by Anni Antoni
“It smells better than it tastes,” he took another sip. “Hmm,” he closed his eyes, “I’m getting used to it.”
Putting my coffee down, I took a deep breath. I had to talk to him like a normal person. Taking his hand in mine, I peered into his face. “Who are you Westley, and where do you come from?”
He frowned and looked down. “Sorry Lizbet,” he said softly. “It is forbidden to tell you. If I say, I risk bad punishment.” His face looked sad as he took my hand. “Lizbet, I can not… can’t stay with you. My tutors will come for me. Sorry, we only have today, perhaps only this morning, to be together.”
I realized my mouth was hanging open. He hadn’t said much, but what he had said only deepened the mystery surrounding him. I closed my mouth, ok, so he couldn’t tell me much about himself. There was danger if he did. I got that. But I could ask him questions. That might be safer.
“I have an idea, Westley. I’ll ask questions and if I get them wrong, you say, no. If I guess correctly or ask the right questions, you can just stay quiet, instead of answering. Is that safe?”
He laughed. There was that glorious sound again, and I laughed too. “I love your mind Lizbet,” he said, squeezing my hand and giving me a hug. His expression brightened, in fact, he looked downright mischievous. “Maybe no punishment for me if you guess.” I couldn’t help it. I hugged him back. Relaxing with him was becoming easy and it felt good.
Where do I start? I wondered. “You’re not just foreign, you’re not from Earth, are you?” I had my first question.
He didn’t answer, just grinned at me. I clapped my hands and laughed in delight. I had the answer to my first question. Then the implications struck me. My eyes opened wide, and I stopped laughing.
“Are you an alien from another planet?” I whispered, scared to hear the answer.
“No, not an alien.” He laughed again. “I like this game.”
I sipped my coffee again and thought for a while. Hmmm. Not from Earth and not an alien from another planet. I was stumped, so I decided to change my line of questioning. “Did you really have no name before we gave you one?”
“No name given yet, naming day soon. My identity is Hawk clan 2651. Perhaps I can keep the name of Westley,” he smiled.
That was just too confusing. How could he have no name at his age? “Why didn’t your parents name you?” I blurted out in utter confusion.
In reply he looked up at the ceiling.
Oh, I was getting close to something important here. Perhaps he didn’t have parents, perhaps he was an orphan. I put my hand over my eyes and groaned. It was just too frustrating. I was making no real progress. “This is hard Westley, the more I learn about you, the more confused I get,” I said, frowning. “Can you tell me why you came here last night?”
“I can tell you that, Lizbet,” he said, suddenly intense. “I came because I heard your wish. Ah, no, I felt your wish, here,” … and he put his hand over his heart. “I know your… wants.” He searched my face, looking for what? A response?
I just looked at him, my eyes wide, trying to take in what he said. He looked so passionate as he remembered. Still with his hand over his heart, he spoke softly, gazing into my eyes. “It hurt Lizbet, and I let the feeling carry me to you. Then, when I saw you, I knew the wish had come from you. I was so happy, and the pain went.”
I was trying to put all he said together, even though he couldn’t tell me everything. There was something otherworldly and magical about him. He was just too perfect to be human. And he had an impressive array of supernatural tricks.
Then it hit me. It was almost physical, like being hit over the head with a club or something. I could hardly bring myself to say the words it was just so preposterous. “You’re my Guardian Angel, aren’t you?” I whispered, in awe.
Westley was grinning at me. “Very new Guardian, a student,” he laughed, and hugged me close. “I knew you would guess right. Clever Lizbet.” He paused, still holding me close. He seemed to be thinking. “One thing is strange,” he added pulling me even closer and nuzzling my neck.
I held my breath, drifting in the warmth of his closeness, melting into his strong arms and floating on the slight smell of cinnamon on his skin. “I do not think I’m supposed to be… attracted… to you.”
Well, what do you do when you meet your Guardian Angel and he tells you he’s got the hots for you? I had no idea. So, as usual I took refuge in the mundane, the practicalities. “Are you hungry? Can I make breakfast for you?” I asked, leaning back and gazing into his eyes. Really, how lame can you get?
He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “Thank you, I’m not hungry, but I’ll watch you make breakfast, and taste some. I could watch you all day. Is there more coffee? I think I like it.”
