Angel Warriors Read online

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  StarDust Press

  www.stardustpress.com

  Copyright ©2007 by StarDust Press

  First published in StarDust Press, 2007

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  NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.

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  Reviews for Angel Warriors

  “Angel Warriors has something for everyone—romance, drama, comedy, adventure, and sizzling sex scenes. The characters quickly come alive and suck you into their world. I was so anxious to see what happened and learn

  more about their world, I just couldn’t put it down.”

  ~ Susan M. Sailors,

  Poseidon’s Bride

  (coming soon from StarDust Press)

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  Angel Warriors is a StarDust Press Sizzling Romances e-book, and is FOR SALE TO ADULTS ONLY. This e-book contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language, which may be considered offensive to some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the products of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Angel Warriors © July 2007 by Stephani Hecht

  Excerpt of Second Time Around © July 2007 by Veronica Wilde

  All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared in any form, including but not limited to printing, photocopying, faxing, burning in CDs or emailing without prior written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.

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  ISBN 978-981-05-8786-4

  Available in Adobe PDF, HTML, MobiPocket, and MS Reader

  Published by

  StarDust Press Private Limited www.stardustpress.com

  Printed in Singapore

  Edited by T. Markou

  Cover art by Tracy Lee

  Angel Warriors

  Stephani Hecht

  www.stardustpress.com

  Prologue

  “Just stay down.” Forcas yelled at him before delivering a hard kick to his ribs. He stood back and brushed his black hair out of his cold, dark eyes. “Don’t make me have to destroy you.”

  Abdiel ignored his request and slowly staggered to his feet. Forcas growled in anger before he delivered a spinning, roundhouse kick. Abdiel’s head snapped sideways and blood spurted out of his mouth, but at least he was able to remain standing. Straightening his head, he turned to the group of angels, who were standing, watching the whole beating. Mixed among the proud warriors was everyone who had ever meant anything to him. His parents, aunts, uncles, and childhood friends were all there, not caring that he was getting his ass royally handed to him. He decided to ignore all of them, leveling his gaze on the leader of their group. Lucifer had a half smile on his face that did not touch his hazel eyes. Surprisingly, he was the smallest one there. His head of brown hair barely reached Forcas’ shoulders, but he carried himself with so much authority that, despite his size, he demanded respect and fear from his followers. Abdiel wiped blood away from his bottom lip and appealed to his leader, “It’s not too late to stop this, Lucifer. If you call your angels back now, He will forgive you. If you go forward with this rebellion, you and I both know it will be the end of you and your followers.”

  Lucifer just laughed at him. “You have not seen what I have, Abdiel. He has grown soft and weak. Ever since the creation of the humans, He panders to them. He should remember that we were made first. We are the perfect creation. Those humans are nothing but pathetic sheep compared to us. Now is our time to show Him that we will not sit back and accept second place. If we act now we can show Him that we are stronger than He ever thought. He will see we are now even more powerful than Him.”

  “How can we be more powerful than Him?” Abdiel asked. He spat at Lucifer’s feet, and the group of angels all let out a collective gasp at his blatant show of disrespect. “Do you forget? He made us. Lucifer, you are an even bigger fool than I first thought.”

  “How dare you speak to your master that way?” his oldest brother, Douma, interrupted the conversation. He looked almost identical to Forcas, right down to the dead, empty eyes.

  He stepped forward and went to strike Abdiel. Abdiel’s hand lashed out and wrapped around his brother’s throat. Not since he had been a mere child could any of his brothers take him on one to one. They had to team up on him, just like they had done a few moments earlier.

  “Don’t you see, Abdiel? He could never value a great archangel like you as I could,” Lucifer’s soothing voice reached him. “You would always be second to Michael or Raphael, always their lap boy. Join me, and you will be head archangel, as is your right.”

  “Flattery from you, Lucifer?” Abdiel turned to look at him, his hand still wrapped around his brother’s throat. “I did not know you looked away from the mirror long enough to notice anyone else.”

  Lucifer responded with a roar. Lifting his hand, he released a bolt of energy at Douma, sending him crashing to the ground. After looking down at his now empty hand, Abdiel cocked his head at his brother, then gave a sarcastic shake.

  “You have so much love for your angels.” He let loose the sarcasm. “It is no wonder the other two thirds haven’t followed you as well.”

  No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lucifer slammed him with an energy bolt. It painfully coursed through him an instant before his body slammed into the ground. Yeah, that’s going to leave a mark. Well, it looks like the time for words is over. Now, it’s time to play. With a low growl, he rolled up into a crouch then launched himself at Lucifer. Rules be damned. I’m going to rip his throat out. As soon as he got close enough to get to the lead angel, his two older brothers grabbed him by the arms. Although he fought against them, they effectively held him immobile.

