The Seventh Angel Ch. 02

His tiger's paws sank into soft leaves as he loped deeper into to the forest.

The trees grew dense here, the thick limbs intertwining to form a deep green canopy. The breeze brought forth the scent of the sea and verdant forest. It was all so beautiful and serene. Remi finally slipped from his back as Seth shifted back into human form and straightened.

"We'll wait here. Sooner or later a few of them will be by." Reaching out, he grasped a large golden leaf from a Keeta Bush and began fashioning himself a loincloth. "Hopefully they'll be friendly."

Remi shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest, scowl still in place. "Goes to show how little you know of your own kind. Cats don't get along with other cats. They're going to challenge you, and I want my girl with me here. Now."

One-track mind. "No one will challenge me with my pet Dragon at my side."

Remi dropped his arms to his side his fire shimmering over his skin again. "Pet? No one said I was going to play at being your pet."

"We didn't tell you a lot of things. Fuck. I knew you were going to mess things up as usual."

His fire winked out, but it simmered in his dragon green eyes. "Princess Glory is picking us up here. Just tell me one thing, are we supposed to be like slaves or something?"

Seth wasn't sure he should tell Remi the whole plan. Remi had been told not to use his powers and to play along and let himself get caught by Princess Glory and her entourage.

Seth rolled his eyes. "What do you think?"

Remi frowned. "Hunting is illegal. I thought they were going to come to ask for recruits."

"That's how they do it, but for the sake of our cover story, they need to tag along with beings who poach in sanctuaries like this one in order to help us with this mission."

"Please tell me that Rowie will at least be coming with them and I'll be her personal slave. I can deal with that. I don't like other females touching me. It's bad enough I've been separated from my twins."

He could see and sense Remi's pain over being separated from his mate and children.

This mission was hard on all of them.

"She'll be one of the princess' personal guards."

Remi let out a pent up breath and nodded. "Okay. I just hope they don't take long."

*******

Rewards came to those who waited. Amaranth used her myriad of acquaintances and friends to discover that Princess Glory was rubbing elbows with poachers. It seemed the Utuduodians were back to kidnapping and enslaving males. Word had also spread that Megdoluc had been obliterated. Her heart constricted knowing that the portal through which Davariel had been cast was now gone forever. Some said Devon had done it himself, others blamed the high council of Master Guardians. With the dead planet gone, the rumors of the Seventh Angel spread like wildfire. An angel would break open the portal to Hell and release Lucifer. An angel with hair like a star and eyes like the Seraphian sky. It was thought that angel was Dava who'd almost succeed in breaking open the portal to Hell. Then they'd feared Devon would do it, for what could be worse than the black stars that roamed the galaxies swallowing up whole solar systems. Everyone was still wary of Dava's offspring, Devon, whose blood was tainted with Dava's unholy curse. No one knew he'd had an offspring of his own, whose blood was also tainted.

She hadn't revealed that secret to anyone, because Jazriel was the sweetest little boy she'd ever met. Could Jazriel be the infamous Seventh Angel?

The mother of the Seraphian race was one of the first angels cast from Heaven by Lucifer himself along with Davariel's mother, Davariel, Devon, and Jazriel. They were supposedly divine angels made flesh, but she didn't know which was which. They'd been created by the Divine Ones to bring the gift of love into the new realm being formed.

If there were indeed seven, that meant there were still two unaccounted for. Had their time come and gone as well? Or was Dava's clone one of the missing ones? She knew there'd been another clone, but it had been destroyed by the High Council of Master Guardians. Even now, they were hunting down the new clone. All the feathers torn from Dava's wings had been accounted for except one. As long as that feather remained at large, there'd always be the threat of another clone appearing.

Her Fire Chariot sped through space toward a small moon orbiting an enormous planet in the Aranel sector. It was a sanctuary planet rumored to have the last of the white Weretigris in the galaxy residing there as well as a handful of dragons and other creatures found nowhere else.

When she was close enough to see the solar system's star, a hail came across her com unit.

Frowning, she answered the hail. The Face of an orange-hued male Chidadent filled her com screen.

"Please state your purpose in this sector."