We moved to the kitchen, our arms around each other. I made toast and spread some with peanut butter and some with honey. He took a small bite of peanut butter toast, chewed and swallowed it and pulled a face. So I offered him a taste of the toast with honey on it. His eyes went wide, then he closed them and sighed, as he chewed. He gave a small groan, “I like this one.” He opened his eyes and grinned at me.
Somehow, we were soon back on the couch. I was sitting on his lap and telling him my plans for study and what I wanted to do with my life. It was so easy to talk to him and he seemed fascinated with everything I said.
I paused, took a breath and realized I had been doing all the talking. There was so little I knew about Westley. I gazed into his eyes again. We were so close… but before I lost the ability to speak sensibly to him, I had to know… “What bad punishment do you risk by being with me Westley?”
He frowned and looked away. He seemed to be deciding whether or not he should tell me. “No, you will worry if I say.”
My heart clenched. It must be bad. “I’ll worry more if you don’t tell me,” I grabbed him by both shoulders and pulled him round to face me.
Still he didn’t speak. He just looked at me with a forlorn expression. Eventually he sighed. “Sorry, Lizbet, I see you speak truth, I’ll tell you.” He sighed again, hesitated for a moment then said, “If I break important rules, they will judge me, maybe say I’m not fit for life on Earth. Send me away for termination.”
“What! You mean execution? No!” I shuddered, cold to the core. It was too awful. Would his tutors really do that?
Westley just nodded.
“You risked your life to come to me?”
“Yes Lizbet, but don’t worry. It’s worth the risk.” He seemed fascinated with my lips and moved closer.
His lips touched mine. My lips parted as I took an involuntary breath. His lips were soft, sweet and intoxicating as they gently explored mine. My lips were tingling as I moved my arms around his neck and pressed my body into his. He clasped me tightly and his kisses became more urgent.
“Ah ha! I’m glad you two got together at last.” It was Claire’s voice. Reluctantly I peeled my lips from Westley’s and looked up. She was standing a few feet away with her hands on her hips wearing a huge grin.
“Hi Claire,” Westley and I said in unison, grinning happily back at her. Then, as an afterthought, I remembered my kid brother and frowned. “Is Elias up yet?”
“Yes, he’s already up, playing some computer game on his tablet. He’ll be down for breakfast soon. Don’t worry,” she added with a laugh, when I shot her a plaintive look. “I’ll take care of him while you’re… occupied.” Claire could almost read my thoughts.
Right on cue, Elias bounded downstairs, tablet in hand. He stopped and stared when he saw me sitting on Westley’s lap.
“Elias, say hello to Westley,” I said.
“Hello,” he said, then seeing Claire he went over to her. “Are you getting breakfast? Can we have pancakes?” Yes, he really was an odd child. I made a mental note to say something to Mom when she got back.
Westley stood, lifting me in his arms as though I weighed nothing. “Shall we go to the sleep room?” he whispered in my ear.
&n
bsp; “Ok,” I said, nodding my assent at the same time. Things were fast spiraling out of my control, yet I loved the solid strength of his arms around me, and I leaned into his broad chest, one arm flung around his neck, as he carried me effortlessly up the stairs.
I looked helplessly over his shoulders at Claire, standing there beaming as though she was the one responsible for this turn of events. She gave me the thumbs up sign. Elias was standing next to her. He raised his tablet and took a photo.
We reached the bedroom and Westley gently placed me on the bed. Leaning over me, he stroked my face, outlining my lips with his forefinger. “You are so beautiful, Lizbet. I’m very, very lucky to be your Guardian. This lucky,” he said spreading his arms as wide as he could and laughing.
There was his infectious laugh again. I laughed too.
Suddenly I remembered what he faced by coming to me. I grabbed his hand, “Can’t you hide from your tutors, run away, something, anything to escape from them.”
“No Lizbet!” He shook his head. “I know so little. I must learn and become the best Guardian I can for you. If I run, it would bring termination for sure when they found me. If I return willingly with my tutors I have a good chance of forgiveness.”
“But…” I began, still worried about his safety.
“Shh,” he placed his forefinger on my lips. “Don’t worry. This is our happy time.”
He was right. There was nothing we could do now except relax and enjoy each other’s company until his tutors came to take him away. I gave him a tentative smile. He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me, slowly lowering me to the bed while he showered my face and neck with hot kisses.
I gasped, giddy with delight but apprehensive too. It was all happening so fast.
“Hhhmmmm, you feel good,” he whispered, his breathing hot in my ear, making me tingle all over. “You want to do the mating ritual now?”
