by Azure Boone
Sally writhed and kicked in vain but Kharef tightened his grip. Her struggles succeeded only in loosening the blanket she wore bound about her.
The fear in her eyes drove a bolt of anger through Dorn's chest. Some new part of his being wanted to take that fear away and punish the one who caused it. His whip moved of its own accord, coiling restlessly on the floor then flicking through the air. What was the thing doing? All his weapons and armor were controlled by the neural impulses created by thought and the last time one of his weapons had done something unexpected was… well, never. But now the whip seemed to have taken a life of its own.
Sally's blanket continued to loosen until it slipped free and fell to the floor.
"Take a good look at what you'll be missing, Angel." Kharef laughed.
Sally growled and dug her nails into the demon's forearm, drawing blood.
Dorn needed to go on the offense but as long as the demon held Sally so close, his options were limited.
Sally continued to struggle a moment longer, then froze.
The demon hissed. "Don't stop, my darling. Your ass is exquisite."
Dorn had restricted his gaze to Kharef out of respect to Sally, but now he realized why she'd suddenly gone still. The demon's enormous erection lay pulsing against her hip.
The raw lust in Kharef's face triggered possessive fury in Dorn and the beast symbolized on the angel's chest stirred restlessly. His whip coiled again, before snapping across to wrap around the demon's ankle, frying skin with a sizzle.
Kharef growled and swiped at the whip with his sword and the whip snapped back. Changing grip on his weapon, he laid the edge of the blade against Sally's skin.
Dorn's beast growled and raised its massive head, but still lay hidden. Cold fear replaced Dorn's fury. If the poison from that blade got into Sally's bloodstream, not only would she die a horrible death, but her soul would be infected, making salvation an excruciating feat. It was bad enough he'd have to perform a cleansing on her from the demon's touch, and he'd only know then how deeply she'd been affected.
Before Dorn could consider strategy, his whip took on a mind of its own again. Faster than light, it coiled around Kharef's wrist in a crushing grip that prevented the demon from using the sword.
When the sword pulled slightly away from her neck, Sally jumped into the fray, and stomped her heel down hard on the demon's bare instep.
His hold slipped and Dorn's whip flickered again and sent a tentacle around Kharef's neck, tightening to cut off breathing and circulation.
Kharef's true form surfaced. A seven foot giant bull stood upright on hind legs. Pale yellow puss oozed between cracks of thick scabs covering leathery black skin. A forked tongue, fat as a black mamba, slid out of its snout and circled her breast. "You have my permission to jerk off while you think of me fucking this fine little ass."
Sally screamed in fear, and the sexual transgression impacted Dorn like TNT.
Aqua flames exploded out of the symbol on Dorn's chest and his creature's massive head shot from the opening and flashed toward Sally and Kharef with a thundering roar that shook the room. A gargantuan hand easily knocked the demon to the floor, spread-eagled in the dust. His hold broke on Sally and she dove behind Dorn while Kharef roared and cursed. But not even in his real form could the demon move under the deadly sharp claw that pinned him like an insect on a board.
Beautiful as she was physically, the female he'd chosen was also smart and brave.
Kharef's fury boiled and he flung fireballs that Dorn repelled with a breath, turning them into flurries of ice. A strip of Dorn's gemmed fabric separated from his cloak and wrapped itself around Sally, stretching to cover her nakedness. At the same time, a mental nudge from Kassern annoyed Dorn.
Kharef growled beneath the claw sounding like a hundred demons with conflicting emotions. "You let your beast do your fighting for you? I might lose this time, but I'll be back. And when you least expect it, I'll be plowing that little pussy for you, since you obviously don't have balls enough to do it!"
Possessive fury shot through Dorn and refused to let such a threat pass unpunished. He drew an aquamarine blade with a nasty serrated edge and started forward. "Release him Maxwell."
Max regarded Dorn with sparkling aqua eyes. "Such a stupid rule." His eagerness to kill rustled his gemmed scales like a thousand wind chimes. "When do I get the right to execute?" He released him and the demon shot to his feet and armed himself with his flaming sword.
