by HaydenWest
You’re not hallucinating, human. Although, you may wish it was one.
“Damn right I wish it was one. But hey, if I’m having one, how about a bit of rain to cool me off even more. As much as I appreciate the cool air, some water would be nice.”
The second the insane request fell from his lips a cool mist enveloped him, providing instant relief. Mate closed his eyes, and his hold on his weapon wavered for the slightest of moments before he gripped harder.
Sorcery.
It is not magic. I have control of weather, part of my job.
Mate was relishing the coolness on his skin that didn’t feel as if it were dampening his clothing or weapon. So all good there, but it was relieving him of the heat from the day.
He clenched his jaw, forced himself to calm and lifted his chin. “Show yourself.”
The mist rolled back, and he sucked a deep breath. Fuck. The man before him was, quite simply, beautiful. In that handsome and rugged sexy way.
Unblemished, smooth dark hickory skin. Short wavy black hair, brown eyes, and a goatee that surrounded full lips. His arms were exposed and offset by the light color of the sleeveless top he had on, and his black leather boots rose up over the form-fitting merlot leather pants.
His cock sprang to life and he swallowed hard, determined not to lose his life because his dick decided there was still some lead there to be utilized. Even so, holy shit, he’s hot.
Thank you. I could say the same about you.
His mouth never moved, and Mate shook his head slowly, refusing to give in to the insanity that had to be gnawing its way through his brain.
You are not insane, human. This is a bit much for you. Most of your kind do not see the demons like you, much less kill them.
“Great,” he muttered. “I’m just lucky that way I reckon then.”
I believe you are doing what is referred to as sarcasm by your kind. As I am unfamiliar with all of your ways, however, I am uncertain about that completely.
The thing stepped toward him and shaking off the haze of lust that seemed determined to lower itself over his eyes, he lifted the UMP and said, “Don’t move. I don’t know who you are or what your part in all this is, but I’m taking you in.”
A brief flash of white teeth nearly took him to his knees. Fuck, this was worse than his first crush where all that happened when he saw Chris Danny was the erection and subsequent premature ejaculation resulting in a wet spot on his jeans. All he could think about was touching this dark figure in front of him and exploring everything he could touch.
You cannot and will not shoot me with that primitive weapon, Mate Aarden.
It wasn’t fair, his cock threatened to punch free of his BDU’s at the way his name was drawn out by this male. Mah-tay Ar-dyn.
For the first time in his life his name was sexy to him.
“I shot that thing over there,” he retorted, not lowering his weapon.
The thing nodded and shifted his stance, much like a boxer, and Mate had to lock his knees again to ensure he didn’t collapse to the ground. Medium blue wings rose up behind him; like lapis beneath the sun’s strong eye, they shone with each touch of the golden light.
“Shit, you’re one of them.”
Chapter Two
Omri wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this human who refused to back down before him. He’d been drawn here by the screams that his kind could hear from the demons as they feasted on their prey, which as of late was turning out to be more human than anything else.
As he’d closed in, he’d been disgusted by the demon who fed on the human; however, he’d not been expecting this one to show up, defending the other one who’d already passed from this world, thankfully so he wasn’t having to feel the atrocities happening to him. This human had inserted himself in, firing without the least bit of regard for his own life. Even when the dead one had come back turning demon, he’d not run scared but been prepared once more to fight.
Omri had killed the demon himself before he appeared to the human. Tanned skin, scruff on his jaw, dark green eyes that saw far more than he’d ever admit, and chiseled features which had Omri thinking things he had no right to be considering.
Canting his head to the side, he gave it a small shake. “I’m not one of them. I am a Virtue.” He cleared his throat a little before holding that incredible forest green gaze.
One slashing eyebrow rose. “A Virtue? Which means what? And what’s with the wings?”
He mimicked the raising of the eyebrow. “What’s with them? Nothing. They are part of me.”
“They’re not scaly and holey like that thing’s.”
“No, he is a demon, I said I am a Virtue.”
“Again a word you say as if I should know what it means.” He touched his ear. “Andre, can you hear me?”
“This Andre cannot hear you.”
“No matter, I’ll take you back with me. They’ll have to believe me when I show up with you.”
“Your determination is admirable, Mate. I will not go anywhere unless I wish it, and we both know I speak the truth. You are merely wasting energy holding that on me when it won’t do anything.”
“How come it won’t hurt you but it did that thing? And how do I know you’re not just trying to get into my head and make me believe you’re immune to lead poisoning?”
At the end of his patience, he waved his hand and the weapon vanished, leaving Mate standing there holding absolutely nothing other than air.
“Because I know what your weapon can do and would not allow myself to be caught unaware.”
“Where did you take my weapon?”
Another second and it was back in his hand. “Had I wished you harm, Mate, you would know so. I do not. I actually have some questions for you.”
Mate didn’t speak as he put the weapon on his body and propped his hands on lean hips, accentuating the strength in his body. “What questions?”
