The Language of Angels (Closed for Vail_Indigo)

[Vixandra]

I broke off from the kiss with a laugh. "Hey, some of us need to sleep at some point."

I let my arms slide around Aella with a sigh. "Ah well, sleep's overrated. I'll live a few more days without it before mental breakdowns setting in. I could use a nice bath though."

It had been a while since I'd carried weight while flying and I could feel the quiet protest of muscles that hadn't been used lately. But that could wait, I thought, tipping Aella's face up for another kiss.

My wings folded around her, holding her close, feathers brushing against her skin where it was exposed. I could feel her heat through my suit, feel every inch of where our bodies met. There was something about the whirlwind in my arms that captivated me. It was more than the luscious ass that I slid my hand over. More then the lips that met mine so hungrily.

It was, in parts, the dedication to her cause, the bravery in the face of danger, and the sheer sensuality I felt from her. There was something raw and new to that sensuality, I realized as I trailed kisses down her throat.

Voice husky with passion, I asked, "Want to join me?"

 

[Vail_Indigo]

She tasted...god...she tasted differently than she did before. It must be an Angel thing. And I wanted every taste I could have of her.
Her mouth on my neck sent electricity straight to my brain, and back down my spine, and I found myself literally climbing her as her wings wrapped around me.
Her wings.
This beauty, this dream, these wings.
Nothing else mattered.
It felt like nothing else would ever matter again.
My legs wrapped tightly around her, and I thrilled to her strength in holding me, and my fingers dug into her hair.
She said something.
I couldn't hear it, I think I whimpered something in return.
The fabric, slick and sensual, seemed to ripple like skin as I dragged my nails down her back.
Her mouth had been away too long, so i fixed the problem.
I kissed as deeply as I could. I needed her to feel me, be able to sense nothing except me.
I shouldn't have felt so...possessive...but I did.
And I wanted her to know that.
I wanted her to hear the words of my kiss, again and again.
Mine.

 

[Vixandra]

I took her whimper to be one of ascent and pulled her closer to me. "Hold on," I said needlessly. I tightened my arms around her, crouched down and pushed.

Pushed away from the cement sidewalk, away from the Earth, launching us into the cool air. The contrast between the slick, cold winds that I coursed through and the lush heat of Aella was a sharp one. A decadent one.

Like a bird, I have a homing instinct and that's all that got us back to my place because the majority of me was too busy feeling her kissing me as I flew. Lips, jawline, throat and back again as we felt, touched and tasted each other during that astonishing flight.

By the time we were above my building, there were lowered zippers on our clothing, though I don't quite remember finding them. A push of a button opened the glass of the atrium enough for me to slip in and land. It sealed shut again with a whir of motors. I barely heard it.

I pulled some kind of heavy jacket off of Aella as she slid the zipper on my suit to my waist, eager hands pushing at the edges. It was warm in the atrium, kept at a minimum of 75F to keep the tropical plants within alive. The moist air slid along my skin as I shrugged out of the top half of my suit, letting it hang behind me.

To keep things fair, I slid my hands under the shirt Aella wore and helped her pull it off before pulling her in for another kiss. My skin was hot from the exertion of flying with a passenger and from the passion between us. I slid a hand into her hair as we kissed deeply.

There was something betwixt us that I hadn't felt before. I hadn't felt desire in my angelic form before, not like this. Not with a passion that burned so brightly some small, slightly rational part of me was surprised we weren't smoking.

 

[Vail_Indigo]

When I drink alcohol, nothing happens. My body processes it like it was a toxin. Its rendered inert in moments.

I've never been drunk.

I was drunk on her.

I was drunk on flying with her, on tasting her, on being held by her.

I moaned deeply into our kiss as my breasts melted to hers, my nipples hard and caressing soft skin.

That brought out my teeth, not too hard, but hungry on her lower lip, my hand in her hair so she couldn't pull away. I held and pulled almost too long, then let slip. I smiled at her, hanging there in that moment, and I am pretty sure I giggled just before taking her mouth again. I was infinitely hungry.

I felt her back hit the wall gently, and wondering if that hurt because of her wings.

My hand was shaking as I drew her leg up and around me, still wrapped in that magical fabric, but I wanted to feel encased in her, wrapped in her. I pressed my body tightly to hers and felt a shudder, and I knew I'd pressed right there against her center, without realizing it.

I kept grinding myself against her, desperately, my lips moving to her neck, feeling the pulse of her very life, skin that tasted unreal and perfect and like summer.

I'd never wanted anything like this in my life.

I'd never wanted to make anyone happy like this in my life.

I nibbled along the strange muscles along her collarbone, I grazed her jaw, nipped at her ear. I felt my nipples connecting with hers, achingly hard and the sensation sent music into my ears, my back arching a bit to press my chest forward, my head leaning back.

I was desperate.
I was nervous.
I was clumsy.
I didn't care.

I was consumed in this fire.

 

[Vixandra]

With my back against the wall, the rich blacks and reds of my feathers were a sharp contrast to the pale cream paint. Not that I was really noticing because my hands were literally full.

So full that the only way to shift my suit down far enough so I could kick it off was to undulate. The motion started in my chest and rolled down, using the friction of our bodies to shift down the suit. I had to reach down a hand to unclasp the locks on my boots (laces and flying don't mix) but it didn't keep my other hand and mouth from trailing down her body as I did so.

My nails lightly scored her skin, tracing from her breast to the waistline of her pants as I kicked away my final boot and the suit as well. She had stepped back enough to give me room to kick away that which blocked her skin from mine. I curled my hand into the waistband of her pants and used that leverage to reverse our positions, putting her back against the wall and leaning into her.

I let out a growling purr as her body came back into contact with mine. The material of the pants she wore was slightly rough against my thighs as I shifted against her, using that handhold on her pants to hold her.

A soft glow shone from my wings, like a candle seen through a large garnet. The color traced across her skin as I kissed her, tongue dancing with hers. My fingers traced in teasing circles just beneath her pants. I trailed nipping kisses down her elegant throat. Across the muscled curves of her shoulders and to the valley between her breasts.

In a half crouch, I kissed and licked an ever tightening spiral around her nipple until I stopped right above it, my breath alone caressing it. She let out a sound that was part whimper, part moaning demand. Who could resist such a plea?

My wings brushed her sides in a feathery caress as I took her nipple into my mouth, sucking, tasting, exploring. One hand mirrored my actions on her other breast. The other hand flicked open the catch on her pants after searching for it for a few seconds. The look in her eyes was wild, untamed and a bit startled. It made me remember that her life had been about the job, the assignment for far to long.

I was going to make at least this morning about sheer pleasure.

 

[Vail_Indigo]

If there’s something sexier than an Angel doing a slow squirm to make a high-tech-magic-thingie suit fall off her body, I don’t think I could handle it.

I heard the locking clasp of my pants click open and I froze.
This was happening.
This wasn’t work. This wasn’t a job, or a way to get something done.
This was real.
No one I’d ever cared about had ever...touched me.

I guess, in a sense, I was a virgin.

She must have felt the sudden tension in my body, my spine, and her eyes met mine.
A hint of worry, of concern
I reached down and slowly lowered the zipper for her.

My voice was soft, almost inaudible

“Please, my Angel, I want. Please.”

I brought her up to me, and my lips touched hers, not fiercely this time, just shivering and light.
I think my whole body was shivering along with them.
My tonguetip found hers, just barely touching, suddenly shy, not wanting to slow down, but needing to feel every moment, give each contact my attention.
I was deeply aware of every place our bodies connected.
Tongues
Lips
Breasts.
And her fingers at my waist, under the leather just a bit.
And mine, having wandered down to her hip.

“Sophia...”

I was...something.
I was lost here with her and I was filled with icey fire and her touch was the very center of my world, and my world is so very vast.
I was...in love.
Real, imagined, transitory, whatever. It was all I knew right then and there.
Whether she knew it or not, I was her girl.
And my body knew it, needed to show her.

“Please...make love to me”
As if she wasn’t already.
As if I wasn’t already drunk reading her skin with my fingertips, feeling the messages being sent up and down her spine, tasting the lust in her mouth, a taste unlike any other, and new each time.
I wasn’t crying. I most certainly wasn’t crying.
My hips shifted towards her on their own.
I was hers.

 

[Vixandra]

“Please...make love to me”

I smiled as I kissed her again, tongues dancing together. Such a powerful plea it was surprising. Who could deny it?

Her hips pushed against mine as I slid a hand past the open waist of her pants, pulling back enough to watch her face. I slid my free hand along her jaw as my other hand slid down far enough to caress the bare skin surrounding the heat of her. A heat I could feel against me, even through the thick material of her pants.

It sent an electric shiver through me, the look in her face as I slid that first finger over her clit. I held her face gently so I could watch her reaction as I rubbed slow, light circles until she made a moaning noise deep in her throat. The tightness of her pants kept me from caressing further and I sank to my knees again to pull them down her hips. I trailed kisses over her skin as I exposed it. At least until I got caught with her boots. It took both hands to pull them off and toss them aside to be followed by her pants and whatever underthings she'd been wearing were pulled away with them.

I looked up at her, this nude warrior before me and felt something soften then light on fire within me. I put that fire to good use, sliding my hands up between her thighs, pushing her to widen her stance.

"That's it. Don't fall on me," I said with a wicked smile. Her eyes held a ghost of a question before I resumed that maddeningly light touch on her clit until her hips pushed forward again. My wings flared automatically to help me keep my balance as I chuckled. "More?"

I laid a nipping kiss at the top of her hip and followed the natural curve with my mouth toward her center. Her skin tasted fresh and potent in the way a finely brewed mead could be. Smooth, intoxicating and arousing across the palate like nothing I'd ever tasted anywhere in the world.

I looked up at her, met her eyes as my mouth found her clit. The need in her eyes was empowering. The shiver that ran through her enticing. The taste of her like lush moonlight, if such a thing could have a taste.

As I ran my tongue over her clit, I slid a finger inside her. She was as wet as I thought she would be and her hips bucked against me as I curled my finger inside. My free hand held her against the wall, party supporting her weight, partly making sure I wouldn't get hurt if she bucked at the wrong moment. I may look delicate in angel form, but I can toss around three hundred pound men without a problem if I'm in the right mind set.

That strength held her firmly so I could lick and graze the barest edge of teeth across her, watching her down-turned face the entire time.





