“We frankly have no choice.” Gideon scanned his fingers splayed on the table. “I’ve recently undergone a change.” His upward glance to Manfred brought him face to face with an extremely nasty sneer.
“Yes. That fascinates me as well. Glad you are beginning to understand. You will be joining the Underworld soon, then?”
“I’m considering my options.”
Manfred arched back, erupting in laughter. “It amazes me how He lets you remain so fuckin’ naïve. After all this time, you honestly believe the whole universe subscribes to the concept of free will?”
The three angels were silent. It had never occurred to Persephone that free will wasn’t a universal law of nature: Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld.
“Gideon, you have no options. Didn’t He tell you that? You belong to the Dark One and his minions, and it is his will you will obey.”
“You mean it’s entirely about survival?” asked Francis.
“Yes! Live or be eliminated. Get them first before they end you. Survival of the fittest. Pure nature, not fuckin’ nurture, that other disgusting “N” word. He with the biggest army wins. You don’t fight unless you have to. You send someone else to their death. You don’t risk anything unless you know what the outcome is in advance.” He searched the faces of the three angels. “Don’t they teach you anything up there? How the hell are you supposed to navigate all the big important issues? These are the things that try humans and prey on them until they have to give up. Your father, as you call him, has a huge hole in his fabric of perfection. A flaw the size of Montana.”
“But, with all due respect, Manfred, we Guardians don’t give up.”
The clockmaker grinned again, overjoyed with Gideon’s comment. “My dear sweet fallen angel, that’s exactly what you did. You surrendered your perfect life for a life of chaos. Your free will snagged you in a trap you can never escape. Quite frankly, Gideon, you’re fucked!”
Chapter 10
Gideon wanted to strangle the clockmaker. He’d been humiliated in front of his best friend and his Guardian. And he also knew Persephone would take it as a challenge to save him, which was not something he was the least bit interested in.
He could see Francis was nervous as hell and ready to bolt at any time.
This was buck up time, perhaps a test, and then things might get smoother later on. Perhaps this was his rite of passage. He’d made his statement, putting the finger into the eye of the Supreme Being himself, and the old guy let him do it, too. Now he had to prove he was strong enough to survive the rules of the Underworld. Rules were meant to be broken. Manfred said it was chaos. Who were they to dictate what he was to do and not do, anyway?
As he mused on it, chaos wasn’t coming up so bad. He’d shed his straitjacket of predictability and that vanilla world of civil behavior, the regimented and orderly life he detested. If this was the price he would pay, so be it! He was filled with courage until he looked at the expression on Persephone’s face. She was crying.
And then it hit him. While she was worried about him, he was actually worried for her own safety. Well, he’d wanted to be rid of her, but not in a cruel or rude manner. Just let her off the hook to go focus on some other soul. No reason to take up all her valuable time. Besides, he’d be sending her away for her own good.
Except he knew she was stubborn, and if anybody couldn’t quit, it was Persephone. He’d have to trick her. Do something that would disgust her so badly she’d be forced to leave him as a lost cause.
And then he could concentrate on the real prize: Freedom in the belly of the Underworld. Or, free to roam in both worlds. Just not in Heaven. So, he mustn’t cave in to fear. Time to pull his pants on one leg at a time, a throwback expression from his human days. Cinch up that belt and be a man. But in order to freely move, he had to be rid of her.
She was still shaking by his side.
“Come on, kid. He’s just trying to scare you,” Gideon started to explain.
Manfred had gone in search of some information, perhaps an old brochure about the place, something to prepare him more thoroughly. He imagined Ashley was awaiting his arrival with open arms, probably scared to death by that midnight flight with the black demon. If she was screaming when she was removed from his bed, he would have awakened. So all he had to do was find her and reassure her he was okay and they could spend eternity together, playing the dark side of the field.
Francis showed no expression at all, but he was beginning to sneeze more. Probably from the sweat and oils of his own white wings, as well as a little perspiration coming from Gideon.
