“Master!” the slave tugged on his sleeve. “Master, that’s her!”

De Sade was on the verge of beating the wretch to the ground for having the gall to touch him. Then he realized what the man was saying and forgot all about punishment. He looked where the slave pointed.

Through the milling crowd, he saw a cloaked female slipping between human and demon bodies toward the gates of the city. A suspiciously large pack was strapped to her back. The hood of her cloak had fallen back. Snow-white hair spilled down around either side of a gorgeous lavender face and bright, golden eyes.

“Watch him!” De Sade order the two guards and darted away, ignoring their protests. He rushed through the crowd, desperate to get a better look. He circled around into an intercept path…

“Oh, please excuse me!” he offered as he “accidentally” bumped into Beauty.

She just glared at him and pushed past.

For a moment, de Sade stood in silent astonishment and watched her walk away. Whoever this Succubus was, she was very young. He could see that by the small horns on her head and the lack of either tail or wings. Why then, had he felt such essence and vitality when they touched? It surpassed even that of Baroness Graveek!

Who is that creature? He thought, and immediately after, Who is this human male she has claimed?

Rushing back to his men, de Sade pointed at Boris and then at Beauty’s back. “Follow that demon. If she leaves the city, do not follow but note carefully what direction. I will find you at the gates.”

Boris nodded and pushed off into the crowd.

“Follow me,” he ordered Jimmy. “And bring the slave.”

His destination was a house in mid-town, a nebulous area where most of the business of the city was conducted. Here the wealthy could buy and the poor could be bought through brokers in various areas of specialty. The broker de Sade sought was located in a corner shop. The sign over his shop showed a shadowy figure standing over a body. The sign read “Hunters for Hire. We let no one escape.”

He stepped inside as a small bell rang over the door. A servant, collared and branded, started out of a light doze where he lay on a thick book on the counter. The young man sat up straight and blinked at de Sade. “Welcome to Hunters for Hire. Who can we hunt down for you today?”

“Baroness Graveek requires your best hunter, and she needs him now.”

The servant blinked at him.

“Now, boy, now!” de Sade bellowed.

The young man jumped up and ran from the room. A few, long minutes later, a blue-skinned Incubus stepped in from the back room. His forest green eyes glowed malevolently at de Sade. A mohawk of black hair rose like a crest from his otherwise bald head. “Why are you barking at my servant, little human?”

De Sade offered a friendly smile. “Apologies, but my Master’s need is urgent. I… she requires the services of your best hunter… immediately.”

The demon glared at him. De Sade made a supreme effort not to squirm with impatience or to dwell on the fact that every moment wasted allowed the beautiful Succubus to get even farther away. He was acutely aware that, despite being marked on his left cheek with the harem brand of his mistress, disrespect to a demon of Master rank would only complicate and hinder his task.

He smiled his best smile. “Please, Master.”

The demon finally nodded and picked up a tiny bell. It tinkled when he shook it. The young servant appeared immediately.

“Summon Karl Denke.”

“Pardon, Master.” De Sade said carefully. “I am unfamiliar with the name. He sounds like a human. Is this your best available?”

The Incubus just smiled, flipped to a specific page in the thick book, and turned it around for de Sade to read.

Karl Denke. Prussian serial killer who preyed on travelers and the homeless from 1903 to 1924. Thirty confirmed kills. Cannibal and seasoned outdoor hunter. Hell Hound trainer.

“My best,” the demon leered. “As long as he gets to eat.”

“Well then,” the Marquis replied. “Would tender, young Succubus flesh suffice?”

*****

Time passed slowly for Logan. As welcome and valued as Karen’s company was, he worried about Beauty nearly every waking moment. One day became two, and then nearly a week with no sign of the Succubus. More than once he considered going out to look for her but, among all the ravines and broken landscape, he knew the chances of running into her were slim to none. There was nothing to do except wait and hope all was well.

