Death Angel (Death Angel Series Book 1) (2 page)

“The Darkling is attracted to your scent,” he said, his words somehow falling short of giving her any kind of comfort. “The next time you hear the alarm, I suggest you stay in your quarters.”

With those words he turned away from her and began to walk back down the hallway. For a moment she wanted to yell back down the hallway at him that his rudeness had erased any feeling of gratitude she had felt towards him, but she thought better of it. Instead, she just turned around and began to follow the other man in a black suit to where her new quarters were.

Chapter Four

“It’s not the end of the world, ya know,” Markus said, clapping his best friend on the shoulder as he came in the room.

“Are you sure about that?” Kasen asked with a half-hearted laugh and an eyebrow cocked at his friend.

"I'm fairly certain," Markus looked around the empty meeting room. "Though I've been wrong before."

They were the first to arrive for the weekly Generals’ meeting, as they usually were. The room was large enough to fit all six of the Death Angel Society Generals and the Head General, but not nearly large enough to fit all their egos. The room was sparsely furnished, with only a long table placed smack in the middle of the room and seven chairs around it. Three on each side and one at the end. The Dark Generals sat on one side, while the Light Generals filled the other and the Head General presided over them all. Markus and Kasen filled two of the spots reserved for the Light Generals.

"I hate to break it to you, but you're wrong a lot," Kasen said, his voice already sounding a bit lighter. Markus had that effect on him. They smiled knowingly at each other.

“Is it the sickness again, or something else?” Markus asked his tone turning a bit more serious with his concern.

“No, it’s not that I’m afraid,” Kasen said, waving his friend off with a shrug. "That I can handle."

“Then it must be women," Markus said leaning in a little closer with a wink. 

Kasen smirked over at his friend. He didn’t expect him to understand his situation. The man was a womanizer if he ever met one, and to everyone’s greatest surprise, it actually worked for him most of the time.

“I must admit I'm a bit ashamed of myself,” Kasen said with a heavy sigh. "I let myself think this one would be different."

“You always do,” Markus said, mirroring his friend's sullen expression, "Even when I warn you not to."

“I know, I just thought--"

“Man, I told you how she was,” Markus said, his eyebrows rising. "I could tell just with one look what that woman was after."

"I wish I had that gift," Kasen mumbled, more to himself than to his friend.

"So, what happened?" Markus asked. "You wanna spill all the gory details?"

"Nothing I'd like more than reliving my horror," Kasen said with heavy sarcasm dripping from his words. He shook his head and looked away. "It was her birthday yesterday. So, to see how she would take it, I gave her an IOU coupon."

"An IOU coupon?" Markus asked, his eyebrows twisting in confusion.

"Yeah," Kasen said, with a little laugh. "An IOU an hour of cuddling coupon. Even made the damn thing myself."

"I'm guessing she wasn't impressed," Markus said with a belt of laughter. "A General like you could certainly afford a much better birthday present."

"Which is precisely what she said," Kasen said with a bitter twist on his lips. "That's not what I had really gotten her. But I just wanted to see how she'd react. I told her it was a gift that I put a lot of thought into, that it would be something we could both enjoy and we could spend some quality time together."

"Let me guess, she was expecting something a bit more sparkly," Markus said.

"And more pricey," Kasen said, shaking his head. "I just want a woman that wants me for me. Not my status, or my money. Why is that so damned hard to find."

"Because you're a General," Markus said with a little laugh. "And this is the Death Angel Society. No one here likes anyone for who they really are."

Kasen knew his friend was trying to be helpful and cheer him up, but it just wasn’t working. He had been a General for nearly three hundred years but he had been a member of the noble class his whole life. It didn’t seem to bother his other peers much that most of the marriages that occurred had involved very little love. He understood that this world could be difficult to live in, and being married to a man with position or family status made that life vastly more comfortable. But he just had no desire to marry a woman that didn’t love him for who he was. The problem with that, aside from the lure of his position and status, was the fact that his health left him weak and bedridden for much of the time. Without his position in the Central Bureau and his family’s status, he wouldn’t be much of a catch for any woman. It was a rather frustrating catch 22
he found himself in.

Sebastian Black’s entrance silenced the conversation. Kasen respected the man a lot. He was also born to the noble class and he was one of the more famous Generals of the Central Bureau. He had worked for his position, earned it with hard work and exceptional abilities. He maintained his status by running a very tight ship. Kasen had a great amount of sympathy for anyone working under him, as he had a reputation for being demanding of his subordinates. Neither him nor Markus expected Sebastian to say anything, and true to form, he was a silent observer as they waited for the other Generals to arrive. They didn't need to wait long.

“We’ve had quite a few issues this week,” the Head General said, his milky blue eyes scanned the other Generals from behind his bushy white eyebrows as he began the meeting. “Would someone care to explain how a Darkling managed to escape and rampage through the Central Bureau for nearly three hours before it was finally stopped?”

“Those Darklings can get rather tricky," one of the Dark Generals spoke up. His name was Eliot. His wavy brown hair was neatly combed back and his soft brown eyes looked around at his peers. He had only been a General for a few decades, but he had the potential to become one of the most powerful among them. They all knew it and because of that, they took his words into heavy consideration. "We need more fighters in the holding cell. Especially when it’s overloaded, like it was when this one escaped."

“There would be no need for more fighters if the ones already placed there could do their jobs,” another General spoke up. It was the other Light General, Bastogne. His shortly cropped blonde hair framed his handsome face that was highlighted with green eyes. He was the oldest General of them all, aside from the Head General, and the most temperamental. Everyone could feel the tension rise in the room. Darklings were the responsibility of the Dark Generals. They were the ones who had the power and ability to fight them off and to contain them. It was a downright slap in the face for a Light General to tell one how to deal with them.

