Angel of Mercy (The Fallen)

by Lisa Olsen

  He’d already said that, and it wasn’t getting me much closer to figuring out how it would affect me in day to day life. It wasn’t that he was trying to be difficult on purpose, but I felt like we were talking in circles, and I wasn’t sure what questions to ask to get the right answers from him.

  “Okay, let’s break this down… Wait, what do I call you?” I realized I had no idea what his name was.

  “Sam.”

  “Sam? That’s it?” I blinked, having expected something more elaborate for a supernatural creature.

  “My given name is Samael, but I have not used that name for some time.”

  “Samael,” I repeated, deciding that it sounded suitably angelic. Something flitted across his face when I called him by his full name, but it was gone just as quickly. “I’m Merceline, but you can call me Mercy.” I offered my hand.

  His lips twitched in what I took for amusement as he reached out and closed his hand around mine but did not shake it. His touch was warm and comforting and called to mind the dream I had in the hospital of his holding my hand at night. Maybe there was more to itit than I thought?

  It was odd to think of him watching over me, my own personal guardian angel, even if he was Fallen, whatever that meant exactly. I supposed it explained why I felt such a connection to him, knowing he’d shared a part of himself with me, for reasons beyond my comprehension.

  “Okay, you’re a fallen angel. Do you have wings?”

  “Of course,” he replied but didn’t elaborate further. There was no sign of them, no bulge in his coat that indicated they might be held close to his body or anything like that.

  “Can I see them?” I prompted, wondering what they’d look like. Would they be snowy white like a dove? Or dark, given his Fallen status?

  “No.” Sam shook his head, dashing my hopes on that score. I waited for an explanation as to why not, but again, he didn’t elaborate.

  “Is there a reason why you can’t show me?

  “It’s a sin of pride to display them when not needed.”

  I gave a roll of the eyes. “Fair enough. Do all angels have blue eyes?”

  “They do. Is that significant?”

  “I don’t know, but until your Grace hit me, my eyes were brown,” I shrugged.n>

  “I remember,” Sam murmured, staring down at me. “I remember the way they clouded with pain.” He looked disturbed by the memory.

  “But you left me there.” I couldn’t help but point out.

  “I did not want to.” His hand came up and I thought he was going to touch my face again but just as quickly he snatched it back. His mood swings confused the hell out of me. “I had to, the authorities were coming.”

  I believed him, especially given the way he’d sought me out in the hospital when he could have easily left me there without another thought. “Wait… you were stabbed too… are you alright?” I remembered suddenly.

  “Yes, I was never in any real danger. We heal considerably faster than humans do.”

  Digesting that for a moment, I wondered if that would translate to me? Sure I had been healed from a terrible injury in a matter of hours, but if I cut myself, would my body heal itself like magic? I didn’t ask him, because I already knew what the answer would be. Instead I asked him something I thought he would know. “Why did you do it? Not that I’m not grateful, because I am. But why all this interest in me? I’m not anything special, I’m just me.”

  To my disappointment, I’d apparently presented him with another difficult question. Sam struggled to find a suitable reply but in the end, he simply shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “What happens now?” I sighed, rising from the chair and moving to look at some of the other names of the books in his collection.

  “I am not a prophet,” he blinked.

  “I didn’t mean…” I shook my head, a smile forming on my lips at his literal mind. “I meant with us, are you gonna keep following me? Because if you are, maybe we could arrange to meet ahead of time and we could walk together?” I teased him lightly.

  A smile lit up his face and it was dazzling to behold. He truly was a beautiful figure of a man, though technically not a man at all was he? “Does it bother you?”

  “What, you following me?”

  Sam nodded, his eyes moving over my face.

  “It is a little creepy, yes.”

  He digested that for a moment. “Creepy is bad?”

  “Yeah, in general creepy is bad.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Okay, that is good to know.” He was already starting to change his speech a little, I’d noticed, using words I’d been using.

  “Maybe next time call me if you start to feel responsible for me again?”

  “Call you?” Sam blinked, and just as quickly I was reminded how out of touch he was.

  “Yeah, on the phone. Wait… you do have a phone don’t you?” I looked around, there was no sign of a phone but I figured he must have a cell. Didn’t everyone?

  “No, should I get one?” he asked innocently, that lost puppy look back on his face again.

  “Well sure, how do you call people you want to talk to?”

  “I have never had to call anyone before.”

  “Never?” The idea was inconceivable to me, I loved my phone. Sometimes I would sit and scroll through pictures and music when I was bored, I couldn’t even imagine my life without my cell phone. “Is this what you do all day? Read and write in your books?” He certainly had a lot of them.

  “Some days,” he admitted.

  “How do you live?”

  Sam blinked at that one, “I am immortal, I cannot die.”

  “No, I mean what do you do for money?” I hid a smile behind my hand.

  “Oh money,” he nodded in understanding. “I have a friend who helps me with money.”

  “Sounds like a nice friend to have,” I murmured, picking out another book but it was in a language I couldn’t read.

  “Nice is not the word I would use for him.”

  “I thought he was your friend?”

