“Truly?” Arias had to ask. “You have certain knowledge that Venus will be mine…that our child will bring us all into a new world.”
Apollyon turned his back and his wing slit flapped opened and closed as if the angel’s wings would sprout at any moment.
“I am certain we will be victorious.”
“Then let us talk strategy,” Arias stated regally.
Venus stretched her sore muscles against Drake’s plush bed. His loft was much more comfortable than the Rex Deus Castle so they two had been staying there until they would be forced to move. The elders of the bloodline wanted her turned and for them to rule the Rex Deus as dictated by tradition. However, neither Venus nor Drake were by any means traditional though. Venus squinted into the sliver of sunlight that peeked through the dark drapes. He had been there, she thought with surprising joy as she replayed the night’s events in her head. How could she have forgotten what her other half’s blood calling felt like. She shivered under the sheets as she pictured Arias’ dark frame, every bulge of sinewy muscle, his beautiful chiseled face and oh she could almost feel his soft touch against her skin. Venus slid her hand beneath the sheets and ran her fingertips along her stomach. She let out a breathy sigh as she imagined his hot mouth burying itself against her core. Her fingers dove in, surprising herself with how wet she was just from a few errant thoughts. She circled and plunged, teasing her clit like he would. Pinching and scraping like his fangs would.
Leaning against the door frame, Drake watched his woman relax on his bed. His lips quirked into a smile as he scented her arousal and he lost his breath when he saw her hand moving in rhythmic circles under the sheet. He grew long and hard and he pressed his hand against his swelling jeans. He wanted inside of her but he wanted to watch her, unnoticed…wanted to watch her gasp and moan and thrash in bed as she thought about him. He leaned back against the door and stroked himself through his jeans as she arched her back.
Venus was quickly bringing herself to climax, she struggled to keep her moans silent so Drake wouldn’t hear. But passion and lust had flooded her veins and she was desperate for release. Her fingers sped up as she imagined riding him, her thighs curled tightly around his backside, his fingernails digging painfully into his dark skin. She remembered how he would roar for her as he came, the deep bass in his voice vibrating into her pussy. The memory of that sent her over the edge.
“Arias,” she called out in a whisper as she convulsed around her fingers and she felt a gush of wetness in response against her thighs.
Drake had fled the doorway the second his name left her lips. Crushed is much too light of a word. He burst through the balcony doors and gulped down fresh air; He felt like he was going to be sick, his stomach rolling as his mind replayed her sweet voice over and over and over again. And for the first time in centuries, tears slid down his face.
14
“Michael?” Venus whispered into the phone.
“Venus, I assume things are well.”
Venus forgot how soft and creamy the angel’s voice was. Somehow it made her mad and lustful at the same time…and that fueled her anger even more.
“Michael, I am in need of your help. Drake has locked himself in his den and won’t come out. I don’t know what’s come over him,” her voice trembling as she spoke.
“I’m sure he needs some time to himself Venus. Us men can be fickle about these things.”
“He won’t speak to me though. I need your help Michael.”
“How long has it been Venus? A few hours?”
A sob slipped out of Venus’ mouth before she could catch it.
“Almost a week.”
“Shit, I’m on my way.”
Michael hung the phone up and started paging through his thoughts as he got ready to leave. He had heard news of the Descendents mobilizing nearby. He sent a silent prayer that the Dark Ones didn’t put a hit on the prince. Michael dismissed that thought quickly. They would have already taken Venus…No, Drake was just having cold feet. Someone who was solitary for centuries of course would not be accustomed to living with their mate 24/7. Having settled on that solution to the problem, Michael turned his thoughts to how he was going to keep his distance with Venus. He was sure that she was still angry with him about the incident in the jet. She was great at holding grudges. He could attribute that to her youth and immaturity. He practiced his breathing techniques as he wound his silver BMW through a narrow tunnel and shook his head knowing that any stupid breathing tricks were not going to tame his libido.
When Michael arrived at Drake’s place of solitude he knew immediately that Drake wasn’t there. So much for being locked up in the den. The bastard wasn’t even at home. The angel pursed his lips as he canvassed the street. No signs of struggle at all and Drake’s ride was missing. The prince was AWOL. Michael blew out one last breath outside before he had to deliver the bad news to the teary eyed girl inside. He pushed open the front door which was slightly ajar. Yes, that was odd.
Chaos.
The place was trashed. Chairs, tables, priceless paintings and art all scattered throughout the loft in pieces.
“Good Lord,” he whispered. “Grudges and obviously a temper. Venus?”
Silence.
Michael picked his way over strewn furniture.
“Oh man, that is just uncalled for,” Michael grumbled as he passed Drake’s 72” TV with a broken table leg sticking right through the middle of it.
“Venus?” Michael called again.
His eyebrows drew together and calmed his breathing. She was harder to sense because she was not yet full Vampyre. He quieted his thoughts and listened and smelled and sensed…nothing. No one was here.
“Damn it,” he cursed.
