Bane of Angels, page 1
BANE OF ANGELS
EBONY ANGEL SERIES — BOOK 5
L.L. HUNTER
A NEPHILIM UNIVERSE BOOK
Copyright © 2022 L.L. Hunter
Bane of Angels
By L.L. Hunter
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ISBN: 978-1005640057
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All Rights Reserved
First Edition
Manuscript Services Provided by
Rogena Mitchell-Jones, Literary Editor
www.rogenamitchell.com
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Cover Design by KILA Designs
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This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the properties of the author, and your support and respect are appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Both author and editor have taken considerable effort in presenting a manuscript free of errors. However, editing errors are ultimately the responsibility of the author.
This author writes in both American English and Australian English and may include Australian diction.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Also by L.L. Hunter
About L.L. Hunter
1
Ebony screamed and ran to the bars of the cell as the demons gathered Sylvie’s feet and dragged her out of the room.
“Stop! Where are you taking her?” The door shut with a resounding clatter that echoed through the cavernous room. It was too late. Andrew Smith and his demon minions were already in the elevator.
“It’s no use,” said Travis, sitting on the edge of one of the cots. Ebony turned to look at him. He was staring down at his hands. He sounded defeated.
“Trav, what’s going on? Andrew said you and Sylvie were working for him. Is that true?” Her voice cracked. Please don’t let it be true. She wasn’t sure she could deal with that sort of betrayal.
His head snapped up. “What? No. Not me. Sylvie, perhaps. But I have no knowledge of that.” He got to his feet when he sensed the sadness in his mate. He walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her cheek.
“Hey, Eb. Why did you think I would work with that bastard behind your back? I would never.”
Ebony sniffed and looked up at him. He was a head taller than her.
“Really? You swear?”
“Yes. I swear.”
Ebony threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. His tongue slipping between her lips was enough to dip them both over the edge. After being apart for so long, and after all they had gone through, they didn’t want to waste another moment. Travis pulled her against him, and she climbed on him, sending them backward on the narrow cot. He laughed and pulled her tight against him as they wrapped their legs around each other.
They were so immersed in each other the soulmates completely forgot they weren’t alone.
“Well, this is awkward,” muttered Cora, turning her back away from the lovers on the other cot. Luca sighed and sat beside her. Some moaning and groaning came from the other cot, which was enough. He whistled and made the lovers spring apart.
“Hey, if you guys wanna do that, we should probably wait until we’re in separate rooms first.”
Ebony flushed beet red and tugged down her top. Travis ran his hand through his mused hair and zipped his jeans back up.
“Sorry, guys. We kinda…. got carried away. I just… have missed Ebony so much. You know how it is.”
Luca glared at him.
“No, I don’t actually.”
Cora sighed and jumped up, breaking the awkward tension. Being together in the cell was going to be torture.
“Guys, what are we going to do about Sylvie?” asked Cora.
Ebony crossed her arms. “Well, I don’t know what to think about her anymore. If she’s been working with the enemy, she’s betrayed Scarlett and us. All of us.”
“What was that thing Andrew picked up off the floor? It looked like a dead, gutted fish. Smelt like one, too,” said Cora, wrinkling her nose in disgust and looking at the pool of blood on the floor outside the cell.
“It’s a mermaid’s fin,” muttered Travis.
All eyes turned toward him. he didn’t say anything, just shrugged.
“Oh, you’re serious?” asked Cora.
“Mermaids don’t exist,” replied Luca.
“I know. I didn’t think they did either, but I saw it—her—with my own two eyes. She wasn’t at all like the books. She was vicious and angry that Sylvie cut off her fins.”
“What does Sylvie want with a mermaid’s fin?” asked Ebony, trying to come up with all the possibilities in her head as to why the alchemist might want a mythical creature’s body part and came up empty.
“I don’t know. All I know is that she said it was to finish her project.”
2
The demons tossed Sylvie’s body onto one of the beds in the infirmary. They were all hospital-grade cots stolen for his rebels in case of war. And there would be a war. He had been planning it for decades. He couldn’t wait to taste freedom from the oppression of being ruled by those narcissistic, stuck-up angels. The mixed-race bastards of the sinful affair between archangels and humans centuries ago. He couldn’t wait to take back his planet. Many before him had tried and failed to rid the earth of those with angel blood, and he knew he would finally be the one to do it.
He had one tool under his belt that none had possessed before. Well, two, actually.
Ebony and Sylvie.
The goddess and the alchemist.
“Careful!” Andrew Smith growled. “I need the alchemist in one piece. Go and fetch her some food from the kitchen. Something hearty, preferably something with red meat.”
