Chapter Twenty-Five
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RAMIEL WAS STILL A bit disturbed to have encountered a fully grown cambion.
Caterina was an intriguing anomaly who had masterful control of her talents.
Seeing her blowing up fifteen humans with a carefully aimed fireball had made him hard again.
Cursing his body’s reaction to his female, he raced forward to take down the fleeing roaches.
One of the humans behind him shot him in the side and he whirled around. He didn’t get a chance to cut the offender down. Caterina had felt his pain. Snarling in rage, jets of fire burst from her palms, roasting the male to death. Only charred bones and ash remained when she was done.
The knight snapped out of his entranced state and wiped out the last few foes. “It’s clear now,” he said after turning in a circle to scan the town.
“Thank God it’s finally over,” Caterina said in shaky relief.
Despite her claim that she would wear herself out if she used her magic, she still seemed full of energy to him.
“There’s a pharmacy over there,” she said, gesturing at a building further down the street.
“Let’s see if they still have some medical supplies. ”
“I need to find my gear,” Ramiel said. “I overheard one of the humans say they put my bags in the town hall.”
“I’ll find some medical stuff and meet you there,” his female said.
Nodding, his sword vanished back to the Void, then he went in search of the town hall.
It was a large brick building two blocks away, facing a park.
The front door was open and he stepped inside.
Backpacks, duffle bags and suitcases were stacked over to one side.
He spotted his gear and hurried over to retrieve it.
To his relief, the books he was working his way through were still in the duffle bag.
Sensing Caterina coming, he closed the bag and put it near the door. A camping lantern had been left on a table over to the left. It cast enough light to allow her to see his wound clearly, or so he hoped. Then again, cambions had excellent night vision, so she probably didn’t need it.
“We’re in luck,” his female said as she entered the building. She held up a first aid kit, then looked around and saw the collection of luggage. “Holy crap,” she exclaimed in dismay. “How many people have they killed and eaten?”
“Too many,” he said gravely. “I’m glad we didn’t show them any mercy.”
“They sure as hell didn’t deserve it,” she agreed darkly, then gestured at the table and chairs. “Take your shirt off and let me see your wounds,” she ordered, then crossed to the table.
Reaching over his shoulder, Ramiel stripped his t-shirt over his head. He dangled it in front of his groin when his shaft went rigid as her eyes roamed over his muscular body.
“That’s a cool tattoo,” she said huskily as he walked towards her. “You have tattoo artists on your home world?”
He glanced at the tattoo of the sword and fanciful wings on his shoulder. “The knights and soldiers exist in a place we call the Void,” he said, wincing at the sensation of two bullets inside him. His shoulder had mostly healed by now at least, so he was no longer in danger of bleeding to death.
“Whoever cut that bullet out of your back is a butcher, by the way,” she said as she put the first aid kit on the table. “What did they use to chop you open with? An axe?”
“So, you can feel my pain,” he said. “I felt you get shot in the thigh and thought I was losing my mind.”
“Tell me about it,” his female said ruefully. “Turn around so I can start operating on you,” she requested.
He turned, then clenched his fists when her fingers touched him lightly. His shaft went even harder and his balls began to throb. “This is torture,” he murmured too quietly for her to hear him.
“Here we go,” she said, then picked up a scalpel she’d readied. They both winced when she cut into his freshest injury. “This sucks big time,” she hissed, then used tweezers to retrieve the bullet. “The next one is going to be worse,” she warned him.
“I know,” he agreed. The bullet hole in his back had closed over. She cut him open and he clenched his teeth to hold in a groan. Caterina remained grimly silent as she extracted the slug.
“Can we both agree to try not to get shot again?” the cambion asked when she cleaned his wounds, then put plaster on them.
“I’ll do my best to avoid being injured,” Ramiel said, turning to face her again.
She examined the wound in his shoulder, then put a plaster on it. She’d already doctored the other side of the injury. “There,” she said in satisfaction. “You’re all better now.”
He smiled and her face flushed prettily. Seeing him without his shirt on was affecting her. The knight suspected Caterina was just as attracted to him as he was to her. “Thank you, Caterina Blaze,” he said.
“No problem,” she mumbled, then began cleaning up the mess she’d made. “What exactly is the Void?” she asked.
“It’s a nowhere land that’s in another dimension,” he replied.
“We only see it briefly when we return from our wars every five thousand years. There’s just gray nothingness as we’re put back into stasis by Fate.
I assume it’s the same experience for our enemies when Anarchy returns them to their stasis. ”
Caterina had turned to stare at him in disbelief. “How old are you?” she asked, sinking down onto one of the chairs.
“We were created when this planet first came to be,” Ramiel said.
He pulled his torn, bloody shirt back on rather than getting a new one.
Changing could wait until after they finished their discussion.
He gave her a brief history of their eternal war.
She took it in mostly in silence, asking a few questions now and then.
“That’s the craziest story I’ve ever heard,” she said at last. “I probably wouldn’t have believe you if my great-grandmother hadn’t already told me I’m half alien.”
“Your ancestor has the sight?” he asked.
She nodded in confirmation. “Psychic abilities run in my family,” she said.
“One of my ancestors foresaw my existence when our clan moved to the United States two centuries ago. They changed our surname to Blaze. My granny told me I had to leave our clan and find you a few nights ago. She always told me my destiny lies in the stars.”
“Then I arrived in a gold comet, proving she was right,” he said, knowing Fate was behind this. He was drawn to this beautiful female, yet she should have been his enemy. “I don’t understand how you can exist if Rahab and his squad only arrived here nine months ago,” he said.
“Granny Blaze said one of the evil aliens was sent here to impregnate a woman and he chose my mother,” she explained. “I guess Anarchy must have sent him back to the Void once the deed was done.”
“You’re probably right,” he said, even more confused now. Why would Anarchy release one of his enemies just to impregnate a random female? Caterina wasn’t evil like the rest of her kind. He didn’t know how or why, but they had a link that had drawn them together from hundreds of miles away.
“What do we do now that we’ve found each other?” Caterina asked.
“Now we need to find Amaros and my brothers,” he replied. “From what I’ve gathered, we need to head to a place called Manhattan.”
His female groaned at that news. “That’s where the Mad Prophet said the evil aliens are. We’ll be walking straight into the lions’ den if we go there.”
“I know,” he agreed. “But my commander hasn’t found me like he usually does. That means I’ll need to locate him instead.”
Caterina sighed and slumped in her chair. “I guess we don’t have much choice,” she said. “You’re apparently my destiny, so where you go, I go.”
She met his gaze and his entire body tensed up with the need to lean over the table and kiss her. He’d never wanted any female as much as he wanted Caterina Blaze, but he had to resist her allure until he knew what Fate’s end game was.