  “He is, one of my oldest living friends,” Sam nodded, not catching the distinction. Then again, who was I to judge? Some of my friends weren’t all that nice either.

  “What were you doing in that alleyway?” I asked suddenly. What would an angel be doing with a scumbag like Charles Weatie? Even a Fallen one?

  His face became shuttered then, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking in the slightest. The silence stretched on between us and I came to realize he had no intention of even offering up an excuse as to why he wasn’t answering.

  “You’re not going to answer me?” I pressed, a frown tugging at my lips.

  “Do you always ask this many questions?” Sam pinched the bridge of his nose and I had to wonder, did angels get migraines? He certainly looked like he was in pain.

  “Are you alright?” I took a step towards him but he took a step backwards, maintaining that cushion of space between us.

  “Perhaps you should go.” There was a plea in his voice that caught at me and I nodded, giving him one last look before I moved past him to the door. Pausing there, my back to him, I waited to see if he would say anything else. On the chance we would never speak again, I wanted one thing said. In the silence, I spoke, my words little more than a whisper.

  “Thank you.”

  All the way home I thought about our strange exchange, what had been said and what hadn’t. There were so many questions, and it killed me to leave him with so many of them unanswered.

  As I stepped into my apartment, my thoughts turned to Ben and my dinner plans with him for the next night. The two men couldn’t be more different, Sam representing the strange and unusual things that happened to me since the stabbing, and Ben representing the much more mundane life I was desperate to recapture.

  Lying in my bed that night, I resolved to put Sam from my mind for the time being. If he wanted to follow me out of a misguided sense of responsibility, well then fine. I wou
ld focus on the man who wanted to spend time with me not watching me. I was gonna pick up my life where I’d left it off. There was no reason the Grace had to change the way I lived my life. I could get used to the colors I was seeing (damn, I’d forgotten to ask him about that…). Lots of people had blue eyes, and I would just stay away from doctors for the time being. I would leave Sam to his lurking angel business, stop bothering him with questions he didn’t seem able or willing to answer. I would go back to work and all of it would become nothing more than a distant memory. A strange anecdote to tell my grandchildren some day.

  Yeah, none of that happened.

  Chapter Six

  It was never a good sign when Parker called meman on my cell phone. In my experience, bosses never called to shoot the breeze or ask how your day off was going or if you’d seen the new Ryan Reynolds movie. It was almost always a plea to come in because someone was sick or fired, and in general I tended to let his calls go to voicemail.

  Only that time I picked up because I felt like I owed him some kind of discussion on when I’d be back to work. Having a couple of days off had been nice to catch my breath and take it easy, but sooner or later (sooner, once I thought about it) I was gonna run out of my limited sick days, and I needed to start earning a paycheck again.

  “Hey Parker,” I smiled into the phone because Daphne taught me that when you smiled on the phone it made your tone more pleasant (a trick of the trade for her job).

  “There’s my girl.” Parker greeted me with more cheer than I’d been expecting. “How are you feeling?”

  Could he really be calling me just to see how I felt? “I’m doing okay, better than I expected to be. How are things at work?” Mimsy roused herself from where she’d been curled up at the foot of the bed with a long stretch and came up to nudge her head against the bottom of the phone in a bid for attention. Obediently, I scratched under her chin.

  “You wouldn’t believe the shitstorm that's come down around the bar from the cops. They shut us down completely until I could install proper lighting outside.” I could tell he was still agitated about it and I practically heard him running his fingers through his dark blonde hair. Parker was in his mid thirties, good looking with green eyes and a sexy smile. If he hadn’t been my boss I might have gone out with him once or twice, only that’s all it would have been, once or twice. He wasn’t exactly what girls liked to call relationship material and he made no bones about it.

  “I’m sorry…” I began.

  “Shit no, I’m not blaminan"m not bg you for getting stabbed, sweetheart.” He was quick to interject. “Just you know, you asked.”

  “Are you still shut down?”

  “No, I had the lights put in the next day and we’ve been back open ever since.” Parker wasn’t one to miss the opportunity to make a buck. “Everyone’s been asking about you. Christ, I had to practically chain Walter to the door to keep him from following after the ambulance,” he chuckled and I could almost picture it. Poor Walter, he must have been worried sick. He really was a sweet guy.

  “Well, please tell him and everyone I’m fine, really.”

  “That’s what I like to hear.” I could hear the smile in his voice and I wondered if he was actually smiling on his end. “So, I was wondering…”

  Here it came, that actual reason for the call. “Yes?” I asked innocently, making him work for it.

  “I’ve had Alice filling in for you behind the bar and you know I love her, but…”

  “Uh huh?” It was almost fun playing dumb like I didn’t know what was coming.

  “She’s slow as shit.” He gave a long suffering sigh. “When are you coming back to us, angel?”

  His choice of words made me laugh, more than I should have. “The doctor said she thought I should be off another couple of weeks…” I couldn’t resist teasing him.

  “Oh.” Parker sounded like I jue="ew Romast stole his lucky charm and tossed it in the Sound. “Alice made it seem like you were up and around when she dropped off your purse.”

