Dark Angel Ch. 08

"You desired her," Ashriel accused.

"I wasn't the one who fucked her," Seth spat back.

Ashriel gasped. "What?" Seth flattened his lips into a grim line and looked away. "Who?" Ashriel demanded. "Who fucked her? Remi? Zack, Devon?" He snarled when the weretigri remained silent. "Lucien. It was Lucien, wasn't it?"

Seth's pale blue eyes snapped back to glare at Ashriel.

The shuttle shot forward, zipped through three airlocks before slamming to a halt, almost throwing Ashriel out of his seat. Alarms went off.

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

Ashriel looked out through the windshield and gasped. The sky was practically blotted out with transports, the majority of which had enormous crystal vid relayers aimed at them.

"The media," Seth growled. "We've been found."

"How're we gonna ditch them?" Natanael asked.

Ashriel raked his hands over his head, wincing when his fingers tangled in his braids.

Seth eyes glowed with power as he stared hard at the control panel. His gloved hands gripped the control levers and the shuttle jets whined with augmented power. "All right. Everybody just hold on."

It was all the warning they got before the shuttle dropped.

"Fffuck," Ashriel roared.

***

Anniel awakened to soft sobbing. She stirred and sat up rubbing her eyes, all the time wondering who'd been crying. Her eyes itched, but when she rubbed them, they burned, making her hiss.

The bed she lay on dipped heavily, startling her. Large hands engulfed hers, pulling them away from her face.

"It is worse if you rub," a deep raspy voice said. "Lay back. I will put the drops doc gave me."

Anniel struggled half-heartedly to pull her hands away. She needed to get away, though she had no doubt Devon or Seth would come to her sooner or later. A hand caressed her cheek, making her go still.

"Trust me," Cyn rasped.

She closed her stinging eyes and leaned a bit into his warm palm. He wore velvet gloves and they were soft against her skin.

Huffing out a sigh, she lay back. Anniel felt him lean over her. Two fingers propped open her left eye and she felt when a cool drop of liquid bathed her eye, giving her instant relief. He repeated the same with her right eye.

She inhaled sharply when his hands cupped her face and drew her up. His lips pressed feather light kisses over each eye.

"All better now?" he asked in his raspy voice.

Anniel's hands had wrapped around his wrists. She squeezed slightly, feeling the steel skeleton beneath what might be skin, she really wasn't sure.

A sob caught in her throat as she thought of her baby, Gareth, and before she knew what she was doing, she jumped up and hugged Cyn tight.

Anniel breathed his scent in deep. Seraph and Wolf. It was slightly familiar, but it was not the scent she associated with her child.

Cyn held her gently, and then one hand reached up to take a handful of her hair and press it to his face. His chest expanded, breathing her in as well.

"You remind me of her."

Anniel fisted his dreads, before running her left hand over the arch of his right wing. She laid her cheek on his shoulder and winced when she felt the distinct feel of metal beneath.

"Who do I remind you of?" She asked when she trusted her voice not to break.

His arms tightened around her, his nose pressed to her head. "My m—"

A loud crash behind her startled them both. A female screamed and Cyn shot to his feet. Snarling ensued, making the fine hairs on the back of Anniel's neck stand on end. Werewolves.

"Get out," Cyn grated.

"I want the female," A deep masculine voice snarled.

Anniel frowned. She remembered that voice. The palace. The alpha werewolf at the dinner table.

"You cannot have her," Cyn replied his voice deadly.

"You desire her," A feminine voice shrieked, enraged. "You bastard."

Amidst all the screaming and growls, Anniel took a deep breath and tried to concentrate hard on using her limited powers to feel around the room. She cursed inwardly at not having listened to Seth and allowed him to help her expand her abilities.

"You cannot have her," Cyn roared. "She is mine. I will kill who ever touches her."

Vicious snarls reverberated throughout the room and then it sounded as if someone had turned on a jet. Two green orbs began glowing.

"Get out, or I will fire upon the both of you."

"Stupid bitch," the female spat, clearly out of control. "You'll pay. You'll see. Cyn is mine. Mine—you hear me?"

Feet shuffled, as if someone were being forced from the room and then the door slammed.

After a while, the noise and glaring green light faded.

Anniel heard heavy breathing and realized it must come from Cyn. Whenever Gareth became upset, she would take him on her lap and rock him. He always enjoyed when she sang the dragon's lullaby to him. Cyn was too big to fit on her lap, but maybe he'd enjoy her soothing him with the lullaby.

