by Lisa Olsen
“We both know you are not of the heav st o New Romanenly host. I will not ask again, how came you by God’s Grace?”
“Hey, why don’t you take it down a notch, pal? I think there’s been a mix-up here,” Ben began in a reasonable tone of voice.
The angel ignored him, his focus entirely on me. I wasn’t sure what to say. Would Sam get into trouble for giving me some of his Grace? “Just let us pass,” I said in a small voice I hardly recognized as my own. In the dark parking lot I became aware my skin started to glow softly, and I tried anything I could think of to get it to go away before Ben noticed.
Making no move to step out of our way, the angel looked down his nose at me. “You wear our Grace, but you smell of humans,” he said with distaste.
“Okay, I didn’t want to have to do this, but I’m a cop. Okay, buddy?” Ben flashed his badge, inserting himself between us.
“You are of no concern to me.” The angel didn’t spare him a glance. Ben bristled at that and I held on tightly to his arm, not wanting him to engage the angel and possibly get hurt. “Woman, you try my patience.”
He was starting to try mine as well.& sine mynbsp; Angel or not, the guy was a pompous ass. “Hey, there’s no need to be rude. Who died and made you the boss of the world?” I scowled. “And there’s nothing wrong with the way humans smell.” I thought I smelled pretty good in fact, I was wearing my favorite perfume, Eau de Lune.
The angel’s eyes bulged with anger, and I seriously thought his head might explode then. Like as not he probably hadn’t been spoken to by humans like that before, but I refused to take a step backwards. If someone was angry I had the Grace, there was nothing I could do about it. Just as quickly I started to rethink mouthing off to him though as he looked like he wanted to smite me where I stood. Could angels call down holy fire and all that business? I resolved to ask Adam about it the next time I saw him.
“Hello, Nathanael,” Adam’s voice spilled into the parking lot as he emerged from behind a dark SUV. Speak of the devil…
“Adamiel…” the angel sneered. At least it wasn’t just humans he looked down on, he was an equal opportunity snob. “I might have known you would be involved. Is this your doing?” He tossed his head in my direction.
“Why do you want to know?” Adam’s eyes narrowed as he regarded his fellow angel. “Are you guys that bored up there? You’re inventing trouble?”
“This is not to be taken lightly, you know this. Or have you become so debauched even the simplest of rules is beyond your recollection?”
“You and I know I’ve never been big on rules, have I?” Adam tossed a wink in my direction and I tried to relax. It couldn’t be that much trouble if he was still cracking jokes, could it? Or was he that reckless? He had pissed off God enough to get cast out of heaven after all. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to rely on Adam as my savior, but he was all I had to work with and it was a touch comforting to see that fearless look in sleso rhis eyes.
“What’s going on here?” Ben interjected, completely lost by the exchange.
Nathanael gave a distracted wave of the hand and Ben’s face went slack, his eyes staring at a point far off in the distance.
“Hey, what did you do to him?” I demanded, feeling a bolder with Adam there.
“Relax, he’s fine, he won’t remember a thing,” Adam replied, which was good because Nathanael ignored my question. In fact, he ignored me altogether as he pressed Adam for answers.
“Why would you do this? Why would you risk His wrath over a woman? Did you learn nothing before?” Nathanael sounded at a loss to understand what he perceived as Adam’s actions.
Adam’s jaw tightened, hands clenching into fists, but just as quickly his easy smile returned. “What’s the big guy gonna do, damn me doubly? You know you can’t act without orders. Go blow your horn somewhere else.” He took a challenging step towards Nathanael.
For the longest moment the two angels stared back at each other, neither speaking nor backing down, and I had to remember to breathe when tiny pinpricks of light began to swim across my vision. Then Nathanael seemed to come to a decision.
“Very well, we shall attend to this another time.” He gave a pointed look in my direction.
Why did that not sound so good to me? “Wait…” I interrupted, “If you need to take it back I understand. I didn’t ask for this.”&nb sr t sound sosp; If that was what it would take to drop all of the posturing, I’d gladly give it up.
