Inferno

The moment Kat opened her eyes, she knew it was late in the afternoon, possibly nearing the time when most people ate their dinner. After several months of keenly observing the rise and fall of the sun, she knew when to stay asleep in the safety the indoors provided. On one occasion she had made the mistake of stepping outside too soon and paid for it. The brutal rays of the unforgiving sun had given her a sunburn that lasted a month.

Sun glare had been brutal before, especially out on the outer rims and in the Wastelands, but now with the Dark Dweller virus encompassing her body, the sun was like acid to her retinas. She had to wear her tinted goggles even at sunset.

Tossing back the bedcovers, Kat yawned lazily. Hades had been right about his bed and the room. She had slept peacefully. A rare occurrence, and one she hadn't experienced since she had left him all those months ago, sated from sex in her rundown hovel.

Dangling her legs over the mattress, she stood and stretched. Her back was sore from the long ride north. During the day, she camped, hiding out in her flimsy nylon tent. However, at night she drove her bike until the sun would start to pinken the sky. Her night vision was superior, and she never feared going off the road or running into anything. And if she did run into anything, be it human or beast, she came well prepared. She never went anywhere without her sawed-off shotgun, knives strapped to her legs, or the throwing stars attached to her belt.

And if that didn't work, because of the virus invading her system, she possessed the inhuman strength to rip off a man's arm without blinking.

Straightening, Kat looked around the room. It was small and meager, with only a bed and a small table beside it. She scanned the surface of the table and noticed a small lantern and a book. Interest cocked her brow, and she reached for the suede-covered, thick volume. She never imagined Hades as a reader. The title read Dracula by Bram Stoker. As she thumbed through the worn, aged pages, a floral aroma floated from between the sheets of paper. A gift from the woman.

Kat set down the book and wondered how serious the relationship with this other woman really was. Before she had fallen asleep, Kat had smelled the mattress and the covers. If Hades was sleeping with the woman, it wasn?t in his bed. Ethically Kat knew she had no claim on him. Leaving him had revoked any entitlement to him.

But she never professed to have any ethics anyway. Hades was hers. He belonged to her, and if he forced the issue, she would grudgingly admit to belonging to him. She wouldn?t be leaving this place without him.

Damn anyone that got in her way.

Stifling a shiver, Kat picked up her jacket from the floor, where she had tossed it earlier, and slipped it on. She wished she would?ve heeded Nemo?s advice and packed heavier clothing. She'd forgotten that there were four actual seasons up north. Winter did follow autumn. In the outer rims, it was one season.

Summer. Dry, hot, and miserable. Three things a person could depend on 365 days of the year.

Zipping up her leather, she paused. A melodious voice sounded through the closed bedroom door. Hades had company, and Kat didn't have to guess who that person could be.