The kitchen was relatively untouched. As was the bathroom and one of the guest bedrooms, and even Drake’s den. The den door still being locked from the inside. Michael entered the master bedroom last and inhaled sharply. Something had happened in here. The large floor to ceiling window was cracked. There were claw marks in the hardwood floors and God…a small pool of blood was coagulating at the far end of the bed. Michael dropped to his knees and realization struck. She had been taken. Perhaps his initial fears were true. Obviously something had happened with Venus…he had just talked to her forty-five minutes ago. But where was Drake?
Michael flipped open his phone and dialed Riken.
“We have a problem.”
15
Venus thrashed against her bonds, the ropes chafing at her wrists and the gag in her mouth made it hard for her to breathe. They had completely surprised her. She had been waiting for Michael to come, totally engrossed in her thoughts and concern to even feel them coming…she should have. The smell of them made her want to gag…the worst of the worst Talmidim feet from her even now. She was surrounded by darkness but she knew whatever she was in was moving. And it was freezing. By the way the engine was sounding it had to be something big like an eighteen wheeler or the equivalent. She shuffled her body along the icy floor and not hitting anything she shuffled a little bit more until her body collided with a wall. The truck bounced and Venus banged her head against the side. She growled and heaved herself upright, getting angry with all the bullshit. They had crashed through the front door and she just stood there speechless and immobile as they stormed Drake’s loft. Petrified…it had to have been written in the stars for her to be so unable to act. She was disgusted with herself. She had plenty of objects to hurl at them. Of course once their rank arms wrapped themselves around her, she wreaked havoc, giving them their money’s worth. But in the end they were too strong, too numerous for her to overcome by themselves. On top of that…they weren’t trying to kill her. Venus hadn’t had that realization dawn upon her until she had time to think in back of this freezer. What did they want with her? Did they take Drake too? She didn’t even see them advance on the den. And surely Drake would have sensed them and rescued her. Venus didn’t really want to accept the implications of that.
She felt the truck slow and then stop. Her eyes strained in the darkness. Damn it, why can’t it be just a little bit brighter in here she complained. It was pitch black and she was at a huge disadvantage.
She heard the bar on the back of the trailer slide against metal, and a latch being clicked. Her chest constricted and heaved. As the door creaked opened fluorescent lights shown in blinding her temporarily. She blinked furiously trying to get the little white dots to go away. When she looked up again, an enormous figure stepped up into the trailer blocking some of the light. Arias? The thought already warming her body and then two enormous wings unfolded from the figures back. It was an angel.
Apollyon stepped up into the tractor trailer and sneered at the young girl cowering on the ground. His nostrils flared at the small wound on her forehead that was still leaking blood. She was a tiny thing…delicate, too damn breakable. A growl reverberated throughout his chest and she looked up at him with green eyes dripping with fear. It was making him hungry. How could this waif be the key. But Apollyon knew, without a doubt that she was. He waived two fingers summoning five Talmidim to him.
“Bring her,” he commanded.
He could hear her pathetic pleas behind the soiled gag and as he turned his back his face brightened into a rare smile that turned him into something long forgotten, a true heavenly beauty.
The room he led them to was set up just for this purpose. Years, centuries, eons he had been waiting for this moment. He had never felt so alive. Well, perhaps the only other day as bright was when he defied God and made himself his own master. But this definitely came a close second. The room he led her to was his own specially designed torture chamber. Three walls were painted black, lined with 2 feet of steel, dim lighting illuminated only the corners of the room. A fourth wall was made of entirely glass that provided a full=length view from another room. A shiny steel table was bolted to the ground in the center of the room. In each of the corners of the room hung some form of torture device. Facing the north, he had bolted two iron shackles that hung from the ceiling. In the southern corner, he had shackles mounted to the wall for the arms and the legs so that the victim would hang like a cross. In the western corner, there was a small slab and a fire pit that was already burning…for this he designed brands especially for her. In the eastern corner, was a phallus shaped device that he would set her on…not for pleasure but for pain. Yes, as a child of darkness she would learn to embrace all forms of pain.
Apollyon motioned for the Talmidim to set her atop of the metal table in the center of the room.
“Leave us,” he growled.
Once he heard the door shut, he pulled the gag from her mouth.
“Please,” she cried, her voice hoarse from screaming against the gag.
“Hush, there is no one here to hear your pleas. Do you know who I am child?”
Venus trembled in front of the enormous angel. He was evil incarnate and though a part of her recognized him, she still knew to be very afraid…not just for her physical safety but her soul as well. She recoiled from his touch as he pulled down her gag as if touching him would poison her. Did she know who he was? If everything else in this insane world was true, then the only thing he could be was the Devil.
With one swift move, surprising her with his quickness he snatched her by her throat, sweeping her body from the table and carrying her across the room. Within five seconds she was hanging from the ceiling by her wrists. She barely had time to think before she was immobile and that filled her with a fear so acute, her skin erupted into a cold sweat. Venus groaned as her weight chafed at her wrists and she realized she was going to be in for a lot more pain than this tonight.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked breathlessly.
The angel flapped his wings once, sending a gust of cold wind against her damp skin making her shiver uncontrollably.
“Because I can pet.” He strolled to the other side of the room where a small fire pit lit up that side of the room. He stoked the fire and pulled something long from the pit. The end glowed and as he neared her again, her eyes widened as his intentions dawned on her.
