Archangel Chronicles 7 - Shot In the Dark

by LaBarthe L. J.

  “I slept a day and a night?”

  “Yep. And a morning.”

  “Sweet Buddha.” Baxter shook his head in wonder. “Well, I’m going to need to eat. First, though….” He reached up to curl a hand in Liam’s honey brown hair and tugged him down for a kiss.

  Liam tasted of coffee and donuts, and Baxter kissed him hard, wriggling back to lie down and pulling Liam with him. Liam sighed softly into the kiss, a breath of passion and desire, and he ran a hand down Baxter’s side as Baxter slid his own hands down Liam’s back. It took them only a few moments to shuck the scant clothing they wore—Baxter preferred to sleep naked and Liam was only wearing sweats—and then they caressed each other’s bodies, rocking into each other and kissing more and more artlessly. Baxter fumbled for the bedside drawer with one hand, trying to find the tube of lube he kept there, but Liam’s reach was longer and he grabbed it first.

  “Condom?” Baxter panted as Liam broke the kiss to get the tube open.

  “No.” Liam shook his head as he squirted a generous amount of lube onto his fingers. “We’ve had the tests, remember. We’re both clean.

  Unless you want to use a condom?”

  Baxter shook his head, spreading his legs as wide apart as he could.

  “No. No, I want you to fuck me and fuck me now.”

  Liam grinned at him and stroked himself, smearing the lube over his cock. Baxter grabbed a pillow and shoved it beneath his hips. He reached for Liam even as Liam moved to kneel between his thighs, and as Liam positioned himself, Baxter reached down to tangle his fingers with Liam’s.

  Liam slowly pressed into him, and Baxter cried out, relishing each second of delicious friction as Liam stretched and filled him. Some men, Baxter knew, preferred to be stretched by fingers or toys prior to the main event, but he didn’t. Unless they were involved in mutual masturbation, Baxter preferred Liam to fuck him without fingering him first.

  With Liam balls-deep inside him, Baxter let out a low moan as Liam leaned down and kissed him. He lifted his legs and wrapped them around Liam’s hips, and the two of them rocked together, their pace increasing as they drew toward orgasm. As Baxter raked his nails down Liam’s back, Liam moaned raggedly, his thrusts stuttering a little as he lost the rhythm.

  Each time he was completely inside Baxter, Baxter clenched down around him. A moment later, he felt Liam’s hand on his cock, stroking him hard and fast in time with his thrusts.

  “Liam,” Baxter panted, “Liam, fuck, yes, Liam, Liam!” He gave voice to a shout and came hard.

  Liam moaned once more, ragged and rough, and came a few moments after Baxter did. They lay together, slowly coming down from their orgasms, holding each other in a tight embrace.

  The mood was shattered by a loud pounding on the door of Baxter’s apartment. He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. “Tell them to go away.”

  Liam laughed and slowly pulled out of Baxter’s body and got off the bed. He tugged on his sweats and looked at Baxter, who hadn’t moved.

  “I’ll see what they want.”

  “Okay.” Baxter sighed and sat up as Liam left the room. The banging on his door hadn’t stopped; if anything, it had gotten louder, and he had a sinking feeling that meant there was a job to do and he and Liam wouldn’t be able to have any time alone together for quite a while.

  “Dammit, Liam.” Angelique’s voice was loud and clear. “You and Sugar-puff need to clean yourselves up and get dressed for a job. Declan wrote a list of what you’ll need. You’ve got fifteen minutes to meet us in the yard downstairs.”

  The sound of the door closing told Baxter that she’d left, and a moment later, Liam returned to the bedroom. “Where are we going?”

  Baxter asked him.

  “No idea. This doesn’t say, but it’s a standard kit list. You’re supposed to dress light, to go wolf when we get to wherever it is we’re going.”

  Baxter huffed. “Great. Okay. I’m going to have a quick shower.” He left the bedroom and went into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door. Curiosity about the mission was beginning to eat at him, and so his shower was very short and very hot. When he’d finished, Baxter dried himself off and went back into the bedroom. Liam grinned at him as they passed each other, and Baxter chuckled as he heard Liam close the bathroom door.

