Eriel got up in his face, as if he could see Ashriel’s eyes through the black goggles they wore. “Are you in kill mode? You’re in kill mode, aren’t you?”
Ashriel clenched his fists and fought the urge to slap Eriel. “Get away from me,” he snapped instead.
Eriel winced. Natanael pulled him away and said to Eriel in a rush, “Leave him alone. Do you have a death wish, idiot?”
Ashriel stalked ahead with Seth trying to keep up. The weretigri’s black-gloved fists were clenched, as if fighting to keep himself in control too.
They exited the royal shuttle and made their way to the end of the corridor, but four guards stopped them.
The guards were covered head to toe in black, even their faces. One of them chuckled.
“Look what we have here, boys… some fresh ass for King Dred.”
The other guards snickered along with the insolent fool who’d spoken.
The guard was tall and muscled beneath his clinging garb, and his metal-soled boots thumped the floor loudly when he circled Ashriel once before stopping in front of him again.
He slid his hand over the growing bulge between his legs and looked Ashriel up and down. “Alright, pretty boy, strip.”
Ashriel had the man’s throat in his fist in the blink of an eye. The sound of charging laser weapons sounded loud amidst the shouting.
“Don’t shoot him, you imbeciles,” one of the guards that had escorted them from the black market exclaimed, pushing his way through the reapers to stand between Ashriel and the armed guards blocking their way.
“Ash, let him go,” Seth commanded in an even tone.
Ashriel needed to kill something… but that couldn’t happen now. He needed to find Anniel.
“Drop him, Ash,” Seth repeated in a soothing voice.
Ashriel tossed the tall guard into the wall next to them. The metal dented and the guard slid to the floor unconscious.
“If you’re going to take us to the king, do so now. Otherwise, we leave,” Seth stated.
Ashriel looked at Seth, about to tell him he was not leaving until he found the girls, but Seth lifted his hand to signal him not to speak.
Ashriel knew the young weretigri would not leave either of his Alpha Angel sisters stranded, nor the Utuduodian princess.
“We’re on high alert,” one of the guards blocking the doors snapped. “You know the protocols.”
The guard that had escorted them from the black market went toe to toe with the other guard. “King Dred wants these reapers. You explain to him why his new toys were detained.”
Ashriel did not like being referred to as a toy, but held his tongue. The important thing was to locate the girls.
The guard relented and let them through.
As Ashriel passed the furious guard, the foolish man uttered. “You’ll get what’s coming soon enough, and if not, I’ll be waiting here for you.”
As soon as he passed the guard, Ashriel flicked out his left wing and struck the man, sending him flying twenty feet away to slam into the wall at the end of the corridor. His body hit with a sickening crunch.
Ashriel grinned when he heard the guards running to their downed friend.
“He won’t be walking for a while,” Natanael snorted.
They walked through metal double doors and stopped at the edge of a platform. Silver, shell-shaped transports floated to them.
“You are to remain seated within these personal transports at all times. If you step out of the transport while the green boarder is lit, you will die instantly. The transports are for your safety.”
Ashriel glared down at the guard who was speaking.
“We need no protection. We are holy warriors.”
The guard gulped, and Ashriel imagined his eyes wide behind the black goggles he wore. His heavy breathing was audible through the respirator as Ashriel towered over him.
“Sorry, sir. It’s just protocol. You must never let your feet touch the glass floor. Only stand on the metal platforms and only if your transport deactivates its force fields. If we were attacked, the force field would keep you safe within your transport.”
Ashriel wanted to argue, knowing the whole safety issue was a lie. They only wanted to control their guests and monitor where they went, but that was unimportant now.
Grudgingly, he sat within one of the transports and watched the others do the same.
“This is like being in Disney,” Eriel laughed, his light mood really grating on Ashriel’s nerves.
As if reading his mind, Natanael looked at Ashriel and said, “That’s his coping mechanism, Ash. Please don’t kill him.”
Eriel sat and looked from Ashriel to Natanael. “What?”
“Erie, please. Just zip it already,” Natanael hissed.
Eriel snorted. “Whatever, sheesh.”
Chapter Eight
Anniel awaken to utter silence within herself. It took her a moment to realize she no longer felt Devon’s presence inside her before panic struck making her sit up panting in terror.
Her mind reached out to feel for any of the other Alpha Angels and there was nothing. She couldn’t see anything either, but then a light went on and a big looming shadow came toward her. She blinked, trying hard to clear her eyesight. All she saw were clumps of grey shadows with no clear definition. She was blind.
