by Azure Boone
Troy paused and put his ear against the stone wall.
"Are they in there?" Dorn no longer cared that he had to ask a human what he should know.
Troy shook his head and searched the wall, running his fingertips over the joints between the stones. He found a crack where the rocks didn't meet completely and peered through it. He jerked back, eyes wide as he pointed to the hole.
Kassern looked. "Holy Father," he said before looking at Dorn. "They've definitely been at this a lot longer than we know."
He moved and Dorn had a look. "This is senseless. How could they have gotten so far without us learning of it?"
"Maybe the process is quick?" Troy offered. "Would be helpful to know the process and how long each stage takes."
"It seems they breed, hatch, and raise them here. Kassern had another look. "There must be a hundred thousand of those little monsters."
"They're not so little," Troy said. "Aren’t those the full grown ones? Kassern, you know the most about them, I think."
Kassern gestured for Troy to continue leading before telling Dorn, "You fought them in the field a few hours ago. They’re incredibly lethal with their ability to evolve on the spot in groups. They are not to be trifled with."
So that’s why they began to not stay dead after fifteen minutes of killing them. They’d evolved to adapt to what he was doing. "I want the women out of here," Dorn said.
"Amen to that," Kassern said.
Lucian had to figure a plan to get the women away from that monster of a beautiful man. Dorn, Kassern and Troy had trusted him to keep them safe. Having failed that, he had to get them out of the shitload of trouble they were in.
But how was he supposed to do that with Sally all curled up in the man's lap? She held onto him like a baby clinging to a parent, her face pressed into his neck. What was he doing to her? It was almost as if whatever he had in her head, connected directly to his and she was now plugged, positive to negative.
The strange man wanted Sally badly enough to call her to him, so he probably didn't plan on killing her. Lucian, Jessie, Karly and Devyn were most likely expendable. Which meant he needed to attack the man without hurting Sally. Maybe lure him to fight. Of course he'd get his own ass kicked, but maybe he could hold things until Dorn and Kassern could get there. He wasn't sure why, but including Troy in the rescue scenario didn't sit right with him.
"How about we solve this man to…man," Lucian said. "If you are not too coward."
The man laughed, a deep musical sound. "Ah, the Romanian warrior," he said. "So feisty for someone who watched his own mother take a beating for defending her precious little son?"
Lucian stiffened in shock but knew he'd better not show it. "I'm not the same boy I was then. The man who did that to my mother was a lot like you, I think? All pretty on the outside, but a wretched coward on the inside. That fits you perfectly." Lucian walked in a slow arch toward him, placing himself in front of the women.
The unfathomable handsome man laughed again. "Little boy, little boy. You are so puny in the scheme of things, do not think you can lure me into your silly charade."
Lucian had no problems being insignificant in this scheme. Only he needed to be important enough at the moment, or just for a moment. Perhaps if he used something more personal to the arrogant bastard.
"I cannot wait for Dorn to get his hands on you." He nodded at Sally. "Seeing as you have stolen his wife. You think he was pissed before?"
Sally whimpered like the sound of Dorn's name hurt. Lucian figured that was a good sign. He hoped it meant the guy's hold on Sally wasn't strong enough to make her forget Dorn completely.
The orange flame in the man's eyes brightened. "That sniveling little aristocrat will bow before me when this is all over. And I. Cannot. Wait. But as for her…" he slid his cheek along Sally's forehead …"She is mine."
"That's not what it looked like to me the last time I walked past their bedroom." Lucian cringed at his ploy. Hopefully Dorn would forgive him for speaking so presumptuously of Sally. "The way she cried out his name, it sure sounded like he was pretty damn inventive." Add lewdly to the offense. But judging by the snarl on the demon's face, his ploy was working. "And the noise they make keeps us all awake. I think she set some kind of record for the most orgasms in an hour."
Bingo, el pissed-off-o'.