  Baxter dressed quickly, choosing jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers. He ran his hands through his damp hair as he peered at himself in the mirror, and then he shrugged at his reflection. He would be in his wolf form soon enough; the wolf wouldn’t care if Baxter’s hair was perfectly styled or not.

  Liam had left an assortment of items laid out on the bed, and Baxter turned from the mirror to look at them. There was a military flak jacket, a Glock 29, a Ruger SR9, and a Desert Eagle .50. The .50 made Baxter’s blood cold just to look at it. He hadn’t seen any of those caliber semiautomatics since the war. He turned away from the handguns and saw that Liam had laid out several knives, including a curious-looking one with a bone handle and a serrated edged blade that looked like a bread knife from a bakery in Hell. There were runes on the blade, and Baxter squinted at them, trying to identify them and failing. There was also a canvas bag, and Baxter wondered what was inside. Casting his gaze over the weapons on the bed, he decided he didn’t want to know.

  Liam returned and quirked an eyebrow at Baxter. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I’m just wondering why my mate is arming himself as if he’s walking into a war zone.”

  Liam began to dress. “Declan was pretty specific and he rarely is without good intel, so I’m going by what he said. I get the impression we’re going somewhere remote where there’s been a natural disaster of some kind, but anything could be there, including a demon nest.”

  “Okay, but… wait. Don’t the demons sort of have a truce with the angels now? Why would there be a demon nest?”

  “Who knows?” Liam tugged on a skin-tight long-sleeve T-shirt and began to deck himself out in the flak jacket. “I’d put money on the fact that some of them are pissed about that truce.”

  “Good point.” Baxter sighed. “Great. That means biting demons. Do you know how revolting they taste?”

  Liam laughed. “Says the man who smells like orange soda.”

  Baxter pul ed a face. “I grabbed the new deodorant—I didn’t realize it was orange scented, so now, yep, I smel like soda. Angelique is never going to let me forget that and I’m going to make my own wolf nose clog up.”

  “Why don’t you wash out your armpits?” Liam suggested.

  “And I was going to wash out my armpits, yes, that’s a great idea, thanks,” Baxter said. He rolled his eyes at himself. “Why do you stick with me? I’m dumb.”

  “Nah, not dumb. Just a bit scattered right now, because you’re hungry after sleeping a long time. Go wash off the orange soda smell and I’ll make you a sandwich. Then we can go down and meet the others.”

  “You are the best boyfriend ever,” Baxter said. He dashed out of the room and into the bathroom and tugged off his T-shirt, then soaped down his armpits, making sure that soap was the only thing he could smell. Once he’d rinsed off, dried himself down, dug out new deodorant, used it, and tugged his T-shirt back on, his stomach was growling loudly.

  Liam had just finished making sandwiches and Baxter smiled at him.

  “Thanks, man. You’re awesome.”

  “I try.” Liam pushed the plate over to Baxter. “Eat up.”

  “Yes, boss.” Baxter grabbed one of the sandwiches and wolfed it down in two bites. Soon, the plate was cleared of food and he felt much better. “Okay,” he said, moving to grab a bottle of iced tea from the fridge, “let’s get going.”

  They left the apartment hand in hand, bouncing down the stairs together to join the rest of Baxter’s pack and Liam’s brother in the backyard. Apart from Angelique, who wore flight gear, and Declan, who was dressed similarly to his brother, the rest of Baxter’s pack were dressed as simply as he was. Clearly, they were flying to th
eir destination and then the Venatores were all going wolf.

  “Where are we going?” Lily asked.

  “Montana,” Angelique said. “I got the brief from Michael, so here you go, I printed you each out a copy, so you can read it on the way. We ready to rock and roll?”

  There was a chorus of “Yes,” and she nodded. “Good. Dec’s driving us to the field where Michael keeps the planes and choppers. We’ll take the Black Hawk.”

  “Are we expecting to have to move cargo as well?” Danny asked, taking the report from Angelique.

  “Anything’s possible, soldier,” she said.

  “Roger that.”

  “Let’s move out,” she said, and the pack fell in behind her as Liam and Declan brought up the rear.