Sylvie moaned. Despite what Ebony had done to heal her, she looked pale and half dead. That was obviously only superficial. He realised she needed food and possibly a blood transfusion to survive.
Thankfully, one of his minions was a nurse, so he demanded the nurse begin the transfusion while they waited for someone to bring her food.
“But, sir, I don’t know how… I wasn’t trained…” the petite female nurse dressed in scrubs stammered nervously.
He growled once more, then turned around and grabbed a medical journal off the bookshelf behind him. He then tossed it toward the nurse. The tome was heavy, and she dropped it on her toes.
She cried out and bent down to quickly pick it up.
“Quickly! God, I am surrounded by morons. Do I have to go find myself a new person to possess with medical training?” He stood over her, snarling. The poor nurse nervously shook as she fumbled with the heavy book.
“Yes… yes, sir. I… I’ll try.” She made her way to a desk in the corner and looked up how to do a blood transfusion, all the while sniffing.
“And stop crying. Realms, are all demons so weak these days?”
A few minutes later, while the nurse read, Heather brought in a tray with food, a large pitcher of water, and a cup. She placed it beside Sylvie’s bed on the nightstand and shuffled out again.
Sylvie moaned and opened her eyes. She blinked and stiffened when she saw the demon headmaster sitting beside her.
“Hello, Sylvie.”
“Andrew… What am I doing here?”
“I’ll answer that in a moment. First, I need you to regain your strength. Eat. Drink.” He gestured at the tray filled with a steak and the water. She kept an eye on the demon as she sat up and reached for the tray. She brought it to her lap and lifted the metal lid.
An almost rare steak was on the plate, marinating in its juices, surrounded by potatoes, leafy green vegetables, and gravy.
Typically, Sylvie preferred her steak medium well to well done. She detested the sight of blood, but she was starving and did need her strength. She picked up the cutlery and cut into the steak. It was still delicious. She quickly consumed it and everything else on the plate. Then she gulped down two glasses of water.
“Thank you. Now, what do you want?”
“Sylvie, have you forgotten why I hired you in the first place?”
She crossed her arms.
“I don’t work for anyone. I’m freelance.”
“No, you were hired by me to be a spy! Are you saying you’ve forgotten our goal?”
“I haven’t forgotten. But my, uh… allegiances have changed. I’m no longer fighting for the rebels.”
Andrew Smith began maniacally laughing. Sylvie scowled.
“Oh, how sweet. You’ve fallen in love with the Nephilim.”
“No, I was working on something with them, and I would really like to return.”
“Correction, you were working on something for me. Have you also forgotten the reason for the Angel’s Bane? Why I hired you to create it in the first place?”
She didn’t repl y. She did know. But she couldn’t tell him that she didn’t want to do what he had asked of her.
Angel’s Bane was being created to nullify the Nephilim's powers, so they essentially turned human to weaken them so he and his rebel army could take back their planet.
But Sylvie couldn’t do that.
Travis was her friend. And she actually liked Ebony. She couldn’t do that to them.
Andrew Smith suddenly moved with demonic speed and lunged at her throat.
Sylvie gasped and cried out.
“Listen, you will finish what you started. You will follow my orders or all your friends will die. Not rendered useless, but will be annihilated. Wiped off the face of the earth by my other secret weapon—along with everyone else who chooses not to follow us.”
Sylvie’s eyes went wide.
He let her go a moment later, and she bent over, gasping and holding her throat.
“I hope the message is clear,” he said before leaving her alone in the room.
When the demon was gone, Sylvie rubbed her throat and sat back against the pillows. What was she going to do?
3
Scarlett screamed. The flames grew hotter and brighter. Dyston swore and leapt back, wings fully extended.
“Scar! You have to focus. The flames…”
“I… can’t.”
“You can. Scar, babe. I know you can. I believe in you.”
The Nephilim midwife checked the baby’s vitals on a tablet across the room. The machines began to beep like crazy.
“Scarlett, I’m going to need you to relax. The baby’s heart rate and blood pressure are rising. If you don’t relax, the baby could die.”
Dyston’s eyes widened in fear.
“Scar, please!”
She knew she had to calm down, to drop her flaming protective barrier around the bed, but she couldn’t make herself do it.
“Scar, please,” said Dyston in her mind. He repeated it over and over. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing and his voice.
The flames soon subsided, and he and the midwife could move in closer at last.
“One more push, Scarlett. The baby is almost here,” said the midwife.
