Death Angel (Death Angel Series Book 1), Page 2

  “I do,” Nettie said, taking a bite from her sandwich. “He’s the most powerful Black General in the Death Angel Society. I’m sure he has his reasons.”

  “Maybe he owed someone a favor,” Kaia said, more to herself than to anyone else. Nettie chuckled with a mouth full of food.

  “I can’t imagine him owing anyone anything. In fact, he’d probably fire you if he heard you say such a thing,” Nettie said.

  “I don’t like her,” Kaia said, narrowing her eyes into the empty space above her. “She’s too…green. Too goody-goody looking. She has no business working under a Black General.”

  “That’s not for you to decide,” a male voice cut into the women’s conversation and sent a chill through them all. Kaia stood from her chair, dropping her nail file to the ground. “Nor to discuss in such a casual manner.”

  “I..I’m sorry Mr. Black,” she said, stumbling over her words as she tried to explain herself. “I just…I didn’t think you’d be back from lunch so quickly…I…”

  “Get back to work,” he said, his voice devoid of any emotion. Kaia found his stoicism even more blood chilling than if he had had anger brimming in his words. At least then she would know what he was thinking. She knew that he could fire her for the things she had just said. Hell he could have her sentenced to the Eternal Death if he wanted to, just because he wanted it. He was a General. His word was law, coming second only to those that ran the Central Bureau.

  “I’m sorry Mr. Black,” Kaia said again, her voice cracking with fright as she tried to make amends for her stupid mistake. He said nothing in response to her. His eyes slowly slid away from her and he walked silently into his private office. Just before he closed the door, his looked over his shoulder at the women that worked under him.

  “A Darkling has escaped from a holding cell,” he said, his words too calm for the terror which they inherently held. “Send out an order immediately. Have a crew meet me as soon as they’ve assembled.”

  ###

  Gabrielle had been walking for what felt like hours. In that time, she hadn’t come across a single other individual. She had passed hundreds of doors, all with little black numbered plaques on the front. Each one with a number that wasn’t the one she had been looking for. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep this up. Her legs were getting weak and her stomach growled angrily at her. She felt hungry, but the thought was a strange one to her. She hadn’t imagined that a person would need to eat when they were dead.

  The air in the hallway turned suddenly cold. There was an oppressive feeling that hung in the space around her that wasn’t there before. Gabrielle looked around, trying to find the source of this sudden dreadful feeling, but she was utterly alone. Something wasn’t right. The hallway darkened and filled with a strange solid smoke. A wretched smell filled her nose that made her recoil. She covered her nose with her hand to try and keep the stench out. A form materialized from the smoke and Gabrielle’s heart leapt into her throat at the sight of the creature that stood down the hall, glaring at her with angry red eyes. It was a large creature that took up most of the hallway and had to hunch down to fit between the floor and ceiling. Its arms were covered in hair and hung down to the floor. Massive teeth jutted from his large bulbous lips and dripped an oozing yellow drool into a small puddle on the floor. It looked like a mixture between an ogre and a troll, and Gabrielle could see in his eyes that he was about to come after her.

  Before she had time to react, to turn and run, or to protect herself in anyway, the creature lunged after her, tearing his way through the hallway and destroying parts of the walls on his way. Gabrielle turned to run as he got uncomfortably close, lashing out at her with his unnaturally long arms. She was sure that he was going to catch her, and by the looks of him, probably eat her. For a moment, her mind questioned if she had actually been sent to hell. This place had been unpleasant and mildly frightening from the very beginning. Now this creature that looked straight out of hell was chasing her down an endless hallway that she had been sentenced to walk down, looking for a number that likely didn’t exist. Yep, this had to be some form of hell. She must have been an awful person in her life to be sent to a place like this. Just as the thought ran through her mind, her face smacked into something hard that hadn’t been there just a moment before. She fell back onto her butt and looked up to see what she had hit. She immediately recognized the dark eyes that were staring down at her. It was her new boss. His face was an empty mask and his eyes were cold and uncaring as they looked back at the terrifying monster rampaging down the hallway.

