The Seventh Angel Ch. 02

I've been working on this chapter sporadically for the past month, but it's been hard to find the time to sit and write. The whole story is kind of in my head. It just starts pouring out whenever I sit and open the laptop. I'm just trying to divide my time with my family obligations. My daughter might be moving in with me again, so this might very well be the last book I write, because my family demands a lot of my time. I do love writing, but I love my family even more. Hope everyone understands. I'm not saying for sure this is the end because there are so many characters in this universe that deserve a story, but let's see how things turn out. Hope you enjoy chapter 2.

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CHAPTER TWO

He'd been avoiding going back to Alpha 7. The others by now had probably scattered except Devon and whoever was accompanying him on his leg of the mission. He gathered more info and shared with the others via their telepathic link.

Zak informed him that Amaranth had been hanging around the station, asking about his whereabouts, but that she'd finally given up and left.

Seth swirled the glass full of amber liquid. The low reddish gold lights of the club made the drink glow like fire which brought to mind another fire...Ama's hair. Unlike Remi's hair, which was a true deep blood-red, Amaranth's glossy locks were red-orange with licks of gold running through its subtly wavy length. Her eyes were as bright and grey as any reapers except she a had star-shaped section of a paler silver around her pupils. What fascinated him most was the light peppering of freckles across the tops of her cheeks and nose. He'd kissed every one once, reverently...when she was just using him for information.

Slamming down the untouched drink, he spun on his heel and headed out of the smoke filled dive and out into the muggy night of the planet he was currently on, some backwater place he'd soon forget. Some of the streetwalkers beckoned him, but he ignored them and hopped into his Viper.

In mere seconds he was out of the planet's atmosphere, the stars turning into a swirling soup around him.

He didn't usually indulge in overusing his powers, but he let out a breath and searched for Amaranth's essence. She was on Seraphia, on the night side of the planet.

As he approached, he felt the shimmering waves of awareness from their Master Guardians.

The transport halted as he realized his stupidity.

What would be his excuse for slipping onto the surface? She'd be informed he'd landed, and Alpha Angel's were restricted from landing on Seraphia.

He could see the planet's slow rotation in his mind's eye, though, at the moment, its star was but a pinprick amidst trillions of other sparkling stars.

Within a few hours he would be leaving and had no idea when he'd be back, if ever. Devon would tell him where their new home would be once they rescued the clone.

He should turn back to Alpha 7. It might very well be their last night there...but he couldn't bring himself to move farther away from Seraphia. He might never see her again. Even if it was still light miles away, it comforted him to know she was there. Going back to the station would mean having to bear hearing and feeling the others with their mates and families, while he had no one. Though he'd shared his body with countless willing bodies, he'd never found release. He'd pretended so the others wouldn't harass him, especially Remi. He'd done what Amaranth had nonchalantly ordered him to do, and had hated himself and the act so much, he'd gone back to being celibate a few years ago. Everyone was caught up with their lovers and children, they no longer noticed him. All the better.

Seth settled back in his transport to get more comfortable. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let his spirit free into the realm of dreams.

*******

"They're getting ready to shoot him down."

Amaranth wanted to not give a damn, but that was the third time one of the fledgling reapers had come to tell her that an Alpha Angel's Viper had been spotted on the outskirts of their solar system. Their Master Guardians were under strict orders to vaporize any of them were they to come near their planet. It didn't matter that now there was plenty of doubt as to whether or not they'd been involved in the war. They were still considered a threat to all creation.

Pain made her chest ache. She hadn't believed any of it, searched desperately to prove all the rumors false, but...

Taking a deep breath, she stomped out of her rooms in the reapers fortress and headed to where her Fire chariot was stationed.

In mere minutes, with the help of one of Seraphia's Master Guardians, she was approaching the black Viper floating out in space.

There were no markings, identifying the occupant, but she knew who was inside. After days of waiting for him to show up at Alpha 7, now he shows up at her doorstep practically. She tried not to let the fact that the last time she saw him, he'd left Haddasha on the arms of a pair of female Greis. Frowning, she squashed the bitter waves of jealousy that pierced her heart.

Alright, Romeo, what gives? This is extreme even for you—she projected her thoughts.

Only silence greeted her.