Kharef shot a stream of poisonous fire at Dorn's beast and leapt forward brandishing his sword.
Maxwell easily deflected the poison with the frill at his neck as Dorn side-stepped the awkward sword attack.
Saliva, thick and foul dripped from the demon's gaping snout crowded with razor sharp teeth, black as his tongue. Kharef resorted to his preferred weapon—words. "Ask your bitch how she moaned and came for me, angel." His eager laugh, low and sadistic, made puss ooze from the sockets of bulbous black eyes. "Oh, wait, you wouldn't know what that means, would you? It means she arched and squirmed and cried out in sexual ecstasy."
Sally gasped, looking mortified before whispering, "That was against my will! I promise!"
Misplaced guilt for all the sexual assaults she'd endured filled her voice and blinded Dorn with fury and Max snapped his teeth in the vicinity of the demon's midsection.
The demon howled in agony, bent over, while blood streamed from his groin.
The beast spat out the black flesh and shook his head at the foul taste. The demon dove and scooped it up, frantically pressing it to his injury.
Immense satisfaction followed Dorn's realization of what Max had done. Taking his penis and testicles was the perfect punishment for his crimes. Especially since he wouldn't grow another for several centuries. He would have relished taking off the demon's head, but this humiliating fate was even better.
He took Sally's hand and simultaneously struck with the whip, marking Kharef's cheek with his initials, a signature of the demon's failurea. Not waiting to see the effect of that final insult, he flashed himself and Sally away from the convent.
It was while leading the demons far astray that Dorn touched base with Kassern and learned of the attack at the hotel. He headed to the next safe house with Sally clinging tight to him, creating a Shield of Transparency as he went. Anyone observing would look directly through them and see nothing out of place. Afterward, Dorn spent the next several minutes flashing from one place to another in rapid succession, laying a false trail, then backtracking through a dozen locations.
Finally, within relatively easy physical reach of the others, he stepped them off the teleportation merry-go-round, and hoped the demons wouldn't be able to work out the complex trail he'd laid. From there they would obtain a car and drive to the next safe house and he could begin to cleanse that demon from Sally.
Lucian punched the accelerator with his foot and kept it that way, eyes locked on the highway. The directions the red angel—he had to remember to call him Kassern—gave were irritatingly complex. All Lucian wanted was to get Jessie to a safe place by the most direct route possible.
"Sorry Lucian. We have to be careful not to lead our enemies straight to where we hole up. Everything we do is roundabout." Kassern's deep voice rumbled through the interior of the car in a comforting tone. "And sorry again. Occupational hazard. Archangels hear human thoughts, sometimes too easily."
"I'll teach you to guard your thoughts when we have a spare moment." Troy's dry laugh sounded full of experience with archangels, and not all positive. "It gets a little awkward when you know someone else can hear every bit of what you're thinking." His voice still sounded weak from the injuries he'd sustained.
"Wonderful. Seems I have a lot to look forward to." Lucian couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. Jessie laid a comforting hand on his knee. "On the bright side, at least we aren't all crammed into a compact car." He smiled at the memory of what Kassern had done to his mu
scle car. With the touch of the angel's finger, the low-slung fire-engine red sports car that had looked too small for a cat to drive, became liquid metal and morphed into a massive sedan from the late 1960s.
"Did you reach Dorn?" Troy asked Kassern from the back seat where the two sat with Devyn in the middle and Karly happily on Kassern's lap.
"Yes, he's waiting for us at the next safe point."
"How do we know it's safe? I mean how did they even find us?" Devyn asked, constantly looking behind them for a tail.
"Somehow through Jessie. I think it may have something to do with the trouble at the convent."
"Trouble at what convent?" Jessie asked, turning in her seat next to Lucian.
"Your sister's." Kassern's tone was slightly guarded.
"What? How is that…what does she have to do with this?"
There was a deep sigh before a muttered, "Dorn chose her as his wife."
Jessie sputtered on a gasp. "His what?"
"Every archangel in this mission has to select one," he reminded.