A snarl of warning erupted from her lips as her fear ratcheted higher. Heavy boots thumped the floor—concrete by the sound of it—as the very big shadow loomed closer. Anniel continued to snarl, baring fangs, and drawing deep breaths between, trying to pick up anything familiar.
The scent of something metallic mixed with the sweet scent Seraph’s usually exuded and… a hint of wolf drifted through the air.
Backing up away from the approaching person, her snarls grew louder and her skin prickled with the desire to shift.
A touch on her cheek had her snapping her elongated canines, but her sharp teeth came into contact with metal beneath velvet cloth and flesh. Whoever tried to touch didn’t even flinch when she bit him.
“You cannot hurt me,” a rasping voice said. “Not much of me is human anymore.”
“Who are you? Why am I here?” She winced when the feather-light touch stroked her cheek again, and turned away trying to avoid his touch
“I am no one,” the voice rasped, deep and demonic, giving her the chills, but not in a good way.
Anniel curled her feet beneath her butt when the bed she sat on dipped with his weight. She would have scooted farther away, but her back was wedged into a corner. “Where am I?” she demanded reaching back to feel that it was a metal grate and not a wall she leaned against.
“King Dred wanted to defile you. You are safe now.”
She slapped away what she assumed were his hands and yelped at the pain that caused. His skeleton was made of some sort of metal. “I don’t feel so safe with you touching me,” she snapped.
When he tried to take her hands, she pulled them away and crossed her arms over her chest, scowling to show her displeasure.
His arms rose, bringing his hands to his face. She narrowed her useless eyes and blinked to see if she could figure out what he was doing. When he removed his goggles and respirator, she wished she could see better.
“Kiss me,” his deep voice rasped.
“Go to hell,” Anniel spat, smacking her head against the grate behind her, trying in vain to put as much space between her and the cyborg as possible.
“Neo,” a feminine voice shouted from behind her. Boots stomped closer. “You said you felt no desire of the flesh.”
The female sounded enraged.
“I do not,” he answered getting up again.
“I heard you asking this bitch for a kiss,” the female shouted venomously.
Anniel opened her mouth to protest, but a vicious snarl had her gasping with a start. It came from the cyborg in front of her.
“Get out,” the male grated.
The sound of objects crashing to the ground had Anniel’s heart in her throat. A door slammed, the sound reverberating in the room.
From the sound, she surmised she was in a large, sparsely furnished room. Blinking up at her captor, she saw the shadow of his one wing and the glare of his metallic one, but she still couldn’t make out the features of his face.
He bent toward her and she shrieked when he seized her beneath her arms to pick her up. Anniel kicked at him, immediately regretting her action when her bare feet connected with more metal. She cursed roundly when her big toe began to throb.
Cyneolle, she supposed it was, sat her unceremoniously on a flat surface, and she soon found her mouth stuffed with a small, square, foul-tasting object.
Anniel yanked the horrible thing from her mouth and poised to throw it in his face. “Son-of-a...“ She stopped, sputtering. “Did you just stuff soap in my mouth?”
“Soap helps wash out dirty little mouths. Now say something nice.”
Anniel stared dumbfound. The soap fell from her numb fingers as she looked up into the grey shadow before her. She’d overheard Gareth say a swear word once and had put a little bar of soap in his mouth. She’d told him the exact words Cyneolle had said when he’d protested.
Her hands lifted slowly, until her fingers touched skin. When her hands skimmed up a strong jaw, her left hand touched an edge of metal while her right continued over soft skin.
“I lost part of my face in the first Rhylosian civil war,” he explained.
A lump formed in Anniel’s throat, but she continued to feel his facial features. His jaw was squared with an indentation on the chin, like a dimple. His lips were full, warm and soft, like Ashriel’s.
“Like Garethiel’s,” she whispered, her hands now beginning to tremble as she touched his nose and traced the shape of his left brow.
He drew her close, and she blinked, feeling tears bathe her cheeks. Her nose bumped his shoulder and then his throat. She felt the heat of his skin, heard the beat of his heart and the rush of blood through his jugular. Had she wanted to, she could have easily unleashed her fangs and torn his throat out. Instead, she ran her nose up the thick column of his throat and breathed in deeply. The scent was definitely a combination of machinery, wires, metal, and electricity, but beneath it all was the faint scent of Seraph and Wolf…mixed as one.
“No,” she gasped pushing him away. Her son couldn’t be alive after all these years even though he did have Seraphian blood in his veins.
Gareth’s blood had been so diluted. She assumed he would have a normal human life span.
But if he’d inherited his father’s life expectancy…? At a little over three-hundred years, he’d be considered a very young Seraph still.
“Who are you?” she asked again, this time her voice tremulous with tears.
“I am Cyn.”