Giving a disdainful snort, she used her tracking beam and began hauling the viper along with her.

The high priests and priestesses were going to be livid with her but at this point she was beyond caring. She wasn't leaving Seth out here to be shot down...Not that she thought they'd actually be able to land a shot.

He was so quiet, though. Her fear began to rise as she lowered her craft on the dark side of the planet, near her childhood home.

The stars above glittered as she exited her transport and headed toward Seth's.

Using a bit of her magic, knowing that he'd never blocked her access to him, she made the top of the Viper open for her.

Her breath caught in her throat.

He lay on his back, eyes closed...asleep.

His uniform hugged his lean muscled body like a glove. Everything within the craft was black, making the shock of white hair all the more noticeable.

Unable to help herself, she reached out and stroked his silky hair. Unlike the other male Alpha Angles, Seth preferred to wear his locks short. It was cut in long layers, though, that fell into his eyes and draped his neck. Only once had she seen him with it waist length. The first time she'd seen him, it was cropped so short, it was almost non-existent.

He'd been so different then, so shy, so sweet...so innocent. A virgin.

Memories of seeing him tied to a stone alter, a vampiress riding his loins, taking from Amaranth the privilege of being his first lover.

It hadn't been his fault, of course. He was about to be sacrificed as a virginal offering and the vampire had decided to ruin the plan for the fallen angels in charge of opening Hell's gate.

She'd been ready to forgive him after thinking about it for some time. When she'd finally been able to approach Seth, to talk and apologize for calling him a two-bit man whore, his aura...his once pristine aura had been smeared and dirty with even more lovers taint. When she looked upon him in horror, he'd sneered at her, opening his arms and...

Seth gripped her hand and rolled her beneath him, shocking her back to the present. Amaranth already held a dagger at the ready at his throat.

"Now is that any way to greet the man of your life?" he purred.

That sound. She hated it. It made her belly quiver and her toes curl. "Don't you wish you were," she scoffed and then wrinkled her nose. "Ew. Get off. You smell of liquor."

He ignored the knife poised at his jugular and nuzzled her neck, his purrs growing louder—God.

"I thought you liked it when I drank myself stupid for you."

Amaranth tossed her knife away and pushed at his thick shoulders. The brute was hard as steel. "You don't need to drink to be stupid."

Seth chuckled and snuggled closer.

Amaranth squealed in indignation. "Gah—get that thing off me."

He pressed the thing she was talking about harder into her hip before releasing her.

Amaranth scrambled out of his Viper, glaring at him as he sat up grinning at her.

He was grinning. Seth rarely ever smiled. But even as she gaped at the rare sight, it frayed around the edges before he finally sighed and raked a hand through that baby-fine hair. His eyes looked haunted.

"Reject me now, Ama. One day, you'll regret it. One day you might find yourself wishing I'd kissed you one last time."

She snorted. "Seth, you're drunk. Go home. Do you want me to let Rem or Zak know?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Fuck no. What is with you?"

He pursed his lips. "Come-on, Ama. Just sleep. Or are you afraid of what you might do to me?"

"Ha," she laughed humorlessly. "As if I'd actually want to jump your bones." Yes she did. Very much, but she wasn't about to volunteer that info.

"I promise not to do anything other than sleep with you."

Amaranth scratched her chin. If she sent him away, she wouldn't be able to rest, wondering if he got back to A7 okay. "Fine, but no funny stuff, and as soon as the sun comes up, you're out of here before we both get arrested and executed."

"Promise," he answered another hint of a smile playing at his kissable lips.

"Come on," she said turning to head toward the house.

"No. Right here," he told her, making her turn again. "Under the stars."

"Why are you acting so weird?"

He shrugged, hopping out of his Viper.

He crouched down in the soft grass and patted the spot next to him.

The moonlight made his hair glow and turned his eyes silver. He looked so angelic. Hard to believe he was such a man-whore...but he was.

Amaranth stretched out, careful to arrange her wings just right so that the feathers wouldn't tangle. Seth immediately folded his hands behind his head and stared up at the night sky. "Pretty, isn't it?"

Amaranth looked up also. "Yes."

There were so many things she wanted to ask him. Why did he go crazy after leaving Vildminoria a few years ago. He'd been so pure before and then...

