Vanquished Read online

  “Oh, I like that.” Melvin chuckled as he sat down in the Damian’s vacated chair.

  “I don’t think I asked you to join me.”

  “Sure you did, baby. I seen the way you look at me.”

  Sighing, she put her elbows on the table and leaned forward giving him a direct stare.

  “You are a big man, Melvin. It’s kind of hard not to look at you.”

  Melvin grinned, exposing his rotting front teeth. “I’m big where it counts, baby.” His hand disappeared under the table. Kat could just imagine what he was doing with it.

  Sitting back, Kat rolled her good eye. “Please don’t make me vomit a perfectly good steak.”

  “If steaks what you need honey, I’ve got six inches of tube-steak just waiting for you.”

  “Listen, Melvin, I will never ever, fuck you. So quit wasting my perfectly good night and piss off.”

  The grin slowly slid off Melvin’s face, like grease down a frying pan. “Not even a blow-job?”

  “I will never suck, lick, or touch your dick. I don’t even want to see it.”

  Melvin sat back in his chair. “Oh. Okay, I guess I’ll go then.”

  She got away unscathed this time. Some nights he wasn’t so docile. She’d walked away with a bruise or two during their scuffles. Usually, after one hard knock to the head, Melvin left her alone.

  “Hey Kat, this meathead bothering you?”

  Closing her eye, Kat sighed. She opened it and glanced up into Damian’s appealing face. Still shirtless and jeans partially undone, he grinned at her. His thick, dark hair was an unruly mess. Sweaty tendrils curled around his ears. He looked really sexy. It was just too damn bad that that pretty face was going to get wrecked.

  Kat swore under her breath. “Everything was fine, until you opened your stupid mouth.”

  Melvin stood, rising to his full six feet. He towered over Damian’s lanky frame. Damian blinked up at him, bravado leaking out of his clear blue eyes.

  “What did you say, boy?” Melvin clenched his hands into mallet-sized fists.

  The crowd in the tavern silenced. All eyes were trained on them.

  “Nothing,” Damian squeaked.

  “He called you a meathead. Which is exactly what you are.”

  Turning, Damian met Kat’s eyes and mouthed. “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “Finishing what you started, you know I never walk away from a fight.” She picked up the bottle of vodka and took a long pull. “In fact, I think I will even make it worse by saying that Melvin is the biggest piece of shit I have ever met. He’s a lying, cheating, conniving asshole that fucks the livestock when no one is looking.”

  Melvin blushed crimson, but Kat didn’t think it was from embarrassment. It was from the rage that boiled beneath his skin. She just hoped that that rage was uncontrollable enough for her plan to work.

  Damian stared at her, mouth agape. “Well, I think that just about did it.”

  “Are you sure? How ‘bout a drink?”

  Damian glanced at the bottle in her hand then back to her face. She smiled knowing he understood.

  “Good idea.” Damian took the bottle she offered. “How ‘bout a drink, Mel? No hard feelings?”

  “I’m gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck.”

  “I’ll take that as a no.”

  Damian swiped the bottle across Melvin’s head. It shattered into hundreds of pieces. Glass sliced Melvin’s face.

  Diving under the table, Kat unsheathed a sharp dagger that was strapped to her thigh, and crawled across the floor toward Melvin. She swiftly grabbed his foot and sliced the knife across the back of his leather boot. The leather split like a piece of tender meat and blood erupted from the opening. Kat had cut the tendon above his heel.

  Melvin squealed in pain as he dropped to the floor. He grabbed his foot, trying to cradle it in his hands. It was too painful to touch, and he screamed in anguish.

  Kat stood up and loomed over him. She almost felt sorry for the pain that he was experiencing.

  Almost.

  Damian stood next to her, the broken bottle still clamped in his hand. His eyes were wide with excitement.

  “Don’t mess with me again, Melvin. It won’t be your tendon I slice next time, but your balls.”

  Squeezing his eyes shut as tears streamed down his cheeks, he nodded.

  Kat grabbed Damian’s arm. “Let’s go.” She pulled him out of the tavern.

