Ruby Shadows Read Online Free Page B

café au lait skin and big green eyes were,
well…bewitching.
    But it wasn’t just her beauty that drew me. After consenting to help her with
her spell, I found that she wasn’t just a pretty face. A sharp
intelligence and a rare wit radiated from her as well. And she had
power—not much by demonic standards but for a human, she was quite
impressive.
    Gwendolyn wasn’t afraid of me either. After years of seeing others bow
and scrape and tremble in my presence, I was tired of abject
submission. Gwendolyn was fearless—I liked that about her. I’d been
careful to conceal my true status from her, not wanting her to fear
me. But I had an idea that even if she had known what I truly was,
she still would have stood her ground.
    Her beauty, courage, and i ntelligence were all enchanting. But the thing that
sealed my interest in her was the innocence I sensed, just under
her surface. Oh, she put on a brave face, my little witch. She
painted her eyes with heavy black kohl and dressed to impress those
ignorant humans who believed they knew what a witch ought to look
like. But under it all she was pure—as pure and innocent and lovely
as a single red rose growing in a field of mud.
    I wanted to
pluck that rose, not simply as a conquest but in order to protect
it. Possess it. I wanted Gwendolyn and her innocence for myself,
though at times, like now, I was angry with myself for wanting her.
But there was something in her that stirred me, something that
brought out old habits and behaviors I’d thought were gone forever.
Something that reminded me of my past…a past I had worked hard to
forget.
    Added all tog ether, Gwendolyn’s qualities made her the most interesting
mortal I had ever met. In fact, I found her entirely too interesting, which was why I was
currently loitering around the human world instead of attending to
business in Hell, where I ought to be.
    I told myself
I would have left long ago if it wasn’t for the door she’d opened
on the edge of the Abyss. Hell’s blackest pit, more frightening
even than the lake of fire, was located in the very center of the
vast, nebulous area that made up the afterlife of the damned. I was
certain that even Lucifer himself had no idea where that vast,
black void led. But it was nowhere one wanted to be. And certainly
nowhere a human ought to risk going.
    Yet, Gwendolyn had risked it. She was brave all
right— too brave, I thought with a
frown. In fact, “reckless” might be a better word to describe her.
Tied to her, as I was, I had felt her daring to do what no mere
mortal ought to even contemplate. But I had been stuck far away,
unable to get to her even when I felt her fear and pain and danger.
And now…
    Now I fear she must pay the price. I stopped pacing and looked out the window
again at the dark beach. What kind of creature had Gwendolyn loosed
from the pit? For she had allowed something access to the world of men, I was certain.
    I had been to
the lip of the Abyss after my last exchange with the little witch
and had seen the tiny sliver of light gleaming from the doorway
across that vast expanse. It was only a crack but that was all it
took. A determined Hellspawn could worm its way through and find
her at any time and there wasn’t much I could do about it. Only the
one who had opened the door in the first place could close it. And
only closing the door could banish the creature back to the
Infernal Realm.
    I
should go, I told
myself for the thousandth time. If she hasn’t needed me yet, she will probably be all
right. Perhaps her magic is enough to protect her.
    I didn’t
really believe that, but I couldn’t go on waiting in the Mortal
Realm forever. It was ridiculous, anyway, one of my caliber and
status waiting around like a love-struck human, hoping to hear her
call. She was so certain she could manage on her own—well, fine,
let her manage. There were matters that required my
attention—matters I had put off long enough.
    I came to a
sudden decision—it