Run Angel Run: A Steamy Dark Fantasy Romance (The Angels of David's Town Book 1)

by Karen Van Der Poll

  “We’ll use the Chopper, it’s too far to drive,” Danjal called to Phenix, “Get that bird out front now!” he ordered. “I don’t need a pilot, I’ll fly it. Roharn and Erica you’re with me.”

  “Yes, Commander,” Phenix was on his feet in an instant, rushing for the door.

  “I’ll take a portal to Elah and alert Theodora that you’re on your way,” Elijah said.

  The High Priestess nodded. “I’ll watch over her during the flight and ensure the spell stays intact.”

  “Will she be okay to fly?” Danjal went down on his knees beside her.

  “As long as I keep her asleep, she will be fine,” Erica assured him.

  Danjal landed the chopper on a grassy patch directly outside the Temple of David, a great white structure built into the side of a mountain. It always reminded him of an ancient Greek temple with its majestic columns, and pillars with carvings etched into the brilliant white stone. Directly before the entrance to the temple was a majestic fountain statue of the Angel David. He stood tall, with outspread wings and open arms. In one hand he held a sword, and in the other, he cupped a pentacle, with a five-pointed star at its center. Water sprouted from the top of his head and the tips of his wings, arcing high into the air, and raining down around him.

  Roharn handed Reba’s unconscious body to Danjal, and together the three hurried across the lush grass to where Elijah waited.

  “Set her down here,” Elijah showed him the stone base of the fountain, “We are to wait for a Temple Maiden who has been instructed to remove whatever is inside Reba before she will be granted access to the temple.”

  Danjal looked up at the great statue of David; he knew the water’s origins were from the mountain into which the temple was built, the mountain where deep within its center was the last resting place of David. All visitors to the temple had to wash their hands and feet in its water before entering the sacred space.

  “You mean perform an exorcism,” Danjal folded his arms, “Not everyone survives that Elijah, it’s brutal.” He wasn’t sure he could stand by and watch Reba go through that.

  “It’s the only way,” Elijah shrugged; “I’ve helped Reba all I can tonight, I don’t have the power to reverse what the Shadow master has done to her.”

  “Incoming,” Roharn nodded in the direction of the stairs, where a young woman carrying a bucket and large silver water bottle headed towards them.

  “Behold a temple maiden!” Danjal announced his voice laced with sarcasm.

  He’d no love for these females at whose mercy he’d found himself during his incarceration in the temple dungeons years earlier.

  “Shhh.” Roharn dug him in the ribs. “Don’t be disrespectful, we need her help.”

  “They’re ornery sadistic bitches!” Danjal spat out, batting down the unpleasant memories of his past and the punishment he’d endured for his part in the downfall of David's Town.

  “I’m sure the maidens don’t enjoy being our prison keepers.”

  “Humph,” Danjal grunted. “Says you who has never felt the bite of their whips. If she harms a hair on Reba’s head, I’ll snap her scrawny neck!” he vowed.

  The temple maiden wore a gold corset and matching skirt, under which a silver petticoat peeped about around her ankles. She padded barefoot towards them, the light of the full moon highlighting her dark mane that resembled the multi colors of an oil spill. Ignoring everyone but Elijah, she looked at Reba and spoke brusquely.

  “Wake her up!”

  Elijah kneeled at Reba’s side and cupped her cheek, whispering unintelligible words.

  Within seconds, her eyes flew open and she shoved Elijah’s hand from her face. “Don’t touch me!” she growled and crawled away from him. Her movements were unnatural for a human as she crept low to the ground like a lizard.

  “Reba, stop.” Elijah grabbed her ankle. “We are trying to help you.”

  “I don’t need your help.” Her voice crackled, and she kicked out at him. “He’s calling me, I must go to him!”

  Danjal swung away from the scene playing out before him; he laced his fingers behind his head as he paced in circles. He couldn’t bear to see her this way. She wasn’t evil; she wasn’t that thing crawling on the ground.

  “You cannot go to him, Reba. Your home is here.” He heard Elijah say.

  “Fuck you,” Reba screeched, “And your pathetic attempts to keep me from him!”