“Maybe we should leave, Gideon. I’m not sure I need to be here for all of this.”
“Chicken.”
“No, man. Smart. I’m smart, Gideon. You heard what he said. Don’t fight unless you already know the outcome. How can you honestly say you know the outcome of this sad story? You don’t. And no amount of bravado will make me think otherwise.” Francis was trying to keep emotion out of the picture, but Gideon knew he was plain scared.
“I think Francis is right. We know more now than we did before. Either way, we have to be prepared.”
At last Gideon was finally getting what he wanted: to be left alone.
“Fine, then. You guys leave. I’m going to stay and figure out a few things first, and then I’ll catch up with you later, or I won’t. Either way, it will be my own choosing.”
“I can’t leave you here alone, Gideon.” Persephone’s jaw was squared, but she didn’t look like any match for the clockmaker. And he was probably the lesser of the evils they’d encounter.
“This isn’t your fight, angel. Now that you got a good look at things, no one will blame you for the decision to pull out, protect yourself for all the future saves you’re going to make. I don’t want to risk your brilliant future, rescuing souls and pleasing old SB. It’s what’s in your nature, Persephone. I think it’s what you were made for.”
“Sonofabitch?” Francis interrupted. “Gideon, you get away with calling Him that? Wow.” Francis was shrinking more by the minute. “But hey, I think you’re right. I’ll just escort Persephone back, and you can check in later when you have some good news.”
“No.” The stubborn little Guardian was so completely pigheaded she was beginning to make him nervous.
“Angel.” He took her hand and allowed her blush to make his ears buzz like static interference, despite the incessant ticking, clicking, and gongs. She was nearly melting under his gaze. He liked that she showed this reaction. Actually, it kind of excited him, if he were entirely honest. He squeezed her hand, and he experienced the exquisite smell of her wet feathers.
It even made Francis sit up and take notice.
“Honey, no hard feelings, but I’m a lost cause. You heard the man. I exercised my free will, and old SB let me do it. I made my bed, and now I’m going to lie in it. No reason to get you guys entangled. No reason at all. I got this!”
“He’s got a point,” his dickless angel friend tried to enlighten them.
“No. No means no. I promised. A promise is a promise.”
Now Gideon was getting angry. She had once again insisted on inserting herself into his life without his permission. “Can’t I just go to Hell, on my own, so we can all call it a good day?”
“That’s crazy talk, and you know it.” Her upper lip was quivering. Gideon was focused on it, the soft little hairs just beneath her nose, and the beads of perspiration he could smell. He wanted to lick her face, taste the sweat dribbling in unmentionable places. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, even aware Francis was shaking his head from side to side, and peeking over his shoulder for signs the clockmaker was returning. Francis knew how dangerous it was for her. Gideon was counting on his help.
“Francis? You gotta help me out here.”
“I know it. Persephone, Gideon’s right. We need to leave. Now.”
“Oh, but we’re just getting started, friends.” Manfred brought a tray of fresh fruits and so
me exotic breads, plus a pitcher of something cold.
Ice cold.
And red.
Gideon was still holding her hand. Manfred slapped them loose. “Stop it, Gideon. You’re even making me nervous.”
The change in attitude was stark. All three angels faced the clockmaker and waited for his next comment. Depending on what the man said, it could be Gideon’s cut-and-run scenario, but he stifled the thought so no telepathy could occur. He thought of dead sand crabs crusted over in seaweed. Old mattresses stuffed with musty feathers. Anything that would produce a strong image in his head to keep his plans from being discovered.
“Look. No reason to do anything tonight. I think I overwhelmed you with all these details. I apologize. I made a mistake.” Manfred had his palm over his heart, but Gideon didn’t believe a word of it. The wily old genius was playing with him. Playing with all of them.
“What are you proposing?” Gideon finally asked.
