Dark Angel Ch. 07

Her thoughts turned to Ashriel. How was he feeling? He hadn't even come down from the helm to say good-bye to her. Silly, of course, because she'd be seeing him the next night. Still, after the previous night and the kisses they'd shared that morning, it hurt that he hadn't come to her. He'd certainly acted strange. First amorous, then possessive and jealous, and finally aloof.

He was so frustratingly complicated.

"It's said that Cyneolle detests the black market, especially the prostitutes that sell themselves to the higher society clientele."

"Cyn-who?" Anniel frowned.

Glory laughed. "Cyneolle. But He prefers to be known as Cyn. He's the rebel leader of the freedom fighters. Part Seraph, part cyborg."

Anniel shivered. "How awful. Why is he part cyborg?"

Glory shrugged. "I've heard he was rescued as a child by a band of cyborgs after he'd been badly injured. They saved his life by implanting cybernetics into his damaged body. Others say he was poisoned by this planet's atmosphere to near death. When he tried to climb to a higher level trying to breathe cleaner air, the patrollers found him and tossed him back down, almost killing him in the process."

Anniel frowned. "But if he was Seraph, why didn't he just fly up, or for that matter, use his wings to stop his fall?"

Again, Glory shrugged. "I don't know much about Cyn. What I told you is the extent of my knowledge on the man...oh-yes—and he's supposedly sinfully beautiful."

Angel snorted. "No man is more beautiful than mine."

Anniel smirked at her. She still remembered when Angel tried so hard to resist Devon's allure. No easy feat. The only reason Anniel hadn't been too affected by Devon's otherworldly looks had been because she'd known him since he was a newborn.

***

Seth guided the starcruiser down past glowing green clouds of toxic poison. The outer hull of the starcruiser hissed and sizzled, making Natanael curse roundly.

"Don't worry, Nat. I'm sure Devon can fix that," Eriel consoled.

Something hard smashed into the Starcruiser's tail and the distinct sound of tearing metal was heard.

"Son-of-a-bitch, Seth," Natanael snarled.

They were all strapped into the chairs in the helm. Ashriel had a death grip on the armrests of the co-pilot's chair and looked to his left at Seth, who manned the controls.

"Devon will fix that too, Nat. Shut the fuck up," Seth hissed.

"You're not using your powers," Ashriel said.

"No," Seth answered, wincing when something else slammed into them.

"What the hell is hitting us?" Natanael ground out.

"Pieces of the transports that never made it through the atmosphere."

"Shit," Ashriel hissed, his eyes growing ever wider as the burned out remains of a super-large craft rolled straight at them. "Seth."

"I see it."

Ashriel stiffened, and in the rear of the helm, the reapers began shouting in terror.

"Damn-it. Use your powers," Ashriel shouted, now able to see actual corpses dangling from the shattered vessel

His stomach bottomed out.

"Now," Seth cried out in glee.

It was a disturbing sound, hearing the usually somber weretigri express himself with so much joy. It only served to terrify Ashriel even more...an equally disturbing sensation for a being who'd fearlessly battled and killed legions of demons and devils.

Screams filled the helm. Ashriel clenched his teeth

The weretigri's arms slammed the levers forward and the starcruiser took a sickening nosedive. Fire covered the glass viewers, blocking out the rush of the surface.

Ashriel closed his eyes and pressed his wings tight to his back, the urge to unleash them to stop the free-fall strong.

Behind him, he heard someone throw up, another threaten to jettison out.

"Give me a break," Seth snapped. "I got this."

Ashriel felt bile rise and swallowed hard. His forehead beaded in sweat. He blinked his eyes open when the foul dizziness abated to see the starcruiser leveling out.

Below was a glittering black ocean and before them, the edges of a large continent stretched out to either side as far as the eye could see. There was only a small strip of grey sand before a few miles of deep dark green forest. The land looked mostly flat, but up ahead was a meshwork of metal pipes that turned out to be an enormous city sprawled out like a gigantic thorny nest. A thick metal wall surrounded the city and Ashriel recognized plasma canons stationed around the edge of the wall. Strangely, some of the canons pointed into the city, as well as out. Why would the canons point in...as if they were threatening anyone fool enough to climb over the five-hundred foot wall?

The city was a network of building structures resembling pipes, grimy, dirty, with little patches of shinier metal and glass. Gleaming disks floated in the sky over the spires of metal, reflecting the glowing green sky.

