Lemuel moved into Rahmiel’s face. “It can’t stand in the way of justice. We’re taking you to the Assembly for a hearing.”
Rahmiel gave a disgusted sigh. “What about the famine demon? You’re just going to let it keep feeding, getting stronger? And what about the Old Laws of Binding? Your council has done away with the Old Laws?”
“No. But they may need to make exceptions.” Lemuel looked at the Angels flanking Rahmiel and nodded. In a flurry of wings they were gone.
Kari was too stunned to move. “I’m stranded. You’re taking Rahmiel and I’m stranded,” she screamed skyward, hoping the Angels would hear.
The jungle birds in the canopy stopped twittering. Nothing else happened.
Kari sank down onto the thin blanket. Surely they would realize they’d left her stranded there. Rahmiel would tell them. They’d return soon. Wouldn’t they?
* * * *
Rahmiel was furious but he forced himself to remain calm. The way they had looked at Kari. And then leaving her there, all alone. What kind of Guardians were these? He wanted to rip them apart with his bare hands.
The Guards placed him in an energy cell where he had little movement. He could sit or lie down, but he couldn’t stand.
He flopped back into a reclining position and tuned Lemuel out. The ass knew the truth—people were going to die tonight because Kaphawn was free and growing stronger. Last night two died. Tonight the body count would be higher. But Lemuel thought he was administering justice. Tell that to someone the demon will suck life out of tonight.
He didn’t dare think about Kari, alone on the island. Not if he hoped to appear calm.
Lemuel finally shut his mouth and left. Probably going to his lavish palace for the evening, Rahmiel thought. While Kari hides under the damn blanket, scared to death.
Once Lemuel was gone, he sat up. “What if there is wild boar on the island?” he snarled at the remaining Guards. “What if she dies? She’s an innocent. Do you want innocent blood on your hands?”
The Guards pretended not to hear him, but he knew better.
“Are humans now worthless? Their lives have no value? Is that the way of the Overland? I thought we were oath bound to use our powers to help our weaker brethren. Did you take new vows?”
“No, we hold to our vows,” one of the Guards shot back.
Rahmiel hid a grin. Undisciplined, just as he’d figured. Back in his day, a Guard could hold up to little baiting. Lemuel was a lousy leader.
“She’s not strong, you know. Not like an Angeli girl. She can’t fight a wild animal or fly away from it. She has no weapons or tools. If something bites her, she’ll get an infection in that climate. Even if she can survive boar attacks, she won’t know what safe to eat. She will die unless she is rescued from that island.” He let his anger show in his tone.
“I’ll talk with Lemuel in the morning. We’ll send someone for her.”
“What if morning is too late? Sunset is soon there. What if a boar gets her or a large monkey thinks she’s invaded its territory? A couple of bites to the neck and she’s dead.
Our bond won’t protect her from Earth creatures. I’ll make sure the Assembly knows you chose to leave her in deadly danger.”
There was silence.
“You can wing there in a moment’s time, scoop her up and drop her off at her friend’s home. Or even bring her here. That would be even quicker. No one would even know you were gone. I can’t get out of this cell, anyway.”
The Guards, young men he’d never served with, glanced at each other. One gave a slight nod. “We will discuss it.” They left the room. They were gone for a long time.
Hopefully they are using what little honor they have to rescue Kari. Rahmiel had observed some interesting things while he was on ice. There was something he thought he could do…he was able to do it while in the ice, but he hadn’t been able to move, being frozen. He suspected the energy cell wasn’t as strong a prison as the ice. Soon the Guards would be back with news of Kari. Once he knew she was safe he would act.
The Guardians arrived back at his cell in a flurry of wings. Kari, looking exhausted and cold, stood with them. At least she’s safe from Kaphawn. Those bastards, leaving herthere alone. He felt as if a great weight lifted off him. “Put her in here with me, so I can warm her.”
