Dark Prince

She pushed herself to her feet before he returned. At least standing it would be harder for him to try to kiss her because of her height. When he strode back, his smile faltered. Angel made sure to make a show out of adjusting the black sash on her low-cut, white pants, which hugged her like a second skin, barely covering the bare necessities. Her black, thigh-high boots kept her favorite lethal toys concealed and within reach. She looked up to catch Bumaan's eyes sweeping appreciatively over her. Angel considered herself lucky her slim, athletic build was a desirable trait in this sector.

"Bu, where are we?" She tossed her head so some of her platinum braids spilled over one shoulder.

Bumaan stepped up to her and fingered a few of them, letting his hand slide down to roll the silver beads at the ends of the braids. His hand was right over the apex of her thighs, where the braids fell to. The backs of his fingers brushed against her, making her take a step back. "We're in a section reserved for special cargo." He released her braids with a leering grin.

"Special cargo?" Angel raised one brow with a frown. "I thought we were going to see something more exciting than that."

"Oh, but our tour has yet to begin." He extended his hand turning a little away from her and opened the exit hatch.

Placing her hand in his, she followed him down the ramp that lowered from the very center of the passengers' cabin.

Angel realized that the dark metal that covered the interior of the hangar, from its floor to its walls, up to its high ceilings, gave the illusion of the space being dimly lit. Glaring lights were recessed in the metal beams that ran across the expanse of the ceiling two hundred feet above. There were also strips of soft blue lighting on the floor and around the various exit doors made of the same dark material as the rest of the hangar. He led her toward the nearest double doors telling her about how the research station was built, when a black, tear-shaped pod drew her attention.

"Is that... " She stopped and headed toward the small transport pod. "Is that a Viper?"

He didn't need to answer. Her heart raced as her eyes followed the gleaming smooth lines of the Viper; a Master Guardian's main mode of transportation. This has to be Devon's! Not being able to resist, she placed her palms on the black pod. A humming vibration ran up her arms, and she gasped when the vision of a swirling vortex overtook her. Her stomach lurched, and she felt herself swaying on her feet. She would have fallen, but strong arms wrapped around her and crushed her against a muscled torso. Angel's vision still swam, but her hearing clearly picked up the sound of sin and temptation that whispered her name into her ear. She tried to blink away the whirling sensation, catching a glimpse of a chiseled chest, white as a marble statue, before a veil of ebony silk fell around her face. Her lips were captured in a brutal kiss, and the feel of a slippery tongue trying to pry itself into her mouth had her rearing back.

The deep voice changed to a pathetic whine. Her vision cleared, and she found herself on the floor struggling against Bumaan who was humping her hip like a mongurah in heat. She gave him a hard shove, making the orange man fall back on his rear.

"Bumaan, what the hell are you doing?" She stood and dusted off her pants, glaring at his stunned expression.

"I-I'm so sorry, Angel. It's just that I got so frightened when I saw you swooning."

It was the most pathetic excuse she'd ever heard. "Swooning? I don't swoon, little man," she snapped, making him wince. Almost immediately she realized she was slipping back into her true persona. She still needed to seduce the little wimp so he'd at least take her where Devon was located. Already, he was looking at her as if rethinking his prudence at having brought her here.

Angel opened her eyes wide and covered her mouth. It only took three blinks to get her phony tears coursing down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Bubu. I don't know what came over me." She sniffled and wiped at her tears, letting her lower lip tremble for good measure.

Bumaan fell for the ploy. "Don't cry, Angel. I should have warned you about that pod. It has a strange power field around it. We're still trying to learn how to deactivate it."

"Isn't that a Master Guardians' transport? What is it doing here?"

"Uhh... someone brought it to us."

He lied, and she knew it, but it didn't matter. She allowed him to take her hand once more and draw her back to the double doors a few paces away. His conversation steered from the topic of the Viper and launched back to his cloning techniques.

They walked down a long corridor that led to a pair of metal doors. Bumaan placed his hand on a lighted security panel and the doors glided open. Bright lights illuminated the blinding white walls and floors. Glass, chrome and steel was the prime material embellishing the immense chamber. The heels of her boots echoed loudly as she surveyed hundreds of glass jars of varying sizes upon metal shelves. Amber liquid bubbled within the containers, and various creatures floated inside the jars, connected to tiny hoses. Cages lined the walls, some containing animals she didn't recognize. The entire scene made her skin crawl.