  “You should be in your quarters,” he said, his voice flat. He was talking to her, but he didn’t take his eyes off the monster. Gabrielle grew anxious. She wanted to get up and start running again, but this man was in her way acting as if nothing was wrong.

  “I…I was trying—“

  “It doesn’t matter now,” he said. He held his arm out, his fingers extended as if he was waiting for someone to hand him something. To her surprise, something began to materialize in his grasp. It wasn’t long before she could see that it was a sword. A very large sword that looked bigger than he was. It shone with a light that was near blinding as he easily raised the weapon above his head and in a single fluid motion brought it slashing down. Gabrielle felt a wind rushing past her and for a moment worried that the weapon had somehow struck her. She looked behind her to see the perfectly aimed slice cut down the monster from the distance. She didn’t know how he could cut without the blade actually making contact, but that wasn’t the strangest thing that had happened to her today. In a burst of light that cleared the hallway, the dark monster was gone and the horrible stench with it, left behind was only a destroyed hallway and an oddly sweet floral smell. She heard footsteps and turned back around to look at the man that had just saved her. Several other men in black suits came running up and stopped just behind him, kneeling for a moment.

  “Sir, we apologize for not keeping up with you,” one of the men spoke up. “I see you have dispatched the Darkling.”

  “Something that could have easily been done by a lower level fighter, for sure,” Mr. Black said, his eyes locked oddly on Gabrielle. His words were almost condescending, but that’s not how she took it. There was something else behind his eyes that she couldn’t quite place. Something that was almost a glimmer of an emotion, but the blankness in his face and demeanor hid it too well for her to put a name on it.

  “Joken,” he said, his eyes still locked on her. “Escort Miss Gabrielle to her quarters.”

  “Yes sir,” one of the men spoke up and quickly stood, rushing over to her, eager to carry out his order. Gabrielle hesitated for just a moment.

  “Thank you,” she said, feeling like it was entirely inadequate for what had just happened. “Thank you for saving me.”

  His eyes remained on her with just a glimmer of something behind them. It was an awkward moment where Gabrielle could have sworn that he hadn’t heard her before he began to speak.

  “The Darkling is attracted to your scent,” he said, his words somehow falling short of giving her any kind of comfort. “The next time you hear the alarm, I suggest you stay in your quarters.”

  With those words he turned away from her and began to walk back down the hallway. For a moment she wanted to yell back down the hallway at him that his rudeness had erased any feeling of gratitude she had felt towards him, but she thought better of it. Instead, she just turned around and began to follow the other man in a black suit to where her new quarters were.

  Chapter Four

  “It’s not the end of the world, ya know,” Markus said, clapping his best friend on the shoulder as he came in the room.

  “Are you sure about that?” Kasen asked with a half-hearted laugh and an eyebrow cocked at his friend.

  "I'm fairly certain," Markus looked around the empty meeting room. "Though I've been wrong before."

  They were the first to arrive for the weekly Generals’ meeting, as they usu
ally were. The room was large enough to fit all six of the Death Angel Society Generals and the Head General, but not nearly large enough to fit all their egos. The room was sparsely furnished, with only a long table placed smack in the middle of the room and seven chairs around it. Three on each side and one at the end. The Dark Generals sat on one side, while the Light Generals filled the other and the Head General presided over them all. Markus and Kasen filled two of the spots reserved for the Light Generals.

  "I hate to break it to you, but you're wrong a lot," Kasen said, his voice already sounding a bit lighter. Markus had that effect on him. They smiled knowingly at each other.

  “Is it the sickness again, or something else?” Markus asked his tone turning a bit more serious with his concern.

  “No, it’s not that I’m afraid,” Kasen said, waving his friend off with a shrug. "That I can handle."

  “Then it must be women," Markus said leaning in a little closer with a wink.