Kari looked so pitiful. It must have rained. She and her blanket were soaked and her lips were blue. The Guards allowed her to enter the cell.
He held her tight and stretched his wings forward to warm her. “I’m so sorry,” he crooned. “I had no idea those idiots would treat you like that. Back in my day it would never have happened.”
“They could have taken me to Tressa’s,” she said.
“We couldn’t take her home. We’ve never navigated around Earth without Lemuel,” one of the Guards mumbled. “Today was the first time we’ve ever been there.
It took us a while to find her.”
“That is still no excuse.” Rahmiel rubbed his hands up and down her back and was pleased when she snuggled closer. The Guards watched him, and he made a face at them. “How about a little privacy, boys? Kari doesn’t need you staring at her. You’ll make her uncomfortable. Like you did earlier.”
One of the Guards blushed. With a glance at each other they turned their backs.
“I want you to close your eyes, Kari. Feel the bond. Okay?” Kari nodded. Her pink lip color started returning.
He closed his eyes and pulled her tight and fell into the intricate pattern that glistened behind his eyelids. He sought the Ether.
* * * *
“Where are we?” she asked, a moment later.
He opened his eyes and shouted with laughter. “It worked.”
They were in a small oval-shaped chamber made of a foamy white, springy substance. Rahmiel let go of her and jumped up. He landed with a bounce, and then pulled her up by her hands to bounce with him.
“We’re in Ether. It is a space between dimensions. In school as a child the teachers described it as the pith around the pomegranate seeds. Dimensionally speaking.”
“How did we get here?”
“I could observe the Ether when I was in ice. Finally I started trying to get here. I could see other beings here, from other dimensions, or an occasional shaman from Earth, or a Scholar from Angeli would show up for brief times. I found I could get here and stay for a long time. But I hadn’t figured out how to get out of the ice. I figured if I stayed in Ether it would eventually melt. But it was too boring. At least in ice I could watch Earth and the Overland. I kind of phased us here.”
“Okay, I understand none of that. But I gather we are safe?”
He noticed she was hugging herself, still cold, so he began to rub her arms and back. Warming Kari up was making him feel pretty warm. And she smelled so good.
Edible. The memory of her taste and smell as he tongued her came to him in a rush, and he felt the heat burn through his body and center on his cock. Had it always felt so intense? In the ice he had no physical reactions at all, though he still found women and sex interesting. Now, innocent touches on this girl’s back and he was ready to explode.
He eased away from her a little. “You can stand or walk around. Or lie down. You can’t fall through to anywhere.”
“It’s like stiff bubbles. Or craft foam. Or children’s modeling clay except it’s fluffy.
This stuff is cool.” She played with it for awhile, as did Rahmiel. They could shape it or brush it aside. They made it into balls and threw them, but they didn’t hit with any force. They could sculpt it into shapes, like bucket seats, and it retained the shape they gave it. They played with it, digging through a wall to the next, empty section. The wall promptly healed itself.
Kari giggled as her stomach growled. “Any chance we can leave here and go home?
Or to Tressa’s?”
“It would be best to stay here. I know the Guardians will be looking for me. They will be looking for me in the places I’ve been be
fore. Also, I would like to try a few things out here, now that I can move.”
“What about Kaphawn?”
He slumped down next to her. “We won’t be able to stop him tonight. It’s already far past sunset. But I can feed you.” He reached out a hand. Soon his hands were full of little white pillows.
“It worked.” He grinned then popped one of the pillows into his mouth. “Not bad.
Like dried fruit. With juice inside.”
He pressed one of the small pillows to her lips and she took a bite. The texture was like a dried apple, rather rubbery, and the pillow held a juice with a faint banana flavor.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. Some type of food native to this realm. They won’t be able to find us here. The Angeli know it exists, and some have entered it briefly. But none have been here for a thousand years. Unless someone popped in while I was looking at Earth.”
“You learned all of this by watching?”
