Rao Read online

  I’m one of the Seraphim. I exist in the uppermost part of the hierarchy. I am to dispel and destroy the shadows of darkness. One day my perfect world is tossed into chaos and I meet Felix. He intrigues me unlike anything or anyone before him.

  Our lives and intersecting and instead of this upsetting me, this pleases me. I want to be around him and see what comes from this.

  I am…

  Rao

  Rao

  Ascension, Book Three

  by

  Hayden West

  MM, GAY, FANTASY, PARANORMAL, AND EROTIC ROMANCE

  Twisted E-Publishing, LLC

  www.twistedepublishing.com

  A TWISTED E-PUBLISHING BOOK

  Rao

  Ascension, Book Three

  Copyright © 2018 by Hayden West

  Edited by Marie Medina

  First E-book Publication: November 2018

  Cover design by K Designs

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2018, Twisted E-Publishing.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  All characters engaging in sexual situations are over the age of 18.

  Table of Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Also By Hayden

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  The air around him grew stale and almost bitter, a sharp and disliked contrast to the scents he was used to as he arrived here. That alone had Rao slowing his descent to the area. He enjoyed coming here. Humans were fun and amusing to observe. Confusing, but he had to admit, he had become even more intrigued by them.

  He’d heard a few rumors of some of their kind being with humans. He had knowledge of some having sex with them, but before the name Demuri had reached him, aside from being one of the most famous Powers, he’d not heard of a long-term relationship between his kind and a human.

  As his sandals hit the ground, he kept his wings from dragging on the dirty ground. The sharp senses he had screamed to him that something was wrong. No longer just stale but a metallic hint to the air as well.

  Rao skimmed a hand over his short, pale blond hair. The entire piazza felt off. This time of the night it was empty. Even so, he maintained his shielding to keep him from being seen by a straggling passerby.

  Without progressing forward, he turned a complete circle, mentally locating and marking each statue’s location. Nothing out of place there.

  Why am I feeling like this?

  He maneuvered around to the four before turning his attention to the main statue. Old and highly revered. The base was huge and as he circumvented it the scent of blood grew much stronger.

  Whipping out his wings so he didn’t fall when he slipped, he glanced down to the increasing puddle. The ominous plipping of more liquid prompted him to look up. Dread set up in his gut, and he slowly ran his gaze up the statue of Gabriel. He couldn’t keep his horrified gasp contained. His stomach rolled, and he swallowed down the rising nausea. As he rose, the image only got worse.

  Rao’s wings faltered, and he plummeted back to earth.

  Help! I need help, please!

  His ankle crumpled as he landed with a grunt. This time he scrambled back until he angled over and puked.

  What do you need assistance with, Rao?

  He didn’t recognize the voice on the pathway shared by all his kind, but it didn’t matter. This was far beyond anything he could handle by himself.

  He’d dead. Impaled on the trumpet and… He gulped. There’s a message.

  Touch nothing.

  Not exactly something he wanted to do but deep down, he couldn’t explain how having the permission not to helped.

  The voice was gone, and he gulped air. He didn’t know who hung there aside from it was a Throne, identified by the graphite grey leather uniforms their section always wore. As Rao was a Seraphim, all like him had the infinity mark branded on the back of their necks.

  His heated and began to burn on the nape of his neck, and without thinking, he lunged to the right. The whistle of metal by his ear told him he’d narrowly missed an encounter with a sword.

  Who wants to kill me?

  Quite possibly the same being who impaled a Throne on a statue of the Archangel Gabriel. He rolled to a crouch, ready to jump either way. Not a warrior by any means, he would still try to save his life. The figure he could see was all in black. Everything from clothing, wings, even the sword that had tried to kill him. As he watched, it took to the sky and vanished, not hanging around long enough for him to try to identify him.

  The powerful beating of more wings spun him around to witness four appear and approach. One he recognized as a Domination immediately for the blood red scarlet wings that even the night couldn’t hide. The four had a light around them, and he nearly looked away from the combined power they presented. The Domination had dark brown hair and steely blue-grey eyes, as he landed.

  He looked to the next one, identifying him as a Virtue, the arm gauntlets his identifying marker. The black with the deep purple outlined each chevron on the gauntlets. Still wasn’t aware of his name, however.

  The third was a Power, those sharp and unforgiving gold eyes a dead giveaway. The spear in his hand didn’t hurt anything either.

  Then he moved on to the fourth. His black hair and indifferent eyes the color of coal didn’t help him identify who it was. The man held no weapons and yet exuded power. He gave a dismissive glance over Rao before he turned and extended out his wings once more, taking to the sky and rising to where the being still hung and bled.

  In that moment, Rao knew he was in the presence of an Archangel. That nautilus pattern on the back of their outspread wings done in a snowy grey color, or darker if they had lighter wings, was present on all of them. The more distinguished the markings the older and more powerful. This one’s were pretty well delineated.

