I walked over to wash my hands and took note of her. Despite her extroverted exterior she seemed shy as she smiled at me. “I’m Louana Smith. It’s my first year here studying journalism. It’s nice to meet you,” she charmed in an awkward manner. She was small and fragile looking and I furrowed my eyebrows as to why I was taking so much notice of her. She held out her hand as if to shake mine and then saw the time on her wristwatch. “Oh, I have to go. I let the time get the better of me. Nice to meet you,” she said before dashing out of the room. The moment she left I felt the presence sweep in.
When I took a step to follow her escape everything froze including my body. An echoing and entertained laugh encircled the room as the flash of a figure darted past the mirrors.
Wake up! I tried to tell my body. This was bad. Very bad. This was something worse than what I usually dealt with. Every hair on my body rose and I feared for my life. I restlessly tried to run and oppose my frozen body.
Sweat began to drip down my neck as it instantly got hot and I knew that whatever this creature was in my dreams, it had the power to control fire. I had never dealt with that in my shadow minds before. It was like a real demon in the one place I was most vulnerable and couldn’t call upon my own.
I was flung and suspended into the air by a gust of wind. Fire and wind! Get out! Wake up! If I didn’t make it out now I knew that I would be scorched by flames. The heat began to rise as jarring and rhythmic clubbing kind of music began. Above all of that was his laughing, he enjoyed my suffering and inability to escape. He was theatrical and I couldn’t look down to see his face despite trying. I could feel the flames creep up and tried my hardest to wake myself. Somehow, I needed to. He began to speak to me but I focused on trying to make my escape.
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Heat wrapped around to envelope me and I began to cry as the tips of those flames licked at me.
My room enveloped my focus as I woke in the state of in-between. I was neither fully awake nor was I still asleep. I had been pulled from the shadow dream. Instead of being confronted by the red spider like creature; red numbers and lines were written all over my roof and walls. The wet spill of tears was what remained of the attack. I was so scared with a human heart in my dream that I cried. My body was frozen from paralysis. The red writing didn’t disappear until I drifted into being fully awake. Suddenly in my vision was Gabe who was rocking my shoulders back and forth.
“Vivian, talk to me,” he commanded. I couldn’t yet talk as my body hasn’t recovered from its paralysis. The remainder of my tears spilled over and I had no choice but to stare at the storm in his eyes that were the usual forest green. “Are you okay, what was in this room?”
Slowly I raised my hand to touch the side of his stomach. Real. He was real. And I was real. Which meant I was back to normal. I allowed the remains of the fear and dream wash away from me. I couldn’t act like this in front of anyone. No one could know that I had been compromised and feared something so greatly.
“Nothing,” I said in a voice that felt raw and had been choking for the longest of times.
“Nothing?!” He said antagonizing. “By the time I got here you were screaming and crying in your sleep and something dark in this room was pinning you down. As soon as I came in, my light forced it out.”
I stared at him while the tingling sensation of being paralyzed subsided. I grabbed onto his shirt tighter trying to distract him with my touch. No one could know that he saw something. If Haymen knew I would surely be facing consequences. I grew angry. The reason why I was asleep in the first place was because he had put me in that state with his ridiculous sleepy kiss. His eyes looked back and forth aware I was about to unleash my fury.
He pressed his lips to mine to silence me. His mouth was demanding and exploring. It was erratic and uncertain. But we were both okay. My body could only react to the claim and I allowed him to press me back into the bed as he rested both of his arms above me on the head board. I roamed my hands over his arms noticing the deep gashes and cuts. I opened my eyes to look at the wounds which still haven’t completely healed. His shirt and arms had been shredded. He had just been a fight. Before I could demand answers, he bit my lips and slipped his hand beneath the light sheet that was still over me. I sucked in a breath as his hand very quickly slipped under my pants and began to circle. My legs rose as I sucked in another breath. One that he caught into another kiss.
All rationality had left as I roamed my hands down his stomach to feel the size of him. A darkness enveloped the room but the spell we were under was too demanding despite the new threat in the room. The darkness spread between us. In a split second, Gabe was flung across the room and smashed into my bookshelf. He hit it hard but not enough to hurt an immortal war angel.
I jumped out of bed but instantly disengaged from the flowering disgust in Haymen’s eyes.
“I told you not to touch her!” He unleashed his hatred stabbing those dark talons of his towards Gabe. Gabe’s light pressed against them and his wings swept in front of him pushing a sweep of light. Haymen seemed to have protected me from the blow as his talons spread around the room like an angry vine. “I told you not to enter her room!” His vines contracted and rushed to attack Gabe again.
My door opened as Tahmeed and Destiny ran in shambles still half naked from sleep. They looked from Haymen to Gabe then to me. Darkness enveloped me and I was dumped on a cold and dark floor. I looked around at the cave walls that dripped with water. Only Haymen’s eyes glowed with a piercing blue that was entitled and focused on only me.
“You are mine!” He snarled and a flash of those fangs he often hid were apparent. His dark tendrils smashed me against the wall, the rocks digging into my back. I hissed out a breath from the forceful impact. I didn’t know what had come over me when it came to Gabe but that was no longer the issue. I watched as the Demon King in front of me paced very slowly toward me. A predator deciding if he were to play or kill. “You’ve been defiled!” He spat at the ground in front of me. “You’ve let him see things!”
