Мишель Роуэн - Angel with Attitude

“Yasmeen,” he said evenly.

And then she walked right up along the edge of the swimming pool to Nathaniel and kissed him on the mouth. Val blinked. French-kissed. With tongue and everything. “Have you missed me, darling?” It sounded more like dah-link. Like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Val decided. Only more evil.

Nathaniel glanced at Val then back to her. “Very much.”

“Yasmeen has missed you, too. Yasmeen is worried about you, dah-link. She hopes you will follow through on your latest assignment as soon as possible. She may be able to help you get a promotion, if you do.”

“Excuse me,” Val said.

Her amber eyes tracked to Val as if she’d just noticed a fruit fly buzzing nearby. “Who are you?”

“I’m Nathaniel’s evil witch girlfriend. Got it?”

Her thinly arched eyebrows slid up. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, it’s so.”

A bemused smile twisted on her full red lips. “And what did you wish to ask Yasmeen?”

“Do you always talk about yourself that way?”

“What way?”

“In the third person. It’s rather distracting. Well, that and sticking your tongue down

Nathaniel’s throat a moment ago. Don’t do that.”

Yasmeen cocked her head to the side and studied her for a moment, her gaze raking down

Val’s glamourized body, taking in every inch.

“You are human.” She turned to the demon. “Nathaniel, dah-link, I knew things were dire, but

I had no idea you’d gotten so desperate. You should have contacted me and I could have taken care of you much better than any human can. As you well know.”

“After Lucifer promoted you, you’ve been at the head office for so long, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again.”

She smiled. “Yet here I am. I always am looking for new challenges, new excitement.”

“New risks?” Nathaniel said, and his gaze flicked to Val.

“Most certainly. Existence is boring without a certain level of unpredictability and risk.”

“I absolutely agree.”

Val frowned at him, but was ignored.

“We will spend much time together being . . . spontaneous.” Then she eyed Val. “He is mine, human. Always has been. And as soon as he once and for all accepts what he is without reserve, and the power that I can bring him, he always will be.”

“Bitch!” That was from Reggie.

Val forced her expression to stay blank and bored despite the heavy fist that just pulled out her heart and pounded it into the ground. “Yeah, well, maybe I’ll go see what Julian’s up to.

You see one hot demon you’ve seen them all.”

She laughed. “Silly one, be my guest. Julian is hopelessly insane, power-hungry, and rumor is that he’s as impotent as a garden hose.”

“Then how is he any different from Nathaniel?”

That got his full attention. His lips twitched and he almost smiled, but managed to stop himself. “I’m not insane.”

Val shrugged. “Two out of three, then.”

Yasmeen turned her gaze back to Nathaniel. Honestly, Val thought, the woman looked at him like she should be wearing a I’M NATHANIEL’S NUMBER ONE FAN T-shirt or something. It was really pathetic. Well, it would be pathetic if she wasn’t as gorgeous as a

European supermodel from Hell. As well as practically naked.

“Yasmeen must go take care of some business,” she purred. “But let us have large amounts of sex later. When you have rid yourself of the short, disproportioned human.”

Val adjusted her glamourized boobs. “You’re just jealous. You’re lucky I can’t use my evil witch powers around here.”

She fixed Val with an icy gaze. “And you as well.”

Then she walked away showing them that her leopard print bikini was, in fact, a thong.

“I’ve never been so scared,” Reggie said. “Or so incredibly turned on in my entire life.”

Nathaniel looked at Val and shrugged. “She’s a demon.”

“No kidding.” She watched Yasmeen disappear into the mansion, and then started to laugh.

Nathaniel frowned. “What’s so funny?”

Val shook her head. “I’m so unbelievably naïve that it’s ridiculous.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I was feeling all sorry for you before. I thought that you . . . that whole thing about not being able to ‘be with’ anyone or you’ll break the rules and be punished. I thought . . . forget it. I’m such an idiot.”

His frown deepened and he crossed his arms. “There is a rule that a Tempter cannot be with his assigned fallen angel.”

“It really doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Yes, Valerie”—he grabbed her arm—“it does.”

“I command you to let go of me.”

He did and then stared at her. “I don’t care what she made it sound like, Yasmeen and I—”

“I command you to stop talking about this.”

He shut his mouth. “Very well. But you just need to know that she means—”

Val pushed him into the pool with a big, loud splash and turned away to go in search of a fruity drink with an umbrella in it.

“I don’t know how mature that was, Val,” Reggie said as he gnawed at the piece of pineapple that decorated her third piña colada. “But it sure was funny.”

They sat on a lounge chair a short distance away from the noisy party. The Underworld was currently experiencing a planned dark-time—Val had been told by a passing waiter that it was only to last for ten minutes—and patio lanterns were out, lighting up the pool area. Several large, demony men had shotguns and were taking target practice at the few Nightflyers that had dared to come too close. Val found it extremely disturbing to watch, knowing that the creatures had once been demons like Nathaniel. But the alcoholic beverage was helping her cope. A bit.

She’d searched around for Julian so she could continue working on him. All she needed was for him to let her hold on to the key for a while. Then as soon as she got out of his sight she would simply escape with it in her possession. But he was nowhere to be found, at least at the moment. As each minute passed she got more and more nervous that her plan was so flimsy it would fail miserably.

Maybe I shouldn’t have had that third drink, she thought.

Nathaniel had called her selfish before. Was he right? Did she only want the key for herself?

To go back to Heaven and back to her predictable, risk-free existence? She’d always thought that would be the pleasant side effect after she’d helped Barlow and saved the world. But as far as it being her main reason for going through everything she’d gone through . . .

Was she being selfish? The thought made her feel ill. Maybe she was a horrible person deep down and all of the poison was now coming to the surface.

Like the “pride” thing. She’d never known that was one of her flaws. It hadn’t even occurred to her that there had been a real reason for her expulsion from Heaven until it had been pointed out to her. Even then, it seemed like an unlikely reason.

But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she didn’t deserve to be an angel at all.

She had committed the deadly sin of pride. She was selfish. And now she feared for her own safety if Julian caught her trying to take the key.

I am a wimp, she thought dejectedly as she slurped at the bottom of her drink. A selfish wimp.

With incredibly large breasts.

Reggie poked her with his paw. “Don’t look so glum. Have another drink.”

She pushed the glass away. “No. I think I’ve had enough. Of all of this. I just want to go home now.”

“Hey, remember when I said that when you’re not looking, Nate’s always staring at you like a little lost puppy dog?”