"Oh. My. God. And he chose Sally?"
"Yes."
Karly said, "And why is this sounding problematic?"
Jessie choked on another round of gasps before facing forward, speechless. Kassern's answer seemed a little reluctant. "She's…unique."
Jessie barked a laugh. "Oh my God."
Lucian couldn't tell if Jessie was happy or upset with the way she'd said that. His instinct said the latter. "She seems like a good choice to me. I mean, she's a God-fearing woman."
"Ha!" Jessie nodded incessantly now, confirming Lucian's suspicion. "You keep right on believing that." She gave another few ha's before repeating, "God. Fearing. Now that's priceless." She jerked around in her seat then. "What kind of trouble?"
"Enough to have her removed from it." Kassern almost sounded as if he were hiding worry, but Lucian didn't know him well enough to say for sure.
"Is she okay?" The concern in Jessie's voice prompted Lucian to take her hand.
"She will be now."
"Ohhh my God." Jessie faced forward once more, dropping her head back then jerking it forward. "Doesn't this junk bucket have headrests?" The annoyed but clearly hypothetical question led to a mumbled monolog about Sally screwing up spectacularly even when it looked like she tried to be good. "I cannot believe this is happening."
Lucian wasn't sure what she exactly meant by the whole thing so he figured he'd better say nothing. Within the next mile, he managed to distract himself with the horrific memory of his helplessness to defend Jessie back there at the hotel. Had that first creature really wanted Jessie? Needing the answer, he gambled and described the whole pointing and snarling exchange to Kassern. "Did that mean what I thought it did?"
Kassern stayed silent for a moment. "That actually fits with some other details." He didn't elaborate, and Lucian thought that was probably best. "I think it may have been sent specifically to capture Jessie."
Lucian felt Jessie's eyes on him. "So I wasn't the only one that had that impression."
He glanced sideways at her before asking Kassern, "Why would they want to capture her specifically?"
"Possibly because she isn't fully bound into a triumvirate yet?" Troy contributed.
"There's probably more to it than that. We'll know more when we meet up with Dorn." Kassern stopped further speculation.
"Which is when?" Devyn asked.
"He's creating a tuitio to ensure we're not followed or tracked."
"I thought you did that?" Devyn said.
"I do and I am, but we can't be too careful can we? Dorn does things different than I do. By weaving both our techniques, we'll create a wool blanket of a shield that won't let anything through. Not to mention, it's harder to shield while moving and I'm not taking a chance on this happening again."
The car went silent for the next five miles before Kassern said, "Take a right up here."
Five minutes on a precipitously winding dirt road finally led them to a stone shack in the woods that looked ready to fall in. Lucian looked around at the dense forest, feeling like he'd stepped into the pages of a story book. Goldilocks and the three bears? They must still be in the Sierra Nevadas, but, Lucian figured, with his lack of familiarity outside a hundred or so miles from what he considered his home, they could be anywhere.
They all filed into the small house and the first thing Lucian noticed was that the inside looked nothing like the outside. He'd have sworn it couldn't have more than one decrepit little room. The little kitchen and living area combined were dimly lit, but a short hall led off it.
An eerie blue glow at the edges of the wooden door at the far end illuminated the little hallway, highlighting a lone cobweb.
Kassern eyed it for a moment and started for it. "Stay put."
Lucian turned and pulled Jessie into his embrace, glancing around at the neat little room. A woman's screech split the air and Lucian dragged Jessie closer as terror stole his oxygen.
"Sally!" Jessie struggled out of his arms and darted down the hall. Lucian ran after her and managed to grab her arm as she threw open the door. She froze and Lucian jerked Jessie to his chest and hid her face so she wouldn't have to see.
On the narrow bed, fiery blue straps bound a nude woman spread-eagled and writhing. Leaning over her, the Archangel Dorn spoke hushed foreign words and hovered his hand over various parts of her body.
Kassern snapped a glare to Lucian. "Get her out of here." He flung his hand at the door and it slammed shut.
