Age of Angels Read online

  “We’ll give you one last chance!” the lead hunter shouted, but he was already lunging for a killing blow as the words left his mouth.

  So, fuck him. I spun, bringing my sword around, and put up a shield for the blow I knew would’ve otherwise taken me down. The spear hit and I was knocked slightly off course, but only enough so that when my sword connected with his head, it didn’t cleanly decapitate him. He fell over as I landed, his head clinging on with a thread of skin. Then he was gone in a flash of gold.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Daedra taking down another. It said something about her strength, as not many demons could survive against a single hunter, let alone a group of them. Or maybe fighting at my side was giving her extra boosts? Either way, there were only two of them left.

  Rumbling sounded, then suddenly the ground burst open and a monstrous beast charged out, large claws tearing into the hunter opposite me, pulling him to shreds so that golden blood splattered.

  I pulled back, pressed up against Daedra, as the other remaining hunter attempted to avenge his friend. No luck, and a moment later he followed his friend down the throat of the monster, teeth tearing him apart on the way.

  We ran, half sprinting, half flying as another monster appeared in the sky. The second was much like the first, but with scales and a long neck, teeth gnashing and steam billowing from its nostrils.

  “On me,” Daedra shouted as her armor returned. She dodged sideways for a tackle, the two of us rolling. For an instant, I thought she might be attacking me, but then saw the smoke around us, fading to a sheen of black, like a bubble. In response to my inquisitive look, she explained, “We’re cloaked. Keep moving, but stay low. No magic.”

  I nodded, and we were up, moving as a duo as the two monsters tore each other apart behind us. They weren’t natural, and they didn’t belong on the plains. How many times had I been here and never seen anything like that? The shift was changing much more than we knew.

  On the plus side, I noticed a screen had been floating nearby ever since I’d killed the last of the hunters before the beast appeared. At the time it had seemed like a random eyesore, but now I realized that its presence meant I’d leveled up again!

  We moved around to the other side of a rock formation, pausing, and I took the opportunity to catch my breath and see what those skill points from earlier, and this leveling up, could be used for. To my relief, the sounds of fighting had died off, so I assumed we were clear for now.

  A screen like this didn’t make sense to me, but I understood the basic ideas behind attack, speed, and whatnot. I also saw that there were more techniques I could learn, which the screen called “Spells.” For now, since I had five points, I assigned three to defense and one to speed, and used one to open a new spell that was called, Hunter’s Bow. The screen now read:

  Level: 72

  Class: Angelic Host

  Attack: 121

  Defense: 110

  Speed: 202

  Mana: 363

  Spells

  White: Shield of Light Level 14

  Yellow: Heavenly Blade Level 10; Hunter’s Bow Level 1

  Not sure how that worked, I simply thought of using it and noticed a golden bow appear in my hand. Without arrows, I lifted it, pretended to knock an arrow, and wasn’t at all surprised when an arrow of golden light appeared.

  That could come in useful, I thought, and put it away as I noticed Daedra had a screen in front of her, too.

  “So, I’m not going insane.” I nodded toward her screen.

  She shook her head. “A couple of others had them, demons who leveled up after killing a few of their kind before our attack on the heavens. I wasn’t sure what it was, but… No, I’m still not.”

  I stepped beside her and noticed that she was only a level twenty-seven. It made me wonder what this was—a gauge of years lived combined with power? Or was there some other measurement at play?

  “From what I’ve gathered, you can apply those points,” I indicated the three she had at the top right of her screen, “to upgrade yourself, somehow.”

  “What the fuck?”

  “Honestly, I have no idea why, but imagine it has to do with whatever gave me free will and made you not a slave anymore. I imagine answers are coming, or we’ll find them for ourselves. In the meantime, see, your defense is strong, but attack could be better, and it looks like you’re connected to the black, purple, and red colors, while mine are only white and yellow. I guess that fits, but, click there.” I pointed to the red circle.

  Sure enough, when she hit it there were several upgrade options. I guessed she had more, being lower level.