“Mercy, you don’t have to do that, you…”
“Hey, zip it, Adam, the grownups are talking.” The last thing I wanted was for his mouth to screw things up.
Nathanael’s head cocked to one side, and I was reminded of Sam. “Would you truly surrender the Grace you have stolen?”
“I didn’t steal anything, but yes. Go ahead and take it now if you want to.” I took a step towards him.
The angel took an immediate step backwards, retreating from my outstretched hand, his expression inscrutable. “How very interesting,” he said at long length. “I shall relay what I have learned here,” Nathanael said cryptically. “Adamiel.” A short bow was given and Adam gave him a mocking salute in return.
“Always a barrel of laughs. Say hello to Raziel for me,” his expression darkened.
A pained expression flickered across Nathanael’s face for a moment, and then he launched himself straight up into the sky so fast that all I caught was a blur of wings, their breath stirring my hair as I stared up after him.
“Well, that could have gone better. I wondered when we were gonna see those guys. S sguy"Tiee, it’s proof no good deed goes unpunished.” Adam gave a disgusted sigh.
“You expected a visit like that? You could have warned me you know.” I punched Adam on the shoulder, hard. But he gave no sign it bothered him at all.
“Honestly they were a little quicker on the uptake than I gave them credit for. But I guess it’s not every day something like you turns up.”
“Someone. I’m not a thing.” Maybe it was a petty argument, but the distinction was important to me, at least.
“Sorry,” Adam grinned, and he actually looked contrite at the slip.
“What about Ben? Is there something you can do to fix him?” He still stared off into the distance, and it started to creep me out. How long would he be stuck that way? Too much longer and someone was bound to notice.
“He’ll be alright in a minute.” Adam waved away my concern as unimportant but I was less easily deterred.
I lightly rubbed Ben’s cheek, patting it lightly when I got no response. “Ben? Can you hear me?”
“I told you, he’ll be fine. You’ll probably have a few uncomfortable questions to answer, but he’ll be fine.”
“I thought he wouldn’t remember anything?”
“He won’t remember anything after Nate put him out, but everything before that? Yeah, he’ll remember.”
Super. How was I going to explain all of that? Maybe I could pass it off as a weird homeless guy? shom? It was enough to make my head hurt. “So, what happens now?” I asked, rubbing my temples.
“Get rid of the stiff and we’ll talk.”
On second thought, the last thing I wanted was another round of Adam’s wit. “I don’t want to talk to you right now, Adam. If you’re not gonna help me with Ben… just go on home.” I stared into Ben’s vacant eyes, willing him to come back to me.
“What, no ‘thank you for saving me from being turned into a pillar of salt’? Fine, suit yourself.”
He had a point, his intervention had been sort of helpful. I had the impression Nathanael had been about to lose his patience with me and Adam provided a nice target for some of that ire. “Thank…you...” As I turned back to thank him, I found that he’d disappeared. Damn, I’d gone and hurt his feelings. Who would have guessed he had any?
“Are you going to answer me or…” Ben blinked, looking at the empty parking lot in confusion. “Wait… where?”
Thinking fast on my fee
t, I gave his arm a little pat. “Hey, are you feeling better? I thought you were gonna pass out there for a minute.” I gave him a hesitant smile, relieved to no end he’d snapped out of it.
“What’s going on? What happened to that guy and your cousin?”
“They um, left.” Oh, I was gonna have to do better than that! “That was pretty weird, right? The guy w ssp; size="as drunk, and Adam helped him go walk it off.” It sounded almost plausible. Only I knew he wasn’t going to let it go at that.
“But… they were just here and…” Ben looked all around, a pucker of worry appearing on his forehead. “I don’t understand.”
“Like I said, you looked dizzy there for a minute. Are you feeling okay now?”
“No, I feel fine… just… what’s going on here, Mercy? Who was that guy? And why did he say all those crazy things to you? And what was Adam doing here?”
