Ardeur (Abbey of Angels)

by Danielle Gavan

  Left with little choice, I had manifested an energy blast of my own and hurled it at Rae with everything I had. If Gethiel wasn't going to protect my unborn child, I'd do it and the rest of the world be damned.

  Gethiel had jumped into the fight then and we both hurled blast after blast, yet somehow Azrael managed to dodge the majority of them.

  “Stop, Ardy or I'll be forced to retaliate and my vengeance will be brutal.” He'd laughed and the sound had a chilling effect on me that halted the energy blast in my hand. “That's a good girl. Put the blast away and your babies will remain safe.”

  The one word Rae used, babies, stuck in my head and continued to do so as the memory faded into the light of a candle that flickered and glowed on the bedside table.

  “Where am I?”

  Rae’s face loomed close in the darkness. “Where no one will ever find you, or our children.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “I’m not having children with you. Brody and I are having a baby. Rae, you have to let me go.”

  “Still can’t to figure it out? Come now, Ardy, don't be dense. I may not be able to see inside your head anymore but I know how smart you are, it shouldn't be hard to put the pieces together.” He giggled like a schoolgirl - the sound sending chills down my spine. “We're having twins.”

  The possessive noun in his exclamation snapped me out of the confusion I was in and brought me back to cold, chilling reality. “Oh, no we are not. Brody and I are having twins - apparently. There is no you involved in that at all, Rae. None.”

  Azrael went from an insane form of happy to terrifying in the blink of an eye. His face was a breath away from my own and he pressed a hand over my abdomen despite my efforts to pry it off. “You are never, ever to say that name again. Those babies are mine and I'll destroy any part of him they may have inherited.”

  “I'd rather die first.” I spat the words at him and tried to manifest an energy blast to no effect other than to make Rae laugh hysterically.

  His response to my attempt at injuring him was to tie one of my hands to the bed with a ring of energy. “Don't fight it, sweetheart. You'll only end up hurting yourself.” Rae circled the bed, all the while keeping his eyes fastened on my face. “Your power won't work here since you haven't chosen a calling yet, but that will soon be remedied.”

  I struggled despite his warning and cried out when energy screamed up my arm from the cuff on my wrist. “Never. I'll never choose you or to be an angel of death.”

  “You have to choose me. We love each other.”

  “I don't love you.” The zap of energy had sapped my strength and that, combined with the fatigue of early pregnancy, was beginning to take its toll. I blinked at Rae and shook my head. “If there is such a thing as an Angel of Anger and Wrath, that's what I would choose because those two emotions are all I feel toward you, Rae. Anger and Wrath.”

  Rae's eyes widened, his mouth gaped like a fish as he backed across the room. “No. Nononono. Take it back. Take back the choice. Choose death. Choose me.”

  I understood then what I had done without realizing it. My choice had been made and after everything I had been through in my life it felt like the right one. “I choose Anger and Wrath.”

  Whatever I had expected to happen next, it wasn't a blow that would rock my head back against the wall and knock me out cold. Without my power to bolster me, I was as weak as a kitten compared to the brute strength Rae possessed and I sank into oblivion as the first gush of warm blood trickled from my shattered nose.

  Tate returned to the Abbey to update Brody on the situation, only to find the place deserted and unshielded. The lack of werewolf didn't set off the alarms in his head as much as the lack of protection for their sanctuary. Only one person could have done that and he was MIA.

  He cast a wide sensory net over the Abbey and cursed when he discovered residual human energy outside in the yard. There had been a shitload of people out there, which meant their sanctuary was no longer safe for anyone.

  One of the Powers, Zacharael by name, landed beside Tate and surveyed the area. “The police were here recently. I believe you may find your friend at the local constabulary.”

  “It's called a police station now, Zach.” Tate glanced at the dark angel and went back inside. “You boys really should spend a bit more time down here. It might make you a bit less uptight.”