  “Those are like new shields, new attacks, stuff like that,” I said. “Spells, kind of. You definitely will want to try those out.”

  She smiled, nodded, and said, “Sure, maybe when I have some down time to look it over, make sure I get the best upgrades.”

  I nodded, watching her swipe the screen away, still amazed that I was here with this beauty, this stunning creature who was in so many ways my complete opposite.

  Her eyes met mine and we held that moment. I leaned in, about to kiss her, when another flash of gold light went off. The beam of light slammed into the ground. We spun to see another angelic hunter kneeling, spear at the ready.

  “FUCK!” I shouted, both very aware of my cursing, and embracing it. If I was going to be a god, I was going to have to get used to doing whatever the hell I felt like. But seriously, could I get a break, here?

  I held out my hand, sword flaming into existence, and took a step toward the hunter.

  “Wait,” a voice said, almost gingerly. The angel took off her helmet and her breastplate, casting them aside. “It’s me.”

  “Naratha?” I stared, confused.

  She stood there in her silks, taut nipples showing through as the wind whipped about her. “I didn’t come to fight, but to go with you.”

  Her eyes moved from me to Daedra, then back again, confused.

  “Go with us?” I asked, cocking my head.

  “I…” She looked truly dumbfounded.

  “It’s either us, or not at all.”

  “I can never go back. Because of you!”

  “Wrong. You can never go back… because of you.”

  Naratha’s eyes bored into me, considering who I was and our predicament. Finally she said, “Then… yes.”

  “You know her, I’m assuming,” Daedra interjected. “If you trust her, what am I going to do? Let’s move before more show up.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” I glanced around the plains. “You know your way around here?”

  “We should be able to find a cave to hide out in. This way.” Daedra motioned us along and took the lead.

  Watching a nearly nude demon run, even one with goat feet, was proving incredibly sexy. It made sense to stick to the ground instead of flying, for one because we wanted to stay low, out of sight, but also because flying took magical energy, energy that the hunters and demons could track.

  The lower our magical presence, the less likely we were to be found.

  “I’m confused,” Naratha admitted as we ran, trying to keep her voice down so Daedra wouldn’t hear. “How did… this… come about?”

  “You weren’t exactly jumping to be at my side up there,” I spat out. “So when I found someone on the same page, someone who—”

  “A fucking demon!” she interrupted me.

  Daedra glanced back, laughed, and said, “Princess, you have no idea.”

  To Naratha’s relief, Daedra kept running, pausing as the grass gave way to rocky terrain, then leading us toward a tree line.

  “There was a time when things like that would’ve mattered,” I said. “And that time was before I had a choice. Now that I do, I don’t see why I should decide on my friends, or lovers, based on their appearance or race.”

  Naratha frowned. “Lover?”

  “Wrap your pretty head around that.” I ran a little faster, not wanting to address
the issue at hand. I’d just referred to the demon as my lover. But, Naratha had left everything behind to come after me. Why?

  Actually, yeah… “Why?” I stopped, turning to her, vaguely aware of Daedra coming to a halt ahead and turning back in frustration, but waiting and giving us space. “Why’d you come after me?”

  “It’s crazy up there,” she said. “As soon as you were gone, the generals started briefing us and… you wouldn’t believe it.”

  “Try me.”

  She took a deep breath, chest rising and then falling again. “The plains,” she gestured around, “these plains. They’re saying there’s something special about them, more so than before. Like the spirit realm is changing, breaking apart, forming new worlds. There’s talk of portals here, ways of accessing them. Everyone will be fighting for control over these portals, and, well… it’s war on a larger scale than we ever conceived of.”

  I could tell she was scared, and honestly what she said sort of frightened me. But as I thought about it, I realized that no, I wasn’t scared. I was excited.

  “These worlds… we could go to one of them. We could start a new life.”

  She nodded, enthusiastically.

  “But… you didn’t say—why me?”

  “I missed you,” she blurted out, finally getting to the real answer.