  “Hold her!” the Maiden ordered and Danjal turned back to see her throw a bucket full of fountain water into Reba’s face.

  “You fucking whore of David,” Reba screeched. “I know you suck the cock of a slumbering angel. You bitches ride him when the new moon arrives. You think you won’t be seen in the darkness.”

  Danjal’s jaw dropped in astonishment as he watched Reba. Her eyes were black sockets of hatred, and filth spilled from her lips, as she cursed the temple maid.

  “Do not let her get away,” the maiden said, as she filled the bucket a second time, and doused it over Reba’s head.

  Reba shrieked and writhed, when Elijah pinned her to the ground. Screaming profanities that even made Danjal’s ears burn.

  “Christ!” He muttered. “Where did she learn such words?”

  “She’s possessed,” Erica whispered. “That’s not Reba speaking.”

  Again, and again, the maiden threw buckets of water over Reba, until her body eventually spasmed, and her shrieking subsided. She lay quietly on the ground for several moments, and Danjal held his breath.

  “Reba,” Elijah called to her. “Are you alright?”

  Her eyes flew open, and they burned orange in their sockets. The red streaks in her hair lit up like bushfires in the night. She came to her feet like a puppet dangled on strings, her head hung forward, and her shoulders drooped.

  “Reba?” the maiden called her name. “Are you there?”

  Reba’s head snapped up, and Danjal swore she looked right at him. “Set me free, Dagan. Please, I just want to be free,” and then she collapsed to the ground in a heap. The red faded from her hair, and she closed her eyes.

  The maiden scooped more water into her bucket, and walked to where Reba lay.

  “Please,” Reba held up a hand. “Please stop.”

  “Sit up then,” she said, and when Elijah tried to help, she snapped at him. “Leave her be, this is her journey, not yours. Join your friends over there your part in this is over.”

  Elijah backed away, and Danjal muttered, “Hardnosed bitches the lot of them.” He knew she heard him because she dropped the bucket, and turned towards him, her hands on her hips.

  “I am, Maybeth, senior maiden to Oracle Theodora,” she announced haughtily. “The next process will be unpleasant to watch, but she must complete it. If she fails to comply, she will not be allowed an audience with Theodora. Do you understand this Commander?”

  Danjal ground his teeth, as he battled to keep his anger in check. He had no option but to comply. He didn’t have the abilities required to help Reba.

  “I’m sure you don’t want your personal prejudices to jeopardize Reba’s life,” she added.

  “Of course not,” Danjal slid his white-knuckled hands into his pockets and Maybeth turned back to the wet, and bedraggled Reba.

  “You have to purge yourself of the evil that seeped into you this evening. You may not enter the temple or be in the presence of Her Sacredness, when you harbor this entity within you.”

  Reba rested her back against the base of the fountain. “Please,” she whispered sounding exhausted. “I feel sick.” Maybeth picked up the bucket, and handed it to her.

  “You will vomit into that.”

  Reba took the bucket, and hugged it to her chest.

  “You will also be required to drink the blessed water of the temple to purge yourself from within,” Maybeth explained, and held out the water bottle. “It won’t be pleasant, but you have to get on with it.” She pushed the bottle at Reba.

  “I’m too nauseous. I can’t drin
k anything right now,” Reba turned her face away.

  “You have to swallow the holy water, so it may cleanse your body,” Maybeth insisted.

  Reba closed her eyes, and took a swig. Then almost immediately, she grabbed the bucket, and retched. A foul looking black tar-like substance poured from her mouth, and coated her chin, and the bottom of the bucket. Her throat bulged as she gagged, and a wriggling mass writhed its way from her mouth falling into the bucket.

  “Well fuck a roasted duck,” Roharn slapped a hand over his mouth in disbelief, as a snake eased itself from the container and slithered away in a desperate bid for freedom.

  “Drink more,” Maybeth ordered paying the snake no heed, as it disappeared beneath the garden’s undergrowth. Reba gulped down another mouthful of the water, and the retching began again. Her chest heaved, as she coughed. Her face distorting, as she worked the object to the back of her throat. Finally, she stuck a finger into her mouth, and pulled a string of beads from between her lips.