At the far end of the room, she saw another door. She didn't know why, but she felt drawn to it, the energy inescapable. Angel hadn't realized she began walking toward it until Bumaan's fingers tightened around her wrist.

He frowned at her. "The clone I wish to show you is over here."

She tried to pull her hand away, but he squeezed her wrist tighter. "What's through there?" Angel pointed at the door.

Bumaan looked at the door for a few seconds, and then leveled his gaze at her. "That's a highly classified project."

"Oh, Bu, really?" She widened her eyes and leaned her body into his.

He took a deep breath and swallowed, his eyes focusing on her breasts, which were almost in front of his face. "I really can't take you inside there."

Angel pouted. "What a shame. That would have excited me enough to actually want to... " She let her words trail off with a sigh.

Bumaan scowled. "But what about out here?" His expression softened, and his hand stroked her arm. "I can take you on one of the tables, or maybe in one of the cages."

Angel turned away from him with a disdainful sniff. "You expect me to experience my first time surrounded by smelly animals?" She worked at getting her eyes to well up again. "Just take me back to Mars again, Bu. This was all a... "

Bumaan grasped both of her hands. "Wait." He turned her face to his. "I didn't think... I didn't know." Bumaan turned and looked around. He took a deep breath and then let it out. "Okay. But we can't take too long, okay? No one is allowed in there."

Angel held her breath as he opened the door by deactivating a security panel. The predominance of white continued into this room, much smaller than the outer one. Air, cold and tomb-like, swept over her exposed flesh making tiny bumps rise on her skin. Her eyes locked on a frosted glass and metal cylinder that sat in the middle of the room, looking suspiciously like a coffin.

Bumaan's hand on her forearm halted her steps. "Don't go any closer."

She turned to him, thinking about which weapon she should pull out first. If she removed her dagger from her boot, she'd most likely slit his throat. She'd set her laser gun to stun, but then that wouldn't be fun, would it? "What's in the box, Bu?"

"You don't want to know." His mouth compressed into a thin line.

She could tell he definitely wasn't going to cooperate voluntarily on this one. She would just have to prod a little harder.

Taking a deep breath, Angel reached behind her back. She watched Bumaan's jaw go slack when she unhooked and dropped her bustier. The cold air did a good job of turning her rosy nipples into two little points that peeked out from underneath the multiple braids streaming over her torso. The Chidadent didn't waste any time in gripping her roughly around her waist. Angel tried not to cringe when she felt his mouth seize one of her breasts. This time the tears that filled her eyes were real as her entire being recoiled at the man's groping hands on her body. He groaned when she raised her thigh and wrapped her leg around him. She buried her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck and her other hand dipped into her boot. Bumaan's eyes flew open in surprise when she jerked his head back, laser gun pressed to his cheek.

"Open the cylinder."

The Chidadent's color paled to a delicate peach. "Are you mad? You don't know what you're asking!"

Angel shuddered, feeling the moisture of his saliva on her nipple. The urge to kill him where he stood nearly overwhelmed her. Instead, she tugged his ponytail harder, making him yelp. Her words came out as a snarl. "I said open the cursed cylinder."

"Angel, that stasis unit contains a demon."

"Devon Angelos belongs to the Venushtian government. The Edenians violated our sacred grounds by destroying the holy black stone."

Bumaan's eyes bulged out even more. "They were trying to destroy the demon inside it. You don't understand. The council had a vision. They saw the portal of hell buried on Earth being opened."

"By Devon Angelos? You lie! The prophecy of the dark prince describes a fallen reaper with golden hair. Devon is wingless and black-haired."

"But he tried to overthrow the Edenian government. He's dangerous. Who's to say that once he gives himself over to the demons he isn't transformed into the golden-haired angel di la morte? Have you ever seen the transformations of the possessed? They can turn any color."

Angel sneered. "He won't be giving himself over to anyone. He'll be chained in our temple for the rest of his days. Now I won't say it again... open the cylinder."