She'd told him he needed more experience and he'd taken her at her word.

Anger simmered in her veins.

"Don't think so much," he murmured.

She stiffened and checked her mental shields, lest the bastard hear her thoughts. Everything was locked down tight. She slid him a suspicious glance, but he'd closed his eyes.

Unlike the hair on his head, Seth's lashes and brows had grown darker. When he was younger they were as white as the rest of his hair, but now they were dark. It made him even more beautiful.

The ache in her chest began again. She'd once thought him incapable of being evil, but...

Her memory returned to the sight of him speaking with Grei aliens a few days back in Haddasha, and, to make matters worse, she'd been told he was meeting with Glory, the heiress to the throne on Utuduo. They were the ones responsible for their three hundred year captivity in suspended animation orbs. How could Seth fraternize with their sworn enemies? What was going on?

Unable to stand holding in her doubts, she turned, ready to drill him with her questions...to find him snoring softly next to her.

He looked so peaceful--damn him.

Amaranth just stared at his profile, her entire being burning to touch him again, kiss him, beg him to reassure her that it was all a mistake, that he wanted no one but her.

Stupid.

She berated herself for her foolishness. Seth was young and virile. He would want to taste everything he'd never sampled before, just like any other man...everyone she'd ever met...like Dava, her first crush, her first heartbreak.

Her eyes fluttered closed wearily, memories of Davariel's blood bath coloring her dreams into nightmares. Even fallen, he'd shed light, like some out of control sun burning her lids, her face, her lips.

"Ama, You're just a child," he'd said the day she tried to kiss him.

Amaranth turned her face from the bright light before sitting up abruptly.

It was morning. Seth was gone.

As she began to get up something shiny caught her eye. Reaching out, she picked up the shiny silver wings. Seth's insignia from his uniform. He must've dropped it.

Grinning to herself, she marched to her craft and took off. Having an excuse to see him again was always welcome. Besides, she was definitely going to corner him into answering all of her questions.

Alpha 7 loomed into view, but all was quiet when she landed in their hangar.

Stepping out of her Fire Chariot, she spotted Amadashiel, Reiven, and Abdiel standing near one of the exits.

They eyed her grimly as she approached.

"What's going on?" Amaranth asked trying to tame her wild hair. Belatedly, she realized she should have taken a little time to shower and do something with her mop.

"You don't know?" Amadashiel said.

Amaranth raised a brow at her, "Uh, no, but I've got a feeling you're about to tell me."

Amadashiel looked at the other reapers before turning to tell her, "Seth. We think he was abducted. He never came home last night."

Amaranth's heart clenched. She shook her head. "No. He spent the night with me."

At Reiven's snort of disbelief, she snapped, "We slept together, nothing more, but he said he would come home after sleep cycle. Maybe he detoured somewhere else. Where is Devon?"

"They're all gone. We think they're out looking for him."

Amaranth shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing.

Seth's words came back to haunt her, you're going to wish you'd kissed me one last time.

She turned and stomped back to her transport.

"Where are you going?" Abdiel called out.

"To find him," Amaranth answered. "I'm going to find him, and when I do, I'm going to kick his tiger-striped ass for scaring the shit out of me."

*******

Her first stop was Utuduo. Being a reaper, she had no problem seeking audience with Princess Glory.

She was ushered into a lavish chamber that overlooked the edge of the cliff the royal castle was perched on. From where she stood, some fifty paces from one of five arched windows, she could feel the cold breeze blowing against her furled wings. Beyond the windows to either side of the mammoth castle, a mighty waterfall roared nine hundred feet to a deep river below. The entire castle was surrounded by the violent waterfall, making it virtually impossible to attack except by air, which is how Amaranth had made her entrance.

The female guard by the door struck her fighting staff against the stone floor and announced the approach of the Princess.

Amaranth shook back her long hair and squared her shoulders. Last time she'd seen the Princess, she'd felt awed at the female's lithe beauty. She'd been younger then. It wasn't lost on her that Princess Glory might have filled out more and was most likely fucking Seth.

The tall, muscular female strode into the room with purple cape draped over her shoulders streaming behind her.