  * * *

  They stumbled back to their place, a large room in an old gutted warehouse, divided by thin cotton sheets hanging from the ceiling. Because no one wanted to own any long forgotten dirty buildings, inhabited by cockroaches and rats, they lived here free. Sometimes others tried to move in, but booby-traps Kat had set at the doors and windows kept most intruders out. Occasionally, they came home to the dead or dying, stuck on a spike in the doorframe or the windowsill.

  Out of breath from running through the back streets, both Kat and Damian tumbled onto the old mattress. They didn’t want company following them. Melvin didn’t have many friends, but the ones he had were merciless thugs. It wouldn’t do to have someone slit their throats in the middle of the night.

  “Holy shit!” Damian rolled onto his back, his breath coming in short pants.

  Looking down at him, Kat noticed his chest was slick with sweat, and she could almost see his heart pounding in his chest. His cheeks were also flush.

  “What’s with you?” Kat asked.

  Damian reached out and seized her arm. “The way you moved, Kat, the way you took him down. I thought I was going to cream my pants just watching. You are one tough bitch.”

  “And that turns you on?”

  “You know it does.” He squeezed her arm.

  She shook her head. “Save it Damian. I need a bath.”

  “I’ll wash you.”

  “How’s that?”

  Damian sat up and leaned into her, his voice a soft whisper against her ear. “I’ll clean you head to toe…with my tongue.”

  Kat reclined and searched his face. His eyes had darkened with lust.

  “I’m really dirty.”

  “I know.”

  Her body quickened, her insides growing tight at his words. Smiling, Kat leaned back on her elbows.

  “Stay just like that.” Damian bounced off the bed. “I’ll be right back.”

  He returned with a basin of tepid water from their supply and a cloth. Kneeling at her feet, he took one booted foot in his hands and untied the laces. He slid the boot off and then tossed it over his shoulder.

  Kat chuckled. Damian was always playful, but this was new. As he rolled her sock off, she closed her eyes and sighed. He soaked the cloth in the water and brought it up to her foot. He washed her slowly, dragging the sheet between her toes.

  She bit down on her lip to stop the giggle that threatened to escape. She was a little ticklish on her feet. But it would be a cold day in hell if she ever giggled. It would ruin her hard-ass reputation.

  Damian continued the same ritual with her other foot. By the time he was done washing her instep, Kat’s body was thrumming with desire. Her insides throbbed. Sometimes, Damian pissed her off, especially when he acted like a fool. But the man was a master when it came to seduction.

  Here was his talent, his art.

  Damian set her foot down and reached for the zipper of her leather pants. He undid it and hooked his fingers into the waistband. Kat raised her ass off the bed as he slowly peeled them down her legs. He tossed them in the same corner as her socks and boots.

  Taking the cloth, he gently wiped the skin on her calves, caressing them as he went. He moved up to her knees and inched his way up her thighs. He circled the rag over her skin, pressing with firm deft movements.

  As he neared her throbbing center, she took in a ragged breath. She desperately wanted him to touch her there. To push her over the painful edge she was teetering on. But he stopped mere inches from the ultimate spot. He looked up at her and smiled
, setting the cloth into the basin.

  “You’re not doing a very good job of cleaning me,” she growled.

  “No?” Damian raised his eyebrow. He leaned forward and pressed his hot mouth to her shin. “How’s this?”

  He licked her skin, trailing his tongue in lazy circles. He lapped at her knee and behind it. Kat sighed as he lathed her sensitive skin. Most men knew of only a handful of erogenous zones. Damian knew them all.

  Continuing his path up to her thighs, he slowly circled the skin, nearing the V of her body with every breath. He stopped a whisper away.

  His hot breath rippled over her. She grew achy and desperate for his touch. Kat closed her eyes and spread her legs in anticipation.

  Damian drew back. “Turn over,” he growled, his voice low and gruff.

  His eyes were dark with passion, and she could clearly see the erection straining at the fabric of his pants. She turned over and lay on the bed face down.

