Free Ruby Shadows by Evangeline Anderson Page A

strap on
my right shoulder. I stiffened, wondering if he would demand part
of his “payment” now. But he didn’t touch my breast—only my
shoulder. “The contrast is perfect,” he murmured.
    “ Well, red has always been my color.” I had to work to keep my
voice even.
    “ I’m not speaking of the red dress against your skin—I’m
talking about my skin contrasted with yours.” He nodded at his big,
well-shaped hand, which looked pale against my own warm brown
tones. “Light and dark,” he murmured. “Beautiful.”
    “ I
guess so.” I made myself step away from his light touch though part
of me really wanted to step into it. “Now are we going or not? I
thought there was a changing of the guard or something like
that.”
    He
sighed. “Will you always be this standoffish with me, mon ange?” He shook his head before
I could answer “Never mind. Yes, this is the time to enter,
hopefully unnoticed. Follow me and say nothing.”
    “ Fine. I’ll walk five paces behind you and I won’t say a word
when you tell people I’m your freaking concubine,” I muttered,
feeling a surge of irritation which almost eclipsed the other,
turbulent emotions he brought out in me.
    Laish frowned. “Kindly remember that th is ruse is for your safety and try
not to sulk about it, Gwendolyn. We must be as unnoticed as
possible in this journey. Do not forget that the Hellspawn is also
on your trail, seeking to devour your soul.”
    My throat went
suddenly dry. “But…you banished it back to the pit.”
    “ I
did but as I said before, it will find its way back to you by any means necessary. Let’s not
give it any help. Now, are you ready?”
    “ More than ready,” I assured him, but my heart was suddenly
beating double time. Was I really going to do this? Was I really
going to walk straight into Hell?
    “ Good. Then let’s go,” Laish said.
    Apparently I
was.

Chapter Nine
    Gwendolyn

    Laish led me toward the massive gates, which towered higher
than any skyscraper on Earth. The wrought iron panels had strange,
disturbing shapes worked into them —monstrous beasts and demonic
faces which seemed to shift and change if I stared at them
to o closely. I
tried not to but I still saw them out of the corner of my eye as we
approached.
    Though we were keeping in the shadows, I couldn’t help feeling nervous as we
got closer. In my other trips to the Shadow Lands, I had been
careful to stay far from the gates. I didn’t even like approaching
the wall which encircled Hell but at least it wasn’t crawling with
demons.
    Speaking of demons,
I felt my breath catch in my throat as I saw who—or what—was
guarding those gates.
    Two gigantic demons, each of them at least ten feet tall, stood watch
beside the enormous gates. What struck me most about them—aside
from their size—was that they looked nothing like Laish. In fact,
from the twisting black horns protruding from their foreheads right
down to their cloven hooves, their appearance was what every child
is taught the Devil looks like. They even had red skin and were
armed with giant pitchforks. It would have been almost cartoonish
if it wasn’t so grotesque. As we watched, one of the demons opened
his mouth to yawn, revealing a foot long, forked tongue, just like
a snake’s.
    “ Ugh,” I muttered, involuntarily. “Why do they look like
that?”
    “ They look like what you imagine them to look like, Gwendolyn,”
Laish murmured back. “This is what you were taught to expect and so
this is what you see. Believe me, their true appearance is much
more terrible—it would drive your human mind mad.”
    “ But you don’t
look anything like that,” I protested. “Uh, do you?”
    He threw an amused
glance over his shoulder. “Do you want to find out? Should I show
you my true form?”
    “ No, don’t!” I exclaimed, before I thought about
it.
    Laish’s face went
blank but he only nodded. “A pity. I thought you had more courage
than that.”
    “ I
just…I like the