He growled with satisfaction at the sight of her beneath him panting. When she wrapped her legs tight around his waist and dug her nails in his back, his growl turned into a whimper. She whispered hotly in his ear, demanding more.
He complied as he thrust into her harder and faster. He felt her muscles tighten around him as she found her release. After a few more strokes, he joined her.
“Wow,” she breathed out when he collapsed next to her.
“Thank you.” He kissed her on the tip of her nose.
“Is it always that good?”
“I hope so,” he replied. Like her, he had never known any other lover.
Angels mate for life. Short of taking a human mate or a female demon, they only knew one lover. Having sex with humans was strictly forbidden. As for demons, only the bravest male angels dared that. Even female demons were unpredictable and violent. An angel could get seriously maimed.
She gave out a squeak of surprise when she felt him getting hard again.
“Can we again? Already?” she asked.
“That’s one of the benefits of being an archangel. We have great stamina.” He rolled on top of her.
The next morning, he lay on his side, playing with her hair. She had finally fallen asleep an hour ago, exhausted. They had made love the entire night. As he thought about what he had been missing all those lonely, dark centuries, he silently cursed himself for taking so long to realize she was his mate.
He shifted his weight and winced. They had defiantly made up for lost time. There wasn’t one position that they had not tried. He was pretty sure that some of the things they had done were illegal in certain areas of Earth. If not, then they should be.
He paused as the hairs on his neck stood up. Something was not right. He sensed danger. Naked, he got up and walked to the window.
As he stared out he knew what it was. His brothers were nearby. It felt just like Gabi had told him it would feel, a little twinge. Nothing like Cam felt by any means, but he knew demons were near and he knew it was Forcas and Douma.
Cursing, he turned and started to get dressed in his leather pants and a long sleeved, black shirt. He went and gently shook Gabi awake. She sat up with a start. She felt them too.
“Your clothes are in the dresser,” he told her. “Ana moved them for you.”
There was a knock on the door. He opened it a crack to find a sheepish Cam on the other side.
“Sorry, I hate to interrupt you the day after your mating ceremony, but we have to go,” he said urgently.
“What’s up Cam?” Gabi called out from behind Abdiel. She was already up and getting dressed in her battle gear.
“Someone is calling out for help. I think it’s Derel’s old archangel, Haniel,” Cam spoke louder so Gabi could hear too.
“It’s Douma and Forcas. They have him,” Abdiel told him.
“You know this telepath thing sucks,” Cam complained. “I feel like a frigging 911call center.”
“Go get our weapons, Gabi, and I will meet you downstairs.” He shut the door and turned to her.
“Those two have real bad timing,” she huffed out as she put on her jacket.
“I’ll make sure and tell them. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll realize that they’re being rude, apologize, and go home.”
“Well, you could tell them that they could’ve at least waited another hour because I wasn’t quite finished with their little brother yet.”
“Let’s go get this over as quick as possible,” he said, with a wicked smile. “Just the sight of you in that outfit turns me on.”
They went downstairs. Cam paced as he waited for them. He was pale and shaking.
“Good, you’re here,” he snapped out before he handed them their weapons.
“Are you feeling okay?” Gabi asked him as she shared a worried look with Abdiel.
“I’m fine. Haniel just won’t shut up,” he growled as he grabbed their wrists and flashed all three of them out of the house.
They appeared on a deserted street. Haniel was there. At least Abdiel thought it was Haniel. The angel in front of him was unrecognizable.
He was hogtied, and his body was a bloody mass of wounds. His eyes rolled up into his head, and he let out gurgled moans. Gabi and Cam immediately knelt by his side.
“Guys,” Abdiel snapped out. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“What the hell?” Cam pulled a greeting card off Haniel chest.
Abdiel took it from him. As he read it, he cursed.
“What does it say?” Gabi asked.
“It’s a wedding card from Forcas and Douma. They said Haniel is our wedding present.”