  Damian nestled between her spread legs. Bending down, he licked at the backs of her thighs, sucking on her muscled flesh and nipping at her playfully.

  She inhaled another ragged breath as his teeth sunk into her tender flesh just below her left buttocks. His wet tongue moved over her cheeks, trailing seductively on one then on the other. As he made his way to the valley of her cheeks, she shivered in delight. He stopped at the indentation of her tailbone, moving his tongue up and down.

  Kat moaned low in her throat. “Lower, damn you.”

  “Patience, Kitty Kat.”

  “I haven’t got any.”

  He chuckled. “I know.”

  Kat’s breathing quickened. The ache between her legs throbbed painfully. His slow lazy torture on her intimate flesh was nearly driving her mad.

  Pushing her back onto the bed, Damian made a wet trail up her back along her spine. He tugged at her shirt.

  “Whoa, boy. You’re not done down there.” She glanced at him over her shoulder.

  Grinning, he continued to pull her shirt up until it was over her head. He nibbled the skin under her hair. Shivers zigzagged down her back.

  “Relax. I’m a trained professional,” he whispered into her ear, licking her lobe. “Turn over.”

  Kat flipped onto her back, but scowled up at him, wondering what he was up to. He bent down and kissed her frowning mouth, brushing her lips apart. Softening under his mouth, she returned his kiss. She couldn’t stay angry with him. He was a giving and inventive lover, always eager to please. She knew he would eventually make his way to where she needed his attention.

  He moved from her mouth and pressed kisses on her chin and down her neck. His hands were busy at her breasts. Kat groaned and arched her back to push her them into his talented hands.

  He lapped at her nipples one at a time, teasing them with his lips and teeth. Sucking one into his eager mouth, he lolled it around and gently bit down. Violent sensations surged over her. Kat gasped, but the pain quickly turned into pleasure.

  He moved his hand down her belly, stopping an inch from her sex. Kat moaned and writhed under his touch. Her body tingled and throbbed for release. Desire rippled through her.

  He licked down to her flat belly and circled her navel, dipping into it playfully. He scraped his teeth along the sensitive flesh below.

  Gasping, she grabbed onto his hair. “If you don’t hurry I’m going to rip off your tongue and use it myself.”

  With a chuckle, Damian continued his wet path downward. He raised his head and looked up at her face, which she could feel was flushed with excitement. “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you-”

  “I don’t care. Just hurry up and eat me.”

  She reached out on the bed to take hold of something. Stretching behind, she gripped the spindles of the brass headboard. She closed her eyes and panted. Her release was near.

  Then Damian mumbled something.

  Her eyes sprang open and she glared down at him. “What?”

  He raised his head, his lips slick. “I said Hades is going after the Monolith.”

  Nearly crushing Damian between her legs, Kat pushed up onto the bed. “How do you know?”

  “I heard it from a reliable source at the pub.”

  “Who?”

  “A guy that knows a guy, who knows a guy, saw Hades in a tavern the village over and said he was asking around for a guide into Van. No one goes into The Vanquished City unless they mean business.”

  “Doesn’t mean it’s the Monolith.”

  Damian cocked a brow. “Do you believe that?”

  Kat ran a hand over her sweaty face, and let out a ragged breath. She looked down at Damian still kneeling between her legs.

  “Why in hell are you telling me this now?”

  “I don’t know. I just thought of it.”

  “While you were licking my…?”

  Damian shrugged.

  Reaching over, she grabbed him by the hair. Tugging him forward, she flipped him over and straddled him in two swift movements.

  She sneered down at him. “Thank you for the information, but now it’s time to finish what you started.”

  She unzipped his pants and pulled them down to his knees.

  “Ah, my leg,” he whined, as the leather from his pants scrapped his bandaged cut.

  “Don’t be a baby. I have the pain-killer right here, if you’d hold still.” Gripping him in one hand, Kat straddled him and lowered herself. In one swift move, he was imbedded deep inside her.

  Bending forward, she gripped his shoulders. “You’re going to fuck me, and then we’re going down to see Russell. I will be damned if Hades gets the Monolith first.”