“Please, God,” Venus sobbed swinging her legs to try and kick at the angel.
“God is not with you child. You are mine, and mine only.”
The Angel started chanting words she didn’t understand but the room swelled with power and darkness. The evil that surrounded him was sticky. It clung to her body and tried to crawl into her pores. He caught her legs with one arm, dragging her body closer to his. Venus gasped as he caught the collar of her shirt in his teeth and with a jerk of his head split it straight down the middle. She kicked at him violently and searched with her mind for anything to use against him. She cried out as he grabbed a hold of her hair and yanked her head back. As she felt the heat of the brand coming closer to her exposed chest, she found what she could use. Ignoring the knowledge that she was about to be in excruciating pain, she grabbed the other brand still in the fire pit with her mind. She pictured what it looked like, what it would feel like in her hands. As the blinding white heat melted her skin she hurled her weapon at the angel with all her mental strength. She knew she found her target when he hissed and let out a piercing roar. Unfortunately for Venus, he maintained his hold on the brand and she threw up from the smell of her own skin burning before succumbing to the darkness her mind so desperately sought.
Drake sat alone in the same field that he shared memories of with Venus. It was untouched by man. The woods were the same as was the lovely field of wheat. He could not help recalling those last few minutes that he saw her. Bringing herself to climax to memories of Arias. Drake shuddered and clutched his stomach as a wave of nausea flooded him. At first he was mad. So mad that he fled the apartment because he was afraid he might lay his hands on her. Strangle her for still wanting that evil monster. But the days passed and he revisited those memories hundreds of times and he grew less mad until all that was left was pain. She chose him though she longed for another. How could he bear her any ill will? He knew of her involvement with Arias. He should have been reveling in the fact that she chose Drake and start pushing her towards what they all had been waiting for. Instead, he ran. Drake sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He ran…because that is what cowards do he thought miserably. He had always been a coward. He missed her terribly. Her presence, her smile, her ability to make him laugh. He was acting like a child, pouting out here in this same field where he no longer felt peace. Drake got up, dusted himself off, and headed to catch a flight home to his woman.
Arias followed Ivan into the old abandoned warehouse. They had been summoned by Apollyon but for what neither knew. The hum of dark magic saturated the air. It crawled over his skin and spoke to him in an ancient tongue.
“Do you feel it Lord Arias?” Ivan whispered in his lilted accent.
“Yes, and it speaks of nothing good. There are a group of about fifteen Talmidim towards the back of the warehouse. They have not approached us yet. Perhaps you should take a look at them,” Arias mentioned offhandedly.
His mind was distracted by the feeling of dread and the sense that something terrible was happening. And then he felt her. A power field like no other but his beloved was surging and going out, like a candle being snuffed out. And then it was lit again though much dimmer. His body moved faster toward her presence. The passage ways were dark and there were at least twenty doors down this black hallway. An agonized scream cut through the night and Arias nearly tore the door off the hinges. What he saw when he opened that door brought him to his knees.
Venus struggled to slumber in the dark. Her body wanted her to stay in the peaceful darkness but her mind was scared of the dark. Demons with dagger like teeth and bloody eye sockets chased her, wanting to eat her flesh. Many times they chased her right to consciousness where reality was a far worse thing. Every time she woke she found herself on a new torture device that promised new and terrifying things. She didn’t have to crack open her swollen eyes t
o feel what she was in for this time. The pressure already was unbearable and she didn’t know how long she had been in this position. Something enormous was wedged inside of her, splitting her wide open. She could smell her blood, it was splashed over the entire room. The freshest blood coated whatever was between her legs. She was straddled precariously on top of it. She could not move. She was high enough that her feet didn’t touch the floor. It was too large for her but the weight of her body had forced it deep inside. A sob escaped her cracked lips.
“Hush little one,” the black angel murmured. “I have a surprise for you.”
He laughed and Venus retched, spilling burning bile from her throat having long ago emptied the contents of her stomach.
“Open your eyes love,” he purred.
She did as she was told because the punishment of not obeying would have been far worse. As soon as she did shame filled her. Sorrow. Panic. Hope. The emotions tore through her as she saw Arias kneeling on the floor. His eyes wide with horror.
God, he was so close if she could but touch him, he would relieve the pain. She opened her lips to talk but no sound came out, her vocal cords too swollen from her countless screams for help that had gone unanswered. She lifted a bruised, bloody, and cut up arm reaching for her love. That movement alone was agony as any slight shift in her body caused her to sink further onto the thing between her legs. She winced and sucked back what would have been a body-shaking sob. Arias roared from his knees, the violence within him straining the tendons of his neck praying for release. His enormous fists clenched so tightly blood dripped from his knuckles where the skin split open. He roared again and threw his body against the wall of glass that separated them. Venus let her arm drop with a gasp of pain, hopelessness swamping her because he would not break through that wall of glass. It was more than a foot thick. Venus turned her head slightly and watched the dark angel find amusement in watching Arias beat himself bloody against the glass.
Revelations Coming (The Dark Truth Novel Series) Page 13