He slapped me across the face. The ringing in my left ear left me disoriented. “He touched you where no other but me should touch!” He said gripping my breasts tightly. Painfully tight. That raw power was my undoing because it only called forth my succubus who wanted nothing more than to reciprocate the same painful pleasure to Haymen. My heart beat as loudly as the thrumming between my legs that very much needed to be quenched. I was high on fear, near death, my lust not having been met for almost a week and nothing but teasing for days.
He bit into my neck, the bite instantly stiffening me. I could feel blood draw over my shoulder as I hissed in pleasure. This was the sex my succubus desired the most. My tail flicked back and forth as it was the only thing I could move while he marked me. He clenched down harder the pain starting to crush down on my muscles and shoulder. Despite it, I couldn’t control the dampness that came to my core.
He retracted his mouth and kissed me. His fangs unforgiving as it stripped and cut my lips. My own blood being the taste of our kiss.
His claws began to rake up my leg, cutting deep through the pants and shocking me with a painful and intoxicating pain. The darkness of his black talons swept from his body and began to rub against my clit as he overpowered me and his darkness swelled into my pores. Every part of him was intoxicating and filling me. His talons rubbed more vigorously as my body reacted to him.
For one moment, I thought of how different Haymen’s darkness consumed me against the feeling of Gabe’s fingers and light instead. The friction between my darkness and his light.
The room iced over those talons that were carefully exercising on my clit, stopped. Haymen’s hand was around my throat with claws digging in. “You dare think of him while I touch you?!” Any harder and the tips of his claws were sure to make permanent damage. The pain became too much for my succubus as she retracted despite the thrumming of the still expectant pleasure. I hissed at him and for the first time instead of being limp in
front of him, of being obedient, I dared defy him.
My body might react to him; I might be excited by the closeness of his power. But what I couldn’t stand for in this moment was being overpowered and my lack of control got the better of me. I threw my head back and head butted him. It wasn’t enough force to actually hurt him. It was Haymen of all people but he took a few steps back as if to entertain me.
Instead of hatred for my defiance there was a flash of something else in his eyes. My tattoos glowed bright blue as I allowed my Hellhound to come forth and growled at him. Fangs that were larger than his, well in this form. I looked at him at eye level on all four legs.
His smile widened. “Ahhh,” he said and held out his hands in the way someone might appreciate art. His mood so quickly changed. From sexual, to kill me, to something I couldn’t recognize and now appreciation.
“You are nothing but my creature,” he said and that truly did resonate with my Hellhound demon more than the others who felt loyal to him. “Did he tell you that the Angel Kiss ritual is made for lovers? Angel lovers and it connects them more personally than any other ritual yet known. For the next few days is the period known as the ‘claiming’. He’s defiled you and that calling for you to fuck him is nothing but you falling for his little spell. He only wishes to enslave you to his own means.”
Haymen seemed smug as he said it, his anger receding as he took pleasure in watching me stiffen in the dark. I didn’t change my stance or facial expression. I did however pull back my lips further and growl with my ears pointed back. I wouldn’t return to my original form to speak with him. I had nothing to say. He wanted me to be shocked by that information; to hate Gabe which I already did. We were natural enemies and I might’ve already known that something of that effect was already happening. And yes, I had fallen into the moment of it. But I was a creature of darkness, blood, and lust. I would be fulfilled either way.
“Lick your wounds and think on your actions. I am imprisoning you in here until I see fit to release you. And if you ever try to pull a stunt like disrespecting me like that again I will slit your throat.” I growled lightly again and he charmed a smile. Although he said it, it seemed as if he almost enjoyed someone daring to defy him for once.
His darkness emitted through the room and he vanished. I changed back to my original form and sat against the wall. I took pleasure looking into the darkness of the cave that led to nowhere in particular. I was certain this was one of Haymen’s personal prisons. There was nothing but four walls entirely enclosed. There was no escape until he says so.
I wanted to make sense of any one thing that happened in the last fifteen minutes starting with the shadow dream. That was the priority. It gave me chills still thinking about it. But somehow Louana Smith was relevant. I couldn’t put any of it into a factual presentation for Doc but it was more so a feeling. I never asked people for their names in my dreams. She was important and I had the sickening feeling that the demon in my dream was the same one who attacked her in which she had suffered and died by. When I am set free, depending on the amount of days or years Haymen saw fit, I would research and see who Louana Smith was.
Locked in my prison, I just hoped that Haymen would release me in two days so I could make it to the black market and find out where the witch had taken the possessed children. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. There were so many things to focus on right now. What I knew and had to avoid was a certain Angel who seemed to complicate everything.
Chapter Thirty-Two- Haymen
“Sir, it’s been posted,” my assistant’s voice echoed through my room. I charmed a smile. Good. As soon as the photos hit the media of Vivian and Gabe it will strip him of his credibility. Despite my desire to kill him for daring to touch her and what was mine; consequently, it worked out in my favor. This would destroy all faith from those who followed him. Their infamous War Angel to have such an affair with a Guardian of all things, it was almost worse than a pure demon itself because it was connected to me.
