Redemption Ch. 03

Lucien cleared his throat, his fingers stroking slow circles on Rayne's back. "Right. So where did we leave off on the plan to infiltrate Earth?"

Seth was the first one to clear his throat. "Devon and I decided that we all need to get down there. You need backup as well as protection."

Lucien frowned and looked at his brother.

A pair of twins couldn't be any more dissimilar than Devon and he. Where Lucien was blond, Devon's hair was blacker than pitch. Devon was white as snow and Lucien sun-bronzed. Devon looked like Davariel and Lucien... Lucien was the male version of his mother, down to the almond-shaped ice blue eyes.

Lucien stared at his brother's eyes, eyes that glowed unnaturally, byproduct of the demon toxins coursing in his blood.

"We're all going down?" Lucien kept hold of Rayne with one arm while he rested the other across the back of the chair and looked at Seth, who obviously had clearly lost his mind. "We as in who exactly?"

"All of us," Rowie said drawing his gaze.

Lucien grinned at her. "What about the babies?" He looked around the table now, at Zak, Ashriel, Anniel, Devon, and Angel. "You hauling the kiddies along on this mission too?" If they said yes, he was going to bed to sleep off the effects of the dragon weed. It was making him hallucinate. He sure as hell knew they wouldn't be crazy enough to bring the babies into this.

"Alluna and Rayne are staying behind with the babies," Zak answered.

Lucien sighed in relief.

"We discarded the concert idea," Seth added. "Drako informed us that the Edenian government flat out refused to allow the show within the solar system."

"Okay? So what's the plan now?" Lucien prompted.

Devon brought up a holographic recreation of Earth over the table.

Lucien watched as his brother manipulated the image to zoom in on a city in the upper northeast hemisphere of what was once the United States.

"New York is still considered the melting pot. Only now, it's home to mixed Edenian and off world blood. It was, at one time, the site for government council headquarters."

"Zion," Lucien said, remembering the few times he'd gone there before being sent to Alpha 7 for the first time. It was where Samael had ordered him to go to obtain permission to become part of the Edenian Master Guardians.

Zion, the tallest edifice ever built, housed the highest ranking officials in the solar system.

"You mean those sons-of-bitches no longer sit within that massive dildo?" Lucien snorted.

Seth spoke up next. "We found out that during the war they transferred to an undetermined place. Zion is still used to conduct official business, but the ruling party is in a highly classified area unknown to just about everyone."

"Except themselves," Remi added.

"Rumor has it that they're hiding in plain sight," Zak interjected. He pointed to his wrist. "They have a mark and they communicate telepathically.

Lucien's eyes narrowed. "Telepathy? I thought that was taboo on Earth?"

"For regular citizens, yeah," Devon said, "but not for them."

"We want you to request permission to live on Earth," Seth told Lucien. "They're going to send you here." He pointed at the city. "It's where all newcomers with moderate wealth start off."

Lucien blinked at him. "Moderate wealth?"

Devon rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward. "We set up a fake identity for you. You're Luke Blaze, Demon hunter."

The overwhelming urge of giddy laughter hit him hard... too hard to suppress this time.

Rayne's sharp claws dug into his ribs as his belly laughs bounced off the walls of the conference room.

He was going to be a demon hunter. That was priceless.

Master was acting strange. After his meeting with the others, he led her into the dining hall and fed her. His eyes were glassy and he chuckled quietly as spooned a warm tasty broth into her mouth. Every time some of the succulent fluid escaped her lips, he'd lean down and lick her mouth from corner to corner.

She Ached for him. She'd never been truly penetrated, but her core throbbed, feeling hot, wet, empty. Rayne wanted to feel him filling her.

No matter how longingly she tried to look at him, she could tell his thoughts were far away.

Rayne was feeling too full, but he kept feeding her. He'd given her tasty cubes of varying colors, some sweet, others smooth and tangy. He gave her the broth and bread, sips of a fruity juice and then gooey filled pockets of some flakey pastry.