In a dockside warehouse next to freshly unloaded containers...

He looks over a pair of ledger books laying beside a pair of bills of landing. One of each was the "legitimate" version to be shown to port authorities and anyone else who looked. The second set were what was really on the ship, in the unaccounted for container.

A loud thud from the container next to him makes the man jump, eyes darting fearfully to the seals on the container. To a normal human, they appear as bio-hazard seals. To one of the meta-humans, like him, they were seals for something far more dangerous. The real bill of landing listed the cargo in simple terms.

"Two Molarch Demons, fitted with control collars. Feed often."

He smiled briefly, greed overcoming fear as he mentally added up what he would get for the monsters. It was worth dealing with the devil when the profit margin was this high, concluded.

Another thump in the container followed by a barely audible growl through the sound dampening spells.

Well worth it.

 

[Vail_Indigo]

The touch of her finger on my clit sent a shudder of colors through my body, and she played over it, played over me. Everything I had opened up to her in that moment. I wanted to project myself into her, give everything. And when it left, I gasped at the loss. But she didn't let me go for long. I felt her pulling my pants down, boots and clothes tossed aside as I laughed softly and made a mental note to make these things easier to get out of. I wanted to make sure there wasn't such trouble, next time.

Next time.
Next time.
And suddenly my thoughts came back to life.
Was there a next time?
What was this?
Is this who I am? I don't know her. She doesn't know me.

Except I did know her, and she knew me.

We were warriors.

We were strength.

I looked down at her, and saw the magic radiating off her skin, and whirlwinds in her eyes, and I knew nothing else mattered except this moment right here.

Her eyes never left mine, holding me in place more than her body did. And her strength, dear god, it was amazing to be pinned to the wall with just a hand. I felt completely held, utterly possessed.

Which was fortunate because, when her tongue touched my clit, any semblance of strength drained from my body, and when her finger entered me, my control did the same. I felt my hips take over, slowly gyrating, ancient movements that had felt so alien to me before, and now felt so right, so part of me.

My fingers sank into her hair, loving the silken sensation, loving the scent my body was creating, because of her, loving that this powerful, winged woman was here, with me, on her knees to...to...

She did something, something...I don’t know what...my back arched against the wall, forward, then back. My breathing, labored before, became ragged.

I heard myself making sounds, maybe saying things, maybe sobbing. My sensorium, so vast and acute shrank rapidly, becoming nothing except an absolute awareness of her and where ever she touched me.

Then, slowly, it expanded, taking my along my spine, into neglected regions of my mind and back down again, tracing, creating the circuit that was my orgasm, and it was glorious.

It rushed from my clit outward, a wave taking in all my body, then pulling back to its center, again, and again, and again.

My body went almost limp, simply writhing on the rushing that had taken over, and I was held only by her strength.

I was drowning in delight and sensation and weakness.

This was where my body was born to be.

 

[Vixandra]

It was easy to hold her up.
Easy to run my tongue across her to watch her writhe in aftershocks.

It was far to easy to wonder what it would be like to have her like this every morning. Which was strange for me- I wasn't a hearts and stars forever after kind of angel. Leave that shit for the Cupid-wanna-be's and let me have fun, at least that's how I had been.

But she made me feel different, I realized, looking up at her passion-struck face with a soft smile. I pushed it down, away, to be dealt with later. When I could mull over it properly. Right now, I had my hands full in the best of ways.

"Come on, let's get you into a bed before you fall," I said in a throaty whisper. I stood and scooped her up in my arms. She gave a startled sound and I grinned. "I'm stronger than I look like this."

I kissed her as I walked toward my bedroom, muscle memory alone getting us there. I managed to trip over the chest at the foot of my bed, tumbling the both of us onto the silk- covered king sized bed. I was used to the silk and was able to stop the slide but lost my grip on Aella as we went down onto the bed.

 

[Vail_Indigo]

I shit you not. What happens next should be a testament to how…good seems like such an inadequate word…I felt.
"Wheeeeeee!" came from my lips as I slid along the slick silk away from my Angel.
I shit you not.
Then I looked at her.
There she was, on all fours on the bed, her wings, her breasts, her hair all hanging in their various ways, all speaking of passion and beauty and freedom.
Then I was crawling to her, and my lips found hers, and kissed hard, and fierce, and nipped at her tongue as I pulled her down with me.
My hand moved on its own, down between her thighs, and fingers slipped into her easily.
I my thumb brushed over her clit and I felt it in her kiss.
My free hand moved into her hair and pulled sharply, breaking her mouth from mine, but letting my teeth find her neck. Not hard, just testing, feeling and learning her skin right there. I knew I'd always remember it. I followed the nerves and muscles I'd seen before, the ones no human had. My tongue wandered down between her breasts, then to the underside of one, swirling slowly upwards to the hardened nub that seemed to be reaching out to my mouth.
Who was I to deny it?
My lips, hungry and hot, took her nipple and sucked gently, and I could feel it stiffen more, and my teeth pulled till I heard her whimper, and then released.
But then…then I caught the scent of her, of her cunt and her desire and any thought of taking my time down her body just vanished.
Between her thighs, I watched my fingers disappear inside her, I listened to the wetness, and breathed in her aroma. My tongue took just the tiniest taste, and she was like nothing else. A warm ocean and sunlight and stars and YES I know it sounds silly. Another taste and I was drunk on her, dizzy and reeling but I knew what I wanted, and I brushed my lips over her lit. My thumb had been playing there and the cluster of nerves were well awake for me when I covered it with my lips, and caressed with my tongue.
I felt my fingers bending inside her, searching for places.
But my tongue moved slowly, very slowly.
I wanted her to feel…like an Angel

 

[Vixandra]

I couldn't help but giggle at her exclamation of mirth as she slid across the silk. She looked so beautiful there, on the midnight-sky blue of my bed. We crawled to each other and I ended up on my back, wings flat against the pillow-top.

There was no stopping the purr of satisfaction as she touched me, the shudders as her teeth grazed across my skin. The fingers inside me brought my hips off the bed and I could feel how wet I was. Wet from fighting next to her.

Wet from the flight back full of lusty kisses.

Wet from watching her cum, held up by the wall and my own strength.

Wet from just being near her.

A pleading moan tore from my throat as she teased me, as she explored. A deep shudder swept through me, magic tracing across my skin in a glowing wave. I hadn't glowed in a long time during sex, but then I'd only had sex in angel form a couple of times and that long ago.

I watched the magic shimmer from my skin onto hers, making it almost impossible to tell where I ended and she began. There was no rhyme or reason, only her.

"Oh, sempre più," I asked in a throaty moan, switching into Italian without realizing it. I tend to mix languages around when I wasn't paying attention. My plea for more was obviously understood as she moved more finger inside me.

I leaned up and pulled her face to mine, cradling it as gently as if it were precious china. I met her lips, swollen from kisses, with my own, letting her take the high-pitched sounds. My body began to shudder around her, arms pulling her close, one hand tangled in her hair, the other still on her cheek. Faster and faster, golden waves of magic coursed over me, over her, between us. Because she was more than human, she felt what I did from those sweeping shimmers of magic. Sensations shared between us, made all the more potent because it was her with me. Because of what we were together- something more than we were apart.

Campy or cliché that may sound but that’s what I thought in a brief second before I came wrapped around her. Cried out her name in a near scream of pleasure as we shuddered against each other, pleasure rebounding until the magic faded from my skin.

We collapsed onto the bed, curled on our sides, legs tangled together. As I relearned how to breath, I ran my hand down her side to her hip, back up to her shoulder and back down again, marveling at the silk over steel feel of her flesh. She was toned, taught, and a weapon of sexy destruction, I mused with a grin. I gave a happy sigh and snuggled in closer to her, reveling in the heat of her body and how it felt against mine.

The sharp sound of tolling bells rang through my apartment in a controlled riot and froze me against her. I let out a curse and shot a glare into the hallway, hoping the tolling would stop. No such luck.

“Damn it, I have to take this,” I said with a sigh. Aella looked at me, curiosity chasing some of the lingering passion from her eyes. “You can listen in, just don’t come into the other room. It’s a council call and they’d probably flip out if they knew I was sharing secrets.”

I dragged a sheet from the bed, wrapped around myself toga style (which is more difficult with wings then without) and darted into the room next to mine. It had originally been two small bedrooms but I didn’t keep a bed in there. Instead, I’d knocked out a wall and had it set up like a miniature dance studio with hardwood floors, mirrors on the walls and a stretching bar running along the north wall. Opposite that, the mirrored wall was edged in gold and silver glyphs that turned it from a normal mirror into one I could communicate through. I hit the answer glyph on my way into the room and the mirror flashed white.

When the flash cleared, instead of a reflection of my dance room, the great hall of the Council was a somber background to one of Heaven’s highest angels. Instead of a messenger from the Council, I got a personal call from the current liaison from Heaven. Lucky me, I snarked silently as I knelt before him.

“Sophiana, granddaughter of Taharial, greetings,” the angel said, his voice making the glass vibrate. His six wings shifted to fold along his back. At least he had remembered that in my human form, I had the eyes of a mortal and could not look upon the divine without being harmed. In my angel form, it wasn’t an issue because I was part of the divine myself.

“Michael, His General, greetings,” I said formally, meeting his eyes briefly when he mentioned my grandmother but not my mother. My wings rustled, tightening momentarily before smoothing back down. “What brings you to my mirror at this early hour, Sir?”

“The time is not important, the message is,” he answered. A shadow passed through his eyes. “Dark tidings I bear this day, Childe.”

I managed to fight down asking why it wasn’t Gabriel delivering messages. Instead I asked, “What tidings would warrant your personal attention?”

“Zelias, grandson of Seraphiel, is missing from his home in the City of Angels,” Michael said, a tinge of anger in his voice.

Surprise dropped my jaw. “But Zelias is one of the most powerful of the Earth Bound! Is he missing or dead?”

“He does not walk the higher circles,” he said, referencing the place reserved in Heaven for mortal Earth Angels that died. Michael frowned darkly before going on. “Our… liaison with the Asmodeus has checked with her fellow demons and he is not below. So he must be on the mortal plane somewhere. Given the way his apartment was torn apart, he was not taken in a gentle fashion. Your physical proximity to Los Angeles means you must be notified. I made the call personally because the council called me to search the higher circles for Zelias a week ago when he went missing.”

