Dark Angel Ch. 05

Chapter Five

Two day cycles later, a few more reapers arrived, along with Davariel's weredragons, Drakken, and Eriel.

Eriel was not the same angel Ashriel remembered. He looked solemn, somber. He hung back and barely uttered a word. When Natanael approached him about their upcoming mission, he merely nodded.

"You okay, Erie?" Natanael asked putting his hand on his arm.

"I'm fine," Eriel replied.

"He's depressed," Remuel sighed walking up to them in the hangar. Unlike his son, Remien, Remuel's hair was a silken fall of crimson down his back. Remien had about ten times the amount of hair on his head making it poof out like a lion's mane. But Ashriel knew for a fact that he was just as annoying and insane as his son.

"Depressed?" Ashriel echoed.

Eriel rolled his eyes as Remuel continued. "He had his mind wiped of all memories pertaining to Dava's days, but—"

"That idiot, brought them all back," Eriel spat pointing to Zakreel. "Now that Drakken is better and we're here..." Eriel's eyes drifted to where Devon stood speaking to the newly arrived reapers.

He glanced back to see Devon look over his shoulder at Eriel. Once again, Ashriel marveled at the uncanny resemblance between father and son. If Devon's hair were thicker, with more curl, and blond, his skin sun-kissed bronze, he'd be Davariel.

Ashriel sighed and turned as tears begin to spill from Erie's eyes.

"Oh, here we go with the water-works again," Remuel cried dramatically. "Erie, for fuck's sake, find yerself a nice big cock to impale yerself on, or a nice juicy pussy to bury yerself into. Sex always makes ya forget."

Eriel gripped two handfuls of his hair. "We've been off Arboria for almost six months. Why do you and Zakreel still speak with that annoying accent? You sound like a freakin' leprechaun."

Remuel snorted with a frown as Zakreel stepped up next to them also. "We need to get our translation devices adjusted, idiot."

"Besides, we're not staying," Zakreel added.

Zakreel, although very tall, was not as muscular as his massively proportioned son, but the dark blond wavy hair and sapphire eyes were very similar.

Ashriel frowned. "Where are you going?"

"We're going back to the old mansion," Remuel replied.

Eriel shook his head. "No. I can't ever go back there. It'd be too much," he whispered.

Natanael wrapped his arms and wings around his friend.

"What mansion?" Ashriel asked.

The dragons looked at one another before Remuel answered, "Luci and Dava's house on Sjoria."

Ashriel's eyes narrowed. The last portal Davariel had traversed was in that house. Ashriel would be able to locate the chamber that still held the portal into the realm of shadows where Davariel and his lover were trapped. If he could destroy it, then that would eliminate the threat of Davariel.

He felt Devon's presence behind him. He knew what Ashriel was thinking, but it didn't matter. Ashriel didn't care. He wanted to see Devon attempt to stop him.

Ashriel turned and began walking toward where his Silver Comet was, leaving the others behind. He felt Devon's luminescent eyes on him the whole way.

The hangar was big. It spanned a few miles around the bottom of Alpha 7. Most of it remained unlit, but wherever the sensors picked up life, it would illuminate the immediate area.

Up ahead, he made out the solitary beacon where Zak and Remi worked on his transport. As he drew closer, he had to blink a few times to allow what he was seeing to register in his stupefied mind.

Ashriel came up to the exact point where the parts began. Pieces of metal, wires, cables, plastic, foam, and glass covered the ground surrounding what was left of the Silver Comet. It spread at least fifteen paces wide around the empty hull of the transport. The crazy son-of-a-whore hadn't even left the seats inside the pod.

Zak's eyes widened and he slapped Remi on his ass to warn him they had company.

"Stop flirting with me, fucker. For the last time, you're not my type," Remien called from inside the open hull of the transport.

Zak snarled and reached in. He pulled Remi out by a handful of his hair.

"Shit, Zak—" His eyes finally caught sight of Ashriel. Zachariel released him with a snort. Remien grinned. "What's up, dude?"

Ashriel looked once more at the remains of the Silver Comet. "What the hell have you done?" he bellowed.

To his utter annoyance, the red-haired weredragon shushed him. "Easy, man. Just walk carefully over here and see for yourself."

He gestured into the hull.

Wanting nothing more than to get his hands around Remi's neck, Ashriel stalked forward.

"Look in there," Remi said in a soft voice.

Ashriel ducked his head into the wide hole where the nose of the transport used to be and gaped.

