Septem

Septem

Settling

               Everywhere I went for the next week his eyes followed me. He had since told me that the dart that had knocked me out contained a mixture of a powerful aphrodisiac that had been developed by the drug companies. At first I was furious, but as the days wore on, my ire deteriorated. My claws would curl whenever I remembered him thrusting inside me. But he had left me alone, watching me from the shadows though his hunger was palpable and his eyes bright with yearning.

               As I became more familiar with my surroundings and the seven men around me throughout the compound, I began to realize that I had been simply surviving in my mountains. Every time I walked into the living room and sunk down into the couch in front of a massive flat screen they would plop down next to me and eat. They were constantly eating, though they never gained an ounce of weight.

               Every now and then they would fight over the food and it would all go flying into the air. Their fists would pound into each other, but they would always sit back down, squishing me between them as I tried to pick popcorn out of my braids.

               They would elbow me and point and laugh loudly and readily at the soap operas they loved to watch. As they explained it to me, “Such awful crap, but did you just see the fucking face that bitch made? Priceless.” Samiel preferred to watch shows like South Park and 1,000 Ways to Die which would make me laugh until my sides ached.

               As I slowly remembered things that I always loved about technology and people, I began to look forward to the free companionship that they offered. None of them made any moved for me, respecting that Azazel had waited a very long time to find me. But I was the only woman in the house, none of the other grigori, as they had told me they were called, had found their own woman yet.

               I was also learning about what I was. A Valkyrie. They had a huge gym at the back of the building and the ceilings were tall enough that I was beginning to stretch out my wings. There were skeletal, my bones running throughout visible, but they constantly glowed with feathers that were laced with energy. My ears had grown, sticking out through my braids in sharp points. My scars had disappeared over my entire body and my skin shone all the time now. My electricity never left me. I had to grow used to my strength, I was constantly breaking off door knobs and they would shake their heads and laugh at me.

               Today, I was sitting in between Cambriel and Ramiel on the couch and we were arguing about who was going to get up and make the next batch of popcorn.

               “Io should do it. She never contributes anything, sits on her ass all day.” Ramiel reached over me and grabbed a handful and shoved it into his mouth, hardly chewing at all.

               I shoved my elbow into his side and he hunched over, pretending to be hurt. “Don’t fuck with me, Ram.”

               Cam laughed next to me and I snatched the bowl from him and shot up off the couch. “Better watch it, Ram. She’ll kick your ass. Look at all that seething anger inside her.”

               Ram shook his head, “I’d like to see you try sweet ass.”

               I danced around with the popcorn bowl over my head and they yelled at me to move out of the way of the TV. I flipped them the bird and laughed as I they flew at me, trying to get the bowl.

               Ram’s hand grabbed my forearm and I zapped him, something I had learned I could do after they had started to get rough with me one day.

               He yelped and jumped back, his hair standing straight up. “You look like fucking Frankenstein.” I told him.

               He flapped his wings and shot above me, grabbing the bowl out of my hands.

               He shoved the last handful into his mouth as he touched back down and I ran after him. He laughed back at me and went around the corner toward the kitchen. I turned the corner and immediately smashed into Az’s chest. His arms shot out to steady me and I giggled up at him.

               After a moment he smiled down at me and slid one hand down my arm and took my hand, lacing his fingers between mine.

               “I’ve missed you, Io.” His voice was deep, deeper than any of the others, and it made my toes curl. “What have you been doing?”

               I walked with him back to his room and said, “Just flattening my ass on the couch.”

               He laughed then, the first time I had ever heard him laugh, and I smiled like a stupid fan girl.

               “Hey! Lightning girl!” Cam called from behind me, “We aren’t finished watching The Days of Our Lives.”

               I turned and looked over my shoulder at him, “Oh go back in a cry over whoever having whoever else’s baby. You won’t miss me.”

               He smiled at me and waved, dismissing me, as he went back in and I heard the tearful confession of some woman get louder a second later.

               I shook my head and squeezed Az’s hand.

               “You are not still mad at me?” He asked me as he shut his door behind us. I went and sat in the middle of his gigantic bed and looked at him.

               “Not anymore. I like it here. I forgot how much I love to socialize.”

               He grinned then, “Good, I want you to be happy here.” He sat down next to me and the mattress sunk and I rolled into his body. He wrapped his arm around me and we lay back, staring at the ceiling.

               My curiosity got the best of me and I realized I wanted to know more about this man that claimed I was his. “So, want to play twenty questions?”

               He turned onto his side and I turned toward him and he rested his hand on the curve of my hip, “Okay, you go first.”

               “What’s your favorite color?”

               He seemed surprised, like no one had ever asked him that before and then answered, “Black.” And he reached up and ran one of my braids through his fingers. “How long were you up on that mountain?”

               I sighed, “Six years. Since I was seventeen.”

               “So you’re twenty-three?” I nodded. “Why did you go up there by yourself? Didn’t you have a family?”

               The game forgotten, I answered him. “I went up to get away from the ghost of my family and to live a simple life.”

               His face grew hesitant, but he asked me, “What happened?”

               I brought my hand up and brushed a hank of his black hair from his forehead. His eyes closed at my touch and he grabbed my hand and planted a kiss in the middle of my palm. Then he looked at me, “Tell me.”

               A flash of panic went through me; I had never spoken of it to anyone. “Everything?”

               He nodded, “Yes. Everything.”

               I let out a breath and then sucked one in and began to talk.

