Dark Angel Ch. 00-01

There was more to it than that. Ashriel was sure. Devon had been found first, and then with the aid of his current mate, a rescued Crystalian sex slave trained in the ways of the Venushtian priestess warriors, they had located and rescued the rest. Somehow, through all the intrigue, plotting and scheming, Lucien had fallen and become the new dark prince. Nothing more had been heard from Devon's second in command. Powerful as Lucien was, he wasn't Devon...or Davariel. Ashriel sometimes wondered if he was Davariel's second child, lost long ago. Devon's more human twin.

At the moment though, Ashriel didn't care. He stared unabashedly at Anniel, who was oblivious to his existence. He knew he shouldn't stare at her so, but he couldn't help himself. Ever since Garethiel had shown him the pretty girl he'd deflowered aboard Alpha 7 so many years ago, Anniel had become Ashriel's heaven and hell. A dark angel made to tempt him from his vow of chastity as a holy warrior.

He'd foolishly admonished his brother, Garethiel, for defiling such a young female, but then had to blush in shame when Garethiel showed him Anniel's lush curves, her dark satiny skin and glowing green-gold eyes. Ashriel's mouth had watered at the sight of her tight-nippled breasts and rounded bottom. The girl was tall, long-legged, with big luminous eyes and large breasts. Ashriel had groaned pathetically when she licked her lush lips and panted as Garethiel plowed her ruthlessly. For a moment, Ashriel would have given both his wings to experience the rapture of being embedded within her too.

He still remembered his brother's mocking leer as he fisted Ashriel's long hair and forced him to stare into the crystal-vid orb he held almost pressed to Ashriel's nose. "Her cunt squeezes, Ashriel. Squeezes so hard it makes you crossed eyed—"

A clumsy Chidadent crashed against Ashriel, spilling cold liquid all over his chest and, thankfully, breaking him out of his erotic trance.

The small orange-skinned man stared horrified with amber eyes and a mane of hair slightly darker than his flesh. He shivered before Ashriel who snarled viciously at him, making sure his feathers puffed out menacingly.

The Chid squeaked in dismay, a wet stain appearing at his crotch, and fled screaming.

Smart man. One slap of Ashriel's wing could decapitate a humanoid, crush bones.

He stiffened, his gaze darting back to Anniel. For a moment, he felt shame. What if she'd witnessed his rude behavior? He had to stop being so...overbearing. Father Reushuel told him he needed to work on his humility and...and...

Ashriel's breath sighed out as Anniel turned her head to the side to massage the back of her neck, making her long red-brown ponytail brush against her back. The jumpsuit she wore exposed her entire spine, almost to the cleft of her ass and the front dipped down below her belly button. How she kept the material over the jutting roundness of her full breasts was mind-boggling to him. Every time she moved, he held his breath thinking her outfit would fall off her shoulders and expose her. He knew if that happened, he would not be able to keep from bolting to her side to cover her nakedness with his wings. The thought of anyone seeing her bare made his blood boil.

Anniel sighed, her lip quivering a bit as if she wanted to cry. Did she miss her son?

A jolt of pain pierced Ashriel's soul. His nephew. That was as close to having a son as he'd ever get. Garethiel had no intentions of siring any offspring for a few siglons yet, and, of course, Ashriel was to die a virgin and childless. It ate away at him sometimes. It had to be worse for the female reapers, to never know the sensation of nursing a chickling, teaching him or her to fly.

He imagined holding a child in his arms with Anniel smiling next to him. In his daydream, Ashriel lifted the child to examine the tiny wings and gasped.

They were black. The wings of a reaper.

He blinked away the disappointing dream with a frown. To have a reaper child would be heartbreak. Reapers were removed from their families when they turned two sun-orbits. He still remembered when he was taken away from his parents. He'd cried for weeks afterwards.

Anniel chose that moment to lean over to grab a napkin, giving Ashriel a view of her lush breasts and he groaned, feeling himself twitch painfully in his breeches.

Cursing inwardly, he was about to turn to adjust his shameful weakness when he noticed someone heading straight toward him.

The male had a thick mop of blood-red hair cut into wild layers spilling to his waist. His eyes, glittering with evil mischief, were bright green-gold rimmed in black. Silvers hoops decorated the corners of his lush lower lip as well as his nipples peaking out from within a long, black, leather overcoat. His entire torso had various tattoos, and around his belly button, were five silver studs with a chain wrapped around them to form a five-peaked star. The male had the most insolent, conceited, overbearing grin on his face. Ashriel didn't need introductions to know which Alpha Angel this was. His troublesome notoriety preceded him. Remien Fyre—the red weredragon.

