Harlee POV
"Next time?" I screeched, sitting up as Ash let go of me, their hand returning to normal once after being removed from my torso.
"Don't try to con an Incubi girl. Neither one of you can keep it in your pants. More children are bound to happen. If that soul fragment keeps changing Zeev-you two might have to start using condoms." Ash smirked. I gaped.
"Of course, you could avoid all this trouble if you only chose a different partner next time." Ash purred, sliding a knee between my thighs.
"One problem at a time Ash, please." I groaned, putting a hand on Ash's cool chest and gently applying pressure. "Now, what about Zeev?" I tried to get around Ash to check on Zeev, but Ash quickly grabbed me.
"Oh no you don't! And stay out of his head too! Are you still hearing the noises?" Ash demanded, shoving me back onto the counter. I nodded, sitting back down reluctantly. "Then stay away from Zeev until that stops. Otherwise, we're just going to have to separate them again when the feedback loop starts up again." Ash rubbed their temples.
"Let me get him home and explain all this when he comes to. Will you be ok here alone for a little while?" Ash peered into my eyes and I nodded slightly. "Ok good-you know how to summon me or Sands if you need us. NO ZEEV. At least not until you and the kiddo have found an equilibrium." Ash scolded, turning to drag Zeev up from the ground. Zeev groaned loudly and I grabbed Ash's arm.
"Ash wait- you said it was attaching to my soul-why?" I asked, confused.
"Just like a Demon honey, it has to be fed." Ash vanished and my arm fell, clutching only empty air. I shivered. The strange whispering seemed almost sinister now. I looked at my stomach.
"You'd never hurt your momma though, right?" I murmured. I felt a tug, like someone was trying to get my attention, only it came from inside my very soul. I gripped my shirt and sucked in a deep breath. The overlapping voices spoke faster. I closed my eyes. I could almost make some of them out...
"What.. What is that? Won't.. won't what sweetie?" I suddenly realized I was talking out loud to my midriff when a chuckle from behind me interrupted me.
"He may not-but I certainly will. Now I suggest you come quietly." I spun around to see the drop-dead gorgeous Demon Zeev had said was his superior from the day of the challenge behind me. That had felt like a lifetime ago.
'Sands, where are ya, buddy?' I ran the silver bracelet through my fingers.
"Oh, your reaper can't help you now. You see, they answer to me too." The Demon took a step forward. He was dressed beautifully as well. Gorgeous suit, fitted to perfection, made me want to drool. He had tucked away his long dark wings, but he still had that look on his face that said he detested me, or maybe just humanity in general if Zeev was right. He was looking me over carefully.
"I... really don't think I'll be going with you." I rejected and decided to swallow my dislike of teleporting and get the Hell out of there. "Hold on little buddy." I muttered to my stomach and turned to step into my home, where I knew Ash and Zeev were and could help me. Only I walked right into the hands of the Demon, who squeezed my throat with a wicked grin.
"I seem to remember us meeting like this once before." The Demon smiled and I grimaced.
"Yeah me too." I wheezed, letting my nails transform to claws and sinking them into his arm. "I think I did this last time too, but what I didn't do was this." I let my legs transform as well, into the long lithe feline legs with claws and swung them at him, digging in and pushing off with all my might. Not expecting it, the Demon let go as I twisted in his grasp. There's something to be said for the way cats can seem to escape nearly any tight space. Unfortunately, I was not fast enough. Part of my throat came away and I yelped, slapping a hand to it, trying to staunch the blood. I could hear ringing in my ears, and the noise from the Nephilim suddenly increased.
"Won't.. hurt.. help.." The voice seemed to piece together through the static. I felt the wound grow hot under my hand and a light glowed under my chin. I started scrambling to my feet again, to bust ass out of there when once again the damn Demon appeared right in front of me. I backed up, intending to step backwards into my home, but he captured me by the waist and grew out long wicked nails himself.
"Take one more step and I'll pull your womb out, child and all." The Demon hissed. I froze. "You're getting too powerful little Changeling. Two Demons, an Arch Angel and a Nephilim. I can't have that. You've already made a fool of me by stealing my best soldier. Now you're busy snapping up an army left and right, or creating them." He gripped my midriff tighter, and I squealed. I started desperately trying to plan an escape.