  “Could have said so a little earlier, no?”

  She frowned, ran a hand through her golden hair, and then turned to look at the demon. “I get what you see in her. I do. It was like when I saw your cock last night—it was beautiful, but… scary. And I wanted it, but couldn’t quite accept that I wanted it.”

  “My cock isn’t scary.”

  She laughed. “To me? It is. You imagine putting something like that inside you, you’ll see what I mean. But the danger of it intrigued me, like…” She nodded at Daedra. “Maybe you see her as something you shouldn’t be doing, as kind of scary, but enticing, alluring.”

  “I see her as someone who gets me. She and my cock have very little in common, aside from affection for each other… I think.”

  “They do,” Daedra called over. She pointed at her ears, “By the way, demon hearing. It’s amazing.”

  “Thanks for letting us know earlier,” I called back, then laughed. Taking Naratha’s hand in mine, I looked into her eyes, showing I was sincere. “I want you along. Hell, I want you—you know this. But because you showed up doesn’t mean we should…”

  “Cast me aside?” Daedra started walking back.

  “Exactly.”

  The demon came to a stop, staring Naratha down. “Is that what you’d have him do? Be done with me, now that I’ve served my purpose?”

  Naratha took a moment, staring at the demon, then slowly shook her head. “You’re scary, but… sexy. As I said, enticing. Not only to him.”

  That hit me as a surprise, and Daedra arched an eyebrow.

  “Excuse me?” she said.

  Naratha shrugged. “An angel gets free will for the first time, finds herself with a well-hung god of an angel and a gorgeous demon lady. You think I’m not curious?”

  I laughed, then realized both had turned toward me. “What?”

  “Are we doing this?” Daedra asked.

  Naratha stared, waiting. “Well?”

  “If by ‘this,’ you mean…?” I had an idea, but didn’t want to be presumptuous.

  “The three of us, on the run, experimenting with this newfound free will,” Naratha elaborated.

  “And freedom,” Daedra added. “Just, in general. And by experimenting, I think she means fucking each other’s brains out.”

  Naratha’s eyes went wide, but she offered a subtle nod.

  All I could say in response was, “How far is the nearest cave?”

  “Let’s move faster,” Daedra said, and she took us both in with her eyes, clearly ready for what was to come. Naratha was certainly running faster, and I felt a new motivation, to be sure.

  The cave was exactly where Daedra had expected to find it, and as soon as we were in, she turned to Naratha, grinned like the crazy demon she was, and then leaned in to lick her cheek. I thought Naratha was going to punch her. Instead, she took the challenge. Her eyes shifted to ‘oh, you want to test me’ and she took the other woman, running a hand along one of her horns as her eyes met mine, and then brought her in for a kiss.

  I don’t need to mention growing hard at that, because two hot, nearly nude women kissing and caressing each other is hot. When one’s a beautiful, golden angel and the other is a stunning, sexy demon? Yeah, it was like I could feel the orgasm taking hold already, although it didn’t happen yet, I was glad to say.

  “You don’t have to—” I started, but Naratha turned Daedra around to face me, wings spread on each side of her as she pressed herself to the demon’s back, hands moving along her bare skin.

  “You want this, don’t you?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  Her hands went to the curve of Daedra’s breasts, moving in a semi-circle to trace them, then continued as the armor vanished again so that her breasts were bare. Naratha took the demon’s dark nipples between her fingers. A golden light shone through her fingers and caused Daedra to slightly convulse, even moan. Now Daedra reached back over her shoulder to kiss the angel, and Naratha’s right hand moved down to find the demon’s pussy.

  “Touch yourself,” Naratha said, turning from the kiss to watch me. With this and her wanting to see last night, I was starting to get an idea for her tastes. Daedra smiled, apparently liking this prospect as well.

  “You do realize the angelic hunters are out there,” I reminded them. “That more could arrive at any minute.”

  Naratha slid her fingers into Daedra. Again, the golden light made the demon convulse, squirm, and then she reached back, finding Naratha’s pussy as well.