Ashriel's entire body stiffened at the weredragon's grin. He knew. The insufferable buffoon knew Ashriel's wayward thoughts about Anniel. His insolent grin said so.

Ashriel pulled his shoulders back, crossing his arms over his chest, and ruffling his feathers to appear more menacing. Unfortunately, Remien Fyre looked unfazed by Ashriel's show of aggression.

The weredragon pulled a young girl in his wake. Her wide golden eyes showed whites and she seemed to be dragging her feet as she stared at Ashriel.

Her skimpy attire barely covered skin the color of caramel, almost as dark as Anniel's, and her hair was a silken flow of black down to her hips. He'd seen her with the golden weredragon, Zachariel, and wondered why Remien had her by the hand. He knew the red weredragon, Remien, was mated to the vampire girl called Rowie, then again, Ashriel had heard rumors of how the Alpha Angels lived a life of immorality, sharing sex with one another without boundaries.

The girl's eyes traveled down his torso, and to his dismay, stopped on the prominent bulge in his pants.

Damn—he thought flushing to his roots.

The weredragon stopped right in front of him with a grin. "Hi. Ashriel, right?"

Ashriel made his tone as frosty as ever. "Remien Fyre."

Remi's grin widened. "Anniel is dying to invite you over for a drink, but she's a bit shy."

Reality fell away as Ashriel gaped at the grinning red weredragon. His eyes darted to the vision of beauty sitting forty paces away. Anniel? Wanted him? To share a drink with her?

Anniel stirred her glass of lemonade absentmindedly. He looked back down at the red-haired weredragon and noticed how the young female next to him stared at Remi open mouthed just before snapping her gaze back up to Ashriel with a nervous grin. Her eyes were as big as Orbreg eggs. The thought that the weredragon was most likely playing him for a fool had Ashriel snarling in rage. The girl jumped and gripped Remi's tattooed arm tightly.

Remi lifted his hands with a red drink in either of them, "Look, I'm just trying to do her a favor, man. Don't shoot the messenger."

Ashriel looked back at Anniel. She was sipping her drink. She closed her eyes and licked her lips, and then proceeded to pluck a bright red cherry out to twirl her tongue around the juicy fruit.

Ashriel had to remember to breathe...and close his gaping mouth. He remembered how she'd licked at Garethiel's nipples and felt his own shrink to sensitive little points.

Ashriel shook his head adamantly. He felt dirty and evil. The girl had lain with his brother and bore him a child. Ashriel had been an unwilling witness to their lust, forced by his brother to watch how he'd fucked her willing body.

"No?" Remi scoffed incredulously, his black-rimmed green-gold eyes wide. "You're going to turn her down?"

Ashriel took a deep breath through his lips. "I'm here on official business." He was supposed to be observing all of them, especially Devon. "I cannot consort with...I shouldn't..." he clenched his teeth in confounded annoyance. "I am a high priest."

Remi nodded. "I get you, Ash. It's okay." He nodded. "At least don't turn down the female's drink. That would be totally rude, man."

Remi pushed one of the drinks into Ashriel's hand.

Alarm shot through Ashriel. He never indulged in alcohol. "B-but I don't... I'm not used to..." he couldn't form the words. He'd never indulged for fear of becoming weak and falling from grace, like so many other reapers had.

"Aw, come-on, Ash, seriously? No sex, no drinking? No wonder you're always frowning, man. Live it up a little. Even Ama drinks."

Ashriel scowled at the insolent weredragon taking the drink from him. How dare he ridicule him. He was a high priest. If Amaranth could indulge, then so could he...couldn't he? He'd never tried it before, but he'd seen how out of control other reapers became.

"Just remember, dude," Remi said walking away with the girl, "she's watching what you do with that drink. If you take forever to sip it down, it's like an invitation for her to come down here and flirt with you."

A shudder of desire ran through Ashriel. To speak with her—no, to have Anniel flirt...with him. Oh, God. What would he say? Would he be able to resist her? Would he wrap his arms around her and fly them to the darker balconies in the gothic castle where they were situated. Haddasha's upper levels were for privacy after indulging in Liquid X. Beings of all races and shapes would fornicate without restraint.

He could kiss her. That wasn't forbidden for his kind. They were allowed to kiss—to do anything really, except penetration.

But...

He would fall from grace. His family would lose their prestige, he would be publicly deplumed and cast from Seraphia, his home...forever...to know a moment of bliss in Anniel's arms.

