Between the Realms Read Online Free Page B

passionate.   It was strange, this extra energy that Spike had with the pixelation or the demon possession or maybe something else, I wasn't sure.   It was Spike and then it wasn't.   Knowing his secrets about me gave me a power over him I was afraid to admit I liked.   He was a gorgeous boy.   A man, really.   A talented musician and all-around good person.   And even after everything I'd put him through, he still loved me.   It was a potent combination of a lot of good things, and I needed good things right now.   Everything else was just too messed up in my life.   The need for fighting and defending our home faded out and was replaced momentarily by the heat coming from the need for something else.
    I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him against me harder and deepening our kiss.   And I was just wondering how far I was willing to go with him, rolling around in the mushrooms on the edge of battle, when the choice was made for me.
    The weight of Spike's body disappeared as he was hauled off of me by an unseen force.
    My body went suddenly hot, not just with embarrassment, but also with the heat of Ben's element that was burning up the area around him.
    "Get up," he said, his voice sounding dead.   Ben was talking to me.

CHAPTER FIVE

    BEN PUT SPIKE IN A bubble of flames, making me scream with fear.   I scrambled to my feet, bits of fungus and dead leaves stuck to every part of me.   I didn't bother trying to do anything about it, too worried Spike was going to die a very painful death.   And all just because he loved me too much.
    "Ben!   You're hurting him!   Stop!"   I rushed over to the flaming column, putting my hands out towards the demon-Spike, wishing I could reach through it and yank him out.
    "No, I'm not," he said, sounding disgusted.   "Come on, I need your help."   He grabbed my hand and started dragging me away.
    I tried to dig my heels in and get my arm back, but Ben's grip was too tight.   He pulled me through the leaves and dead tree parts like I was a rag doll.
    "Wait , Ben, he's going to burn up in there!" I begged.
    Ben stopped all of a sudden, flinging my hand away from him like he couldn't stand to touch me anymore.   "Do you really think I'd do that?   Burn up your lover?"
    "He's not my lover," I said in a low tone, rubbing my sore wrist, angry at him for saying it and a little embarrassed that part of me wanted it to be true.   What's wrong with me?   Why do I fall for demon sweet-talking so easily?
    "Well, you could have fooled me."   Ben turned towards the battle.   "Enough playing around in the woods with your friend.   We need to work together to send the demons back.   We've killed several, but some of them are too strong."   He walked away.
    I ran to catch up to him.   "How?"   I didn't bother arguing with him about what I'd been doing or the fact that I'd been kidnapped out there.   He wasn't going to listen anyway, I could tell.
    "We'll do it like we did at your mother's house."   He looked back over his shoulder at me.   "You remember how, I assume."
    "Yes.   I do."   And I also recalled needing Ben to coach me through it.   Hopefully, he'd still be willing to do that so I wouldn't go blind with misguided power.   I stopped worrying about it as soon as we reached the edge of the fighting.   My mind quickly moved to the more immediate concern of how Ben and I were going to even start this process of cleaning house.   The bad guys were everywhere and mixed in with our people, making it hard to pick out who needed to be killed and who needed to be defended.
    Groups of orcs and green elves were fighting in hand-to-hand combat.   The elves who were normally more proficient at longer ranges with their arrows had suffered; I counted five bodies on the ground in my immediate area.   I didn't recognize any of my friends among them, but it didn't make it any easier to see it.   My anger grew at the needless waste of life.
    We reached the center of the