The chains that held him were fashioned of a shining gold, and among their shining links, Claire saw some few that were drawn thin and stretched.
She opened her eyes and her first words were, "You don't have his wings. Only his fire."
The marble face nodded then grinned an unearthly smile.
"Kabiel spoke truly then. How extraordinary. How perfectly enticing you must have been for him."
He moved his thick arms, his chains rustling and clinking, then continued.
"Ask me your questions, woman."
She looked him over and thought of the vampires from earlier, the ones who seemed emptied of everything. The ones who seemed the most desperately hungry and recognized something in the chained creature.
"To begin with, tell me your name, then explain why you're chained up here."
He nodded and said, "Dane'el is the name given to me by my mother so long ago. It is closest to the modern world's 'Daniel' and you may address me as such.
"I am here because I have been the voice of dissent. Always, it has been my desire to curb the excesses of the blood drinkers. To show them that they must not drink until their victim's death, or that they should make no others, allowing ourselves to dwindle in number, leaving the world to men as it was meant to be.
"For it is my belief that we are an aberration. My father is a fallen being and from him, we, his cursed children, must not thrive.
"Still, my convictions were not enough to wound him until, finally, I convinced the remaining Nephilim, my brothers and sisters, of our own unworth.
"Some chose to go deep into the earth, to slumber for all time, others slipped into the dark waters of storm ridden seas to descend to the depths that would crush them, imprisoning them forever.
"That is the crime from which Kabiel's wrath unfurled. That I might dare to question was nothing before the crime of convincing the Nephilim into self destruction."
The creature turned his stony gaze toward Claire and said, "It is for you, human, and your kind, that I am chained."
Claire whirled on him, furious words tumbling in a torrent.
"Stop calling me that. I have a name, just like you. It's Claire...not woman, or human.
"Although I suppose you'd prefer not to know, right? That way you can sit there on your ass and be free of responsibility. It's so much easier to play the martyr than to act.
"My name is Claire Sawyer. Now you know and can have that on your conscience, too, when your master comes back for me."
Claire's anger was fierce and, suddenly, all she wanted was to hurt Daniel, to lash out at him when she could do nothing else.
"Oh, and by the way, I saw something else when I looked at you. Those chains, there. Yeah, well, you could break out of them if you wanted to. And, what makes you even more pitiful is I think you already know...."
Daniel dropped his head, then said, in almost a whisper, "Do not pretend to understand me...Claire.
"It has been more than eighty years since Kabiel bound me here with the very chains that Malakh himself had forged for him before he released my father in a moment of doubt. Eighty years during which my hunger has become a thousand swords flaying me open in endless torment. Eighty years that I have endured the sun each day burning its fury into my very bones until I have been emptied of all semblance of life.
"If my calm and serenity appear to you as indifference, then I am sorry. My suffering has either purified me or driven me completely mad.
"As for which is the case, I can no longer tell."
Claire was unmoved by what he said and replied, "Suffering does not excuse you. Not when you could do something about it."
Daniel shook his head and said, "And neither does your beauty excuse you and your impertinence.
"Still, I confess that it is amusing that you find me wanting and do not hesitate to give me, a being who has traversed the millennia, lessons of moral choice and responsibility."
From behind her, Claire heard a faint sound. The quiet grating of stone upon stone.
Claire saw Daniel's face snap up, looking beyond her and she swung around just as a familiar voice spoke.
"Ah, I see you have been introduced to the vampires' collective conscience."
The tall form of Caim emerged from the shadows, grinning and deathly pale.
"Has the dusty relic told you stories of the good old days? Or, did he just fuck you until you bled?"
A hand clamped itself around her neck, tight as a steel collar, before swiveling her around to face Daniel once more.
"Caim," Daniel said, "You should not have come. Kabiel will not be pleased that you have breached the tower."
Daniel's massive arms had drawn his chains tight. Claire heard calm in his deep voice, but she could see his muscles quivering as he strained against his bonds.
"Yes, well, maybe the master does not mind that I have come to break up your little chat with this lovely creature. After all, he could not have forgotten that I was there before he walled up the stairwell leading here, or that I possess the strength to undo whatever defenses he has put in place, given time."
Daniel's blank stare bore down on the younger vampire as he said, "I think not, Caim. I think you will soon join me here to greet the morning sun when Kabiel's wrath falls upon you for this disobedience. A pity that you do not possess strength enough to endure it. Once...maybe, but twice, no. You will scream as the sun strips the flesh from your bones and your eyes boil in their sockets. You will know what it is like to die a thousand deaths and you shall beg for mercy in the long hours it will take before you fall into cinders.
"Do not do this thing, Caim. Release her."
Caim chuckled, then replied with a single word, "No."
The younger vampire whirled away dragging Claire after him as she kicked and screamed. He pulled her down a narrow stone staircase through an opening in the tower top's floor. A staircase that made no sound under their feet as thick dust softened their footfalls, the years of disuse silencing their passage completely.
