Crave (Tainted Angels Book 1)

by D H Sidebottom

  I shrugged, completely in shock. How the hell? What the hell? How the fuck had taking a bite out of me turned that despicable creature into something that would kill for me?

  Lincoln lifted me up. “What the hell happened?”

  “I …”

  He scoffed as he once more glanced over the mess. “Well, I knew your training would kick in one day.”

  “I didn’t …”

  He frowned at me. “You didn’t what?”

  “Shush, sweet thing.”

  I blinked and swallowed at Rax’s warning. “I didn’t hold back, Lincoln.”

  “So I see.” He chuckled. “Come on, let’s get you home. You stink.”

  I nodded, noticing the smell had disappeared now, as had countless soulless lives. But still it didn’t make sense. Dredgen had their own unique scent, and as a seraph, it was a smell I had been met with a thousand times. The dredgen that had just attacked had smelled different than any before them.

  Everything was going crazy. Me included.

  Her eyes started to bleed, the thick substance of her life making me shiver in excitement. My veins trembled with pain, the strict itch that was forever present within me driving me insane. I needed something to take my mind off it, and what better way than watching my cock sink inside Pandora’s throat?

  “Deeper,” I hissed as my fingers curled around her throat and refused her oxygen until she did as I ordered.

  She pleaded with me with a withering look, the soft choked sound coming from her making me roll my eyes.

  Bending into her face, I curled my lip at her. “Don’t be a cunt. Take it like a good girl.”

  My mood was vile, my hunger for another at breaking point. I’d always been so in control and disciplined, however, since I had been able to penetrate the seraph’s lock everything had completely changed. My mouth watered constantly for a connection, my soul begging for the link that had seemed to calm its endless turmoil.

  I had no idea how I’d managed to link with her. It should have been impossible. We were two different species, complete opposites, and it was ridiculous to think we would confer, never mind relate subconsciously.

  I sighed in relief as I stepped under the stream of hot water. Lifting my face into its heavy current, I gagged when I felt a piece of something slimy slide from my hair and down my face.

  “Dear fucking God.” I retched then stilled and smiled guiltily at the ceiling. “Sorry.”

  I was still struggling with exactly what had happened out there tonight. It now seemed surreal, like I’d dreamed it all. Touching where the wound on my neck had been before it had healed an hour ago, I shivered with a memory of his teeth piercing my skin.

  Grabbing the soap and forcing the thoughts from my head, I lathered up and started to scrub at the sickly scent still engrained on my skin from their touch. That was another thing, their smell. Dredgen had a unique scent, rather like hot popcorn and cinnamon, but this, this was like a sickly sweet odour, a mix of sherry and mould. What puzzled me was that Lincoln hadn’t sensed the putrid reek.

  My hands slipped over my breasts. My eyes popped open and I squealed, spinning around when a faint sound resounded around the confines of my head. “Very nice, Seraph.”

  “What the …?” His deep chuckle angered me. “Get out of my head, Halam!” I answered then gritted my teeth and said, “You seriously pick the wrong moments.”

  “Always,” he answered, and I could sense his smug smile.

  I frowned when something occurred to me. “Rax?” My voice was quiet, nervous.

  “Mmm,” he answered lazily.

  “Fuck!”

  “What?” he whispered as he heard the shock in my voice.

  “You can hear me.”

  “Of course. We’ve already established that.” His voice was tinged with something sultry and I shivered at the sound of his raspy voice.

  “But the thing is,” I whispered back, “I’m not talking to you in my head but out loud.”

  He was silent for a moment and I wondered if he’d severed the link, but when he spoke again, I knew he was practicing what I suggested. “You can hear me?”

  The lump in my throat hindered my ability to answer him and when I finally managed to it sounded like someone different was talking. “Yes. In my ears and not my head.”

  Like someone had shut a door in my head, I knew he had left me, his abrupt loss making me feel cold. Turning the temperature of the water up, I shivered even though its scorching heat was probably blistering my skin. Every one of my senses felt hyper, my ears listening, my eyes scanning, my tongue trying to taste what wasn’t there.