  “It’s a rosary, Elijah what the hell is going on here?” Danjal asked.

  “I can only guess it’s from the spell that bound the minion she absorbed into her body earlier. That creature was created by the necromancer using powerful but evil magic that I have never been exposed too. I will put out word to the witches of the world, there will be someone out there who will explain what’s happened here.”

  “Danjal,” Reba called to him, “Please help me,” she begged, and seconds later her stomach ejected bright red blood dotted with small shards of mirrored glass.

  Not caring about Maybeth’s opinion, Danjal rushed to her side, and she grabbed his hand, clinging to it, as she sobbed.

  “I’ll tell you everything Danjal, I’ll tell you the truth, just please help me,” she whimpered. “Just make this stop.”

  “The glass is cutting her throat,” Danjal said, and Maybeth folded her arms across her chest.

  “This is the only way,” her chin jutted forward, “You were warned it wouldn’t be pleasant.”

  “To hell with you, and this bloody exorcism,” Danjal spun around searching for his brother, “Roharn can’t you do something, that’s glass in the bucket. It's tearing up her throat, just look at all that blood.”

  “The doctor cannot help her Commander; these artifacts are part of a binding spell, and are representative of something significant to what the spell caster wishes for the minion Reba absorbed to accomplish. Only magic can heal her so if you interfere now, she will most certainly die, only to be reborn a slave to the sorcerer who sent the evil she ingested,” Maybeth explained. “She has to drink all the water, and when she’s cleansed, I will take her into the temple for further treatment.”

  “I won’t stand by, and watch that glass slice her up,” Danjal pointed into the bloody bucket.

  “Better for it to come out, than to remain within her,” Maybeth replied, her voice calm, and serene. “Encourage her to drink, Commander that’s all you can do for her now.”

  Danjal crouched beside Reba, “You have to drink all this water,” he pushed her wet tangled hair from her face, and his thumb wiped the tears that streamed down her cheeks. “Do it for your father, and your brother, so you can help in the fight to avenge them. Don’t let him win Reba, please.”

  “I’m too tired Danjal,” Reba mumbled, “Just let me die,” the bottle slipped from her fingers, and rolled to the ground. “I can’t do this anymore.”

  “She can’t stop now,” Maybeth insisted. “If she does, he gets what he wants, and trust me, he is somewhere out there, waiting for her to give up.”

  Danjal cursed, and tore the bucket from Reba’s slack hands. He grasped a handful of hair at the back of her neck, and tilted her head back. “Open your mouth Reba,” he pushed the bottle between her lips, “You can add this to all the other reasons why you hate me,” She was too weak to resist as he poured the liquid down her throat. When he was done, he threw the bottle to the ground. “Will the Oracle see us now?”

  “Indeed she will,” Maybeth replied with a curt nod, “Take off your shoes, and bathe your feet, you too Elijah, the rest of you should leave.”

  Maybeth led the way up the stairs, and pushed the door open. She gestured that they should enter. The interior was a stark, blinding white from the marble of the tiles to the rough white walls, and the ceilings. The entrance hall was devoid of furniture or any decoration, just large white pillars, and windows through which pearly white moonlight poured.

  “Come along,” Maybeth called, and for such a tiny little thing, she walked rapidly, and with purpose. She headed in the direction of a door leading off the large entrance hall. This led them down a passage that branched off in several directions, but Maybeth continued straight. At some point, they took a left turn, and then another. Danjal was lost, but his only concern now was for the woman he carried in his arms.

  “This is the temple’s bathing room.” Maybeth pushed open a set of doors, and held them open for him to enter.

  “We have prepared the cleansing bath for her.” Maybeth explained, “Please set her down beside the tub, my maidens, and I will continue from here.”

  Danjal lowered Reba to the side of the tub, hints of lavender, and sage rose in the steam that curled off the surface of the clear water. He pulled her arms from around his neck, and pushed her tangled hair from her face.

  “Please don’t leave me,” she whispered, she clung to the collar of his shirt, and her body trembled violently against his.