“That woman called you Neo.”
“Those of the rebel group call me Neo. The Cyborgs named me Cyneolle. In their language it means newborn cyborg angel… but I am no angel.”
Anniel didn’t know what to make of this. She was curious about his background, but only Devon or Seth would be able to really help with that. They were the most powerful of the Alpha Angels. “I need to find my friends. They will be looking for me. Can you take me to the black market?”
She saw him tip his head to the side. Again, his fingers skimmed over her face.
Anniel winced, but this time allowed it. He touched her hair and then took one of her hands. She felt him place his over hers, as if comparing the size.
“You are very small.”
Anniel blinked, trying hard to see his face. “It’s been a long time since someone said that to me.” She took a deep breath before saying, “What happened to your voice?”
“A band of Greis tried to use me as a whore. They crushed my voice box by strangling me so I’d get...“
“Stop,” Anniel exclaimed, clapping her hands over her ears. She did not want to hear the horror she knew he was about to say. A shudder of revulsion shot through her as Angel’s horror stories replayed in her mind.
“I killed them all before they could touch me. I am a virgin,” he said in a softer voice. “I feel no desire… at all. Yet, I find you beautiful. I have never thought of any humanoid as beautiful...except…”
When he remained silent, she prodded, “Except?”
He remained quiet. Anniel felt him draw closer, as if looking closely at her face. “Except for my m...“
“Neo, you need to come take a look at this,” someone exclaimed, rushing into the room.
The cyborg Seraph straightened and moved away. Anniel heard the thump of his boots going across the room behind her. He must’ve been massively proportioned by the heavy sound of his footfalls.
“Keep an eye on her.” Silence and then, “I will kill you if anything happens to her.”
“Y-yes, Neo.”
The door slammed yet again, leaving her sequestered with another stranger.
Anniel thought hard, trying to remember what he looked like when he’d exploded through the glass dome back at the palace. It had only been a glimpse before her eyes had started burning. His skin was dark, though not like hers. He was more like Alluna, with a caramel—almost golden—hue. His hair was definitely dark blond, but she hadn’t seen his face because of the goggles and bulky gas mask over it. Metal-like coils covered him, most likely some sort of protective flight suit. If only she could telepathically connect with Remi so he could fix her eyes. She was dying to look at Cyneolle’s face…and at the same time terrified. What if Cyn was her sweet Gareth?
Anniel wrapped her arms around her middle and sobbed quietly. Her poor baby.
Ashriel stared at the strange androgynous creature before him in shock.
Seth chuckled humorlessly. “Let me get this straight… you want us to give you Devon in exchange for the Utuduodian princess and her two ambassadors?”
“Only for a night. I would like to share fluids with him. His beauty is legendary.”
Ashriel scoffed in outrage, but Seth gestured for him to remain calm.
“I can ask Devon to show himself, but you must also show me the girls.”
The white-skinned creature nodded its ascent.
“I’ll need a mirror,” Seth continued.
No sooner had he uttered the request, two doors opened behind the King’s avatar. A pair of Chid’s rolled out a mirror with an ornate gilded frame.
Ashriel clenched his teeth in agitation. He wanted Anniel, needed to feel her in his arms again. Once he had her back, they were leaving; to hell with his vow and investigations. He cared for nothing but her. He would never forgive himself if anything were to happen to her.
Seth stood before the mirror and pointed. The avatar drifted closer and gasped.
When Ashriel looked, Devon stood on the other side of the glass. He wore nothing but his black drawstring pants. His chest and feet were bare and his hair streamed in a spill of jet over his shoulders to just under his pectorals. His eyes glowed their usual eerie blue, like two burning suns in a sea of stark white skin—the most beautiful humanoid face one could ever lay their eyes upon.
But Ashriel knew beauty was subjective. All who cast their eyes upon Devon found him devastating because he was part incubus, like his father.
“You see Devon, now let us see the girls,” Seth was saying.
The avatar moved forward as if entranced and touched the glass. It began to pant. “I want him. Come through. Let me touch you.”
“Where are the girls?” Seth demanded.
“I’ve had enough,” Ashriel snarled. “Can you not telepathically feel for them?”
Seth looked at Ashriel. “I feel them close, but it’s not enough. It could take hours to find them by me just feeling them out.”
Ashriel took a menacing step toward the avatar, but Natanael and Reiven gripped his arms to hold him.
“Easy, Ash,” Natanael said in a low tone. “Your beating that creature won’t do a thing to the king. He’s possessing this creature’s mind and body, but it’s not really him.”
Ashriel shook both reapers off. “You’re right, but it would make me feel better.”
Seth turned back to the avatar. “The girls.”
