Мишель Роуэн - Angel with Attitude

Nathaniel ground his thumbs into Julian’s eyes who then screamed and let him go. They scowled at each other.

“You are so whipped,” Julian snapped. “It’s sad, really.”

“You’re just jealous.”

“Yeah, I’m so jealous. Not!”

Lisa touched Val’s arm. “Why, Val? Why did you stop me from going through the doorway?”

Val turned to look at her. Poor Lisa who’d gotten a raw deal and regretted being tempted.

Who just wanted a second chance.

She shrugged the girl’s hand away.

“Fallen angels are fallen for a reason,” Val told her. “And sweetie, I’ve learned way too much in the past couple of days about false exteriors. So why don’t you quit the act?”

Her eyes widened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Val just fixed her with an icy glare. “Drop it. I saw your flamey eyes inside—you must have lost your concentration or something. Had me going, too. I thought you were a fallen angel all this time. I should have believed Nathaniel when he said he didn’t remember tempting you.

Because he didn’t, did he?”

“Val,” Reggie said off to her left, struggling to keep his afghan up. Behind him the boys continued to fight and verbally taunt each other, though neither seemed to be winning. “Why are you being so mean to her?”

Val sighed. “I’ve had a really lousy day.”

Lisa smiled then, just a small smile that blossomed into a full-fledged grin. “You are wrong about one thing, Val.”

“Oh? And what might that be?”

“I was once a fallen angel.”

Lisa shimmered as her glamour shifted, and she became taller, broader, thicker. Her red hair turned blond, so bright in color that it hurt Val’s eyes. Her feminine features became masculine. And perfect. He was incredibly handsome, but . . . there was something about the way this man looked. His beauty was so acute it was nearly painful. Looking at him didn’t fill

Val with light, it filled her with dread, and goose bumps formed on her arms. Though it was already cool outside and a few snowflakes were drifting down from the clouds above, a deeper chill now spread across the motel grounds as she faced the being in front of her. His eyes were all fire as he stared at her and Val got the strange impression that this is how his eyes always were. All of the time.

“Damn,” Val finally managed to say.

Lucifer shrugged and looked down at himself. “You don’t like?”

She swallowed. Hard. “Um, I guess I’m just a little speechless.”

“I tend to have that effect on people.”

Reggie cleared his throat nervously. “This is just like Scooby-Doo. Only evil and really scary.”

“I thought Lisa used to be a maid here,” Val said after a moment.

“She was. I believe she eloped with her boyfriend to Montreal. I thought the glamour would help me get a little undercover work done.”

Her feet didn’t seem to be working anymore. Not that she could have run away from freaking

Lucifer if she tried. But it would have been nice to have had the option. “What kind of undercover work?”

He glanced over at the two demons who hadn’t noticed the major change to the cast of characters yet. “It’s not easy being me, I’ll have you know, Valerie. You know Donald

Trump? All the businesses he oversees? That’s nothing compared to what I have to do. So many employees to keep an eye on in case they’re up to something. That usually takes most of my time. Your side isn’t the only one interested in keeping the balance, you know. I like things just the way they are and I work hard to ensure it stays that way. However, every now and again there is something too interesting added into the mix that requires me to take an extra look. You, for instance.”

Val frowned. “Me? What for?”

“You because you were a fallen angel without a crime. That so rarely happens, it’s a national event when it does.”

“She was thrown out because of pride,” Reggie offered, hiking up his afghan toga. “It’s a deadly sin, though I guess you probably already know that. Um. I’ll shut up now.”

Val nodded. “It’s true. There’s apparently paperwork and everything.”

Lucifer laughed and it sent chills down Val’s spine. “Pride? Is that what they told you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“And what about him?” Lucifer nodded toward Nathaniel.

“What about him?”

“He has aided you instead of tempting you. That doesn’t happen, either. Yet another sign that you are special. For others like Alexa who were slightly drawn to the goodness they found in a fallen one, much as a moth is drawn to a flame, I considered it a passing fancy. I allowed her the slight indiscretion since her other work was exemplary, but Nathaniel.” He clucked his tongue. “A failure from the moment he was originally brought to me. I should never have given him the many chances he’s squandered.”

Val felt cold at his words. “Please don’t hurt him.”

A cold grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I grow tired of this foolishness.” He turned to the two fighting demons, brought his hands together and then pulled them apart. The demons went flying in opposite directions.

“Cool,” Reggie observed, though he’d taken more than a few steps back from Val and Hell’s head honcho.

“Now,” Lucifer turned his glare back to Val, though his smile remained, “you should know

I’m very displeased with you. You threw away my key. Do you know how long I’ve been looking for that thing? Very annoying.” His gaze shifted. “Oh, look. Here comes my pathetic excuse for a son.”

Julian stormed toward them, but skidded to a halt when he saw who was there. “Daddy?” he squeaked.

Nathaniel glanced uneasily at Lucifer, but slid a protective arm around Val’s shoulders.

“What’s going on here?” he asked stiffly.

“What’s going on is that you’ve been a naughty little demon,” Lucifer said. “And you, too, Julian.”

Julian shifted his feet nervously. “But aren’t demons supposed to be naughty?”

“Well, yes. Of course they are. But not when they do it behind my back.” Lucifer turned to

Val and the flames blazed even brighter in his eyes. “Now, I believe we were discussing my key?”

Val swallowed hard. “You know, until just the other day I always thought the key was a myth. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be true. Weird, huh?”

Lucifer nodded. “A myth, you say? Sort of like the small piece of Heaven that allegedly fell off and dropped to the earthly realm?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“That happens to be true, too.”

Her eyes widened and she moved closer to Nathaniel’s tense body. “Really?”

“Yes, I find it hard to believe you don’t already know it to be a fact.” Lucifer glanced around at the motel. “Since we’re currently standing right in the middle of it. Can’t you feel it? Its purity and goodness makes my skin crawl. Perhaps it is for the best I didn’t pop back to

Heaven to say hello to my old . . . friends. Though, the look on their holier-than-thou faces would have been well worth the visit. Yes, the Paradise Inn. Do you get the sad attempt at an in-joke some angel with nothing better to do thought of? In Paradise? This is a place I have never paid any heed to, since it is but a useless piece of Heaven. But still, it’s mildly irritating.”

Val glanced at the rickety plastic furniture, the snow- covered pool, the run-down rooms, the flaking paint. “I don’t believe you.”

Lucifer sighed. “Tell me, why did you come here after your fall?”

“Because the address was written on a piece of paper,” Val said, as if that explained everything. Then frowned. “In the wallet Heaven provided with the cash and the birth certificate to help me get started.”