  “They’re just going to clean you up so you can see the Oracle,” he cupped her tear-stained face between his hands. “But I’ll wait for you right here, and when you’re better I’ll take you home.”

  “I’m sorry Danjal.” she held onto his wrists, “I’m so sorry for not being honest with you.” Fresh tears poured from her eyes, and she chewed her bottom lip. “But I truly don’t know who he is, you have to believe me.”

  “We should get her into the waters Commander.” Maybeth interrupted Reba, “She is not clear of the possession yet.”

  “We can talk later,” Danjal wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs, before pulling his hands from her face.

  He stood facing Maybeth, “How long will this take?”

  “How long is a piece of string?” Maybeth shrugged impatiently.

  Danjal sighed inwardly; Maybeth’s abrupt manner irked him, but he bit back his stinging retort, and asked, “Will she be okay?”

  “You know I cannot answer that Commander,” Maybeth replied, “Now if you will excuse me, I have to get to work, the Warlock will show you where to wait for her Sacredness.”

  Danjal took one last look at Reba. The maidens were pulling the jumpsuit from her shoulders, and the gleam of the sunflower pendant at her throat glittered in the candlelight. There was a memory flash behind his eyes, and he squinted against the pain, desperately trying to hold onto it.

  “Danjal,” Elijah called.

  He shook his head as the vague shard of a recall disappeared, “They cannot work with us here.”

  Danjal hated the sound of the door as it closed behind him, “That’s not an ordinary bath Elijah.”

  Elijah nodded, “I know.”

  “If she has any demon blood, that water will kill her.”

  “I know Danjal, and I will be here waiting with you, no matter the outcome.”

  A tall smiling woman with short platinum blonde hair walked into their waiting area.

  “Commander.” she headed to where Danjal leaned against a pillar, “I am Theodora, it is a pleasure to meet you at last.”

  She was dressed in blue jeans, and a red shirt. She wasn’t what he’d been expecting of the Oracle. The last one he’d the misfortune to meet was an old crone who swanned around in ceremonial robes.

  Danjal hastily straightened, and dipped his head in a low bow. One did not touch the oracle in greeting unless invited to, and he was a little surprised when she proffered her hand.

  “The pleasure is mine, Your Sac
redness,” he took her hand, finding he respected the strength in her grip, “Do you have news of Reba? He hesitated. “Did she survive the baths?”

  Theodora nodded. “I am sorry for the long wait, but these things cannot be hurried.”

  “As long as she survived, I don’t care about the wait,” Danjal replied.

  “She has, and I’m pleased to inform you, she had no demon blood in her. In fact, she is an Elemental witch, hence her ability to conjure, and control a flame.”

  Relief flooded his body, and he leaned back against the wall before his legs gave out beneath him. “So, the Hex was removed by the cleansing baths?”

  “The Hex is still in place, though it’s aging, and it will disintegrate on its own accord. The Angel David feels it should run its course than to be forcibly removed.”

  “But why?” Danjal’s brows furrowed with frustration. “We have to know what she is”

  Theodora shrugged, “She is a fire elemental, Commander, and she needs to gradually grow into her abilities. To suddenly strip her of the hex may have inconceivably catastrophic consequences for her, and everyone around her.”

  Danjal looked at Elijah who nodded in agreement. “I agree with the Angel’s decision, I could find someone who could ease her into her abilities, and teach her how to control that flame she possesses within her. She could raze an entire city if she reaches full potential, and is untrained in how to manage her anger, as this is what appears to bring it on.”

  “She is also never to leave David's Town,” Theodora added, “for this precise reason.”

  “This has been made clear to her?” Danjal knew Reba was a flight risk, though to date she’d complied with his orders, but he was sure it was because she had a warrior on her ass 24/7.

  Theodora smiled, her pale eyes twinkled with mirth. “You may need to reinforce it, Commander, she’s a beautiful young woman. Perhaps try a little honey as it’s obvious vinegar doesn’t work.”

  “David's Town has only brought her pain. How can I change her opinion after all that has happened to her.”

  “I realize you are a warrior, and emotion is something you are taught to suppress, but look into her eyes, and you will find that she has never hidden anything from you, you were just too blind to see her truth.”