Amaranth blinked, taking in the long red hair, much like her own. The princess' facial features were more sculpted, strong thick lips and shrewd golden eyes. She was about Amaranth's height, maybe a little more.

Immediately the hostility was palpable.

Glory frowned, her nose going up a fraction.

If she thought Amaranth was going to bow before her she was sadly mistaken. She was a holy warrior. They bowed before no one but the Almighty.

The princess sneered. "To what do I owe the honor?"

Amaranth felt her feathers lift in agitation. "I'm looking for the Alpha Angels."

Princess Glory looked at her long nails in bored indifference. "Check Alpha 7. How should I know about their whereabouts?"

Ama's palm itched. "I just came from Alpha 7 and they aren't there."

Princess Glory glared at her then. "Well they aren't here either. You waste my time, Reaper."

Frustration welled inside Amaranth. Now what? She couldn't demand the princess tell her every last detail of her conversations with Seth? Could she?

Princess Glory blew out a forceful breath through her long thin nose.

"You and Seth are up to something and the Greis are involved," Amaranth snapped.

Princess Glory's face fell, her eyes widening, before she caught herself and sniffed, "I have no idea what you're babbling about."

Amaranth clenched her fists at her sides, doing her best to keep her wings furled.

Princess Glory curled her fingers over her narrow hips, her brows drawing together. "I must go. I have things that need my attention and can't afford to waste time talking about nonsense. The Alpha Angels can take care of their own."

Amaranth opened her mouth, but she was dismissed when Princess Glory turned with a swish of her royal cape back toward the door and left. Her guards followed her out leaving Amaranth alone with the guard who'd escorted her into the chamber.

*******

Of all the people he could have been paired with, Seth resented Devon putting Remi together with him. Rowie he didn't mind, but Remien Fyre? Why?

They hitched a ride on a piece of rock they'd nudged in the appropriate direction. Embedded deep within one of its craters, Remi curled his dragon's body around him, protecting him from the heat of their entry into a planet's atmosphere. Once they landed, they would mingle inconspicuously with the inhabitants until their ride picked them up for the next leg of their mission.

Remi furled into a tighter ball around him as the meteor broke upon entry into the planet's atmosphere.

As they hurtled down toward the planet's crust in a ball of fire, Remi opened his wings and slowed the descent, absorbing most ofthe flames like a sponge.

Giant strong opalescent red wings flapped, a deep growl rumbling within his mighty scaled chest.

Removing one of his clawed talons from over Seth, the dragon stretched out his back paws in preparation for landing. Fire still streamed from them. Seth imagined that to an onlooker, they probably looked like a flaming comet.

The ground shook from the brute force of the dragon's impact with the ground, the boom reverberating loud enough to permeate the protective shield Seth held in place around himself. They were engulfed in a ball of flames.

Remi opened his maw and began to consume the fire. It was like being in the middle of hellfire.

The last of the fire was drawn into the Dragon's glowing body, his tail thrashing back in forth like an overjoyed puppy.

Gently, Remien released Seth onto the charred ground.

Seth remembered to keep the protective shield around his body, eyeing the steaming ground around them skeptically as he placed his bare feet on the blackened ground.

The dragon's shadow behind him began to morph into human form.

"Remember, no using your powers," Seth snapped looking at Remi as he finished shifting back into human form.

Remi frowned. "I know-I know."

He caught the clothing Seth tossed at him. "When is Rowie supposed to get here?"

"I don't know," Seth replied looking around. They needed to move away from the area where they'd landed—soon, before the curious natives came to investigate. Right now, they stood at the center of a mile wide smoking crater. Remi had absorbed most of the heat and fire, his eyes glowed with energy.

He was also scowling. "What the fuck do you mean, you don't know?"

Seth immediately felt himself bristle. "I. Don't. Know."

Fire broke out over Remi's skin. Great.

"I'm supposed to sleep without my mate," he snarled.

"Suck it up. Let's go," he snapped, turning and breaking into a run.

Behind him, he heard Remi snarling curses.

After a few feet, Seth let himself shift. Remi caught his tail and climbed his back.

Outside the crater, some of the trees were charred, but for the most part, Remi had done a good job of absorbing the damage.

Seth had studied the topography of this particular continent and headed into the trees closer to the ocean.