Curled up at the back of the open hull was a strange, bright-purple, furry creature. It was round, quite big, with six black button eyes, three red horns poking from its head and a short snout. The creature lifted its head and suddenly opened its snout to expose jagged lines of lethal looking teeth. It hissed and began to growl ferociously.

Ashriel staggered back and reached for his divine sword.

Remi and Zak gripped his arms. "No. What the fuck?" Remi hissed.

Ashriel shook them off. "Fuck you both. Why the hell is there a Moordian Devil in my transport?"

"Geez—just calm down. She's gonna give birth—"

"What?" Ashriel shouted.

From within the hull the growling grew more vicious.

"Dude you're scaring her," Remi insisted with a scowl.

Zak just stood by, his arms crossed over his chest and his lower lip tucked between his teeth. Somehow, Ashriel got the irritating idea he was trying not to laugh.

"Why in hell's name is there a pregnant Moordian Devil in there?" He never did like the overgrown rodent like creature, though he knew very well it wasn't a Devil like the name implied.

"Well, how the fuck should I know. You told me to fix your transport, Remi replied indignantly.

Ashriel looked around, his mouth open in shock. "So you dismantled the entire thing?"

"I was looking for baby Moordian Devils. They're tiny when they're born."

"You just said she was still pregnant."

"I wasn't sure, man. She was just in there growling. She's got about five out so far. I just wanted to be sure there weren't any more crawling around inside."

Ashriel ran a hand threw his hair. "Five? And how many do they usually spawn?"

Remi shrugged and looked at Zak, who scratched his chin and replied in his deep voice, "About two—maybe three—"

"Thank—god," Ashriel sighed.

Zak cleared his throat. "Two, maybe three dozen, Ash."

Ashriel snarled. "Fuck."

Remi grinned. "Easy, dude. I got this."

Ashriel huffed in frustration. "I need a smaller transport to take with me on the mission. I can't travel on the surface of a planet in a starcruiser."

Zak frowned. "What's wrong with your wings?"

Ashriel scowled at him. "People tend to take reapers flying on a foreign planet as a sign that they're being invaded by demons and devils. There'll be mass hysteria." He shook his head, running his fingers through his hair again. "I need a small transport."

Remi's grin grew wider. "Well today is your lucky day. I've got just the thing for you"

Everything around them rippled making Ashriel feel disorientated. The Silver Comet and its riot of spilled guts disappeared, replaced by an oblong piece of black metal. There was a softer material atop a sculpted out portion with a glass shield at one end.

"Have you ever seen a motorcycle?" Remi asked.

Ashriel recalled from his studies a little about the ancient Edenian transportation. "That looks nothing like a motorcycle."

"That's because this is the next generation," Remi grinned. "This, my dear Ash, is an aircycle."

Zak caressed the leather-like seat. "A 3842 Blade. Talk about power between your legs."

Remi barked out a laugh. "Ash, this beauty is guaranteed to blow your feathered ass away."

Ashriel frowned down at the shiny black aircycle. "How does it function?"

Remi tossed back his hair and clicked the stud on his tongue. "Link to me and watch."

Ashriel felt a pull on his mind and tried to resist. The vortex pulled him in and he felt himself surrounded by the scent of cinnamon and spice... and fire.

Remi threw one leg over the aircycle to straddle it. Ashriel tried to back away, feeling as if he were inside Remien's body. Zak gripped his arms. "Easy there. You'll get used to it. Just breathe and remember who you really are."

Ashriel shook his head, but he kept seeing double. He saw Remi turning the aircycle on, but at the same time felt as if it were his own hand palming the control panel. Energy pulsed beneath his ass, along his thighs, against his balls. He leaned forward, grasping the handgrips that slid from the sleek black aircycle. With a flick of his wrists and pushing down on the left foot pedal, the Blade took off, taking his breath away.

The craft sped at an incredible speed through the hangar. Lights came on far ahead, illuminating the way. He passed the reapers, Devon, and the weredragons, in the blink of an eye. Power rolled out in waves, and Ashriel almost screamed when he traversed a pair of metal doors that opened last second.

Remi's laughter rang out in his mind.

But the crazy weredragon wasn't finished.

He used his powers to open an elevator shaft and careened up the shaft at a ninety degree angle...straight up into the one hundred and eleventh level. Ashriel tightened his buttocks, fearing his heart and stomach would come out of his ass any second.

He zipped around a corner, looping up the walls, ceiling, and floors until he flew into his quarters. The aircycle went sideways when he tried to stop, slid across the floor in a crazy spin until it bumped the edge of the bed's pedestal.