Yes.

He swallowed past the lump in his throat. Would she keep him as her lover? Would she laugh at his inexperience? Ashriel did not know the first thing about sex. He knew how to kiss, but that was it. One of the female reapers had confessed feeling weak with desire when kissed by a Chidadent tourist and had wanted to show Ashriel how pleasant kissing was. Ashriel hadn't felt a thing when the girl clutched him and swirled her tongue in his mouth.

But if Anniel did that to him...

His cock hurt. He was too aroused and...

Ashriel's eyes widened. Remi was talking with Anniel. Oh, God.

He stared at the drink in his hand. If he drank it fast and walked away, she would think he was appreciative of the gesture of sending him a drink but wasn't interested in socializing. Ashriel bit his lip and looked back up. Remi was blocking his view of her except the shapely legs crossed at the knees and clad in wicked thigh-high spike-heeled boots.

Oh, but Ashriel was very interested in...socializing with Anniel.

Again, the thought that perhaps the red-haired weredragon was playing a prank had sweat beading up beneath Ashriel's wings.

Ashriel narrowed his eyes. If Remien Fyre was up to no good, Ashriel would choke the living shit out of him.

***

"Annie," Remi blurted, slamming a glass of red liquid in front of her. "Ashriel sends you this. He wants to talk with you." He jerked a thumb to gesture behind him with a huge grin.

Ashriel. The name sounded familiar, but Remi had this huge shit-eating grin on his face. That couldn't be good.

Anniel looked from his too smug face to Alluna's wide-eyed one. The feeling that she wasn't going to like whomever Rem was pointing at grew.

Carefully, Anniel craned her head to look beyond Remien's mop of hair. Had she not been firmly seated at the barstool, Anniel would have fallen to the floor in a faint. She couldn't help the squeak of outrage that erupted from her lips and glared at her Alpha Angel brother. "Remien Fyre, what are you up to?"

Remi pouted. "Me? I'm only bringing you this drink he told me to give you. He's a little shy, Annie. Give the guy a break. Go talk to him."

The vision of the tall dark reaper was still emblazoned in her brain. He had to measure like seven feet, which was what the majority of those black winged death angels measured really. But this reaper—my-oh-my—he made Zachariel look like a wimpy teenager, and Zak was big as a star-freighter—muscles bulging everywhere and size fifteen feet. Ashriel, as Remi had called him, was a study of bronzed skin pulled taut over pure brawn. He had a face sculpted to masculine perfection, framed by a spill of silken dark hair down past his shoulders. Behind those wide bulky shoulders, Anniel had seen the outline of jet-black feathers. The wings of a reaper. Anniel tended to avoid males with wings in general--Seraphians. She'd been hurt by one long ago. He'd played with her heart, her feelings, her body, and left her pregnant—not happening again, thank-you.

She scowled at Remi. "I am not going to talk to that Seraphian reaper. You should know better than to ask me—"

Remi raised his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, I'm only the messenger. Don't shoot me. If I were you, I'd drink whatever it is he sent you, give him a smile and a wave, and turn away before he gets the nerve to sashay his feathered ass up here."

Next to Remi, Alluna winced. "They have feathers on their—"

Anniel rolled her eyes. "Oh, for heaven's sake, Luna, don't listen to Remi. He's just being a smart-ass."

Remi barked out a laugh and leaned over. Before she could utter another word, his mouth covered hers in a chaste kiss. "Gotta go, gorgeous. Zak and Row are going to start onstage. Luna and I don't want to miss a thing."

He gripped Alluna's hand and, with a swish of blood-red hair, chains, and black leather, disappeared through the throngs of aliens dancing around them.

Anniel stared, mouth and eyes gaping at the brooding reaper forty paces away. God—but he was totally beautiful. His dark hair set off his glowing silver eyes and looked striking against the tops of his bulging pecs. From there, her eyes just automatically drifted down over his washboard abs, her mouth literally drooling at the ridge delineating his abs from his hipbone clearly visible over his indecently low-slung black leather pants. Curled over, tucked up to his left hip was the bulge of a very healthy, very stiff and thick, long cock. Her favorite flavor too—angel cock.

A shiver of lust jolted through Anniel.

No. No-way—she thought and gripped her glass to toss back the drink before he took her hesitance as a sign she wanted him to join her.

