Archangel's Kiss

by Santos, Anna

  Suddenly, around us, other vampires were also losing blood from their eyes and mouths. Bodies were collapsing throughout the room. Women screamed, and vampires could be heard hissing. Humans became hysterical, supernaturals ran to the doors, and the werewolves looked around, panicked. They quickly placed their hands under their noses and touched their faces to make sure they weren’t bleeding. They weren’t. The only ones suffering and collapsing on the floor were vampires.

  I held Jo in my arms before she fell. Confusion had spread around us. I saw a werewolf marching in my direction. He looked angry, and I hoped he was not going to try to attack me because Jo was in trouble, and I wanted to get her out of there.

  “Give me Josephine,” the werewolf ordered me.

  I glared at him. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

  “Her husband,” he replied, taking her from my arms. “What is wrong with her?”

  “She was poisoned,” I assumed, unsure, but recognizing the symptoms.

  The Alpha said, “But she is a vampire. This shouldn’t be happening to her.”

  Other hysterical screams alerted me to the fact of another commotion. I noticed some of the vampires exploding into ashes. It was surreal and almost like taken from a scene in a horror movie. Vampires didn’t combust. But the ones that did seemed to explode and become ashes in a matter of seconds. It was a dreadful sight to watch. By the horrific screams they made, it was agonizing. I had no idea what was going on.

  “They did this to us. The werewolves and the angels. It’s their fault. They are trying to kill us all,” one of the oldest vampires accused. He didn’t seem affected by the poison or virus—whatever it was. “Get Jean-Paul’s family. It is his fault. This was just an elaborate trap to bring us together and end our clans!”

  Inciting a war was probably unwise when we were outnumbered.

  I looked around and saw Sean with Gabby. He was not bleeding. That was a relief. I ordered him to leave the party and take his girlfriend out of here. He nodded, grabbed Gabby, and left.

  Then I heard Aria screaming. All my senses focused on her as I watched a vampire trying to attack her. I saw red. Before I could comprehend my actions, Camille was putting up a shield and protecting Aria, Jacob was summoning his flaming swords, and I was in front of the bastard ripping out his heart.

  When I looked back, Camille and Aria were no longer present. And Jacob was staring at me with a confused expression. He was probably wondering why I had protected them. I couldn’t care less about him. I wanted to get to Aria. Camille had probably teleported them somewhere else to keep her safe.

  I sped my way to where the orchestra was placed. The guests were hysterical, but I needed a higher ground to try to locate where the angel had gone with my mate. It was a long shot since she could have teleported to their realm. I was fortunate because I saw them appear next to the door. They were going to leave, and that made me breathe a deep sigh of relief.

  Then, to my surprise and despair, Aria stopped Camille from taking her out. She grabbed the Alpha’s son and took him in her arms before a vampire could grab and harm the pup. A werewolf put himself in front of Aria and the little boy, protecting them from the vampires who were targeting them. The child held onto Aria’s neck as he cried out for his mother. The vampires surrounded them, wanting to grab Jean-Paul’s cub and harm Aria in the process.

  Damn, my mate should be thinking about saving herself and not others.

  Camille had her shield up, and the vampires were slamming into it, trying to break it and growling with anger. I could hear Camille talking. She couldn’t teleport and hold the shield at the same time. Aria wouldn’t let the little one go. I could listen to Jean-Paul’s mate calling for her son while her bodyguards were pulling her to safety. But the woman was shifting to her wolf form. She was a mother wolf protecting her cub. That never ended well for the aggressors or the ones trying to stop her. A Luna was powerful and deadly. Letting her beast out would increase the body count.

  Before I could figure out a plan to make the vampires cease the attack and save Aria, a gargoyle landed before them. The vampires were pushed back as he was then grabbing, biting, and scratching them. Quickly, the aggressors were on the floor, crying from the pain.

  The Luna arrived next to him, growling at Aria, wanting her baby. She looked scared, but she was wise enough to give the child back to his mom.

  Camille grabbed Aria, William shifted to his human form, and they left to my relief. Two werewolves went to back them up, probably ordered by the Luna who was keeping her son in her arms and growling at the vampires who wouldn’t dare get near her.

  Meanwhile, I heard Jean-Paul speaking, trying to calm everyone down. Some angels were taking the vampires away, appearing and disappearing before our very eyes. The other vampires were demanding to know where they were carrying the wounded. Meanwhile, I sped my way out into the open air. I wanted to follow Aria. It was my only chance to know where she was staying. Besides, that party was not my problem. They could tell me what the hell had happened there and why vampires were becoming ill and dying, later.

  I was worried about Jo. However, she had left. An angel had taken her away together with her new husband. She was being cared for. And I needed Aria. I needed to talk to her and understand why she was at that party with the angels.

  Chapter TWENTY

  CEDRIC

  I had to leave Aria with Camille and Jacob while I was going to talk with my cousin William and Alpha Jean-Paul in the library. It was supposed to be a party, but my cousin’s arrival and his concerned face left me worried.

