by Мишель Роуэн
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.”
“Coincidence?” Lucifer smiled. “I think not. There’s no such thing as coincidence. Tell her, Barlow.”
Val’s mouth dropped open as she saw Bartholomew Barlow walk briskly and with purpose over to stand next to Lucifer.
“Hello, Valerie, my dear.”
She brought a trembling hand to her mouth. “But . . . but that police officer told me you were dead.”
He smiled. “Oh, I am. As a doornail. But I can’t leave until I finish up a bit of business.”
She felt her eyes fill with tears of joy to see him again. “I was so worried. I tried to do what I could to get the key. And I did. I brought it back, but you weren’t here. Mr. Barlow, I screwed up. Big time. It’s all my fault.”
He shook his head. “No, you did just fine. You passed with flying colors.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The test. To find a worthy successor for me.”
Val felt so confused. “What are you talking about? A successor for what?”
Barlow glanced warily at the original fallen angel. “What Lucifer told you is correct. The
Paradise Inn is a very small piece of Heaven. Too small to do any damage by its shift to the earthly re
alm, but it requires a guardian. And for fifty years that guardian has been me. People are drawn here for a reason, because they need to be here, just like you. Even without that slip of paper, I have faith that you would have found your way eventually. I have helped the travelers who seek shelter here find whatever answers they seek. It’s my job, and it’s a very important one. But now my time is at an end. The inn will only accept a human guardian and since humans have naturally limited lifespans, it was time for the next guardian to arrive.”
“Me?” she squeaked and glanced at Nathaniel who looked very surprised by this news. But not as surprised as she was.
“Yes. You were chosen because you displayed the necessary assets to become a human.
Curiosity, love, fascination. An interest in all things shown during your interactions with the humans you helped guide into Heaven. Plus, I believe you were Angel of the Month not so long ago. It is a great honor to be chosen, Valerie. You should be very proud.”
“But that’s a deadly sin,” Reggie piped up.
Barlow smiled at him. “It depends how the pride is displayed, and it is not always a fault but an asset. Val was chosen specifically and I have great faith that she will do an excellent job as guardian of the Paradise Inn.”
Val was trying to process everything he was saying. “So are you trying to tell me that the whole thing was just a test? The key and everything I’ve been through?”
He shook his head, then smiled to show a spray of wrinkles around his kindly eyes. “No.
Though it certainly helped establish your desire to do the right thing—the selfless thing—
even at high cost to yourself. Had you gone through the doorway it would have stayed open for Julian to follow. Only by throwing away your one chance to return to Heaven—the key itself—were you able to close it with no harm done.”
“So if Julian had gone through the doorway—”
“The world would most certainly have ended. Don’t doubt it for a moment.”
“Oh.”
“That would have been so cool,” Julian said sadly.
“Excuse me,” Lucifer said. “If we could concentrate on the more important thing here? Me?”
Julian knelt down and lowered his head. “Yes, Father.”
“Get up, you little bastard.”
Julian scrambled back up to his feet.
“You”—Lucifer’s flame-filled eyes narrowed as he gazed at his naughty little boy—“stole my key from the fallen one, then without even telling me, tried to use it yourself.”
“Yes, but—”
“I’m not finished. You vanquished Alexa, one of my favorite employees, despite her shortcomings, and you sided with that ugly slug Vaille of all demons for a grasp at power.”
Julian swallowed. “In my defense, I did it all to gain your favor.”
“Silence.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Don’t call me that.” Lucifer’s gaze tracked to Nathaniel who had been silent all this time though he hadn’t moved from Val’s side. “And you . . . even before your introduction to this woman, your job performance has been weak at best. Do you have no taste for temptation at all?”
“Sir, I can explain—”
“Do not interrupt. Two hundred years and I’ve smelled the guilt you harbor for your assigned duties from dimensions away. And to so easily allow yourself to be summoned, to aid this fallen angel on her journey to the Underworld, disappoints me more than I can express. Many times you had the opportunity to end her, to leave her, but you didn’t.”
Nathaniel moved his hand down and captured Val’s, squeezing it tightly but not saying a word in his own defense.
“You knew the rules and you chose to break them. You were given behavior modification and that has obviously failed. There is one last punishment suitable for one as failed as you. Yes?
Is that what you want?” Lucifer shook his head with disappointment. “It is not enough that I must control all that is below, but I must keep tabs on my lowliest of employees? I’m very annoyed with the both of you. Answer me this, why did you do it?” He looked at Julian first.
His brow lowered. “For power.”
Then to Nathaniel, who locked gazes with Val. “In the beginning, I felt I had to do as she wanted. I couldn’t resist the summoning. But then it was more than that. I felt something I hadn’t for as long as I can remember—not even when I was human. Hope. That there was something more. Something bigger for me than the existence I’d thought there was no escape from.”