All good questions, but what could I say? “I told you, that guy was drunk, who knows why he said all the stuff he did?” Boy I hated lying to him. “I’ve never seen him before.” Not a lie. “And I have no idea what Adam was doing here, you were there when we left him at my apartment.” Also not a lie.
Ben had that look on his face, the one where he tried to decide if he wanted to accept it or call me on what was obviously a line of crap. That time he chose to challenge me. “You expect me to swallow that, Mercy? You knew exactly what he was talking about, smanmes I could see it in your eyes.”
“Ben…” I didn’t know what to say, how could I possibly explain it in a way that would make sense.
“You were scared. Why were you afraid of him?” he prompted, reaching out to hold onto my shoulders.
Because I’m an abomination… “It’s complicated,” I hedged. “Ben… it’s not my secret to tell, not entirely. Otherwise…”
“Then whose secret is it? Your cousin’s? He sure looked like he knew the guy even if you’ve never seen him before.”
“Yes, he does,” I admitted, wishing desperately we could put it behind us. “Look, I know it all seems strange, but can’t you forget about it, please? It doesn’t affect us, not really. Can’t we forget we ran into them tonight and enjoy the rest of the evening?”
His expression was incredulous. “You seriously expect me to pretend like that didn’t happen?”
“Well… yeah. Can’t you let it go? For me?”
Ben shook his head in defiance. “I can’t do that, Mercy, not even for you. It’s part of who I am.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” I sighed, shoulders bowing. “I’m sorry, Ben, I can’t right now. Not until I talk to Adam and straighten some of this out.”
I could tell that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but he gave a slow nod. “Is that guy really your cousin?”
“In a roundabout sort of way.” I gave him a tentative smile, catching my bottom lip between my teeth.
“Come on, I’ll take you home,” he sighed, leading me to his car, his hand at the small of my back.
The ride back to my apartment was a silent one, without even the benefit of music from the radio, though I would have appreciated the distraction. I could see he was still processing everything he’d seen and heard, and coming up short in the answer department. I wanted to tell him everything, but at the same time, what if he decided it was all more than he’d bargained for? Still, it looked like I’d end up losing him if I didn’t tell him something soon. Regretting the decision to blow off Adam earlier, I had all but resolved to call him as soon as I got into my apartment by the time we pulled in front of the building.
Ben walked me up the stairs, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t be coming in with me.
“I really did have a great time tonight. You know, before all the weirdness,” I tried with a hopeful smile that had little effect on him.
“Me too, Mercy,” Ben nodded, his face as glum as I felt. “I just wish you would trust me.”
“I do trust you,” I answered immediately, though I suppose I didn’t trust him quite enough, did I? “What do you like about me Ben?” I asked suddenly, my mind changing tacks.
“What kind of question is that?”
“I swear it’s not a needy female kind of question, even though it probably sounds like it. I really need to know. What is it that draws you to me?” Suddenly it was important to me to know why he was so interested in spending time with me.
“Everything, the whole enchilada, I just like being with you.”
“Okay yeah, but why exactly?” I knew how I came off, but I couldn’t see another way around it. I had to know if it was more than the Grace that he was drawn to or there wouldn’t be a point to any of it.
Ben looked like I’d asked him to give an impromptu speech in front of a church congregation in his birthday suit. “Jesus, Mercy, I don’t know. It’s a lot of little things,” he shrugged, and I nodded, a little crestfallen he wasn’t able to nail it down any more specifically than that. But then he found his words.
“It’s more than your eyes or your smile or that cute little sound you make when you’re eating chocolate. It’s the way you talk back to the TV when we’re just relaxing, and it’s the way we can talk about nothing at all and still have a great time. It’s the way you feel when I hold you in my arms. You make me laugh, and I don’t get to do that a whole lot in any given day. I have something to look forward to now at the end of a triple shift, even if it’s only a phone call. I don’t think you realize what that means to me.”