Seth dropped down into the normal flow of traffic and zipped over the tops of the highest spires beneath the floating disks. Farther ahead, the city seemed to sink into an enormous hole.

"What the hell is that?" Ashriel asked.

"They used to mine here. That mine hole is twenty miles across and probably twice as deep. The black market is a few miles down, in the very center." Seth answered. "That's where we're headed."

Ashriel looked down at himself. He was ready. They all were.

Natanael had weaved his hair into hundreds of braids. He was grateful because a tight hood wrapped around his forehead to the back of his neck and around his throat, leaving his braids free to spill down past his shoulders. A pair of goggles rested on his head and a gas mask hung to the right side of his face. His chest was bare, but just under his pectorals was a waist hugging leather corset that had metal rings running up the sides and big metal clasps holding it closed in the front. His pants were like a second skin and had horizontal slits running up the front and back, showing the flesh of his thighs. His boots ran up past his knees and were a monstrosity of cybernetic art. The sole was about four inches thick making him a towering seven-foot-four with metal rods and gears decorated the entire length. He frowned. His legs looked like they belonged better on a cyborg than a reaper. He lifted a hand to look at the black vinyl glove that covered him to his biceps. Chrome spikes ran up from his knuckles to the top of the glove. Lethal decoration. He kind-of like it.

"When we land, we cover up." Seth instructed. We need to grow accustomed to Rhylos air, even if we're indoors. Out of the buildings under no circumstances are any of you to breathe that green stuff."

"Instant death," Reiven snickered in the back.

"Not really," Seth said with a frown. "More like a fate worse than death. The contamination breaks you down on a cellular level, turning your biological matter into a gelatinous goop. You become a blob of green slime to slither around the ground for all eternity."

Ashriel grimaced at the graphic description. He would remember to never inhale out of doors.

A large black orb, the size of a starfreighter, came into view before them and the com unit blipped.

"Show time, boys," Seth mumbled.

He tapped the screen and a strange humanoid appeared. The creature looked like a lizard with muddy green eyes, yellow teeth, and a black tongue.

"Identify yourselves."

"Sethaliel Whyte, with Reiven, Amadashiel, Eriel, Natanael and Ashriel, all of Angelos."

"Did you say Ashriel of Angelos?'

"Yes."

"The Ashriel of Angelos? The notorious fallen high priest reaper no one's heard from for months?"

"The one and only," Seth replied with a scowl, already beginning to lose patience.

The lizard man blinked for a few seconds before he threw his head back to laugh in hissing guffaws.

Seth used the tip of his finger to turn the monitor to Ashriel. "Say hi, Ash."

Ashriel leaned in close, glaring at the insolent Lizdrac and lifted his middle finger. "Fuck you," he enunciated slowly.

Seth's brows rose in amusement and the reapers behind him snickered.

The Lizdrac choked, his eyes going round. "Oooohhh—it is you. Ooohhh." The lizard man made a strange peeping sound and disappeared off screen for a few seconds. The sound of chaos followed; bellows, shouts and growls of all kinds. Within moments, the screen filled with many faces, all clamoring to get a glimpse of Ashriel. He did not realize he was a celebrity. When in hell's name had that happened?

"W-we're sending an escort out to you. Don't move."

Ashriel gaped at Seth and suddenly realized dozens of streamlined fighter vessels surrounded them.

"You can let go of the controls now. We're tracking you in." The Lizdrac was grinning so wide, he looked like he was snarling.

Seth smirked, released the levers of the starcruiser, and leaned back in his seat, kicking his feet up on the control panel. He crossed his legs at the ankles and clasped his hands behind his neck. "Welcome to the Rhylos black market, boys."

Ashriel turned to see the starcruiser easing its nose into the gelatinous substance of the black orb. Nothing but black covered the glass surrounding the helm, and he frowned at Seth when he started to stand and head to the ramp leading down. The others followed suit.

Ashriel turned again to the glass and then blinked at the monitor. There were hundreds of faces there just staring at him. Some waved, all talked, most shouted, and pointed to his dismay.

Ashriel sneered and hit the monitor with the tip of his boot to turn it away.

"Hey," Natanael called up to him. "Are you coming down or not?"

The glass revealed nothing. Were they still within the black substance? What in hells name was it?

