Free Desert of the Damned by Kathy Kulig

her.
    “You look awesome in the moonlight,” she said and at the same time felt like she was forgetting to tell him something else, something important.
    He smiled and palmed her breasts with both hands. His cock was hard and she was ready to suck it or have him fuck her and soon. Gliding her hands over his shoulders and arms, she resisted the urge to pull him down on top of her. “Dante. It’s okay if you’re not ready for this. Besides, we should use protection anyway.”
    He didn’t say anything. Instead he leaned up and slid his hand between her legs, stroking her clit. She moaned and shuddered as sensations rippled through her body.
    “You’re beautiful,” he said in a raspy tone. “Don’t worry, I want this and I have protection.” He swung his leg over her and stood up, walking over to a pile of clothes.
    As he dug into his pockets, she took in a deep breath. This whole evening seemed surreal like she was drifting through a sexual dream. Her body and her needs were overriding her objections and common sense. Maybe she and Dante weren’t meant for each other but they both wanted release tonight. Tomorrow might be the end but for tonight, she would have him.
    The desert wind stirred the dried brush, then Amy heard a strange sound. “I must be losing my mind but the wind tonight sounds like the ocean. Maybe I’m homesick.”
    Dante jumped to his feet, staring out into the desert, his hand fisting just beneath his nebula stone pendant.
    “What is it? What do you see?” she asked. She breathed in the night air. Sea salt.
    She chuckled. “I am crazy. Now I smell the ocean. What is—”
    “Shhh.” Dante held up a hand. “Sorry, Amy.” He rushed over to her and knelt beside her, kissing her mouth quickly then whispered those strange words again. Amy closed her eyes and opened them to the blaring alarm clock. She was in her bed. It was a 44
    Desert of the Damned
    dream, after all. The images of the sexual dream bounced around in her mind.
    Although turned-on by the memories, she was relieved it had only been a dream.
    As she reached out to turn off the alarm, she noticed the rope burns on her wrists.
    * * * * *
    Dante ran along a dried creek bed, following the sound of crashing waves. Damn her, he still had time. And by interrupting him, Gwyllain wasted the valuable chi he was in the middle of collecting. Didn’t she understand his predicament?
    Without Amy, he would have a difficult time meeting the demoness’s needs.
    Finding another with an aura as strong as Amy’s would be nearly impossible with so little time left. Amy was rare. He didn’t think she knew how much chi she radiated. The chi given off during her orgasms had kept him from killing humans. Only a week and a half left and his cycle of offerings would be up and another of Gwyllain’s minions would be the Drone and Dante could continue his life on the Earth plane. Damn Gwyllain. She could’ve waited.
    When the creek made a ninety-degree turn, he saw the shimmering disturbance between two large boulders on the far riverbank. The rift looked like heat waves rising in the desert but it was too cool a night for that to happen here. As he approached, he felt the pull. In a last-minute desperate decision he backed away and zigzagged around the area, looking for creatures, large or small, to draw more energy upon. He managed to find a couple of bats, a field mouse and a rabbit. All four dropped as he touched his stone. They were dead and he had a fraction more chi. Better not to come back empty-handed.
    An unseen force yanked him off his feet and dragged him through the portal before he had a chance to take a breath. He was plunged into a reeling darkness.
    When the dizziness faded, Dante opened his eyes. A sickening free-fall sensation clutched at his gut as he stared over a rocky precipice at skyscraper height above crashing ocean waves, his feet just inch away from the crumpling edge.
    His muscles froze into stiff knots. Damn Gwyllain. The