  The Power moved to him and reached out a hand, expression still cold. “You found him? What were you doing here, Rao?”

  “I did. I come here often because I like it here.” He clamped his mouth shut as he fought the urge to defend his actions. He was on his own time for the moment.

  “Elexus! He still lives.”

  The Power rose immediately, as did the Domination. That left him alone with the Virtue. Dark eyes found and latched onto his.

  “Move over here. I’m Omri.”

  Rao listened, wishing he could get cleaned up. He still had vomit on his breath and blood on his wings from where he fell. Not to mention his ankle was swelling.

  “Walk me through what happened.”

  While there wasn’t any condemnation in his tone, neither was there sympathy. Omri’s dark skin gleamed in the night’s light.

  Rao took a few shallow breaths, hoping the stench of blood wouldn’t assault him.

  “I come here because I enjoy sitting here. It relaxes me.”

  Omri nodded but didn’t speak.

  “Even before I landed, it didn’t feel right. I looked around, and as I was walking around the base of the large statue, I slipped in the blood. Rising, I found what you see there as well as the message written in blood. I fell, called for help, and was attacked.”

  Omri shifted, his medium blue wings flaring out slightly. “You were attacked?”

  “Yes. When I saw this I thought it was a demon attack, but that was no demon. I couldn’t see anything that could tell me who it was. They used a sword, the blade black. And everything they wore was black, as were the wings.”

  Omri pushed a hand over his short dark hair. “Come on.”

  They made their way to where the other three had brought down the Throne. All of them had somber expressions and soon, more Dominations had arrived to take him away. Then the weight of their four stares fell to him. Rao gulped.

  The one who’d answered to Elexus stepped closer. “Omri said you were attacked by one of us.”

  Ignoring the suspicion in his gaze, he shrugged. “I don’t know who it was. All I know is they had wings, sword, and were dressed entirely in black.”

  “So you didn’t see anything identifying to state it wasn’t an actual demon who did this?”

  Rao bristled. This may be a Power, but he wasn’t a fool and knew what had tried to kill him. “I can’t say he had gold eyes if that’s what you’re getting at. Like I stated he was all in black. I’ve not met any demons who had wings like ours. I’m used to them being scaly. I haven’t seen them all so I suppose one could have feathers as we do.”

  “Be nice, Elexus.”

  “We don’t need to be wasting our time searching for one of us if it’s a demon, which is what this kind of attack screams, Tacorian. We need facts, not assumptions.”

  He flicked his eyes between the two of them, not willing to step in a disagreement between a Power and a Domination.

  “Enough.”

  The Archangel spoke. “We take Rao at his word. He hasn’t given us any reason not to. I also find it hard to believe a demon would write, ‘Heralded his arrival’ in angelic blood. Our blood burns them. We would have seen evidence of that, and there wasn’t any, a fact that lends more credence to Rao’s statement. You three fan out and see what you can find. I need a word with Rao.”

  They didn’t argue with him, and soon Rao stood
with the Archangel.

  “I’m Luken.”

  “How can I help?”

  * * * *

  Felix Oberti muttered beneath his breath as he left the office and covered the ground in long strides to reach his SUV waiting for him. Slipping behind the wheel, he kept the smile on his face as he waved to the officers streaming out of the door.

  Only once he was on the road did the mutterings grow louder. “I can’t believe they are stupid enough to think this is some random animal attack.”

  He pressed the accelerator and smiled as the powerful vehicle responded in kind. “No animals do this kind of killing. There’re multiples, and if I’m not mistaken this is more ritualistic killing than anything. Animals eat the internal organs, not set them aside and leave them behind. No, this is someone, some sick fuck, looking to make a statement.”

  He turned on some music and as he continued on up into the mountains, he thought about the past five kills he’d come upon. The main question was why his commanding officer wasn’t all that interested in solving this case. Felix got blown off and told to look into it, if he must, on his own time. That didn’t make sense, not any way he sliced it.

  Off the main road, he shifted the Jeep into four-wheel drive and continued on up the rutted and muddy road that was more like a trail. But he needed his gear as close as he could get it and he’d come up here already and was aware of how far up he could get.

  His silver Jeep Wrangler was handling it like a pro, and he loved off-roading. It would be an absolute perfect day if he wasn’t trying to track down people killing animals for fun, ritual, or whatever their pointless excuse happened to be.

  Reaching the plateau he knew to be the end of his driving road, he turned around so he was pointed out, as more rain was in the forecast and, really, why make it more difficult to leave. Killing the engine, he hopped out and grabbed his bag and weapons, and then locked up. Shouldering his pack, he marked his position with his watch’s compass then struck out toward the last spot he’d been.