               “I had a very happy childhood up until I was ten years old. My mother became addicted to one of the new drugs that they came out with, and she had an adverse side effect that would cause her heart to stop if she didn’t get a dose of it every hour on the hour. My sisters and I became increasingly used to the shady people who would drift through our house, and when I turned twelve, my mother had my little brother, Hamish. Her addiction became steadily worse, and we began to run out of money. She couldn’t work, because no one would hire her with her addiction. So she started to use us as payment. We lost our house and ended up living on the streets. But she wouldn’t stop, she turned into a ruthless person that none of us recognized. And then, one day, a deal went wrong and they wouldn’t take us like they normally did. They held all of us hostage until my mother could pay them back the money she owed them, but she abandoned us. And I watched as they slit the throats of my siblings... Even Hamish who was five at the time. They all died, but they kept me and used me in case she ever came back. But I knew she never would. Eventually, their minds started to turn, succumbing to the drugs they were selling and they started to torture me. They would put their cigarettes out on my body and carve my skin with their knives when they were ‘tripping out’ so hard they didn’t even know who they were. I became pregnant and when I was about six months along, they put a needle in my arm and I started to go in and out of consciousness.” My throat closed up then, my tears choking my airways. I hadn’t thought about the child I never had since I was seventeen.

               I looked up and gasped and crawled back away from Az. His eyes were seething and his muscles were tense. He had a killing look that turned his features cruel.

               “Continue, Io.”

               I shook my head, “No, I already said too much. I can’t tell you anymore.” My tears fell down my face in a free fall and I sank down into a fetal position and buried my face against my knees as my sobs rocked me.

               I was in his arms a moment later, though he was shaking with rage. He held me tightly and laid me on the bed. His lips found mine and his thumbs came up to my face and brushed away my tears.

               “I’ve got you baby. I’m not letting you go. No one is ever going to hurt you again.” He lay down next to me and pulled me into his arms and rocked me until my tears dried and then he began to undo my braids, running his fingers through my hair. Once it was all loose around us, he spread it out on his pillows and then buried his face in it. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close. But I knew I had to finish now. I couldn’t leave him with what I had just confessed.

               “They cut my baby out of me and stabbed it through the heart. Afterward they left me to die. I was bleeding out but I managed to find a needle and some dirty thread and I sewed myself up in between being unconscious from the blood loss. I must have lain there, alone, without any company or food for a good week. But when I could stand I escaped. And then I ran and ran and ran until I found my mountain. And I decided then to never leave.” I let out a relieved breath because it was all out. Someone else finally knew. I wasn’t alone with it anymore.

               His arms tightened around me until I cried out. He loosened his grip immediately and reached down and kissed my ribs on either side.

               “Io, I wish I could have saved you. I didn’t even know you were alive. And now I can’t even kill those miserable fucks.” He heaved himself up off the bed and walked to the door. “I’ll be back love.”

               I laid there for a few minutes, wondering whether it was a mistake to tell him. He probably found me revolting now. I couldn’t stand it any longer and left the room. I walked to the gym, so I could fly my frustration out, but when I swung the door open he was there.

               His shirt was off and sweat poured in rivers down his muscles. He was punching a bag that was tethered to the ceiling so hard that it would boom against the wall and swing back to him. I watched him, riveted to the sight of him, and then my wings expanded and I flapped them and lifted myself off the ground.

               He twisted around in an instant and his eyes shone across the space. As I flew toward him I noticed that he was crying. I stopped above him. “I’m so sorry, Az.”

               He wiped away his tears and he reached his arms up for me. I floated down into him and he held me against his body, leaning his head against my chest as he shook. I ran my fingers through his hair and he dropped to his knees with me.

               “Io, you are my woman. You are everything I could ever have wanted. You are perfect. Don’t ever be sorry because I love you.”

               My fingers stilled on him and he raised his face up to mine. I didn’t say it back, I couldn’t.

               But I kissed with everything I felt, and the depth of it surprised me. I had thought that I was lost for Nox, but this demon with lavender eyes and an understanding of what I needed without me having to say anything, was more than I had ever imagined I felt for Nox. My heart swelled as I kissed him and his told me he loved me again. I decided then, that if I was ever going to love someone, I would want it to be him. He was fierce, with a fire that burned inside him that sparked my own fire to burn higher and brighter than ever before. His touches drove me wild and he was generous with his love.

               “Don’t worry Io. I’ll love you enough for both of us, for now. But I won’t give up until you tell me you love me too.” He smiled then, through his tears. “And woman, it going to be a fucking blast to get you on my side.”

Sex- Claimed

Sex

Claimed

               When I came to I was completely naked and shivering. My teeth chattered and I wrapped my arms over my chest. I felt sensitized. My breasts were sore and I was wet, my desire flaming nearly out of control.

               I backed to a wall and pulled my knees up to my chest. I tried to remember why I was angry, why I was naked, why I wasn’t in my own home. But the only thing that ran through my mind was sating my desire. I pinched my nipple and moaned it felt so good.

               That got me thinking about touching myself where I wanted it the most and I skimmed my hand down my flat stomach, my fingers inching toward my wet core. When my fingers touched me I gasped. I was dripping. I spread my legs and slid my back a little down the wall. I closed my eyes and slid my index finger inside me. The heel of my hand pressed against me and I rocked on my finger. I moaned low in my throat as I fit another finger inside me. As I found my rhythm, my desire built inside me and I neared my climax. My toes curled and my eyes flashed open and I gripped my own fingers hard. My back arched and I cried out, lights exploding behind my eyes.

               I expected to be sated, but I only grew wetter and my desire kicked up a notch. I whimpered in my confusion and desperation.

               I heard a stifled groan from the corner of the room, deep in the shadows, and snatched my hand away and wrapped it around myself once more. “Who’s there?”