“Melinda must be frantic,” I said, worry for Zelias’ wife overwhelming any concern for myself. Melinda was human and though the two were not tied together in the magical Mate Bond for some obscure reason I knew naught, I did know she cared deeply for her husband.

“She is not alone, not physically and not in missing her angelic partner,” Michael went on. “Gypsum is missing as well as of last night. She never went back to the apartment she shares with Councilman Gregory’s son and they fear the worst. They were not Mate Bonded, so we cannot track either missing angel thusly.”

Gypsum was one of the anomalous throw backs that occasionally happen among humans of angelic descent. Neither of her parents could manifest powers or wings but she could do both. She had been found and trained by the Council after she began dating a Councilman’s son. She’d just started at the University of California, Fear’s Bay a few months ago, was barely nineteen. “Two Earth Angels missing in a week’s frame… this is bad.”

“Watch your back,” Michael said before pausing. “And tell Taharial about this.”

I couldn’t stop the wry grin that twisted my lips. My grandmother did NOT speak with Michael under any circumstances, hadn’t since my mother died. “I will let her know. Thank you, General.”

“Be safe, Childe,” he said before blanking the mirror.

I sagged onto the floor, running a hand through my hair. “Sweet Jesu, two angels missing in violence and him as the message bearer… so much for my good morning. Crap.”

Aella slid into the room with a feral grace and knelt next to me. I leaned against her with a heavy sigh. “This is bad news, Aella. Angels, especially one like Zelias, don’t just go missing. He’s more powerful than I am, or was last time we sparred. God, that was a year ago, wasn’t it? And Gypsy’s just a kid but she’s no weakling either. What could have taken a pair of angels?”

 

[Vail_Indigo]

Nothing can drain a night’s passions and emotions from you faster than the revelation of an assault on high-powered, supernatural entities, and that revelation being delivered by one of the ‘on high’ (‘Revelation’...I slay me).

Or so you would think.

If anything, it made me realize just how deeply I felt for my Angel.

My partner.

Watching her crumple to the floor (yes, I know, I wasn’t supposed to peek), it simply was not right. I took my place beside her, but even as upset as she was, I could feel her strength radiating.

With a fingertip, I lifted her chin up to look at me, my game face in place.

“We’ll find them. I promise. This is what I do.”

I spoke with absolute confidence. I knew I’d find them. I really did. Sadly, I couldn’t promise anything more than that.

“Come on. There’s a lot to do.”

I guided her back to the bedroom and got dressed.

Sophia did the same, though I could tell she was still wrapping her head around the situation. I couldn’t blame her. Anything that could make two meta-beings vanish, be it by force, trickery, or philosophy, it was not something easy to grasp. Worse, it was scary as Hell (‘Hell’...I slay me). But I couldn’t do this if I didn’t have her 100% with me.

I took her in my arms, she felt stiff at first, like she barely knew who I was, but she relaxed in a moment.

“Don’t think about what happened. Don’t think about what could have done this. We don’t know anything. We’re going to find out, but right now we are a blank slate, ok?”

That brought her gaze into focus. The panic that had been brewing, threatening to boil over, cooled, and slipped into the background. Also, I will mix my metaphors as I please.

“Pack a bag, too. We may be there for a while.”

I had her fly us back to my place, where I changed into street clothes, and packed my own bag. Including more than a few toys. Including one that scared the daylights out of me. When you don’t know what you are getting into, you make sure you at least aren’t out-gunned.

I dialed a number for a hotel in LA.

“Adrian, Laura. Can you prepare my room for me? What? Oh, 6 hours or so. Of course. You know the account.”

I caught Sophia’s look as I clicked off the line.
I smiled.
“I told you, this is what I do.”
I felt...proud seeing her look at me like that.

“C’mon. You’ll like the ride.”

The Subaru WRX is a fun car to drive, and actually did decently off-road, based as it is on rally car design. It seemed a much smarter purchase than a sports car. Plus, there’s actually room for human beings and a little luggage in it.

Sophia seemed to relax during the drive and her talkative self returned. No matter how awful or scary things are, doing something always makes it better, even if that ‘something’ is just driving the PCH.

We pulled up to the Westwood, and Adrian was waiting for me at the door with someone I assume was his most trusted employee.

“You can leave your stuff here. They’ll have it up to our room before we get there. No, I don’t know how they do it,” I smiled and, in a spurt of genderless gallantry, I got her door for her. Adrian would have, but he’d learned that while I valued service, some of the standards just felt intrusive. He was a good man.

“Adrian,” we shook hands. Can’t have hugs in public, he says. And you can stop giggling, thanks.

“This is Richard, he’ll be your Primary, and has been informed as to the unique nature of your needs and requests. You are his only responsibility. I am, of course, available at any time as well.”

I nodded to Richard, who had taken a step forward and given a slight bow. He then went to take care of the car.

“The room is ready then?”

“Of course. Everything is new, and the Feng Shui has been recalibrated and adjusted to your liking. Elevator 17 has been dedicated to your use as well. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be seeing to the rest of your requirements now.”

And off he went.

I led Sophia to the elevator, feeling ever so slightly like I was showing off, and kind of enjoying it.

I’d noticed her head tilt when he mentioned the Feng Shui.

“One of the reasons I like this place is that, for a 5-star hotel, it actually has a rather minimalist design. I’m not sure I believe in everything attributed to Feng Shui, but a well set up room is more comfortable, beautiful, and, for me, conducive to intuitive thinking. Anyhow, thats not what he was actually talking about. Basically he was saying that the room was totally set up, and the items I leave in storage had been moved in. The room has also had a scrubbing to bugs and such. A few other things too.”

The elevator took us to the annoyingly named ‘Extreme Suite 2’. It was a massive thing, and bigger than some apartments I’ve lived in. Hey, I need the space to work out.

Inside, our bags were already on the bed.

“Dammit, some day I WILL figure out how they always beat me up here. They’d have unpacked for us too, but there was an accident a while back. I trust their discretion, though.”

I smiled.

“I could live here, you know. If it weren’t in LA.”

 

[Vixandra]

She was right, I did enjoy the ride. Part of it was the way she whipped that car around the curves of the PCH with such precision. It was distracting enough to let my conscious mind ease off the topic of missing angels to let my subconscious chew over it.

Except when I put in a phone call to my Grandmother. That was… interesting.

“Hell- ieep! Nicky! I have to answer this,” came the voice of my grandmother, sounding a bit rushed. “Sorry, Sophia. Stop that, you knave!”

A masculine laugh drifted over the line as I rolled my eyes. “Sorry to catch you at… an interesting time, Grandmere, but I have news that cannot wait for a better one. Council news.”

I could almost feel her sit up straighter, as she said, “What’s happened?”

Without embellishment, I relayed to her what Michael had told me. “I’m heading down to LA now to see if I can catch a trace of what took Zelias from his home and to check on Melinda.”

“She must be beside herself with worry,” Grandmere acknowledged. “I would be.”

I refrained from bringing up the fact that taking her Bonded Mate, the witch Nickolas Axel would be task for idiots or fools with no sense of self-preservation. Even I had walked carefully around the powerful magic user and that was before he gained additional powers through the bond he shared with my ever-young grandmother. “We don’t have any reports of magic users missing that I’m aware of but keep an eye out anyway. I don’t like this at all.”

“I’ll keep eyes and ears out, Sophia,” she said. I heard Nickolas behind her chime in, “We both will, Soph.”

“Thanks.”

A pause and my grandmother asked, “Are you alone?”

I gave a soundless sigh. “No, I have a partner in this. I’m not such a fool as to investigate such a thing alone.”

“Good, she’ll be a big help,” Taharial said without hesitation. “Love you, Childe, be safe!”

I was left staring at my cell phone, head tilted to the side as I tried to figure out how she knew about Aella. I shrugged, pushed it under the “my grandmother is a Heavenly angel with weird powers” category and settled in to enjoy the rest of the ride.

I followed her up to the hotel room she’d arranged for while I could feel my subconscious churning over the missing angel question. There was something nagging me, a tiny thing that I couldn’t put my finger on.

I looked around the room and smiled. “LA has it’s nice parts but I wouldn’t want to live there. The OC, at least the less pretentious parts are worth living in. Nice room. Thank you for arranging all of this, Aella. The bags are teleported up.”

“That’s one way,” she acknowledged.

I would have said more but my phone started chirping out a ZZ Top tune, letting me know the call was coming from either Melinda or Zelias. A look at the caller ID said it was Melinda. I flipped it open to speaker mode.

“Hey, Melinda. I-“

“You heard, right,” she asked, cutting me off. The plant mage was in her 40’s but still had a girlishly high pitch to her voice. “About Zee? They said they’d call you but you haven’t called me.”

“I just got into town,” I said before she could go on. “I dropped everything when I found out at 4 am this morning and drove down here with a friend to help. I can’t say why the council delayed calling me but I got a call from the General himself this morning. Can we take a look at the apartment and see you, Melinda?”

The wind fell out of her sails apparently, for she took a moment to answer. “Yeah, I’ll meet you at the apartment. I haven’t been back since… since Zee went missing. I’ve been staying with my best friend.”

I got the address and told her we’d be there in about an hour (because getting anywhere outside the heart of LA takes an hour during the day). She said she’d see me then and hung up without saying goodbye.

I looked over at Aella. “That was out of character for her. Melinda is usually polite to a fault, even if she shouldn’t be.”

I grabbed my messenger bag with my netbook, and a spare flight suit in a vacuum tube, pens and a notebook in it. It settled across my back easily and made sure my boots were laced tightly, leaning over to tighten an errant lace. Boot-cut jeans flared around the boots and I pulled a light jacket on over the backless long-sleeved shirt I wore. I wasn’t planning on having to fly but I don’t like things covering my back if I can avoid it. The light jacket was worth the irritation to not get chilled.

As we headed back down to the car, my hand slipped into hers without conscious effort. It just felt right to touch her as we walked, fingers curling around hers. Once I realized it, I didn’t pull away, taking the silent comfort she offered. Delighted in the feel of her hand in mine, cooler then my own because I run hotter than most humans.