  I squealed loudly again when a thump landed on the door. “Hurry up, Willa!”

  “Shit!” I whispered to myself as I shut off the water and quickly dried off. Wrapping the towel around me, I blew out a breath and opened the door.

  “Sorry.” I grimaced at Linc when I stepped out of the bathroom.

  “Who were you talking to in there?” He eyed me suspiciously, coughing into his hand as his inquisitive stare burrowed into my head and then over me into the small space of the bathroom.

  “Singing,” I replied quickly as I kicked my bedroom door shut behind me. The last thing I needed was Lincoln’s lecture. I was wrestling with myself at what I needed to do, but I needed to be sure.

  So softly sitting on the edge of my bed, I closed my eyes.

  “Your father requests your presence.” Dexter, my Bond Brother and friend, eyed me suspiciously as I broke the link with the seraph. Pandora took the opportunity to escape, bursting past Dexter when he opened the door. Unstable bitch!

  “Any inkling why?” I refastened my jeans and stretched the muscles in the back of my neck. I was exhausted, my sleep disturbed with visions I didn’t want to think about right then. We both started down the corridor towards Father’s quarters.

  “Nope.” He sighed. “But he looks seriously pissed.”

  I didn’t need this, but I was also grateful for the diversion. The discovery that I could hear Willa speak openly and not in my head was unbelievable. I hadn’t realised it had been my ears hearing her sweet voice and not my head, but when she’d mentioned it the realisation had caused a jolt in my chest.

  Rax!” Father greeted with a huge grin, as usual. The colour of his eyes told me he wasn’t too pleased with me, the red tint to his pupils making me apprehensive and wary.

  Returning his smile, I dropped onto the sofa that was situated opposite his chair in front of the fireplace. My father’s quarters were huge, but he chose to furnish it with a simple sofa, chair and a single table between the two plush features. I knew when the time came for me to move in that I would bring much more, surrounding myself with inane objects that stole your breath with their beauty.

  I didn’t like the way I envisioned the seraph sat by the fire, her legs curled under her tight little body as she had her head in a big, thick book, her soft chuckles at something humorous stealing my breath.

  Blinking, I pulled the impossible thoughts and stashed them at the back of my mind as I gave my father my attention.

  He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes on me. “It has come to my attention that you’ve interacted with a seraph.”

  I frowned but nodded, the tone of his voice alerting me to his displeasure.

  He nodded back and blew out a breath. Leaning towards me, he rested his elbows on his knees and spoke quietly. “Did she … do anything?”

  “Funny, that’s what my father asked me.”

  I stilled, the sound of her voice in my ears making me flick my eyes from side to side. Although my eyes told me she wasn’t here, my sanity couldn’t comprehend the fact that I could hear something that wasn’t there. My heart rate quickened.

  “Where are you?” I asked in my head.

  “Home, bed.”

  Catching the groan that wanted to escape as I pictured that image, I swallowed it before my father heard it.

  “Rax?” Father pressed, pushing his gl
asses up his prominent nose.

  “Uhh, I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

  “Yes you do.” The seraph laughed in my ears.

  “How come you can hear him?” When linking with another, you could only hear each other because you were in each other’s heads, so trying to understand how she could hear our conversation was confusing, and my brain struggled to figure out how.

  “Close your eyes, Halam,” she whispered. I could hear the wariness of her request. Unsure what she was trying to ascertain, I humoured her and slowly closed my eyes.

  Quickly snapping them open, my father still sat before me, watching me shrewdly. Closing them again as I tried to hold onto my frantic breathing, I twisted my head and stared around the seraph’s bedroom.

  “What the shit?” I took in her dark red walls, hints of black scattered about the large space. The colour choice seemed odd for an angel, but then, when I pictured Willa, she was far from angelic. Her long blonde hair was the only subtle thing about her. Whenever I had come across her, she had always been dressed in jeans, boots, and dark coloured tops. Her hair was always pinned to the top of her head, and her lip was decorated with a silver ring, as were her brow and nose. I’d laughed at it to start with. It was a sure sign of rebellion, or so I had thought, but now I had linked with her, I could almost taste the darkness swirling in her veins. The little seraph wasn’t as holy as she liked to make out.

