you?”

“You like clinging to me,” he said with a confident smirk. I felt his hand smooth down my back before cupping my butt again, his fingers kneading the soft flesh of my cheeks. “I could get used to these legs wrapping around me.”

“Are you hitting on me?” I demanded furiously while his hand pressed me closer. “There is a time and a place, and this is not it.”

Again, I felt his rumble of laughter before he reached behind him and placed my hands, which had been around his neck, onto the leather straps of his tunic on his back. “Hold on, and for fuck’s sake, witch, do not let go.”

Suddenly the snarling cut off, and I peeked over Sam’s shoulder to look at the Scavengers. Light exploded around us, and I could see them so clearly I glanced at the sky to check the sun hadn’t popped out, and saw instead they had let off several flares.

Then almost as one, they charged.

Sam started to cut into them, and I didn’t know what he was fighting with, but I did know there were too many of them. The Scavengers carried no weapons that I could see, but why would they need to when they had those teeth? Sam spun and fought each attack, and I didn’t know how he was managing it. I flinched as a jaw came too close to me, and I wanted to curl my arms against Sam’s chest rather than have them hanging over his back, exposed.

I heard the howl, and my head jerked up in hope. Hound came tearing through the Scavengers, ripping them apart with a ferocity that I should have found alarming, but he was a welcome sight. With no warning, Sam flung me onto Hound.

Not into him, onto him. I was riding a freaking hellhound like it was a Shetland pony.

My hands had nothing to hold onto, and I had no choice but to lie low over the hellhound’s back and circle my arms around his neck. “Where in the hell have you been?” I demanded of Hound just as I looked over at Sam, who was fighting with two swords of fire, and my mouth dropped at the sight.

Sam was fighting with swords of fire.

Between throwing me to Hound and now, he had drawn his hood and looked lethal as he fought the Scavengers. I heard more screams and looked away from Sam and saw the others arrive. All were hooded, all with varying weapons coated in fire.

Despite the hell that was happening around me, I couldn’t not notice that they looked magnificent as they fought.

Hound tore through the throng of Scavengers, and the Guard parted to make way so that I was in the safety of their circle. Nothing came close to me as the hellhound paced restlessly while it watched the fight, keeping me safe. I wouldn’t have noticed if anything got through the demons’ circle until I became shark fodder anyway, because all I could see were the six of them. They fought like one and were relentless. Throngs of Scavengers lay dead at their feet, and still they fought on.

I don’t know how long after it started, but the Scavengers finally turned and ran. Hound stopped circling and pacing before turning his head to look at me. Hastily I dropped off his back, stumbling when I landed on my feet. A strong hand caught me, and I looked up at Sam.

“You okay?” I asked. My throat was dry and my voice was croaky.

“Never better.” He assessed me quickly before he gave a quick nod and then turned to the others. “How did this happen? How did they know?”

I tried to listen to them as they spoke and watched as some uncovered their heads, but my legs were screaming in protest at being straight again and holding my weight. I staggered as I tried to take a step forward.

“Son of a bitch,” I cursed as I winced in pain.

“What is it?” Chaz asked me worriedly, breaking away from the mini meeting to hurry to my side.

“I’ve had my legs wrapped around Sam for too long,” I told him absentmindedly as I rubbed my thighs, trying to ease the tight muscles. “I don’t know if I’ll ever walk straight again after having him in between my thighs tonight.” I rubbed my hands quickly over the top of my legs as I spoke, relishing in the slight relief I was receiving. “He’s a big one after all,” I added wryly as I looked up at Chaz. His mouth hung open, and I suddenly heard what I had just said. “No!” I protested as my eyes widened in alarm as I looked past Chaz to the others to see that they had all heard me.

All of them were looking at me, Sam with a smirk, and then Der and Ros lost it. Even Zel was grinning as Pen watched me with amusement.

“I didn’t think you’d been down there that long,” Pen said to Sam with a sly smile.

“What can I say?” Sam grinned at him as he pulled his hood over his dark hair again. “The witch had me in a tight grip.”

Ros howled with laughter as my face burned from embarrassment. “Oh shut up,” I snapped at him as I limped across the ground to the others. “Immature little boys, that’s all you are.”

“Demons,” Sam corrected with a glance at me. He sobered as he looked at the ground littered with dead Scavengers. “We need to keep moving,” he told the others.

“Chaz?” I looked up at the night sky, slowly turning as I searched the stars. “Where are we?”

“She’s going to overreact,” Ros said excitedly to Zel, who grunted with what I took as agreement.

“Chaz?” I asked again.

“Well, you’re not in Kansas anymore,” Pen quipped, and as I went to correct him that I had never been in Kansas, he carried on, “but you’re close.”

“Close?” I looked at them all. “To Kansas?” Pen nodded. “In America?”

“Hear it comes.” Ros was so eager to see me lose my shit he was almost clapping his hands.

“I’m in America?” I demanded as my voice and panic rose. “What the hell? Where? How?”

“It doesn’t matter where or how,” Sam said as he strode towards me. “You’re not staying long.”

“I don’t have my passport!” I cried out.

Sam stopped and looked at me, his head tilting slightly to the side as he considered me. “Passport?”

“Humans use them to travel,” Pen supplied as he too watched me. “Do you think you need a legal document, Star?” He glanced around the field, the dead Scavengers on the ground, the hellhound sniffing the area to the side of me. “Is that really what you’re worrying about right now?”

