Long Hot Summoning

A few scorch marks against the polished stone showed where preset possibilities had been destroyed. None of them looked large enough or scorched enough to have been the wand.

Then there was a chance Diana still had it.

Definitely a good news/bad news scenario.

Only one exit from the throne room. A stone corridor leading even farther down. The moment she stepped into it, Claire felt a familiar pull.

Running as quietly as she could under the flickering torches, Claire hurried toward it. This wasn’t her Summoning. She shouldn’t be feeling a pull, familiar or otherwise.

It was possible that she was sensing Diana’s presence by the segue.

But she didn’t think so.

FOURTEEN

DIANA COULD FEEL THE POWER FLUCTUATIONS. They filled the cavern, rippling from side to side, up and down, raising all the hair on her body. Not exactly a pleasant feeling. They were strong enough that she suspected she could see them if she just unfocused her eyes the right way.

The good news was they weren’t all coming from the pit.

Most, but not all.

Some of them were coming from her.

Some from outside the cavern.

She felt it the moment the armies joined. Felt it as the weight of Hell’s attention grew lighter. Soon.

Only one small problem.

She stood, stretched, and beckoned for Kris to join her. “There’s a few thing I’d like to do before we die.”

Which was the absolute truth and always the best way to deal with Hell. No point playing in its court.

I’M SURE THERE ARE, Hell snarked as Kris put her hand in Diana’s and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. BUT YOU CAN’T DESTROY ME, AND IF YOU TRY, I WILL MAKE YOU VERY VERY SORRY. I NEED YOU ALIVE AS BAIT, BUT I DO NOT NEED YOU UNHARMED.

Hands on Kris’ hips, Diana snorted in the general direction of the pit. “It’s not always about you, dude.”

The kiss had a touch of desperation about it—the odds were extremely good this would be one of their last, after all—and things heated up a little past the point where brain cells started to fry. Somehow, Diana managed to keep a small fraction of her mind on something other than the way Kris’ lips felt under hers and got them turned around until the mall elf’s body was between hers and the pit. Chewing along her jaw, Diana sucked the lobe of a pointed ear into her mouth and murmured, “Slide your hand down the back of my pants!”

And let’s hear it for enthusiasm.

“Farther…oh, yeah…no…down the leg.” Diana squelched a sudden desire to giggle at what sounded like bad porn dialogue. “The other leg.”

As Kris’ fingers touched the top of the wand, she stiffened, suddenly realizing what this was about. From the way she began to pull back, she wasn’t entirely happy about it either.

Diana tightened her grip and yanked their bodies into even closer contact. Licking her way around the inner curve of Kris’ ear, she sighed, “If I survive this, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Kris’ answer was an emphatic wriggle.

Probably trying to get a better grip on the wand.

Probably…

She could feel the wand begin to move up her thigh, toward her waistband and couldn’t resist. “Oh, yes! Yes! That’s it!”

OH, FOR…GET A ROOM!

*   *   *

Staying close to Arthur wasn’t easy. The Immortal King moved through the battle with archetypal skills and the flexibility of a teenager. Sam did the best he could, and if he took a few detours to avoid being pounded into marmalade-colored kitty paste, well, he figured he was entitled. Squashed flat was not a good defensive position.

The trick was to see the pattern of the battle and then become a part of it.

The trouble was that his part of the pattern took him across the concourse at the same time Arthur’s brought him face-to-face with the tall redhead in the so cliché black armor. Who was very definitely not a meat-mind. And who looked vaguely familiar.

The hair rose along Sam’s spine.

He leaped a fallen elf and darted between two massive legs. He had to get to Arthur before…

“What say you? Your sword against mine. Let us leave the young and the stupid out of what we both know is our battle.” The redhead’s voice filled a lull in the fighting; everyone froze for a heartbeat, then dark and light turned to face the middle of the concourse.

Sam raced up and over a planter and found himself peddling air as Will grabbed him and clutched him tight against his hockey jersey.

“Put me down!”

“Shhh, it’s a challenge.”

“I know it’s a challenge! I have to…”

“You have to wait,” Will said, cutting him off. “When a challenge has been made, everything stops until it’s been answered.”

The mall elf didn’t add that it was a Rule, but then, he didn’t have to. Sam could feel the Rule holding elves and meat-minds both in place. Fortunately, he was neither.

“Put me down, or I’ll add a few new piercings to your nose.”

“What?”

A claw hooked into the inside of Will’s left nostril.

“Right.”

And Sam was back on the floor.

“So, do you accept my challenge?”