“Maybe you’d like to handle a Darkling for a change,” Cassandra barked gruffly at Bastogne as she glared at him with a mix of anger and disgust. She was the only female General, but they all knew that didn’t take away from her competence. She had long dark hair that waved down her back and framed her pale skin and slender body. To an outside observer, she would appear almost frail, but the other General’s knew she was a force to be reckoned with. Her dark eyes settled angrily on Bastogne. He did an admirable job of holding her gaze with indifference.

“I think we are ignoring the underlying problem here,” Sebastian spoke up, as he usually did when Cassandra got a bit hot headed. She shot him a look that he didn't return.

“What are you saying General Black?” Kasen asked, hoping that he had something to say that would ease the tension in the room. He was a strong voice of reason, but unfortunately he was also very blunt with his assessments. Kasen hoped he wasn't about to further the animosity already in the room.

“Perhaps no one else has noticed,” he said, his eyes shifting directly onto the Head General. “But my squad has seen a significant rise in Darklings over the past few years. We are simply not equipped to deal with the high numbers because they have never been so proficient before.”

“So you're saying your men can’t handle it?” Bastogne said, a smirk on his face as he tried to goad Sebastian into a fight. Not a good idea. Sebastian could give him Eternal Death with barely a second thought.

“They can, and they do,” Sebastian said, his blank eyes slipping over to Bastogne for a moment. His cool head only added to his inherent intimidation. “What I’m saying is it is unusual. Maybe if your squad did their job better, we would know why.”

“This is rather concerning news,” the Head General said, bringing a final close to the discussion. “General Bastogne, I will task you with looking into this matter. As a Light General, it is your responsibility to discover these things. I look forward to hearing your report.”

“Yes sir,” Bastogne said, his voice almost pouting. He was silent for the rest of the meeting.

###

“It’s right this way, miss,” Joken said respectfully as he turned around to look at Gabrielle for just a moment.

“You can just call me Gabrielle,” she said, following after him. He was setting a fast pace, and her already weakened legs were finding it hard to keep up, though she was glad to hear that it was just a short way away.

“No, ma’am,” he said, again turning just his head to look at her as he walked quickly. “Mr. Black would not be pleased if I addressed you so informally.”

“But there’s no need to be so formal,” Gabrielle said. “I don’t mind.”

“Thank you ma’am,” he said, “but your station is higher than mine. Formality is required, whether you want it or not.”

“I see,” she said, not terribly happy with the way his statement sounded. This place was quickly becoming more and more unpleasant. She couldn’t remember anything from her life, but she somehow knew it wasn’t one spent with much formality.

They turned down a hallway that split off from the main hallway she had been walking down and it was like she entered a different world. It was a bit larger than the other one, and it was filled with people, going to and from places she could only imagine. It was like life suddenly exploded in this place. But as they began to walk down this hallway, she noticed a distinct difference in these people than the others she had encountered. They weren’t dressed in suits of either black or white. Their clothing was colorful and informal. They bustled about, loudly talking amongst each other, but when Gabrielle and her escort passed by they all became quiet. They backed out of the way and stared at the man guiding her with awe, while shooting curious stares at her, as they looked her up and down.

“We should move quickly through here,” Joken said, looking momentarily at her before he picked up his pace a little more. "It would have been better to avoid it altogether."

Gabrielle had a million questions to ask the man, but she could tell he wouldn't answer a single one so she kept quiet, instead focusing on absorbing her surroundings. As they passed through this hall, she noticed that the doors were placed much closer to each other than the previous hallway. She also noticed that the numbered plaques were not black or white, but gray and the numbers on them were much higher than any of the other numbers, though they still were not in order.

Her guide turned down yet another hallway and things began to change once more. There were people still milling about in the hallways, though they grew fewer and fewer. There were a few people she noticed that were dressed in either all white, or all black and those that were dressed in colors were dressed much fancier than their previous hallway counterparts. They didn’t gawk so much at her guide, but they did still look at her with intense curiosity.

“Is it much further?” Gabrielle asked through light pants of breath.

“No ma’am,” he said, not stopping in his stride, or slowing down. “It’s just up this way, in the ranked quarters.”

“The ranked quarters?” Gabrielle asked, trying to catch up a bit with him.

“Yes ma’am,” he said, giving her an odd look. “You work directly under a General. You're a ranked assistant. Your quarters will reflect that fact.”

Finally, the Joken turned a corner and came to a short stop. For just a moment, Gabrielle was hopeful that they had arrived, but then her eyes landed on an incredibly long staircase and her hopes were dashed.

By the time Gabrielle finally made it up the staircase, her legs were numb. She was panting heavily and holding herself up against the wall. Joken was waiting for her, looking on with an odd mix of confusion and fascination in his eyes.

“Your quarters are just ahead, ma’am,” he said, before turning and beginning to walk again. He had waited for her at the top of the stairs, probably what seemed like forever to him. Gabrielle just did not care at this point. She didn’t understand how he could walk so quickly and so far and be seemingly unaffected by the physical exertion.

Thankfully, he wasn’t kidding when he said her quarters were just ahead. In fact, hers was the first door that they came to, though it was still rather far from the top of the staircase. She read the numbers on the plaque of her door.
386
. She wondered what that number meant. For a moment, she thought to ask Joken, but he spoke up before she could.

“I will leave you to get acquainted, ma’am,” he said, giving her a short nod. “Mr. Black will expect you at work before the first bell.”

He started to leave, but Gabrielle stopped him. His last words just left her with one too many questions.

“When is the first bell?” she asked. “And do I have to go all that way, everyday?”

She pointed in the direction that they had come. There was simply no way she would be able to make that trek to and from work everyday. It must have been a good four or five mile walk.