“We sit and drink some creature comforts from below. My dear, I would totally understand if you abstained, but you must have some fresh fruit. Just a sample of the delicacies we get to have down there. You enjoy yourself tonight, see how it all fits on you, and if you still feel uncomfortable tomorrow, we part friends.”
Francis was looking to Gideon for guidance.
Gideon looked to Persephone.
“Up to you,” she mumbled.
Had she decided to stop fighting? He could tell, though her answer was weak, the thought behind it was huge.
“There, see? Wasn’t that easy?” Manfred presented a ruby red crystal dish filled with fresh papaya, cherries, perfectly ripe apricots, slices of orange, and several purple and yellow fruits Gideon had never seen before.
“What are these?” Francis asked as he picked up a purple-looking pear.
“I’m not going to bore you, except to say they have a strong aphrodisiac component to them. And the Red-X, well, you guys all know about Red-X, don’t you? It’s our finest drink and most popular item, especially with the new recruits. We’re allowed unlimited quantities.
“It’s habit-forming,” Persephone warned.
“Really?” Manfred frowned. “Oh, I don’t think so. I feed it to Tabby every day, pour it over her little kibbles.”
Gideon was forcing himself not to think about the sight of this.
“Tabby’s not real, Manfred.” Francis had thought he was being helpful and had picked up a small tumbler of the red liqueur. He tossed it back before he could encounter the frowns from his two friends.
“Like everything these days. Moderation. A little here and there won’t hurt a fly.” Manfred covered his mouth after drinking his tumbler. “Or a bot fly.”
“Speaking of bots, what’s the purpose of all these?” asked Francis.
“These are experiments. Prototypes. You should see the big workshop we have down there. Very state-of-the-art. Everything anyone would need. Our pleasure bots aren’t rough like these. We’re so good at it that no one up here can tell the difference.”
“So are the smoky, black things bots, too?” asked Persephone.
“Oh, you’ve seen one of those? That’s very rare. Especially for a Guardian. But they definitely are not bots. At least not my bots.”
“It took the girl Gideon was sleeping with,” Persephone answered evenly, avoiding Gideon’s sudden attention and left eye twitch.
“That’s what they do,” answered the clockmaker. “They retrieve the model and bring them back to be deprogrammed. They don’t interfere unless someone tries to stop them. Then they can get very nasty.”
Francis’s far-fetched story was becoming more and more real.
“Model? As in Ashley was a model… of what… a pleasure bot?” Persephone asked the one question Gideon didn’t have the courage to ask.
“Was she, Gideon?” Manfred sampled some papaya and poured himself another glass of the Red-X. The clockmaker was examining his fruit without making eye contact. “He’d know better than anyone.”
Gideon’s mood was darkening. He picked up his drink and drank the syrupy liquid, which went down like the cough medicine he recalled from his human days. The fire in his belly came to life, scrambling his insides, and then traveling lower into his groin region. He knew it had been unwise to partake, but he’d ignored his own admonitions. He cleared his throat and gave Manfred a straight answer.
“From what I experienced, she was perfect. The best sexual liaison I’ve ever had.” He immediately regretted his decision to be truthful.
A ripple of something went through Persephone—a bolt of electric current as if she’d stuck her finger in a socket. Her little pink hand shakily gripped the barrel glass, and before he could stop her, she downed the whole blasted thing. Her eyes closed. Her tongue licked the excess red from her plump lips, which she sloppily smacked. It drove him crazy.
She slowly adjusted her pretty head on her long slender neck, brushing her blonde hair from her eyes with the back of her right hand, leaving it mussed up, a silly grin creeping across the angel’s face.
Ashley’s memory faded from his thoughts as Persephone turned her innocent beauty on him, scanning his face. Her eyes drifted down to his lips and then slowly traveled back up to meet him at the window of his soul. He saw her need and hunger for something the angel couldn’t possibly understand. And she didn’t try to keep him from seeing it as if her own soul stood naked before him. The spun gold of her hair contrasted with her delicate complexion, beginning to infuse into a serious blush.