Shifting once more, Omri repositioned himself closer to the human who’d intrigued him. “Why were you out here after this thing? Humans don’t usually see them until it is too late and their lives are forfeit.”
“I wasn’t after that thing. I was chasing the human it killed.” He wiped the back of his hand off beneath his nose. “What do you mean it doesn’t usually show itself to us until it’s about to kill us? Are there more of those things around here?”
He didn’t like the heavy breathing the man still did, like he wasn’t able to catch his breath and they were not moving around much. While he understood the weather was not all that beneficial to humans like this, he didn’t want him to get ill.
“There are always demons around.”
He crossed his arms. “Of course there are.” Sarcasm dripped from his lips like thick honey. “And you? Are there more like you around? And why haven’t I seen them before?”
“There are more of my kind as well. We don’t typically show ourselves to humans, we have found you to be remarkably unable to handle the comprehension of what meeting us is like.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Is that so? Arrogant much?”
“Because you handled seeing me so well?” He allowed reprimand to merge into his tone.
Mate didn’t acknowledge it or seem to care.
“When you showed up, I’d already seen that demon thing there feasting on a man I’d been chasing, so excuse me for not groveling properly when a Virtue shows up before me.”
“I believe you are making fun of me. Back to my questions.”
His human shrugged and rolled those green eyes. “Of course, let’s get back to your questions because that’s so much more important than anything I could want to ask.” He shook his head. “Nope, you know what. You’re obviously not coming with me back and I can’t force you, but I don’t have to remain out here. This is your demon, your problem. I’m heading back to the world I understand.”
Omri stood there, blinking in shock and amazement as this human turned his back on him and strode away. In fact, so
shocked was he that until the man walked out of sight around the corner he didn’t move.
You seem confused, Omri.
Turning his head, he watched as Zelus landed beside him, softly, golden eyes taking in everything.
Humans confuse me.
What happened here?
The demon attacked that human, changed him, and the human I was speaking to killed the demon.
Zelus raised his brown eyebrows. The human killed a demon?
Without any hesitation on his part. Came charging around the corner, weapon firing the moment he took in the situation.
Interesting. Most humans would run the other way, especially as it looks to be this one lost his face and chest.
Two more showed and he gave brief nods to Demuri and Rao, the Seraphim he had met during the catastrophe when he’d the one to find the Throne impaled on Gabriel’s horn.
Pale blue eyes met his before the Seraphim made his way over to the demon and took a good look at him. Omri had no wish to go back and look at him. What he did didn’t typically involve him in the fighting. And he’d taken more of a lead when it had been the one on the horn, but this one was different, for him.
Sure, he would and had fought when the occasion called for it, but he liked to keep away from that. It made sense to him to allow those who did it well and often to fight. Not him, he watched the weather and celestial bodies.
The two Powers stood off to the side and spoke amongst themselves. Every now and again, they would cast a glance in his direction, but he just remained there. Rao made his way to him and gave him a small smile.
“No matter how many times I see the demons, it’s never easy for me. They hurt my soul.”
Omri stared at the fair-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed being. They were about as opposite as you could get. He was dark to Rao’s light.
“You see a lot of them, then?” He peered once more to the rock structure the human had gone around.
“Starting to.”
Omri hadn’t been expecting that answer, nor the Seraphim to speak to him aloud as opposed to on the pathway their kind typically used. He tore his focus from the last place he’d seen Mate and met the sharp blue eyes waiting for him.
“Why?” He cast a brief glance to the Powers who still held a conversation of their own.
“Because they are coming up more and more. Not to mention, there are those out killing our kind. We don’t know who, but we have suspicions. Because, as you know, I was witness to some of them, I have been brought in and I look at the scenes to see if anything is familiar to me.”
“You have been doing more ever since you found the Throne.”
His expression sobered. “I was the unlucky one to discover Aamu there, this is true.” He rubbed his arm, the motion bringing more of the sun’s rays to his pale rose wings. “I’m not the only one. They, the Powers, are looking for help. Across all the Orders.”
Dawning set in. “That’s why they brought you. To talk to me about joining this, whatever it is. Even though I was there that night, it was because I was one of the closest and answered your call. Not because I am a warrior. Now they need more.”
Rao rocked back on his booted heels. “They are trying to do good and protect all of us. You’ve seen the demons don’t care who or what they attack.”
“I fail to see what good I can do for everyone. I spend my days flying above the earth, not interacting with humans.”
“Except this one who killed the demon,” Demuri said.
He tore his attention from the Seraphim to the two Powers who had joined the conversation.
“It is not like I deliberately set out to interact with him.” He wasn’t sure about this need to defend his actions, for he’d not done anything wrong.
“Yet, you still asked him questions. Good questions. Why was that?” Demuri posed the question.
He paused and thought about it. “I suppose I wanted to know what was different about him that didn’t make him run away but stay and face the danger head on.”