On day five since her departure, a sudden noise from the outside entrance sent Logan bolting to his feet in a state of high alert. He looked up at where the sound had originated, sword and dagger in his hands. A moment later, Beauty stumbled into the light, hand clutched around her left arm.

“Hunters,” she growled and dropped to her knees, a large backpack falling from her shoulders to the cavern floor.

He rushed to her side with Karen only a few steps behind. A quick exam revealed the wound to be shallow. Only a graze but her flesh was not cut clean as if it would be from a blade or arrow. The wound was a blunt tear.

Stolen story; please report.

He knew that kind of wound. Shock and disbelief trickled down his spine like cold water. It looked like a bullet wound.

“Beauty, look at me.” Her beautiful, golden eyes turned up toward him. “Listen to me, Beauty. When you were wounded… just before it happened, did you hear a loud, sharp sound?”

The Succubus nodded, confirming his worst fears. Guns. Logan stared at the sword in his hand and knew despair. Jesus H. Christ, the enemy has guns!

“How many hunters, Beauty?” he asked. “How far way?”

“Six humans and a Hellhound,” she reported in an exhausted voice. “A day behind.”

Logan felt a dark tide of despair roll over him. Damn near a full squad, armed with modern weapons, and an attack animal versus him, a wounded Succubus, an unskilled civilian, and a handful of medieval, melee weapons!  

We are so fucked. Out loud he said to Karen, “Let’s get her comfortable on the moss,” as he lifted Beauty in his arms. 

Karen ran ahead to roll up a hide as a pillow and grab the partially completed blanket. Logan carried his lover over and gently lowered her to the moss. Karen tucked her in.

“Logan, what are we going to do?” she asked with a tremor in her voice.

Logan smiled with confidence he didn’t feel. “It’s going to be fine, Karen. Your job right now is to look after Beauty. Nothing else. Leave the rest to me, ok?”

“Yes.” Karen took a deep, shaky breath. “Yes, I can do that.”

“Good girl.” He smiled and kissed her forehead.

That should distract her from panicking for a while. The last thing he needed at this moment was a civilian with idle hands and an active imagination. Fear was contagious and potentially fatal. The best cure was something else to focus on.

With Beauty slipping in and out of consciousness, it was on Logan to keep his women safe from the attack he knew was coming. Any hunter worth the name would be able to follow Beauty’s wounded retreat, right to their shelter. That they had a hound to follow her scent made it a certainty. The enemy was closing in, they had guns, and time was not on his side.

What to do? A quick inventory of his available resources was not encouraging. Assorted Bones, bone needles, furs, gut chord, three knives, a short sword, and a bag of spearmint smelling moonshine was not much to mount a defense with.

A quick search of the heavy backpack Beauty had returned with produced the supplies they had agreed to purchase in the city. He added to his mental inventory as he pulled out ten metal sewing needles, three spools of twine, a large bag of salt, a whetstone, a small sack of flour, a fire starter kit, a pot, a small frying pan, five boxes of matches, cloth for bandages, two blankets, fifty feet of rope and…

At the bottom of the backpack were items not on their buying list. Carefully folded and tucked away was a man’s shirt and pants in his size as well as pants, shirts, and shoes for a smallish sized woman. Just about the right for a woman like Karen.

Logan shook his head and smiled. Despite the considerable weight of all those supplies and the immense distance she had to travel to bring them back, Beauty had still opted to go above and beyond. With no consideration of her own burden, she had thought of Logan and Karen.

“They are not going to win, Beauty,” Logan quietly promised his demon lover. “I won’t let them.”

Alone and facing a superior enemy, Logan struggled to come with a way to keep that promise. If he failed, death would be the best result any of them could hope for.

Karen rose from Beauty’s side to approach. “She needs you.”

Logan moved to Beauty’s side and took her hand between his.

She smiled up at him. “Beauty will be fine. Just tired. Pack heavy!”

“I believe it!” he chuckled. “Thank you for the clothes.”

“Welcome, but Logan… Beauty is hungry.”

“Uh, now?”