Amaranth felt herself bristle and let her wings spread a bit as she leaned closer to the screen. "My business is official, Chid," she answered in a no nonsense tone.

The male blinked a few times, eyes wide before frowning and tipping his nose up a bit. "I'm one of the Master Guardians guarding this sector. No one has permission to approach without our consent."

Amaranth leaned back, her lips twisting to the side in half a smile. "I'm a holy warrior. Since when do I need permission to perform my calling?"

The Chidadent sputtered. "Well, in this sector you do."

Amaranth had had enough of this rude Master Guardian. "I'm going to approach the solar system and land on one of the planets. I'd like to see what you're going to do about it."

With that she switched off the comm. Link. The nerve of that Master Guardian. She should have gotten his name to report him. Reapers could come and go as they pleased. They were a rank above Master Guardians, even over hand-picked archangels. Nothing in the mortal realm topped a reaper.

Not trusting the idiotic Master Guardian, she brought her weapons online in case they tried to ambush her.

She drew closer to the mammoth red and brown planet. Lethal storm bands covered its entire surface. Her target was one of its moons, Hyvn.

The blue gem was located orbiting the lower portion of the planet. She drove toward it. Holding Seth's metal insignia in her right hand, she closed her eyes.

She could almost feel him down there. "Where are you, idiot?"

Opening her eyes, she scanned the surface of the planet similar to Seraphia, but with more water that was purple-hued instead of blue.

Her eyes focused on a very large continent. One side of it had an indentation with a shell shaped sea surrounded by dark green vegetation.

She aligned the nose of her craft and headed there.

As she drew closer, she also noticed that the other side of the land mass had a large crater, as though it'd been recently hit by a meteor.

She was almost tempted to fly over that area to take a closer look, but the bay on the other side was too pretty and called to her instead.

*******

"Don't shift," Seth warned Remi who was snarling behind him.

In front of them stood about fifteen loincloth-clad, white-haired savages. They all bared fangs and Seth could see their skin twitching with the onset of a shift. His own skin prickled and he fought the overwhelming urge to hiss and snarl as well. Unfortunately, someone needed to keep a civilized head on their shoulders, and it seemed that someone had to be him.

"We arrived here a few turns of the sun, but landed on one of the smaller islands. It was a bit too hostile for us there so we came across the sea here. We were told this was a sanctuary for our kind."

"We no longer accept newcomers," the largest of the males hissed. "Go somewhere else."

Remi snarled louder and Seth resisted the urge to kick him in his nuts.

"And dragons don't belong on this side of the land. Their place is by the Tiny Sea next to the dormant super volcano."

"Let's go, Seth. I'm sure my kind will be more welcoming than these savages," Remi spat.

The Weretigris laughed.

Seth shook his head. "No. We stay here."

The largest male snarled and tore his loincloth away, his body morphing.

Seth crouched and let his humanity slip away as well. If the male wanted a challenge then he would fight him. Hopefully, this wouldn't be to the death. He didn't want to cause any harm to these people. He doubted the dragons would treat them any better as Remi had said.

The white tiger was about to lunge at him, but halted, eyes wide.

Seth watched as the male morphed back into human form and stumbled back, his jaw wide open.

Seth would have slapped his palm over his face, but since he was still in tiger form, he turned his head instead. Expecting to see Remi in his dragon form, he let out a roar of rage. It was worse. The idiot had drawn his divine sword. The dragon sword was alight with blue holy fire.

Seth let his body morph back into human form, his muscles and bones aching from changing so many times in such little time.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Seth snapped at him.

Remi's furious eyes turned to Seth. "I'm sticking up for you, you ungrateful prick. It's a sword. I'm not using my you-know-what."

Seth hung his head and groaned in misery.

"You should have told us you're an archangel," another one of the larger males said walking past the male who'd challenged him.

The whole group looked awed as they approached. Only the male who'd challenged him still had a suspicious gleam in his eyes to match his frown.

"Are you an angel as well?" a younger looking male asked.

Remi grinned and opened his mouth to answer. Seth swung, but the damn idiot ducked, fast as lightning. He straightened again, giving Seth an annoyed glare.

"Shut-up," was all Seth said.

Remi sniffed disdainfully, and put his sword away with a flourish. When done, he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at Seth.