  Zacharael grunted and followed. His aristocratic nose wrinkled like a fussy five-year-old that had been handed a plate of something distasteful. “The stench of the Fallen permeates this room. We must find the - “

  Tate cut the angel off when a familiar feeling crept over his scalp, down his spine and winged out through his feet. He shook himself to relieve the goose bumps that came whenever an unbound angel chose their calling. “Looks like we've got ourselves a new Angel of Anger and Wrath.” Zacharael gave him a quizzical look and Tate grinned. “Ardeur has chosen her path and she will be magnificent.”

  “We must find her then, so that you may bestow her powers upon the youngling. Tracking the scent of the Fallen may be our best method.” He fixed black, emotionless eyes on Metatron. “It would have been easier had you been one of us. His blood would call to yours no matter where Azrael hid himself.”

  “Not my choice, my friend.” Tate clapped Zacharael on the shoulder and tilted his head toward the door. “Come on, my car's parked out back. The local PD won't understand how we showed up to fetch our friend without a car. Twenty five miles is a long walk.”

  Brody climbed into the backseat of the Mercedes with a frustrated growl. “When we find Rae, his ass is mine.” He slammed the seatbelt into its lock and glared out the window at the building he'd been held in against his will. “Five hours wasted in that godforsaken place.”

  “What I'm about to tell you won't make you feel any better about it.” Tate jammed the key in the ignition and the car roared to life seconds later. “Ardy's gone and we can't find Rae anywhere.” He flinched at the flare of angry energy from the backseat. “Good news is, wherever Ardy is, she's chosen her path and it's the most perfect one she could have picked.”

  Zacharael turned to face the werewolf behind him. “Your mate will be a force to be reckoned with once she has been brought into her full power. If the damage done to the room she was held in is any indication of her strength, she will strike fear into the hearts of many.”

  “And just who are you?” Brody was beyond the point of being calm or polite. His mate, his pregnant-with-twins mate, was missing and quite probably at the mercy of an off-his-rocker Angel of Death. Being calm and polite just wasn't on the top of his list of priorities at the moment.

  “I am the one who can find and save your mate from Azrael. You need me, boy, and it would behoove you to remember the fact.”

  The growl that rumbled out from Brody's throat held more threat than warning as he leaned forward and got in the Angel of Power's face. “Let's get one thing straight. I'm doing the saving. You just point me in the right direction and I'll do the rest.” Golden wolf eyes glared into the jet-black of Zacharael's unblinking stare. “It's my family that asshole is holding captive. Get in my way and I will take you down too. We clear?”

  A satisfied grin spread over Zach's face. “You are a fitting mate for one such as an Angel of Anger and Wrath. Ardeur chose well.”

  “Anger and Wrath?” Brody couldn't help the feeling of pride that filled him. “Hell yeah she chose well. My Goldie is a fighter and gods help the bastard that gets in her way.”

  Tate found a side road and parked the car. “Right now, no one is helping Rae but he doesn't seem to need it. He's hiding himself and Ardeur so well even our best trackers can't find them.” He nodded toward Zacharael as he got out of the car and waited for the other two to follow. “Zach's our last resort.”

  Brody faced Zacharael toe to toe and nose to nose. “Then he had best hope he finds her, and soon.”

  Twenty Seven

  I lost count of how many times Rae broke my nose
or shattered a cheekbone because he didn't like my response to his insane ramblings. Blood from the injuries that Azreal would heal within minutes of inflicting them ruined the clothes I’d been wearing.

  Never once did he try to harm my children, and for that small mercy, I was thankful. I had read somewhere about a syndrome they applied to prisoners who came to love and care for their captors. While I knew that I could never love Rae, I did feel a small amount of gratitude toward him for keeping my babies safe despite his ill treatment of their mother.

  “Please, Rae? Change my shirt at least.” The thin cotton was once again glued to my chest with blood from the most recent attack. My nose was healed, but the mess the break had made was still soaking through my shirt. “It's a disgusting mess and you know I can't do it for myself.” I fingered one of the heavy golden cuffs. He'd slapped them on my wrists while I was out of it after the near catastrophic set of silver cuffs had replaced the temporary energy restraint.