  I held back the urge to leave that party with Aria and kiss her, over and over again, until my lips hurt, and my desire was satisfied. I thought kissing her would calm me down, but it didn’t. It only awakened a hunger, a need that made me shiver. The kisses had increased the heat. It also made her glow, even if she wasn’t aware of it. Red sparkles flickered around her aura like nothing I had ever seen before. It was new and surprising. I knew she would be special just by the color of her hair. Plus, she was my mate, she would be my queen, and our bond would make her a strong and powerful angel. Yet, I wasn’t expecting her to become the most perfect and all-powerful angel on Earth, but I was excited regardless.

  Her glowing was a sign that she was accepting me, that she was falling in love like I was. Her innocence and her shyness made me fall hard. She smelled like roses and sun, she tasted like strawberries and cream. Aria was like an addiction to me—a good, happy, and amazing drug. I was sure I could never get enough of her. I was also confident I could make her mine way before the final transformation. There was nothing that could keep us apart. She was mine, I was hers, and we would be mated before the time required us to be. I just needed to make her my first and only priority. It was not hard to do. Everybody wanted us to be successful and to embrace the new King and Queen. Attaining Aria’s love was a priority. Making Aria mine was a necessity. And the kisses had triggered the angel’s transformation. Soon enough, everybody would see her wings, and she would experience her powers. I had no clue what those powers would be, but being a Red Angel was always an adventure. They were impressive, the most influential beings who walked the Earth. They were also the key to ending the war among the species. The last time a Red Angel appeared, peace was ensured for centuries. I couldn’t be prouder of my mate. No one could be more enamored with her than I already was.

  I entered Alpha Jean-Paul’s office where he and William were waiting.

  “What was so important to talk about that I had to leave my mate unattended?” I asked, staring at their worried faces.

  Jean-Paul had a glass of bourbon in one hand, and Will had a small bag of powder in his. It looked like some sort of drug, but I had no idea why he had it.

  “We have a problem,” Will spoke, walking towards the desk and opening the small bag over a sheet of paper. “Do you see this? This is Clarity, a new drug that showed up on the streets of Paris last night.”

  “And?�
�� I asked, entirely in the dark as to why it was worrying him. Human’s drugs were never an issue for us. We protected them from the supernatural beings and not from themselves and their vices.

  William answered, “And everyone who takes it gets poisoned.”

  I frowned at his words. “Do you mean they die?”

  The Alpha explained, “No, he means they become poison. Humans who consume Clarity are poison for vampires. Vampires who drink from them die, get sick, or they simply turn to ash.”

  My eyes widened at Jean-Paul’s words. “You are kidding.”

  William placed his hands on the desk. “He is not.”

  I looked at my cousin. “Who can be targeting the vampires?”

  “We don’t know yet. But this drug wasn’t made by humans, at least, not by ordinary humans. There are properties here I have never seen before. I’ve already analyzed the drug. It was the Florence faction that brought it to us. Everything started in Italy a month ago. They tried to deal with it themselves, but they were unable to find a cure and stop whoever was producing it. Last night, the first symptoms appeared in Paris,” Will reported. “Our men were able to track some dealers to try to find out where they got the product. But these were free samples. A man approached them, gave them a taste, saying it was a new hallucinogenic drug that was going to be a hit among the teens. It was a hit, alright. Clarity makes people smarter, they have more vivid fantasies, and they’re also a biohazard for vampires.”

  “Why am I just being informed of this?” I asked, upset about being left in the dark.

  “I’ve completed the analysis today. I didn’t have time to finish before the sun came up,” Will said, and I nodded. He was a gargoyle. His curse was still active, and he could only use his night time in pursuit of his studies. He was a scientist, a geneticist, and an inquisitive person. Aria would like him a lot. They would probably talk about the same things, and she would understand him better than I did.

  “Are we going to do something about this?” I asked, staring at Jean-Paul since it was the vampires’ problem and not ours. We were in a truce, some were even our allies, but still, vampires feeding from humans and dying from it or getting sick was not our concern.

  “We don’t know the implications that this drug has on other supernatural beings,” Jean-Paul said, gripping his hands behind his back. “And I’m reluctant to let Will experiment on our kind. He came here to ask me about it. He needs volunteers. I’m not sure who would want to volunteer to try something like that. I’m worried, but as you said, it is not our problem.”

  “I’m trying to find out the implications of this drug on other supernatural beings, so I can find a cure to prevent it. I don’t like vampires, and I don’t care if they are dying or not. But this drug, besides what it does to vampires, can also be a powerful weapon against them. Think about it, if the time comes to break the truce, this could make all the difference.”

  I stared at Will, taken aback by his words. He was talking about using the drug to create a weapon and not using it to find a cure for them. It was malevolent and against all of what our kind believed. There were times, my cousin would let his hate for the vampires cloud his judgment and influence his actions, like now for example.

  I reasoned with him, “Will, we don’t create weapons like that. We don’t engage in biochemical warfare. My father agreed for you to try to find a cure for our curse. He also agreed that you could study vampires and try to find a cure for vampirism. Many didn’t have a choice in becoming a vampire and would want a cure. But it was never his intention for you to find a way to eradicate vampires. We don’t kill without reason. We aren’t cold-blooded killers.”

