Chapter 4Sasha

Chapter

Four

SASHA

I kept alert for more of the water flowers but hadn’t seen any for the last hour or so. The sky had lightened to a dusky pink, making the area surrounding me take on a surreal quality that wasn’t possible on Earth. There was a distinct beauty in the danger of the Underworld, and I was realizing how much I had missed it. Earth had its own charming touches with the giant redwoods and immense blue oceans, but the purple, black, and blue forest swathed in the rosy hue of the day took my breath away.

I spotted a small cluster of the beelennya plant several yards away, deeper into the lush undergrowth, and hesitated for several seconds, debating on whether or not it was worth the risk of assuaging my thirst. Knowing I still had a few hours of walking ahead of me, I made my decision. Pulling my sword from the sheath across my back, I gripped it firmly as I scanned the area. There was no movement or sounds other than the chirping of insects and the occasional screech in the distance.

Using my sword like a machete, I forged a path ahead and pushed aside small, twisted branches from the small dark trees. There was a group of ferns in front of the water flowers. I didn’t want to hurt them, but they were standing between me and the end to my thirst. As carefully as possible with my sharp sword, I ran the blade across the thin leaves, making the ferns shiver and curl into themselves. Once the plants were bunched into a tight ball, I stepped closer and eyed the flowers. I planned to cut as many of them as I could, planning to fit the extras into my satchel, even if I had to remove something. If nothing else, this trip so far had taught me that I wasn’t prepared enough for this realm.

I swiped across the base of each flower, watching as they fell to the ground with an almost silent thump. Once I had cut eight of them, I used the tip of my sword to pierce the short stem of each flower. They were heavy with the liquid inside and it took careful maneuvering, but eventually I had all eight stuffed carefully inside my satchel as I used my free hand to hold the bunch steady so they wouldn’t fall out.

With a relieved sigh that it had gone as well as I could hope for, I turned around to head back to the path and froze. An Underworld rabbit called a lamath sat staring at me from on top of one of the plants I had crushed with my boots on the way to the beelennya plants. It watched me with its big, red, round eyes. Its long ears twitched as it caught a sound from far away. Its furry orange nose moved with its breathing, scenting me, I was sure. I wished I could say that the lamath was just as docile as an Earth rabbit, but I was in the Underworld. Nothing was docile here.

I raised my sword slowly, watching as it flexed its razor sharp claws and licked its long fangs that were pressing into its bottom lip. No doubt the hell bunny wanted to eat me, but as my stomach growled with hunger, I had different plans.

I held my breath and waited as the lamath bunched its muscles until it was coiled and ready to spring for my throat. I’d had a run-in with one of the creatures the last time I had come through this way and was lucky for my fast reflexes, or I might not have made it out with more than the deep gouges it had left on my arms.

The lamath opened its mouth wide, wider than any Earth rabbit was capable of, and let out a feral hiss. Before the sound ended, it used its strong hind legs to launch itself at my face. Gritting my teeth, I swung my sword like a bat, judging the height that the lamath would reach. Unfortunately, my guess was a bit off as it reached chest height. My sword cut cleanly through its ears, and I grimaced at the shriek of pain it let out.

In its distress, the lamath bounced off my chest, making me stumble back a step while it fell to the ground and landed awkwardly on its back. I felt the sting of a cut where one of its claws must have managed to dig in before it fell, but I didn’t dare glance down to check the damage yet. The creature may have been injured, but it wasn’t done yet.

In a flash, it hopped back onto its feet and readied for another lunge. Before it could take the leap, a dark flash of fur rammed into the lamath, knocking it over with a screech. There was a flurry of teeth and fur, both black and orange, as the two creatures fought viciously. Growls, yowls, and hisses had the hairs rising on the back of my neck. It sounded worse than any cat fight I’d ever heard before. Finally, it came to an end, with the black creature as the victor, gripping the neck of the lamath firmly in its jaws.

It wasn’t until the creature dropped the dead lamath that I realized it was the same animal that I had given the water flower to over an hour ago.

“Have you been following me?” I whispered tentatively. I glanced around, checking to make sure their fight hadn’t drawn any larger predators to investigate. The black furry creature waved its long, whip-like tail around as it stared up at me. Its purple furred mouth was coated in thick, dark blood, and I could see a few deep scratches it must have received during the fight. Surprisingly, it looked mostly unscathed.

Its eyes darted to my satchel, overflowing with beelennya flowers, and back up to my face.

“You want a reward, do you?” I reached for one of the flowers and watched as it stood up a little straighter in anticipation. “Can you open this by yourself?” I asked as I tossed the closed flower to the ground near its feet. The flower landed with a thud and rolled a few inches. Before it came to a stop, the creature snatched it up. Using its razor sharp teeth, it tore open one of the petals, paused to peer inside, then tipped the cup-like flower up, swallowing quickly. Once it was done, it dropped the blood smeared flower and hopped back to the small path, where it turned and sat, watching me.

“I don’t know why you’re following me, but I am grateful for your assistance.” As I passed the dead lamath, I reached down to grab one of the legs and picked it up. “I appreciate the meal.”

I strode back to the path and looked down to see big dark purple eyes staring up at me from thick black fur. Its large, saucer-like ears twitched. “You’re kind of adorable, you know that?” It cocked its head to the side, and I could swear there was an abundance of intelligence radiating from its eyes.

I looked down at the dead lamath leaking blood all over the ground, and grimaced. The scent of blood was going to start drawing all kinds of predators to the area soon. I needed to find a safe place to strip and cook the meat before it got old. My stomach rumbled in agreement.