  Early afternoon had hit already, and the clouds were rolling in at a quick pace. He lengthened his strides, wanting to get back there before the rains reached him and took away any more potential clues to having this solved. Jogging easily along the elk path, he settled into a ground-eating stride.

  About two hundred yards out, he heard a sound that wasn’t like anything he’d heard before and he slowed to a stop. Straining his ears, he couldn’t identify the sound. It wasn’t an animal killing another. That was typically very identifiable. This was different.

  Disturbingly so.

  He wasn’t sure it was human either. There was rustling and other sounds he wasn’t familiar with. Swinging his rifle off his shoulder, he continued forward with caution. The woods weren’t as thick as they had been, but it was by no means a clearing.

  “The fuck?”

  He blinked a few times, uncertain of what he was staring at. There were three things there, all black. Instantly he could tell that was a disguise. There was some missing coating on two of them. He could see white hair on one and a grey shirt on another. However, that wasn’t what shocked him. What had was they all had wings.

  If that’s a harness set up, it’s fucking stellar.

  They had a bear up and were gutting it, slowly, taking their time. They were making a mess and had obviously tortured the animal before he was put out of his misery.

  “Step away from the bear,” he commanded, stepping into view.

  All three of them whirled toward him. He wanted to curl up in a ball and whimper. There was such power rolling off those before him it hurt his eyes to look directly upon them. Shaking his head, he tightened his grip on the rifle and gestured.

  “I mean it, step away.”

  Blinking away the tears that had gathered, he reached for the radio at his hip and pulled it to his mouth.

  “Base? This is Oberti. I have three suspects before a dead bear. I need backup ASAP. I swear, they, they have wings.”

  Over the line was nothing but static, and he tried again, holding both his stare and the rifle on the trio. The one in the middle moved toward him. He was taller than those with him, and a tightening around Felix’s chest took him to his knees.

  What the fuck?

  All three of them snapped their heads to the south and immediately took to the skies.

  It’s official. I’m losing my sanity. Men don’t fly.

  His heart pounded, and he took deep breaths as his lungs expanded fully and allowed him to get some much needed air. As soon as he could, he jumped to his feet and ran toward the hanging ursa, swearing a blue streak. This pissed him off.

  He took pictures as the clouds grew thicker and darker. Cutting down the animal, he documented all he could. It was the same as the others he’d come across. But now he had an idea of what was doing this.

  Right, because going to the boss with humans who have wings had done this is going to make me sound like I’ve been up here drinking. I didn’t even think to get pictures of them.

  While he berated himself for that stupid lack of action, he felt a brush along the back of his neck, one that typically only happened when he was about to step in some shit. Whirling around, rifle still ready to fire, he froze.

  Maybe I was drinking and just didn’t know it.

  One man stood there in the rapidly darkening afternoon. But, truly, was he a man? For as sure as he stood there, Felix swore there were wings coming up from his back as well. Like the other three.

  Then again, maybe I’m not standing here. Perhaps I wrecked my vehicle on the way here and am dead. This is nothing but a vision in the afterlife.

  He swung his gaze around, taking in the tall trees rising out of the earth, brushing the darkening sky. The increased winds rustled through the leaves. What he didn’t hear were any animal sounds. No squirrels chattering, calling of the birds, or animals rooting through the underbrush.

  Unbidden, his focus returned to the one standing there. He blinked a few times, as the man had come closer. One second he was farther away, then he was close enough to touch him with the barrel of the rifle.

  Not like that is scary or anything.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you with those who did this to the bear?” He interjected authority into his tone when all he wanted to do was curl into a ball once more.

  The one before him didn’t speak. The pale blond hair hung onto the remaining vestiges of daylight. Light blue eyes never wavered as they held his. His wings were a faded rose hue.

  “What are you?”

  “I won’t hurt you.”

  The tone escaping from that throat was unlike anything he’d heard before. Felix was sucker punched out of left field with that tone. Instant heat flared in his veins.

  “You may as well put down your weapon. It is ineffectual against my kind.”

  “And your kind, what is that exactly?”

  He touched the black shirt on his chest. “I am Seraphim.”

  “You say that like I should know what the fuck it is.” He shook off the exhaustion weighing down his limbs and lifted the rifle once more.

  “You refer to me as an angel.”

  “So you’re an angel? Really?”

  “No, I am Seraphim. I just told you that.”

  He moved closer, and the rifle was suddenly gone. There was no struggle for it. One minute it was there, the next it was gone.

  “What the hell did you just do? Give me my rifle back.”

  “We need to talk. I need answers, and you are focusing on killing. That isn’t conducive to this discussion.”

  “Are you going to kill me like the other three seemed to want to do when this discussion is over?”

  Blue eyes narrowed. “Other three?”

  “Yes, the ones who did this to that animal back there. I’ve been tracking them because I found more than just one.”

  The being held up a hand, and darkness overtook Felix.