  “Now that…” Lucifer strode forth and backhanded Abdiel. “…was unwise. I am going to make you suffer as you have never thought possible.”

  With those words, he turned around and cocked his finger. A female angel immediately came forward, answering his summons. Her dark brown hair was long with an abundance of curls that framed her small, pixie-like face. Large brown eyes were surrounded with dark, heavy lashes. Perfect pink lips formed a sinister smile before she slowly wrapped her arms around his neck. Lucifer gave an evil laugh right before he pulled her roughly into a deep kiss. With an angry roar, Abdiel lunged at him, only to have his brothers tighten their grip.

  “I can see why you are so taken with Persephone,” the evil angel
said as he ran his hands over the female that Abdiel had hoped to wed one day. “In fact, she was so delicious, after I had taken her, I shared her with several of my archangels. Do you know that after all that she still begged for more? You sure picked a feisty one.”

  The anger surging through him gave him the strength he needed to break free of his brothers. Reaching behind him, he drew his sword out of its scabbard. Before he could reach Lucifer, however, both of his brothers and his best friend Beelzebub pulled their own weapons and moved to stand in front of their leader. Any one of them alone Abdiel could have beaten, but together, that was a different story. It didn’t stop him, however. He’d never backed down from a fight before, and he was not ready to start now.

  “Beelzebub, you forget who helped you master that sword,” he goaded, trying to provoke them into making a mistake. “As for you, my two brothers, I am so going to enjoy tearing you two apart, bit by little bit.”

  With those words the three rushed him all at once. They wouldn’t want to attack him one at a time and give him half a chance. That would actually be honorable. With a grunt of aggravation, he brought his sword up to parry their thrusts.

  They were fast, but he was faster. Moving with a speed that no other angel could match, he met all three opponents sword to sword. Lucifer watched them fight, his mouth curled up in a smile. After several minutes, he appeared to get bored.

  “Mammon,” he said to his second in command. A tall male with blond hair stepped forward. “Finish this now before Abdiel hurts one of these fools.”

  Mammon nodded then threw a dagger at Abdiel. It buried itself deep in his chest. The archangel let out a yelp of pain and looked down at it, dropping his sword to the ground. Soon, he fell down. His brothers and Beelzebub fell upon him, striking him again and again with their swords. When they tired of swinging, they switched to kicking him without mercy. Unlike humans, angels are immortal, but they could feel pain and bleed, both of which he currently suffered. The only way to kill an angel is to destroy him totally, to injure him so savagely and leave the angel in so many pieces that no healer would ever be able to make him whole again. Abdiel grimly realized his former friend and his brothers were trying to do that to him right now. He had been given a death sentence.

  “Enough,” Lucifer bellowed. “We have work to do, and this piece of nothing has wasted more time than he is worth already. Now everybody come and say goodbye to Abdiel.”

  His brothers and Beelzebub each gave him another vicious kick before they walked off. His foggy mind brought up fantasies of some day ripping off their legs and beating them with them. When Persephone walked by, he turned his head away, not wanting to look at the female angel. It wasn’t until his parents came up that he showed any reaction. They had the twins with them. He used his last piece of strength to push himself up to his knees.

  “Please, Father, they are just children, leave them with me.” He looked over at his little brother and sister. They looked so much like him with their dark hair and blue eyes, blue eyes that were wide with fear and full of tears.

  His father’s only response was to spit fully in his face before roughly grabbing the twins by the back of their necks and dragging them away. His little sister Rachael cried pitifully while his baby brother Appolion tried in vain to fight back. The last thing Abdiel heard before he slipped into unconsciousness was his father smacking the twins.

  Abdiel lay wounded and unconscious all through the epic battle. It was not until days later, after Michael and his archangels had finally defeated Lucifer and banished him and all his angel followers to Hell, that they found him. He woke up only long enough to see Michael standing above him. His brown eyes were filled with grief and concern. He gently pushed Abdiel’s hair back.

  “It is known that you were a hero, that you alone would not betray Him. Rest well, Abdiel. He is proud of you.”

  The last thing he heard before he closed his eyes was some female weeping for him. He thought he must be losing his mind, as his lover, his mother, his entire family all were gone. There was no one left to weep for him, no one who cared for him. He truly was all alone.

  Chapter One

  “Gabi, there’s someone here to see us.” Camael’s usual teasing banter was gone. Only one thing could make him that somber. Michael had finally come to give them both the news they had been dreading.

