Мишель Роуэн - Angel with Attitude

Falls—the earthly realm in general. Full of its sickness, disappointment, pain, and misery.

Maybe there was a better way. And if this beautiful stranger was by her side, then how bad could it possibly be?

No, what was she thinking? She didn’t honestly believe that, did she? Was he using some kind of demon mojo on her? Maybe it worked like a few cocktails, loosening her inhibitions so she’d agree to something she wouldn’t normally. And, if so . . . that was totally cheating.

“Just say the word, Valerie.” His lips were only a few inches from hers. He moved to push the long, light blond hair out of her eyes and tuck it behind her ear that he then whispered into. “I can take you away from all of this.”

Hmmm. The word. What was the word again?

He’s a demon! her brain hollered. And he’s cheating. Demon mojo, remember? Ignore what he’s saying. Get away from him right now!

Abracadabra? Hocus-pocus, maybe? No, that was two words. What word was Nathaniel talking about?

Then it came to her. She knew what the word was. The only word that truly counted. And she could say it. So easily. So very easily.

Y-E-S.

“Say it.” His voice was warm, open, soothing, and oh-so-tempting, as he leaned back to look at her. “And I will make all your troubles disappear.”

She nodded slowly, trying to breathe him in through her stuffed nose. But as she opened her mouth to speak the word that would make it all better, to stop her pain and loneliness and suffering once and for all, she felt something rising inside of her—from deep within.

Deep inside her nostrils, that is.

Oh no, she thought. But it was too late.

She sneezed all over him.

The expression on the demon’s handsome face turned from romantic perfection to sheer disgust. He stepped back, wiping his face furiously with his sleeve.

Valerie wiped her nose on her own sleeve, feeling embarrassed.

“I have a cold,” she explained.

He glared at her. “That is disgusting.”

“Tell me about it.”

“You sneezed on me.”

She considered apologizing but decided against it. “Yes, I did.”

“You could have warned me.”

She shrugged. “It just came on. I didn’t expect it. I’m sick. I sneeze. That’s what humans do.”

“It’s disgusting.”

“You said that already. Allow me not to bother you with my disgusting germs any more this evening.” She turned to leave. “I think we’re finished here.”

He reached out to grab her shoulder. “We’re not finished. Far from it.”

Val shrugged his hand off her. “Oh we’re finished, alright.”

“You would choose life as a human—illness and discomfort, slaving away at a job you hate?”

She scowled at him, “I don’t hate my job. Much.”

He looked down at his cell phone and pressed a couple of buttons. “Let me tell you a little bit about yourself, Valerie Grace. You work and live at the Paradise Inn here in Niagara. You earn a very small salary in return for your free lodging. You consider very few people your friends, and you haven’t shared your secret with anyone.” He looked down at her. “No one to trust? Or no one you think would believe you?”

She didn’t reply. He made her newly human life sound pathetic. Too bad it was all true.

“You try your best to be a good person, doing good deeds for whomever will let you, helping little old ladies cross the street and such.” He laughed. “Good deeds, huh? Do you think they”—he pointed up—“care what you do anymore? After they’ve abandoned you? Turned their backs on your fate? But I’m here now. I can help you.”

“I’m doing just fine on my own, thanks so much.”

He was regaining his composure after the sneeze incident, slowly but surely, and he flashed her one of his wooze-inducing smiles. “You were just about to say yes to me only a moment ago.”

She paused. Unfortunately he was right about that. Her sneeze must have been divine intervention, interrupting what would have been a terrible mistake she would have regretted for the rest of eternity. At least she’d like to think of it as divine intervention. But sometimes a sneeze was just a sneeze.

“That was a moment ago. Ancient history. Go away.”

His smile vanished. “Stubborn girl. Why are you making this more difficult than it has to be?”

“I’m not a girl.”

“No.” His gaze tracked down her body again and she suddenly felt naked in front of him.

“Definitely not a girl. A grown woman. What must it be like to be suddenly thrust into the form of a beautiful woman with needs and desires such as you’ve never known before? It has to be very difficult for you.” He breathed the last few words against the side of her face, a warm touch in the cold night.

She shuffled away from him. “I get free cable. Don’t worry about me, I’m managing just fine.

I don’t care what your stupid phone says.”

The mugger groaned from the other side of the alley and pushed at the ground in an attempt to get up. Nathaniel grinned at Val, then closed the distance between him and the mugger in a step to grab him around the throat, lurching him to his semiconscious feet.

“And what of this pathetic creature? Would you have been doing just fine if I hadn’t stopped him? What nasty things do you think he had planned for you, Valerie?”

“Dude!” The mugger blinked his eyes rapidly as Nathaniel increased the pressure on his windpipe. “What . . . are you . . . doing?”

“It would be better for everyone if I take care of this matter permanently,” Nathaniel said.

“Make sure that he never tries to hurt you ever again. Consider it a gift, just like the ankle.”

She watched with growing horror as the mugger’s eyes began to bug out, his face turning an unpleasant shade of purple under the street lamp. His feet raised off the ground so the only thing holding him up were Nathaniel’s crushing hands. He began to twitch.

“Stop it,” Val said softly, but she was ignored, the demon’s attention now focused on his new entertainment.

She walked toward them. “Stop it!”

Nathaniel frowned. “Why should I? He’s scum. He deserves to die.”

“Let him go. I mean it.”

One thing she remembered from being an angel was the knowledge that every human life was precious. Everyone deserved a chance to change. She frankly didn’t care what her attacker had tried to do. She didn’t care what kind of a person he was, she wasn’t going to stand by and let Nathaniel murder him just to prove a point.

She clawed at Nathaniel’s hands, then balled her fist to hit him hard in the shoulder. “Let him go!” she yelled.

“You truly want me to let him go?” Nathaniel’s amusement at her feeble attempts to stop him was obvious.

“What are you, deaf? Yes!”

“Very well.”

The demon threw the mugger to the ground. He stayed on his knees for a moment, relearning how to breathe, then glanced up at them, the fear naked on his face.

“Leave my friend alone,” Nathaniel said. “Or I’ll find you and finish what I started here.”

The man blinked a couple of times, then scrambled to his feet, backing slowly out of the alley while nodding like a lunatic. Then he turned and scampered away.

Nathaniel looked at Val and smiled.

She didn’t return the expression. “I’m not your friend.”

“I let him go, just as you wished.”

“It wasn’t a wish, it was a request. Now I request, yet again, that you leave me alone.”

“I can’t do that, I’m afraid.”

“Why not?” She felt so frustrated with the situation that her eyes filled with tears.

He hesitated for a split second. “I . . . I just can’t. And you’re wasting your breath in asking, so you may as well stop.” He stepped toward her and managed to capture her in his gaze again. Even with the knowledge that he was a dangerous demon assigned to lure her to Hell, she couldn’t resist staring into those gorgeous eyes.