As he fed her, a tall female reaper entered the dining hall and sat to observe them. The girl's face was expressionless, but Rayne felt like prey every time those cold grey eyes flicked to her.

A whimper escaped Rayne when Master offered her a tiny round fruit he called grape to her mouth.

He blinked and lowered the grape with a frown, as if suddenly waking up and realizing Rayne's presence.

His hand slid to her tummy, caressing. "Are you full, baby?"

"Only if it pleases you, Master," Rayne whispered in utter adoration.

The girl reaper began to laugh. Lucien turned to regard her.

"Trying to get her fat?" She sauntered closer before dropping to her knees in front of Master. Her hands cupped his cock beneath the clingy fabric of his pants. "I'm hungry too, but for this."

Rayne felt a strange pang well inside her at the sight of the girl feeling the outline of her Master's erection.

Master covered her hand with his, stilling her caressing. "Not now Amadashiel."

Amadashiel rose and Rayne suddenly found her nose buried in silky black feathers. The reaper had stepped between her and Master.

The girl whined, "But I'm hungry too." Her arms went around his neck. "Hungry for the feel of your—"

"You're not being nice to Rayne," Master chided, gently moving the girl aside to look at Rayne once again.

It was like seeing the sun come out from behind black storm clouds.

Rayne arched toward him, a flower seeking the warmth that only he could provide.

Amadashiel pouted and looked at her also, but then a wicked gleam made her eyes sparkle.

"You want me to be nice to the little cyborg girl? Is she even programmed with feelings?"

Rayne stilled as the reaper sat on the table next to her. Amadashiel leaned down and tried to kiss Rayne, but she turned her face away. Rayne was not trained to please women. Her sole focus would always be upon a male Dom. She raised her eyes to her Master who watched the reaper with a frown.

"You wanna see a little girl on girl action, Lukey?" the reaper giggled.

Rayne chewed her lower lip as the reaper's hand smoothed up the inside of Rayne's thigh. Rayne gasped when the girl's fingers speared into her. It hurt.

"Stop it," Master finally snarled pushing Amadashiel's hand away. "She's a virgin."

Amadashiel's eyes went round and her head snapped to the side to look at Rayne.

Rayne paid her no mind, her eyes solely on her beautiful Master.

"You mean... surely you're joking," Amadashiel scoffed. "Surely one of the boys has plundered her already."

Master's gaze grew icy as he glared at the girl. "No one has defiled her. She's too small for any of the males aboard the space station."

Amadashiel gaped at Master and then began to laugh loudly. "But, Luke, she a whore."

"Shut up," he snapped angrily now. "Don't call her that. No one but me has ever touched her—"

"Delusional prick," Amadashiel spat back.

Master grew quiet.

Amadashiel laughed again, but this time scornfully. "She was King Dred's cum dump. He took her holographically until he finally took her for real. She was dead when Cyneolle pulled her rotting corpse from the palace..."

Rayne frowned, thought hard. Images came to her, distant, unfocused. Boy Rayne. They had him in a cage in the king's dungeon. He was feral, hissing at all who approached. They'd abandoned him there, deeming him too savage to deal with. He'd begun to starve and Rayne visited everyday to throw him food through the bars of the cage. She'd tried to befriend him, but he'd bare his fangs at her whenever she approached.

More images haunted her, of being taken by many different aliens, feeling frightened, and then that last day she was at the palace. Tentacles had slithered all around her, burning her with acidic slime. She couldn't breathe. It was down her throat, cleaving her between her legs, in her ass too, burning her alive from the inside out.

The agony hadn't lasted long, though. Bright light had engulfed her, giving her peace, but even that faded away. She was somewhere dark, surrounded by water, but was being lifted out, placed in a... metal cage.

No. Not a cage.

Rayne began to scream. Scream until her throat felt raw.

They'd put what was left of her inside a metal skeleton.

Master shook her. His eyes were wide.

"Look at me, baby," he commanded.