"Angel, please. You can't chain something like him. He's too powerful."

Her patience was wearing thin. "Then how the hell did you manage to capture and imprison him in there. You must think I'm stupid."

"He's confused and unstable. He doesn't even remember how he was captured in the suspended animation ball your people worshiped. Devon voluntarily allowed one of our scientists to put him in stasis."

Angel felt the hairs at the back of her neck prickle. She spun and ducked just in time before the pulse of a laser came close to searing her. Bumaan, on the other hand, surprised her by pulling out a stunner and zapping her neck. Angel crumpled to the ground unable to move. She groaned, fighting the darkness that threatened to veil her eyes. Rough hands groped her, reawakening her nightmares, making her mind spin back in time; the tortures at the hands of the Grei aliens, the breeding experiments, and the screaming...

"No, please," she screamed. "Please don't!"

Laughter filled her ears. She blinked trying to clear the colors swimming before her eyes and finally focused on the bulky guard that had almost gotten her with his laser gun. Her mind clicked back into the present. Rage fueled Angel's blood. He was undoing her sash, his hand indolently caressing her between her legs. When he leaned down to sample her bare breast, she brought her thigh up, grasped her dagger and impaled it up under his left ribcage. Warm, sticky blood flowed over her torso before she was able to shove his corpse to the side. Barely gaining control over her limbs, she scrambled up and grasped Bumaan, who'd rushed to grab the laser gun she'd dropped. He froze when she placed the blade of her dagger against his neck.

"Get up!"

"Now, don't do anything rash, Angel."

"Shut-up!" She grabbed his ponytail again and jerked him upright, her dagger drawing a thin line of blood across his neck. "Now... either you open this fucking cylinder or I do it using your skull to bash it open." Her hold on his hair tightened making his eyes bulge.

"Alright-alright!" Bumaan's hand shook as he punched in a series of symbols on a control pad near the edge of the glass.

"If this doesn't open and you're trying to trick me, I'm going to cut your head off and shove it up your... "

Angel stopped talking when the glass cylinder slid open with a hiss. A white mist filled the interior of the metal base. Without a second thought, she flipped her dagger over and struck Bumaan at the back of his head, sending him into an unconscious heap to the floor. She grabbed her bustier and fastened it back on and then went over to the cylinder with her laser gun drawn.

Her rage vanished and her breath caught in her throat when the mist finally cleared. Many words flitted through her head; inhumanly beautiful, angel, god—none befitted the creature before her. Blue-black hair splayed around his head like a blanket of liquid satin. His skin was almost colorless, making him resemble a stone statue, the slight blush that kissed his lips and cheeks the only indication that he was flesh and bone. His brows soared like graceful raven's wings over closed lids fringed with thick sooty lashes. A pert nose looked almost too delicate to be a man's, yet lent his masculine face an angelic quality that took her breath away. His full, lush lips tempted her to taste to see if they were as sweet as they looked. All her life she'd viewed men as hairy, ugly creatures, yet the male body before her was as smooth as a child's. His chest bulged with muscles, square pectorals decorated with petal colored nipples, ropey arms, and a rippled abdomen. She sighed in wonder as her eyes took in the enthralling line that marked his narrow hips disappearing beneath a soft pair of linen, drawstring pants. The soft material couldn't disguise the powerful thighs they covered, nor the substantial evidence of his manhood nestled between. Goddess, that thing looks lethal! She should have felt repulsed, maybe a little afraid, but the truth was she'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit the sight of that bulge intrigued and excited her. Angel found her train of thoughts disturbing and pulled her gaze away from the mesmerizing sight of his loins. His feet peeked out from under the hems of his pants, finely arched with perfectly square nails on each of his toes. Heavenly goddess, even his feet are fascinating!

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the dazed feeling keeping her enthralled. Time was running out. More guards were probably on their way, so she had to get moving. She let her gaze sweep over him again. For heaven's sake! He's got to be like seven feet tall! Why isn't he waking up?