Seth took a deep cleansing breath and turned slowly to their audience. They had baffled looks on their faces, but were soon beaming at them again like angel-struck fools.

"Come, we'll take you to our village, and present you to our leader."

Seth heard a snarl near him. The same male who'd challenged him had bared his fangs again. His furious blue gaze drilled into Seth's.

"She's mine," the male hissed.

Amaranth's face flashed in his mind—Where are you...idiot?

A shudder raced through him. Her voice had whispered in his mind so clear...but she was millions of miles away. He was almost tempted to release his power to feel her essence...but he couldn't. Using any inkling of his power would send out a wave to any Master Guardians nearby and they'd know he was here. As far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned, the Alpha Angels had disappeared after Megdoluc had been destroyed on the physical plane. It still existed on the astral plane.

They marched through the forest until the sun set behind them. The planet they were orbiting lit the night sky turning it blood-red. Seth had never seen anything like it. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

Remi strode up next to him and pouted.

"What?' Seth sighed.

Rem's brows drew together. "You know what?"

Seth pinched the bridge of his nose. "Give it a break already."

"Would a dream walker—"

"Yes," Seth snapped. "It can be detected."

At the curious stares of those around them, Seth murmured, "We'll talk later."

Just over a few rolling hills, they began to descend. Seth could see the glow of multiple fires in a campsite below them. As they descended a winding path through the trees, he also began to notice there were rifts, or cracks along the path. They looked like small openings to underground dens. Eyes glowed within the darkened interiors. Some of the occupants emerged once they'd passed by, following them as they made their way to the main campfire in the center of the valley below.

"Wait here," the male who'd challenged Seth ordered.

He loped on ahead and disappeared within a group of villagers sitting around the campfire.

Seth's keen eyesight made out the forms of females. Most turned to look at them curiously.

A tall, lithe female rose from her sitting position and made her way toward them. Some of the other women also rose and followed her, their eyes fixed on Seth.

The female in the lead had a graceful gait and her eyes stared unwaveringly into his eyes. He felt the hairs at the back of his neck rise.

It annoyed him to no end how quickly his inner beast kept feeling antagonized. He usually had a firm hold on that part of his nature.

The closer the female drew to him, the more he realized this must be their leader. The male that had challenged him followed a few steps away from the group of females. He kept darting looks at her and then Seth as they approached.

When she finally came within two feet of him, Seth gave a slight bow and said, "It's an honor."

When he met her gaze again, she hissed and lashed out, scoring his cheek with her claws.

Seth reached to the side, just in time to keep Remi back.

"Easy he said when the female turned hostile eyes on him with another hiss.

Remi snarled back, smoke coming from his nostrils.

The weretigress wrinkled her nose. "A dragon."

"Your highness, this dragon is an archangel.

She snorted, looking at Remi from head to foot. "I've never heard of a dragon becoming an archangel. That's ridiculous."

"I agree," Seth murmured under his breath.

She alighted her bright blue gaze upon him again and he could almost see the ghost of a smile upon her lips. Strange woman...just like her people.

He could feel the warmth of his blood oozing from the scratches she'd inflicted to his left cheek.

"I am Roralina, decendadant of Romalina, decendant of Purrilina, decendant of Fluufaline Alina, decendant of -"

Seth felt his eyes glaze over as she continued to rattle off the names of her ancestors until she said something very strange in the end

"—daughters of the Divine one from the stars, the unnamed, giver of the flame of life."

Remi leaned in, eyes wide. "Wow, how do you spell that?"

Seth winced as Roralina raised a brow at Remi."

"We have no use for letters in our tribe. We have this," she tapped her head, "and we pass down our history to our cubs as soon as they open their eyes and breathe."

"Well, good for your cubs because having to learn how to read and write all those names would really suck," he snorted.

Seth could tell Roralina didn't completely comprehend Remi's brand of crazy.

"You can stay with our tribe. I will let my females check you first in case one of them would like a companion in her den tonight...or a mate."

Both Remi and Seth stiffened.

Remi turned to him with a scowl. "Sethaliel—"

"Quiet."

Remi growled in discontent.