  Azrael blinked at me as if I had lost my mind for asking him to change my clothes. “Your shirt is fine. Red suits you, sweetheart.”

  The fact that the only red on my shirt was the fresh blood wasn't lost on me. It was also clear that Rae had sunk further into his delusions if he thought that the formerly white material, now ruined by the multitude of rust colored bloodstains, was red. Arguing with him was pointless and would do nothing but earn me another stain to match the rest. I’d had enough for the day, thank you very much.

  “Eat your breakfast.” He pointed to the plate of scrambled eggs, cut fruit and toast. “I had the cook make your favorite. The bacon smells wonderful and the sauce on those eggs benedict looks perfect.”

  My stomach revolted at the thought of poached eggs despite the fact I was hungry enough to eat dirt at that point. I picked at the fruit and went for one of the small green rounds of honeydew. “I'm sure it does, Rae, but I'm not much in the mood for eggs benny this morning.”

  I didn't see the slap coming and the crack of skin on skin echoed through the quiet room. The fruit that had just gone into my mouth flew back out and bounced off Azrael's chest to roll away across the floor.

  “I said eat. You will not deprive my children of the food they need to grow.”

  How he could still believe the twins I carried were his after the silver cuffs had nearly killed them was beyond my scope of understanding. Angels suffered no side effects from the precious metal but my babies weren't one hundred percent angel. Their werewolf genetics had recognized the cuffs as harmful and I'd begun to bleed within minutes of the restraints being applied to my wrists.

  Luckily for me and my babies, all angels, even Death, had the ability to heal others. Rae had replaced the deadly silver with gold and stopped the bleeding before it was too late to do anything for my children. Nothing he'd said had reassured me that I was still pregnant until the gnawing hunger that was almost always present came back with a vengeance.

  The days of my captivity turned into weeks and with time, my once flat abdomen stretched into the reassuring roundness of pregnancy. Brody had told me my pregnancy would last five months and yet I couldn't help but marvel at how quickly the changes in my body were taking place.

  Thoughts of my mate always brought tears to my eyes. He was missing so much of this wonderful experience we should have been sharing together as first time parents. That was something for which I wouldn't forgive Azrael.

  “What the-?” I looked up as a shimmer of power flared through the room. Rae sat, unfazed by the brief flicker, across the room reading What to Expect When You're Expecting. It was the most ridiculous thing ever considering my pregnancy was unlike anything the book could ever predict.

  The shimmer came again and this time I knew it wasn't coming from Rae. I scanned the room for a clue to what was going on but nothing stood out to catch my notice. I put the breakfast tray aside and slid off the bed.

  “Where are you going?” Rae spared me a glance and went back to reading about all of the things human women experienced during childbearing.

  I adjusted the hem of my shirt, much shorter now thanks to the swell that housed my children, and took a few steps away from the bed. “Just going to relieve some pressure. Would you prefer I pee in bed?”

  He glared at me seconds before the very spot where I'd been sitting exploded in a rain of shredded bedding, mattress and other bits that had been my bed.

  Brody, Tate and another person I didn't recognize stood amidst the chaos and faced Azrael. Never before had I been so happy to see three people in my entire life as I was to see those men.

  Tate moved to my side while Brody and the unknown angel faced off with Rae. He'd risen from his chair and manifested energy blasts in each hand.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to call out and warn my mate when the angel at my side touched my arm and shook his head. “You'll distract him and that man has been waiting a month to kick some angel ass.” Tate slid his hand down the grubby skin to my wrist and lifted it to examine the cuff. “Well, that explains why we couldn't find you and why you couldn't escape.” He clicked the lock free and repeated the process on the other side. “Brody,” the cuffs flew through the air and landed in my mate's free hand. “Throw those on the bastard and then have at him.”

  The cuffs landed in his hand and Brody spared them a glance before focusing his attention on Azrael. He'd gotten a quick look at Ardy when they'd stormed into the room and her bloody, messed up appearance had sparked an anger inside of him unrivaled by anything he'd ever felt before. “They tell me I can't kill your ass for what you've done to my Goldie, but seeing the evidence of the way you've treated her - I'm going to try my damn best to do just that.”