His mate, Rowie stared at him, the whites of her eyes showing in terror. "You crazy son-of-a-bitch. You scared the living shit—"

Ashriel tried again to sever the link, but he couldn't. He was one with Remien when he jumped onto his mate's bed and covered her very pregnant body with his.

"Rowie," he snarled, aroused. His mouth smothered her moan and his tongue conquered every hot inch of her mouth. Blood spurted from his tongue when he purposefully nicked them on her vampire fangs. She groaned, gripped his hair, and hungrily sucked every drop.

Ashriel cried out in protest when his cock grew rigid.

Remi palmed himself, wanting to fuck Rowie, take her ass to avoid hurting the babies. Rowie loved when he pierced her sweet rosette with his cock.

"Baby," he growled, his back twitching to release his dragon's wings.

"No-no," Ashriel shouted angrily. He did not want to feel as if he were making love to another woman.

Rowie backed away with a frown, "Ashriel?"

Ashriel continued to struggle.

Her eyes widened and she looked at Remien crossly. "Remi."

Remi sulked, "But I'm horny."

Rowie, tried not to laugh. "Let Ash go."

Ashriel stumbled back into Zak's arms, dazed when he felt himself expulsed from the red weredragon's mind. His scent was still all over him as well as Rowie's.

"I swear, I'm going to ring his stupid neck."

"Get in line," Seth said appearing next to them.

Ashriel raked his fingers through his hair, scowling when that only made the scent of cinnamon stronger. "He's absolutely insane. Why the hell did Devon ever recruit him?"

"I ask myself that every day," Seth huffed.

Zak laughed. "He's not so bad. He's a damn good fighter, as an Alpha Angel he's really powerful, and you can count on him to back you up one hundred percent. I'd trust that bastard with my life or my family's any day."

Ashriel gave Zak a doubtful look.

"I just got clothes for you for our mission, Ash," Seth said drawing his bewildered attention.

Ashriel frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Seth let his eyes go down Ashriel's length. "You're wearing Zak's old stuff. We ordered you your own uniform."

"Uniform?"

Seth looked at Zak before looking back at him. "Yeah. Uniform. Is there a fucking echo in here?"

"Why have I been supplied with uniforms? What kind of uniforms? I do not want to be an Alpha Angel. My powers aren't like yours."

Seth shook his head. "You're an Alpha, Ash. Devon wants you in charge of the Dark Angels."

"Dark what?"

Seth rolled his eyes, obviously losing his patience. "Dark Angels. To disassociate you with Seraphia's reapers, he doesn't want people to continue to refer to all of you as fallen and he knows most of you don't like being called death angels, even though that's what you do, he got together with the others, and they picked Dark Angel as your new title."

"It was actually Annie's suggestion," Zak added.

The fight blew out of Ashriel's body as he gaped at both Alpha Angels. "Anniel came up with Dark Angel?"

They both nodded.

"Look, Ash. We're ready to go when you say so. If you don't mind, I suggest you go up to your quarters, freshen up in your hygiene unit, change your clothes into your own gear, and maybe have a little huddle with the crew before we shove off. We need a plan. We can't just fly into Edenian space and land on Earth or Mars and demand they answer our questions."

Ashriel looked at the young weretigri thoughtfully. "You're good at planning these things, aren't you?"

Zak grinned and patted Seth's back. The white-haired weretigri straightened a bit taller and nodded. "I find I rather enjoy it. We can hash around ideas with Dev up in the conference room before we leave. So what do you say to trying on a few of the things I picked out for you?"

Ashriel frowned. Now his curiosity was piqued. What could the weretigri have chosen for him?

"For the last time, Angel, I am not wearing leather. What I have on is comfortable and sensible."

Angel frowned at Anniel, as they both pulled their carry-ons into the starcruiser.

Anniel saw nothing wrong with her vest, black tank top, and black cargo pants. Her buckled black boots had foam rolls on the bottom for good traction. So-what if they looked a bit like Frankenstein shoes. She was dressed for a mission not to seduce anyone.

She'd plaited her hair into a long braid and pulled a cap over her head so that the front bill almost covered her eyes. She thought her outfit made her look tough, showed off the muscles of her arms.

"Once we pick out our sleeping cabins, we can load the weapons in the underbelly storage compartment."

Angel's eyes immediately lit up. "Weapons?"

"Yes," Anniel grinned. "Dev says we can't use our powers so we're going to have to try to intimidate with weapons, but only if we need to."

Angel frowned. "I thought we were going to kick some ass."

Anniel laughed out loud. Remi was rubbing off on the girl. "Only if we need to, Angel. We need to try peaceful first. We don't want more enemies than we already have."