Vivian could deal with the backlash, if any at all. Shabeah celebrated anything fanatical and they adored the Guardians of this city. Other Guardians weren’t so renowned or desired in other cities. This would allow me to strip credibility from Gabe and slowly break into his city in the coming months from the rollover of mistrust and broken treaty in his own accord.
There were other ways to distract and win a war. I thanked the human entertainment of media for making it far easier and spreading such distrust publicly and quickly. Everything else that would happen between the two would only destroy his leadership. I had to ensure I weakened every player in this game before future events unfold. It seemed my dear Vi was more helpful than she would ever know. Her beauty is bewitching to even that of one of my greatest enemies.
Her defiance had surprisingly made me hard for her. Where most would’ve been killed, I wanted to play with my little Vi for a little more. I smiled and summoned Destiny. She was there within seconds. She went to speak but my effective gaze told her to otherwise keep her mouth shut. I might allow slight questioning and defiance from Vi but no one else. I fisted her hair as she silently dropped to her knees and began undoing my belt. She only had one purpose to serve right now.
Chapter Thirty-Three- Gabe
I could no longer sense Vivian. I was certain that Haymen had taken her to the Underworld. Tahmeed and Destiny stared at me, shifting into their preferred demons and ready to attack. I jumped out over the lake and propelled to the sky before any fight could break out. They deemed me as their enemy and I was by default. But this had nothing to do with them. This only involved Haymen, Vivian, and me.
The wind was a reassuring cold slap to my face as I raced between the clouds trying to strip away the heat and hard on that had come over me. I wanted Vivian. Every inch of me screamed to claim her as my lover and I knew the logic in that was ridiculous. I complicated this mission by using the Angel Kiss ritual but even now I still had no coherent reason as to why I did it other than a life for a life as she had protected me. Trying to find Vivian and aid her in escaping would be a direct challenge to Haymen and that was something I had to do strategically and leave for another day. I was certain that he wouldn’t kill her.
I snapped my wings shut and dropped through the air towards the city. The lights glistened in rapid speed as I dove closer enjoying the inevitable rush that swept over me in the cool air. My heart pounded as I dropped between the tops of skyscrapers looking down at the traffic below on the main street. I snapped my wings open and glided over them zipping between the bright lights enjoying the distraction. I let my light spread out and push against the darkness that constantly encased the city. I etched through the hub of the city searching for the old ancient darkness of the Volv. I made sure that I was too quick for anyone to take credible photos or close ups of my current state. I could imagine the phone calls I would receive if anyone noticed that I looked like I had been in a fight in a fellow treaty city. But I needed to exhaust some of this pent up sexual energy.
One of the big screens caught my attention and I swooped up to the highest building. I rested on the tip and wrapped my wings around me concealing half my face. I looked down on the screen in the city center in the early hours of the night. Photos of Vivian and I tangled within one another’s embrace has been captioned and gone viral. I could feel the rollover of storm, wind and clouds follow my mood. This was in Vivian’s bed. Only Haymen could have authorized photos to be taken so closely and leak them. What was worse was I didn’t even sense someone spying on us because I was so focused on Vivian.
The image of her arching into me as I took her lips flashed onto the screen. My body thrummed with that same intense desire. Another image flickered over. People pointed and spoke amongst themselves. This was bad.
A call began to ring through. I touched my wrist watch and answered my audio piece. “Torrin.”
“I don’t know if you’ve seen it-”
“I’ve seen it,” I said. I wondered how much
he would seethe my involvement with one of Haymen’s Guardians.
“Graphically manipulated?” He asked with a stern voice that noted he would kill the person who would try to defile my name.
“No.” I would never lie to my people. Especially the man who I would trust my life with. Our conversations never went further. There was utter loyalty. “I performed the Angel Kiss ritual on Haymen’s guardian. I’m trying to refrain from the aftermath with evidently lack of control.”
There was a pause on the other side. “You what? Why? With her? Why?”
“A debt. She saved my life but traded it with her own.”
“Yea but she’s one of Haymen’s Guardians. Who cares? The one who killed Luke at that!”
“She didn’t kill Luke,” I said adamant as I watched the images continue to flicker with crazed reports and wording. It was the first time that I had admitted it. And I hope I was right. I hadn’t found any proof that she had. When did my opinion of her change so much? “I don’t know. She has something to do with the Volv. They’re following her. I couldn’t let my main lead die.”
“Her? It. She is an ‘it’. A creature filled with demons. A creature of darkness. I understand some of our younger ones might have been tempted but you of all people, Gabe?”
“You’ve followed me for over five hundred years. Don’t tell me you’re doubting my instincts and agenda now,” I said harshly. Haymen would have released these to create doubt and friction amongst those who followed me. What Haymen forgot was that loyalty was not built on media, images or words. It was gathered through blood, personal sacrifices and the loyalty that led me here to find Luke’s killer. He doubted my city and army of angels far too much.
The Shadow Minds Journal, #1 Page 25