Despite the link between Ash and I not being quite the same, nor strong as the one between Zeev and I, I sent off a quick plea for help as the Demon gripped me by the throat again, squeezing tightly. I grabbed his arm.
"I can't breathe." I gasped, beating his arm desperately. He yanked my face up next to his.
"That's the point." He hissed and I struggled to free myself, but the nails dug into my midriff again.
"No please!" I cried, tears beginning to run down my face. My feet were dangling in mid-air now.
"Then take a little nap, Changeling." The Demon hissed in my face. His breath washed over my face, there was a floral scent, like roses maybe, but underneath it was the smell of something rotten, dank, dark. Like a cellar that hadn't seen the light of day for a while. I struggled again, trying to free myself as my vision went dark.
'Ash..' I called out weakly in my head, and then watched everything fade.
Zeev POV
"No! You can't!" Ash yelled for the hundredth time.
"But it's the fastest way to find her, and see who has her!" I roared angrily.
"Brother-the Nephilim was trying to entwine itself with Harlee, and recognized your soul fragment as hers. If it tries to connect again, it could completely revert you to your original Angel Form. Then what? You won't remember Harlee at all, or that you love her, or anything about all this.. You'll be a clean slate. Reset." Sands stated calmly. I gritted my teeth and put my hand through a wall.
"So what do we do?" I growled.
"Wait for her to reach out." Ash said sadly. I growled again, loudly. I wanted to destroy something. Maybe Ash's face for leaving Harlee alone.
"Hey!" Ash cried.
"Oh, so you can pick up on my thoughts-but not on Harlee's?" I snarled.
Harlee POV
When I came to, it was with a ridiculous amount of deja vu.
"What the fuck is WRONG with all of you?!" I spat yanking the metal collar around my neck that chained me to a wall.
"Would you prefer a cage?" Came the calm voice of my kidnapper. He was sitting behind a desk about six feet away-further than my chain would reach, writing something and not looking at me.
"I'd prefer to be left alone." I sneered. In an instant, he was towering over me and had slapped me across the mouth. I yelped, feeling the skin of my lip split and begin to bleed.
"Mind your tongue." He said calmly, sitting in his chair again. This fucker moved fast. He ground his teeth.
"While I cannot control your thoughts, Changeling, you should learn to properly address me." The Demon stated coldly. I licked the blood from my lip, feeling the Nephilim already healing the wound.
"Well you never properly introduced yourself." I retorted. Once again he was in front of me in a second, this time, holding me by the collar off the floor. I choked as the pressure yanked my head up and dug in under my neck and chin. Well, I guess I never learn..
"No you don't." Spat the Demon. "You may call me Lord or Master, seeing as that is what I am to you now. Do you understand?"
"Can I follow it up with my choice of insults? Lord Twat-Waffle?" I sneered. Shit, my mouth was getting the better of me again. The Demon tossed me against the wall and I heard a snap. I spasmed and I realized a vertebrae had broken, severing my spinal column below my shoulder blades. My eyes flew wide-the baby!
"The Nephilim will be fine, it's busy healing you as I speak." The Demon waved a hand. "Nephilim and Cambion do not so easily allow their hosts to die. Much like any other possessing spirit." I gaped at the Demon-this is what he thought about the infant growing within me?
"Don't be foolish girl. That Nephilim already has all of the knowledge of your dear pet-it holds the secrets of the universe. Oh it may look like an infant when its born-but you will quickly learn it is anything but." The Demon scoffed. He crouched down and ran a nail along my stomach. "I'm very tempted to keep the child in lieu of you taking my dear soldier, but I realize it's better to have you instead. Because then, I get the child, and all the little pets and children that come after. And believe me-there will be more." The eyes of the Demon turned momentarily black as he stroked my stomach. If I could have moved my legs, I would have scooted away. The noise of the Nephilim grew in my ears again.
"Samael... Fallen Angel of Death" The voice cried and I jerked. Is that who I was dealing with? The Demon smiled wickedly and a cold shiver raced through my body.
'Ash! Sands! Where the fuck are you?!' I screamed inside my head.