If he weren't so adamant to discover the root of the apocalyptic war started in the Edenian solar system over three hundred years ago, he'd demand Seth pull them out of this nest of iniquity right now. His gaze swept down his body again, sneering in disgust at his whorish attire. Natanael had wanted to pierce his nipples but he refused to defile his body anymore than he already had.

Rising up, he made his way down the ramp, winding his way down until he reached the lowered ramp in the bottom of the storage level.

"Stay back. Let him exit. Don't crowd him," he heard Seth warn.

"Yeah, he's moody as fuck," Eriel snickered. "He just might change his mind and hole himself up in his cabin."

"Get back-get back," another strange voice ordered. "Bume, get everyone out except security.

The sound of angry shouting made Ashriel hesitate halfway down the exit ramp. The air smelled foul, making him remember Seth's instructions.

Ashriel pulled the respirator over the lower half of his face and snapped it into place. Taking a deep breath, he moved forward, descending until he stood at the bottom of the ramp alongside the others.

There was a metal tunnel attached to the bottom of the starcruiser. It ballooned out to form a chamber before narrowing out again into several tunnels that had doors farther down. Huge Gargoyles pushed and shoved an array of creatures toward one of the tunnels.

The Lizdrac that had spoken with them aboard the starcruiser stood a few paces away gaping at Ashriel.

Ashriel opened his wings, staring down his nose at the audience before him. The other reapers also spread their black wings in a show of power. Seth just crossed his arms over his chest.

Seth was acting as their representative. Most people believed he managed Zak and Rowie, known as Midnight Rose, so it wouldn't be weird that he would want to pimp out a few of the reapers that had taken refuge aboard Alpha 7.

"If we'd only known that you would honor us with your presence, we would have prepared suitable accommodations for you," the Lizdrac said in a rush of words.

"Ashriel just wants to get a taste of what his new life is going to be," Seth drawled in a bored tone. "I wanted to show him what the worst of it could be."

The Lizdrac's eyes grew large and he gulped audibly. With a nervous chuckle he said, "Ah. Rhylos has but a bad reputation, but I assure you, a pleasure worker can find no better home to market him or herself. Our clientele is very discerning and we have rulers from all around the galaxy amongst them. Just today we have been bestowed the honor of receiving Princess Glory within our midst. She has come accompanied by an array of the most exquisite females in her entourage..." his grin grew wicked, "if it is female flesh that you seek to pleasure. Otherwise we have every other kind of flesh you can desire."

Ashriel fought the shudder of revulsion that shimmied up his spine and ruffled his feathers.

To his right, he heard Eriel groan and turned to see the reaper rubbing an impressive erection bulging the front of his floor-length black skirt. Eriel obviously had no qualms about what used his body.

***

Anniel sat between Glory and Angel at a large banquet table. There were other emissaries there as well. At the head of the opulent table sat the King Dred's avatar, a genetically enhanced fusion of cyborg and humanoid. The creature's body was slim, delicate, it's skin milk white like Devon's. It's facial features were androgynous as well as it's body. The head was shaved except for a black strip up the middle that stuck straight up in a Mohawk. Another tail hung down it's slender back to it's waist, and long braids fell from just in front of the small shells of it's ears.

Anniel wondered if the milky whiteness of its skin was make-up because even the lips were white. Two black stripes decorated the lush lower lip and the avatar had no eyebrows. Long, thick, black lashes decorated big eyes a startling shade of blue. She frowned at the sight of the two tubes connected to the creatures neck that snaked out to a tank attached to it's back. It wore a mesh gown with two black X's covering were nipples should be and a black triangle covered the triangle between it's legs. There was no sign of a male genitals nor any sign of breasts, leaving her to only try and guess what the humanoid was.

The creature did not eat along with it's guests, just stared with emotionless eyes at all gathered.

Those eerie eyes fell upon Anniel and a soft smile touched it's lips.

Anniel's heart pounded when the creature stood and seemed to float to her.

King Dred's avatar held out it's hand. "Such lovely skin. May I touch you?"

Anniel gulped, unsure of what to say. Princess Glory elbowed her.

"Err—yeah—sure," Anniel blurted holding her hand out, but cringing inside.

The small white hand engulfed hers, surprisingly soft and warm. The creature gasped and lifted her hand to it's mouth. A tiny black tongue slipped out and licked Anniel's knuckles. It shuddered with pleasure.