Lucian pulled Jessie into his body, wrapping his arms around her trembling frame. He murmured nonsense to her and stroked her back while she shook and fought to pull air into her lungs, rocking her gently. A door across the hall stood part-way open to reveal the foot of a bed. He led her inside after locking the door and guided her to the bed and sat with her in his lap.
Still shaking, Jessie clung to him, her nails digging into his neck while her tears scalded his shoulder.
"Shhh, she's fine, she'll be fine, the angels have her." Lucian couldn't believe this was all happening. He couldn't believe those things existed, couldn't believe they'd wanted to take Jessie from him, couldn't believe how helpless he was to protect her. He could believe they'd be back.
Troy, Devyn and Karly had some pretty damn amazing abilities. Is that what waited for them too? Once they formed their… whatever the angels called it?
Lost in thought and what-ifs, he stroked Jessie's back and arm softly, pulling her closer to him. He wasn't sure when things changed, or why, but Jessie's mouth suddenly scorched his neck.
He concentrated on keeping his reaction under control because, God help him, if he didn't, he would devour her. Sparks raced across his skin, a fresh burst with every nibble of her perfect teeth along his neck. When she sucked hard drawing his skin between her lips, she groaned, and his blood erupted in flames.
He moved her legs to straddle his waist and locked his fingers in her hair. Need quickened his heart and he held tight, with his other hand pressed to the small of her back.
If she stopped, he would die. If she didn't, would he be able to?
"Take me Lucian," Jessie whispered in his ear, nibbling the lobe.
Heaven. His hands fell to her waist and he looked into her gaze. "What about—"
She rose up in his lap and held his face between her hands then kissed him stupid. "Consummate," she breathed in his mouth. "Make love to me, make us one. Make us married."
The breath he sucked in whistled a little between his teeth. "Jessie, you know I want to."
She sat back and caught the hem of her pretty little pink blouse and peeled the top off in one smooth movement. Before he could think, she pressed his face in the valley of her breasts. "Then do it. Please." She shifted her seat, bringing her delicious heat closer to his groin. "It's right, Lucian. I don't need a ring and papers and a priest to make me your wife. All that's for other people."
Lucian ra
ked his hands up her sides and cupped her fullness, groaning under the explosion of hunger. Her words and the truth of them set his entire being aflame. "Am de gând să te fac să țipi numele meu." He yanked the fragile lace of her bra away from one of her breasts to capture her nipple in his mouth.
"Oh God, what did you say?" she moaned, raking her nails in his scalp.
He laid her down on the bed and took off his shirt. "I'm going to make you scream my name."
Sally couldn't take her eyes off him. He looked so ill-at-ease sitting there in the little mauve side chair with his ramrod straight back. His shoulders were too wide to fit the chair and his long legs folded into an impossible angle to fit behind the coffee table.
She'd offered him the sofa, but he'd insisted she sit there and put her bruised feet up then shoe-horned himself into the too-small chair.
A slim blonde came in from the next room with a tray of sandwiches and soft drinks. "Hi, I'm Devyn." She put the tray on the coffee table and offered her hand. "Sorry it isn't more. We just got here ourselves." She turned away, then kind of rocked on her heels and turned back. "I know everything must seem pretty insane about now. If you need to talk, I'm around." She nodded and hurried out the way she'd come.
Sally turned back to him, processing the perturbed part of her feelings since he rescued her. Ever since she'd heard the term chosen, well, she'd been a wee bit…concerned. Might have had something to do with going to a convent where God was supposed to fix her horrible past and ending up playing potential bride to a demon. She'd been accustomed to trauma all her life, but this had her little mentally numbing capabilities stretched taut.
"What is going on?" Sally's tone was void of the panic and anxiety she should be feeling. So far so good.
The ridiculously handsome…man, cleared his throat and shifted his shoulders, no doubt trying to make them fit more comfortably in the chair. "Perhaps you should rest before we burden your psyche further--"
"My psyche is fine. Now what I want to know is…why is a convent being run by the devil. Why is he pumping women full of whatever the hell he's doing. Why did he pick me to be the mistress of hell. And last but not least, why did you say you chose me."