At that moment, Gideon knew he was the only one in the universe who could satisfy this need. His Guardian was tethered to him with delicate golden threads so dangerous yet so compelling he had no choice at all but to welcome the entanglement. He had not only surrendered to the devils in the Underworld, he had surrendered to his Guardian as well.
And in her eyes, he saw her willingly give herself back to him, begging to be savored.
All he had to do was find a way to take her.
Chapter 11
The clockmaker had shaken Persephone’s confidence. She wished she’d had time to transport back to get advice from the Guardianship, but that was impossible now. Besides, her heart monitor would reveal something else was starting to happen. She was falling over the edge. It was too dangerous to even consider the consequences, so when the clockmaker returned, she pretended not to notice Gideon’s gentle lean toward her. The scent of his body and his heat pattern was evoking butterflies in her stomach and lower down. The physical sensation was thrilling. Now she knew the dangers of getting too invested, allowing her heart to become unprotected. The result would be catastrophic to Gideon, as much as she cared for him.
What was getting in the way of her normal logical thinking, aided by her strong sense of right and wrong and her uncanny intuition, was chemistry. She did not resist when he took her hand under the table. Or when she noticed his breathing was deeper, as she felt every wisp of air he sent her way, infused with his scent, so unfamiliar to her—his former and current angel scent, if that’s what it could be called. Not like a human male, something she was used to, but something that yanked her heart right out of her chest. Her ears buzzed and her reason faltered like an electronic device with sporadic power. The internal screen of her future plans and mission was blurring. Music began playing somewhere inside her. She was on the edge of bursting into tears, so exquisite was this feeling of being alive, of connecting with another being in this new way. The music wasn’t anything close to a children’s choir or chant of devoted angels. It was a full orchestra of feeling with a rich tympani section.
Led like a kite on a string, she sat up straight, chest upright, adjusted her chin level with the males at the table and dared not look at Gideon, though she could tell he was taking sideways glances her way because she physically felt the heat of his gaze. She shivered every time he licked his lips. Her shallow breathing also made it more difficult to concentrate as she felt his thigh press against hers. The warmth from his b
ody was engulfing her, setting her aflame right before their very eyes. Neither Francis nor Manfred seemed to notice.
Did the clockmaker suffer a little reveal, an impromptu smile on his right side after she agreed to take a second glass? It was so hard to tell and anyway, she abandoned thinking about it when Gideon reached across the table to retrieve the vessel, his other elbow brushing against her left breast, moving hard against her knotted nipple. He wove the fingers of his hand inside and around hers, buried deep in her lap, pushing against her belly. She took the glass from him, licked her lips and drank, closing her eyes as his fingers plunged deeper and she involuntarily spread her knees just a few key inches.
There was no denying his need as she opened her eyes slowly and did not smile. He had absorbed every part of her, gentling her shaking frame with his steady hand against her inner thighs. As he pressed against her mound she leaned forward to force him against her harder until it hurt. Her eyes never left his face.
Francis was discussing something with Manfred, which at last caught her attention. Gideon’s forefinger touched her pubic bone and lazily circled for a crevice that needed to be filled. The thin fabric of her gown did little to hide the heat and texture of the ribbing on his forefinger or interfere with the delicious back and forth as he probed. He could have stripped her clothes from her right then and there, made her stand or lean back onto the red tabletop and allow him to plunder that place swollen between her legs, even with the two others in full view. The image in her head forced Francis to abruptly turn his, widening his eyes and then searching between the two of them back and forth.
Francis is terrified.
“So there are lots of rules we know about. Guardians and dark angels cannot have relations, for it turns the Guardian dark,” Manfred said, casually sucking on a succulent plum, the juice dripping over his chin in a glistening amber rivulet.
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