“Yes, and listening. There are beings that frequent this realm who are not so different from Angeli. Perhaps, in eons past, we were one race. Their language is similar to Angeli. So I listened to Elders teaching the young how to navigate here.”
Kari held up one of the morsels. “These are probably low fat. How do you get them?”
“It is all a matter of focus and intent. I don’t think humans can do it, though.”
Kari squeezed her eyes shut, concentrated on food, reached out her hand and opened her eyes to see a handful of little white pillows. “It’s not hard.”
“Huh. Well, good. You can eat as much as you want.”
He slumped back onto the foamy nothingness and frowned at her. “I think we can learn to use the Ether to our advantage with the demon. In all the time I observed this place, I never once saw a demon here. If we could learn how to navigate from here to places on Earth, it could be very helpful. But we have to do it together. I don’t want to take the chance of losing you in the Ether.” He grabbed a handful of little pillows and munched them quickly, still frowning in concentration.
Kari soon felt not only full, but the juice in the odd food quenched her thirst as well.
“Now what?” she asked when he slowed down his food intake.
“Come here,” he patted his thighs.
“Rahmiel, we don’t have time for that.”
He did that little pout. “You know, back when I walked the Earth, human girls were very accommodating.”
“Like, they obeyed you, oh most Angelic one?”
He grinned at her sarcastic tone. “Something like that. It was considered quite an honor to be chosen by an Angeli.”
“And you think I should be more accommodating, I should obey you and stuff?”
“It would be nice. For instance, if you were more accommodating, you would know that I didn’t want you to come close so we could be intimate. I wanted to figure out the Ether without getting separated.”
“Oh.” She felt a little embarrassed. “Then, you should ask nicely, and explain things. I’m not going to just follow orders.”
“Right.” He grinned. In the past he had found the obedient human women boring.
Kari was not boring. He moved with supernatural swiftness, and she found herself crushed against his chest. His lips moved down her neck and she shivered.
He chuckled. “The more we are together, the more you’ll want to be together. That is how the binding works.” He pressed his lips to the pulse beating in her neck and was gratified to feel it running fast as he wrapped his arms around her, pressing her breasts up.
“That’s scary.”
“Yes. For me, too.”
He turned her so her back was against his chest. One arm slid down across her abdomen and gripped her hip. He pushed her back side tight against him. She could feel his hard cock pressed against her bottom.
“We don’t have time for this,” Rahmiel said. His voice sounded strained.
“We don’t?” She felt warm now, and weak in the knees.
“Let’s try Tressa’s place.” His hand left her hip and he held her tight around the torso.
His wings lifted in a rush of air, and he took off.
There was movement, the feeling of flight, but they remained in the white environment of the Ether.
He tried again, but again there were no results.
He put his wings down and let her go. Slumped back into the Ether, he rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know why it is not working. I could get back and forth when I was in ice.”
Kari could see his cock was still engorged, the ridge obvious under the loincloth he wore.
“Could it be…?” She waved a hand toward his crotch. “Maybe it’s interfering with your concentration.”
His eyes lowered to her breasts. “Yes. Perhaps my concentration could be better.”
He frowned a little. “We are in a hurry.” He tugged on her shorts.
“They’re not going to fall through the Ether, are they?” Kari clutched at her shorts, worried about losing them in this strange place.
Rahmiel sat her shorts on a foamy bank. “Looks like your clothes will be fine,” he said, and yanked off her top and bra.
“How do you know? This is all new to you, too.”
“I just conducted an experiment, and your clothes didn’t disappear.”
She found herself on her back, with her legs pushed open. “We’re in a hurry right?”
She didn’t feel sore at all now, even with her legs pushed wide apart. With a grin she wiggled away from him, giggling, and gently bit one flat nipple. He jumped but grinned back at her. Then she pushed him onto his back and straddled him.