  This was all new for me, so as both women eyed me hungrily, I undid my loincloth and let it fall to the ground. Next, I took my hard cock in my hand, stroking it and loving the reactions in their expressions.

  “Now bring it over here,” Daedra said, pulling away from Naratha but taking her hand, so that they were like a welcoming committee as I approached. She took my finger, sucking on it as she eyed my cock, but instead of making a move on me as I thought she would, she guided me to Naratha. “Strip her.”

  A moment of uncertainty passed between Naratha and I, but then she nodded, and I stepped up, taking her silk-like robe and pulling it down to expose her slim frame and what were slightly less-than-a-handful breasts. On the smaller side and sexy in their way, although quite the opposite of the voluptuous Daedra.

  She glanced down and went to cover herself. I pulled her arm aside and took one of her nipples in my mouth, massaging it with my tongue and lips. It was glorious, the taste of her like butterscotch and cream pies.

  My hand moved between her legs as Daedra moved back, leaning against the wall to watch, loving it.

  Suddenly, Naratha pulled my hand away and turned her eyes to the ground.

  “What’s going on?” Daedra asked after a moment of stunned silence. I wanted to know the same thing, but had a feeling I knew where this was going.

  “After this, what?” Naratha asked. “It’s… wrong.”

  Daedra laughed a cold laugh, but I held up a hand to stop her.

  “No, I get what she’s saying.” I took Naratha by the chin, turning her face to me. “Don’t you see? With all this power, and these screens, to get even more power. It’s limitless, it seems. Like… gods. We can be gods in our own right.”

  “How can you say that?” Naratha asked, stepping back. Judging by the fact that she didn’t question the mention of screens, she was aware of them, too. “It’s… wrong.”

  “Is it?” I stood, cock out and ready. “Worship me, kneel. See how right it is.”

  She stared at me, confusion and worry etched on her face. “It’s… forbidden.” But her eyes lowered to my cock, grown to its full length and girth, and she tilted her head.
br />   “It’s your choice,” I said. “It can only be your choice.”

  A low purring sound came from Daedra, almost a humming.

  Naratha stepped forward, knelt, and ever so gingerly, reached out. Her hand stopped an inch from my cock, her eyes staring at it as if that would make it happen faster. And then suddenly she was on it, plunging it into her mouth as much as she could, both hands stroking it, caressing my balls, then going to my ass and squeezing as she pulled me into her.

  “That’s more like it,” Daedra said, and then she was up, coming back over to join us. Golden light flowed through Naratha’s hands and sent warm tingles through my cock, while Daedra knelt next to her, slipping a finger into the angel’s pussy and kissing her back, then her wings.

  I reached out and cautiously touched one of those horns. It was cold, like steel. Daedra grinned up at me. We were really doing this.

  “You’ll see… when this is over,” I said, caressing Naratha’s cheek, moving her hair behind her ears. I turned to Daedra, who’d lowered her face to Naratha’s pussy. Her red, hot tongue darted out and licked, then the demon buried her face in the angel’s mound. “When this is over, when we’ve taken a world for ourselves… All of us will be gods.”

  1

  A jab nearly hit Luke in the face, but he dodged right and countered with a parry and then a knee to the opponent’s midsection. His sparring buddy, Gerald, let out a grunt and then turned, ready for another strike.

  Luke stepped back in, assessing his opponent for openings. He went for a front push kick. Gerald swept it aside easily, then laughed through his mouthpiece before bringing in the sweep kick that sent Luke to his ass. Luke was ready for the larger man to come down on top of him, but turned his attention upward at a creaking sound. The sound of metal grinding on metal followed, and something moved up there.

  Gerald noticed it too, backing up and giving a muffled shout as a large metal object fell. It nearly crushed Luke’s head, missing by only an inch, and landed so heavily on the floor that it caused him to bounce off the mat slightly. Luke instantly rolled out of the way, pushing himself to his feet as he stared in shock. Right there on the mat sat a large AC unit. It had nearly killed him.