Мишель Роуэн - Angel with Attitude

Val let out a long sigh of relief and looked down at Reggie.

“I told her I was a rat.” He shrugged his rat shoulders. “She agreed with me.”

“Obviously.”

He scurried away from them without another word.

Val kicked the baseball bat away, and crouched down next to Claire. “It’s going to be okay.

And just for the record, it was only a kiss. And it wasn’t with me.” She put her hand on

Claire’s shoulder and she tensed, pulled her scarf away so she could wipe her face, and stood up.

“You can have him.”

“I don’t want him.”

“He’s all yours. The jerk.”

She turned away, giving Val her back.

“You need to change him back,” Val told her.

Claire spun back around, her tear-filled eyes full of pain. “But he’s exactly what he is now. A rat. Now he can’t fool anyone else into believing he’s a wonderful, caring man who loves them.” Her bottom lip quivered.

Val didn’t have a response for that. “I had no idea you were so powerful.”

“Neither did he. Maybe if he’d known what would happen he wouldn’t have been so stupid.”

“Well, maybe—”

“You tell him that.” Her voice cracked on the words. “That he was stupid. And now he has to live with his mistakes.”

Before Val could say another word, Claire turned her back and stormed out of the motel’s courtyard.

Super, she thought. Now a witch thought she’d slept with her boyfriend. That was one

McDonald’s she wouldn’t be able to go to anymore.

Val frowned. Not that it mattered since she was leaving. But she’d miss her McChicken sandwich. Another okay thing about being human. And the french fries were pretty good, too.

Reggie had disappeared, and she gave up looking for him after a few minutes. She went back to her room, mopped up the spilled chicken soup, which unfortunately made her think about

Nathaniel and his visit last night. Then she pulled on a pair of dark jeans, a plain white tank top, and a big, warm purple cardigan. She brushed her hair, washed her face, and wiped the sleep out of her eyes.

Time to go home, she told her slightly bleary-eyed reflection. She hoped Reggie would be able to sort out his bizarre girlfriend issues without her help.

She considered asking Barlow to wait a bit on their trip. To make sure everything worked out.

But decided against it. She didn’t want any possibility of seeing Nathaniel again. She didn’t even want to spend any more time thinking about the evil jerk. The fact that when she closed her eyes she could still feel his body against hers was definitely not a good thing.

She had to get out of there.

She pulled on a cream-colored winter coat, and the last thing she grabbed was the notebook with her pages upon pages of scrawled memories, lists, and reminders. She decided to take it along with her as a souvenir of the two months stuck on her earthly vacation.

Val left the motel room and headed to the manager’s office, hearing the bell jingle as she pushed open the door. Nobody was behind the counter so she started for the beaded curtain, but stopped when she heard voices. Raised, shouting voices. And then a loud cracking sound that made her jump.

The beaded curtain whipped to the side and she saw Alexa standing there with a wild look on her face.

“Valerie! Please. You have to help. You can’t let him have it.”

“Have what?”

She raised her clenched fist and opened it to reveal a small, golden key. She met Val’s gaze and shook her head. “This is all my fault. All of it. Protect Barty. Help him. Do whatever it takes to—”

There was another cracking sound. Alexa jerked forward and her eyes widened. Flames gathered at her feet, and slowly moved up her body. It was kind of like when Nathaniel chose to make his dramatic exit, only slower and somehow much, much scarier.

“No.” Alexa turned to look at whatever was behind her. “You backstabbing bastard. I won’t let you do this—”

But then the flames picked up speed and engulfed her. Val heard her scream; a loud, piercing, painful sound that was abruptly cut off. The key fell to the ground and came to rest in the middle of a circle of black ash. Alexa was gone.

Val couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed. She’d heard stories of what it was like, but to see a demon vanquished—destroyed in front of her eyes, reduced to nothing but ash—chilled her right to the bone.

But who was responsible? Or what?

She looked up, eyes wide, as the curtain parted before her.

Val didn’t recognize him. He was medium height, thin, with blond hair and hollow cheeks.

Vivid blue eyes. He wore black leather pants and a tight blue shirt that showed off his sleekly toned upper body. He stared at her for a moment before a smile spread across his painfully handsome features—a cold, thin smile that froze her inside as fire lit up his eyes.

Another demon, she thought as fear washed over her.

The blond demon crouched down to pick up the golden key and brought it to his lips to blow off the bits of ash. Bits of Alexa. Then he rose to his feet.

Val didn’t move, couldn’t move, but her heart beat against her ribcage like a trapped animal.

He raised an eyebrow. “Valerie, right?”

She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

He held the key between his thumb and middle finger. “Do you know what this is?”

Val swallowed hard. “A key.”

“Such a small word, isn’t it? For such an important thing?” He grinned. “That Alexa, quite the wily one. Didn’t make even a mention that she had something so precious in her possession.

And to give it to her little fallen angel boyfriend. Cute, isn’t it? Love certainly works in mysterious ways.”

“Who are you? What do you want?”

His grin widened. “Well, isn’t that sweet of you to ask. My name is Julian. And I just got what I wanted.”

“You’re a demon.”

He looked down at himself. “Does it show?”

Val glanced at Alexa’s ashes and felt anger rise inside her. “Only in that you’re obviously evil and heartless.”

He mock pouted. “You wound me.”

“I’d like to.” The tremor in her voice didn’t give her words as much impact as she would have liked.

He licked his lips and studied her for a moment. “I think I like you. No wonder Nathaniel wishes to keep you all for himself.”

That gave her a chill. “You know Nathaniel?”

He grimaced at the name. “Unfortunately. I wonder what he’ll say when he learns what I’ve done to you. Knowing him as I do, he may be relieved you’ve been taken off his hands.”

Her breath caught and she took a step back, clutching her notebook to her chest.

Julian cocked his head to one side, staring at the little book. In a motion quicker than she could see, he snatched it away from her. “What’s this?”

“Nothing. Give it back.”

He flipped through the pages and laughed. “Isn’t that adorable. How long has Nathaniel left you to your own devices that you’ve been able to make such extensively useless notes about your former home?”

Tears stung her eyes. “Give that back to me or I swear I’ll . . . I’ll . . .”

“You’ll what?” He raised an eyebrow and extended the book to her. She reached out to grab it just as it exploded into flame, a small fireball in the palm of Julian’s hand that, when gone, left no trace of the book behind. “You’ll do nothing, that’s what you’ll do. You’re powerless against me, fallen one. Never forget that.”

Her notebook. He destroyed it. Everything she knew about Heaven, every detail she could remember . . . gone.

“How . . . how could you?”