“And what did you find?” Demuri flexed his wings before allowing them to settle.
“That he is more than what I believed humans to be. I figured them all to be scared and to run away from danger or anything that could hurt them. This one was not like that. At all.”
He noticed all three of them watching him closely. Immediately he ran back the statement in his mind and tried to figure out what it was that had that specific look on all their faces.
He wasn’t sure, the more he thought about it, that he truly wanted to know.
Demuri and Zelus shared a look between themselves and then one with Rao before all three of them nodded.
* * * *
Mate rubbed his chest as he made it back to the arroyo he’d slid down and crawled back up while chasing the perp. Heat baked him as he moved, swiftly but definitely not at the same all-out pace he’d been going before.
Every so often, he tried to reach headquarters, but all attempts had been met with abject failure. Standing on the crest of the downgrade, he swore and shook his head.
A cool breeze would be nice right about now. Even a warm breeze.
As before when he’d requested it, his body immediately felt the relief and he closed his eyes, shaking his head.
“No, no, and no.”
Why do you persist in fighting what you already know to be true?
That damn deep, velvet-soft voice poured through his mind once more. This time providing not just the relief weather wise but also reminding him how long it had been since he’d had a lover.
“You can just go away and take the lovely cooler air with you. I’m not going to be playing whatever game you’re working on, nor do I want to know more about what happened until I can get some back up and bring them out there with me.”
I am not there, Mate. I will see you soon however.
The voice and the presence within his mind vanished, but the temperature around him remained much more bearable. He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes. He was alone, still, and still overlooking the downgrade.
He managed to keep the being out of his thoughts while he went down and back up. However, the moment he was humping it again back to his headquarters, all he could think about was that creature.
Wasn’t truly fair to call him a creature, he wasn’t ugly by any stretch. Quite the opposite. Perfection was a word that popped into his mind. Dark brown perfection. His cock stiffened in his BDU’s, and he ignored that as he continued to make his way back to the air-conditioned building.
The moment it came in sight, the cool air that had been around him vanished and he once again found himself sweltering in the hot and dry. The only good thing about this weather was the sweat dried almost instantly. And that was a stretch for him to say was a good thing.
He shouldered his automatic weapon and hurried to the door. Drawing it open, he stepped inside and just allowed the coolness and shade calm him down.
“Where the fuck have you been?”
Andre Colt’s demand was enough to snap him from the world where he sat in a pool of cold water and had not one but a few beers around him.
“After a perp. I told you that.” He strode further into the building and headed for the back room. He had some paperwork then was out for the remainder of the day. This was his Friday, and he had zero intention of coming back.
“I told you to let him go,” the man growled, falling into step behind him.
“Sorry, boss, you know how bad reception is out there.”
“Bullshit.”
Mate shrugged. That was his story, and he was sticking to it.
“What the fuck happened?”
That got him to stop and he leaned against the wall. “You know, I’ve run over a few times in my head but I’m still not sure I fucking believe what I saw out there.”
“Where’s the perp?”
“Dead.” He held up a hand. “I didn’t kill him. Well, not the first time anyway.”
Andre’s expr
ession relaxed for a fraction of a moment of time before his bushy eyebrows converged in an angry slash. “What do you mean you didn’t kill him the first time?”
Yeah, he picked up on that admission there. Didn’t think he would. Or rather I’d hoped he wouldn’t have.
“He was dead when I arrived on scene—or damn near. Like I told you, something was eating him. I shot it, killed it and then he got up and came after me.”
One hand up in the air, Andre shook his head. “Not so fast. What was eating him?”
“Here’s where it gets complicated.”
Andre’s scowl deepened, and he crossed beefy arms. “Try me.”
“If I were a betting man—which we both know I’m not—I’d say a demon.”
“Lucky for you. I know you don’t partake or I would have you ordered in for an evaluation because of what you’re spouting right now. As it is, I have to put you on leave for disobeying an order and apparently killing a perp and leaving him out there.”
Mate had no defense. Technically Andre was correct, he did kill the perp and he did leave the body out there. Sure, the man had been dead and came back to life. He didn’t even bother to mention his body cam. Andre would get there.
“Fine.”
“No argument?”
“Not this time, boss. I’m beat and freaked the fuck out by what happened.”
Andre’s expression sobered. He nodded. “Drop your badge off on the way out.”
Observing his boss’s face, he knew the man was expecting him to argue. Again, Mate didn’t have it in him. The adrenaline was on the down slope. He needed to decompress. And if he was saying so willingly, he really needed it.
“Very well.”
He turned on his heels and headed off. No point in waiting for the shocked expression on Andre’s face. Again, he didn’t have it in him.
At the front, he handed it all over to their second in command. He’d done the paperwork all without speaking to any others. He’d done it quickly, needing to leave.
In his mind, on an endless loop was the image of that creature. Demon, according to the other being there.