“Alright, little guy. If you want some of this hell rabbit, you’re going to want to keep following me. Unless you know of a safe place, like a cave or something, to cook it in?” I didn’t expect any kind of response, but with a kick of its back foot against the dirt, it bounded off down the path. I shrugged one shoulder, figuring the time I’d spent in the Underworld couldn’t get any more strange, and started following.

Before long, we reached a small clearing surrounded by boulders. It wasn’t exactly the cave I’d been hoping for, and the open space above the large rocks made me more than a little wary, but the little furball dropped to the ground and began meticulously cleaning its fur. It seemed remarkably relaxed for something that lived in the wilds of the Northern Forest, so I had to take that as a good sign. I wouldn’t be letting my guard down any time soon, however.

I lifted the strap to my messenger bag over my head and placed it against one of the boulders then stood there with my hands on my hips as I studied the area. With the short, twisted trees nearby, there were plenty of small branches littering the forest floor just beyond the clearing that I could use to make a fire. The ground was fairly level, with little to no vegetation covering it that I would potentially cause excessive damage to, or that I would have to be wary of.

I slapped my hands and rubbed my palms together. “Alright! Let’s do this then.”

After a few moments of gathering as many twigs and small branches as I could, I built a campfire that should burn long enough to cook and eat most of the lamath. Before lighting the fire, though, I needed to field dress the dead creature. As soon as I slit it open, the little creature stopped its cleaning routine and perked its ears up in interest. With a grimace, I removed a handful of the organs and held them out.

“You made the kill, I think you deserve these.” I tossed the mess a few feet away and watched as my new friend scurried over to snatch up the nasty bits with contended trills. I looked back down at the remaining carcass with a smile playing across my lips. I had no idea what exactly the creature was, but it didn’t seem to be a threat to me, and it was proving to be a good asset to have at my side.

With quick movements, I had a few chunks of meat carved and skewered on a sturdy stick that I propped against a branch while I lit the fire. It may have been cheating to carry a Bic lighter in my bag, but I called it smart thinking to come prepared. There were probably a hundred other things I should have brought to make the trip easier, but there was only so much I could stuff into my satchel.

With the fire burning steadily, I held the meat over the flames as if I were roasting marshmallows. As I slowly turned the meat, trying to cook it as evenly as possible without burning the shit out of it, I watched as my furry friend crept closer to the fire, seemingly entranced by the flames. I tensed, hoping I wouldn’t have to save it from a case of fatal curiosity, but I shouldn’t have worried. Instead, it passed the fire and crawled next to me, turned around in a circle a couple of times before settling against my thigh with a slight huff.

I’d never had a pet before. My job as Varek’s guard and then manager of the bar had consumed so much of my time that I didn’t want to take away from a living creature that depended on me. But I could feel myself already growing attached to my new friend.

“You know,” I spoke into the quiet of the forest, “if you’re going to hang around, I should probably call you something other than ‘it’.” I looked down to see it cleaning its fur before catching a glimpse of the unmistakable genitals. “You’re definitely a boy,” I chuckled. “How about Spike?” He continued to ignore me as he cleaned the blood and scrapes he’d accumulated. “Nah, I’m not a fan either. Fluffy? Shadow? Max?” At Max, he looked up at me and trilled softly, so I took that as consent. “Max it is. Nice to meet you, Max.”

Max chuffed at me, nuzzled into my leg, and seemed to fall right into sleep. I took it as a good sign that he trusted me enough to keep him safe while he slept in the dangerous forest that could murder you in seconds.

I watched as my meal sizzled over the fire and wondered how much further the walk would be. I was tired, but as a demon, I didn’t need sleep as often as humans. I knew I could go for much longer before exhaustion took me. But it was the soul deep weariness that worried me. I hadn’t absorbed enough sexual energy in far too long, relying on what I could gather in the house with the mated brothers. It had been keeping me fed just enough to sate my hunger, but I had been needing last night to take the edge off. Without it, I was feeling the drain and didn’t know how long I’d last before my need for sexual energy turned into a lust that I couldn’t fight.

After what had happened with the vampires a few years ago, I hadn’t allowed myself to fall into that kind of starvation again. I hadn’t even wanted the male; my body tried to force my hand. Had it been anyone other than a happily mated male, I shuddered to think of what could have happened. I kept myself from all sexual situations for many different reasons. Maybe they were unnecessary, and I was only hurting myself, but I just couldn’t bring myself to take that step.

A secret wish of mine had always been to find my fated mate. Someone who I could trust to treat me kindly, who would take care with my heart along with my body. After seeing the way my father had treated my mother I had worried that even a fated mate would be untrustworthy, but witnessing the brothers with their mates, I had come to realize that my father wasn’t normal. He was just born cruel and would die cruel.

As I watched my meal slowly cook over the flames, I allowed myself to wonder again, like I had been for the last couple of years, what my mate was like. I had no idea when I would finally find him. My wrist remained completely unmarked by even the hint of a mating brand, telling me that he likely hadn’t been born yet. A small part of me had wondered if he had been in this realm all along, and that was why it had never shown up. But when I’d crossed the portal, and nothing appeared, I’d lost hope that he was here. There was the fear that he had been at one time and had died before I ever returned, but I shut that thought down before I could dwell on it.

My mate was out there. I had to believe that. The alternative was depressing. I had stayed away from men my whole life. To think I would never have that soul consuming love I witnessed in the brothers and their mates was too devastating to consider.