Anniel began to sing in a low voice, soft and soothing. She was not an international rock star like Rowie, but her voice was pleasant enough.

She heard his thumping steps as he approached her slowly. Anniel sat up straight on the edge of the bed she lay upon and tried to make out his form in all the black and grey splotches before her. It looked as if he'd gone down on his knees in front of her. She blinked in surprise when arms encircled her waist, and jumped a bit when he lay his head in her lap. Carefully, she stroked his hair and forehead and continued to sing. A quiver went through his large frame, making her pause.

"Are you okay?" she asked when he remained silent.

His voice was but a whisper, but she heard him clearly when he said, "My mother would sing that to me when I was a child."

Anniel's heart began to race. "Where is your mother?"

"I don't know."

"Were you always called Cyneolle?"

He remained silent a while. "No."

"W-what was your name before you were called Cyneolle?"

Again he remained silent a while before answering. "I don't remember."

Anniel bit her lip. "Was it...Gareth?"

He stiffened this time and then shifted, lifting his head. Anniel held her breath, waiting for him to answer.

"No."

The sob could not be contained anymore. Her heart crumpled, her breath choked in her lungs and she found she could no longer hold herself upright.

Cyneolle climbed up beside her and pulled her onto his lap. He held her much like she'd cradled Gareth. Fisting the front of his shirt, she cried out her sorrow over the loss of her child once more. Anniel lamented ever having left him alone and prayed he hadn't suffered much.

***

Returning to the black market was impossible. Seth maneuvered through traffic while Ashriel tried hard to hold onto his seat. They dipped and turned, swerved and weaved until Seth ducked into an old docking station that led to the city's hydro-lifters.

"Cover up. We need to get out of here, like now," Seth said stuffing weapons into his long coat.

Ashriel pulled his gas mask over his mouth and nose after securing the goggles over his eyes again. He really didn't need the goggles because reapers had a natural nictating membrane that covered their eyes during flight. He only used them to hide his face. It seemed he was somewhat of a celebrity...all because he'd lost his virginity. He shook his head, thinking how absurd the universe was.

Natanael changed his hair from deep blue to jet-black. "You should change your look too, Ash."

Ashriel scowled at him.

"Nat might have a point there," Seth sighed.

Ashriel shook his head. "I refuse to resemble a circus sideshow freak."

Now it was Natanael's turn to scowl. "Hey, I resent that remark. Besides, you're the freak everyone's hunting for."

"Stop. Fighting will get us nowhere," Seth huffed impatiently.

"I want to have blond hair," Amadashiel piped up from the rear of the shuttle.

"Better hurry up," Seth warned. "They're going to come looking in here."

Natanael used his silver wand on Amadashiel's hair, turning it a rich golden blond. Eriel and Reiven asked for crimson hair like, Remien Fyre's and Seth had his hair turned orange, like a Chid.

"Quick, Ash," Nat said rushing toward him. "Pick a color."

Ashriel blinked, his mind a complete blank.

"Hurry. Just give him anything," Seth exclaimed. "More than half of them are turning back. They'll come in here."

"Ash," Nat prodded.

Ashriel snarled, "I don't know. Do whatever."

Natanael reached toward him. Panic seized Ashriel, imagining himself with some wild crazy color. "A natural color, Natanael."

"Natanael paused frowning. "You said whatever."

"Whatever within the natural range of colors for our kind," Ashriel snapped.

Natanael rolled his eyes and grabbed a handful of Ashriel's braids. He swept the wand over the front, sides and back.

"Done," he said stepping back.

"Wait," Seth said raising his hands.

Ashriel yelped in surprise when it felt as if someone had tugged his braids hard. He put his hands up to his head to discover his hair was unbound. Tugging a strand forward he gasped when he saw the color. "You ass," he shouted in outrage, tossing the honey-blond lock over his shoulder in disgust. "You've turned me into Garethiel."

Natanael scowled. "You said any natural Seraphian color."

"We gotta go—now," Seth exclaimed running to the back hatch. "No more time."

Ashriel felt adrenaline rush through his body, knowing the danger they faced being mauled by the media and not being able to reach or find Anniel. They followed Seth, rushing out of the docking section and melting into the multitude of beings awaiting clearance to board the hydro-lifters.

The metal and glass tubes ran up and down into almost every level within the city.

"Where are we going now?" Ashriel whispered close to Seth.