  “Rax?”

  My mouth was dry as my eyes opened wide, my shocked gaze finding my father.

  “What the hell, Seraph?”

  “Yeah,” she rasped, in shock herself. “That’s what I figured. Weren’t you aware when I was in the shower?”

  Not understanding what she was getting at, I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I was washing myself. As I got to my … chest,” she lowered her voice on the word, “You said, ‘very nice’.”

  “I thought it was just a vision in my head. I didn’t … fuck!”

  “What was just a vision?” Father asked.

  Shit. Shaking my head at him, I forced a smile. “The seraph, that night. I … I’d been on the sauce. I thought I was just hallucinating.”

  He frowned at me. Whether he believed me or not I couldn’t tell, or care to be honest. I had more pressing things to worry about. “So you didn’t … talk to her? Link with her?”

  “Rax, something is going on here,” Willa whispered, her tone alerting me to her anguish. “I was asked the same thing.”

  I forced my eyes to bulge at my father. “What? That’s impossible!”

  Staring at me, his eyes probing inside, I compelled visions of Brendal into my mind, showing him images of the fight between Willa and the dredgen. Finally, he nodded. “You are to stay away from her, Rax.”

  “What?” I scoffed. “She’s a seraph. We’re supposed to meet … fight.”

  “Listen to him.” Willa laughed.

  “Not a hope, seraph.” I couldn’t help but smile at her amusement. “You’re mine, sweet thing. You know it, I know it. It’s only a matter of time.”

  I jerked when suddenly she disappeared, my body and mind already missing her presence, even if she hadn’t actually been present.

  “She’s out of bounds, Rax,” my father barked. “Do you understand?”

  “Why?”

  “The why doesn’t matter. You just follow my orders.” He narrowed his eyes on me. “You know the consequences of disobeying.”

  “You’re actually serious.” I was his fucking son, the rules never applied to me. The others were chastised, punished if they defied, yet never me. I didn’t like how it felt to be challenged. But I held back and gave him a simple nod. “Of course, Father.”

  He watched me for a moment then nodded. “You will be accompanied by Jaron tonight.”

  “Eh?” The growl that left him caused me to nod quickly. “Of course.”

  Not giving him a chance to bark out any more orders, I rose from the sofa. As my hand gripped the door handle, he called my name. Turning, I found him gazing at me, his eyes softer as he twisted his glasses between his fingers. For the longest moment he just stared at me, his throat slicing up and down as he swallowed back whatever ailed him. Then strangely, he whispered in my head, “I love you, son. Your mother would be so proud of you.”

  Unable to answer him, I swallowed back my own emotion and nodded gently. His smile told me he was back from wherever he went, his eyes blinking when he seemed to snap out of his musings.

  “Okay, that was weird,” Dexter commented as I closed the door behind me. “What the fuck happened to you in there?”

  Fuck if I knew. So, I ignored him and got to work. But I sensed his attention on me all day, watching me, studying me.

  Slamming the bathroom door behind me, I called her. “We need to meet, Seraph.”

  Laughing, she replied, “In your dreams, Halam. I appreciate my blood in my veins.” Her whisper in my head told me she also had company.

  I smiled to myself and couldn’t help but chuckle. “If you insist.”

  Lincoln sighed heavily as he plopped onto the sofa beside me. Passing me a bottle of Bud, he swilled half of his own back in a single swallow. “Fuck only knows what’s happening out there, Bean.”

  Nodding, I downed my own, thankful of the cold wetness to my parched throat. The streets had been crazy tonight, the dredgen out in their drones. “Something’s going down, Linc.”

  He blinked at me, the lines on his forehead telling me he was struggling with something but eventually he nodded. “Yeah,” was all he said before he climbed off the sofa and I heard his bedroom door shut.

  “Yeah,” I said to myself then greeted Marie when she linked with me.