Chapter Nine
“Are you sure you’re ready to do this? I don’t want to if you’re still sore.” Rahmiel sucked in a breath as she grasped his cock in her hand. Kari smiled in satisfaction. She liked being able to turn him on.
“I changed my mind,” she said in a silky voice, looking at him through her lashes.
“I decided I want to try it this way.”
“I’m not objecting.” He panted short breaths.
Kari’s smile widened at the sight of him, lips parted to breathe. He was stuttering because of her. Planting herself on one muscled thigh, she wiggled side to side. He shut his eyes, and she grinned. Now, this was fun.
“I know you were in a hurry, but I think I need to take it slow.”
“Yes,” he moaned. His hand found her clit and he flicked and rubbed her, watching her through slit lids.
“Can you feel how wet I am?” She glided against his thigh. He opened his lips and panted.
“Yes,” he gasped.
She moved until she was sitting right above his cock. She could feel it, hard and hot against her bottom. She swayed her hips from side to side, enjoying the rasp of his pubic hair against her clit. Then she rose up and lowered herself slowly onto his shaft.
“It doesn’t hurt at all when I do this slowly,” she whispered. He made a funny gulping sound.
She raised herself up a little, and then glided back down his cock, slowly. So slowly.
He thrust up.
She halted her move. “Oh, now, that might hurt. You’ll have to be still.”
He let a breath out between his clenched teeth.
“Ooh, yes, I think that did hurt a tiny bit. Maybe I’ll just do this.” She swayed from side to side. His hands, she noticed, were fisting the foam. “Hey, what happened to the hand stuff?” she complained.
He scowled at her through narrowed eyes. “You’re a little evil, aren’t you?”
She smiled, sweetly. “Ya think?”
“Maybe this will feel good.” She rocked her hips forward and back.
The back and forth movement felt good, so she did it more vigorously. He made a snorting sound and bucked underneath her.
She stopped moving.
“Did I hurt you?” His eyes flew open.
“Nope. But you just stay still.”
He released a brea
th. “Right.”
She moved her hands to his chest and began to pinch his nipples. He flung his head back and she could see him swallow.
She raised herself up, just a little, and descended quickly.
He groaned, loudly. “Ah, don’t stop.”
It felt good to have him so deep inside, hard and slick. “All right,” she crooned, and proceeded to ride him while his talented hands found her nipples, her clit.
His wet fingers circling her clit, combined with his hard hot cock deep within her, soon pushed her over the edge. With a high pitched cry her pussy convulsed, gripping his cock as the sharp pleasure gripped her. Then his hands gripped her hips hard, and he bucked and thrust wildly into her. He flooded her with his release.
They were both limp, Kari on top. She could feel his semen dripping from between her legs. She yawned. “I wish we had a shower.”
They were suddenly awash in warm water, coming at them from all directions.
Rahmiel chuckled.
Her drying clothes were now soaked again. She concentrated on dry clothes but nothing happened. She struggled into her wet clothes.
“Come on, let’s try for Tressa’s again. I won’t be distracted for a while.” Rahmiel dressed in his loin cloth and slid his arms around her.
A moment later he disappeared.
Kari whirled around. No Rahmiel. He wasn’t in the foamy white chamber.
Somehow, he must have transported just himself to Tressa’s.
She concentrated on Tressa’s house. Nothing happened. She concentrated on her car, parked in Tressa’s driveway. Again, nothing happened.
“Great.” Kari flopped down onto the foam and helped herself to another handful of pillow fruit. “Alone, again.”
* * * *
“Something has gone wrong. They should not be this late.” Tehmuel paced the small deck that overlooked Tressa’s wildly overgrown back yard. “It will be sundown in an hour.”
“I’m certain they were planning to be back early,” Amber agreed. “Something must have happened on that island.” She glanced at her watch again. It was less than an hour now. She couldn’t imagine Kari being so irresponsible. Not when lives were at stake.
Angel Magic Page 7