Run Angel Run
The Angels of David’s Town - 1
Karen Van der Poll
Copyright © by 3 Umfana Publishers
First Published 2020
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cover design by: Bookcoverology
Edited by: 3Umfana Publishers All rights reserved.
https://michelledaltonauthor.com/3-umfana-publishing/
For my father
Basil van der Poll
* * *
1940 - 1975
* * *
Gone too soon
Forever in my heart
Contents
Danjal
Reba
Danjal
Reba
Danjal
Reba
Danjal
Reba
Danjal
Reba
Danjal
Reba
Danjal
Reba
Danjal
Reba
Danjal
About the Author
Danjal
Danjal writhed and twisted in the sheets, the veins and tendons in his neck bulging as he arched backward. He hissed when Jada’s fangs sank into his groin.
“Fuck!” He groaned as she sucked, taking deep gulps of his blood, while her fingers kneaded his balls. Vampire venom flooded his bloodstream, the rush going straight to his pulsating cock. “Greedy bitch.” He leaned forward, seizing a hank of her thick hair, watching while her tongue lapped at the tiny wounds. His hand urged hers to grasp his shaft, guiding her into a rhythm that heightened his pleasure.
“I’ve missed you, Danjal,” Jada purred her words. “Your flavor.” She licked a smear of blood at the corner of her mouth. “Your scent…” She continued with a longing that unsettled Danjal.
“Then have this!” He brusquely cut her short and dragged the tip of his hard-on across her lips.
Jada opened her mouth, and took him in, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked. Danjal gasped, his fingers raked through the cascade of licorice tresses, clearing his line of vision.
Everything that haunted Danjal faded from his mind, leaving only the hypnotic sight of Jada’s red lips stroking his length, and the musky essence of sex.
His phone screeched from its perch on his bedside table. “Ahh fuck!”
“Ignore it baby, let them deal with it.” Jada returned to pleasuring him.
Danjal reached for the offensive device with one hand. “Don’t you stop.” He twisted his hand in her hair, holding it like the reins of a horse.
“This better be bloody good,” he snarled into the phone.
“We have guests,” Shaiton, his captain and second in command replied.
“It’s three fucking thirty in the morning!” he snapped. “You deal with it!”
“Trust me, Commander.” Shaiton’s voice thrummed with excitement. “They are way above my paygrade.”
“Fuck it, Shaiton.” He abruptly disconnected the call and pulled the woman from his dick. She flipped onto her back, spreading her legs wide.
“If you want it, come and get it,” she cooed.
Danjal hissed. He slipped from the bed, hauling up his discarded uniform pants and wincing as the zip trapped his hard-on behind a wall of black leather. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he promised, grabbing a T-shirt from a chair. He swept through the door and hurried barefoot along the highly polished wooden floors of the dimly lit passage. He made his way to the grand staircase where the shaven-headed warrior waited, his fingers tapping out an impatient beat on the rails of the great stairs. “This better be important.”
“Oh, it is Commander, it is.” Shaiton replied.
Whoever graced the home of the David's Town warriors tonight was packing an incredible amount of clout. Shaitan's feathers were rarely ruffled.
“Who is it Shai?” Danjal lowered his voice as he descended the stairs, his gaze taking in the large empty entrance hall. From gilded frames upon its walls, warriors of the past peered loftily down.
Their tight-lipped faces remained inscrutable.
“See for yourself.” Shai angled his head towards the arched wooden door that led to the kitchen. “I walked in there to get a coffee and poof.” He clicked his fingers, throwing his hands in the air. “There they were!”
Danjal’s gaze slid sideways to the closed doors at the far end of the hall.
“Who just appears with a poof Shai?” The words barely passed his lips when a large male passed cleanly through the closed doors.
“Christ almighty!” Danjal exclaimed, hastily covering his mouth.
He looked at Shaiton, who gave him an, I told you so, shrug.
“Afraid not,” The newcomer casually shucked the feathers of his speckled blond wings. “Jesus is presently on another project, Commander.” He proffered his hand. “I’m Shax,” he continued. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Danjal’s jaw dropped as he stared at the angel’s extended hand. Shax was a Primordial, an original warrior of the sacred city of David's town. The city Danjal recently vowed to rebuild, protect, and serve.
“I understand our visit is a shock,” Shax’s steely eyes studied Danjal’s frozen features. “But as the Commander of our city’s warriors, it is imperative that we speak with you.”
Taking Shax’s hand, Danjal winced as static crackled like a live wire between them. “We?” His gaze slid past the large warrior’s form.
The angel arched a curious brow and released his grip, but he continued his silent appraisal of Danjal’s face.
“May I introduce Lady Terah, my bride?” Shax glanced over his shoulder as the kitchen door swung open and an auburn-haired woman emerged.
“Of course.” Danjal straightened his shoulders and tipped up his chin to get his shit together. His hand tingled like a bitch, but he curbed the urge to flex the discomfort from his fingers.
