Cam smiled at him and wiped the blood off his chin. “Not as good as angel blood, but it will do for now.”
“You’re not supposed to be able to take in our blood,” the guard protested. “It’s poisonous to angels.”
“Bad news for you. I was never good at following the rules.” Cam licked his lips before he flashed his fangs again and bent his knees, preparing to launch himself at the remaining demon.
“Cam, stop,” Abdiel yelled as panic welled inside him. “You don’t know what drinking that crap will do to you.”
“What will it do? Turn me into a monster? Oops, too late for that,” Can retorted, however he didn’t bite the demon. Abdiel was relieved to see that he was still willing to listen to him.
They could hear other guards running towards the cell. Cam grabbed the remaining demon by the head and twisted his neck in a way that would make Steven Segal proud. Six more demons rushed into the cell. Cam threw back his head and laughed acting like he was actually looking forward to another fight. Not that Abdiel really blamed him. After all they had been put through it must feel good to give some back.
As the demons came into the cell, they stopped, horrified at the sight of their two fallen comrades. When they saw that one of them had his throat ripped out, their jaws dropped in fear. They looked at Cam with a disbelieving stare. He used their hesitation to his advantage. Running at them, he tackled the closest one, bringing it to the ground. He straddled the demon and got in a few punches before the others dragged him off. He managed to pull away from their grip and stood with his fists up as the demons formed a circle around him. As they attacked him, the angel fought well, but he was hopelessly outnumbered and had no weapon besides his fists. They finally managed to take Cam down, but not before he took out four of them.
“You are so lucky I don’t have my flame back,” he told them as the pulled him out of the cell. “I would roast your asses and then make s’mores over your smoldering remains.”
Abdiel cursed the demons that took Cam away. Then he cursed the demons that lay injured in the cell. Finally, he cursed the demons that came in to drag their wounded away. None of it made him feel any better.
He then started to curse himself for failing Cam. As the archangel, it was his duty to make sure all the angels under him were safe. Instead he had royally screwed up, and now one of the few friends he had was morphing into some kind of monster. Remembering how innocent and kind Cam was the day he had first came to their house, Abdiel had to blink back the tears. Even if he did manage to get them out of this mess he would never be able to look Ana in the eye again. She had trusted him to protect her little brother, and he hadn’t done a very good job.
Even if he could get free of the chains, he was useless now. Looking up at his mangled hands, he winced. Persephone had snapped every finger. That was after she had used the pliers to pull out every nail. Not to mention the fact that his back was basically like hamburger.
He let out a hysterical, half mad laugh as he thought about what Michael would think if he could see him now. To think his chief had actually thought that he was to be some great leader that would help save the world. Some hero, he couldn’t even save his best friend.
His only solace was that Gabi was safe. When he remembered her smell and the way her body felt around his, it helped to ease some of the pain. He knew that he would never see her again. There was no way Satan would ever let him go. Not after he had dared defy his authority all those centuries ago. If anyone could hold a grudge it was Lucifer.
He could only imagine how mad Gabi must be at him. He had gone off without letting her know what he was doing. She had reminded him countless times how they were a team. That he was not alone in the world anymore. A small smile curved his lips. His little hellcat was probably spiting fire right now.
“When we get Abdiel back, I’m going to skin him alive,” Gabi told her sister-in-law.
She and Rachael were waiting in the same park where they had taken the males. Rachael had contacted Beelzebub telepathically and arranged a meeting. The demon had thought it would be fun to meet them at the scene of the crime. Tired of all the waiting, Gabi felt like screaming. It had been a whole two days since they had taken Abdiel and they were still no closer to getting him back than before.
Both females were armed to the hilt. Gabi had not only her crossbow, but several daggers and throwing stars tucked away. Rachael had a scabbard on her back that held a sword. It had been Abdiel’s when he had been a young archangel in training. She also had two retractable blades attached to her wrists. Their biggest weapons were hidden in the trees around them. All seven of Cam’s brothers kept a close watch on them. If the demons tried to pull a fast one, they’d be in for a nasty surprise.
Beelzebub flashed in front of them. With him were two of his generals. He did not speak at first. He just looked at the two females with an evil smile on his face. As he looked her up and down, Gabi felt like she was being sized up in the slave market. She did not betray that thought in her cold stare though. He settled his gaze on Rachael. His lip curled up in disgust. Rachael all but growled at him as she shot him a venomous glare. There was obviously no love lost between the two of them.
“Well, look who’s a big girl now.” He sneered at Rachael. “You called for me, so here I am. What in the hell do you want?”
“You know what I want,” Rachel responded. “I want Cam and Abdiel released.”
Bub laughed in her face. “Now why would I do that? What will you offer me in return?”
Rachael turned and directed her hands at one of the generals sending a ball of energy at him. The demon yelped in pain as it struck him in the chest and threw him backward. Bub looked scared for a moment before he turned to her and started to applaud mockingly. The general struggled to his feet and went to attack the females, but Bub held up his hand to stop him.
“I’m offering myself,” she said coolly. “Not only will you have me, but I can track my twin brother. You know you’ll never get Appolion without me. Without him you will never have the completed Order of Four.”