               He came forward, and I gasped. He was magnificent, easily the most attractive male I had ever seen. He was tall, about six feet. His eyes glowed in the dim light in the room, a light purple. He had wings that I thought would span the entire length of the room tucked behind his back. They were a color that reminded me of a pearl that my grandmother had when I was a little girl. He was muscular, his arms bulging out from beneath his shirt and his thigh muscles were incased in skin tight dark leather pants. His hands were in fists at his sides and his jaw was clenched. His steps as he came toward me were unsure, shaky even, and I felt an answering hesitation in myself. But when I looked down and saw he was fully erect and straining against his tight leathers, all of my doubts and thoughts flew out the window.

               I stood, uncaring of my nakedness, and walked over to him. He eyed me warily but he didn’t move away from me. I took it as an invitation and reached my hand out to his chest. He was ridged, his muscles tense to an almost painful degree and I looked up into his eyes.

               “My name is Io. What’s yours?” I smiled and he seemed even more uncomfortable but he still didn’t look away.

               “Azazel.” His voice sent shivered down my spine and my nipples tightened. His eyes dropped to them and he let out a stunned breath.

               I smiled wider and dared to shove my hands underneath his shirt, my claws ran over the ropes of muscle on his stomach and he shuddered.

               And then I got tired of waiting, my need unbearable, and reached up and tugged on the back of his neck with my hand, bringing his lips down to mine. A flash of guilt ran across his face and then his lips were on mine. He wrapped his hands around my body and I dug my claws into the muscles of his back, drawing them down to his hips. He moaned and his tongue shot into my mouth and twined with mine.

               His taste was delicious and I would not let his mouth go, even as he tried to push me away. I growled and tackled him, shoving his back against the wall and climbing up his body until my legs were wrapped around him and my hands were buried in his black hair. He seemed to give up then, and his shaking hands grabbed my ass and rocked my core against his shaft. I moaned and began to grind myself on him.

               “Io, I need you.” His voice rumbled, gone gravely, and I nodded against his lips. This was what I wanted. I needed him inside me more than I had ever needed anything else.

               He went to his knees with me still wrapped around him and I undid the tie to his leathers and shoved them down his legs. He put his forearms parallel down my back and gently laid me on the floor. He covered me and his mouth descended to my nipple. I rolled my hips and arched my back, feeling more like an animal in heat than I ever had before, but I was beyond caring.

               When his tongue swiped across my hard nipple I cried out, the pleasure shooting straight through my body, down to my aching center and I reached between us and grabbed his cock. When I wrapped my fingers around it he jerked and then positioned his hips so that the tip ran against my wetness. He shuddered over me and I arched my back and ran my nipples over his chest.

               “Az, please. Put it inside me.” I moaned and rolled my hips, trying to get it inside me.

               He kissed my other breast and then brought his lips back to mine. “Tell me you need it, Io. Beg me for it.” He rocked his hips, his cock shot harder against me as it teased.

               I grabbed either side of his head and kissed him hard, with all the desperation I felt and then put my lips to his ear as I drug my claws down his back again. “Please, put your hard cock inside me Azazel. I need it inside me.” I kissed down his neck and back up and he grabbed my hips and tilted them down. But he wouldn’t put it inside me, teasing me until I cried out. “Make me cum, please.”

               He smiled down at me and then eased the head inside me. I gasped and wiggled beneath him but his hand tightened on my hip, keeping me in place.

               “So tight.” He said and kissed me again as he shoved himself deeper inside me. I was so hot, so needing, that as soon as he seated himself to the hilt I came around him. My claws raked down his chest, drawing blood and I screamed as I rolled my hips on him. “Fuck Io, you’re gana finally make me cum, squeezing me like a fist.”

               Before my climax stopped he began to move inside me, sliding in and out so deliciously that I came again immediately.

               This time when I screamed I yelled his name and he thrummed my nipples with his rough hands.

               “Io!” He yelled my name in a defending roar and his body poured into mine. His muscles beneath my hands tensed and I could feel his ejaculation hit the top of me and I came again, milking every bit of it from him.

               He wasn’t finished though. When he stopped cumming he wrapped an arm around my waist, never pulling out of me, and flipped onto his back.

               I reached back and rested my hands on his thighs, the tips of my braids skimming his skin.

               His hands grabbed my waist and he pulled me up and down on his length. I felt myself building and then a new feeling echoed from my back. My shoulder blades were on fire and I felt like something was trying to push out of my skin. I screamed as I came around him once again and he groaned as his cock began to pour his seed into me once again.

               My back went ramrod straight and I put my hands over my head, grabbing my elbows as I continued to ride him, my lust only building. He stayed hard inside me and his eyes were full of desire and need and then I screamed again. But this time it was from pain.

               My whole body went tense, as something shot out of my shoulder blades and expanded out to my sides.

               His eyes went wide and he stopped pumping into me, staring at the things protruding from my back.

               Tears tracked down my eyes and my head hung limp from my neck.

               He reached forward and somehow managed to make my body rest down on top of him. His fingers lightly trailed up and down my back and I started to shiver, the pain radiating to my own body.

               “W-what happened to me?” I asked him, because I couldn’t see anything behind me.

               He pulled my face up from his chest and held it between his palms. “You finally grew your Valkyrie wings, my love.”

               I stared down at him dumbly, tempting to not believe him, but as the pain receded and strength and light began to crawl through my body I knew it was true.

               I lay on top of him for a few minutes more and then sat up and looked down at him. The lust that had invaded every single facet of me was fading and as my mind cleared I realized where I was and who he was and what I had just done.

               I gasped and felt revulsion choke my throat.

               His eyes grew sad and he grabbed my hips and groaned as he pulled out of me. My core immediately wanted him back, but my mind rebelled.