Lady Terah’s sneakered feet padded softly on the wooden floor as she ambled towards them. Dressed in faded jeans and long-sleeved green sweater, Danjal immediately noticed she didn’t have wings. She could have passed for any human on the streets of David's Town.
“It is an honor to meet you, my Lady.” Danjal brushed his lips across the delicate knuckles of the pale hand she held to him.
“It’s my pleasure to meet you too, Commander.” Her green eyes twinkled, and Danjal basked in the warm blast of her smile. “You’re as roguishly handsome as your forefather, Dagan.” She reached up and cupped his unshaven face between her cool palms.
Danjal’s heart banged against his chest, the air in it freezing, his thick lashes shielding his eyes from her probing green stare. Though she didn’t exude the raw power Shax did, Danjal wanted desperately to pull away from her gentle but unsettling grasp.
“You carry the weight of David's Town on your shoulders, Danjal,” Terah remarked. “That is an awful burden for one so young to bear. I sense Isiah’s death has affected you deeply.”
She lightly drew her thumbs across his brows, stopping at his temples. She applied gentle pressure there, her fingers moving in a circular motion.
“How long have you suffered these nightmares?”
Danjal pulled his head
from her hands. There were some things she’d no business knowing.
“The loss of Isiah has hit all of my warriors hard, especially his son, Bludon. His death was heinous, and we who discovered his body will never erase the image from our minds. There is little else we can think about,” he admitted.
Terah took a step away from him, folding her arms. She tipped her head to the side and blinked several times. Danjal shuffled uncomfortably under her curious scrutiny.
“Are you okay, my love?” Shax glanced between them.
Terah’s gaze held Danjal captive for several seconds. “All good Shax, I’m just cold.” She shivered.
“I can light the fire in my study for you,” Danjal offered. He would have done anything to get out from under Terah’s too perceptive regard.
“Thank you, that would be lovely.” Terah nodded stiffly.
Danjal led the way to the den, with Shax and Terah trailing behind him.
“This is a beautiful home, Danjal.” Terah admired the wintergreen walls and dark wooden floors of the passageway. The railings and door frames were all the same beautiful timber as the floorboards. Letting out a long, appreciative sigh, she trailed her fingers along the wall. “And so peaceful.”
“It used to be a convent,” Danjal replied over his shoulder.
Danjal ushered them into his study. The fire leaped to life under his skillful hands, and Terah purred appreciatively as the orange flames danced beneath her fingers. “I’d forgotten how cold it can get in David’s Town.”
“It’s never bothered me.”
Terah quirked a brow, looked down at the bulge in his crotch. “Clearly not!” She sniffed.
With vampire venom still singing in his blood, the swelling was going nowhere soon.
“When you roll on the floor with dogs,” she looked back into the flames, “you will get fleas.”
Danjal felt the heat rise in his cheeks. He hunched his shoulders, slid his hands into his pockets, and headed over to Shax, who was already seated before his large carved desk.
“I’m sure our presence tonight has you intrigued?”
Danjal settled into his chair. “Indeed, it has.”
Shax sighed. “The Diocese has been unable to locate the bodies and souls of several warriors who have suffered the true death over the past five years. This was something Isiah, as one of our emissaries, was aware of and was investigating on the earthly plane. Now it appears we are unable to locate his, and we fear he may have suffered a similar fate as those for whom he searched.”
Danjal’s blood ran cold. “What do you mean, you can’t locate his soul?” His gaze swept abruptly from Shax to Terah and back. “Surely there is some mistake. How can a warrior’s soul just get lost?”
“Unfortunately, Commander, there is no mistake. All our souls instinctively know the way to Empyrean realm.”
“There is a creature, or a being, Danjal.” Terah left the fire and took a seat beside Shax. “That is imprisoning warrior souls. Isiah and several other emissaries have been investigating this occurrence and to date their efforts have been in vain.”
“Why was I not informed of this?” Danjal battled to keep his tone even as anger raged in his heart. He must show respect to the elders. “Surely as the Commander of this city, I should have been privy to this?”
“Isiah believed as a young and new commander, you had a lot on your plate with rebuilding the city,” Shax replied. “Chasing down the murderer of angels wasn’t part of our expectations of you.”
“I have been commander of David's Town for six months now, and none of my men have lost their lives, so I suspect these warriors are of our sister cities?”
Shax nodded. “Isiah is our first death in David's Town, and thankfully we had his body to give back to the soil. The others are still missing.”
Danjal rubbed his temples to ease the onset of a pounding headache; remembering Isiah’s mutilated body haunted his nights, making sleep impossible. Christ! He rubbed his burning eyes. He needed to get his shit together. Now wasn’t the time to show weakness. He knew Terah watched him, and her insightfulness made him uncomfortable. He sighed with relief when a warrior entered, carrying a large tray with a coffee pot and mugs. It distracted her and gave him a moment to reboot his emotions.
