Fallen Angel (4 page)

Devlin folded his arms.
“Hang on a minute. Michael originally assigned this child to
me.”

“
Yes, but
like I said, you weren’t here, so I was told to take your place.
It’s too late, Devlin. Accept it and move on.”

“
Oh, I’ll
move on all right,” he snapped. “I’ll move on from our
friendship.”

“
Suit
yourself. I don’t have time to stand here and argue with you all
day. I’ve got a sick baby to care for. Besides, you never
complained about guardians taking over your wards before, so why
are you so set on guarding this child?”

“
Why?
You know why, so stop being so self-righteous. You had an ulterior
motive for being at her birth. You wanted to be her guardian as
much as I did.”

“
I have no
idea what you’re talking about.”

“
Oh, yes you
do. “ Devlin pressed his hands on his hips. “You
knew
her
paternal grandfather was a fallen angel.”

Nathaniel shook his head.
“That’s crazy. I only found out today. Anyway, it makes no
difference to me who my ward’s ancestors are. You’re the one that’s
fascinated with fallen angels, not me. You were unavailable and I
was asked to take your place. It’s as simple as that.”

Devlin scoffed. “That’s
bullshit and you know it. You’re just as curious to see how she’ll
turn out as I am.”

“
Get out of
here. I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than annoy
me.”

With a pleading look on
his face, Devlin grabbed Nathaniel’s arm. “Oh, come on, Nate. We’ve
been friends for thousands of years and never had a disagreement
before.
Please
, just, sign her back to me?”

Pushing him away,
Nathaniel frowned. “I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”

Devlin clasped his
fingers together. “Okay then, share her with me.”

“
No.”

“
Why not?
We’ve shared wards before.”

Nathaniel shook his head.
“I’m
not
sharing her with you because I don’t trust your
judgment anymore.”

Devlin slammed his fists
on his waist. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Nathaniel looked at him
for a long moment. “Listen, Devlin. You’re my best friend, but
you’ve become very slack and irresponsible lately. You spend more
time studying fallen angels and gawking at pretty girls than you do
guarding your wards. If anything happened to this baby while you
were guarding her, I’d never forgive myself. I’m sorry, but I have
to put her wellbeing first. And you, my friend, need to go to Angel
Rehab to recover from your addictions. And until you do, I can’t
trust you enough to watch over her. So it’s up to you.”

Devlin’s jaw dropped.
“Jesus Christ, Nathaniel. Angel frigging rehab? That’s the most
preposterous thing I’ve ever heard. You’re kidding me, right?
”

Nathaniel shrugged.
“Nope, I’m serious. There are too many angels falling lately and
Michael is getting worried. That’s why he’s started a
rehabilitation group. And what’s with the blasphemy and the potty
mouth lately?”

Running his hand through
his hair, Devlin glared at him. “Why are you being so pious? You’re
not bloody perfect.”

“
I never said
I was, but.....” Before Nathaniel could finish his sentence, the
door opened and a young nurse breezed in. As she walked over to
Eloise’s crib, Devlin looked her up and down.

Nathaniel sighed. Devlin
wasn’t listening to a word he said, he was too busy gawking at the
pretty nurse. And from the hungry look in his eyes, he wouldn’t be
going to rehab anytime soon. At that moment, Devlin’s weird
behaviour suddenly made sense. He was craving human pleasures.
Thank goodness he hadn’t been at Eloise’s birth. If he had, he
might have been tempted to sell his soul to Lucifer in return for
powers on Earth. Nathaniel shook his head in despair. This wasn’t
good. Angels weren’t allowed to lust after humans—unless they
wanted
to fall to Earth. He stared at his friend with
sadness. If Devlin didn’t go to rehab soon, he’d be doomed,
especially with Lucifer tempting him.

While the nurse checked
the monitoring equipment, the baby stirred. Devlin leaned over the
crib to read the name tag. “Eloise. What a pretty name.”

Nathaniel rested a hand
on his friend’s shoulder. “Devlin, I’m really sorry, but I think
you should go now. I ...”

Devlin shoved him away.
“I don’t care what you think, asshole! And don’t worry, I’m going,
but you haven’t heard the last from me. I’ll find a way to get
Eloise back, with or without Michael’s approval.” Turning on his
bare feet, he flew out the door and headed down the
corridor.

Chapter Three

After settling in a chair
beside the crib, Nathaniel closed his eyes. Devlin had been his
closest friend for thousands of years and now he’d lost him. No
other angel could make him laugh as much as Devlin had, and none
could take his place. Things would never be the same without him,
but he couldn’t give in to him, not this time. Eloise’s safety had
to come first.

Gazing down at her, he
cringed. Her right eye was bruised and swollen and from the way her
bottom lip quivered, he guessed she was either in pain or having a
nightmare. Hopefully, she’d recover quickly and be returned to her
mother. And as far as he was concerned, the sooner she was taken
home the better. He certainly wasn’t leaving her alone in this
hospital, not even for a minute. Devlin wasn’t one for making idle
threats, he usually carried them out, but as far as Nathaniel knew,
they’d always been for a good cause—until today.

As Nathaniel tried to
sooth Eloise, the NICU door opened and Madeline was wheeled in on a
wheelchair. As she peered through the glass incubator at her baby,
Ramiel walked up to him. “It looks like your charge is in as much
pain as mine. Madeline has to remain here for another three weeks
to recover, so the baby will have to stay as well.”

Nathaniel sighed. “I
guess they both need special care to recover, and Madeline
certainly doesn’t look well enough to care for a sick
baby.”