               I scrambled back to a corner of the room and hissed at him. “What did you do to me?”

               He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He pulled his leather pants on and stared at me. “I had to know if you were mine before my brothers got to you. I took you from your home. I took you from Nox, the bastard. He must have ignited your Valkyrie instincts and they called to me like a beacon. I’ve never been pulled to a woman before. Even though I’ve met other Valkyries.”

               I shook my head and tears tracked down my face and anger built inside me. “Take me back to him.”

               His eyes lit up with anger and his lips pulled back from his teeth, “I’ll never let you go, Io. You are mine. Not his. He knew you weren’t his. He’s a bastard, and he almost took my woman.” He stalked toward me and I hissed at him, but he grabbed the back of my neck and shoved his lips against mine. I felt a slow burn in my chest and ignored the thought that struck me.

               This feels right.

               I shoved against his chest, but he wouldn’t let go of me.

               “Understand me, Io. I know for a fact that you are mine. You are my salvation. Mine. No others.”

               I rolled my eyes, “That’s almost exactly what Nox said to me.”

               He shook his head, “I’ll kill him for even touching you.”

               “And how could you possibly know that I’m yours?” I asked.

               “Because I have never, in my millennia, achieved ejaculation. I never could, until I had found you.”

               And I could still feel his seed inside me. It ran down the insides of my legs, a glaring reminder of what we had done.

               “And Io, you will grow to love me. You were meant to be awakened by me.”

Quinque

Quinque

Captured

            “Azazel, she isn’t your to claim yet.” The deep voice came from my left and I immediately tried to shove myself away from it. It wasn’t the voice I wanted to hear.

            My body jerked but cuffs were locked around my wrists and I noticed then that my hands were bound behind my back and chained to the wall behind me.

            I blinked open my eyes and everything came back to me in a rush. These men had taken me. I gasped as I remembered Nox yelling for me and seven pairs of eyes locked onto me.

            They were massive things with wings that tucked behind their backs and I felt the desperate hunger that radiated from them all. Terror made my heart race and I struggled to move away, but I was going nowhere.

            One of them with eyes black as night chuckled at my efforts. “You will not get away, beauty.” He grinned, flashing his teeth in a menacing smile.

            I struggled to rein in my fear before I became mindless and finally spoke. “What do you want with me?”

            As one they moved forward and I felt sharp claws brush against my cheek. A scream built in my throat but I swallowed it down, knowing it was pointless.

            Another spoke, this one with wings that I could barely look at the color of a setting sun. “You have such light in you. We will find out tonight if you belong to one of us.”

            I didn’t understand. “What?”

            Another with harsh tattoos that covered his entire body, rolled his eyes down at me, “She better now be mine. Can’t accuse this one of being very quick on the uptake.” He rested his hands on his hips and my eyes followed down the curve of a huge sword that was strapped to his hip.

            I swallowed loudly and his eyes gleamed with amusement.

            “Baraqiel, shut the fuck up.” The one with the sunset wings said and then turned his attention to me. “My name is Samiel, sweet.” His hand came forward and grabbed one of my braids. Another with wings that emitted shadows and darkness came toward me and, without preamble, ripped my pants from me, leaving me in nothing but my underwear.

            My head started to pound and I was lost for a while as suppressed memories crashed through the steel wall in my mind.

            Hands on my body... sharp laughter... groans as a body heaved over me... agonizing pain as a knife sliced over my stomach and dug down through me...

            I felt tears tracking down my face and felt a body wedge itself between my legs. I came to with seven pairs of eyes staring at me in fascination.

            I was above them, hovering off the ground with my arms out to my sides, the chains on the ground below me. I heard a growl so menacing it raised goose bumps on my arms. Electricity flowed through me and I realized that the growl was coming from me. My mouth snapped shut and I lowered to the ground, my feet touching cold concrete.

            But my electricity didn’t leave me as I expected it too. And then I was pissed. How dare these creatures take me from my home, my dogs, and the man I had only just begun to explore?

            My teeth lengthened in my mouth, turning into points, and my shoulder blades burned and cracked, jamming my shoulders back.

            One of them whistles low and I recognized him as the one called Baraqiel, “I take it back, she’s mine.” He licked his lips and lunged for me. I hissed at him as his hands locked around my waist and pressed my body against his. His lips were at my ear, “I always wanted a Valkyrie for my woman.” My hands shot up to his face and my claws raked down his skin, drawing blood and leaving skin and tissue under my claws.

            He released me and I felt a savage thrill go through me. I like hurting him, wanted to hurt all of them, like they had planned to hurt me.

            “She’s a wild one. But we can break that in her.” One of them ran his gaze over my almost naked body but my attention was caught by the door behind him.

            I few over the distance and backhanded him across the face. He went spinning and my hand grasped the door knob and ripped it clean off. The door swung open and I flung myself through it.

            A bellow sounded from behind me. “Ah, Io, you won’t be getting away that easily.”

            My name startled me and made me trip over my own feet. But I recovered quickly and tore down the dimly lit hall.

            Then I felt a sharp sting in my neck and my hand flew up to it. I yanked it out my skin and stared dumbly at it.

            A tranquilizer dart?

            My mind swam and my muscles started to shut down. As I collapsed onto the ground they formed a ring around me. I reached forward as black dots clouded my vision and pulled my deadened body farther down the hall.

            They went with me, simply watching my futile struggle.

            I gave a growl of frustration as dread settled in my belly. I felt a hand on the back of my head and warm breathes at my ear.

            “When you wake, Io, you won’t want to fight us. Most women can’t resist the call of us, but the man in your heart blocked our considerable charms.” He caressed down my naked back but I had no strength to move.