  “Well… I might be able to come in sooner…”

  “When?” I could picture his face as surely as if he’d been standing before me. His green eyes would be blazing with intensity, trapping me so that I had to answer before he let me go.

  “When did you need me to come back in?” I hedged.

  “Tonight?”

  I couldn’t exactly tell him I had a date. If I was well enough to go on a date I should be well enough to come to work. Of course I could tell him I didn’t feel up to it yet, but if he somehow found out about the date then I’d never hear the end of it. I did hate to lie to him, and I did need the money… Ben would understand, I was sure of it, and I felt pretty confident I could make it up to him with a raincheck.

  The silence stretched on the line as I mulled it over. “Still with me, darlin’? Parker prompted gently.

  “Sure, I can do that.”

  “That’s my girl,” he crowed in relief. “You are a life saver. I’ll see you at six then, ‘kay?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  It was with a heavier heart that I pulled up Ben’s number, I really had been looking forward to seeing him again. The call went straight to voicemail, and even though I hated breaking the date without talking to him, I wanted to give him as much notice as possible. I left a brief message, letting him know that I had to work unexpectedly but I was looking forward to rescheduling as soon as possible. Satisfied my life was returning somewhat to normal, I spent the rest of the day on simple househollemple hold chores before I had to get ready for work.

  The club was already open, but slow when I arrived and there was plenty of time to chit chat with my coworkers and catch up on all the gossip I missed out on over the past week. It turned out I was the major source of gossip though, and I spent most of my time talking instead of listening. I did find out that workers compensation would take care of my medical bills since I was on the job at the time I was stabbed and that was a huge relief even if the stack of paperwork was a bit daunting.

  Walter was predictably glad to see me and it was interesting to see him with my new ability. His aura was a pretty turquoise with a ring of warm pink at the center. Alice was a pale yellow that reminded me of my brother’s aura. Parker was a dark, muddy looking orange with flecks of bright green. He looked immeasurably relieved to see me and even pulled me into a brief one armed hug when I stepped into his office to put away my coat and purse. Our other two waitresses, Kara and Jilly weren’t in yet.

  I hoped it might be a slow night to help me ease back into it, but being Saturday night, things picked up quickly and soon I was up to my elbows in drink requests. Whether it was to keep the crowd happy, or to help me out, Parker stepped behind the bar for a while and helped serve drinks when we were at our busiest. It had been known to happen before, but I could count the number of times on my fingers in the two years I’d been working at Eden.

  At first it was difficult to concentrate with the myriad of colors from the people lined up at the bar and on the dance floor, but after a while it became easier to get used to. I was still learning what the colors meant, but some of the more obvious colors leapt out at me. Anyone with a deep red was likely to be volatile or rude but not necessarily violent. Anyone with black or brown spots was a little more dangerous. After watching Walter break up a few fights, I learned to spot them in the crowd and give him a discreet point in the right direction to keep an eye on individuals I thought we might have a problem with.

  It was the first practical use for my new ability and I started to enjoy it as an extra perk. Another thing I noticed was that I was being hit on a lot. It was one of the job hazards of being in a club environment. There were a lot of single guys there looking to pick someone up and after a few drinks and a few rejections, a lot of them invariably turned their attention to me. Only it seemed like I was getting a lot of people looking at me to start with, not as a last resort.

  I’m realistic enough about myself to know that
I’m pretty and I’ve had my share of men pursue me before but I’ve never been what you would call a sex kitten. Even with the uniforms Parker made us wear for work I never felt overtly sexy, but I caught men’s eyes straying to my cleavage and my legs as I worked, or staring at me in general. Maybe I was being paranoid but I had to shoot down quite a few potential suitors that wanted more than my phone number. But I couldn’t complain about the tips, I made more in a couple of hours than I made on most nights.

  Things were going along well, and I enjoyed getting back into the swing of things, hips swaying to the music that blared from the dance floor.

  And then I spotted him.

  My mysterious stranger stood out like a sore thumb in his overcoat, sitting by himself at a little round table. Our eyes met and he gave me a hesitant smile. Smiling back, I waved Alice over, filling a glass with draft beer. “Hey Alice, you see that guy sitting by himself in the brown coat?”

  “Oh him? I asked him what he wanted before but he just looked at me,” she snickered.

  “Take this over to him, okay? My treat.”

  Her eyes widened a little in surprise. “Sure thing.” Accepting the beer onto her tray, she moved off to set the drink before him. Sam stared at the beer as if he’d never seen one before.

  Stifling a giggle, I lost sight of him for a while as I had to deal with other customers. From time to time I spared him a glance and he was still sitting there, the beer untouched, either watching me, or the dancers out on the floor.

  “Hey, I’m gonna take a break, okay?” I finally called out to Parker who gave me a nod. Heading over to Sam’s table, I sat down across from him without being asked. After all, he hadn’t asked to follow me everywhere. “Hi,” I smiled, pulling my long hair up and away from my neck to cool off.

  “Hi,” he called back, watching my every move. For whatever reason the heat didn’t seem to bother him, but then again he was neither dancing nor working, so there wasn’t much reason for him to be overheated like I was.

  “Can’t you drink?” I gestured to the beer on the table.