Caim pulled her after him as they stepped out of a low opening in the tower's wall before thrusting her forward to where she fell to her knees among blocks of stone tumbled about, like a child's forgotten toys.
Down upon her knees once more in the courtyard as the other vampires drifted forward, their glassy eyes filled with blood hungry desire.
Caim's voice rang out as he said, "My friends. I give you...fucking dinner."
They swarmed forward, latching onto Claire's limbs as they had before, pulling and lifting her into the air between them.
She shrieked Daniel's name, but there was only Caim's face that filled her vision as he grinned down at her before plunging his rock hard penis deep inside her.
In an instant flash of desire so intense it was like violence, the lust that had been silenced under Daniel's influence burst forward once more, washing away all reason.
Claire became a wild beast, ready and willing to be savaged as the vampires ran their tongues over her body, choosing where they might sink their fangs.
Dimly, she heard Caim's voice as he thrust himself in and out of her, "Not yet...not just yet."
There were the mewling sounds of disappointment, then hard fingers twisted Claire's nipples as another vampire's stiff cock found its way into her ass.
The sensation was horrid and wonderful. Some small part of Claire's mind screamed while outwardly she leered to the delicious sensation of being ravished so completely.
Her grin was short-lived, though, as another vampire slipped his shaft between Claire's lips.
She went wild as she took him into her mouth, wrapping her tongue about his prick and pulling back with all her strength. There was crazed laughter, but she barely noticed, her only desire being that of penetration by every means, in every orifice.
The vampire's fever raged through her body as Claire bucked in their many handed grasp.
Pale white cocks slid in and out of her while she sucked on the hard dick in her mouth.<
br />
Then she felt the lovely sensation that began deep in her abdomen, the one that felt like strings were winding in tight, drawing the pleasure she felt into a dense ball anchored deep behind her navel.
And as the orgasm began to condense beyond the point of no return, Claire arched back, ready to give herself over to the waiting mouths at the ready. The desire to be penetrated was overwhelming. The climax that teetered upon a pinpoint demanded that fangs break her flesh, to draw their fill as her life ran its course to the end.
Caim pounded into her. The cock in her back passage slammed relentlessly, leading to an astounding friction with the member in her vagina. There was only a thin slip of flesh dividing them and the sensation of being profoundly invaded carried Claire upon its bow wave.
Her legs went rigid, beyond her control and as if from a great distance, Claire heard thunder rolling and booming from above.
The storm of her orgasm gathered, the dark clouds ready to burst as pale faces gave in to the hunger they had held at bay until then.
The earth shook as Caim rode her, then, stiffening suddenly, he began to blow hot ejaculate deep inside her. His next breath was a whispered word that rang like a hammer.
"Now."
With squeal of delight and fangs bared, the vampires bent to Claire's flesh just as a thick chain whistled through the night air, striking half of them, crushed to the ground.
Claire hit the courtyard hard as the remaining vampires let go of her, circling away to face the threat in their midst.
Through eyes that rolled like a panicked horse, Claire saw the figure of a giant striding forward among the vampires. From one manacled wrist swung a thick, broken chain. From the other, Daniel dragged an immense block of stone to which he remained shackled, the weight of it visibly hindering him.
Caim laughed at the sight of him, then flexed his hands. Even while she writhed on the ground, desperate and fevered, Claire could see how Caim smiled with satisfaction as he rounded to face Daniel.
"Don't tell me that you are here to defend the interests of your jailer, Daniel. You, of all of us, hold no love for Kabiel and his secrets."
Daniel only shook his head, then replied, "It is not for Kabiel that I do this, no. The woman does not deserve this. Malakh has marked her, as much as he has marked all of us with his message, and it is an injustice that she should suffer the consequences in your foul hands."
Caim's eyes narrowed then as he looked from Daniel to Claire and back again. He sneered and said, "Oh, the great Nephilim, laid low by sentiment for a human female. All your years and still you fall under her spell."
Caim reached down then lifted his arm, drawing Claire's face up to him, his hand ensnarled in her long hair. He said, "Woman. You shall have the privilege of watching while I tear this ancient relic to shreds. And know that it is your fault and for affection of you that he will allow it."
The younger vampire let go of Claire and streaked forward, seizing the loose chain dangling from Daniel's wrist and then spun around him to wrap it around the other chain still attached to the broken tower stone dragging behind him. Daniel's arms were fouled and he could do nothing as Caim continued his circle, closing in with fangs bared, ready to rip Daniel's throat open.
But, instead of clamping down to wrench away soft flesh, Caim's mouth found no purchase upon Daniel. It was as if he were made of marble, in truth, and Caim's deadly fangs merely glanced away, causing no damage.
Daniel shuddered, and then, with a roar, he said, "I...am...Nephilim!" His arms shook and the fouled chain broke for a second time, close to one manacled hand, while the other remained chained to the massive block of stone.
A thickly muscled hand shot out and this time, it was Caim who found his own throat encircled by the colossus's grasp.
"Even hindered, you are no match for me, youngling...now, beg for mercy while I consider which of your limbs I shall pull off first."