The back doors opened again and two orbs floated in containing Angel and princess Glory. Both girls were pounding the bubbles, trying to get out.
“I’ll release them when Devon crosses over,” the avatar sighed.
“You’ll release them now,” Devon said, his eyes riveted on the white-skinned androgynous humanoid.
“Where’s Anniel?” Ashriel roared.
The avatar turned its head and regarded him with bright blue eyes. “She was taken by the rebel leader, Cyneolle. He has taken her to their underground headquarters.”
Ashriel’s patience snapped. He rushed to the creature and gripped it by its neck. Instead of showing fear, the creature only grinned. To Ashriel’s shock, it reached up to its chest and ripped off two strips of black adhesive covering its nipples. The snowy skin beneath turned an angry red. For a moment, the creature’s face registered pain, but the eyes became glassy and vacant again as it shoved its hands into the tiny loin cloth covering its sex. The avatar began to shamelessly masturbate as Ashriel choked it.
“Where is the rebel headquarters?” he demanded squeezing harder.
The creature gasped for breath and shuddered, as if coming to a little climax. It tore away its loincloth exposing a small penis, but then it gripped the small phallus in one hand to stroke it and fingered another opening beneath it. It had a pussy too.
“Answer me,” Ashriel shouted shaking the disgusting creature.
It grinned wider, its face already turning blue.
“Uh, Ash,” Eriel began,” if you want it to talk, you’re gonna have to let it breathe.”
Ashriel tossed the creature away from him and summoned his divine sword. The avatar had stumbled back to fall on its ass. When Ashriel stood over it with his blade, the creature lifted its head to suck on the sword lewdly. Blood poured from its mouth, making Ashriel back away. Natanael was right. The poor creature before him was nothing but an unfeeling vessel. If any pain was suffered, he was sure only the creature felt it and not the damned King Dred.
The avatar gave him a bloody smile. “If I knew where the rebel headquarters were situated, there would be no rebels.”
“Release the girls,” Seth demanded.
The creature leaned back, its eyes on Ashriel’s blade as it spread its legs wide to show the tiny slit beneath its penis. “Fuck me here. Make me bleed. This little whore loves feeling its little cunt ripped, don’t you.”
The creature suddenly let out a shrill shriek that had Ashriel’s skin crawling.
“Oh-Divinity-help meee,” it screamed at the top of its lungs. One hand began pumping it’s fingers into its tiny pussy, making it writhe, while the other savaged the rapidly reddening prick. The creature looked down with wild eyes. “Stop-oh-please-stop.”
Ashriel could only look on with horror and pity.
It screamed, and then it began to laugh again. “Ah, the terror, the pain. How good it tastes.”
The fingers came out bloody and it proceeded to lick and suck at them looking up at Ashriel coquettishly.
Ashriel moved back in disgust.
“The girls,” Seth repeated.
The bubble containing the princess dissolved.
“Devon,” the creature hissed, licking its bloody teeth and lips as it resumed masturbating on the floor, its legs spread wide.
Ashriel watched Devon step through the glass, the clear pane rippling like water. He walked slowly over to the groaning creature and stopped a few inches away.
Slowly, deliberately, he undid the ties to his drawstring pants and then let them drop around his ankles. He was erect, his cock resting against his belly. The creature just stared, awestruck.
“Release the women, and let them go free and you can have me. Otherwise I will destroy all you see around you.”
“You would not dare kill your loved ones,” the creature scoffed.
“I can protect them. I do not care about the rest.”
The creature smiled, “Then why do you not just go ahead and do it?”
Devon smiled. “Because they are attached to these females. And I like keeping my loved ones happy.” His smile faded and black veins began covering his face and arms. “Of course, I would not put them in jeopardy. It’s up to you. Either we all make each other happy or I just take my unhappy angels back home where it’s safe. They’ll forgive me eventually. They always do.”
The avatar did not realize he had Devon’s own female trapped. Ashriel didn’t understand why he didn’t just release her himself and then home in on Anniel so they could all go home.
The bubble containing Angel dissolved.
“You’re all free to go… except Devon, of course. He’ll be mine for tonight.”
Devon turned to all of them. “Go. Find Anniel.”
Ashriel frowned, but since he needed to locate Anniel and bring her back to safety, he did not ask any more questions.
They got back into their transports, Angel climbed in with Seth, and the princess chose to ride with Natanael.
Ashriel looked back to see Angel gazing at her mate. They seemed to be communicating telepathically, but he wasn’t sure. Angel looked determined, but not worried about her mate’s situation. He wouldn’t be too worried about Devon either. The King was stupid to think he could toy around with someone as powerful as Devon of Angelos
The transport took them back to the docking hangar. The new guards stationed by the exit did not try to interfere when they stepped out of their transports and hurried to the royal shuttle waiting to take them back to the black market.