She squeezed his hand with surprising strength. Her golden eyes flared. “Many days. Much travel. Beauty starving! Need feed to heal. Need heal to fight!”

As if to emphasize her point, the demon pulled the fur blanket back to reveal her body. Karen had helped her remove the leather armor. Beauty lay before him in all her glory. His breath caught in his throat. So many days had passed since he had last seen those full, magnificent breasts, that tapered waist, and those strong, sexy legs. She was still the most astonishing example of female perfection he had ever laid eyes on.

Still, even with such a glorious feast at hand, Logan couldn’t imagine worse timing for sex. With danger moving ever closer with every passing moment, "fun time" was the last thing on his mind! There was so much to be done. Defenses to create. Enemies to kill…

Stop, he told himself.

Logan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking note of the turbulent wash of fear, worry, anger, and even lust, that was beating at his mind. He acknowledged that he was feeling these things and, one-by-one, wrestled them down and locked them away by sheer force of will.

Every seasoned soldier understood that emotion was the enemy of strategy. Fear was only a short step from panic. Worry was a distraction.

Fuck that. I am god-damned Green Beret. We don’t give in to panic. We engineer it.

Logan opened his eyes and looked at the two lovely women in his new, strange life. He smiled at them as two undeniable truths suddenly sprang to mind. One of the mind and one of the heart.

The tactician in him acknowledged that he could not do this alone. Against guns, that would be suicide. He needed Beauty at his side and the assistance of both women to prepare defenses for the inevitable assault. Strange as it seemed, his demon lover was essentially asking for sexual first aid. Certainly not an unreasonable ask, by Hell standards.

The second realization was accepting an uncomfortable truth. He looked at the two magnificent women who had become such a vital part of his existence and knew that the odds of everyone surviving this fight were stacked against them. Guns versus one sword, a couple of knives, and whatever else Logan could scrounge together was a long shot, at best.

If he was being honest with himself, by this time tomorrow, Logan knew he might be dead. Which meant that this moment, right here and right now, might be the last chance he will ever have to hold these two magnificent women is his arms again. One last, glorious time.

Logan leaned down, gently cradled Beauty’s lavender cheek in his hand, and looked into her golden eyes. There were things he wanted to say, needed to say, that just seemed to pile up behind his teeth. He didn’t have the words to adequately express all she meant to him. Given the way she looked back at him, perhaps he didn’t need to. He could see it all reflected back at him.

“I have missed you, Beauty,” he smiled at her.

She smiled back. “Then why you not kiss me yet?”

“Well, I…”

The demon grabbed him by the hair and pulled him down into a hungry kiss. The soft brush of her lips and tongue on his, the taste of her in his mouth, the soft moan of desire in her throat; it set Logan on fire. After so many days without her in his life, holding her in his arms once again made everything right in his world.

When they broke apart to catch their breath, Beauty smiled up at where Karen sat on her knees watching. The Succubus crooked a finger at her. “Come down here, pretty Karen.”

Logan grinned. “Oh, yes. Don’t think we’ve forgotten about you. Get over here!”

Karen squealed laughter as Logan snatched her around the waist and gently pulled her down to lay beside Beauty. Two sets of beautiful eyes, one dark and one golden, looked up at him. Logan watched them turn to each other and kiss in a slow dance of erotic play and mounting passion.

“Beauty is right. We have not welcomed her home properly yet, Karen. What say we do something about that right now?”

Karen looked up at him through her lashes, even as her hand began gently drifting down beauty’s naked curves. She nodded, eyes bright with wicked enthusiasm. “Oh yes, I could not agree more!” She turned back to begin kissing at Beauty’s neck and shoulders as Logan leaned down to do the same on her other side. “A proper welcome home,” Karen murmured against the demon’s warm, lavender skin.

Somewhere out there in the waste, a threat loomed on the horizon. Every minute that passed brought the danger ever closer. Tomorrow, there would be pain, and there would be blood. Yet for tonight, for that one, golden moment, it was enough that Beauty was home and they were together again.