She couldn't stop screaming, the memory of feeling trapped inside that skeleton driving her mad with terror. They grew new organs inside, covered her with new skin.

Rayne shoved Lucien away. He wasn't her Master. He'd never claimed her. She was alone. No one wanted her anymore. Why should they? She was not human.

"Baby, calm down. It's alright," he pleaded.

She was a machine. Her brain trapped within a metal prison. She'd been free in death and they'd brought her back. Trapped her within this lab-grown vessel.

Rayne began to rip at her skin, The pain was horrendous, the sight of the metal beneath soft flesh and muscle nightmarish. Still, she wanted to free herself, needed release from this prison that was not really her body.

Lucien dove upon her, laying her flat on the metal table. Plates, bowls, and utensils flew in every direction. The reaper that had awakened her memories stumbled back, eyes and mouth gaping.

Rayne continue to scream, the sound raw, scraping. Her new vocal cords bled and burned. When Lucien refused to let her go, holding her hands above her head. When he didn't release her, she began to bang her skull against the unforgiving table, her legs thrashing to either side of his hips.

"Stop it. God-damn-it, stop," he yelled, "Remi."

Hands grabbed her head. Looking up, she saw the red-haired weredragon. Behind him, she caught a glimpse of Cyneolle preparing a shot.

"No-no-no," she tried to say, but her throat was ravaged, her voice all but unrecognizable.

The sharp sting of the shot pierced her neck and the nightmare of her life winked out.

Lucien stared down at his sleeping beauty.

"She hated this thing," he growled in anger.

Chameleon stood on the other side of the glass stasis unit. "I won't allow her to awaken inside it, but even if she did, she wouldn't remember ever having an aversion to it."

Lucien's gaze snapped to the flaxen haired reaper. At least it looked like a reaper. Chameleon's real name used to be Iophiel. That was before he was almost killed when the Edenian's destroyed Pluto. Cyborg's had found his damaged ship floating in space and had saved his life... sort of. The reaper once known as Iophiel was turned into an amorphous mass of liquid metal and nanotechnology. It was a wonder he was able to retain the essence of his life force, but Lucien could see it flaming around him like the corona of a sun.

"Tell me again what you're doing to her," Lucien needed to be sure.

Chameleon didn't even blink. "We're repairing her memories and feeding her mind with information. She will have understanding of how she functions as well as other knowledge she was deprived of as a sex slave."

"And that's going to keep her from hurting herself again?"

"If that's what she chooses, yes."

Lucien frowned. "That's not good enough."

"She didn't fully understand what she was. She thought she was less than human rather than just enhanced."

Lucien looked at Chameleon again. For a moment he thought he'd detected a note of pride in the borg's voice.

"I want her to have a normal life."

Chameleon grinned now. "Normal?" he leaned closer. "What is normal, Lucien, descendant of Angelos?"

Lucien winced. Only reapers were called Angelos. Another reminder that he was a wingless Seraph. Not normal at all.

"What about the battle pet hiding in the envirolevel?"

"Leave him alone," Lucien snapped.

"I was only inquiring," Chameleon deadpanned. "I assure you that I am not plotting on divesting him of his organs to turn him borg too."

Lucien narrowed his eyes at the cyborg. That was definitely sarcasm he heard there. Maybe Chameloen was more humanoid than machine.

In the blink of an eye, the reaper turned pure liquid silver, losing all humanity.

Lucien stepped away from the liquid silver shape as it slid over to the computer console and reformed into Chameleon.

The cyborg busied himself at the console, giving Lucien his back.

Lucien looked back down into the glass at Rayne.

He longed to give her one last kiss, but maybe it was better this way. He'd requested all memory of him erased from her mind. He wanted her free of the chains that had been imposed on her since infancy. She was to acknowledge she was part biological and mechanical, but like Chameleon, her birth would be from the moment she opened her eyes again. Her previous life nothing more than a bad dream to be forgotten.

"Just remember what I told you—"

"Yes, Lucien. She'll be reborn after you leave for your mission with the others."