Back in the car, Aella wove us through mid-day traffic with the ease born of obvious practice. I gave directions off of my netbook and we pulled up to the 14 story apartment building in Long Beach 45 minutes later. It was about half a mile from the beach in an urban area, coffee shops and restaurants on the first floor with apartments above it. We pulled into the underground parking garage, even though being underground made a shiver run down my spine. I’ve never been fond of being underground.

A ride up the elevator took us up to what was labeled as the 15th floor, because there was no 13th. New England style paranoia in place, even here, I mused with a wry grin. The grin fell from my face as we turned the corner in the hall way to see Melinda leaning against the wall next to her apartment door.

The last time I’d seen her, Melinda had barely looked 37, much less the 43 that she was. The last week had aged her, bringing streaks of silver to her waist-length mahogany hair. Lines surrounded her leaf green eyes, worry and fear etched in deep creases. Her voice was raspy and full of fallen tears.

“Hi, Sophia, thanks for coming.”

“Of course I came,” I said. “This is Laura, she’s a friend. You can trust her as you would me.”

“High praise from one of Heaven’s highest born,” Melinda said. “Laura, Sophia, you’re both welcome in my home but forgive me for not offering proper hospitality.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Aella and I said together. I shot her a brief grin as Melinda opened the apartment up.

“I can’t go back in there,” she said, arms hugging tight around her body. As if she was holding herself together. “I can still feel him in there… feel him being taken.”

“It’s okay, we’ll be out once we’ve looked around,” I said, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find Zelias.”

Bold words, given the disaster that lay inside the apartment. Scorch marks warred with gouges in the hardwood floors in grabbing attention. The smell of violets was overpowered by the stench of fear, smoke and the coppery scent of blood. The living room, normally neat and tidy with flower boxes and planters along the walls, was a wreck. Planters had overturned, spilling rich black soil across the pale wood of the flooring. The wide bay window was shattered, shards glittering like slivered diamonds in the pale sunlight. A trail of blood blazed through the shattered glass, smears as if someone was dragged through the window.

I pulled off my messenger bag and jacket, tossing them onto an overstuffed chair. A shimmer ran over me as I shifted in to my angelic form, senses sharpening and wings flaring out. I slicked the wings after my back as I closed my eyes, concentrating on what I could smell instead of see. The acrid odors of ozone, fear and fury stained the air like a Rorschach blotch, almost covering the joint smell of Melinda and Zelias. Woven in between was a scent like scorched paprika, and another like burnt curry mixed with the unmistakable smell of demon. The curry and demon smell made me think of indran demons, originally from Persia with the ability to control thunder and lightning. A hint of death magic tainted the paprika scent but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

I opened my eyes as I knelt along the edge of the shattered window, knee off the ground, boots crunching in the glass. It was a solid four story drop out the window and there were no signs of any struggle outside the apartment.

“I can smell traces of a spell and demons,” I said to Aella as she picked her way through the room, eyes gleaming. “But I can’t tell what type of spell. I think the demons are of a Persian origin, indran, perhaps. It would explain the lightning scorch marks and tang of ozone. You?”

 

[Vail_Indigo]

I changed into a pair of hip-huggers, a tank top, and black pumps. I know that sounds stupid, but boots can get in the way sometimes, and you can get out of heels in the blink of an eye. Plus, this was LA. Some places might actually require them.

**
I let Sophia take the lead. These were her people, her friends. Even with her word supporting me, I was a stranger in what I suspected was something of an insulated world.

I smiled inwardly. *The fact that the damage, while appearing extensive, was fairly minimal confirmed the theory that our subject was taken alive. *I don't know how reliable a survey of 'the other side' is, but you don't get beings of this level of power duking *it *out in a fight to the death and have the mess be the same as a bar fight. *I'd have expected a body count of civilians and at the very least the entire floor totaled.

I tried to ignore Sophia's remark, leaving my mind open to whatever facts presented themselves. *A couple of mirrors were in pieces on the floor. *Finding a largish shard, I pulled a small blue-laser pointer from my bag. *Kneeling, I shown the intense beam on the shard at a 45 degree angle and watched as it reflected off.

"Supernatural being of some sort, for certain. *Lots of you folks leave these kind of trails around. *Dunno why. *But see the beam? *45 degrees in, about 160 degrees out." *162 degrees, really, but I dont like to show off. *"Angle of incidence isn’t equal to the angle of reflection."

And she was right, everything about the room said “a big, electro-shocky thing had been here”. Outside of Big Sky Billy, I don’t know any other non-magical beings who fit that bill.*

I started trying to replay the fight in my head. *I had a couple false starts because I'd assumed the intruders had come through the front door, but, as it turns out, it was through the balcony. *I'd have noticed the spray pattern of the glass, but even at a scene, she was damn distracting in those jeans.

I followed the struggle through the apartment and questions kept coming up.
"There were two of them. *The second was probably human, or close to it."
I noted some of the damage to the walls. *
"Some kind of blunt weapon, very hard. *I'm guessing the normal was here to keep your friend off balance while whatever electro-demon-thing recharged. *Otherwise, I'd imagine that the battle wouldn't have lasted long, he would have just escaped.”

It seemed strange that a being so powerful could be taken alive at all. *It seemed strange that he was vulnerable. *For all I've seen, for all I can do, at times I just can't wrap my head around it all. *I don't think I'm supposed to.

I turned back to Sophia, and I was bathed in her. *Maybe the gain on my senses was just turned way up, or I just wanted to grab hold of something, but when I saw her, it was like...well, you either know or you don't.

I caught myself staring.

"Anyhow, there's got to be a rather limited number of reasons you'd want to take an Angel alive. *I mean, given the sheer effort of the capture and then containment, along with the risks of bringing down the wrath of on-high. *Or, at least, other angels. *So we need to start tracking both the physical and motivational."

I paused.

"I don't suppose fliers leave a very good trail, though."

I didn't know this woman. *Didn't know about her mate. *But my hand found itself on her shoulder, and my voice came out.
"Sophia said it, and so will I. We'll find him."
What else could I say.

I sequestered a slice of my consciousness to working through possibilities, and headed back to the car. I thought Sophia might want a moment or two with her friend.

Plus, we had another stop to make.

I didn’t imagine we’d find much good news there either.

 

[Vixandra]

Gypsy


Disorientation…

Confusion…

A dull thrumming noise coming from the walls around her… no not walls. Bars… a cage…

She bolted upright, adrenaline flooding through her body, trying to trigger the flight of her fight or flight instinct. She waited for the tingle that would let her know her wings were coming but it didn’t start. The adrenaline coursed through her, tensing muscles but not fueling the shift into her angelic form. The thrumming of the bars rolled into a higher pitch as she tried to change and settled when she gave up.

“What the fuck,” she asked aloud with the grace of a native San Franciscan. “Where am I?”

“A small corner of hell, now keep your voice down,” came a harsh whisper from the next cage over. In it lounged a woman with a studded collar about her neck locked with a silver padlock that obviously burned against her skin. Shiny red burns ringed her throat and finger tips though the lock was now wrapped in bits of cloth and what seemed to be fur. “They’ll come if they hear you awake. You don’t want that, Feathers.”

The trapped angel nodded and studied her informer. She knelt next to the bar wall between their cages and spoke softly. “I’m Gypsy, not ‘Feathers,’ furball. Where are we?”

“I deserved that, I guess,” the were said, slinking closer to the cage wall between them. “I’m Veronika Saltos and this is the cage room, right below the fighting arena of the Blue Mage of Jackasses.”

The surname Saltos made Gypsy wide eyed. “As in one of the ruling were families? You’re…”

“High Princess Nika,” she said with a sigh. “Not that it matters much in here. Here, we’re both cage fighters, Gypsy.”

A shiver went down Gypsy’s spine. Cage fighters?

 

[Vixandra]

Sophia

I watched Aella walk out first and tore my eyes away from the sway of her hips to face Melinda. The Bio-mage looked at me with those luminous eyes on the brink of tears and I gave her what she needed.

“We’ll find him and we’ll rain down the fury of Heaven upon his kidnappers,” I told her, voice soft but firm. “He’s not dead Melinda and the demons don’t have him. He’s on Earth somewhere, and we will find him.”

“I know you will,” she whispered. Her voice grew almost silent as she whispered, “How much of him will be left to find though?”

“We’ll find all of him,” I told her. “I have to go, will you be okay to drive back to your friend’s place?”

“Yeah,” she said, a strand of ivy woven through her hair curling like the tail of an anxious cat. “Bio-diesel is a plant witch’s best friend.”

“Call me if you think of anything else,” I said before leaving her to lock up the ruins of her life. I hadn’t lied- we would find and return Zelias to her. I just wasn’t quite sure how yet.

Aella had the car waiting with a rich purr as I headed back outside. Clouds were rolling in off the Pacific like an indigo wave, full of rain. There would be flooding tonight, I mused as I joined my seer in her car.

“Do you know where the Drunken Wolf is?” I asked. She turned a quizzical glance at me and I shrugged. “I didn’t name it. It’s the local shifter hang out. They may be missing people too, which could mean more clues. If there are shifters missing in addition to angels, that could mean something more ominous and possibly more clues to be found. Shifters can be fun, not very civilized at times but great for a party. If we don’t find anything new there, we can head back up to Fear’s Bay to the UC campus there. I’ll call when we’re closer, set up a meeting with Gypsy’s boyfriend.”

Part of me was aware of how that sounded- a bit elitist, more than a tad condescending. But it was true in my experience- shifters didn’t care much for social norms and were great to party with. Just had to be careful of the werebears and their home-brewed honey mead. That stuff was dangerous.

I directed Aella over toward Long Beach to a tiny side street that barely had enough room for her to park her car. I was party surprised she could park it there, but that was more because I can’t parallel park to save my life (curb, oh, that curb).

The outside of the bar was tired in the way that most bars are during daylight. The front was freshly painted but there was still something that said, “no fun here, go elsewhere.” I smiled as I felt a shiver run down my back. The feeling of “Un-fun” was to drive away tourists and normal humans. Those that were more than human would push through the shiver and waltz on in. Or at least that’s what I did.

I felt Aella at my back but wasn’t sure what she saw of the front of the building or of the people inside. It was dim inside, lit with mood-lighting to create an intimate environment. Large, plush booths lined the side walls with a dance floor in the center and a spacious bar taking up the entire back wall except for a small hall leading to the bathrooms.