I whirled on Sam. “You said the ground gave way,” I accused him. “How did it give way and at the same time we crossed the bloody ocean?”

“We do not have time for this,” Sam said as his hand circled my arm. He pushed my sleeve up to expose the handprint that looked redder than before. “This,” he said as he pointed to it, “is like a homing signal. You are giving away our location. Now you can either shut up and do as you’re told and let us get out of here, or you can stand here and ask your stupid, pointless questions, but I will cut your arm off so nothing can track you.” His look was grim, the moment of comradery from earlier was gone. “Your choice. Move and stay whole? Remain and lose a limb? Decide, my patience is wearing thin.”

Bastard.

“Let’s move, what are you waiting for?” I brushed past him as I made my way to Chaz. “Can I”—I stumbled around in my head for the word before I remembered—“travel with you?”

“Of course.” Chaz nodded and gently pulled my sleeve down. “Let’s move out,” he called to the others.

I didn’t look at Sam even as I fell in step beside Chaz, although I could feel his hard stare on my back. Hound fell into step beside me, and I reached out and placed my hand on his upper leg. The hellhound looked at me, and I very slightly shook my head. It huffed out a sigh and faced forward. Hound didn’t need to see me cry, none of them needed to see my tears.

“Are you okay?” Chaz asked me quietly after we had been walking for some time. I nodded, refusing to look at him. “It’s okay to be scared.” I heard the snort of derision behind me, and I bristled at the arrogance from them. “When we set up shelter, I can talk you through what’s happening, but—”

“But you’re holding us up with your snivelling,” Zel interrupted harshly from behind us.

Turning, I looked at them. Chaz had stayed more or less by my side, whereas Sam and Zel were behind. Ros, Der and Pen were gone.

“Where are the others?” I asked as I looked around.

“Scouting,” Sam growled, barely hiding his frustration. “You think, after an attack like this, we would just stroll through the night?”

My temper snapped at his ridicule. “No. I didn’t think we would stroll through the night. But then, I didn’t think I would be abducted by fucking demons and taken from my home after being attacked and then being buried alive with an infuriating demon who tried to dry hump me!” I ignored Zel’s choked laugh. “And now I’m on another freaking continent! So, no, dickhead, I didn’t think I would be on a fucking stroll.” I was in his face now. Which some part of my brain registered was dangerous because he was big and scary and I was merely me. However, I had my mum’s temper, and she stood at five two on a good day, and I had seen my tiny mum take down men twice her size when she was in a rage. The Gallagher temper was legendary.

I stood seething in front of the dark-haired demon as he watched me catch my breath after my tirade. His green eyes were faintly glowing, and his stare was hard. As quickly as my temper had erupted, it was quashed as the reality of my situation came crashing down around me and I met the impenetrable stare of a demon.

Sam ran his eyes over me, then merely stepped around me and resumed walking. Zel grinned at me viciously as he followed Sam, and I was left standing staring into the night.

He was ignoring me?

They were ignoring me?

“Nothing?” I shrieked as I turned around to look at their backs as they walked away from me. “You have nothing to say?”

“Quieten her,” Sam said to Zel as he passed him something.

Zel’s head swivelled around to look at me with undisguised glee before he was heading back towards me. My feet were already backing up when I hit something solid, and I looked over my shoulder to look up at Der, who leered down at me.

“You don’t need to—” I was cut off when Der grabbed me, and with my mouth open to protest, Zel stuffed the gag in my mouth. As my hands went to grab the cloth from my mouth, Zel tried to catch my hands to bind them. My feet kicked out, and my elbow hit Der in the gut. Zel cursed as I fought him, and my head jerked back, fortuitously catching Der on the cheek, and he grunted just as I raised my foot and caught Zel sharply between his legs.

They may be demons, but they were male, and I’d never met a male who didn’t have sensitive balls. Zel grunted in pain, and I relished the sound even as I tried to evade Der.

Rough hands suddenly grabbed hold of me, and I was being lifted through the air before Sam flung me over his shoulder.

“She’s like a fucking hellcat,” Der swore behind me, rubbing his cheek, “with a really thick fucking skull.”

I fought to get out of Sam’s grip, and once again a hard slap across my arse had me howling in pain, even with a gag in my mouth. “Stop it. Or I will bleed you now and leave you here to die.”

My head slumped against his back as I heard him speak harshly to the others. My eyes smarted with unshed tears, and I fought hard to hold them back. I had to accept it. I was alone. I had no one coming to help me. My body jerked as my stupid brain caught up to my predicament. I was only a clairvoyant, but these demons were convinced that I was a witch.

Witch or not, I knew one thing for certain. I could summonthe dead. Closing my eyes, I fought for inner calm.

I was zen.

I was so not zen.

I was freaking furious, and all my fury was currently directed towards the demon that carried me like I was a bag of bloody oats.

Breathe. I had to calm down and concentrate.

I’d never summoned the dead before whilst hanging upside down over a demon’s shoulder. I’d never tried to summon vengeful spirits before either. This was a bad idea. I made rash decisions when I was angry. I needed a time out.

No. What I needed was to show this stuck-up prick what and who he was dealing with.

I was Star Elizabeth Archer, and I was going to make them, him, regret the day he ever thought he could mess with me. Closing my eyes, I forced myself to concentrate.