“
I agree,”
said Ramiel.

With tears in her eyes,
Madeline gazed down at Eloise. “I can’t even feed my baby,” she
sobbed.

“
Don’t
worry,” said a nurse. “She’ll still be able to have your milk.
Later, a nurse will show you how to express it into a
bottle.”

Madeline glared at her.
“I don’t want my baby being fed my milk from a bottle. I want to
breastfeed her myself.”

The nurse patted her
shoulder. “You will. She’ll probably be back with you in a few
days. You want her to get well, don’t you?”

Madeline sniffed. “Yes,
of course I do.”

“
Well, while
she’s in here, you should make the most of it,” said the nurse.
“Get as much rest as you can because once she comes back to you,
she’ll be waking you every few hours.”

“
It’s not
fair,” said Madeline. “I can’t even hold my own baby.”

“
You will
soon,” said the nurse, wheeling her back towards the
door.

As Ramiel turned to
follow them, he glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, Nathaniel, I forgot
to tell you. Michael found a new ward for Devlin and the baby is
due today. That should keep him occupied, so hopefully he won’t
bother you.”

“
It’s too
late for that, he already has, and he’s not happy.”

Ramiel raised a brow.
“Oh, that’s not good.”

Nathaniel peeked down the
corridor. “Where’s his new ward? I hope it’s not in this
hospital.”

“
I’m not
sure,” said Ramiel. “Michael didn’t say, but with a bit of luck,
it’ll be in another country.”

Nathaniel rolled his
eyes. “I’m not counting on it.”

***

After three days in
intensive care, Eloise was carried back to her mother’s
room.

“
Here you
are, Mrs O’Conner. Your baby is all yours again,” said the
nurse.

Holding her daughter in
her arms, Madeline smiled. “Oh, she’s so beautiful and her head’s a
normal round shape.”

“
Yes, and her
bruises are fading,” said the nurse. “You’ll be able to take her
home in a week or two or as soon as you start to
recover.”

***

Ramiel put his arm around
Nathaniel’s shoulder. “Eloise is three weeks old now and there’s
been no sign of Devlin or Lucifer. Maybe you should stop worrying
so much.”

Nathaniel glanced at the
clock and frowned. “It’s not Lucifer I’m worried about. I can smell
him a mile away. It’s Devlin I’m concerned about. There are too
many places where he could hide in this hospital. I’m just glad
Madeline is being released from the hospital today. I’ll relax more
when Eloise is safely in her own home.”

“
Looks like
we don’t have to wait any longer,” said Ramiel, jerking his head
towards the door.

When Nathaniel turned
around, he smiled. Eloise’s father was walking towards the bed with
a suitcase.

“
That’s
great,” said Nathaniel.

Matthew O’Connor kissed
his wife on the cheek, then picked up his baby daughter. “I can’t
wait to have you both home at long last, Maddie.”

Madeline smiled. “Me too,
honey, and Doctor Green’s already signed our release, so we’re
ready to go.”

“
Wonderful,”
he said, gazing at his daughter. “It looks like you’ve already
dressed Eloise, so let’s get going.”

“
I have to
wrap a blanket around her first,” said Madeline, lifting Eloise
back into her arms.

While Matthew packed
everything into the suitcase, a nurse walked in with a
wheelchair.

“
Good
morning, Mrs O’Connor. I’m here to take you down to your
car.”

Madeline scowled. “Oh, I
can walk.”

The nurse smiled. “Sorry,
Mrs O’Connor, but it’s Hospital rules.”

Rolling her eyes and
sighing, Madeline handed Eloise to Matthew, then sat in the
wheelchair. “Give her back to me now, honey. You have the bags to
carry.”

When Eloise was safely in
Madeline’s arms, the nurse pushed the wheelchair out the door and
headed towards the lift. Nathaniel followed close by, but just
before he slipped into the lift, he peered up and down the corridor
to make sure Devlin wasn’t sneaking about.

Once the doors had closed
and they were descending to the ground floor, Nathaniel gazed at
Eloise. She was awake and seemed to be staring right at him, and
for a split second, he could have sworn she smiled. Shaking his
head, he followed everyone out to the exit. It was too early to
make a full psychic connection with her yet. It was just wishful
thinking that she could actually see him.

While waiting for Matthew
to bring the car around to the entrance, Nathaniel glanced
around.

Ramiel smiled. “I don’t
think you have to worry about Devlin turning up here. He wouldn’t
risk it, not with the two of us protecting Eloise.”

“
Maybe, but
like I said, I don’t trust him,” said Nathaniel, scanning the sky
and roof tops. “He could be anywhere at any time.”

Once Eloise was strapped
into her baby capsule in the back seat, Nathaniel and Ramiel
climbed in and sat with her in-between them. As they rumbled out of
the car park, Nathaniel began to relax. At least Devlin wouldn’t be
able to get to her on the way home. Not unless he wanted the hassle
of fighting off two angels.

“
You can fly
over to the O’Connor’s property if you’d like a break,” said
Ramiel. “I think you need one.”

Nathaniel shook his head.
“Thanks anyway, but I’ll stay with Eloise. It’s too risky. And I
won’t be going on anymore joy flights at night either, not now. Not
after what Devlin threatened.”

“
That’s a
shame,” said Ramiel. “I know how much you love your night flights
and you haven’t been anywhere for three weeks.”

“
Ah, well,”
said Nathaniel. “I’d better get used to it because I won’t be
having anymore, not now. Like you, I have to do my duties and
Eloise is a special case.”

“
I guess so,”
said Ramiel.