“Even if I were to trade them for you and you managed to get your twin, that still wouldn’t help me. We would need Abdiel and his little punk. We need all four of you, not just two.” Bub held up four fingers in her face to prove his point.
She smacked them away. “We challenge you to a battle. Pick the place and bring as many demons as you want. Winner gets all four of us, loser leaves with their tail between their legs.”
Bub looked at the two females uneasily. “Does Michael know you’re proposing this deal?”
Gabi made a big deal of rolling her eyes. “Who do you think is amassing the army as we speak?”
Bub looked over at her with lust in his eyes. “I agree to your deal. However, I have one stipulation of my own. When you lose, I want Gabi too. She will be mine to do with as I want.”
“Fine,” Gabi said without hesitation.
Bub reached over and stroked her cheek. She shuddered as she held her revulsion in check. “You don’t know how long I have wanted you, princess,” he whispered.
She gave him her most haughty, royal look. “The only one that calls me princess is Abdiel. He is the only male I will ever love. Whereas you are nothing but a slug.”
Bub snarled in anger. “I could just take you now. You are just two females, and there are three of us.”
Rachael pulled out her sword and pointed in at the two generals as Gabi grabbed a dagger from her waist and aimed it straight at Bub’s black heart. The seven Lehor brothers came out of their hiding places with their weapons drawn. Bub took one look at the situation and backed down. He let out an angry hiss at Rachael.
“It must feel nice to have someone finally looking out for you, caring for you.” He gave her a snide smirk. “Do you want to know a secret, my little bitch? Appolion wasn’t exiled. Your mother freed him. How does it feel to know that she loved him enough to do that for him while she let you rot away in that bed? Do all
these angels know what a whore you are? Do they know all the things that Douma and Forcas did to you? The things that they made you do to them? You’re not the sweet, innocent thing they think you are.”
“Shut your dirty, filthy mouth,” Ramiel yelled at him.
Bub ignored him, leaned forward and acted like he was sniffing her. “I can smell you demon brothers’ stench all over you even now. How can you possibly think that Heaven could even want you when you’re tainted?”
“She’s been up to Heaven and Michael accepted her, you slimy bastard,” Gabi spat out. She felt a roar of anger ripping through her body. If they didn’t need the demon for negotiations, she would have destroyed him herself. Rachael tried to keep on a brave face, but it was easy to see that this was devastating her spirit.
Bub continued his verbal torture. “When they realize Abdiel isn’t coming back, do you really think they’re going to let you stay around? They’re going to send you packing so fast your head’s going to spin. Then you’ll be alone, just like before.”
Derel pulled back the string of his longbow, an arrow pointed at Beelzebub’s face. “Nobody talks to our new sister that way, you son of a bitch. Just say the word Rachael, and I’ll shoot off his freaking face for you.”
The demon pulled back, realizing he had finally pushed the brothers to the end of their limit.
“Fine.” Beelzebub spat at her feet. “Go prepare your army. I’ll send a messenger later to let you know the time and place.”
“Agreed,” Rachael said, never lowering her sword. “Just remember if we don’t see Cam and Abdiel, the deal is off.”
“They had better be in one piece too, or else,” Gabi added.
“Or else what?” the demon asked.
Gabi gave Bub a look so cold and evil that the demon shuddered. “Remember I was the angel called on to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.” Her voice was pure venom. “If they are not brought to us whole, what I do to you will make it look like those two cities had it easy.”
Bub looked downright afraid before he flashed himself and his two cronies out of the park. Even though the demons were gone, Rachael remainedstill stood rooted in her spot. She lowered her head in shame and refused to meet any of their eyes.
The youngest brother, Barakiel came over and put his arms around her. “That demon doesn’t know what he’s talking about. We’ll never leave you alone. You’re one of us now. We love you, and that’s not going to change even if we don’t get Cam and Abdiel back.”
Jophil and Cassiel came and stood on either side of her. They were the only set of twins in the Lehor family and had the honor of being born right smack in the middle of the age hierarchy. Although they were archangels like their older brothers, they were not angel warriors. They were part of angel police force called the Enforcers. They were completely identical in looks right down to the long, blond bangs that hung over their blue eyes.
“Hey, don’t pay any attention to anything that stupid demon said,” Jophil soothed.
“Yeah, we’ll always look out for you. Us twins have to stick together.” Cassiel finished for him.
“What’s Abdiel going to say when he finds out what Forcas and Douma did to me?” Rachael whispered.
Gabi’s heart went out for her. She sounded so sad and ashamed. While Rachael tried hard to act like nothing ever got to her, she obviously had more baggage than she ever let on.
“Abdiel isn’t going to blame you, and neither do we.” Gabi gave her a fierce hug. “We love you, and that’s never, ever going to change, no matter what.”
All of a sudden, Barakiel let out a yell and crumpled to the ground. He started to let out sharp cries of pain as he rolled side to side. A fine sheen of sweat covered him and he grew deathly pale. Rachael went to him and took him in her arms. She rubbed his back.