“Those sick bastards!” Cam spat out. “Why can’t they go to the Target Wedding registry like everybody else?”
“We need to get out.” Abdiel felt the panic setting into his stomach. “This is a trap.”
As if to confirm his statement, a building behind them exploded.
Chapter Ten
The force of the explosion knocked the three angels backwards. They landed painfully on the ground, momentarily stunned. Slowly they got up to their feet, Abdiel shook his head in an effort to ease the ringing in his ears.
“What’s going on?” Gabi groaned as she held her head.
“My brothers suck. That’s what’s going on,” Abdiel growled.
“Things are about to get a whole lot worse, guys,” Cam shouted. “We’re about ready to get a lot of company, all of it stinky, mean, and demon.”
All around them demons of every shape and size flashed in. Cam hadn’t been lying. The smell of death was so overpowering that Abdiel gagged. The monsters scampered around like multi-colored cockroaches. Some of them actually trampled on their brethren as they fought their way free from Hell.
Abdiel looked over at Cam, worried at how all the demon activity was going to affect him. The last thing they needed was for their empath to overload because of all the evil vibes being thrown around. Cam looked a little peaked, and he seemed to be swallowing down some vomit, however, he quickly recovered. In fact, the young angel actually smiled like he was looking forward to the fight.
The males braced, ready to do battle, but, the demons did not attack the angels. They instead scattered in different directions into the city of Detroit. Even so, Abdiel brought his sword around and decapitated the nearest one. It vanished before its head had even hit the street. Cam launched throwing stars at another demon. Abdiel wasn’t amused when he recognized they were the same ones that his brothers had poisoned them with. Angel warriors were not supposed to use demon weapons.
“What?” Cam played innocent when he saw the archangel’s glare. “I’m just being a good borrower and returning what was lent to me is all.”
“We need to have a serious talk when all this is over.” Abdiel was going to get Cam to tell him what he was hiding even if he had to beat it out of the empath. In fact he was going to enjoy smacking the kid around. Cam had been acting like he was PMSing ever since they’d been attacked by Douma and Forcas. Abdiel realized he’d projected that thought a little too hard when Cam looked over at him with a scowl.
“How many are there?” Gabi yelled, throwing her body over Haniel’s in order to protect the injured angel. She grimaced when a demon kicked her on its way out to the street. Abdiel moved his body between hers and the enemy.
“There are hundreds of them, and more keep coming,” Cam spat out. “It’s like a frigging demon convention.”
“Gabi,” Abdiel called. “Flash Haniel out of here. I need every available hand.”
Gabi put her hands on the injured angel and sent him to the healing chambers. She then grabbed her crossbow and loaded it. She crouched down on the ground with her weapon trained up. The two males stood in front of her, their weapons at the ready.
“Cam, call your family, and let them know what’s happening.” Abdiel rolled his eyes when the empath pulled out his cell phone. “I meant telepathically, you dork.”
Ca
m gave him an aggravated look as he flipped his phone shut. He closed his eyes and contacted his sister and brothers. When he was done, he looked over at the others.
“They’re on their way. Ana said she would tell Michael.”
“There’s too many for us to fight alone,” Abdiel told the others. “We’ll just have to focus on damage control until help gets here.”
The sounds of sirens tore through the air. They mingled with the cries and yells of humans. Off in the distance, another explosion shook the city.
“Please don’t let it be the Joe,” Cam whimpered, referring to Joe Louis Arena, the home arena for the Red Wings. “Any place but the Joe.”
They ran out into the main street and stopped, shocked by what they saw. The humans were confused and scared. Even though they didn’t see the demons, they could see the destroyed buildings and the fires that dotted the landscape.
There were several cars smashed into each other as the people in them had driven recklessly in an attempt to leave. The vehicles blocked the roads, making it impossible for anyone to navigate the city streets.
Some of the humans took to rioting and looting. They smashed windows out of stores and stole items. Others set fires to cars and buildings. Although the number of people committing these acts was small, the effect was nonetheless devastating.
