Lucian Divine(11)

“Angel of God, my Guardian dear…”





STANDING OUTSIDE HER building, I waited until she started the prayer. I could always hear Evey, even in my thoughts. Sometimes it was like static or white noise, and then she would say something out loud that would get my attention, especially when I wasn’t with her. When that happened, I would feel a pull, an energy or force bringing me back to her.

A moment later, I was in her room, standing next to her bed. She couldn’t see me or hear me, but I was chanting the prayer with her. She was dozing off. Right at the moment that she fell asleep, I put my hand on her shoulder and she smiled faintly.

What the fuck have I done?

I knew Zack would be waiting for me outside. He only had two souls—a husband and wife in their sixties, who lived across the street from Evey and rarely left their apartment. His assignment was so easy that he actually had time to start an online sports betting ring… lucky bastard. He had something to live for, something of his own. Brooklyn’s angel, Abigail, was currently sitting on the stoop, looking at her phone. She was probably on Tinder.

“Idiot,” she mumbled as I walked by. Abigail looked like Heidi Klum, but other than that, there was nothing angelic about her.

I ignored her and headed down the block. Angels were everywhere. Most of them had several souls in one area, and most of them spent this time of night minding their own business and waiting for the magic hours to begin, which happened right before sunrise. For sixty seconds before the sun pierced the horizon, angels had two hours of freedom. It was like trying to fit your entire social life into a lunch break. Half the time I’d spend it sitting with Mona, trying to talk my way out of some mess I had gotten into.

Zack appeared beside me. I didn’t look over.

“Why are you sneaking up on me, shitbag?” I asked.

He was laughing. “You’re in so much trouble. Why are you always in trouble?”

“I haven’t done anything serious in fifty years,” I told him.

“Oh wow, nothing in fifty whole years? It’s been a century since I’ve even had a warning.”

I flew away and headed for Twenty-Fourth Street. During the magic hours, we had to check-in with our overseers before we could take off and have some fun. Zack, two other angels—Lauren and Bob—and I all had to meet with Mona. We met her at the St. Francis Fountain, a soda shop where Doug worked. Doug didn’t have any souls. He’d kept violating his probation, so they banished him to the St. Francis soda shop and hotel. The higher-ups liked to be ironic; it was part of their sick humor. During the day, Doug cleaned hotel rooms, and at night, he worked in the soda shop. He could never leave… ever! There were other angels like Doug who ran establishments during magic hours. I imagined that Mona would sentence me to some type of hell like Doug’s, but I was ready for it.

My hell was watching Evey date every guy in the city.

When the magic hours began, I was the first to walk through the jingling door. Doug greeted me. “Hey, Luc, the usual?” He had a secret stash of whiskey under the counter that he’d pour in my coffee.

“Lay off the bottle, you drunk!” came Mona’s voice from the corner booth. All I could see was the top of her head, the bright red and perfectly coifed bun popping up over the green vinyl booth back.

I looked at Doug and smiled. “Make it a double.”

“You got it.” Doug didn’t care about pissing off Mona.

I slid into the seat across from her as Doug set my coffee in front of me.

Mona shook her head in disgust. “You know, Lucian, I was thinking… a few of us are getting tired of meeting here. The music is terrible, and honestly, we’d enjoy a drink every now and then too. Doug doesn’t spike all of our coffees.”

The door jingled. Zack walked in and took a seat at the bar while simultaneously flipping me off.

I put my focus back on Mona. She had the tiniest mouth, pursed red lips, and a pointy ski-slope nose. Impish would be an understatement. “You look nice tonight.” I arched my eyebrows and dropped my gaze to her mouth.

She sucked in a breath and held it.

I leaned forward over the table and whispered, “Wanna fuck?”

She swallowed. “Lucian,” she said in a warning tone.

“I know you want me. Why don’t you live a little?” I lowered my voice. “I want to taste you, Mona, you little tart.”

Her face flushed. “Don’t. Stop.”

“Oh, I don’t plan to. Not until you’re screaming my name.”

“I meant don’t say another word.”

Since angels didn’t age, we were all perpetually in our prime, which meant that even though Mona was centuries older than me, she had all the same feelings that I did. I was getting to her; she wanted me.

“I want to bite your perfect ass,” I said.

That did it. That put her over the edge.

She cleared her throat and held up a Wookiee costume from the bench. “How would you like to work at the Star Wars bar for eternity? You’d get to see Evey every weekend with one hipster after another, her heart getting more mangled each time. Maybe we’ll reassign her to Abigail.”

“No!” I said, banging my hand on the table. I could handle the Star Wars bar for eternity, but I could not handle knowing self-absorbed Abigail would be looking out for Evey. “You have to get her someone better.”