“It’s Cam.” Barakiel looked like he was about ready to get sick all over the place. “They’re hurting him right now. Oh God, it’s terrible. They’re trying to destroy him. I can feel it.”
“He’s connected to Cam. He’s feeling his brother’s pain.” Rachael explained to the others.
“Crap, what are they doing to him in Hell that’s so bad it’s affecting Bear this way?” Nathaniel asked, his face turning green.
“Come on,” Gabi took charge. “We need to get him back to the house and into bed.”
As soon as the demons started to drag Cam to the torture chamber, he got his fight back. Spinning around, he broke free from the two demons. He drove his fist in the face of one demon before he used a flying back kick to down the other. He knocked both the demons senseless in a matter of seconds. His freedom was short-lived however as another group of demons came running and brought him to the ground.
Two of them pinned his arms behind his back while the rest took turns punching him. Closing his eyes and trying to concentrate through the pain, he sent out mental images to the demons. It worked. Some of the guards started to run around in circles, confused. He started to work mentally on the two that held his arms. He could feel his powers returning to him, and he knew that if he could get his hands free he might be able to throw fire.
Just when he thought that he might have a chance, Douma and Forcas came storming up. Cam’s head felt like it was going to explode when Douma brutally slammed a barrier in place. Forcas came up and pinched Cam’s cheeks together forcing his mouth open. When the demon saw his fangs, he hissed in surprise before he leaned closer to the angel in order to look at his eyes better.
“Mammon, you better come and get a look at this,” Forcas called, still pinching the angel’s mouth open.
A tall, dark demon came forward. As soon as he got closer, the evil rolled off of him. It was ten times stronger than any other demon Cam had felt before. He was ashamed to feel himself start to tremble in fear.
Mammon looked straight into his soul with his dead eyes. Those black eyes pinned him in place and he couldn’t look away because the terror paralyzed him. The angel could feel the evil come off the demon in waves. He felt his body beginning to absorb the hate, anger, and demon power.
“No,” Cam cried out in protest. “I won’t let you make me one of you. You’ll have to destroy me first.”
“Fine,” Mammon gave him a cold smile. “We will do this the hard way.”
A huge explosion of pain rebounded throughout the angel’s skull. He could feel every good memory, feelings of love, and happiness being savagely ripped from his brain. He was dimly aware of someone screaming in agony and realized that it was him, but he couldn’t help it. He had never thought that there could be pain this bad.
It felt like every cell in his body was exploding, and dark pits of burning acid were being left in their wake. He knew that they were destroying the old him and replacing that Cam with a new one, an evil one. He tried to fight it, but he could feel his control and will to continue drifting away into the darkness.
By the time Mammon released, his mind the only thing left was hate and anger. He wanted to destroy and kill, to feel the blood of his victims running down his throat, he wanted to bathe in it. He vaguely remembered that he had a family, someone that loved him, but he found that did not matter to him anymore.
No, you are an angel warrior. You have taken sacred vows. You must fight this. You can fight this, he told himself. He focused hard on the little bit of love that was still left in him. He found that some of his control returned, and he even started to remember Ana and his brothers.
They threw Cam into a small cell, then slammed the door behind him. He got up from his hands and knees and looked around. He was surprised to find that he had not been taken to a torture chamber. He was even more surprised to see that there was a female angel sitting in the corner of the room.
He felt sick to his stomach as he realized what the demons had done. They had thrown him in with a female thinking that he would turn and attack her in his unpredictable state. The worst thing is he honestly did not think he was above doing just that.
In a panic
, he turned to the door and pounded on it. “Let me out of here you sick sons of bitches.”
“They won’t answer,” the female said. “They never do.”
Cam closed his eyes and laid his head against the door. He was shocked when the female came up and touched him on the shoulder. Her soft touch instantly made him full of lust. He found himself fighting the monster that was in him. Get a grip, Cam. Don’t give Mammon the satisfaction by letting yourself be turned into a demon.
“Get away from me,” he gritted out to her between clenched teeth. He didn’t turn and look at her lest she see his fangs and be frightened.
“You’re hurt,” she gasped out seeing his wounds.
“Are you a healer?”
“No, I am an archangel.”
“Then my wounds are no concern of yours,” he spoke harshly. She still was too close to him. He could smell her blood; hear it rushing through her veins.
He started to breath hard as a red haze obscured his vision. He could feel his hold on his sanity slipping. If he could he, would have ran from the room in order to put as much distance between him and the female, but he was locked up.
All he needed was one taste. Just one little nip and then he would leave her alone. It’s not like anyone would ever find out, and it wouldn’t hurt her, much.
Losing control, he turned on her with a feral growl. Throwing her on the ground he bared his fangs. She let out a terrified scream just as he sunk them deep into her neck. His last coherent thought was that the succubus had been right. Angel blood did taste so sweet.
Chapter Seventeen
The monster that was once Cam was not gentle with the angel pinned under his body. She was strong, but he held her in a tight grip and drank her blood in long, deep drags. The piece of meat started to squirm even more so. He grabbed her by the hip in order to hold her still. As soon as he touched that area, his head snapped up and his mind started to fire with memories, memories that were not his own.
Angel Warriors Page 24
