Bryce, p.9
Bryce, page 9
Rowan's fingers dug into Bryce's hip when his second orgasm came over him and he thrust deep into Bryce. Bryce could do nothing to hold back his own release as Rowan's angelic energy flooded him. He stilled and allowed his body to finally take in the nourishment he so badly needed. He hadn't realized how weak he was once the sex had begun, but now he fully appreciated the sensation of coming back to himself, feeling the vibrancy of life, and pleasure pulsed through his body. He wasn't surprised that it lasted twice as long as usual, considering how starved he had been and how badly his body needed to gorge on the energy, but it took his focus away from his lovers as he moaned out his bliss. Distantly, he heard Marshall's moans and sensed his orgasmic signature, and he was relieved that he had found his release while Bryce was basking in absorbing everything he needed.
Finally, when he reached a state of satisfaction, his pleasure began to fade. Rowan had settled back on the bedding and was kissing Marshall softly. Bryce pulled away and settled into the soft bedding himself.
"Are you feeling better?" Rowan asked, reaching for his hand.
Bryce chuckled and squeezed his hand. "I am. Thank you."
"Thank you," Marshall said, leaning over Rowan. "That was..."
"Better than you had imagined?" Bryce suggested with a grin.
Marshall laughed. "Something like that."
After they had gotten themselves cleaned up they settled into the bedding with a tray of chocolate covered strawberries that, though they did nothing to nourish Bryce's body, were delicious. Bryce was surprised that Marshall and Rowan arranged things so that he was between them, even when they settled down to sleep. Bryce had a feeling he could become quite used to sharing a life with these two nephilim and any others who joined them. It had been nearly a human lifetime since he'd felt such a connection to anyone beyond sexual desire.
Leviathan be damned, he was going to enjoy this new life he'd been given.
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Zavian Glory is the pen name of an angel-obsessed, magic-loving queer nerd from New York who spends way too much time lost in fictional worlds.
Willow
Angelic Blood Chronicles
Book 3
Sneak Peek
Chapter One - Willow
There was something amiss in the forest.
As one of the fae, Willow was quite used to the normal routine of the forest where he had been spawned centuries ago, just as he was used to sensing what was far from normal.
Orange light dancing before his eyes was certainly not normal.
Willow emerged from the comfortable cave where he made his home. It was a cool May night – or it should be. Heat radiated from around him as flames danced across the night sky, the trees on the horizon lighting the forest with an unearthly orange glow. There was no smoke and no sound, unlike the usual sort of wildfire
He had heard of fires that burned orange without smoke or the crackle of flame and wood. It was hellfire, something used by some demons who existed merely to destroy. He had never seen it, but it was all that it could be. Could the humans extinguish it?
A figure materialized before Willow, appearing at first to be a tall human man, but its energy signature declared it to be a demon. One who sparked flames with each step it took, and one with eyes that were filled with fire.
"Why are you doing this?" Willow demanded, aching for the life he could feel perishing beneath the flames.
"Leviathan commands it," the demon answered in a snarl. "You are not to serve the nephilim's army. Leviathan will not be prevented from returning. Begone little fae of the forest."
Willow jumped back into his cave as the demon raised its four arms before it. The cave had protected Willow from the ravages of wildfires before, but those had been natural fires and he had had time to prepare his shelter. Now he did not have that time, and the fire was demon-set.
Some subconscious thought called to him and he drove his hands into the mossy dirt of his home, begging the earth to protect him.
A wall of green erupted in the cave entrance, blocking the orange glow of the hellfire as it roared toward him. The foliage grew thick and strong, drawing all the moisture it could from the depths of the earth. The cave grew terribly warm, making Willow wonder if he could be cooked alive. He had seen his siblings perish in wildfires before, but never while inside a shelter.
None of them had ever been able to build walls of nature to protect them, either.
