by Azure Boone
They all knew what he'd done. It was the how and why that crowded the air. How could Kassern, the most arrogant and strong of the elite have fallen to such a degree?
Fallen…
No. Kassern may have been weak where Karly was concerned, but he hadn't fallen. Although, others may not see it the same.
Uriel finally spoke. "Why...did you take the human named Karly as your wife?"
Kassern shifted in his seat, not quite prepared for several things. He expected that question, but not so soon, and wife? Not a term he’d considered for some reason. And the fury boiling beneath Uriel’s words were a little off putting as well. He’d expected the cut in his commander’s tone, but this was more than disappointment.
"We must be patient and give Kassern time to organize his thoughts," Grythe said. "He's been touched," he tapped his temple, "by a human woman."
The burst of deep laughter stung more than he'd anticipated. Kassern noted the grave looks from Salem, Dorn, and Azen. They’d been close to the Brothers who’d been punished for taking human wives millennia ago. This was anything but funny to them.
But this was not the same. Hardly. Grythe knew him better than that, the orange chalcedony prick.
How was Kassern supposed to proceed with a group that knew nothing of the human condition? Even he could've never anticipated it. He probably had more questions than them. "I was not fully aware of the complications that came with performing ligos and tendo tertius with a human couple."
"Do tell us brother, what sort of…complications are there?" Lassin leaned forward and glared at Kassern.
"Human women, for one," Zool growled.
Dorn studied his aquamarine nails. "And let's not forget the dreadfully powerful human women."
"Not to mention the great and terrible human women," Salem muttered.
Kassern grinned to further annoy the angels before nodding. "Mock it up. You'll get your taste of humanity soon enough, and I'm going to be there, laughing my ruby ass off while you're out buying flowers for your girlfriend."
The assembly erupted in laughter, but Kassern's mind had drifted to what kind of flowers Karly liked. To him she was the flower. A closed pink rose? Definitely. And when he did things with her, she bloomed right under his hands. And lips.
"Okay men," Uriel boomed, drawing Kassern back to business. Back to his extremely pissed off commander. "Kassern, why? Why did you not clear something of such a magnitude with me? Do you realize what this means?”
Kassern merely stared at the onyx before him, waiting for it. Waiting to hear what it meant, what sort of punishment he’d face, or demotion.
“Now that you’ve bound her to yourself, she is part of the triumvirate whether she wants to be or not, whether she should be or not, whether she can be or not.” Uriel blasted the last with a fist to the table.
Kassern couldn’t hide his shock. It was not one of the possibilities he’d considered in discipline. To have Karly at his side as his…as his wife?
Holy Universes. But then that would mean having her in this war.
Silence reigned for several moments and Kassern looked up to find his commander glaring at him. “Do you realize what that means, Kassern!” he repeated.
Damn. Kassern hated being clueless on every hand, but no, he didn’t know what the hell it meant, but judging by the unusual display of fury from his commander, it was really bad.
“It means you’ve screwed up the balance in the circle we’re creating. A triumvirate, Kassern, is three, not four.” The commander didn’t hide the moron in his baritone. “And I’m not sure what your little addition will do to the remaining triumvirates!”
Ohhhhh shit.
Uriel leapt up from the table, emerald wings erupting with his elite pissed-off-ness, the swords on his primary feathers shink-ing with the urge to rid the worlds of evil.
“So what does this mean?” Arith’s pearl wings erupted at the commander’s annoyance.
“Better not mean what I think it means,” Vecktor muttered.
Uriel actually growled. That was new. “It damn well does mean that.” He stormed back to the table. “The circle must be perfect, it cannot be frankensteined without creating serious unknowns that we cannot afford.”
The eruption of angelic anger was nearly deafening. Okay, maybe rage.
The yellow topaz Meron was the first to let him have it. “How in God’s holy name does our best warrior manage to screw this minor task up?”
Kassern stood, his own anger flaring. “Minor? I had one month to get the right couple together, so that alone demolishes your minor.”
“A preacher and a whore?” Lyight’s diamond eyes flashed with his sarcasm.
“Yes,” Kassern grated out, “we were to select one in need of redemption for maximum power, which by the way, I did not remember.” Kassern turned to Uriel. “My angelic powers were all over the damn place, memory shot to hell, abilities skewed, and guess what, the female was attached to people that I couldn’t just rip her from.”
“Ah, yes, the whore’s best friend. Two whores with one stone, nice,” Salem said.
Kassern launched across the table and blasted the bastard into the wall, pummeling with all he had.