Closing her eyes, she let the cool liquid slide down her throat. Garethiel broke her heart once, and although he was blond, blue-eyed, white-winged and the complete opposite of the dark reaper, she'd sworn to stay away from Seraph's. She had a terrible weakness for their beauty and a bad compulsion to want to wrap her legs around their waists and ride them raw while running her fingers through their soft wings.

It suddenly got too hot.

The wave of desire that hit her had Anniel dropping her glass. She gripped the edge of the bar as she felt her sex begin to throb and her nipples peak painfully. A low growl erupted from her lips as the points of her wolf fangs grew enough to prick her mouth.

What-the-fuck—she thought.

"Hey, baby, are you okay?"

Anniel snarled viciously at the vampire sitting next to her.

He frowned and stood, "No need to get all uptight. I'm not the one who slipped you Liquid X." With a disdainful sniff, the blond vampire walked away.

Liquid X.

Anniel's lips peeled back from her teeth in rage. The reaper had sent Liquid X with Remi. She was going to kick the red weredragon's ass. He had to have known—damn his match-making ass.

Another wave of lust had her gripping her crotch as her juices flooded her tiny panties. Panting, her eyes sought out the reaper. People were screaming in terror as he opened his wings and took flight to the upper balconies of Haddasha.

"Son of a bitch," she spat locking onto his life force. He wasn't getting away that easy.

Anniel teleported within a few feet of him. The reaper was on his knees, crouched over and panting near the wooden railing at the edge of the balcony. It was dark and the scent of sex permeated the air. It was a den of iniquity and fornication.

Anniel didn't care. Her whole body trembled with the onset of her heat cycle, artificially induced by Liquid X.

"There you are, you son of a bitch," she cried out rushing to him. The second he raised his face, she slapped him hard. "How dare you do this to me."

The reaper cried out, but not from pain. His back arched and his hands gripped his straining erection, poking up from the open V of his pants. Rivulets of cum streamed through his fingers. He'd ejaculated. Ashriel's entire body shook and his breath tore in and out of his mouth in ragged gasps. Even his black wings quivered pathetically.

Blazing silver eyes rose to meet hers. "Help me," he whispered, "please."

Anniel fell on him, his scent too intoxicating to resist—a fully aroused Seraph.

He lost his balance and fell against the railing, his wings shooting out to either side of his torso. Anniel fisted his hair, shoved her tongue into his mouth, and pressed her pussy as tight against his prick as possible. The orgasm that shot through her at that initial contact had her screaming into his mouth. Her fingers sank into the downy softness of his wings to grip the thick muscled flesh beneath as she rode him in ecstatic frenzy. His wings twitched and she felt his fingers knead her ass hard enough to bruise. He bucked against her wildly. Somewhere in the back of her frenzied mind, a little thought about him chafing his lovely dick on the seam of her pantsuit floated about, but it was like a little mosquito buzzing around during a five alarm fire.

She was on fire, and she needed more contact.

Anniel arched her back and pulled open the top to her one-piece pantsuit. Grabbing a breast with one hand and fisting Ashriel's satiny hair in the other, she forced his mouth to her aching nipple.

Another scream tore from her throat when he savaged her tight bud with teeth and tongue, devouring her like a starving man. Warmth bathed her exposed belly as another shudder shook Ashriel. Anniel's fingers found the source of warmth at the tip of his erupting cock. Her fingers came away dripping with his seed. With a moan, she popped them into her mouth and sucked greedily. His taste exploded on her tongue, setting off another orgasm.

"Fuck," she panted. "I need you to fuck me."

As she struggled to pull the rest of her clothing off, Ashriel shoved her back. They landed on the ground with him on top of her. He muttered something, and she was sure she heard him wrong because it sounded as if he'd said "I can't."

Somehow, she'd managed to kick off her boots and jumpsuit before curling her fingers around his gloriously distended erection. He was definitely a big boy angel and she could barely wait to stuff him inside herself. Hell—she hadn't had sex in over three hundred years. Talk about a dry spell.

Ashriel cried out and in the blink of an eye, Anniel found herself lying alone and bereft.

She cried out in dismay, scrambling to her knees as her eyes searched the dark balcony. There were many curtained off doorways on the opposite side of the railing. She heard moans, panting, and screams everywhere. The slap of squishy flesh and hard thumping, but the sight of a lone black feather sticking out from beneath one doorway had her scrambling inside.

The private room was enormous, and made entirely of stone. A rumpled bed occupied the center but what had her gasping in astonishment was the sight of Ashriel ramming himself into the walls and ceiling like a trapped bird. Streams of blood spattered the walls where he hit and feathers floated down.