            I muttered his name as I felt myself sinking into the blackness.

            “Nox?” The hand vanished from my back. “You don’t mean that dark Prince Lennox of the Shadows?” I heard a curse behind me.

            “That heartless bastard will never see you again, Io.”

And I went out, dead to the world.

Quattuor

Quattuor

                  

Nox

               My heart raced in my chest as I watched her disappear above me. I dimly heard two other sets of wings flapping away after the first, but my mind was on a riot.

               My body started to become translucent as I didn't try to make it corporeal. I felt myself seethe with anger, becoming part of the shadows that always reached out to wrap around me.

               I floated through the door and saw three specks in the sky headed toward the east. Then I couldn't see them any longer and I lost myself to my frustration and anger for a time. I came back to myself as a huge tree smashed to the ground with a deafening boom next to me. My boot print was imprinted into the tree trunk and I heaved with exertion.

               My mind locked onto her.

               Io.

               My woman. I had finally found her and she was nothing like I had expected. I had always wanted a woman from the shadow so we could share it together. But with Io, she gathered energy and light to her like a beacon. She was fire incarnate. Her passion had been devastating to me, because I knew I would never find its equal. As I remembered her body, hot and open beneath my hands, my hands curled into fists. I had no idea what her mind was like, we hadn't had time. And it was suddenly desperate to know everything about her.

               A low growl built in my throat and I tried to remember, in all the confusion, what the creatures who had taken her had looked like.

               I remembered seeing dark wings and I had the vague impression, but I was certain of it after I thought about it, that they had been male.

               A red fury swept over me as I thought about her in their hands. She had been half-naked and utterly heart stopping. Her hair had been wild around her face, her cheeks heated, and her lips swollen from my kiss. Her nipples had been hard and a dark red as if begging me to keep licking them. The growl escaped my throat and my stomach dropped. If they touched her...

               I became aware of my surroundings once again, and I had let myself fade into the shadows, indistinguishable from them. I was soaring through the darkness toward the east where they had taken her.

               But I stopped as I remembered her dogs. She loved them more than anything. I had watched her running in the daylight with them and I had sneered at her weakness in them. But I had no animosity toward any of them now. They were the only family she had, and I sensed she had been alone out in this wilderness for a long time.

               And I knew because she was mine that I couldn't leave them.

               “Fuck it all.” I shouted as I floated back to them.

               They were all waiting for me, sitting at the gate. Their tails started wagging as I touched back down to the solid ground. And then they swarmed me, but I held my hands up and they formed a pack in front of me.

               “Well, you guys, what are we going to do?” I ran my hand through my hair as I tried to think. I had to go after her; it wasn't an option not too. But what would I do with six dogs while I was looking for her?

               I started to pace in front of them and their heads pivoted, watching me anxiously.

               And then I knew what I would do.

               I sunk to my knees before them and they stopped panting as if to listen to what I had to say.

               “I have to find your mom.” At the word their ears perked up. “So I’m going to leave you with my family. You’ll be safe there.”

               Decided, I turned my attention to finding her. And I knew what had taken her. My fury gave me a sharp clarity this time as my mind focused on what I needed to find out.

               Where would the Grigori take a captive?

 Grigori: Ancient male watchers of the Heavens. Once heroes of Heaven, now they are fallen angels who have turned into demons and stalk the Earth, looking for their mates, the women who are their salvation. Seven are known to exist on the planet: Araquiel, Azazel, Baraquiel, Samiel, Uriel, Ramiel, and Cambriel, though they once amassed in numbers greater than 200. Each possesses a darkness that is drawn to any form of energy and light.

Tres

Tres

Maniac

               I laughed hysterically as the power coursed through me, but I felt him the entire time. He had backed warily to the door and I snapped my head towards him, my eyes locking on him. I was at his side in a second and wrapped my arms and legs around him. He opened his mouth to argue something I didn’t care to hear, and I crushed my lips to his.

               He stood ridged in my grasp for a second and the he gave a defeated groan and wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back with such force, more electricity shot through me.

               He tripped over his own feet and then my back was on the mattress and his hands were under my shirt once more and they started to run up the curve of my hips. I shot my hands under his shirt and felt my claws—claws?—dig into the muscles of his back. His hands hesitated just beneath my breasts, and I was about to remove my hands to place his own on them, when he spoke.

               “Io, you’re mine. Only mine. I don’t care who came before me, soon I’m all you will remember.”

               I smiled up at him, “I’ve never had any-“and then my words died as I arched my back up and his rough palms ran over my nipples. I groaned and he caught it with his mouth. “Perfect.” He whispered as his hands fit around my breasts, cupping them. His thumbs passed over my nipples, hard for his touch, and I gasped.

               “My woman likes this.” His masculine satisfaction washed over me and I ripped his shirt off in my haste to see his chest. He grinned and pulled my shirt over my head. I waited for the bitter kiss of cold to touch my skin and make goose bumps rise on my skin, but it never came. I realize that my body was too hot for it to affect me.

               He leaned back and stared down at me, a hunger in his expression that made me weak.

               And that simple thought, that weakness that he ignited inside me, made my head clear and the electricity left my body in a rush. I shook my head and sat up, covering my breasts with my arm.

               He growled his disapproval, but he seemed to recognize the change in me, and didn’t comment.

               I couldn’t be weak; I didn’t have that affordability in the makeup of my very soul. I had learned the hard way once what weakness brought you, and I would never again feel that pain. My instinct screamed for his hands to be back on me, but I fought it and won. I suddenly felt scared, like I didn’t know myself anymore.

               I tugged my shirt back over my head and he sighed, resigned.