A few of the booths had men and women in business suits but they thrummed with that otherworldly energy of shifters. The grizzled bear of a man behind the bar was a mountain of flesh. He was, actually, a werejaguar of all things.

I gave a genuine smile to the shifter as I slid onto a bar stool. “Good afternoon, Jay. How’s business?”

“Dark days, Feathers,” he said, his voice rough and gravely. Lines of fresh grief scored his face as he shook his head. “Who’s your friend?”

“My partner, Laura. Laura, this is Jay, daytime manager for the Drunken Wolf,” I said. The shifter made no move to shake her hand but nodded at Aella. “Jay is also the Alpha for the local ‘cats. Why are your days dark, Jay?”

“My niece is missing,” he said with a heavy sigh. “We’ve got five other shifters missing, two cats, two wolves and a boar.”

“A boar,” I repeated incredulously. “They managed to take a powerful Earth angel and a boar.”

“Not just any boar, either,” Jay went on. “They took their alpha, Imam. He is a vicious fighter and they took him in the parking garage under his office. He was the last to disappear, two days ago.”

“Did no one think to report this to the Angelic Council?”

“Hell, no, Feathers,” he said with a growl. “You’re cool and I was going to call you this evening once I get off work but most of the Council are dusty old codgers concerned only with other feathered beings. This is shifter business, not angel business.”

I couldn’t deny the allegation- most of the Council was old and they were terribly insular, though this was slowly changing. But old views linger and that was the case here. “We’re working on that, it’s getting better little by little. At least we’re talking to the demons and allow ambassadors from other peoples into the Council halls, which is a big change in only the last twenty years.

“All that aside, this is angel business. We’re missing two people as well- Zelias and Gypsy have been taken. He seven days ago, she yesterday evening. We’ve been to Zee’s place and it’s a mess of scorch marks and burnt curry.”

“We’ve got the same at our MIA locations plus the stench of the demonic. No other leads, nothing left at the scenes other than scents,” he said with a sigh. “Helena, my niece, was taken the day before Imam and our first missing, the two wolves, disappeared a month ago. We thought it was a pack rivalry, you know dogs and that shit, but with everyone else missing, it’s probably part of whatever’s going on.”

“We’ll keep an eye out for your missing weres,” I said and looked at Aella. “Any thoughts or questions? Jay is one of the most approachable shifters I’m aware of, so easy to ask questions of. No offense, Jay.”

 

[Vail_Indigo]

Yuck. There was a real aspect of “monster in the closet” in their protection spells. Nothing defined, just a hint of dread. At least for me. Less sensitive types probably got hit, well, less. I couldn’t see the magic, of course. Not really. But I could see the physical results. No, of course that ledge wasn’t curled over ever so slightly like a vicious smile. But whatever enchantment was on the place sure made it almost look that way. Just a hint. Clever. Effective. I gotta hire them for my next Halloween Party.

(Hey, I don’t have a life, no. But I do throw a party once in a while. I know. It makes no sense and I barely know anyone there. But sometimes some of my sisters come.)

When an animal sees you, or anything else for that matter, the first thing it does is assess whether or not you are a threat, whether you are predator or prey. Weres are like that. Not their fault, its just half of who they are. I don't know if that's racist, or speciest, but I do know it's true. The message you send at that first encounter sets the tone for the entire relationship. First impressions and all. There's a bunch of ways to handle the situation; body language, violent actions, simple stare downs, and so forth. Alternately, you can show a bond with a person who has already gained at least respect for her level of power, if nothing else. Mix that in with a stride that says 'yeah, you can come at me if you want. But win or lose, you'll end up REALLY unhappy' and you get given enough berth to be comfortable.

Sophia and the bartender (were-jaguar? Really?) were talking, more disappearances, some politics, but I soon faded out. My bone phone was vibrating. It's mostly a one-way link, but I can do a bit of subvocalizing that the thing will pick up.

This was a very distressing, very short conversation.

Tempest gone silent. 17 days, no contact. 3 days since missed check-in. Investigation/retrieval team dispatched. Advise current status.

Abort dispatch. Agent in proximity. Transmit relevant data. Will advise requirements for backup.

I love my sisters, but we all agree that we can get in each other's way. We all have different styles, different skills. We work best together when one of us takes lead and then brings in whomever they think is best suited.

Tempest.

Of all of us, she would have been the hardest to take. Well, to take alive anyhow.
Sophia said something directed at me, I didn't really hear, but just turned and walked out. I know it was rude but I was doing my best to start running through scenarios with this new information.

I'm guessing she made apologies for me and soon she was leaning beside me on the car.
I hadn't come back to real world time yet, and she understood, giving me the moments I needed.

Tempest.

Why her?

Obviously they knew about us, but they might not have understood who we really were, or how different we are. Or, worse, maybe they did.

At some point, the concerned look on my Angel's face brought me back.

"I got a call. One of my sisters has been taken. Tempest. This has taken on an entirely new flavor. Me, Tempest, all of us, we're enhanciles. Not supernatural."

There was a little bit of a click.

"Whoever is behind this, they aren't...I don't think they are looking to kill them. Not as such, at least. I mean, Tempest would have been MUCH easier to kill than capture. And I'd been wondering about maybe some sort of magic ritual or sacrifice or something, but she doesn't fit that either. Maybe our mystery organization, and it absolutely has to be a group, is using them for something. Them as people, not as just material. That's a mixed blessing, but a blessing none the less."

***

I don’t care who you are. Being on a rooftop in LA in the middle of the day is fucking hot.

I peered across the street into the windows of Tempest’s condo through the electronic binoculars, switching back and forth between normal, enhanced, spectrum shifts, and lens. Say what you want about the Council. They give good toy.

“I think you can imagine how hard it might be to take me in the ‘alive’ state rather than the ‘dead or’ flavor. It becomes even harder to do it without leaving a big fucking mess behind.”

I switched again. Still nothing.

“In whatever living space we inhabit? Impossible. We’ve set it up that way. There’s all sorts of little traps around. Devices that’ll spray paint, or set off micro-charges on walls and furniture. Its a very low-tech, blunt instrument approach, but surprisingly effective.”

Was that? No. Just the results of her cats. Thats something else to add to the ever growing to-do list.

“Someone made a play for me once. Revenge thing and all. Fight took something like 4 minutes. Cleanup took two weeks. Paint...EVERYWHERE.”

Nothing in the kitchen.

I turned to my Angel with a smile.

“I was pink. I mean...PINK.”

I liked seeing her lips curl up at the corners. It wasn’t looking like we were going to have a lot of those smiles for a bit. Not the...sweet...kind at least.

I rolled over onto my back, letting the sun beat down on my face, willing the yellow energy to help me figure this all out. Jesus, the woman moved in ways, did things that just didn’t seem possible. All those minds in minds. All those voices, chaotic movements, eyes watching and waiting. All that...not-like-me-ness. All that...beauty.
I will not cry.
I will not cry.
I will not cry.
She’d be so mad if you did.
She’s waiting for you.
Do the damn job.


“Nothing. No sign of anything. She must have been taken on the street. It would have had to be fast. And it would probably have taken weeks of following her around for the right moment. And, for her, I think, at least three people, at distance. Each with one of those new long-range Taser rifles, maybe.”

Or magic.

“Or magic. But thats less likely.”

Don’t forget.

“Right, so, there are these cats she loves...”

 

[Vail_Indigo]

The cement floor of the cage was cold. They hadn’t left her with much but cotton underwear which did very little against the chilly rock.

LEFT! NOW!
She dove left, the bolt missed.
RIGHT!
Twisted right, the next flew by.
No.
The third scored home and blackness followed fire.


Its not your fault.
Yes it is. This is what we’re supposed to do. We’re a team.
It isn’t your fault I can’t bend in so many directions at once.
Well, thats not what Triss said.

There was a soft laugh.

The collar around her neck was, at least, warm now. A chain lead from it, through the bars, and then deep into the wall behind. In the first minutes after waking up, she’d tested its length, which, of course, would not allow her to reach any of the walls of her cell. If she’d doubted that her abductors had know who she was before, she definitely didn’t now.

Every so often, a guard would come by and pass cold noodles on wax paper between the bars. She had to stretch so far to reach them that the collar bit into her throat.

They know you. They aren’t going to give you anything you might use.

Thanks. I hadn’t figured that out for myself. I’m so glad I have you with me on this.

We’re hungry and pissy too. Lets try and more beyond that.

You can’t be hungry, Darla.

Darla is hungry, Mika is hungry, and so are the rest of us, so, obviously, we can.


When she wasn’t listening to her partners analyze her situation, environment, and how they got here in the first place, she listened in on the other captives.

An Angel or something, maybe a were too.

Powerful, to be sure, but not exactly warriors.
Thats probably why we’re here. It can only be but so interesting to watch amateurs fight, even if they are powerful. HAH! We’re the brains!


I hate when you make those jokes.

Tempest waited.
Sooner or later, the ‘Blue Mage’ would give her an opening. It would almost certainly go better for him than if Aella shows up first.

Tempest knew her sister was coming.

She absolutely knew it.

 

[Vixandra]

Sophia

Standing on the rooptops,
Everybody scream your heart out.
This is all we've got now,
Everybody scream your heart out.

The lyrics played through my head as stood on the black-topped building opposite the one Aella’s sister had lived in. I could feel concern pulsing off of her in waves alternating with fury and bewilderment. I let her talk about the difficulties of taking one of the agents with her training and couldn’t help but smile.

“Pink? Eww, for two weeks? Why would you even put pink paint in anything? Gah, you’re a masochist, aren’t you?”

She rolled over and looked up me as I knelt next to her on the ledge, eyes focused on the apartment across from us. I ran a hand over her face without thought, touching her because she was there and it comforted both of us. Because we were both worried now, missing family members. It was hugely tempting to caress in other places but I kept my hand in PC zones.

“So, cats? I don’t mind cats.” Of course I said this before I saw them. All five of them. Three of which were the hybrid cats, called Savanna cats. They had spots and stripes like the Serval wild cat that they were bred from with huge ears and a size to match. The smallest’s head reached my knee when it was sitting. The other two felines were both American tabby cats with jade green eyes.

There were various dog and cat toys laying on the floor and couch of the living room, some of them with feathers that had obviously been viciously attacked. All five cats sat on the back of the couch, eyeing me warily, though they’d chirped a greeting at Aella when she walked in to disarm the apartment. They looked into the kitchen at a huge automatic feeder, and the largest of the Savanna cats yowled at us.