  Michael was the most supreme archangel. He was one the first angels ever born and the most powerful. Because of this he was the chief of all the other angel warriors. That is, the angels who lived as humans on Earth in order to protect mankind from Lucifer and his demons. He handpicked his warriors from infancy, sorting through each newborn angel, looking for the specific skills he needed. Once he found the ones that met his criteria, he made sure they all had the proper training.

  At adulthood, they each made a sacred vow to protect their mortal brothers from Lucifer and his demons. Giving up all the luxuries and comforts from their former lives, they lived as humans. They lived in regular homes on Earth, ate human food, dressed in current fashions. Aside from a few short visits here and there, they no longer called Heaven home.

  At the present moment there were only two angels in their household, Gabi the healer and Camael the empath. They needed a new archangel and Michael was there to tell them who it was.

  “Well, should we go see what big bad Mike has to say?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Come on, Gabi, we both know he’s sending us a new archangel.”

  “Well, it has been a month, Cam. I’m surprised he waited this long.”

  “Who do you think it will be?” Camael tried to ask in a casual tone, but the way he nervously fingered the buttons on his shirt betrayed him.

  “Just so long as it’s not one of your brothers, I don’t care.”

  “Hey,” he protested with a laugh. “You know the council doesn’t let family members serve in the same household.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said softly before reaching out to ruffle the younger angel’s hair in a motherly fashion. “He won’t send another one like Charoum”

  Charoum had been their previous archangel and he had made Cam’s life miserable. The stuffy, older angel could not abide the way the younger angel embraced the human world and how he lived life like a human just out of high school. The fact that Cam tended to shoot his mouth off before he took the time to think first did not help matters any either.

  Instead of training Cam like he was supposed to, the archangel had let him go out unprepared. Cam had really tried, bless his heart, but all his training had been as an empath. He had very little combat knowledge and had to wing it whenever he had gone out to battle. The empath had been injured more times than Gabi could count. It had been totally humiliating to the young angel.

  The few times Gabi had managed to get Charoum to take Cam to the gym to train had been terrible. The archangel had used the opportunity to slap the empath down on the mat time and time again. She healed just as many injuries from his so-called training sessions as she had from demon attacks.

  What Cam did not know was that Gabrielle had gone to Michael and asked him to transfer Charoum. She loved Cam as if he were a younger brother and would do anything for him. It had torn her up inside to see Cam wince whenever the archangel yelled at him.

  Gabi was more worried than she let on. She had mentally gone through all the available archangels in her head and could not think of one that would be able to tolerate Cam. It was like the empath was trying to make a career out of being an oddball.

  Cam’s wardrobe consisted of ratty old jeans and rock tee shirts. He wore his blond hair in a messy, spiked fashion and had a small gold hoop earring in his left ear. The empath did not crave manna, the food of angels, but pizza and burgers.

  His idea of an evening off was loafing in front of the television watching reality shows, sports or some bad movie on the sci-fi channel. He actually asked to be assigned to Detroit because it was the home of his favorite hockey team
the Red Wings.

  He was defiantly unique.

  They walked into the living room, where Michael was sitting on the couch. He was watching the TV, a look of horror on his face.

  “What is this?” He pointed to the set.

  “Night of the Living Dead,” Cam muttered, ducking his head. He started to pull at his hair. It was a nervous habit of his that really annoyed her.

  Gabi let out a little groan. How could Cam have forgotten to turn off the TV? At least he didn’t have a CD blaring. The last thing they needed was Michael to hear that the empath loved alternative rock.

  “It’s about zombies who attack humans and eat their brains,” Cam rambled on, trying to get himself out of his mess, but only digging himself in deeper. “It’s a classic horror movie.”

  “Why would they eat brains?” Michael asked, but Gabi caught the teasing glint in his eye.

  “I dunno.” Cam’s eyes still had not left his shuffling feet.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, Michael.” Gabi decided to bail out her poor empath. “Didn’t you and I see this at the theater when it first came out?”

  “Now Gabrielle,” Michael chided. “If you give away all my secrets, how will I keep Camael afraid of me?”

  Gabi laughed while Cam looked up, a shocked expression on his face. He even cracked a half smile. However, he refrained from shooting off his mouth. It was good to see that there was one thing that would shut him up. Maybe she should invite Michael over more often.

  “Gabrielle.” Michael stood up before handing her the remote. “I am sure you two know why I am here?”

  “We have a pretty good guess,” she answered. “We have a new roomie.”

  “It hasn’t been easy,” Michael drawled, looking over at the young male angel. “Most of the available archangels felt that they would as soon beat you, Cam, as work with you.”

  “Michael…” Gabi began to protest only to have Michael hold up a hand to stop her.

  “I did not say I agreed with them. Me, I happen to favor the boy. He makes life interesting, but his mouth does tend to get him in trouble.”