               I stood and crossed to the first to put some distance between us, to gather my thoughts, and he left me to my own devices for a while.

               I was aware of him every second, like a homing beacon had been created inside me where nothing was before. I didn’t like it, resented it. I was comfortable with myself, taking care of what I needed and what my dogs needed and nothing more. I like the simplicity of it. I didn’t have to worry about being accepted, my dogs loved me regardless of what decisions I made and how I looked. But I felt a sudden vulnerability with Nox that I had never felt before. I wanted him to like me, I wanted him to want me so fiercely he couldn’t stand to be apart from me, even while another part of me screamed that I wasn’t being rational and that opening up to him would only bring me misery.

               My heart felt like it would explode. I had to stop this. But I couldn’t think with his scent on my skin. My lips were still swollen and tender from his kiss, my first kiss. And I suddenly couldn’t process anything else. My mind blanked and I ran like a scared little bird. The power that had been in me before was gone, I felt a ghost of it, tantalizing, but I knew that he was the key to it. And I couldn’t handle the emotions and pull I felt toward him, I clashed with my rational brain to the point of breaking it.

               I flew across my field, hardly paying attention to my surroundings and before I knew it I was on top of the mountain. I pressed my palms to the sides of my head because it was pounding and tried to think.

               Okay, Io. What are the facts?

               I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

               The things I knew: I had no idea who or what he was other than his short answers that explained little. I didn’t really know what a Valkyrie was. Or why I had thought that I was one. My skin still tingled from the electricity that had flowed through me so easily. I shook my head and tried to focus. He was the only person I had interacted with in six years. He could be anyone or anything. But even in my confusion I sensed that he hadn’t lied to me. I had reacted to him exactly how I had always dreamed I would to a man, and he had touched me so perfectly that I knew I would never be the same. I craved that touch now, even though I fought it savagely.

               I was lost in thought, thinking about how perfect it had felt when we were together, when I heard a growl behind me and whirled around to me a pair of eyes in the darkness.

               I had no weapons, as confused and muddled as I had been when I all but ran from my home where he was. I was totally unprepared as I had never been before and just when the huge mountain lion lunged at me, a shadow shifted from the others and tackled it to the ground before it reached me.

               The shadow also growled and I saw a flash of white teeth that had grown into dagger points before they went over the side of the mountain.

               My heart raced, catching up. I couldn’t speak, terror flooding through me like a tidal wave, as I raced down the mountain after them.

               I heard numerous growls and a few vicious sounds of a fist hitting fur, and then I caught up to them. I stopped dead in my tracks as the shadow, so transparent that I could see through it, wrapped itself around the great cat and I heard a sickening snap. The cat went limp, dead, its head twisted at a sickening angle in the moonlight. And then the shadow rose up, but I wasn’t afraid of it.

               Nox stepped from the blackness, his shoulder bleeding and claw marks dug down deep into his chest, blood falling down his body in a current. His eyes met mine and I ran for him, uncaring of my thoughts and my reservations. He had saved me when I was defenseless. No one else had before without a set price or promise of equal sacrifice to be given back to them.

               He caught me, his wounds healing rapidly, already the blood flow stopped. He wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my braids and I held on, with my arms wrapped around his neck.

               “Nox, you saved me.” I whispered.

               “Of course I did.” He replied, as if I was being ridiculous. “You are mine. I protect what is mine.”

               I kissed him then, my thoughts consumed with him. My hunger apparent through my kiss and he crushed me tighter against him. We floated back home, my dogs all waiting on the inside of the gate for us.

               I broke our kiss only to reassure them, and then we were back at it. Wrapped up in each other so tightly that no one else existed.

               I knew he was mine. He was the one I had always waited for, unconscious though it may have been.

               His hands were all over me, on my hips underneath the leather of my pants and then his hands were hot on my back, branding me to him. He was possessive, and I knew that I would always want him. Always crave me, no matter what separated us.

               “Make me yours, Nox. Make love to me.” I whispered at his ear.

               He stilled and pulled away enough to look down into my eyes. I felt the sharp sudden emotions I had for him reflected in them, and he must have too, because he groaned and kicked his boots off at the front door of my yurt. I tried to shimmy out of my leathers but my legs were wrapped so firmly around his waist that I didn’t succeed.

               He gave a throaty chuckle and then we were collapsing on the bed. He had my shirt off before I could think, but I didn’t try to fight it this time. I wanted him in all ways.

               He brought his mouth down to my aching nipple and I arched up into him and his hot mouth met my skin. I moaned and rolled my hips against him. He made his tongue flat and drew it up and over my sensitive bud. I went wild. Never had I imagined feeling this way. I had never thought that I could be so lost to someone.

               He moaned and it vibrated through my body. I ran my claws down his chest, across the rippling bands of muscle. He stilled for a moment and then pressed his body down into mine. For the first time I felt his thick erection and I moaned, my lower body moving against it. He groaned and his iron grip went around my hips, pressing me down, keeping me from moving.

               “Be still woman, or this will be over before it begins.”

               I didn’t care, my focus centered on his shaft. I wanted it so badly that my body rolled without me having to think about it and despite his forceful restricted hold.

               When it slid along my core I gasped and he cursed at my ear.

               “Oh baby, I’m going to cum.” He threw his head back and I kept up my grinding. Sliding my core along his shaft.

               I felt it begin to contract and expand and then a delicious wetness spread.

               He groaned low and then his hands moved up to my waist and he began to grind against me, more of that wetness spreading against me.

               “Oh Io, I didn’t know what I was missing.” He fused his lips to mine. And then, just when I began to feel like I was going to shatter into an explosive heat of ecstasy, he collapsed on top of me.