I walked into the kitchen and noticed there was a blinking light on the feeder and food from a pantry spilled across the floor. A huge, pad-locked food storage bin sat next to the feeder and I shot a burst of magic through it to open it. I heard a crack inside as something broke but the lock opened and I was suddenly vary popular with the feline population. I shoveled (no really, there was a small shovel) food into the feeder and hit the reset button. It spat out food into five separate bowls placed beneath it and that caught the felines’ attention. They each went to a bowl and began to chow down, as if they hadn’t been fed in days. The time on the feeder stated it had been twelve hours since it ran empty. Cats are like that.

Aella went into one of the back rooms to discover what the litter box situation was as I looked around the living room. As I suppressed a shudder over having to deal with a litter box in the foreseeable future (because I certainly didn’t want Aella out of my sight [but how to say that?]) my phone rang with the dulcet tones of Ke$ha’s “Take it Off.”

I flipped it open and answered the unknown answer, figuring it would be something better than cats trained to attack feathery things. I was right, barely. “Hello?”

“This is the angel investigating the disappearances, right,” came a smoky-pitched female voice. “Sophie?”

“Sophia,” I corrected automatically. “And yes. Who is this?”

“I am Veronica Verte, Alpha of the LA basin boar sounder,” she said in a voice like a 50’s bombshell. “My mate, Louis, was the boar that was taken. Jay told me you were looking into things. Can you meet me at my home? I’m… unable to travel at the moment.”

“Why should we meet you in your territory?” Suspicious, me? Always.

“Louis’ has been hurt badly. I know this because… because we are Mate Linked and Life Tied. Do you know what that means, angel?”

I couldn’t help looking over at Aella walking back into the living room as I answered. “Mate Link yes, the life tied, not so much. It’s not something Angels commonly do.”

“Yeah, the Heavenly host and their disposable loves,” she said with a hint of bitterness. Or maybe it was pain seeping into her voice. She gave me an address in the upscale portion of Irvine and hung up with, “Get here as soon as you can. My sounder’s medic wants to sedate me or raise magic to heal me and I’m not sure how long that will knock me out for.”

I relayed the conversation to Aella as she refilled the cats’ automatic feeders and wasn’t surprised she didn’t know about Mate Links. I explained as we waded through traffic.

“When two humans love each other, the strongest tie they can create is a marriage, which means little and less now and days,” I started. “When one or both of the partners is one of the supernatural though, things get interesting. A Mate Link is a bond formed of blood, magic and the souls themselves.

“Magic users that can see auras and souls have learned through careful study that part of the soul is exchanged in a Mate Link, which trades powers and abilities between the participants. A normal human rarely has any talents to give, but a were partner gives the key points of their alternate form- speed, agility, enhanced healing and other tricks. For a mage, their partners gain minor spell casting abilities that are necessary in raising mage children. A toddler that can throw fireballs can be terrifying without spell back up.”

“What do angels’ partners gain,” she asked, paused for a moment and added, “and demons?”

“We are more unpredictable creatures,” I admitted. “In the case of my Grandmother and her mortal mage Mate, they traded certain powers. He can summon a holy weapons and can match her healing abilities. She can cast high level arcane spells in addition to her holy ones. A human and angel mate linked pair may or may not be as strong. It’s highly individual with angels and demons. Especially when they mix.”

“Mix?”

I gave a grin. “One of most infamous angels right now is the angel Ruequel, who has entered a Mate Link with the Asmode demon Crown Princess, Deus’ia. The Asmodeus demon clan are sex demons for lack of a better description and now have an angel as their next queen’s consort. The power boost from the mate link allowed Princess Deus’ia to gain her third set of back appendages and Ruequel gained her second pair of wings, a second holy weapons and the seduction powers of the Asmode clan. She’s a hit at parties. This happened a decade ago and there are still angels fussing about it. Ruequel’s a stubborn thing though and actually likes her new people, so it works out. Princess Deus’ia is the one who checked the Underworld for Zelias for Michael.

“The biggest factor in Mate Links is power and level of commitment. Most angels will not link their lives to their mates, preferring to let their human partners live out a mortal life. It’s seen as interfering in the divine plan by some, which is debatable. Personally, I don’t think I’d want to outlive my mate unless I was pregnant or could seek vengeance.”

I remembered the look on my second cousin’s face as he stood over the grave of the human woman he had Mate Linked to. As a first generation Earth angel, he was damn near immortal and instead of keeping his wife young and with him, he let her age as mortals do. The look of despair and heartsick agony on his face convinced me as a small child that the Mate Link wasn’t worth it without the Life Link.

 

[Vail_Indigo]

The best part about cats is that they use a litter box.
The worst part about cats is when said boxes are well beyond full.
The worst part about being me is I sometimes remember too late about my amped up sensorium.
Or, to put it another way, in the blink of an eye I was more aware of every aspect of cat poop than all the cat poop experts in the world, combined.
Oh
the
stench!
I was only mildly comforted by the fact that the cats were markedly more upset about the situation than even I was. And who can blame them? Imagine having to use a toilet that…

I am now going to stop talking about cat poop.

Let us just assume that I cleaned the entire place up and move on with our lives, shall we?
And never…ever…speak of the cat poop incident again.

I heard all the cats skittering away into the kitchen, drawn by the smell of food. Catlove is cheap.
All the cats save Domino. She just sat there looking at me.
"Miao?"
"No, kitty, Tempy isn't coming back for a bit."
"Miao?"
"Yes, I know you miss her."
Domino leapt up into my arms and stared into my eyes.
"Miao?"
"Yes, baby, I know."
I hugged her close. Domino had always been very affectionate, almost co-dependent. It made me almost cry when she nuzzled against my cheek. I know I was over anthropomorphizing the creature, but I can't help it. When an animal behaves in every way as if she's missing someone, its hard not to.
"I know, baby, I'm going to find her. I promise," though I felt horrible in the half-lie.

During the drive to Veronica's, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to…mate…with an Angel. I also couldn't help but enjoy the primal feel to the term. Anyhow, if Sophia and I…and I know it was crazy to even think this, I'd only known the woman a few days, no matter how strongly I felt about her…

"So, if you and I…y'know…would I be able to summon a bad ass magical weapon? Would I become immortal? I mean, I don't actually know how long I'm likely to live anyhow. Its a pretty safe bet that I could, possibly, live 100 years or more, but given the lifestyle I lead, old age isn't something I really worry about. And since what I am isn't magical, as best I know, would you get anything from me in return?"

Driving was upsetting. I didn't want my hands on the wheel. I wanted them on her. I wanted to feel her skin burning for me, hear her whimper my name, hear her ask me to be her's forever.
I was in way over my head.

I practically stuttered when I asked her to tell me about this Veronica person.

 

[Vixandra]

Sophia

When Aella stuttered over asking what would happen if we were to Mate Bond it snapped me out of my reminiscing and to the present like a slingshot to the heart. “You don’t have magic as you see it, but you do use energies that most mortals never touch. I…” I paused, looking for the right words.

“If we were to Bond, I’m not sure what the tradeoffs would be. I mean, genetic manipulation on the level you’ve been exposed to is relatively new and I’m not…” I cut myself off for a moment before sighing. “I’m not a typical Earth Angel. My grandmother and my father are both Angels for one thing. My father is high up on the power level of things, which gives me powers that I haven’t tapped yet, haven’t needed to. Would you get some of those? I don’t know. I’m not even sure what else I can do because I haven’t had to. Accepting the powers of my father might make me unsafe to be on Earth, so I’ve never done it. It never seemed worth it to try to access them.”

I was quite for a few moments, sorting through what to say next. Her interest in the Bond on a personal level made my heart race but we had work to do. Her sister was missing. Two of my angelic cousins were missing (we’re all related on some level). Multiple were-animals were missing. Who knew what was missing from the supernatural humans or demons? I had to push down my personal reaction to her, had to focus on my people.

Yup, I was pushing that reaction down as I realized I’d reached out for her hand during my silence. My hand rested atop hers on the gear shift, fingers tracing patterns on the back of her hand. I’d heard from other angels that once you met “the one” things moved quickly. “Things” were moving quickly with Aella, I realized. We’d only met days ago yet here I was explaining things that even some angels kept from their human spouses.

Here I was admitting that my father was one of the most powerful in Heaven, even if I couldn’t name him. He’d acknowledged my mother but her death had killed any warmth in him for me so he treated me as he did the other Earth Angels- lesser beings but still useful at times. None of the other Earth Angels knew who my father was, aside from my grandmother (who was a Heavenly Angel that stayed on Earth but that’s a whole ‘nother story).

She asked for information about the head of the boar sounder. An easier topic, or at least one that didn’t make me want to squirm in my seat because the answer I felt in my heart wasn’t getting a seal of sense from my brain.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about this Veronica Verte,” I admitted. “I’ve never actually met a wereboar before either. From what I’ve heard, they’re more territorial then some of the feline weres. Be careful making eye contact with their females- they’re the ones that hold territory. The males are usually around for breeding and muscle but their women are the brains of the outfit.”

A smile curved her lips as she drove, weaving gracefully between cars.

“I know, if only more groups ran that way,” I said with a chuckle. “From what she said, Veronica is Mate Linked to the kidnapped boar, Louie and is in pretty bad shape. The injuries he receives are halved because they share them over the mate link. The problem is that she’s beat to hell apparently and healing is sometimes not effective. Life force bonding on that level is problematic but lets us know what her mate is going through.”

“So she knows where he is?”

I shook my head. “If she did, she wouldn’t be calling me, she’d be leading a raid. Even tore up from the floor up, she would find a way to get him back. Which means that there’s some powerful sorcery involved. It’s blocking her from finding him through their link but not from sharing the damage. So she knows he is alive but probably not what he’s going through.”

Aella was quiet for a moment before responding. “That must be driving her crazy.”

“I’d be somewhere beyond that,” I admitted, adding mentally, if it were you and we aren’t even mated, yet. Why did I add a “yet” to that?

We pulled up to a home that looked like it had been transplanted out of the Deep South. Carved white columns held up a deep porch (just perfect for sipping mint juleps on) on the white-painted home. It didn’t seem to match the rest of the neighborhood but judging from the lifted F250 in the driveway with anarchy stickers, I don’t think the owner cared.

