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My bed was pure bliss. I never wanted to leave it ever again. I allowed myself to fall into a deep sleep, so deep, I had no dreams. My peaceful slumber was abruptly interrupted by a long, wet tongue sliding up my cheek.
“Hmmm, you’re going to taste so good.”
The raspy voice sent a chill down my spine. I opened my eyes to see a man above me, his sharp-nosed features inches from my face as he leered at me. The silver aura beaming off him, combined with the silver colour of his eyes told me all I needed to know about him; vampire.
What this stupid critter hadn’t accounted for was me being an angel. Even at my base level of angel powers, I could take on most supernatural creatures in the blink of an eye and kill them. I’d never had to do it yet though. Most would see the colour of my eyes and run like the wind.
Since I’d been sleeping, this one I had to forgive for the small transgression. He couldn’t hurt me though; his fangs would merely bounce off my neck, my flesh too strong for his teeth to penetrate. After all, Lucifer hadn’t wanted to cause harm to angels directly; only indirectly through God’s precious humans.
“I suggest you leave while you still can,” I said, keeping my voice calm and matter of fact.
He grinned. “And not have a taste of angel blood? I don’t think so.”
“You can’t drink from me without breaking your teeth.”
“No...maybe not, but this little thing will surely help.”
He lifted a hand to reveal an intricately carved dagger made from ivory, its sheath made of feathered white gold.
I gasped. “No...”
“Yes,” he replied, his grin turning maniacal. “Now who has the upper hand?”
His weapon was one of seven I knew to be in existence. A dagger made from a unicorn’s horn, its handle created from Pegasus wings. The only known thing that could not only draw an archangel’s blood but kill one. It would easily take me down.
The heavy thud of footsteps alerted me to someone else’s presence. Sensing this would be my only distraction, I jumped up, headbutting the vampire square in the nose. He jerked backwards, giving me enough room to speed through the doorway. I didn’t know if he’d come with back up or not, so I grabbed a hold of him on my way out, prising the dagger from his bony fingers.
I kept one hand around his throat, squeezing just enough that my fingernails spilled a few drops of his blood onto my hand. He kept still. His blundering companion pelted into my crypt, faceplanting my gorgeous new bed.
Great. Not even one night and I need new sheets.
I called my powers back, loving the sizzling feeling crackling through my veins. I felt more powerful than I ever had done. Perhaps these daggers had more of an effect on angels than we all thought. Using my power, I magically pressed the dagger to the back of the man’s neck, controlling it with my mind.
“Is this one of your friends?” I asked the vampire.
“Are you going to kill him if I say yes?” His words came out as a hiss, his voice strangled by my grip.
“Don’t lie to me,” I replied, glaring at him. “I don’t take well to your kind, let alone when you invade my chambers.”
“Go fu—”
I heard his thoughts before he spoke them. I didn’t like swear words at the best of times. I fixed my stare on him and wished him dead. Pure energy and power shot from my eyes, its radiance becoming more blinding with each second.
The vampire screamed as the white power seared his flesh from his bones, then turned his skeleton into nothing but ash. Within seconds, he was nothing but a heap of dust at my feet.
Wow.
Night swallowed me once more. No evidence was left of the amazing power display I’d just unwittingly unleashed. Feeling on top of the world, I turned my attention back to the other man, still pinned to my bed by the unicorn dagger.
“You,” I said, pressing the tip of the blade into the back of his head. “Up. Back it up nice and slowly.”
He put his hands on the bed and pressed himself up onto all fours. Painstakingly slowly, he crawled backwards onto his feet and slowly stood up. Despite no silver coloured aura, he was obviously something to do with the vampire.
“Turn around, wise guy,” I said. “Nice and slowly.”
He kept his hands where I could see them and shuffled around to face me. His eyes went straight to the pile of what was a vampire. Then our eyes locked. I gasped. Those eyes. Shining amber eyes, an athletic muscular body, hair as dark as my own—he looked part angel. Power emanated off him in droves. His rugged, handsome features would rival any male I’d ever seen.
I dove into his aura with my mind and saw nothing. How could that be? “What are you?” I said, opening my hand for the dagger to return to it.
“A man,” he said, his voice all but a breathless whisper.
“No, you’re not. Your eyes...you’re no ordinary man.”
“You,” he said, his voice still a whisper. “You’re a myth, a legend. You can’t be real.”
I pursed my lips. “I can assure you, I’m very real. Now, answer my question. What are you?”
“A hunter...I’m a hunter. You’re...you’re an angel.”
“You here to kill me, hunter?” I held the dagger up to his throat. “You want some of my blood, too?”
He frowned, then shook his head. “What? No. I was chasing the vampire.”
“For what? This?” I held the dagger up in front of his face.
“No, to kill it. I wanted to kill it, but you got there first.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “So you’d never seen that vampire before tonight?”
He shook his head.
I let out a breath, easing some tension. I lowered my hand holding the dagger and smiled at him. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting to be nearly killed tonight so forgive me for being a little on edge.”
“Killed? Angels can’t be killed by a vampire.”
Waving the dagger in front of his face, I said, “They can with one of these.”
His eyes focused on the knife. “Can I have a look at it?”
“No!” I said, snatching it back and holding it to my side. “You think I’m stupid enough to hand it over to you after just telling you it can kill me?”
“I don’t want to kill you,” he said. “I’ve just never seen one of those before.”
I studied his face for several seconds. He seemed genuine. If he had an aura, I’d have been able to read his truthfulness, but he didn’t have one because he was a hunter. Unions between humans and angels were illegal, as was angels giving humans powers. As a result, he had no aura because the Universe didn’t recognise he existed.
“You try anything, and I’ll turn you into a pile of ash like your friend,” I said, hesitantly holding the dagger out to him.
He nodded and lifted the weapon from the palm of my hand. He took it so delicately, it surprised me seeing such care coming from such a big man. His hands were the size of shovels. Turning it over and over, he scrutinised every detail of it, then handed it back, smiling.
“That’s incredible.” He paused and cocked his head to one side. “You said ‘one of these.’ Is there more than one?”
I nodded. “One for each archangel.”
“Can they only be used once or something?”
I nodded. “If you stabbed one archangel with it, then stabbed another, their powers would accumulate and transfer through the blood. Or so the whispers say.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So theoretically, one archangel could kill all the other six with one of these, and then become the most powerful angel ever?”
“Yes...” I said, realisation dawning on me. “But the whispers say that no one body is capable of holding such power. That the archangel would explode from the sheer amount of energy and power contained within them.”
“Where are these normally kept?”
“In our castles.”
“Your castles?”
I sighed. “Yes. Each archangel has a castle and their own clan of angels, like me, that live in the castle. Each castle hides one of these daggers within its walls. I mean, what better protection can you get than to have an army of angels living, breathing, and working around the one thing that can kill you? Never mind the fact that no one knows where they are exactly. Only the archangels themselves.”
“So how did our charming little friend come across one?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea, but I know one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“If he had it then something bad must be happening up there.”