The man flew up from his chair and grabbed Lucian by the neck, lifting him into the air. "Watch your tongue human."
Lucian prayed the women had the sense to run. At the oomph and sudden release of the man's hold on Lucian's neck, he guessed no.
The bastard pointed a finger at Jessie and shot out a rope of fire. The super hero ability Lucian had developed at the cabin finally came to him at supersonic speed. Angelic power blasted through his body in genius proportions and Lucian managed to intercept the blazing whip before it could touch Jessie.
****
Dorn paused when Kassern raised a hand and turned. "You felt that?"
A light power zinged over Dorn’s skin. "Somebody in my triumvirate accessed angelic power."
“Hell yes, mine too.”
Dorn paid careful attention to the feel of the energy, discerning it was Lucian. "Lucian is more powerful than I'd ever expected. Let's go together so we don't get separated."
Kassern and Troy came close until they formed a circle with locked arms. They flashed to the location where Dorn felt Lucian. When they took form in the large chamber, his tattoo hissed and smoldered with the need to open. Not yet. Dorn was getting really tired of resisting the things he craved to do. Consummating with Sally and killing this demonic scum were the two top items on his to do list.
Dorn finally saw Sally. Writhing on the floor in pain with blood running from her eye caused Dorn's mouth to open with Maxwell's hair splintering roar. The beast erupted from the portal on his chest and dove for the demon.
Kharef issued the order that would release his horde, and shot out of reach. Dorn gave chase as the demon flashed to escape his wrath, but every micro second brought him and Max closer to the filthy being.
The adult versions of the demon's wicked spawn flooded into the chamber and Dorn changed direction and scooped Sally up, immediately forming a blanketing and impenetrable shield around them.
Her body's grip on her spirit was weakening rapidly. Putting all his love and faith into it, he kissed her. With every beat of her heart, he felt the demon's hold on her lessen. "Come back to me," he breathed.
She suddenly gasped in his mouth and returned his kiss. "Dorn, Dorn," she whispered, wrapping her legs around him, clinging tightly.
Dorn had never needed anything in his existence and yet right then, he needed Sally. Far more than needing to build a triumvirate to save the world, Dorn needed for himself. He needed to taste her, feel her, smell her, be deep inside her. "I need to have you. Now."
His lips left hers and he pulled her head back to taste her neck. No, he needed to taste her breasts. He spoke a single syllable and melted the clothing off of both of them. Dorn groaned at the contact of her succulent softness against his own nakedness.
The battle raged on as they remained cocooned in a mixture of breathable aquamarine air thick enough to give him leverage. He placed her under him.
"I am so sorry," he whispered against her breast. "I despise doing this quickly." He moved to her mouth.
****
All Sally heard was doing this and then solid heat pressed to her entrance. She opened her legs, so ready, waiting.
"Forgive me."
Forgive him?
He sank into her deep with a possessive growl. Sally arched her back and cried out at his enormous size. Dear Jesus. Impaled by his throbbing shaft, she could only gasp on the hot desire radiating out in heavy waves from her core until she burned with its fever. The feral sound coming from his throat vibrated into her body and throbbed in his shaft.
He kissed her and his tongue plundered her mouth with absolu
te perfection. Slowly he backed his length out and nearly in a panic, Sally gripped his sides with her legs, struggling to keep him where he belonged. God he felt insanely hot in her, his entire body hard, yet silky to her fingers that she roamed hungrily over him everywhere she could reach.
"Do it, please. Make love to me," she gasped.
"Holy Father." The desperate words came as Dorn raised his upper body. He watched her as he thrust in and out, watched her breasts move to the rhythm of his driving passion while scarring her soul with that intense gaze, an aqua fire.
He suddenly gasped and clenched his eyes before kneeling and grabbing on to her hips, long fingers biting into her butt as he began to orgasm.
