Authors: Stephanie Jackson
“Can you stand up?” Gabriel asked Dani.
“Yeah, I think so,” Dani said.
“I’m going to set you on your feet,” Gabriel said, pushing a man away that had careened in their direction, “When I do, I want you to hold on to me and don’t let go. Can you do that?”
Dani nodded, and Gabriel put her down. She immediately threw her arms around his neck and clung to him. The bar was packed with people
;
and
at this point,
just about the whole bar had joined in on the fight. Gabriel flexed his shoulders and let his wings rip through his shirt.
“
Hold on tight,” he said to Dani
and spun in a circle, knocking down everyone within his wingspan. Gabriel raised his hands, and then brought them down. Everyone in the bar
except Gabriel and Dani, who’d been standing too close to Gabriel to be affected,
crumbled to the floor.
5.
“What did you do?” Dani asked when she raised her head from his chest to look around the bar
at all the people on the floor.
“Tell me you didn’t
kill
all these people.”
“I put a stop to this nonsense, and of course I didn’t
kill
them;
they’re just sleeping,” Gabriel said. “I told you this wasn’t a safe environment for you to be in.”
“Can you sober me up like you did Buddy, so I can drive us the hell out of here before the police show up?”
“Yes, just look at me for a few seconds,” he said.
She stared into his eyes a
nd
felt the cloudiness in her brain drift away.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“As sober as the day I was born,” Dani said.
“
Now grab Donna so we can get out of here.
I’ll meet you at the front door.
”
She’d barely made it to the door before Gabriel was beside her again, holding Donna in his arms like a
baby. They’d just stepped out
the door when she heard sirens and saw flashing blue and white lights coming up the road.
“Damn it!
” Dani swore.
“
We’re not going to make it out of the p
arking lot before they get here.
”
“Yes, we are,” Gabriel said.
He dropped one of his arms from Donna so that
she was dangling from her waist
and wrapped his other arm around Dani’s waist. With one swoosh of his la
rge wings, he lifted them off
the ground and landed on the roof of the bar.
“Climb onto my back and hold on tight to my neck,” he said.
He laid Donna on the roof and knelt to one knee so Dani could wrap her arms around his neck.
“I don’t want to do this,” Dani said.
“Well that’s
just
too
damn
bad. You’re the one that insisted we go out tonight. I
told you it wasn’t a good idea,” Gabriel said.
“
Now do as I say, woman, so I can get you home!”
“I’m scared to fly,” she admitted.
“You’re not
going
to fly;
I
am.
You’re
just going al
ong for the ride,” Gabriel said.
“I promise I won’t let you fall. Now hurry.”
Dani gave in, climbed onto Gabriel’s back
,
and wrapped her arms around his neck. The cops had already driven into the parking lot. She clung to Gabriel as he scooped Donna back up. He waited for the eight cops that had responded to enter the bar before he flapped his wings and rose into the air.
Gabriel
rose fas
t
and high. Dani could feel the wind rushing past her. She thought she was going to fall for sure, but then
Gabriel’s body leveled out. Dani
was now
lying
on his back instead of hanging from it. She loosened the death grip she had around his
neck
and peeked over his shoulder at the ground below.
Everything looked small fr
om up here. The cars on the street
below
looked like toys. Dani
surprised herself by laughing.
6.
Gabriel smiled when he heard Dani laugh. It h
adn’t taken her long to overcome
her fear of flying. He had never carried anyone with him while f
lying, but he liked
the warmth and weight of her on his back. He was disappointed when he landed in her front yard.
He wished it couldn’t have lasted longer. He’d enjoyed flying with her; and he knew she’d enjoyed it, as well. Dani slid from his back and clapped her hand
s
.
“That was
awesome
!” she said, and smiled up at him.
The wind ha
d blown her hair from the clip that had be
en holding it
and had turned her cheeks a faint pink. It gave her a mischievous look that made his stomach flip. She danced up the front steps and opened the front door.
“Just throw her on the couch,” Dani said when Gabriel carried Donna in the house.
Gabriel laughed, “Well that’s
one
way to treat your best friend,” he said.
“Trust me;
this isn’t the first time she’s
been carrie
d, unconscious, into this house,” Dani said.
“
I
always
just toss her on the couch.
”
Gabriel did as he was told, and laid Donna on the couch.
“Wait, if we put her on the couch, where are you going to sleep?” Dani asked.
“I don’t sleep,”
“At all?” she asked.
“No, I never have,” he said.
“Did you a least have a little fun tonight?”
“What I
remember
of it was fun,” Dani said.
“You don’t remember the whole night?” Gabriel asked in surprise.
“I don’t remember much of anything after having my third drink,” she said.
Gabriel felt relieved. He wouldn’t have to explain holding her so close to him on the dance floor
or
the fact that he’d been running his hands up and down her back. And he was extremely relieved that she didn’t remember that he’d almost kissed her.