Angel gripped Seth’s arm. “We’re going back to Glory’s space vessel orbiting the planet. Devon must’ve left Jazriel with Abdiel. He will be livid being left behind as a nanny. He was upset enough that Ashriel did not allow him to participate in this mission.”
Ashriel scowled. “I will not allow a virgin reaper to pose as a whore. That is blasphemy. Abdiel should just go back to Seraphia. He is still pure.”
Princess Glory stepped up beside Angel. “He does not want to be celibate anymore and is just waiting for the right person to come along. You have no right to dictate to him what he should do.”
Ashriel just frowned at her. The silly female just did not understand how special their vow of chastity was. It set a Seraph apart. Made them holier.
Angel stood on her tip-toes, pulled Seth’s mask down and kissed him chastely on the lips. His eyes looked down tenderly at her as he readjusted his gas mask. Princess Glory smirked and strode confidently up to him. Seth gave her a puzzled look and then gasped when she tore his mask off. She fisted his platinum blond locks, pulled him in for a deep, rough kiss that left Seth panting and looking at her wide-eyed. His cheeks flushed red when she winked and turned away to disappear into the small Utuduodian transport shuttle.
Seth scrabbled to readjust his mask, his eyes still wide in shock. “Hey, you two better put your masks on.”
Glory only giggled and blew him another kiss as they both walked into the Utuduodian space shuttle. He glared as the girls’ shuttled lifted off and headed down an airlock tube.
With a shake of his head and an annoyed huff, he turned and signaled to board the royal Rhylosian shuttle.
They boarded and strapped into their seats. Seth sat at the pilot’s chair, but the coordinates were already set for the black market so he didn’t need to pilot the craft, just let it direct itself to their destination.
“Now what do we do?” Ashriel asked Seth.
“We need to go down into the bowels of the city. I’m going to have to just use my powers to locate her, but I think that it won’t take me more than a day cycle.”
Ashriel slammed his fist against the armrests. “A day cycle? I don’t understand. You are supposed to have this immense power.”
Seth growled, and ripped his gas mask off again now that the outer hatch was locked and the inner cabin filled with clean air.
“Shit. I am not God, you fucking asshole. You are not the only one torn up by this. Annie was like my big sister.”
“You desired her,” Ashriel accused.
“I wasn’t the one who fucked her,” Seth spat back.
Ashriel gasped. “What?” Seth flattened his lips into a grim line and looked away. “Who?” Ashriel demanded. ”Who fucked her? Remi? Zack, Devon?” He snarled when the weretigri remained silent. “Lucien. It was Lucien, wasn’t it?”
Seth’s pale blue eyes snapped back to glare at Ashriel.
The shuttle shot forward, zipped through three airlocks before slamming to a halt, almost throwing Ashriel out of his seat. Alarms went off.
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Seth snarled. “Fuck.”
Ashriel looked out through the windshield and gasped. The sky was practically blotted out with transports, the majority of which had enormous crystal vid relayers aimed at them.
“The media,” Seth growled. “We’ve been found.”
“How’re we gonna ditch them?” Natanael asked.
Ashriel raked his hands over his head, wincing when his fingers tangled in his braids.
Seth eyes glowed with power as he stared hard at the control panel. His gloved hands gripped the control levers and the shuttle jets whined with augmented power. “All right. Everybody just hold on.”
It was all the warning they got before the shuttle dropped.
“Fffuck,” Ashriel roared.
Anniel awakened to soft sobbing. She stirred and sat up rubbing her eyes, all the time wondering who’d been crying. Her eyes itched, but when she rubbed them, they burned, making her hiss.
The bed she lay on dipped heavily, startling her. Large hands engulfed hers, pulling them away from her face.
“It is worse if you rub,” a deep raspy voice said. “Lay back. I will put the drops Chameleon gave me.”
Anniel struggled half-heartedly to pull her hands away. She needed to get away, though she had no doubt Devon or Seth would come to her sooner or later. A hand caressed her cheek, making her go still.
“Trust me,” Cyn rasped.
She closed her stinging eyes and leaned a bit into his warm palm. He wore velvet gloves and they were soft against her skin.
Huffing out a sigh, she lay back. Anniel felt him lean over her. Two fingers propped open her left eye and she felt when a cool drop of liquid bathed her eye, giving her instant relief. He repeated the same with her right eye.
She inhaled sharply when his hands cupped her face and drew her up. His lips pressed feather light kisses over each eye.