She could only cry out under the wrath of newly born angelic desires, overwhelmed to the point of oblivion with his absolute thrusts. Her entire being clenched around him, desperate to squeeze every delicious drop of intense pleasure from their joining. He let out a roar and fell onto her, holding her butt with one hand, her head with the other, his breaths blasting in her ear to his mind blowing ecstasy.
Something snapped inside Sally's head, followed by a warm sensation. She opened her eyes and met Dorn's immaculate gaze and he crashed onto her mouth, kissing her dizzy.
"He's gone. God thank you."
His words filled her mouth reminding her of the ocean. She'd never tasted anything so divine in her life, never felt so whole and alive. Could it get any better?
"I love you," he whispered.
A flood of emotion stole her breath. Okay, yes, it could.
"I'll do this again perfectly to you later." He stroked her lips with a thumb and Sally's heart surged into her throat at his promise.
"You can do it better?"
Dorn's growling rumbled in his chest. "You have no idea."
The excitement those words gave was beyond Sally's calculation skills and non-communicable.
Dorn spoke a syllable, causing the blue enclosure around them to shatter into a powdery mist. "But first I have to kill that demon."
****
The demon threw everything he had at the glowing aqua sphere Dorn had summoned around Sally and himself, to no avail. Suddenly, it exploded in a shower of fine blue powder and mist.
Lucian and the entire demonic ensemble—several hundred monkey men, four new black giant human forms, and the golden dude—all paused.
Sally stepped from the mist, but she was no longer just Sally. She reminded Lucian of one of those princesses from a storybook, adorned in every manner of aquamarine, from her well fitted gown to the jewels on her arms, legs, neck and even her hair. Breathtaking.
The demon railed like a spanked child, cursing and roaring his fury.
Kassern and the two women never ceased for a second in their slaughter spree from the moment the place flooded with the vicious mini Big Foot creatures. And though Dorn had taken all of five minutes to do whatever it was he'd done, Lucian felt like he'd aged a century while fighting the golden demon figure and evading the four black beings. Kassern flashed back and forth between Lucian and the glob of monkey-men to save whoever needed saving at any given point, his ruby staff delivering one hell of a blow with every swing.
Lucian wielded two very nifty aqua daggers joined by a fine matching chain that he had the amazing ability to throw and stab with. Yet five minutes in and he was exhausted. He felt like he fought an opposing force within his own body.
And where the hell was Jessie? The other two women were right in there with Kassern. Wait, where was Troy? Were they together?
A fierce stab of jealousy burned through him. She was just vulnerable enough to be swayed by somebody like the preacher. A holy zealot, Troy had a lot more righteous stamina than he ever would.
Lucian threw both daggers and watched them sink into the backs of two skulls. He yanked them out and caught them only to throw them again.
It would take Lucian ten lifetimes to get as clean as Troy, ten lifetimes of suffering.
Lucian wove his way through the beings, cutting off every offending limb that came within range, while imagining the kind of suffering such a righteousness the preacher had gained might stem from. The sort his mother endured, while he never said a word, never made a sound. Ten lifetimes of pretending he didn't hear her scream and cry, didn't hear the sound of a fist hitting her delicate flesh, the sound of air exploding from lungs, the sound of that sick motherfucker raping her over and over until she could only weep and moan and stifle grunts as best she could.
Lucian growled louder as he brought his fury down upon the creatures, thirsty for their strange smelling blood. Thirsting to watch it flow for all the crimes they planned to commit.
No, there could never be enough suffering to heal the coward Lucian was.
"Lucian!"
Dorn's voice split through his head long enough for him to realize he was attacking the Archangel. What the hell?
"Watch your thoughts, he's using them."
The four dark beings surrounded them. Their mouths opened simultaneously with glowing red balls in their throats.
"Stay close to me," Dorn ordered.
The cavern filled with a wave of red light and loud hissing. Lucian ducked as a young looking boy seeming to be made of solid ruby flew through the air swinging a sword that issued a blast of lava looking fire, cloaking and immobilizing everything unholy in its path.