The memory of a sweet nephilim he had briefly known nearly eight years ago came to him. Nephilim gave powers to lovers, but never before they were thirty. He couldn't have been gifted this power. Unless his own angelic creation had drawn it from the nephilim in some way. He'd never known any of his siblings to have nephilim as lovers, especially nephilim who were under the age of thirty and didn't know what they were. Perhaps it was possible.
Marshall.
Yes. That was his name. What was such a sweet nephilim doing tangling with a dread demon?
A blue light cut through the orange glow and the heat began to recede. After a few moments, the foliage covering the entrance to the cave folded within itself and back into the earth. Willow cautiously drew close to the entrance and looked out. The fire was fading away around him, though the air was still hot and stank of sulfur. His gaze was drawn to the angel who stood before him, appearing as little more than a column of light to Willow. It bowed to Willow, then ascended into the air in the form of an owl.
Willow wasn't certain why an angel would have saved him from the demon, but he was thankful for its intervention. Perhaps it had merely been helping to look after the valley to protect the mortal species, as was their duty on Earth. If that were the case, it should have intervened much sooner. Willow could feel the death of the plants and animals around him that had not been able to escape the raging hellfire. The forest was always filled with death, but that death was always accompanied by life; the insects that fed off the decay, the creatures who fed on the flesh of dead, and the tiny organisms smaller even than the insects that consumed every last sign of flesh and life.
Everything was dead. Even the life that could hide away from natural fire had been consumed by the demon's destruction. There was no life among the death, only death surrounding him.
The grief was nearly too much for him. It would take careful tending for the forest to recover from such an unnatural blow. He had much work to do.
Though, perhaps first he should learn what the demon meant by being a part of the nephilim's army. If there was something taking place surrounding Marshall and Leviathan, it was best to learn what it was. It would allow him to be prepared for another demonic attack, at the very least.
✽✽✽
Shortly after dawn he heard the distinctive sounds of one of the little four-wheeled vehicles the humans used to traverse the forest. An ATV, he reminded himself. He liked the horses they had once used much better. He stopped his investigation of the land around him to meet the humans at the clearing they always parked at. It was Mindy and Alex, the two who visited most often. They were dressed in bright orange vests and helmets. Fortunately, they both also knew of and understood, at least more than most humans, the beings they called paranormal and supernatural. They knew he was of the fae, which made conversing with them quite a bit easier.
"What happened?" Mindy asked, removing her helmet and climbing off her ATV. Though she was older, for a human, she did it just as easily as Alex, at half her age, did.
"It smells awful," Alex added, sniffing the air.
"A demon set fire to the forest," Willow explained. "It was looking for me, though I don't fully understand why."
"The fire was spotted and called in," Mindy told him, "but then it was reported as being out. Did you do that?"
Willow shook his head in the way he'd learned from humans. "No. An angel vanquished the demon. I don't know when it might return, however." He knew precisely what he needed to do now. "You coordinated the staffing for the research projects in the valley. Do you keep those records for some time?"
Mindy nodded. "They get archived, but we always keep them. Why?"
"About eight years ago there was a man named Marshall here. I don't believe I learned the second name you humans use, though. I need your assistance contacting him. I must speak to him, but I can't leave this valley."
She nodded again. "I will do my best. Without a last name it might be tricky, but at least his name isn't John or something."
"Is there something special about him?" Alex asked, appearing curious.
Willow thought back to the way the foliage had appeared at his request for protection. It surely came from a power even he did not possess as one of the fae. "I believe so. Tell him a demon was here under the command of Leviathan, and that I am a fairy. I expect he will understand now."
"I'll begin looking for his name and contact information as soon as I get back to the office," Mindy assured him. "Hopefully whatever phone number he put down is still valid. Whatever it takes, we'll find him for you. And we need to find a way to explain this in our report. I don't think the National Park Service is going to accept 'demonic activity' as a valid explanation, even if it is the truth. And, of course, we need to keep you safe from them."
Willow bowed his head. "Thank you."
Now he simply had to hope the destruction did not continue in the meantime and that they all remained safe. Especially Marshall.
Zavian Glory, Bryce