               We both breathed hard, trying to catch our breaths. But my curiosity got the best of me and I shoved my hand into his pants. He rolled off me in a flash but when I brought my hand up to my face, that strange light that had lit my skin earlier shone brighter than it had and my fingers were sticky.

               I brought it closer to my face and then my tongue flicked out and I licked my hand from my wrist to the tip of my middle finger. I turned my head as the richest, creamiest, stuff I had ever tasted slid down my throat.

               His eyes were rampant on my tongue and I smiled in delight.

               He opened his mouth to speak, but a shrill shriek echoed in the darkness above my home and then the roof collapsed on top of us. I was dazed, still lost in the echoes of his passion, and didn’t have time to react.

               Huge, cold hands clamped around my naked torso and I screamed and screamed. I had no feeling of power inside me though and I had no weapon. I heard the flap of wings and then I was being carried into the sky, away from him.

               “No! Nox! No!” I struggled with all my might, but I was up and out and flying over the darkened landscape before I could even think.

               And then something hard hit me in the temple and I went out cold to the sounds of his vicious roar of fury echoing into the night below me.

Duae

Duae

Enlightened

               I felt finger tips brush down the length of the inside of my arm and sat up in a rush that made my head spin. I jerked my arm away and reached down to my hip for my pistol, but it wasn’t there. I gaped down at my empty hip and then took a deep breath and looked up from where I had scrambled over in the corner of my yurt by my bed.

               My eyes met his silver ones and I gasped, knowing that I hadn’t dreamed him.

               My fingers felt tingly as we stared at each other and I raked my gaze over him as he stood.

               He wasn’t terribly tall, maybe a few inches below six foot tall. His hair was a dirty blonde that begged your fingers to run through it. His eyes were black pupils ringed with silver mirrors and a dark ring around them. His face was angular and sharp and a beard a tiny bit darker than his hair ran along his jaw up to past his nose. His body was lean and muscular, but not bulky, he was built like the dancers I had seen when I was a little girl. He wore leathers like I did and a black shirt.

               I stood then as I dragged my gaze back up to his face and saw a slight smirk on his face, like he knew I liked what I saw.

               “Who are you?” I asked as I jammed my shoulders back, I would be damned if I looked weak in front of him again.

               He didn’t answer at first, taking the time to walk over to the edge of the bed and scratch Hank behind his ear. I gaped, my dogs had never met another person before, but they were all laid about the place asleep as if he wasn’t a threat.

               I narrowed my eyes, I wasn’t convinced. He had just tried to kill me.

               “My name is Lennox. You can call me Nox.” His voice was deep and rumbling and it made me shiver. I shook myself, what was wrong with me?

               I opened my mouth to ask him why he had tried to kill me, but he spoke before I could.

               “I apologize for trying to murder you, but then, you would have shot me no questions asked.” He gave an amused smile though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Who are you?”

               Despite myself, I felt myself beginning to relax near him. I couldn’t make my guard go up properly though, and after a few minutes of silence while he waited for me to answer, I gave up altogether. I suck down onto the bed and crossed my legs.

               “My name is Io.”

               His eyebrows rose, “Is that really your-“

               “Yes, damn you, that is really my name.” I surprised myself, my tone harsh, and I remembered that I had always hated when people asked me that as a kid.

               He sat down on the other end of the bed and I drew my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. We sat in silence for another long while as he continued to stare at me and eventually Hank came over and curled himself up on top of my feet and I smiled down at him and ruffled his head. He gave my hand a lick and I leaned down and kissed the side of his face.

               When I looked back up, I was surprised to see that Nox was not at the edge of my bed anymore, I looked around and couldn’t find him.

               And then I felt his breath at my ear and his hand brushed my braids back from my neck.

               I jumped in shock and then his face was right before mine and I couldn’t move. His eyes held me as his fingers caressed my neck and then he leaned into me and put his forehead against mine.

               “What are you?” I asked, the question falling from my lips and I had no idea where it came from. He was a human, obviously, as if there were any other choice.

               He smiled a full smile then and his eyes lit up. He put his lips to mine as he answered. “I am shadow.”

               My mind whirled, not understanding, but a moment later it didn’t matter as his lips pressed against mine. My body jack hammered off the mattress and his arms wrapped around my waist like he had been expecting my body to react as it did. He pulled me off the mattress and pressed my body against his, completely enveloping me. He groaned against my lips and I gasped as my eyes slid closed. And then his hands pulled my tucked in shirt out of my pants and his hands touched my skin. My eyes flew open and he gave a harsh groan and his lips moved to my neck and down to my collarbone. My skin felt sensitized and I wondered dimly if it always felt this way when a man touched you, but I knew it couldn’t. I couldn’t always feel like your skin was buzzing and heat like lava poured in a slow burn through your veins.

               Mindless to him, I wrapped my arms around his neck and ran my fingers through his hair.

               His breath was hot on my skin as he kissed along my chin and when he spoke I shivered again and his grip tightened on me. “Io, I finally found you.”

               His lips returned to mine before I could form a reply and his tongue slid through my teeth. I opened to him, reacting on instinct, and twined my tongue with his, deepening our kiss.

               He shuddered but pulled away from me, holding me at arm’s length, and his eyes went wide as he stared at me.

               Only then did I realize that electricity crackled around us and moved through my braids, making sharp cracking sounds as it escaped out the end of them. My body buzzed with energy and I felt different but utterly amazing.

               I looked down at my hands and they were glowing with light, but it came from underneath my skin, making our corner light up like a night light.

               He staggered back, letting go of me, and I rose up from the ground a few inches, bolts going through my feet to the floor.