After pouring the coffee, Terah leaned back in her chair. “By the way, Danjal, there is another matter I wish to discuss with you.” She snapped her fingers, and a photo materialized on Danjal’s desk. “I was curious if you remembered this woman,” she asked casually. “You met her ten years ago here in the city.”
Danjal leaned forward, glanced at the glossy color photo, and shrugged. “What relevance does she have to our present dilemma?” He didn’t understand her change of track; surely nothing was more important than Isiah right now.
“Look at her, Danjal!” Terah shoved the photo closer to him and tapped her finger on the image.
“I’m sure you are aware that I experienced first death ten years ago.” He picked up the photo. “I have little recall of that time.”
Yet as he looked at her image, he sucked back a breath and a strange sensation washed over his body. Gray eyes the color of gunmetal stared up at him from a bronze face, framed by a tumble of bright red and black spiral curls. She wore no makeup; her perfect skin tone and refined features needed no enhancement.
“Yes, we are aware of that terrible time.” Shax said.
“Please explain the significance of this woman?” Danjal found it hard to tear his eyes away from the dimples bracketing her full inviting lips.
“We were just curious if her image triggered anything within you.” Terah sounded just a little too casual as she studied the reaction he failed to conceal.
Danjal glanced between them. “Why is that so important?”
Terah smiled mysteriously. An auburn brow arched as she pursed her lips. “Because, she is Isiah’s daughter.”
Danjal’s gut hit the floor, and the photo fluttered from his nerveless fingers, landing on the desk. When he finally found his voice, he laughed, a mirthless barking noise. “Surely this is a joke?”
“It would be in poor taste to joke about such a matter, Danjal,” Terah countered.
He picked the photo up again, carefully studying the image once more. He hated the fluttering of butterflies in his stomach and used anger to mask his confusion. “There is no damned way she,” he slammed the photo back on the desk, “is Isiah’s daughter!”
“And why is that Danjal?” Terah cocked her head to the side and studied him.
“She’s mixed race, therefore, her mother isn’t Elah.”
Terah nodded. “Her ethnicity is pretty clear.”
“But that would mean her mother is...” he stuttered, looked down at the picture once more, too afraid to even say the word aloud.
“Human.” Terah said the word he could not.
“Isiah would never break our most sacred law!” Danjal’s finger stabbed at the photo, “It’s drummed into us from the day we discover what our dicks are for,” he exclaimed.
Shax chuckled ironically, and Terah elbowed him in the ribs. “Trust me, Commander, he certainly broke the rules, and she is evidence of that.”
“No!” Danjal shot to his feet. His chair rolled backwards as he stomped away from his desk.
He stood by the window, catching sight of his reflection. Blazing violet eyes glowered back at him as he digested this information. “She’s Nephilim.” He turned, folded his arms, and leaned back against the window. “You want her terminated, don’t you?” Yet as he recalled her beautiful face, the thought of ending her life irked him. “Will you be calling on the Tenebrae Warriors?” He mentioned the unit he’d recently left for the command post in David's Town.
Terah and Shax watched him in silence, their unreadable expressions unsettled him.
“Did he even know about her?” Danjal continued when they didn’t reply to his question. “Surely he would have had her terminated before she was born.”
> “He did know,” Shax answered at last. “In fact, so did your Father. Both Isiah and Noah swore a pact to keep her secret.”
“Why would they protect a Nephilim child when they know what they are capable of when they reach adulthood?”
“We can’t answer that question, Commander; on Isiah’s death, Noah decided to come clean about her.”
Danjal strode back to his desk and stared down at the photo once again. Christ have mercy! He scowled. The idea of killing her churned his gut and tore chunks from his heart.
“It’s unfortunate we arrived at the convent before the General,” Terah said. “I’m sure he wanted to tell you the whole story himself. I believe he was unavoidably delayed in Los Angeles, so his flight landed in London over an hour ago. The chopper should be arriving at the Churchlands pretty soon.”
While Shax and Terah cozied up to the fire, Danjal paced behind his desk. They would not have shown him this picture if there wasn’t something significant about this girl. Judging by his inner reaction, he knew there was. She was stunningly beautiful and ten years ago, he’d have been twenty-six-years-old and a womanizing rake. If he’d met her then, he would have bedded her, of that there was no question.
A noise outside the door alerted him to Noah’s arrival. Inhaling deeply, he made his way toward the door and pulled it open. He stood to the side as Noah Bendagan strode in, accompanied by a wide-eyed Bludon. Danjal greeted both with a tight nod while Shax shook the General’s hand, then Terah pulled him into an embrace.
“I’ve already informed Bludon of your presence here,” Noah explained as Shax and Terah greeted the young warrior in much the same manner as they had Noah.
“I’m so sorry for the loss of your father Blue; he was a phenomenal warrior.”
Run Angel Run: A Steamy Dark Fantasy Romance (The Angels of David's Town Book 1) Page 1