  Kasen smirked over at his friend. He didn’t expect him to understand his situation. The man was a womanizer if he ever met one, and to everyone’s greatest surprise, it actually worked for him most of the time.

  “I must admit I'm a bit ashamed of myself,” Kasen said with a heavy sigh. "I let myself think this one would be different."

  “You always do,” Markus said, mirroring his friend's sullen expression, "Even when I warn you not to."

  “I know, I just thought--"

  “Man, I told you how she was,” Markus said, his eyebrows rising. "I could tell just with one look what that woman was after."

  "I wish I had that gift," Kasen mumbled, more to himself than to his friend.

  "So, what happened?" Markus asked. "You wanna spill all the gory details?"

  "Nothing I'd like more than reliving my horror," Kasen said with heavy sarcasm dripping from his words. He shook his head and looked away. "It was her birthday yesterday. So, to see how she would take it, I gave her an IOU coupon."

  "An IOU coupon?" Markus asked, his eyebrows twisting in confusion.

  "Yeah," Kasen said, with a little laugh. "An IOU an hour of cuddling coupon. Even made the damn thing myself."

  "I'm guessing she wasn't impressed," Markus said with a belt of laughter. "A General like you could certainly afford a much better birthday present."

  "Which is precisely what she said," Kasen said with a bitter twist on his lips. "That's not what I had really gotten her. But I just wanted to see how she'd react. I told her it was a gift that I put a lot of thought into, that it would be something we could both enjoy and we could spend some quality time together."

  "Let me guess, she was expecting something a bit more sparkly," Markus said.

  "And more pricey," Kasen said, shaking his head. "I just want a woman that wants me for me. Not my status, or my money. Why is that so damned hard to find."

  "Because you're a General," Markus said with a little laugh. "And this is the Death Angel Society. No one here likes anyone for who they really are."

  Kasen knew his friend was trying to be helpful and cheer him up, but it just wasn’t working. He had been a General for nearly three hundred years but he had been a member of the noble class his whole life. It didn’t seem to bother his other peers much that most of the marriages that occurred had involved very little love. He understood that this world could be difficult to live in, and being married to a man with position or family status made that life vastly more comfortable. But he just had no desire to marry a woman that didn’t love him for who he was. The problem with that, aside from the lure of his position and status, was the fact that his health left him weak and bedridden for much of the time. Without his position in the Central Bureau and his family’s status, he wouldn’t be much of a catch for any woman. It was a rather frustrating catch 22 he found himself in.

  Sebastian Black’s entrance silenced the conversation. Kasen respected the man a lot. He was also born to the noble class and he was one of the more famous Generals of the Central Bureau. He had worked for his position, earned it with hard work and exceptional abilities. He maintained his status by running a very tight ship. Kasen had a great amount of sympathy for anyone working under him, as he had a reputation for being demanding of his subordinates. Neither him nor Markus expected Sebastian to say anything, and true to form, he was a silent observer as they waited for the other Generals to arrive. They didn't need to wait long.

  “We’ve had quite a few issues this week,” the Head General said, his milky blue eyes scanned the other Generals from behind his bushy white eyebrows as he began the meeting. “Would someone care to explain how a Darkling managed to escape and rampage through the Central Bureau for nearly three hours before it was finally stopped?”

  “Those Darklings can get rather tricky," one of the Dark Generals spoke up. His name was Eliot. His wavy brown hair was neatly combed back and his soft brown eyes looked around at his peers. He had only been a General for a few decades, but he had the potential to become one of the most powerful among them. They all knew it and because of that, they took his words into heavy consideration. "We need more fighters in the holding cell. Especially when it’s overloaded, like it was when this one escaped."

  “There would be no need for more fighters if the ones already placed there could do their jobs,” another General spoke up. It was the other Light General, Bastogne. His shortly cropped blonde hair framed his handsome face that was highlighted with green eyes. He was the oldest General of them all, aside from the Head General, and the most temperamental. Everyone could feel the tension rise in the room. Darklings were the responsibility of the Dark Generals. They were the ones who had the power and ability to fight them off and to contain them. It was a downright slap in the face for a Light General to tell one how to deal with them.