Anniel snatched her hand back before it decided to take a bite.

"I would like very much to share fluids with you."

Anniel cocked a brow at the strange being before sliding her gaze to princess Glory. "What the heck is it saying?" She whispered from the side of her mouth.

The princess merely wiped her mouth, and after clearing her throat said, "I am honored that you find my ambassador desirable, but I promised her her pick of reapers for her sexual initiation."

The creature grinned now. "Ah. A virgin. Understandable she would want to pick her tool of deflowerment. It is your lucky day as I have been informed a shipment of reapers from Alpha 7 has graced us with their presence. I was told the legendary high priest Ashriel is honoring us with his initiation into the pleasure field. Perhaps you can initiate each other...if you have the credits to acquire him."

"I'm sure I can manage," Anniel answered lifting a brow.

The creature laughed and turned, floating away.

Anniel had a hard time eating afterwards. The whole sharing of fluids thing creeped her out big time. The food smelled good, but looked even weirder than the rainbow of attendants sitting around the huge V shaped table.

There were representations from all over the galaxy, but what really blew her mind was the bright blue sky visible through the glass dome over their heads. It wasn't real. It couldn't be. Fluffy white clouds drifted by, and a sparkling yellow sun poured in rays of warmth into the cold white and metal chamber.

The entire palace was a series of glass bubbles sitting atop a floating metal plate the size of a small city. The bubbles were connected with a series of thick plastic tubes. The strange chair she sat upon was her means of transportation within the palace. The only place her feet were allowed to touch the floor was in her personal chambers, which she thankfully shared with Glory and Angel.

Her chair looked like a metal seashell. It had a glowing green border that deactivated only in her chambers letting her know it was safe to step out. She'd been told it was for her safety.

Anniel snorted, drawing Angel's attention. They did not speak for fear of being monitored, but were wary of communicating telepathically too. There were ways of detecting spikes of extrasensory abilities. It would draw unwanted attention to themselves.

Anniel sighed and resumed pushing her food around on her plate. What was Ashriel doing right this moment? It angered her to think perhaps Amadashiel was trying to seduce him again. Confused her ass. He—

"Why are you growling?" Angel whispered near her ear.

Anniel stiffened and looked around. She'd drawn the interested stares of a few guests.

One guest especially made the fine hairs at the back of her neck rise. She clamped her teeth tight and resisted the urge to snarl at him. The male had jet-black hair and pale blue eyes...

Anniel's eyes widened when his eyes changed a bit and he flashed sharp canines.

Another werewolf—an alpha. His eyes challenged her and she had to fight the urge to turn tail and run. His grin only broadened and a deep growl rumbled in his chest.

This time Anniel slammed her fork down and snarled back at him. The male and female sitting at either side of him growled at her menacingly.

Both Angel and Glory put their hands on her forearms.

"Easy," Angel warned.

Princess Glory glared at the black-haired alpha. "Anniel is an Utuduodian citizen and is not under wolf bane laws."

The male stared at Glory with pale wolf eyes, baring his teeth. "No werewolf is exempt from our laws," he snarled.

"I'm not part of your pack so stop trying to bully me," Anniel snapped.

The annoying male grinned broader. "I smell a bitch in heat, I take her if I want to."

Princess Glory gasped in outrage, Angel gripped her knife, making Anniel grab at her wrist before she threw it at the alpha wolf and started a war.

"I'm not in heat," she argued. She felt better than fine.

"You're carrying, but if I fuck you, my sperm will kill whatever is planted in your womb so that it will be filled with my own offspring."

Angel and Glory began shouting insults at the alpha, but Anniel was struck mute. She felt the blood drain from her face.

She was carrying?

The food she'd ingested came back up.

***

Ashriel had been allowed to refresh and change his attire. The rooms allotted to them were more than opulent. The other reapers claimed they'd never been treated so well.

He sat as the others stuffed their faces with Rhylos fare and listened to the Lizdrac exchange insults with a palace representative.

"That phony king has no jurisdiction here," Mambri snarled, his scaled tail swishing furiously.

"His highness requests the presence of the Alpha 7 reapers immediately. One word and he can have you shut down."

Mambri laughed evilly. "I'd like to see him try. The association will never allow that. On the contrary, they'll have his slimy ass eliminated."

The Merulian palace official sniffed in indignation. "That would never happen. The people need their king. You, on the other hand, are quite disposable."