Page 95 of Inflamed By an Incubus

“Not cryogenics then.” He peered closer at the woman, easily seeing the other sphere now he knew it was there. The surface of it rippled at times, reflecting him and the light as he moved around it, heading to the right, away from all the machinery.

He lowered his gaze to the bottom of the sphere as he crouched and frowned. It was floating. The sphere containing the woman was floating a good twelve inches away from the bottom of the glass ball. Archangel must have constructed the glass around her, sealing her inside it, and they were using the gas to do something. He wasn’t sure what.

Evelyn remained where she was. “Do you think it’s Aryanna?”

He nodded, rose to his feet and stared at the sorceress, a weight settling in his chest as he gazed at her. She was beautiful, and seemed… sad… as she floated in the liquid, holding her knees to her chest.

He couldn’t stop looking at her as Evelyn went back to the computer.

“Um… someone digitised records dating back to the year you gave me. Subject Zero was the first non-human Archangel discovered and the reason they founded the organisation. They did it to study her… Named it after her.” She glanced at the woman and then at him, something in her eyes. “They thought she was an angel. Something about her having wings.”

Fenix couldn’t see any wings.

He moved around her to her back at the same time as Evelyn, meeting her there, and couldn’t believe his eyes.

There were silvery scars on the woman’s back that did resemble wings. Only they didn’t look like they belonged to an angel.

Evelyn hurried away from him to the computer. “Ah… there’s several mentions of the wings over the next two centuries of reports. They’re growing apparently… transforming from what they had believed to be angel wings into something more demonic.”

“They look like dragon wings to me.” Fenix had to put it out there, because that feeling that this was Aryanna had grown more concrete the moment he had seen the scars that stretched from her shoulders to her hips. “The mate of a dragon.”

He held his hand out towards the sphere.

The air vibrated, sending a tremor through him that had his blood humming in his veins.

He snatched his hand back.

“Don’t do that again,” Evelyn snapped.

He glanced at her and wanted to apologise when he saw how pale she was and felt the fear in her.

He shook his head instead. “Believe me, I don’t want it to happen again either.”

He moved back a step, distancing himself, but while the air stilled, awareness continued to vibrate within him. He could feel her power lacing the air, swore she was agitated as the liquid around her shifted, and a bad feeling settled in his gut.

One that said that if she ever woke, all the realms would be in danger.

“Archangel want to use her, but they have her in this cell.” He looked across his shoulder at Evelyn.

She lifted her head, the light from the screen washing over her face, and looked from him to the sphere.

“I don’t think it’s a cell. Not like you’re thinking. They’re not holding her captive right now. As far as I can tell… the feeling I had back in Hell when I saw that cave… it’s right.” She pushed away from the trolley and came to him, gazing up at the woman. “Archangel are looking for a way to break her out of the sphere surrounding her. They’re looking for a way to wake her. I think the glass is there to keep her protected and hidden until they can achieve that.”

Which made sense in a way.

“I can’t sense her. I can sense you, but not her. If she’s alive, I should be able to feel her, but I can’t.” He wanted to press his hand to the glass as he mulled that over, but resisted the temptation. “Maybe the glass sphere is also there so Archangel can safely study her. It’s not just protecting her. It’s protecting their researchers from her.”

Evelyn went to the computer and scrolled through another document. “I think you’re right. There’s a few records of deaths in the early days of studying her. It sounds like people were drawn to her and when they touched the liquid surrounding her, they… well, let’s just say they died.”

Despite him keeping his distance, the humming in the air was growing stronger, and what had been calm rippling liquid around her now shifted restlessly. He glanced at Evelyn.

“Is there anything in the database about the sphere reacting to its environment or people?” He had the feeling the sphere was reacting, but that it was reacting to the feelings of the one inside it.

Was Aryanna aware of them?

He stared at her, at her closed eyes and serene expression. There was no trace of the agitation he felt sure she was feeling. She looked as calm and still as she had when he had first seen her.

Evelyn’s fingers danced across the keyboard and he waited as tense minutes ticked past.

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