"Hellooo," a sultry feminine voice called out from below.

Anniel and Angel stopped in their tracks and looked down the metal ramps they had been climbing.

A female reaper with light brown hair and up-tilted catlike eyes stood at the bottom of the ramp. Her black wings were pressed together at her back as if in prayer and two black straps crossed over the jutting swells of her breasts, leaving little to the imagination. A pair of black, skin tight leather pants barely covered her sex and hips and wicked looking thigh-high boots encased her long legs.

Anniel's eyes widened and Angel suddenly scowled up at Anniel.

"Angel, stop that growling," Anniel hissed before she smiled at the new-comer. "Hey."

The female reaper smiled and purred, "I'm Amadashiel." She boarded the starcruiser, pulling a small case with her.

"We're picking out our bunks," Anniel informed.

"There's too many of us. Tell her to go away," Angel muttered under her breath.

Anniel opened her eyes wide at Angel to signal her to be quiet.

Amadashiel wound her way up the ramp, past the storage level up to the living area where Anniel and Angel stood.

Angel walked away with a snort, leaving Anniel alone with the girl.

Up close, Anniel noticed how lush her mouth was and how tiny her waist, compared to her very big, very round boobs. A six pack rippled down her abdomen and she sported a glittering diamond over her belly button.

Amadashiel smiled and stuck her tongue out, showing the stud she had there too. "I love the red weredragon's piercings and I'm thinking of getting myself lasered with tattoos. He's so beautiful. Too bad he only has eyes for the pretty vampire girl...and she for him."

Amadashiel came closer, perhaps a bit too close for Anniel's comfort, after all, she'd never met the girl before. The girl reaper licked her lips, her eyes going over Anniel's face and breasts appreciatively. "You're very beautiful too. I like girls. How about you?"

Anniel took a step back with a nervous laugh. "I'm flattered, sweetie, but I'm a strictly dickly kind of girl, ya know."

Amadashiel pouted. "Oh, well. There's always Ashriel."

"Why Ashriel?" Angel blurted behind them, startling Anniel.

Amadashiel smiled now. "Because he is legendary among reapers. To watch Ashriel battle and kill demons and devils is to have a million orgasms at once."

Anniel looked at Angel. She too was gaping at the girl before she frowned and opened her mouth.

Fearing Angel would say something totally inappropriate, Anniel covered her mouth and blurted. "Excuse us please."

She hustled Angel, who was a little slip of a girl into the nearest cabin and closed the door behind them.

Anniel faced her, blocking the door, just in case. "Would you chill?"

"I don't like her," Angel said petulantly.

Anniel tried to be impartial. "Why not? She's just another reaper."

"She wants to fuck anything that walks. She'll go for Ashriel and I want him with you."

Anniel rolled her eyes. "Listen, cutie-pie. Ash is a big boy and can choose his own playmates."

"He wants you," Angel insisted, crossing her arms over chest with a frown.

Anniel closed her eyes and prayed for patience. It was going to be a long journey.

"Angel. The starcruiser isn't really very big and we need to get along. Promise me you'll be nice to the girl reaper."

Angel's lower lip stuck out more, belligerently.

"Angel?" Anniel warned. "Promise. Please?"

Angel rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if she starts making eyes at me or Devon, I'm busting her ass."

Angel," Anniel gasped and then frowned. "I'm going to have to have a talk with Rem about his vocabulary around you. Sheesh. That's not very lady-like, missy."

Angel snorted and began stowing away her carry on beneath the double bunkers.

Anniel looked around. There really wasn't much room. The upper and lower bunk beds were narrow, for just one person and were to the right of the door. The left side of the room had an open hygiene unit with a divider sectioning off a small desk area. There was about three feet of space between the side of the beds and the side of the hygiene and desk area.

Anniel smirked, "Guess you and Dev won't be able to sleep together during the trip."

Angel eyed the bunk beds and turned to Anniel with a frown. "Woman, what nonsense are you babbling about? Jaz will sleep in the portable crib we've brought along, and his father and I will occupy the top bunk so the little one won't see us in our intimacy." Angel grinned. "He's very smart. Last thing I want him to do is learn about adult matters before time."

Anniel frowned. "You and Dev are going to sleep in one bunk? But it's so narrow."

"Devon will fit just fine on his back, and I will lay on top of him." A shiver went through Angel and she licked her lips. "I have a fine husband. I will be keeping an eye on all the reapers here."

A soft knock at the door had Anniel pulling the little silver door open.

Natanael stood there, his hair a celestial blue. His nipples, which were pierced like Remi's, had little silver bars decorating them.