I panicked. This was way too fast. I struggled to sit up. “No! Well yes, but not yet.” I felt such a fool, imagining what Claire would have to say about my reaction.
Westley sat up, looking as though I’d slapped his face. “Sorry, sorry, am I being a dork again?” He peered into my face.
I couldn’t help it. I giggled at his reaction.
He looked relieved but puzzled at my response. “It’s ok, we go slow. Don’t worry, no mating ritual unless you want to.” He paused. “Tell me what you want Lizbet,” he pleaded.
He sounded so uncertain and I realized he was just as unsure as I was. I kissed his cheek. “Slow is good Westley, and you’re wonderful, not a dork,” I said, putting my arms around him.
He pulled me close, “You’re more wonderful,” he whispered in my ear.
It tickled and made me giggle.
“We have hours before they come for me,” he added with a wicked glint in his eye, “We could t…
◆◆◆
My hand hurt. I moved my head to look at it. Arrgh! I had a massive crick in my neck. My hand was in front of my face clutching a ballpoint pen. What had happened? I carefully lifted my head. It looked as though I had fallen asleep at a desk. There was a notebook under my face.
I sat up. Funny, it looked as though I had been writing in the notebook – quite a lot, pages and pages. I glanced through what I had written. It seemed I had been inspired to write a story of some kind.
Perhaps it would be good enough for the creative writing class I’d be starting at college. I put it in my bag to examine later. Odd, I couldn’t remember writing any of it.
There were noises coming from downstairs. It sounded like Claire was banging around in the kitchen and Elias was playing games on the downstairs computer. What time was it? I checked my cell phone – 4pm. What was I doing sleeping in the middle of the day?
I went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my hair. The light was good there, I looked more than halfway decent in the mirror. Like Claire said, I was more buxom than fat. I liked how the color of my hair made the blue of my eyes stand out. I put on some coral lipstick. Even better.
I walked downstairs yawning, still sleepy. “Sorry Claire, I fell asleep.”
She laughed, “So did I. Just goes to show how boring it is here. Want to help me make sandwiches? Although I can’t decide if we’re having lunch or dinner.”
We made a whole lot of sandwiches, ham and tomato, cheese and pickle and peanut butter and jelly for Elias. He wouldn’t eat any other type of sandwich. I took his sandwich to him where he was sitting, in front of the main computer.
“Where’s the guy?” he asked, still focused on his game.
“What guy?” Claire and I said at the same time.
“You know, Westley,” he said, manipulating his joystick.
“There’s no-one here by that name Elias.” I said gently. Maybe he was playing too many computer games and his imagination was getting over active. He was weird, I really had to talk to Mom about him.
“Whatever,” he shrugged, focusing more intently on his game.
I moved over to where Claire was sitting at the kitchen bench and pulled a stool out to sit next to her. As I reached for a sandwich I said, “You know, it may be boring out here, but I’m glad we came. It’s helped me put things into perspective.”
“What do you mean?” asked Claire, munching on a ham and tomato sandwich.
“I’m no longer in a hurry to lose my… you know what,” I said jerking my head toward Elias, although I needn’t have bothered. He was completely zoned out.
“I’m going to trust in destiny to bring my perfect guy to me. Destiny will bring him to me at the perfect time.” Saying it felt so right, I smiled to myself. It was as though I had developed an inner knowing of the truth of those words.
“Well, good luck with that,” said Claire, always the cynic. She would never change.
“Yes, I know I’m a hopeless romantic, but I’m convinced there’s someone I’m destined to meet. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy college, study hard and get good grades so I’ll get a good job.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” Claire took another sandwich. “I noticed Kirk has a great movie collection. Let’s watch movies tonight.”
“Mmm, good idea,” I said through a mouthful of cheese and pickle sandwich. “I wonder if he’s got ‘The Princess Bride’, I haven’t seen that in a long time.”
The End
Thank you for reading Bad Angel. It was fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed it.
If you did, please consider leaving a review, wherever you purchase my books.
Here are the Amazon US links Savage Redemption
Bad Angel
Want to read more about Liz, Claire and West? They are featured throughout the Urban Guardians series of books, available wherever you bought this book.
Read about Liz and West, and their continuing story in --
West, Wicked Guardian -- Urban Guardians 3 -- West Remembered
Claire finds her destiny in --
Esau, Demon King – Urban Guardians 2