  “Babe, we’re off to Fred’s. You wanna join us?” Fred’s was the bar my friends and I frequented. It was situated deep within Soho and it was unknown to all the other Empyrean, humans were the only other patrons.

  “Oh, definitely,” I answered. “The need to get slaughtered is high on my list tonight, sister.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, same. We’re all in need of alcohol after the shit out there tonight. See you there in an hour.”

  I was there in thirty minutes.

  “You manage many tonight?” Sadie asked with a grimace. We’d all had a difficult night and her expression told me she hadn’t managed to take many souls either.

  “Two.”

  “Fuck,” she groaned, downing another shot that Frannie placed in the middle of the table. “It makes me wonder how many the Gehenna managed.”

  “One!” Rax whispered in my head.

  “Shit, really?” I answered openly without thinking.

  “Well, aren’t you curious as to whether it’s something exclusive to us?” Sadie asked, thinking I had been talking to her.

  “It’s all of us.” I shrugged. “Some shit is coming and I for one, ladies,” I lifted my glass and sighed, “need to get shitfaced.”

  “To alcohol and its ability to knock the shit back!” Frannie saluted.

  “To alcohol,” we all toasted as we closed our eyes and knocked back our drinks.

  “To alcohol,” Rax toasted with us. “I like your friends. The blonde one is pretty.”

  I snapped my eyes open and ignored the tightness in my gut with his declaration. Turning my face away from Marie, hindering his eyes on her, I growled under my breath. “Fuck off!”

  “Charming,” Marie scoffed.

  “Not you!”

  They all squinted at me, my consumption of tequila making them all a little fuzzy.

  “Who?” Frannie peered at me, her own eyes wide as she attempted to focus on me.

  Shaking, my head, I waved them off. “Ignore me, talking to myself.”

  “That’s a sign of madness!”

  I scoffed then grinned up at Bobby when he brought us a round of drinks. “Did we order these?”

  He shook his head and nudged his chin towards a guy sat at the bar watching us. “Geezer wants to introduce
himself to you, Willa.”

  Bobby knew us; we’d been coming to his joint for quite a while. We filled his till with cash and he filled our souls with calmness. He wasn’t aware of what we were but I sensed he could feel something unusual about us, yet we’d never brought him trouble and he seemed to like us so he never questioned us. When I looked at him questioningly, he shrugged.

  “Really?” I peered over, each of my girlfriends following my lead and craning their necks to catch the good-looking guy smiling at me. He had a head of thick, dark hair but it was his deep blue eyes twinkling with naughtiness that called out to me.

  “Oooh, nice,” Marie said.

  “Who is it?” Rax asked sharply.

  I chuckled to myself. Two could play at his game. Gulping down my drink, I picked up my bag and sauntered over to him.

  “Willa! Don’t!” Rax grumbled but I severed the link, his frantic hiss as I switched off making my smile bigger.

  Thrusting out my hand to the guy, I smiled. “Hi.”

  “Good evening, Willa.” He smiled back as he gestured to the barstool beside him. There was something in the twitch of his eyes that sent a shiver down my spine but I ignored it. Alcohol always sent my senses haywire.

  “You seem to know me,” I said as I slipped on to the stool. “But forgive me; I’m not sure we’ve met before.”

  “Ahh, unfortunately only in my dreams.” He leaned towards me, his mouth brushing up to my ear.

  The touch of his breath on my skin rushed a cold trickle through me and I gasped as tranquillity seeped into my veins. My head felt light, my body sighing with appreciation. My mouth dried as I closed my eyes and welcomed the exquisite feeling. It was like someone was caressing my insides, their touch warm and feather light, but so very perfect.

  “You smell divine,” he breathed down my neck as his lips brushed over my skin.

  I couldn’t talk, the arid expanse of my mouth appearing to belong to someone else.

  “I want you in my bed, Willa.”

  I nodded. I wanted that too, so much that I was ready to beg for it.

  I looked down slowly as his fingers slipped through mine, the gentle feel of him making my skin tingle with electricity.