“But I have to say that out of everything I
do
remember, the flight home was my favorite part of the night,” she said and smiled at him again.
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Gabriel said.
“It’s getting late;
I
should go up to bed,” Dani said
and yawned, “Thank you for tonight, though.”
She surprised him
by
leaning over to give him a hug. Instead of pulling away from her as he should have, he pulled her to him, wrapped his arms around her
,
and kissed her on the top of her head.
“Goodnight, Dani,” he said.
“Goodnight,” Dani said and looked up at him.
He made himself step back, but watched her as she walked up the stairs.
1.
Dani lay in her bed for hours, just staring at the ceiling. She felt a little guilty about lying to Gabriel. She remembered
everything
about the night, b
ut it was easier to pretend that she didn’t
remember
almost kissing him, or the way her legs had felt shaky when he’d innocently rubbed her back.
She was sure that if he knew that she’d nearly arched her back in pleasure when he’d taken her shoes off, that he’d be offended. She was surprised he’d even let her hug him before she came upstairs. He’d made it pretty clear at the cemetery how he felt about her showing him any kind of affection.
She’d hugged him in the pretense of saying goodnight, but the truth was she’d just wanted to feel his arms around her one more time before the night ended. She’d felt a shockwave rock through her body when he touched his lips to the top of her head.
The only other time he’d kissed
her
, he
’d
done it just to piss off Buddy. This time it felt different. Probably because no one was about to be smote in front of her; and because Gabriel was no longer treating her like an insignificant human, as he had when she’d first met him.
If she didn’t have a pipeline to Heaven, she’d probably go straight to Hell for just
having
the thoughts she was having about Gabriel. What was
wrong
with her? Why’d she have to feel this way about a man she could never have.
Gabriel would most likely laugh in her face if he knew about
the things that were going on in
her mind. She’d heard what Vertis had
said about Gabriel despising humans, but Dani didn’t believe it. Gabriel didn’t act as if he hated her, but she knew he would never like her in
that
way.
Dani wasn’t even the same
species
as Gabriel. She wondered if there was a Mrs. Angel somewhere, waiting for him in Heaven. Dani found she didn’t really care for that idea. She was thinking about how nice it had felt to dance in Gabriel’s arms, when she finally fell asleep.
2.
Gabriel sat at the kitchen table and waited for the night to pass.
He kept an inward watch on the perimeter of the house. He could close his eyes and see what was going on outside. There was no sign of Cambions or demons; nothing to keep his mind from turning to Dani. He
dropped his head into his hands
and let his thoughts wander.
“You may never make it back into our Father’s good graces if you continue on the path you’re on,” Gabriel heard his brother’s voice say.
Gabriel jerked his head up and saw Michael leaning against the kitchen counter
,
smiling at him.
“F
irst Raphael, and now you,” Gabriel groaned.
“
Don’t you have anything better to do than watch over me?”
“Yes, but nothing as amusing as seeing you twisted up over a human female,” Michael said.
“Are
you here to warn me off of her?” Gabriel asked. “B
e
cause
if you are, you should know that
Raphael already beat you to it.
”
“No, I’m not here for that.
You can make your own decisions,” Michael said.
“
If you’re willing to give up your chance at returning to Heaven f
or this woman, it’s your choice.
”
“Then what are you here for?” Gabriel asked.
“You looked like you could use some company,” Michael sai
d, and took a seat at the table.
“So what are you going to do?”
“What am I going to do about what?” Gabriel asked.
“About the girl that y
ou seemed to be infatuated with?” Michael asked. “I believe her name is Danielle.
”
“I’m not infatuated with her,” Gabriel denied.
“Tell
that
lie to someone else
. I came down to see you at the
bar you were at tonight. I saw the two of you on the dance floor. You want her; I could see it on your face,” Michael said. “You can’t hide from that kind of lust forever.”
“It’s not lust!” Gabriel snapped.
“You better hope it
’
s
only
lust, because the only other option is that you’re
in love with her,” Michael said.
“Do you really want to have to deal with that?”
“I don’t want to deal with any of this. All I want to do is kill Lucifer, and go home,” Gabriel said, and dropped his head back in his ha
nds. “You don’t understand what it’s
like to feel this way.”
“Actua
l
l
y
, I do,” Michael said.
3.
“Excuse me?” Gabriel said, raising his head t
o stare at his brother in shock. “When have you
ever
been involved with a human female?”
“It was
right before the birth of Jesus,” Michael said. “When I ca
me down to Earth t
o stand in witness to his birth.
”
“I remember you being there, but I don’t remember you mentioning a woman,” Gabriel said.
“Because I
didn’t
mention her,” Michael said.
“
I didn’t know what to
do
about how I felt at the time, and I didn’t want any of my brothers trying to tell me what I
should
do, so I kept it to myself.
”