  “Maybe you’d like to handle a Darkling for a change,” Cassandra barked gruffly at Bastogne as she glared at him with a mix of anger and disgust. She was the only female General, but they all knew that didn’t take away from her competence. She had long dark hair that waved down her back and framed her pale skin and slender body. To an outside observer, she would appear almost frail, but the other General’s knew she was a force to be reckoned with. Her dark eyes settled angrily on Bastogne. He did an admirable job of holding her gaze with indifference.

  “I think we are ignoring the underlying problem here,” Sebastian spoke up, as he usually did when Cassandra got a bit hot headed. She shot him a look that he didn't return.

  “What are you saying General Black?” Kasen asked, hoping that he had something to say that would ease the tension in the room. He was a strong voice of reason, but unfortunately he was also very blunt with his assessments. Kasen hoped he wasn't about to further the animosity already in the room.

  “Perhaps no one else has noticed,” he said, his eyes shifting directly onto the Head General. “But my squad has seen a significant rise in Darklings over the past few years. We are simply not equipped to deal with the high numbers because they have never been so proficient before.”

  “So you're saying your men can’t handle it?” Bastogne said, a smirk on his face as he tried to goad Sebastian into a fight. Not a good idea. Sebastian could give him Eternal Death with barely a second thought.

  “They can, and they do,” Sebastian said, his blank eyes slipping over to Bastogne for a moment. His cool head only added to his inherent intimidation. “What I’m saying is it is unusual. Maybe if your squad did their job better, we would know why.”

  “This is rather concerning news,” the Head General said, bringing a final close to the discussion. “General Bastogne, I will task you with looking into this matter. As a Light General, it is your responsibility to discover these things. I look forward to hearing your report.”

  “Yes sir,” Bastogne said, his voice almost pouting. He was silent for the rest of the meeting.

  ###

  “It’s right this way, miss,” Joken said respectfully as he turned around to look at Gabrielle f
or just a moment.

  “You can just call me Gabrielle,” she said, following after him. He was setting a fast pace, and her already weakened legs were finding it hard to keep up, though she was glad to hear that it was just a short way away.

  “No, ma’am,” he said, again turning just his head to look at her as he walked quickly. “Mr. Black would not be pleased if I addressed you so informally.”

  “But there’s no need to be so formal,” Gabrielle said. “I don’t mind.”

  “Thank you ma’am,” he said, “but your station is higher than mine. Formality is required, whether you want it or not.”

  “I see,” she said, not terribly happy with the way his statement sounded. This place was quickly becoming more and more unpleasant. She couldn’t remember anything from her life, but she somehow knew it wasn’t one spent with much formality.

  They turned down a hallway that split off from the main hallway she had been walking down and it was like she entered a different world. It was a bit larger than the other one, and it was filled with people, going to and from places she could only imagine. It was like life suddenly exploded in this place. But as they began to walk down this hallway, she noticed a distinct difference in these people than the others she had encountered. They weren’t dressed in suits of either black or white. Their clothing was colorful and informal. They bustled about, loudly talking amongst each other, but when Gabrielle and her escort passed by they all became quiet. They backed out of the way and stared at the man guiding her with awe, while shooting curious stares at her, as they looked her up and down.

  “We should move quickly through here,” Joken said, looking momentarily at her before he picked up his pace a little more. "It would have been better to avoid it altogether."

  Gabrielle had a million questions to ask the man, but she could tell he wouldn't answer a single one so she kept quiet, instead focusing on absorbing her surroundings. As they passed through this hall, she noticed that the doors were placed much closer to each other than the previous hallway. She also noticed that the numbered plaques were not black or white, but gray and the numbers on them were much higher than any of the other numbers, though they still were not in order.