My heart did a little flip flop and I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in his neck. “Thank you for that,” I breathed, flooded with relief. He really did like me for me. So why couldn’t I tell him my secret? What was I so worried about?
Ben held me, laying a gentle kiss to my temple. “Are you sure you won’t tell me what this is all about?”
Pulling back, I shook my head slowly. “Just give me a little more time. I’m worth it, I promise.”
“I know you are.” He pressed a chaste kiss to my forehead.
Not wanting to end the night on that note, I captured his lips for a real kiss, wanting to remind him where some of that worth lay. Ben was the first to break the kiss though and I wondered if by the time I was ready to tell him, it would be too late.
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Chapter Fourteen
Do you ever get one of those headaches where you feel like your eye is gonna explode and it’s a surprise you can still see through it? I had the worst headache as I trudged into my apartment, leaning on the closed door. “Adam?” I called out softly, half expecting him to already be there. Did I want him to be? But then I remembered I’d pretty much told him to piss off, and he hadn’t been all that happy about it. If I wanted to talk to him, I’d have to call him.
“Adamiel,” I called out, moving deeper into the apartment to unstrap my shoes.
“Hey, Cousin. What happened to Sergeant Friday?” He was there so quickly, he had to have been lurking about and I wasn’t sure if that made me feel safe or uneasy.
“Don’t start with me, I’ve had a helluva day.” I waved my shoe at him and his hands came up in a supplicating gesture.
“That bad huh? And here I thought the date was going well before Nate showed up. You know, you could call me on my cell too, I have unlimited minutes. I took the liberty of programming my number into your phone.”
“You did?” Of course he had a cell phone, Adam was definitely living in the here and now. Shoes off, I sank down on the couch, fingers massaging the back of my neck where the stress headache was at its worst.
“Wanna talk about it half-pint?” He leaned against the back of the couch.
“Just… don’t, okay? Can you just not be… you, for like five minutes?” That was all I needed to unwind before I tackled the next problem.
“Sure, I can do that,” Adam replied easily, surprising me. “Here, I can help with that too.” Without waiting for permission, he stood behind me, fingers sinking into my hair. I felt a rush of tingling energy as he rubbed
my knotted muscles and the pain began to fade instantly. Apparently Sam wasn’t the only one with a talent for healing.
A grateful sigh escaped my lips and my head lolled to one side to look up at him. “Thank you,” I breathed in relief.
“No biggie.” His thumb brushed over my cheek before he withdrew, heading straight for the kitchen. “I could use a drink, how about you?”
“Make it a double.”
“That’s my girl,” he grinned, reminding me of Parker as he headed straight for the fridge. For a moment I wondered how he knew where I had my alcohol stashed, but I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to ask. Emerging with a chilled bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream and two glasses with ice, he set them down on the coffee table and began to pour.
“A girl drink?” I raised a brow in surprise. I thought he would have gone for the vodka or the rum maybe. My liquor cabinet was a little sparse, I wasn’t a huge drinker.
Adam seemed nonplussed. “It’s like drinking an alcoholic mud pie, what’s not to like?” he gave a half shrug. “Take a load off, have a drink.” Handing me the glass, he settled beside me on the couch to pick up my feet, setting them on his lap. Surprisingly I didn’t feel threatened by the move. It felt nice, his hand a comforting touch on my sensitive feet. Mimsy immediately joined us, settling into a perch on the arm of the couch closest to Adam.
His hands spread warmth over my feet and I wondered if he was using his healing ability on me, but I began to think it was just skill. “How come you followed me tonight?”
“What makes you think I was following you?” I didn’t even dignify that with a response, and waited for him to answer the question. “Okay, maybe I was following you a little bit.” He raised his thumb and forefinger, holding them close together.
“You have so little to keep you entertained you have to watch me and Ben go out on a date?”
His expression soured at that and he covered it by taking a deep drink. “Yeah well, you try hanging around for thousands of years and see how bored you get,” he grumbled.