Claire wanted to scream, to stop them before it was too late, when from all around them, there was a low susurration as if the wind had raked its fingers through a field of dry leaves. From the shadows surrounding them on all sides, more than a hundred wolves emerged in the dim light cast by the moon overhead and from more than a hundred furred throats erupted a low growl that became a single threat hanging in the night air.
All of them were enormous, but one stepped clear of the others, its coat burnished in red, foxlike tones. That one stood a shoulder higher than its fellows and its hackles were raised, revealing vicious jaws meant for ripping flesh from bone.
The vampires shrank back, hissing among themselves. Through the fog of her ensorceled mind, Claire watched vacantly as Daniel released his hold on Caim, both of them turning to face the animals that now filled the courtyard.
The largest, red furred wolf walked forward with an air of supreme confidence, then stretched out its legs as they thickened and lengthened. Despite her clouded mind, Claire was stunned as the beast reared up on its hind legs, its trunk changing shape in the same instant and the animal's muzzle shortening into what could have passed for a wild yet handsome man's face. Heavy muscles rippled under a velvety coat of hair and when he moved it was like watching water flowing.
Except that when he spoke, it was in a bestial voice of untamed savagery.
"I have come to claim this human as our prize this night. Whatever else you are, you are weak and any resistance will be met without mercy."
Daniel was frozen in place, the great block of stone still holding him back while Caim made no move, caught between wolves and the wrath of the Nephilim.
The wolfman continued, "Know this, revenants. I am named Clash...tell this to your master. Tell him also that the wolves have come for what he most values and although we do not yet know why, we are accustomed to trusting our instincts and these tell us that the human is a prize worth claiming."
Suddenly, nearly all of the wolves in the enclosure underwent the same transformation, some changing form into what closely resembled men, others remaining more like wolves, while the one named Clash strode to Claire and without a word, effortlessly hefted her over his broad shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
Terribly outnumbered, the vampires held still as the wolves left the courtyard, its gates lying broken and ruined in testament to the inhuman strength of the beasts that now held Claire in their power.
With a silent command that rustled through them like a breeze, the wolves shifted into a loping gait, running soundlessly into the depths of the forest while the one named Clash held Claire on his shoulders, appearing to not feel her weight as he carried her into the trees.
The urgency of her situation seemed to calm the boiling fever of the vampires as Claire tried to understand what was happening to her, as she tried once more to convince herself it was only a dream and that such creatures could not possibly exist.
That was when Daniel's voice spoke in the dark corridors of her mind.
Claire, I shall come for you. She heard the booming notes of the Nephilim's voice, while behind these were the sounds of blows being struck.
However I remain encumbered and Caim does not relent...I may not arrive in time.
Listen to me, Claire. You must fight. It is the only thing that Galgallin's children understand. If you show any weakness, they will not hesitate to destroy you.
Fight, Claire...be strong or it will mean your death....
She heard a pounding hammerfall sound, then caught a brief image in the darkness as tons of stone slid down in an avalanche, engulfing Daniel. Somehow, Caim had brought the tower down upon the Nephilim and with it was buried all hope of his rescuing her.
She was in the hands of werewolves and there was no sign of her guardian angel. There was no sign of hope, whatsoever.
Claimed by the Wolf
Braze ran alongside his fellow wolves, some half transformed to human, most in full wolf form. As far as he could tell, he was the only one among them entirely in human form, although under any normal person's regar
d, he would have been deemed highly different from an average man.
His skin was emblazoned with dark, tribal tattooing that covered most of his body. What was more was that his physique was as heavily muscled as the most devout body builder, although for him it came quite naturally.
Braze was the progeny of one of the strongest pack leaders that Galgallin's children had ever known. His father had been a juggernaut of a man, whose executive attire had hidden nothing of an athlete's body and had been possessed of a charisma that carried him to the top of the contemporary business world.
Braze was an urban wolf, the orphaned son of a financial magnate, and whose forest brethren regarded with disdain despite the great gift he had given them.
It had been his idea to carefully place his people in various hospitals of the city or, more specifically, positioned well to keep an eye on the local blood banks.
It had been his plan that worked so perfectly at keeping the vampires under the wolves' scrutiny, using their hunger as a point of weakness and turning it into a means of surveillance.
His spies worked alongside the blood drinkers and their minions employed as nightshift attendants. These same were charged with skimming the blood supplies and so supplement the vampires' food supply when too many victims became problematic.
Then came the news of the previous evening's events, a woman miraculously regains her sight, claiming to have seen angels. This alone would not have been enough to interest the shapeshifters, but the excitement and agitation it engendered among the vampires was.
Braze's hackles had risen at the news and his instincts had told him that if they were not yet, at least one of the Seraph would soon be involved.
And, almost as quickly, came word of the girl's disappearance through a hospital window that should have been impossible to open.
While the wolves of the forest rarely had doings with the urban pack, Braze knew that the occasion had come to unite them all in pursuit of the blood drinkers' leader and where he might lead them.
Divine Fornication (The Complete Collection) Page 4