"They'll be waiting for us at the black market. We can't go back."

Natanael leaned closer, "What about my Starcruiser?"

Ashriel saw when Seth took a deep breath. "I'll figure out a way to get it back. For now, we need to get Annie. We're going to head down...as far down as they'll let us go. I can feel her...below...on the surface...I think."

"You think?" Ashriel growled near his ear, showing his displeasure.

Seth turned, his black goggles mirroring Ashriel's covered face. Ashriel winced, not because of the anger the weretigri emanated, but because he looked so much like his twin, and it irritated the hell out of him.

"Wow, Ash. You're really starting to piss me off. How about you shut up for a bit and let me concentrate on feeling for Annie without you running your annoying mouth. Jeez, you're worse than Remi."

Ashriel clenched his fists at the mention of the irritating red weredragon. How dare he say he was more annoying.

They moved with the flow of the crowd. Behind them was the buzz of excited chatter and shouts of protests. Ashriel was about to turn his head, but Seth shook his head.

"They're back there trying to find us," Seth whispered. "Keep your head down and just keep going. We're going down...all the way down. If we're separated, just open your mind to me. I'll try to link us all, but not here." He looked around and Ashriel watched the reflection Seth's goggles revealed. There were vid-relayers floating over them like birds of prey looking for its kill.

Ashriel followed the crowd and boarded one of the hydro-lifters. It was going down and was not monitored by any guards. It was going up that they seemed to want to control.

So far, they managed to escape the watchful eyes of the interstellar media. As the doors slid shut, a bunch of silver balls whizzed in and began buzzing like flies over the crowded beings within the hydro-lifter.

Ashriel was wedged with Seth in front of him and Natanael behind him, but to his left was a Chid girl smacking on gum loudly. Her respirator hung loose by her cheek and her goggles were on her forehead.. She gazed idly at a holographic image projected from the com-unit device she had hanging from a barbed chain around her neck.

Ashriel looked at the image being displayed by her device and almost choked. It was an image of him from about three hundred years back, fighting amidst a horde of devils and demons.

He turned his head, afraid the young female would somehow recognize him, but saw that more than half the occupants in the lift were watching the same vid feed. He began to sweat.

A few of the silver balls whizzing about hovered over him. A handful dropped down right in front of his face and he tried swatting them away.

More approached and buzzed around him.

Seth spun around and Ashriel felt the distinct bite of power whip out from the weretigri. It tingled against his flesh like thousands of tiny bugs or needles prickling his skin.

The holographic images around them fizzled off making a few of the hydrolifters' occupants murmur in anger.

The girl next to Ashriel stared up at him with a frown. The intensity of her stare made him uneasy.

The doors to the lift opened a few times on different levels. Ashriel was dying to step out of the lift and away from her intense stare.

Suddenly Eriel was there. He insinuated himself between Ashriel and the girl and slid his goggles and mask off.

"Hi," he said in a deep seductive voice.

The girl's eyes snapped to his face, her frowning mouth dropping open a bit.

Eriel tilted his head a bit, letting his fake deep red hair slither over one of his shoulders. "Where are you headed?"

The girl began to chew her gum again nervously. "My mama told me never to talk to pleasure workers."

Eriel chuckled, squaring his shoulders. "Your mama must know something very naughty about us."

"Your friend," she began glancing quickly at Ashriel before her gaze became ensnared by Eriel again.

"Forget my friend. He's been hired. I'm just tagging along to see if I get lucky too." Eriel reached out and traced the girls quivering lips before he stooped down and covered her mouth with his.

Normally, Ashriel would have balked at seeing him try to corrupt such a young female, but he knew the girl was suspicious of him and Erie kissing her a bit would distract her until they could escape. It wasn't as if he would try to fuck her right there in front of everybody.

Of course, when Eriel did raise his hand with every intention of grabbing one pert little breast, Ashriel gripped his wrist and shook his head when Eriel turned to look at him questioningly.

"It's him," the girl declared pointing at Ashriel. "All our devices malfunctioned because one of them is an ex-Edenian Master Guardian. One of those Alpha Angels. This one here is Ashriel of Angelos."

Ashriel paled, but all the occupants of the lift did was stare and murmur amongst themselves.

Someone shuffled toward them and Ashriel cringed at his stench. The very dirty and ill kempt man grinned, showing green and black-stained teeth. His one eyes was milky white with a hint of a pupil beneath the meaty film covering it and the other was a metal ball with an actual brown iris sitting in the middle of it.