*******

Amaranth looked around and wondered for the hundredth time since she'd landed, what was she doing here. Dense forest stretched out as far as the eye could see. After hiding her firechariot, she'd taken to the sky for a while until she saw the dragons circling near a mountain top. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, unsure of her welcome in their realm, she'd circled back to the beach, near where she'd hidden her craft and removed her hover cycle from its storage.

Maneuvering through the dense foliage was tricky and more than once her skin was ripped open by tiny branches as she zipped by.

The second night, she paused after sunset by a river in a valley. As of yet, she'd come across no civilization. She knew this planet was very primitive, but she'd at least expected its inhabitants to have some common form of shelter or organized social structure.

Whispering a low incantation, she drew energy into her palms to form a soft glowing light in order to inspect the interior of a giant hollowed out tree. Above her, the skies flashed with light, and the breeze brought with it the promise of rain. It was going to be a cold wet night.

Splashing behind her had her turning, sword drawn. Her heart caught in her throat as she stared into the dewy black eyes of a ghostly white unicorn.

He stood tall and proud, sides heaving, tail twitching. More splashing, and soon more unicorns joined him. He made a soft whickering sound, and after the others gave her brief, curious glance, they trotted off out of the shallow river, heading for higher land obviously.

The first unicorn remained looking at her. He was so beautiful, it made her heart twist.

After a few seconds, he also moved away, disappearing into the dark forest.

Amaranth stayed frozen, her mouth ajar until the first sprinklings of rain had her taking cover inside the tree.

"Wow," she sighed. Dava had talked to her about unicorns once, but she'd never thought she get to see them. They were quite rare.

The interior of the tree had vines and after brief consideration, she climbed higher. Near the top was an opening. Crawling out onto a thick branch, she stepped up into a natural recess in the bark. She was about one hundred spans off the ground. Below the shallow river looked like a thin trickle.

Rain pelted the ground at a steadier pace, but the recess in the tree kept her from getting wet.

Amaranth settled back, letting the sound of rain lull her to sleep.

Her nightmares started again. She was on Megdoluc, flying over a storming sea. Ahead of her she could see a battle—hundreds of Seraphs battling demons in the sky. She neared, drawing her own sword before stopping in shock. In the sky were the Alpha Angels...and Davariel battling. She sees Seth engaged with a pure obsidian creature. In his hands he wields a different sword. It's not his divine sword but the unholy sword of Lucifer himself.

Seth is aglow in blue light, his strokes slicing lethal blows into his opponent. Black blood rains down into the churning funnel below them. The entire planet is shaking.

The devil Seth is battling sees her and lunges forward. With a killing cry, Seth flies at his enemy before he could reach Amaranth. The sword drives through the creature and Seth drives him down into the funnel.

"No," Amaranth cries and flies into the dark abyss after them.

The walls of water close in around her. She gasps for air, her waterlogged wings dragging her down.

Just when she thinks she's about to drown, a large claw wraps around her and pulls her out.

Amaranth coughs up copious amounts of water as she realizes she is no longer dreaming. There is a blue talon wrapped around her. Below them, the once tiny, shallow river has grown into a raging torrent that has filled the valley almost to its brim.

Looking up, she cringes, realizing her savior is a giant blue dragon.

Speaking is difficult with her lungs still coughing up mouthfuls of water.

"Easy does it, little one," the creature growls at her. "In a few moments I'll have you safe."

By the time she gets her breathing under control, the blue dragon lands on the side of a mountain and enters a cave there. She is dropped unceremoniously on the cold hard ground.

Her wings are heavy with water and she shakes them as she pushes the sodden tendrils of her hair from her face. Gasping, she looks around until she spots the blue dragon shifting back into human form. Unlike Remi, this dragon man's skin remains blue, the whites of his eyes almost glowing in his face. He steps closer and Amaranth fights to keep her eyes on his handsome face. He's completely naked and unfazed by it, long dark blue hair spilling over an impressive torso.

Amaranth raises her hand when he gets too close.

"Stop right there," she wheezes.

He looks at her curiously. "Oh, I mean you no harm, reaper." A bright white smile slashes across his face. Behind him there is growling. He turns with a frown and shushes whatever creature is there.

Amaranth glimpses golden glowing eyes farther back in the cave.