I climbed out of the car and stretched, working out a kink in my back from all the hours spent car bound today. “Is the tub at the hotel large enough for both of us?”

 

[Vixandra]

Gypsy in the Ring, Part 1 of 2


She had been in the cage for two days now. Twice a day, one of the keepers had done something to her collar that allowed her to unfurl her wings and stretch them out in a sealed room. Gypsy had spoken with her cell neighbor Nika in between the stretching and feeding times.

The werewolf princess had been here for what she guessed was over a month and had fought in the arena above three times already. She’d won the first and third bouts but wouldn’t talk about the third one. Something about an octopus demon and humiliation.

There was something tense in the air as one of the keepers, a huge black man with silver markings tracing up his arms, came into the cage room. His name was Jazeel and he was seemed to be the primary caretaker for the women’s cage room. “Ah, little angel, we be seeing you fight tonight.”

Gypsy felt a trill of fear run through her body but said defiantly, “I won’t fight for some bastard’s enjoyment.”

A look of mock hurt crossed the man’s face as he tossed a handful of clothing into the angel’s cage. “Now dat dere hurts me, little angel. My mama was a good woman and knows who my daddy was. But even if you don’t fight, you won’t stop being enjoyment. Octavius, he likes dem dere meek ones, too. They scream more he say. Now get dressed so I can take you up.”

“No.”

He smiled at her darkly. “Dress or go up naked, angel. Not that you won’t end up that way anyway!”

He laughed as he walked away to get the keys for her cage. Gypsy sank to her knees in front of the pile of spandex and lace. She picked up a pair of gloves, stockings and an itty bitty dress all in white with a matching pair of heels. The dress looked like a cross between the typical slutty angel costume and something an anime hero from the 90’s would wear. Sailor Angel, slut edition.

Knowing she would be forced out naked if she didn’t comply (it had happened yesterday to the girl across the hall), Gypsy slid into the white slips of fabric. The dress was cut so that she could bring out her wings but it barely covered the curve of her ass standing still while the top pushed her breasts up in an almost obscene display. Quite a feat for a backless dress.

“Poor angel,” Nika whispered from her cage, dark eyes pitying.

“Who is Octavius,” she whispered back but Nika only shook her head as Jazeel came back with the keys. Gypsy started to shake.

“Ah, now you look lovely and innocent as a newborn lamb,” Jazeel said, unlocking the cage. He pulled her out by the arm and dragged/led her toward the spiral staircase that led to the arena. He spoke as he walked. “Now remember, little angel, dat dere be electric razor wire over de top o’ the arena. It’s hard to see, cause it’s so fine, but don’t get yerself shredded up on it, you hear? You do whatever you can to win but no killing your opponent.”

Gypsy’s shaking got worse when she was tossed through a steel door into a vast arena. It looked large enough to hold two football fields side by side. Her collar let out an electric hiss and she felt the limiters on her fall away. Her eyes, enhanced by her angelic powers, focused on the razor wire above her. The foot by foot mesh would indeed shred her to ribbons if she tried to breach it. Where the razor wire stopped, steel-plated stone took over with the only exceptions being the huge steel doors at the four cardinal points of the arena.

A spotlight fell on the shaking angel and a loud speaker boomed through the rapidly darkening arena. The only lights were on the arena floor, the stands shrouded in shadows. “Tonight we welcome a combat virgin to the ring! This is Gypsum, an Earth Angel!”

Applause, cheers and wolf whistles roared from the crowd as Gypsy tried to look past the shadows. The doors on the other side of the arena opened wide and the spotlight shone down on them as the other combatant was led into the ring. Four handlers held him in place with long poles, like the ones animal control officers used. As they stepped into the light, Gypsy gasped.

The thing they led was roughly humanoid in general outline but any familiarities she could see ended there. The creature wore a simple loin cloth across his groin and was otherwise nude, showing his body to the crowds and the angel. He was built like the linebacker of hell’s football team with broad shoulders and powerfully muscled legs. His head was devoid of hair with heavy brows above deep-set black eyes. His mouth was open in a growl as the handlers slipped the leads off and ran back to the door they came through. It slammed shut with a deafening finality behind them.

Gypsy felt her skin crawl as the creature turned it’s black gaze on her. His human-like arms were like tree trunks with hands that clenched and unclenched at his side. The announcer introduced the monster. “Tonight we have Octavius, sex demon extraordinaire! Undefeated in eight rounds so far in the ring, will his ninth be in defeat?”

The crowds laughed as Octavius shuddered, his limbs splaying. All of them, even the ones that Gypsy’s mind told her shouldn’t be there. Attached to his barrel chest beneath his arms were two additional pairs of limbs that looked like the boneless arms of an octopus. His creamy skin was covered in electric blue rings with black outlines, like eyes dotting his flesh. As he moved closer, the spotlight gleamed on his skin as if it were covered in some slick wetness.

Fear filled the angel and she backed away from the oncoming monster as her wings unfurled. At the sight of the ebony wings, the monster, Octavius, paused, head tilted to the side as if in contemplation. Gypsy used the moment to take to the air, though she could only get ten feet into the air if she was going to avoid the razor wire.

With a burst of speed, she shot forward, trying to get to the other side of the arena, desperate for time. Time to come up with a plan for beating the monster that out limbed her and outweighed her by a good two hundred pounds. She almost made it past the demon but something wrapped around her foot and pulled sharply. It pulled in a circle, the monster spinning and sending the angel rolling across the sandy floor of the arena like a rock skipped across a quiet lake.

The crowd roared as Gypsy slid to a stop, dazed but relatively unharmed. Her ankle felt warm where the liquid of the creature’s skin remained but she kept her eyes on the monster. It waved a tentacle at her in a classic “no no no” gesture. It’s voice was gravely and deep as it said, “Angels can fly but you can’t fly away. Got any other tricks before I try mine?”

 

[Vixandra]

Gypsy in the Ring, Part 1.5 of 2

“Tricks,” Gypsy whispered as she pushed herself to her feet. Bravado got the better of her. “I’m not the one trying to beat up an innocent.”

“Innocent? You?” Harsh laughter echoed through the arena. “Right, you’re an innocent angel without blood on her hands. If that’s true, it’s only because you’re young. You angels are murderers, every last fucking one of you!”

“I’ve never killed anyone,” Gypsy protested. She tried to dart to the side of the monster but it caught her again, this time flinging her to the far side of the arena. “Angels aren’t murderers.”

“Murderers and monsters blessed by an indifferent God,” he hissed at her, advancing. Tension rippled through his body before he sprang on the prone angel. Her wings were pinned to the ground beneath her as he leaned close enough she could smell his breath. It smelled like the sea. “My entire family, my parents and baby sister were slaughtered by angels for just existing. We never harmed humans or anyone else for that matter. But down they came with no reason, no warning, just death at the hands and blades of the Heavenly Host. And all I could do then was watch them die. But now… now I have you to play with.”

She squirmed under him, skin lighting up as she called on her power. As she struggled, Gypsy could feel something sliding up her leg. It was slick, warm and a little moist. She pushed him up far enough to see that it was one of his tentacles sliding up her leg.

A scream ripped from her throat as the tentacle ripped the stocking from her leg. She pushed with powers she was only just beginning to learn and with all the strength she could muster. She managed to send him flying off of her, though he landed in an almost graceful crouch a few feet away. The glow faded from her skin as she clamored to her feet, panting. She picked off the heels to stand barefoot on the sandy floor.

“You don’t have another one of those in you, do you,” Octavius asked tauntingly. “You must be pretty low on the power scale then. Poor little angel, you’re so fucked. Or rather, you will be shortly.”

“No,” she hissed at him, moving into a defensive stance. Gypsy couldn’t see a way to win. She couldn’t call a soul-weapon to fight him with because she wasn’t strong enough to have one yet. His reach was triple hers almost without the tentacle and he was furious. Maybe if she made him angry enough? “You… you’re only doing this because no decent woman would ever be with you willingly.”

“What?” The demon paused fifteen feet away from her.

She went on. “I bet that loin cloth is hiding something as ugly as the rest of you. I mean… um… who ever heard of blue spots on a demon before? Is that some kind of disease?”

Octavius snorted in laughter. “You’re trying to piss me off, hope I make a mistake, aren’t you? Gypsy, right? I’m going to enjoy making you scream for me. You’re not a virgin are you? At your age?”

“Of course not,” she snapped before blushing. “That’s beside the point. I’m not doing anything for you, monster. Leave me alone!”

“No can do, sweet-cheeks,” the demon said with a shake of the head. “I let you go without a show and I spend the next week in torture. So either you beat the hell out of me or I take you, those are the only options. And I’m not getting beaten, angel.”

Gypsy saw the finality in his flat, black eyes and knew it was truth. But that didn’t mean she’d make it easy. “We’ll see about that.”

She ran toward him and used the momentum aim a flying kick at his chest. He slipped to the side, tentacles catching her and using her momentum to slam her onto the floor. The move knocked the wind out of her and he ripped the dress from her back as she struggled to her knees. She howled in fear and fury when he grabbed her hair. He fisted his hand in her silver-blonde hair and used it to pull her to her feet. Pain made her howl end in a whimper as she kicked behind her. She connected with his thigh and hissed. Damn demon had thighs of steel.

He pulled her tight against his body, tentacles and arms wrapping around her. She looked down to see her skin bare and shining with a light sweat in the arena lights. Her hands were held out by a tentacle each, the tips on her collarbones. Gypsy could feel his heartbeat through the extra limbs and squirmed.

“Please don’t do this,” she begged as his hands pulled her hips tight against his groin. She could feel the firmness of his erection against her butt. A tentacle trailed down the outside of her thigh as his hand cupped her face.

He turned and tipped her face upward. In the stands above the arena was a huge television and the two of them were predominantly visible on it. As she struggled against his hold he whispered into her ear. “See that, angel? You’re mine now. Nothing can stop me.”

The tentacle on her thigh slid down to her knee and curled inward. The other tentacle slid over her rib cage and between her breasts. He kept her face angled toward the screen, making her watch as his tentacles caressed her. The one between her legs traced patterns on her lower inner thigh.