  The drive to the yard was short. Baxter concentrated on reading the brief of the mission, wondering why it sounded so benign. He was getting a strange feeling, a sensation in his gut that told him this was going to be anything but the simple rescue and help mission the brief described. He’d learned to trust his gut at a young age, and during the war, listening to his gut had saved his ass more than once. There was something about the war he couldn’t quite remember, and he considered that for a moment, then mentally shrugged and moved on. If he couldn’t remember it, it was probably for a damn good reason.

  “This all sounds really simple,” Danny said.

  “Too simple,” Lily said darkly.

  Baxter looked at her sharply. “I was just thinking that.”

  “Nothing good comes out of disasters in extremely remote places in the mountains,” she said.

  “Love, not every place like that is going to be a gate to Hell,” Danny said gently.

  She huffed. “Maybe not in your experience, but in mine, it’s completely different.”

  “That’s just made this whole thing even more ominous, Squirt,” Baxter said.

  “Don’t call me that. And I’m sorry, I hope I’m wrong, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  “Michael wouldn’t send us off somewhere that was going to be too dangerous for the Venatores,” Riley said in his quiet, diffident voice. “He wouldn’t put us in any foreseeable danger.”

  “Foreseeable is the word,” Lily said. She fell silent after that and so did everyone else.

  “Look,” Angelique said as Declan pulled into the private yard where the two light planes and three helicopters were kept, “let’s not go borrowing trouble, okay? Let’s get there, assess the situation, and make our plans from there.”

  “That’s fair,” Danny agreed. “If we’re panicking before there’s a concrete reason, we’re going to feel damn stupid.”

  “I already feel damn stupid,” Declan said. “This job’s a cakewalk.

  We go there, help some civilians, share some beers afterward, come home.

  What can go wrong?”

  “You damn well jinxed it,” Baxter said.

  “Oh, I did not.” Declan parked the truck. “Get out, everyone.”

  They did, and Baxter watched as Declan locked the truck while muttering something under his breath. The vehicle seemed to shimmer and Baxter felt his eyebrows shoot up. “What was that?”

  “Protection spell,” Liam said. “Never hurts to take precautions.”

  “When I take precautions, I go wolf,” Baxter said.

  “Let’s go, people,” Angelique yelled. “Time waits for no one.”

  Baxter gave Liam a quick grin, and they ran after Angelique toward a large hangar. Inside were the planes and helicopters, and Angelique went to the Black Hawk nearest the door and climbed into the cockpit. The rest of them climbed into the body of the chopper, and Danny and Declan slammed the doors shut. As Baxter buckled the safety harness and put on the headset, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that lingered in his gut that something bad was approaching.

  Angelique was an expert pilot and soon they were rising into the sky, a sky the color of corrugated iron, a mixture of mustard-yellow and gray, and full of clouds. Baxter didn’t like flying much, and that sky held the promise of turbulence. The flight was going to take a few hours, and he’d much rather sit and concentrate on breathing and not getting airsick.

  Baxter risked a look out the window. All he could see was gray— gray sky, gray clouds—as Angelique flew on. He gulped and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

  Baxter felt Liam’s hand on his knee. He opened his eyes, looked at his mate sit ing beside him, and gave him a wan smile. Liam smiled back and clasped one of Baxter’s hands. He moved a little closer, and Baxter could feel the heat of Liam’s body against his own, firm and solid and comforting.

  “Thanks,” Baxter mouthed at Liam, and Liam winked back. Baxter decided that he’d much rather look at Liam, so he kept his eyes firmly on Liam’s hand holding his rather than risk a look out the helicopter window again. They flew on, the sound of the chopper’s engine and rotors a loud thrum despite the headset. Soon, much sooner than Baxter had expected, he heard Angelique’s voice in his ear, sounding tinny and thin, crackles of static accompanying it.

  “We’re coming into land,” she reported. “There’s a large cleared area with a signal tower, so I’m guessing they’re used to having choppers and light planes come by. I’m putting the bird down there.”

  “Brace for drop,” Lily said, her voice just as tinny as Angelique’s had been.