“So”—Val felt a big lump form in her throat at his words—“you didn’t really mean all those cruel things you said to me at the mansion?”
His jaw tensed. “They tried to modify my behavior, and initially it did work. I wasn’t as I am right now when I saw you in the hallway of the mansion. But I snapped out of it finally.
Thanks to you.”
A smile twitched at her mouth. “Then I’m sorry I scratched your face like that. Shouldn’t that be healed already?”
He touched his face and flinched. “Well, I guess I sort of deserved it.”
“Glad you agree.”
“Hope?” Lucifer interjected. “That’s why you did it?”
Nathaniel nodded. “Yes.”
Lucifer nodded and smiled, then looked at Val as the smile faded from his painfully beautiful face. “Wrong answer.”
Nathaniel and Julian both screamed and Nathaniel let go of her. She stepped back from him, eyes wide, as the two demons disappeared in columns of flame.
Val’s mouth fell open and she gaped at Lucifer. “What did you do? I helped rescue you at the mansion. Isn’t that worth anything?”
He laughed. “You think you rescued me? Foolish girl. How else was I supposed to gain your confidence? I could have made you believe anything I wanted you to.”
“Don’t hurt him,” she managed, each word painful as it left her mouth. “Please. I love him!”
He shrugged. “I guess I’m just not that much of a romantic. Go figure.”
He disappeared.
What? What just happened? She stared frantically over at Reggie who looked just as shocked as she did. Then she turned to Barlow. He was starting to fade away; she could see right through him to the other side of the motel.
“I’m sorry, Valerie,” he said sadly. “Lucifer is cruel and heartless—always has been—but it’s for the best.”
“But, Nathaniel—” she choked out the words.
He shook his head and looked at her kindly. “You have a greater purpose to fill now. Try to forget him for no demon is worth your tears. Always remember that I have great faith in you, Valerie. I always have and I always will.”
He faded away in a glimmering light before she could say anything else. The last thing she saw was two large white wings spread out behind him, and then . . . he was gone.
It was just Val and Reggie in the courtyard then, as the snow drifted lightly to the ground.
Everyone else was gone. Gone forever.
She looked at him.
He looked at her.
She waited for him to say something funny, to make her laugh, but he just shook his head sadly. “Sorry, Val.”
She nodded and felt a tear slip down her cheek. “Me, too.”
Chapter Twenty-three
She never thought she’d see him again, and when she did—when he rose above the hill to look down upon her with her long blond hair blowing in the New Mexican breeze—she breathed a great sigh of relief.
He beckoned to her, and she ran to meet him, throwing her arms around him.
“I love you,” he said.
“And I you.”
“Nothing could keep me away. No world vast enough, no mountain tall enough, no villain evil enough. We were meant to be together, always and forever.
Yes. Always and forever, she thought as their lips met in a kiss that felt like Heaven.
Val closed the book, stared at the back cover of Trixie L’Amour’s glamourized black and
white photo, and threw the hardcover across the room where it knocked her artificial
Christmas tree over.
Who reads this crap? she thought. Seriously. Happy endings are for wimps.
But then she got up from behind the check-in desk, dutifully walked over to pick up the book and gingerly brushed it off. Then she propped the tree back up and straightened out the lights before she went back to sit behind the desk.
Two weeks had passed since the proverbial torch of looking after the Paradise Inn had been passed to her. It was Christmas Eve, and she’d strung a bunch of lights around the motel to make it look as festive as she could—just like the other motels she’d observed around
Niagara, only hers looked better, she thought. Barlow had said that pride was an asset sometimes. And her Christmas lights were really cool if she did say so herself.
She had a Harry Connick holiday CD cranked up and was nibbling at a piece of fruity Christmas cake—courtesy of Becky—and drinking a glass of milk.
One thing about being a human she definitely didn’t like—not that she was keeping a list anymore. After all, she’d accepted her new position as guardian of the Paradise Inn with open arms. Christmas cake sucked. But she ate it because she knew Becky had made it herself. Val was invited over to her place for Christmas dinner the following night. Becky was still clinging to the false hope that Val would hit it off with her brother. And who knew? Maybe she would.
Not.
Val had spent the last two weeks trying to keep her hands and mind busy. Signing the paperwork that turned ownership of the motel—not to mention Barlow’s sizeable savings account—over to her was surprisingly easy. One might almost think it was all preordained, or something. No questions asked.
Since then, as if to acknowledge Val as the new guardian, the inn had sort of . . . perked up a bit. Stopped looking so weathered. The sign out front that appeared not to have changed since the fifties, one day updated itself to look modern and shiny and new. The pool, still covered with a tarp and a layer of snow, had grown in size, become kidney-shaped with a slide and everything. Just waiting for the summer. Waiting for the snow to thaw. For a new season to begin.