“Enough!” Uriel’s command came with ass-busting power and plastered them both on their backs.
Kassern shook his head and jumped up, pointing a finger at Salem. “Her name is Karly. Call her anything else and I will kick your puke green ass across all Seven Universes, you have no clue what she’s been through.” Kassern couldn’t keep the roar out of the final words.
Silence fell in the chamber and Kassern turned to find astonished gazes trained on him. Like he was a freak and they couldn’t believe they would have to become one too.
Kassern reluctantly took his seat again. “Ask your questions, Uriel.”
“Did you use influence on the human you joined with?”
“Not intentionally, no.”
“Not intentionally.” He wasn’t happy with that answer.
“I told you my powers were out of my control. I think she got attached to me when I rescued her from torture and certain death. It was only hours after I’d formed the triumvirate and I was weak and my abilities were scattered.”
“Scattered?” Grythe asked.
“Yes, my humans picked up some of my abilities and I suffered with some of theirs.”
“Suffered how,” Uriel demanded.
“Hunger, headaches, anger—”
“Lust.”
Kassern bristled at Zool. “Not lust.”
He quirked a brow.
“Love.” Kassern’s voice lowered.
More silence.
“Eros?” Lyight finally asked.
Kassern didn’t have to think about it. “Most definitely. Which…as we all know, comes with passions of every kind.”
Utter quiet reigned again before Uriel spoke. “I just need to make damn sure you didn’t break any rules that the enemy can use against us. And since you know the rules, did you break any of them knowingly and willingly?”
Kassern sighed, thinking. “Not that I can think of, no.”
Uriel rolled his eyes, again not happy with anything but exacts. “What of the enemy? What are we up against exactly?”
Kassern gave a dry laugh. “The equivalent of a spiritual dirty bomb? Those things I encountered just before coming here were a breed of their own kind. They’re intelligent, cruel, crave human flesh, strong, and worst of all, they adapt.”
“Adapt how.” Uriel crossed his arms.
“I’m not altogether sure but during recon, I learned they were connected. All of them, down to their demonic capillaries.”
“Connected?” Meron wondered.
“We hacked thousands of those things, and their parts remained with instinct, continuing with whatever directive the entire pack of them had.”
“Disgusting.” Arith raked a hand through purple hair.
“That’s not all,” Kassern said. “There are
other creatures. Soceris has been busier than we thought. Seems he’s offering some of this harvested power to humans who choose.”
“And what of those?” The mercury warrior, Toran, joined in at last.
Kassern recalled that one creature. “It’s hard to know the extent of those as well. I encountered one who seemed to possess the skill an Over Lord. But then my own powers were all over the place, so, it’s hard to be certain. Suffice it to say, if I had been attacked by more than one at a time, in that condition, it wouldn’t have been sweet.”
“Then it’s settled,” Uriel muttered.
Kassern turned to him and the commander met his gaze. “I wanted only one triumvirate operating at a time, to keep a low power profile, but with this information, I’ll need you to stick together until we know more. That means your…” he twirled his fingers as he searched for the correct term, “quadumvirate…will need to protect the next until the transition takes.”
Kassern snorted. “Do I need to remind you of the chameleon characteristics of these unions? Unpredictable is an understatement.”
“Yes. I don’t mean closely involved, just close enough to guard. If memories are affected, it puts us blind. We can’t risk that.”
He was right. Not knowing things was worse than no power. “Agreed.”
“Not to mention, I’ll need eyes and ears from here on out. I don’t want any more surprises.”
“Who is the next warrior?” Kassern asked.
Uriel took a deep breath then released it. “Any volunteers?”
Kassern watched the warriors in his peripheral vision, wanting to snort at how eager they all weren’t.
“I’ll go.”
Dorn. Kassern resisted a smile at the angel’s cocky tone. Like he’d be the one to show everybody how it was done.
Kassern gave in to his grin. This was going to be a load of damn fun; watching Mr. Uptight Perfectionist inherit humanity, along with all the amazing benefits therein. And the woman he chooses...holy Father, he couldn’t wait to see her reaction. They didn’t come any more beautiful than Dorn; jet black shoulder length hair and intense aquamarine eyes. As long as he kept his mouth shut, the angel could evoke an orgasm with his appearance alone.
It all reminded him of one remarkable thing.
Karly. His wife.
The End
If you enjoyed “Kassern” the first book in the Archangels Creed series, be sure and look for the second, “Summon Dorn” coming in February, 2013.
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