  Baxter knew what that meant. Angelique was a good pilot, probably one of the best, but she couldn’t resist moments of recklessness when she was flying. As Baxter curled into himself, head between his knees, he felt his stomach shoot into his throat as Angelique piloted the helicopter into a steep dive, dropping several hundred feet in a matter of seconds. The shouts of his companions varied between excited whoops and howls of horror. Baxter could relate to the latter.

  The chopper’s flight evened out and they slowed, coming to a safe landing on the solid earth. Baxter raised his head, taking a deep breath, and was indescribably relieved to hear the whirring of rotors slowing and the cutoff of the engine.

  “Thank fuck we’re on the ground,” he said as he fumbled with clumsy fingers at the buckles of the harness.

  “Fucking oath,” Danny agreed. He looked a little green.

  Declan had already gotten his harness off and shoved open the door.

  He jumped out of the helicopter, ran a few feet away, and was noisily sick.

  Baxter felt a pang of sympathy for him; Angelique probably hadn’t taken into account that not all of her passengers were good fliers.

  “Let’s change, Venatores,” Angelique’s voice came to Baxter from outside the chopper. “Get out and shift, and I’ll lock up the bird.”

  “And I’ll put a protection on it after I finish being sick,” Declan said.

  “Fucking hell, Jelly, you fly like a woman possessed.”

  “I’m taking that as a compliment,” she said with a grin. “Seriously, though, sorry about that. I didn’t realize you were a bad flier.”

  Declan shrugged, pulling a bottle of water out of his canvas bag identical to the one Liam had slung over his shoulders. “It’s cool. I’m fine now.”

  Baxter climbed out of the helicopter and began to pull off his clothes.

  The rest of his pack did the same, and they all threw their clothes back into the chopper. Once he was naked, Baxter concentrated, feeling his muscles go through the change, a strange sensation that was what he imagined melting was like. His bones changed shape and his limbs altered, and soon, after several cracks and creaks of sinew and muscle, he was a wolf.

  He sat down and looked around. The rest of the pack were also wolves, and Declan and Liam were walking around the helicopter chanting in the same language Declan had used to protect the truck previously. He shrugged and got to his feet and shook himself.

  “So this is it, huh? What’s the name of this town?” he asked.

  “Yaak,” Angelique said.

  “Like the animal?” Danny asked.

  “But spelled with two
a’s.”

  “Huh. Okay. So how are we going to do this?” Lily asked as Declan and Liam joined them.

  “Let’s walk around and see what we can see,” Declan said. He had a Smith & Wesson Sigma in his hands. Baxter looked over at Liam to see that he held the Ruger.

  “Good idea. It seems awfully quiet, though, doesn’t it? Not at all what you’d think a town that’d just been hit by an avalanche would be like.”

  “Yeah. It’s a bit creepy,” Declan said.

  “Form up,” Angelique said. “Standard patrol formation, and let’s take a look around.”

  They made their way down a gravel road toward the town of Yaak, the Venatores in their wolf forms. Lily, Baxter, and Riley walked beside Declan and Liam, Angelique and Danny in front of them.

  LIAM FOUND the town unbearably strange. He couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched, but there was no one around, not a single soul: no animal or human, demon or angel. Even stranger was the fact that he couldn’t see any ghosts.

  He’d never been in a place devoid of spirits, a place where there was no sense that spirits had ever been. It felt almost claustrophobic in its silence, as if a large psychic blanket had been thrown over the town and forest around it, shrouding everything so completely that nothing could escape. The town itself, while empty, was quite pretty—a bar, a general store, a gas station, and a post office with a doctor’s room attached—and surrounded by enormous trees, both pine and ash. The air was full of the scent of those trees and smelled very good, and the bubbling noise of water running over rocks, which Liam guessed to be a river.

  “This place is creepy,” Declan said to him in an undertone. “No signs of life at all, not on the ground.”

  “And it’s super quiet,” Liam said. “Such a small town, but there’s no one around.”

  “Where is everyone?” Declan wondered. “Can you see any ghosts?”

  “Not a one.”

  Declan growled at that. “I don’t like that at all.”

  The road they were al walking along began to slope upward, a gentle incline that seemed to go directly into the mountains themselves. Liam looked around, frowning, wondering again why everything was so quiet.