Abdiel felt his cell phone going off in his pocket. Looking at the caller ID, he saw it was Michael. With an aggravated sigh, he answered it.
“I’m a little busy here,” he shouted.
“So I’ve heard,” Michael snapped back. “Look, I don’t want any heroics on your guy’s part. Find shelter and bunker down until help arrives.”
Abdiel pulled the phone back and looked at it in surprise. “We must have a bad connection, chief, because there’s no way that you would ever suggest we leave the humans defenseless.”
“You heard right, and it’s not a suggestion, it’s a direct order. This is all a trap that your brothers set up for you and Cam. We cannot afford for either one of you to be captured.”
“What do you mean by ‘we’? How are Cam and I any more special than any other angel warrior? How are we more important than the humans for that matter? We both took vows to protect the mortals, and we can’t very well do that if we’re hiding like a couple of wussies.”
“Wow!” Michael said with a whistle. ‘That is the biggest speech I’ve ever heard you make, and it was so full of questions too. Hanging out with Cam and Gabi has turned Mr. Dark Angel into a chatter box.”
“Michael, this really isn’t the time to talk about my social skills. We freaking have a demon Mardi Gras going on here.” Abdiel winced when he realized he had just used freaking, Cam’s favorite word. Michael was sure to razz him about that.
“Freaking?” Michael drawled out. “This just gets more and more interesting. What’s next, you going to get your ear pierced too?”
“Maybe I’ll add that to my to-do list. Now you wanna tell me why there’s no help flashing in?”
“The council has blanketed the city. Nothing can flash in or out. Help is coming. It’s just going to take a little longer. That’s why you have to take Cam and hide his scrawny butt. If the demons get a hold of the power he yields, we’re screwed.”
Abdiel didn’t have to ask what powers Michael was talking about since Gabi had already filled him in on what Raphael had found when he had scanned the empath. He looked over at Cam who was fighting a demon. The young angel threw the rest of his demon stars at the beast, before he straddled it and started punching it with his bare fists. Yeah, Cam was something all right.
Still, he loved the kid and would do anything to protect him, even play the role of wussie and hide. “All right Michael, you win. I’ll take them both to a safe house and wait for the others to arrive.”
He listened for a few moments. Finally, he hung the phone up with a curse. He whistled loud, and Cam reluctantly left his demon and came over. Abdiel grabbed them both by the arms and dragged them behind a building.
“Things are about to get a lot more interesting boys and girls,” he told the others.
“Oh goody,” Gabi replied.
“The council has blanketed the whole city. Nothing can flash in and nothing can flash out.”
“Great,” Cam shouted. “Really, frigging great.”
“They didn’t want any more demons to be able to flash in,” Gabi said as another explosion threw debris all around.
“Except now were stuck,” Abdiel spoke grimly. “And our help is going to take a lot longer to get here.”
“Okay, no big deal,” Cam said sarcastically. “It’s only what? Five-hundred against three.”
“The others will get here. They’ll just have to drive,” Gabi said lamely.
“Yeah, our kind are just great with cars,” Cam continued the sarcasm before he jerked his head toward Abdiel. “Mr. Dark Angel here hasn’t even sat in a car, let alone driven one.”
Abdiel gritted his teeth. First Michael and now Cam, he was really getting sick of being called that name today. “The chief wants us to find a safe house and wait until help arrives.”
Cam gave him a look of pure disgust. “I am not going to be some pansy and hide while my city is destroyed by demons. Michael can go get bent.”
“That was not a request, empath, it was a direct order,” Abdiel snapped out, trying to remind Cam of his place.
“So sorry, archangel.” Cam curled his lip in disgust. He walked back several steps, away from the shelter of the building. “This empath is sick of being Michael’s whipping boy. If you want to go hide you heads in the sand, that’s just dandy. Me, I’m going to go do the job that I’ve vowed to do.”