“Mum, Dad, I’m here,” said Max, appearing at the door. He couldn’t wait to meet his sibling. Max wondered if he or she would rapidly grow as he had. For his parents’ sake, he hoped not. They needed something good, a little bliss in a world full of blood, death and rebellion.
Dyston squeezed his soulmate’s hand as she pushed one more time. As she screamed, the baby cried. And with a flash of light, which had everyone shielding their eyes, their newest family member was brought into the world.
Scarlett relaxed against the bed while a doctor looked her over, and a team of midwives checked over the baby. Dyston placed a kiss on her forehead. A few minutes later, the midwife came to them with a tiny bundle wrapped in her arms.
“Congratulations, guys. You have a daughter.”
Max smiled as he walked over toward his parents and lay his eyes on his newborn sister. The midwife placed the tiny baby girl in Scarlett’s arms. Dyston beamed. He couldn’t believe he was a dad once more. He stroked his new daughter’s soft head and reddish-brown hair.
The hair colour wasn’t a surprise, but everyone gasped when the baby girl opened her eyes.
For her eyes were the colour of a cloudless sky.
“My Skyla,” whispered Scarlett.
“What was that?” asked Dyston.
“Oh, her name. What do you think about Skyla? It just came to me. It was like it was fated.”
Max nodded. “I like it.”
Dyston smiled and kissed his daughter. “Perfect. Hello, Skyla. Happy birth day, sweetheart.”
4
Sylvie didn’t end up needing a blood transfusion, but that didn’t mean she was out of the woods and off the hook with Andrew. The shackles around her ankles imprisoned her to the bed. If they needed her to finish his damn project, she would need to be set free.
The door to the medical ward was open, and she saw demons wandering back and forth through the door.
“Hello! Where is Andrew? How can he expect me to work like this?”
As if he had heard her and was standing right outside the door, he waltzed into the room a moment later.
“Sylvie, so sorry. Let me help you with that” he clicked his fingers, and the metal shackles snapped open. Sylvie sat up and rubbed the raw skin on her ankles where they had rubbed against the hard metal.
“What in the realms, Andrew? I thought we were on the same side?”
He blinked and then began to laugh maniacally again.
“Oh, you wanna play now, do you? You’d better not be stuffing me around or tricking me. I swear to Lucifer, I will make you pay if you are.”
“I don’t like this situation. I don’t like you. But the sooner I finish this so-called project you hired me for, the sooner I can get out of here.”
“Oh, is that so? Are you in charge now?”
“Andrew, can you please just take me to the lab so I can finish this?”
He growled and sighed. “Fine. Come on”
She jumped out of bed and begrudgingly followed him down the hall to several elevators.
“Did you get the mermaid’s fin? For realm’s sake, if I’ve lost it after all I went through to get it…”
“Relax, that stinky relic is in cold storage in the lab waiting for you. I don’t even know why you had to get that thing. The stench is still inside my nostrils.”
She sighed. “I am the alchemist. If you let me do my job without asking questions, I’ll soon be out of your hair. It’s part of the potion.”
He only replied with a short grunt as he led her into the shiny silver elevator. Sylvie expected them to go down, but instead, they went up.
When the elevator doors opened, Sylvie gasped.
She stepped out into an entirely midnight blue space.
She wondered if her eyes were playing tricks and if it was lights turning every surface the deep blue, but as she got closer to the lab table in the centre of the room, she saw that the metal was, in fact, dark blue.
“Is this satisfactory?”
She turned back toward the demon headmaster and raised her eyebrow in question.
“Yes. What’s with the colour scheme?”
He simply shrugged.
“White gets too dirty. Silver is boring. I like blue.”
“It’s… different. It will work. So where are my instruments? My bag of tools?”
“Over there beside the computer. If you need anything else, just call a lab tech. They’re all under my control. And totally malleable.”
She didn’t say anything to that but instead made her way over to the far bench, where she saw several computer monitors, telescopes, and her bag of tools sitting on the bench.
“Thank you,” she said, but when he didn’t answer, she realised he had left, and she was finally alone. She walked to the fridge to check for the blood and the mermaid’s fin. They were all there.
Then she took out her tools and got to work.
Ebony stood at the bar of their cell.
“I wonder how long they’re gonna keep us in here.”
“Probably for eternity,” muttered Cora as she lounged on one of the cots.
Luca was sitting with his back against the wall beside her on the same cot, and Travis was lying on the other. He got to his feet and came to join Ebony at the bars.
“Maybe you could try to break the bars.”
“Trav, you know they’re made to withstand any kind of Nephilim trait. We’re trapped.”
“Eb,” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her body to face him. He shook her a little. “Ebony, don’t forget, Angel’s Bane is made from your blood.”