               I got a wicked smile on my face and I felt unbeatable, full of power. Delicious power.

               “Wh-what are you, Io?” His silver eyes gleamed as he stared at me.

               “I am a Valkyrie.” I said with perfect certainty, feeling down to my bones. “And you, Nox, are mine.”

Una

Una

Sudden

               Two days had gone by, my meat barn was almost full for the winter and I ran around outside in the sunlight while the dogs chased me. Axel, my borzoi and Finch, my Chesapeake Bay retriever, got caught up in each other and rolled around in the grass nipping at one another.

               I stopped and started laughing at them and their tails started to wag.

               I opened my arms wide and called “Come here!”

               They all ran toward me at once and I collapsed back on the ground and laughed as they tried to lick any inch of skin they could get to. I finally sat up and kissed each one on the nose and shook the grass out of my braids.

               When I stood up I caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of my eye and turned toward it. I put my hand on my pistol and walked over towards the edge of the fence and called, “What’s out there?”

               I didn’t expect an answer; I was alone on my mountain after all. No one else had ever set foot on it from the massive cities that had swallowed up most of the landscape to the east and no one had any idea I even existed.

               When nothing jumped out at me or started yelling wildly I gave one final glare and turned back, walking toward my yurt. As I stepped inside and the dogs followed me in, I sighed, wanting a bath. So I stripped out of my clothes, wrapped an old towel around myself and walked out the door.

               When I reached the valley below my home the river went rushing by me on its way down to be polluted in whatever city it was headed for. I hung my towel up on a branch and chose a sunlit pool just off the bank of the river. The water slid over my skin like a lover would in one of my books. As I unbraided my hair out of its many braids I thought about how much I wished I had once had a lover. I had never been touched the way the lucky women in my stories had, I had never been treated with concern or kindness. In my world, kindness was viewed as weakness. And your loved ones were used as weapons against you. I had learned the hard way.

               I shivered, though my body was now used to the cool water, and looked down at the slashes up and down the inside of my left arm. They had scared over from a life that I had run from. A life that I would never go back to. In a daze I remembered bits and pieces, but I had locked most of my memories of my formative years away behind a steel wall in my mind. After so many years I wasn’t sure what waited behind it, waited to be called on again and torture me.

               The only faces I could bring up from my childhood were my brother and three sisters.

               Hamish, my brother, was only five years old in my mind, and he would forever stay that way. Rosy cheeks that begged you to pinch them, riotous pitch black hair, and a soft voice that he had never used to harm. My sisters, Edna, Gloria, and Harper, had been my best friends. Edna, the oldest of us, had golden blonde hair that had curled to her waist. Gloria, the next oldest, had always cut her hair short, keeping it barely longer than a boys hair cut would be, and it was a soft brown that matched her eyes. I came next and then there was Harper. The youngest sister, she was wild and carefree, always with a smile, and a temper that would scare any stranger from our family within minutes. She had hair that she had always kept in a single braid that ended between her shoulder blades that was the color of cinnamon.

               My heart ached as I thought about them and pictured their faces, but I knew I would never see them again. They were destined to forever be in adolescence, stripped of their lives before they had ever begun to live them.

               Tears started to fall from my eyes and my dogs began to whine as they stared at my faced and paced around the pool anxiously.

               I dried them and rose from the pool and wrapped my towel around myself, gathering the elastics and leather ties for my hair. I climbed back up the mountain and when I got home I dried my hair in front of the fire and braided back into its usual places.

               I must have fallen asleep as I lay there, contemplating how my life came to be here, on the mountain, when Rio picked his head up off the floor and growled.

               I came awake instantly, having learned to listen for his growls. I tugged on my boots and laced them up and grabbed my .243 as I went out the door.

               The sun was setting and the sky was painted a deep red with traces of purple and pink. I looked around the perimeter of my yard and stopped dead in my tracks, automatically bringing my rifle up so I was half looking through the scope.

               A figure sat perched on the edge of my fence. I couldn’t see what it was and when a ray of sunlight glanced for the last time through the trees I gasped as it came into view. The dogs growled viciously from inside the yurt to my left but they couldn’t get out to come and help me.

               I stumbled back and a deep menacing laugh came from the creature. It sounded human but wild. I shook myself and brought my scope up to my eye and aimed right for its chest. My finger hesitated over the trigger, I had never killed anything even resembling a human before, and it was my undoing.

               In that split second the thing had rushed across the distance between us so fast it was a big dark blur and had knocked the rifle out of my hands. As it lay in the grass next to me, I faintly realized that I was looking up at the stars. It had knocked me on my back. Huge hands tightened around my throat and I kicked and struggled, trying to break free, but I soon saw black spots flickering in my vision.

               I saw piercing silver eyes like mirrors above me and then the laughter was cut short as it released my throat and stumbled back.

               Before I blacked out I heard a loud series of howls coming from my home and a whisper of words in a stunned voice.

               “You can’t be her. It’s not possible.”

Rivers

My rivers ran red

With the blood of my sins.

Shame, doubt, hate

A toxic mix where no life

Could spring forth.

A thousand angels died

As they fought to help.

But I was gone,

A shell of a girl

Lost to the doom of the world.

A shade floating through,

Posing as a normal human.

But all those eyes watched

And shifted over me,

Unwilling to help or loo

Close enough.

Ignorance choked me,

Surrounding me,

Engulfing me in darkness.

This is the life you gave me, mother.

To see the underside of humanity

That stripped away my innocence

With cold hard fingers.

Demons hide behind beauty,

Nothing is sacred,

Passion is gone.

Your own rivers run black

As midnight.

And nothing can save you.

Nothing can save you.

-ES