"Trying to run away from the media, are you?"

"Get lost," Reiven growled.

Eriel began shoving him away, but Seth put his hand out to stop them.

"Can you help us?" Seth inquired making Ashriel's brows shoot up his forehead.

"Of course," the man cackled. "I didn't come over here for your fucking autographs." He spat on the floor, making the reapers jump away.

Ashriel wrinkled his nose at the green and red gob splattered on the floor. The man laughed and nodded toward the doors. "We get off on the next stop, my pretties."

"We're not even half way down the city," Ashriel pointed out.

"I had some business to attend to, but your situation takes precedence, don't you think?"The filthy man raised a hand to touch Ashriel's face, but he slapped it away with a snarl, making the man laugh. "You're very skittish for a whore."

Ashriel's face flamed. Being called that to his face left him...feeling miserable.

No one tried to stop them when they squeezed their way out of the lift. The man directed them to the edges of the docking station. Open slits in the building let in foul air. Even through the mask he wore, Ashriel could feel the thick pungent fumes of the toxic Rhylosian atmosphere. Guards stood by the open airways. One of them stepped forward, his plasma rifle clutched tight to his chest.

"Where the hell do you all think you're going?" he rasped through his mask.

Their filthy guide spat another nasty gob of slime on the floor at the guard's feet, just barely missing his shiny boots.

"Those fucking lifts are vermin infested and smell bad."

The guard snorted. "Maybe you should stop riding them."

The dirty man laughed derisively and turned briefly back to Seth and the reapers, who stood behind him. "We got ourselves a comedian here."

Ashriel caught a glimpse of vid relayers zipping by outside. He began to sweat again.

"Listen, asshole. My new buddies here offered to fly me down instead."

Ashriel stiffened when the guard regarded them suspiciously. "Fly down, eh?"

"That's right. Down," their smelly guide nodded.

The guard's black goggles revealed nothing as he remained silent, looking at all of them, his fingers flexing on his plasma rifle. "I'll let you jump, but if you so much as rise one bit, even if it's the wind current that lifts any of you...you'll be vaporized instantly. We've got every level covered by guards and plasma canons."

"Yeah, whatever, asshole," the dirty man spat, waving his hand as he approached the opening in the building. "Just follow me down boys."

He gave one last laugh before he leapt through the narrow opening in the building.

Ashriel gasped and ran, as did the others. The man was a rapidly shrinking dot far below. Natanael jumped first, after wrapping one arm around Seth. Ashriel followed, opening his wings straight back. His stomach rolled as he beat his wings and made himself fall faster. Ripping his goggles back, he narrowed his eyes and focused on Natanael a little farther down from him.

They spiraled down, closer to the darkened surface. Thank the Divinity they were far from the busiest veins of traffic. Close to the building, no transports flew by.

When Ashriel could barely see anymore, he halted his fall by beating his wings in reverse.

"Put your goggles back on," he heard Eriel shout not that far from where he was.

Ashriel reached up and pulled them back down. He gasped in shock. The dirty man he thought had probably splatted to his death by now floated a few feet in front of him. On his back were a pair of metallic wings, glowing blue. There were more metal-winged humanoids around them. Natanael still held Seth, and Reiven and Amadashiel hovered to his right. Below his feet he saw the neon glow of the city. He looked around, noticing the darkened windows spanning at least fifty levels.

"You wouldn't want to venture into these levels," the dirty man chuckled. "Let's go down into the heart of Rhylos."

"We want to speak with Cyneolle. He has a friend of ours," Seth said.

The dirty man laughed, as did the others around them.

"Well, I'd have to let his guards know you seek him out."

"Take us to him," Ashriel demanded.

The dirty man snorted. "And how the hell should I know where that devil is?"

He was lying. Ashriel felt it in his bones. He had to know where this Cyneolle was. They all had to know.

"All right, then get in touch with his guards. We want our friend back."

"And what's in it for me?" the dirty man grinned.

Ashriel remained silent, not knowing what to say.

"Pimp me out," Eriel flew forward. "You could make a fortune pimping me out."

The dirty man's eyes roved Eriel's body and he nodded slowly.

Ashriel shuddered. "Eriel..."

Eriel turned. Even though his face was covered from his nose down, his eyes were smiling. "It's okay, Ash. It's not like I'm not used to it. It'll be fun...getting fucked for love...even if it's not love for me."