  “We’re going into Van?”

  She nodded.

  “It’ll be dangerous. Very dangerous.”

  “I’ve heard the stories. But what could possibly be more dangerous than me?”

  Damian laughed and wrapped his arms around her as she stroked him up with each movement of her agile body.

  Yes, what indeed?

  Chapter Three

  “Hades is going after the Monolith. I want to know where it is first.” Kat leaned over the cracked linoleum counter and turned her good eye on Russell.

  Pushing up his welding goggles, he stripped off his heavy canvas gloves, and walked over to his workbench to return his torch. “It’s too dangerous, Kat.”

  “Not for me it isn’t.”

  Russell scrutinized her with his bloodshot eyes. “Yes, even for you.”

  Kat pushed up onto the counter and sat. “Cut the fatherly concern shit, and tell me where to go.”

  Russell shuffled toward the counter. He dragged his left leg behind, caused by having taken a fall years ago and broken his hip. There was no doctor to set it properly, just a local medicine man with his herbs and oils.

  “Why do you want it so bad?”

  “Because I’m a better hunter than Hades.”

  “So much anger for a man you’ve never met.”

  “I’ve met his reputation.”

  Russell turned his haggard face toward Damian. He was squatting on the scuffed wood floor feeding dried meat to Russell’s cat. “And what do you think?”

  Damian glanced up and grinned. “I think whatever Kat wants me to.”

  Russell shook his head. “Of course, you do.” He opened a drawer in the counter and took out a bottle of vodka. “When are you going to get a brain of your own?”

  Damian stood. “When Kat gives me one.”

  Russell chuckled and uncapped the cork to take a long pull.

  Leaning forward, Kat plucked the vodka from his hand and took a long drink. “Think what the Monolith could do for you, Russell. You’d be the new tech master.”

  He nodded but didn’t make eye contact. “And what would it bring you, Kat?”

  She looked out through the grimy store window at the dust devils whirling down the desolate dirt street. A young mother pulled her shoeless little girl across the road. They both wore rags; days of dust and grime marked their faces.
/>   They reminded her of another little girl and a desperate mother trying to make do with the life they’d been given. That mother had been her, and her little girl, Madeline. Kat had been forced to send her up North by herself years ago.

  The Wastelands were no place for a little girl to grow up. Danger was on every street corner, in every person’s eyes. She didn’t want that for Madeline, so she put her on the truck carrying other refugees heading North and hoped someone would care for her as their own.

  “Escape.”

  She handed him the liquor and he took another long swallow. After wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he grunted.

  “Come, and I will tell you the hell you must enter. But remember,” Russell warned. “Nothing is as it seems in The Vanquished City.”

  * * *

  Early the next morning, Kat and Damian were packed up and ready to embark on their most dangerous treasure hunt to date. They traveled in the early hours of the day, since the afternoon brought too much sun and the darkness brought things that only lived in nightmares. Russell told them of a guide that could lead them into the treacherous wastelands of the Vanquished City. The guide resided in the next community 100 clicks away.

  By motorcycle, they traveled down a road still partially paved toward the guide’s location. New growth and vegetation grew out of the cement in some areas. A testament to nature’s will. Kat assumed no one had the heart to cut it away. Mother Nature had a way of her own. Moreover, the new people of the Earth did not want to fuck with her again after the devastation she suffered from the nuclear war.

  They made the trip in three hours. The village of Burnsbow was not unlike their own community. People hustled about the streets selling their wares and trying to make some sort of living in desperate and desolate days. They found the local tavern and thought it the best place to start. Those who had been to The Vanquished City most likely drank a lot to numb the effects of being in the hellish place.

  Since it was still morning, the pub wasn’t crowded. A few hard-core customers sat at the bar, and one or two sat in the dark corners nursing empty glasses.

  Kat and Damian took stools at the bar, each ordering a shot of vodka. Seeming to be a cautious man, the barkeep tried not to make eye contact with them. When he set their glasses in front of them, Kat touched his hand. His eyes lifted to her face, an expression of surprise in them.