Abdiel was half pissed off and half scared shitless that Cam was talking to him this way. He knew that the young angel had been trained from the crib to always obey his archangel and Michael. Disobedience was not even in the angel warrior’s dictionary. A couple of days ago Cam would have sooner cut off his own hand before he defied a direct order.
“Camael,” Gabi yelled, her shaking voice betraying her own concerns. “You will listen to your archangel. You took a sacred vow to obey and serve, and you will honor it.”
“That’s easy for you to say, Gabi.” Cam walked back a few more steps as he let out a strangled cry. “I’m the one stuck with Haniel’s voice screaming in my head, not you. I know every freaking thing they did to him, every last bit of torture inflicted on him. I haven’t been able to sleep because every time I closed my eyes I was in Hell with him.”
Abdiel instantly felt all of his anger disappear. Cam was terrified and desperate and that was something that he had never seen the empath display before. Even before the kid had learned to fight, he had still gone into battle without one hint of fear. Crap, this whole situation was really beginning to scare Abdiel now.
Gabi’s face had gone pale. Obviously, she was worried too. “Come with me, Cam, I’ll heal you and take all the voices away.”
Abdiel knew she was lying in a desperate attempt to get the empath to come back to them. Cam was born a telepath and would always be one, whether he liked it or not. However, Cam seemed to buy it, his face softening.
“Promise?” The empath took a hesitant step forward.
“Sure thing, bud,” Abdiel added. Yeah, they were big, fat liars all right, but right now he would do anything to get Cam to safety before the empath did something really stupid like getting himself captured.
Cam took another step forward before he jumped back with a snarl. “Liar, I can read your minds. You’re just saying that to get me to come with you. Abdiel, you are nothing but a cock-suc—”
Something swooped down and grabbed Cam. Abdiel looked up and saw that a black winged demon had the young angel by the shoulders. Cam fought to get out of the demon’s grasp even as it flew away with him.
“Cam!” Gabi shouted.
“Well,” Abdiel breathed. “That’s one way to shut him up.”
Abdiel’s mind buzzed
. Cam was in serious trouble. The same overwhelming feeling of despair he had felt when the twins had been taken surged forward again.
Gabi brought up her crossbow to shoot, but after a moment, she brought it down. She obviously didn’t want to risk hitting Cam. The demon carried him further away.
They started to run after him, but another winged demon swooped down and attacked. This one was black as well. It resembled a gargoyle. Its hideous, black wings like a bat’s.
Abdiel grabbed Gabi and threw them both face down on the ground. The demon’s claws just barely missed them. The beast let out a shriek of protest.
“Stay down,” he told her. “I’ll take care of this.”
He stood up and swung his sword. The demon just flew higher, out of reach. It let out a ghastly laugh at him.
He swung his sword again, and once more it flew just out of reach. Abdiel let out a grunt of frustration. He was going to beat this thing to a bloody pulp. He just needed to get his hands on it first.
An arrow flew through the air and hit the demon. It was followed by several more. The demon fell to the ground. It thrashed around and screamed in pain.
Gabi lowered her crossbow and stood up. She gave him a haughty look. He responded with a crooked smile.
“Nice job, sweetie,” he said.
“Nice job?” she echoed before she dropped her voice to mock his. “Stay here, helpless female. I’ll take care of this.”
“Sorry, next time I’ll try to remember I’m mated to Xena, Warrior Princess.”
“I prefer Cat Woman, thank you very much.”
“Noted, now let’s go get the Boy Wonder and try to hold out until help arrives.”
“Do you think he’ll be all right?”
“Gabi, give Cam some credit. He’ll probably talk the demon into submission.”
Cam struggled against the demon’s grip even as it took him higher into the air. Since he had never been a big one for heights, his stomach gave a little lurch. He knew that it was pretty ironic that an angel had a fear of heights, but he couldn’t help it. It was just a good thing that angels really didn’t have wings.
Angel Warriors Page 13