  “You can try, pooch, but you won't succeed.” Rae lobbed an energy blast that Brody dodged with little effort.

  “That the best you've got, asshole?”

  Azrael pulled his arm back to throw another blast at him and blinked as a golden blur whizzed past his face and clamped around his wrist. The energy blast sputtered and died as he stared, incredulous, at his hand.

  Zacharael looked over at Metatron and Ardeur as he felt a surge of power in the room. The two of them stood as they had before and he looked back at Rae with a curious expression. “Metatron, remove the youngling - Now.”

  “No. I'm not leaving Brody here to face that psycho alone.”

  She stepped forward and Tate pulled her back out of harm's way as he too felt the surge. “It's okay, Ardy. We'll stay but I'm putting a shield up around us.”

  “I'm good, baby. Keep your sweet self and those babies safe.”

  Brody's eyes were glowing with the fury he felt toward Azrael. He let some of the wolf's energy loose and growled as the sting of transformation slid across his chest and down to hands that formed into deadly claws. The muscles of Brody's neck, chest and shoulders thickened; his spine and the long bones of his body elongating until he stood near to eight feet tall.

  Man and beast blended to form the ultimate fighting machine of slashing claws and snapping teeth designed to snap an enemy in two or shred them to ribbons. Thick, glossy fur the color of angry storm clouds flowed out over normally tanned and freckled skin until Brody looked less like himself and more the thing of nightmares and modern day horror movies. He snapped his teeth at Rae and the angel had the good sense to step back - but not before Brody slapped the second cuff on him. The distraction tactic had worked well; the angel had been preoccupied by the transformation and forgotten where he was for a moment.

  With the playing field somewhat leveled, the fight began in earnest. Tate explained, “Azrael's stripped of his ability to throw energy blasts or use some of his more deadly powers thanks to those cuffs, but, he's retained his strength, and he'll need it against the brutality of your wolf's size and the fury behind all of that muscle. Brody is even more amazing than I'd expected him to be.”

  The angel Tate had told me was Zacharael stood on my other side and watched as werewolf and angel circled each other. Brody feint
ed and swiped at Rae's side catching him in the rib cage before he had the chance to skitter out of the way. Four crimson slashes formed on the left side of Azrael's body and his shirt was soon soaked with blood.

  Azrael dodged the next swipe, landed a solid uppercut to Brody's jaw and snickered when the bigger man's head snapped back. He didn't snicker for long. Brody shook off the punch and growled as he launched himself at Rae taking the fight to the floor. Razor sharp teeth snapped, barely missing the Angel of Death's throat and ripping it out.

  “He is, how do they say it? One mean mofo?”

  Tate and I both looked at each other before bursting into laughter at Zacharael's comment.

  “Oh you haven't seen anything yet.” I flinched as Rae landed a solid punch to Brody's ribs.

  Brody howled with rage and slammed Azrael against the floor, his skull viciously bashing against the concrete. Cracks formed beneath Rae's head, spidering out over the floor. The pattern formed a crazy, jagged halo that suited his loony tunes ass so well.

  I knew that if I told him about nearly losing the twins Brody would go in for the kill. Whether to share that information with him circled in my head for long minutes while I watched the two men trade punches and slash at each other with nails and claws.

  The brunt of the damage done was stacked heavily against Azrael. His clothes and upper body were in shreds. Blood oozed in a steady stream down his sides and pooled on the floor where he stood, once again facing off with the man I loved more than life itself.

  Azrael saved me from having to say anything about the twins. He opened his own stupid mouth and uttered the words that sealed his fate.

  “Why don't you tell him about how you nearly lost our babies? Tell him how much you hated my gift of silver cuffs and tried to kill the children.”

  Glowing golden eyes flicked over my bloodstained and bruised appearance before fixing on Rae. If hate was a living thing, it thrived on Brody's face. He stalked the demented angel around the room until Rae was pinned in a corner between what was left of the bed and the bathroom door.