Anniel concentrated hard and allowed her power to flow out. Carefully, she felt her surroundings telepathically. Her skin prickled with cold, but she tried her best to ignore it knowing it stemmed from flowing over and sometimes through inanimate objects.
There were a few things here and there, but mostly wide-open space. She could feel something broad, hard, and flat. It had legs...a table. There was glass or metal containers on it with liquid. Anniel wrinkled her nose when the feel of something acidic permeated it, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. She wondered how the others managed to do this without gagging. It was awful. Moving on, she encountered a few rectangular-shaped objects scattered about. It felt like more beds, but they were empty. She could smell traces of musk and light sweat. Someone had had sex in the one farther away from her. The residue of energy remained.
Anniel closed her eyes to concentrated harder. Pushing her power out even more, she felt the glass cylinder that contained a life. Could it be Rayne? She hadn't known the girl long enough to recognize her life essence. There was so much torment and sorrow emanating from the source of life. Anniel shied away from it.
A powerful rush of energy washed over her, the kind of energy put out by weres shifting. Anniel's power snapped back into her as if she'd been slapped. Her flesh twitched and she half snarled-half whined, fighting off the involuntary urge to shift too.
Anniel panted, clutching at her belly. The feel of a tiny body squirming within her made her gasp.
"Oh-god. My baby," she said, her voice breaking with the onset of tears.
The scent of Seraph grew stronger, as well as wolf, and...
"Tiger? Seth," she screamed jumping to her feet. She wished she could roll her power out again to find her way to the door, but she really wasn't very good at it. Having heard the door opened and slammed so many times, she knew it was somewhere behind her bed.
With determination, Anniel crouched and made her way toward it on hands and knees, afraid of falling and hurting the baby. She screamed in pain when glass cut her palm. Rising to unsteady feet, she reached out and felt around until she came to a wall.
The sound of clashing metal reverberated just on the other side and the familiar scent of Ashriel filled her nose.
"Oh, no," she shrieked again. "Cyn, don't hurt him-please."
Her hands continued to feel her way across the rough, gritty concrete wall until she felt the cool hardness of metal.
Her fingers scrabbled about for a handle and she cried out when the door grew very hot. Fire. Cyneolle must be using his fire.
Uncaring if she burned her hands, Anniel yanked the door open.
"Stop. Don't hurt him. I love him."
Ashriel allowed the quiet of death to permeate his very soul. His wings spread wide and, sword at the ready, he allowed the cyborg angel to fire up his plasma lasers. Ashriel saw everything in slow motion as the powerful rebel leader aimed. Ashriel just stood still, watching him...and every molecule that swirled around them. The wristbands glowed green and the fire flowed. It was green, and looked as though it had a life of its own. For a moment, Ashriel admired the beauty of the green fire as it danced in a slow sensual arch toward him. The reality was that it raced at the speed of light, but time slowed for a reaper in kill mode. He leapt out of the way, as the flames tried to embrace him and flew right into the cyborg angel.
Cyneolle's body hit the concrete wall with a sold slam, cracking the wall. Bits of rock and cement rained down and his metallic wing sparked.
Ashriel felt pain stab into him and vaulted back. Looking down, he saw his chest and abs punctured with many holes. Blood began to flow.
The cyborg snarled like a vicious animal, jumping back up onto his feet. He reached back and pulled out two rod-shaped objects. Long blades protruded from each metal rod.
Ashriel grinned. "You need two blades to fight me?"
Cyneolle yanked his respirator off. Ashriel frowned when he saw his mouth and nose. There was something oddly familiar about his mouth and nose.
The cyborg angel snarled again. He had fangs and his back teeth, clearly visible in his sneering mouth, were shaped like canine teeth.
"I will kill you," he almost shouted, every muscle on his torso bulging with fury.
Cyneolle came at him—running. Ashriel let him get close and ducked to the side last second, his black wing striking out and sending the cyborg flying into the wall again. To Ashriel, it was like thwarting off the attack of a fly. It was slightly disappointing.
Cyneolle would not stay down and rushed Ash again. This time Ashriel engaged him. Swords sparked fire and Ashriel acknowledged his rival's strength. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to defeat Ashriel. He was accustomed to fighting against many. One cyborg was barely a warm up for Ashriel. They spun and slashed at each other. At one point Ashriel reached out and slapped the rebel leader. His goggles flew, and Ashriel stood staring dumbfound at his own face, but with darker skin and one cybernetic eye.
It was enough to shock him out of kill mode. His mind tried to make sense out of what he was looking at, but the cyborg was still intent on hacking Ashriel to death.
Ashriel threw his body against Cyneolle, knocking him back and pinned his wings with his own. Again, the sense of being stabbed had Ashriel gasping.
Cyneolle effortlessly tossed Ashriel back. His head hit the ground hard, and he felt the metallic angel hovering over him as he tried to gather his wits.
"Stop. Don't hurt him. I love him.," he heard Anniel shriek as the edge of Cyneolle's blade bit into the side of his neck. Ashriel's body arched in pain, but the cyborg withdrew his blade. Ashriel would have been beheaded otherwise. His hesitation had almost cost him his life.
He clutched the side of his throat and looked up at the rebel leader. His body was immense, knotted with thick muscles. His flesh was a deep dark golden brown and his hair dark blond. His good eye was golden with a pale blue starburst shape around the pupil. The other was a metal ball but the iris in the center of the ball matched its unharmed twin. Cyneolle's thick lips were peeled back, exposing his teeth in a snarl. He looked like he still wanted to kill Ashriel, his body shook with barely repressed violence, and his breath rasped in and out of his gritted teeth.
"You're the one that hurt her, aren't you?" he growled with an inhuman voice.
"Cyn, please. Don't hurt him," Anniel begged.
Ashriel looked up and gasped when he saw her. She felt around the wall and reached both hands out, stumbling a bit as she cleared the edge of the metal doorframe. Her eyes looked strange. The skin around her lashes was puffy and shiny, and her beautiful golden eyes looked milky. Horror filled Ashriel as he suddenly realized she was blind.
Cyneolle straddled him, his fist going around Ashriel's neck.
"You worthless piece of shit," he rasped, choking Ashriel. "You fucked her, left her pregnant, and then abandoned her."
Anniel came into Ashriel's line of vision and his shock doubled when he saw her bulging belly. Spots danced before his eyes, but his gaze was riveted on her rounded stomach. He'd had sex with her the night before and she hadn't been pregnant. What the hell was going on?
Cyneolle sent his fist into Ashriel's face and he knew no more.
"Cyn? Ashriel?" All she heard was heavy breathing. She stumbled toward the panting. "Ashriel, baby? Ash?" A sob choked her. "Cyn, what did you do? Why isn't he answering me?"
She reached out to feel but strong hands gripped her wrists. "Do not touch that wretched Seraph.," Cyneolle rasped holding her back.
"Cyn, no," she cried out feeling on the verge of hysterics. "What did you do to him?"
"You said the father of your first born was a blond Seraph."
Anniel stopped struggling and frowned.
"The Seraph that lies there on the floor has golden hair."
Garethiel? Why was Garethiel there?
"What did you do to him?"
"Not enough to suit me," Cyn answered tersely.
Low growling filled the chamber they were in and the scent of Seth filled Anniel's nose. She felt Cyn tense and turn. Anniel gripped his arms.
"Don't hurt him. I know that were." She blinked in the direction of the deep growling. "Seth?"