She tucked the laser gun into her boot again. "Hey... " Angel gripped his wrist and pulled. "Wake up." His head turned, but his eyes remained closed. She gripped his other wrist and began trying to pull him into a sitting position. "Come-on, Devon Angelos, help me out here." She pulled with all her might. His torso lifted from the metal box, his head tipped back. He groaned, letting his head loll forward. Angel straddled the cylinder trying to get a better grip on him by slipping her hands under his arms. Her face was now a breath away from his. As she proceeded to wrap one of her hands around his waist to steady him, he suddenly opened his eyes. It wasn't much, they fluttered open just a crack, but the unnatural glow of his blue irises startled a scream from her lips and she jumped back releasing him. His head hit the interior of the stasis unit with a loud thud.

Angel's hands shook as she leveled her laser gun at him. "What the hell are you?" No humanoid has eyes like that! He remained unmoving and she felt tempted to shoot him before he stirred. He really is a demon! Her aim was centered at his heart and the gun set on vaporize. She panted, breaking out in a sweat, willing herself to do it... but she couldn't. Letting out a string of scathing curses, she shoved the laser gun back into her boot and gripped his arms again. "Come-on, demon-boy. Up!" He stirred as she wrapped one of his sinewy arms over her shoulders. With a grunt, she lifted him up, every muscle in her body straining. His knees buckled, almost taking her down with his weight. By sheer force of will, she managed to keep him upright, dragging him out to the corridor.

He leaned heavily on her, dragging his feet on the shiny surface of the grey corridor floor. She glanced to the side at him. Gleaming ribbons of black, that also spilled down his back and shoulders, obscured his face. Some of it brushed her cheek. She'd never felt anything so soft and silky, her fingers itched to touch.

They made their way to the hangar doors undisturbed, unfortunately, when the doors opened, guards were waiting to open fire on them. Angel pressed herself and Devon back against the wall as a volley of lasers seared into the wall facing the doors. She fired back at them, but there were too many, and they were closing in.

She looked around, her heart thundering. There was no way out. She was trapped.

"If they want me, they'll have to kill me."

With her shoulder, she slammed Devon against the wall, then held him with one arm as she prepared to run out firing into the hangar filled with guards. She knew she'd never make it to the cruiser, but anything was better than being captured... on a research station. She pushed away the memories of the Greis and clenched her teeth. Her breathing hammered in and out of her lungs, a grin splitting her face. At least I'll take some of these bastards down with me before I die.

"No. Please... don't do it."

Sin and temptation. The sound of his deep voice had her turning her head to look at him. His silky hair caressed her cheeks and his mouth was so close. What would those lips taste like? Lust and sin. His hand came up and took the gun from her fingers. She watched in a daze as he dropped it.

His fiery eyes peered at her through the strands of hair partially obscuring his face. "Get into the Viper." Barely a whisper, his voice still gave her the chills.

His words registered in her mind. But the viper's all the way... Her thoughts halted at the sight of the gleaming pod floating right in the doorway to the hangar. How in heaven's name did it get all the way over here?

The glass top rolled open as the laser shower fired at them bounced off an invisible barrier. Angel gripped Devon around his waist, hauling him with her as she jumped into the interior of the Viper. He almost fell out again, but she gripped a handful of his pants, yanking him in the rest of the way. Devon fell against her as she widened her legs to avoid having them pinned underneath his weight. She instinctively wrapped her arms around him, the back of his head nestled between her breasts. The glass rolled shut, cocooning them in darkness.

The interior of the Viper was one huge cushion, like a velvet bowl with a backrest. She glanced around for the controls to operate the pod, but there were none. She realized it didn't matter because they were moving. The Viper glided through the deluge of laser fire, until it maneuvered itself over the center of the hangar, right over the airlocks.

Venushti, help us! What now?

They were still being fired upon, but then something strange began happening. Angel could feel a vibration taking hold of the entire pod. As she stared wide-eyed through the darkened glass surrounding them, everything around the Viper rippled, like a reflection upon water, distorting in waves until a funnel formed. Her stomach felt strange and her head light. The liquid effect gave way to a kaleidoscope of colors swirling in an endless vortex.

"What's going on? What is that out there?" Her voice echoed before she even uttered a word, terrifying her even more. She shook his shoulders and turned his face back to hers. "Did you just destroy the research station?" His eyes became unfocused just before rolling up slightly and fluttering shut. She frowned. "Devon?"