  “I don’t want to eradicate vampires. I just want us to have something that can help us in a fight against them. They are getting stronger. They’re becoming better organized. We are the only thing stopping them from ruling the world and enslaving the humans.”

  “The humans can take care of themselves. They have weapons and means to fight them. They are not helpless like before. If they found out about them, vampires wouldn’t have a chance of survival. That is why everybody still thinks they are myths.”

  Jean-Paul joined in, “I don’t want to interrupt your conversation. But you forget about us. If humans target vampires, we will be the next ones to fall. Werewolves are poorly portrayed in their movies. They see us as beasts. Do you think humans would stop with exterminating only the vampires? They would get to us, and then they would get to you, angels and gargoyles. They would hunt all species down, to perform experiments and kill us.”

  “That is why we don’t reveal ourselves,” I declared. “This drug, whatever it is, will not be used by us to destroy vampires. If you want to find a cure, then find one, but don’t weaponize the drug.”

  “I just want your authorization to find out who created it. I want to find the manufacturer and understand if the side effect of this drug was intentional or a fluke. Because, if it wasn’t a fluke, then someone is targeting vampires and it could be only a matter of time before we might be next.”

  “You have my authorization,” I agreed, understanding his concerns. “However, if it wasn’t the werewolves or us who made that, then the only other possibility is the hunters.”

  “I thought about that,” Jean-Paul declared. “They are the only ones who hate vampires more than us. We’ve been able to coexist peacefully for the past several decades now. The only faction that keeps hunting us down is the hunters. They don’t distinguish between the bad or the good in the different species. They see us all as aberrations, abominations that need to be extinguished. I’ve made the necessary arrangements to infiltrate the hunters’ faction here in Paris and will try to find out if they are behind this. Since the drug first appeared in Florence, I asked our vampire allies to conduct their own investigation. They were already doing it. They tried to interrogate the hunters, but there were some casualties. Other factions were alerted by the attacks, so now Italy is a war zone between vampires and hunters.”

  “Hunters all over the world are being warned about the recent events,” Will pitched in, touching the product with his fingers.

  “Don’t do that. You don’t know what it can do to you,” I warned him. He was too curious for his own good.

  “If only I could find a werewolf who would be willing to taste this. It would be in the name of science.”

  “Will, we don’t conduct experiments on people or animals,” I reminded him.

  “I guess I just have to be patient and hope the drug doesn’t affect other supernaturals. But it would be nice to have a vampire to study. Could you ask your contacts to send me a sick vampire, Jean-Paul?”

  “I don’t know. I can talk to them about it,” Jean-Paul sounded uncertain, probably as concerned with William’s thirst for knowledge as I was.

  “Tell them I can find a cure,” Will said.

  “And if you can’t?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “Everything has a cure. Sooner or later, I will find how this drug works.”

  “Aren’t you coming to the party? I still need to introduce you to my mate,” I smiled at him, wanting to change the subject. He was too committed to science to want to have some fun.

  “I have more important matters to get excited about than a party. Though, I would like to meet your mate. It’s a rare opportunity to study the effects of the mate bond in both your blood. What do you say? Are you up to let me take some blood from you and her?”

  I frowned and rolled my eyes. He needed to find some other hobby. He was obsessed with his work and research. “Seriously, Will, do you think that asking Aria to give you her blood tonight would be the nicest thing to say when you two first meet?”

  “She is going to be the queen. She needs to start worrying about her royal subjects and their problems. Like us turning into stone during the day is a serious problem. Anyhow, I’m sure Aria is as lovely and sweet as all the new mates who are bestowed upon gargoyles. She must have something special to be
chosen by the angels to be the next queen.”

  “She does,” I said smiling. I was not going to share with him that she was going to be a Red Angel. That was my little secret. I was the only one who could see her soul, her angelic color. She was my mate and, when her wings grew, I would explain everything to her, teach her how to fly and how to use her powers.

  Besides, if he knew what she was going to become, I wouldn’t be able to shut him up. He would keep trying to convince me to conduct experiments on her and her blood.

  “The Cupid’s arrow hit someone,” Will teased, smiling for the first time that night. “I’m happy for you, cousin. You’ve been longing for her for a long time now. And it is about time we have a new King and Queen.”

  “I am thrilled,” I declared, ruffling my hair, feeling nervous about the redness that hit my face. I was enchanted by Aria. It was unusual to blush just by talking about her.

  “William, you should have seen him with her at the party. He wouldn’t let her go! One would think that he was a possessive werewolf,” Jean-Paul joked.

  “It’s good for us he feels so attracted and protective of his mate,” William declared, his eyes deliberating as if he was thinking about something important. “It means their bond is strong, and we will have a new royal couple soon enough.”

  “I have no intention of letting her run away from me,” I said, giving a lopsided smile and watching him purse his lips. “What are you thinking?” I asked, sure he was elsewhere and was not paying attention to my words.

  “If only I could replicate the love effects in gargoyles without mates, maybe I could find a way to prevent us from turning to stone during the day.”

  “A love drug,” I said, finding his words amusing.

  “Yes, a love drug.”