Dorn flashed for the golden demon and got his fingers around its throat. With a flash of his characteristic pale blue fire, the archangel levitated himself and the demon above the battling masses on the cavern floor.
Before he could see what happened, Lucian faced off against the two remaining black figures. The balls of red in their mouths slammed into him and immediately he fell to his knees, pain erupting and burning the right side of his face as visions of his mother's torture ravaged his mind. He grabbed his head with the anguish and devastating heart ache she suffered. He screamed with it as he felt every rape, every broken bone, cut, bruise, in rapid succession, every insult and betrayal, the agony of knowing her son knew, the agony of knowing…oh God, the agony of knowing her son hated her.
He let it all rip his throat to shreds as the loathing ate him up like a wild fire. Loathe for his step father for being cruel, his mother for letting him, loathing himself for being a coward, but most of all loathing God for letting it all happen.
Why? Why did He let that happen? If he was so good, so powerful, so all knowing, why! And why should Lucian help God when he couldn't lift a finger to help his mother!
Fury roared through him until killing was all he could think. A hand touched his shoulder, and he spun and buried both aqua blades into the chest of…
Lucian's eyes widened. Oh God.
****
Sally finally managed to fight her way to Lucian. She could feel his agony and turmoil and knew she possessed a powerful peace that he desperately needed. The two demons had just covered him in a vile tormenting liquid. She should have called his name first. She'd startled him. But it was an accident. She struggled to make her mouth work but the numbing sensation in her chest had spread quickly to her throat and face until she stood paralyzed. She wanted to soothe the horror in his face, to turn and call for Dorn's help.
He must've heard her call him inside because he was suddenly there. Why was he so angry? No, terrified. Surely he knew Lucian hadn't meant it.
Sound was beginning to fade until all she heard was the beating of her heart in her ears. Slowing. What was happening?
She wanted to close her eyes but couldn't move. She watched Dorn open his arms wide as his mouth moved. By the straining in his neck, she knew he yelled something, but it was all silence and peace to her.
Blue fire exploded from his chest and Dorn flashed over and embraced her in his arms. At contact, she heard his voice inside her. "Don't die on me."
Die? But she felt so happy and at peace, why would she die?
After Dorn gave the order to leave
at once, he flashed Sally back to the hotel room, praying the entire way. Lucian had stabbed her while under that demon's power. Heaven help her, he'd buried contaminated aqua blades inside his wife's chest. It appeared that she'd absorbed the positive powers of the blade by the peaceful look on her face, but the black seeping out around the wounds terrified him.
"What have I done?" Lucian whispered from behind him where he'd laid her on the bed.
Dorn took a second to draw from the correct energy. "You didn't know." He forced the words softly, denying the eye for an eye wrath that ached in his angelic pores, demanding execution. Though vengeance had been given him to exact, mercy was in order, and Dorn had never struggled with it like he did at that moment.
"Why didn't you take them to the Holy Mountain?" Kassern demanded, exiting the suites bedroom.
"I tried," Dorn bit back. "It was the first thing I attempted when I consummated. Uriel kindly reminded me, an Archangel, that we were not clean." The words bordered a yell because Dorn hated how he had to be told the most obvious things he could normally smell a million miles away, literally.
The silence became deafening with Lucian's guilt and shame. The man seemed to give in to every emotion that assaulted him. No, not a man, a child. And he was his responsibility.
****
Lucian couldn't bear to raise his head to look at the Archangel who'd just addressed him.
"You have to let it go," Dorn repeated.
The frustration in Lucian's chest thickened until he couldn't breathe. He couldn't even speak to say he couldn't do it, let go, he didn't know how to disconnect from it, from this unnamed weight inside him. He shook his head.
"You were only seven. You cannot hold yourself accountable for his sins. No matter how much you wanted to stop it, you were only...seven."
Lucian forced the ugly words from his chest. "I could have told!"