 

[Vail_Indigo]

I know a exceedingly small amount about boars, other than Big Mean Piggy With Tusks. Which makes knowing even less about were-boars all the more impressive (except that they probably don’t like being called Big Mean Piggies With Tusks). But, somehow, this place was exactly how I’d imagined were-boars to live. Filthy rich bikers, punk rockers who made it big. Those guys from Jackass.

If I sound somewhat harsh, its because I was getting antsy. Frustrated. Pissed. So far, we’d learned next to nothing, and while I had somewhat higher hopes for this stop, none of this was my strong point. I’m not a detective. Thats more Era’s strong point.
I know that, at first blush, it sounds like my skills would be well suited to hunting clues and such. And maybe they are. Finding a clue is easy. Figuring out what it means, putting it with others, thats a totally different thing.

I’m an improvisor, a secret agent, a spy. I can infiltrate an organization and work my way up the ranks, or into a bed. I’m an assassin you won’t see coming, one who’s identity will stun you before you feel anything else. I’m a thief who won’t even get on your list of suspects. But I’m not Sherlock Holmes. Trying to act like him was making me feel helpless. Not something I enjoy.

Luckily, I had something to distract me.

I moved behind my poor achey Angel, wrapping one arm around her shoulders, letting my hand move up and down her spine, unusual as it was, even in human form.

“Now hold still,” I whispered. I took my time, my hand wandering, my lips, then teeth exploring that beautiful little seashell of an ear. I shivered as she rewarded me with a sigh, and a tiny whimper.

“You are gonna love me in a moment,” and I took one last taste of her before placing the heel of my hand against the biggest knot I could find, and, with that as my fulcrum, gave her a nice, sharp, snap. She gasped loudy, but before she was even done, I felt each vertebrae of her spine shift into position, and the knot of muscles I’d been targeting completely relax. She melted in my arms, purring. And I melted almost as much when she turned her head to one side, her eyes glowing.

“But we’ll still make good use of the tub, Angel.”

I honestly do not know how long we spent in the kiss that followed.

I know it must have been a while, though, because a rather annoyed sounding cough came from the porch. Once, and then again before either of us paid it any attention.

“If you are going to rutt, could you please come back afterwards? None of us want to see how…prissy…your attempts at sex might be.”

The woman insulting my ability to well-fuck my Angel was a bulky thing. No, not fat. It was muscle. And not that pilates type, not like my body. This girl was much closer to body building material.

“I’m sorry, did we interrupt your slop eating contest?”

OK, so, sometimes I start things out on the wrong foot. And no, it wasn’t one of my better lines. I told you, I don’t know anything about boars. Were or otherwise.

But, apparently, it still annoyed her and she turned in a snit.

Sophia gave me a ‘Really? Did you have to?’ kind of look, which only got a smile and a shrug back from me. We followed Miss Piggy into the antebellum mansion.

I wasn’t dirty inside. It wasn’t like the place had been turned into a dive bar or anything, but the boars obviously had a bit of packrat in them, and very little in the way of aesthetic sense. A 4 foot wooden sculpture of a dancing man was bolted to one wall, and another wall appeared to have been fingerpainted. Then, I swear to god, there was an 11 foot snake that some taxidermist had stuffed and coiled around the length of the staircase railing.

Decor by 7 year olds.

OK, fine, I actually liked it. It just clashed with the structure itself. Still, I might hire a couple of these piggies next time I decorate.

We followed Miss Piggy up those stairs and turned into what must be the master bedroom.

“My Alpha, these are the two you called for, I believe.”

Four people were standing around a woman in a large poster bed. They turned as one to face Sophia and me, shifting slightly to make it very clear that we were tolerated, and not trusted. They would die before letting one of us do anything to their bedridden Alpha.

Veronica looked awful. It wasn’t just that she looked like she’d been at the wrong end of a very long fist fight, the injuries seemed to go much deeper. Like they’d come from the inside out. Which, I suppose, they had. I couldn’t imagine how that might have felt, and, given how beaten she appeared, I couldn’t imagine her Mate would have survived without the link. Sophia’s hand slipped into mine, gripping tightly. I’ve seen people shot, stabbed, and killed in more than a few other ways. But little is more disturbing on a fundamental level than a person who has been thoroughly beaten. You can’t help but feel each blow yourself. You can’t help but hurt for them.

I doubted my Angel had seen many of these.

“You disappoint me, Angel. I would have thought your pet would be, at the very least, more polite. And more pretty. Slumming it are we?”

See, this is why I don’t hang out with were’s much. Bitchy little creatures, as a rule. Sticks up their asses.

 

[Vixandra]

Gypsy in the ring, Part... fuck I'm not counting anymore

Gypsy felt a tear begin to fall down her face as she squirmed but it did nothing to deter the demon. With a flexing of one great hand he tore the dress from her body, leaving her wearing only the gloves and one stocking. Her bare chest heaved as she fought in vain to cover herself. The giant television showed every part of her as she screamed in futile fury.

His breath was hot against her throat as he whispered to her in a dark voice. “You know, for an angel, you aren’t that bad. Maybe I’ll take it easy on you?”

She whimpered as his hands cupped her bare breasts. Her arms were pulled behind her back, and held with a single tentacle. The freed tentacle caressed up the side of the angel’s throat up to her jaw. Gypsy threw herself to the side, wings thrashing against the demon and battering his face. He pulled her roughly against him, the lines of their bodies nearly solid. It forced her wings to collapse tight against his chest.

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” he whispered, laying a kiss on her neck opposite the tentacle. “I don’t like it. Thrash like that again and I’ll break those blood-stained wings off.”

She felt tiny as he pinned her to him, weak against the strength in him. He held her so easily, without any apparent strain at all. How could she get free of this? What would happen if she just let it happen? Heat flooded her body, centering at the core of her as she realized there were no choices here. She could not win free. “Que sera, sera,” had never taken such an ominous meaning for her before. Gypsy forced her body still and forced calmness through her limbs. She stopped fighting and hung like dead weight in his grasp.

“Yes, just relax. I’ll do all the work. Typical woman,” Octavius said with a dark chuckle. The tentacle at her jaw traced along her lips, its pointed tip almost like a soft fingertip. When Gypsy turned her head away to break the contact, he gave a vicious twist to both of her nipples, pulling them until she screamed. The tentacle shot into her open mouth, filling it. It pulsed in her mouth like a great penis, the slick coating like sea spray across her tongue. The tentacle silenced her though it didn’t stop her tears. Or the blush that spread across her cheeks.

His voice was dark and rich in her ear. “You like that, don’t you angel? You like me in your mouth.”

The tentacle tracing patterns on her thigh moved upward to caress her lower lips, tracing along the outside as he had done above. She would have screamed at him, cursed at him, if only she could speak. Instead all that came out was a moan around the tentacle in her mouth. It must have felt good because the demon shuttered.

With a surprising suddenness, the tentacle slipped from between her lips. As she fought for breath, it took the place of his right hand on her breast, curling against the tender flesh. The freed hand slid down her body as the tentacles holding her raised her higher. The ones on her legs forced them apart as they twined about her thighs with enough play to stroke her nether lips almost lazily. Gypsy froze as she felt his fingers on her, touching her in a place where only her boyfriend had before.

His breath was hot against her neck as he cupped her mound in his hand, fingers brushing the dusting of dark curls there. A shudder shot through the angel as a single finger slid between her folds to stroke her. She felt the vibration of his chuckle against her wings as he moved his hand up where she could see his fingers. So she could see them glisten with the moisture of her own body.

“You’re actually enjoying this,” he whispered darkly as the tentacles continued to tease her ever so delicately. “Have you ever tasted yourself, angel?”

“Wha-,” she was cut off by his fingers sliding into her mouth. The taste of herself slid over Gypsy’s tongue like rich sunlight. She jerked her head away and he let her do so with a laugh.

“I wonder what else you enjoy,” he murmured against her ear, sliding a tentacle along her clit, the tip of it like a thick finger. The angel squirmed in his arms while giving a ragged sigh. The sigh grew into a yelp as the tentacle encircled her clit and gave a sharp squeeze.

“Please stop,” she begged between gasps as the tentacle squeezed her clit rhythmically. Her hips thrashed against him, rubbing her butt against his erection. “I can’t…”

“You can’t stop me,” he reminded her, squeezing her breasts as he pulled her against him tighter and released her arms. He slid the freed tentacle down her back, over her buttocks where they pressed against him and between her wide spread legs. The tip teased at her entrance, enough to make her moan. “You want this angel, don’t deny it. You’re sopping wet for me.”

Gypsy couldn’t find the words to protest as she fought not to beg for more, for release from the dark passion building in her. The tears had stopped though her blush has spread down her face, her neck and had stained her breasts a vibrant pink. A shudder ran through her, making her cry out, as he slipped the tip of his tentacle inside of her. It curled against the front of her, hitting a spot she hadn’t even known was there. The angel cried out, her wings fluttering uselessly against the demon’s chest as he slid more of the tentacle inside her.

Her clit was being squeezed in longer bursts now as she felt waves of dark pleasure sweep through her body. How can I be enjoying this? But it feel so amazing.

The tentacle in her pussy slid out with a wet pop as he picked her up by the waist with his hand and turned her around to face him. The demon seemed to hold her weight with ease, even changing his stance as he pulled her legs around his thighs. She pressed against him, desperate for more, no matter how wrong it was.

Gypsy could feel she was close to something, something more than the orgasms her boyfriend had given her before. Something different and darker than anything she had known.

“Kiss me,” he demanded, lifting her chin with a tentacle. She did so without thought, her lips meeting his. His tongue slipped in her mouth as he tore away his loin cloth with a tentacle. He pressed the length of himself up against her body and it was enough to make her break off the kiss to look down. Her eyes widened in utter shock over the sight of his penis.

It curled along her belly, writhing against the soft flesh like kelp in a deep sea bed. The blue rings that decorated his body continued on his organ, the pattern smaller but still distinguishable. While shaped like a human man’s penis, it was obviously more flexible and much bigger overall. She whimpered at the sight but before she could protest, he shifted her body, using his tentacles and hands to shift her hips and grant him entrance. She squealed at the intrusion, so much larger than the tentacle that had made her throb. Her wings flung out in response as he slid her down, filling her further than she had thought possible.

He grinned in triumph as she took him in and obviously enjoyed it. But he wasn’t done quite yet.