“What?” screeched Malachi in his best impression of indignation, just as Hyacinth also growled his displeasure.
“You cannot co-opt one of my troops that way!” Hyacinth howled, shaking his fists, flinging dirt around, pelting the angel’s white robes with gobs of foul-smelling mud.
Nick scowled as he flicked his hand at the stains, making them disappear before admiring the pearly shine of the material. Satisfied he was clean, he raised his gaze to Hyacinth and frowned as he tilted his head. “Oh, now he’s one of your troops? I understood you to be punishing him and ready to sacrifice his life for power. I figured tying his fate to that of the angel would be an even more preferable torment to you. Now you want him back?”
Caught in the lie, Hyacinth rubbed his stubby fingers over his chin, the rasping of the leathery skin loud in the stillness of the dark yard. “I see your point.” Moaning in disgust, he waved his fingers in dismissal, then began sinking again. “Fine, he’s yours. I’m better off without him anyway.” With a sickening squelch and gurgle, the mud pit closed slowly over the demon’s head until it was gone, and the grass resumed its normal spread.
“Huh,” Nick mused. “That was anticlimactic.” He glanced at Malachi and shrugged. “I thought I was going to have to get all high and mighty. Maybe even smitey. Hehe… rhymes.” He straightened suddenly and bowed his head. “Now, where were we, before we were so rudely interrupted by that aberration?”
“What the fuck, Nickles?” Malachi blurted, throwing his hands out to his sides. “I thought angels couldn’t lie?”
Grinning in a mischievous way, Nick raised his eyebrows before he innocently asked, “What did I lie about?”
“I don’t know, all of it?”
Blowing air through his lips in a low whistle, Nick swatted Malachi on the side of the head, leaving the demon stunned and quiet. “Nothing,” Nick insisted. “I did learn about the plot. I did plan on smiting you beforeI learned all of that, and I have now assigned you as her guardian. You’re on Heaven’s payroll now, buddy.”
“Why?” Malachi asked quietly.
“Simple.” Nick smiled beatifically now, a serene, wholesome glow surrounding him. He folded his hands together as if praying and bowed his head. “Malachi, you—a demon—prayed to the Holy host for someone to care for and watch over Kelly. You admitted to me that you care about her and were upset when I refused to remove her memory of you. You were ready to take on a full-powered angel for such a little thing in the grand scheme of the universe.Thatis why, Malachi. Never before has a demon prayed for someone else, and never before has a demon cared enough to give up their life for a human. So, as a reward for your loyalty—and to encourage it further—I granted you safe harbor from those who would harm you. But know this, if you leave her, or fail in your duties, I will personally smite your ass right back to the pits of Hell.” He bowed. “Have fun!”
With those parting words, Nick the angel blinked out of sight.
Spluttering, Malachi threw his hands in the air and spun around, looking behind him for a camera crew, sure he was on some supernatural version of a prank show. He didn’t find a camera, but he did find Chuck. She was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed tightly over her midsection. Her eyes were swollen and puffy from crying, her nose as red as a Christmas reindeer. She was holding herself guardedly and slowly shook her head.
“Chuck,” he moaned in a pained voice, unsure of how much she had witnessed, overheard.
“Malachi, I was wrong, and I’m sorry,” she croaked, her voice thick with tears and emotion.
Tilting his head, he narrowed his eyes, confused, and slowly asked, “About what?”
“Feelings… emotions,” she blurted. “Y-you do have feelings. And you have them about me.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms now, as if she were cold, and shook her head ruefully. “I’m such an idiot. You tried to tell me, and I blew it off. I thought it was just lust, sex. That’s all that you wanted from me. And I basically laughed in your face. No wonder you were so hurt. Malachi, you prayed? You challenged an angel for me? After what I did to you? Why?”
Dropping his head and staring at his feet, he realized now Nick’s words weren’t for his benefit. They were for hers. The angel was trying to help him. He didn’t understand it, but he was still demon enough to take this gift and run with it. “You heard why.” He moved until he was standing directly in front of her. “Kelly, I don’t know how it happened, why it happened, but it did. If I couldn’t be with you, I didn’t want you to be in pain or suffer because of me. I askedthemto take care of you. To help you. And they answered.” His voice filled with awe.
Taking her face in his hands, he ran his thumbs over her cheeks, wiping away the remnants of her tears. “Kelly, H-H-Heaven answered me,” he choked out. “They heard my p-prayer and answered me. Granted, the angel was kind of a dick and jerked me around a bit. But he made me your official holy guardian. To protect you from all supernatural threats. It trumps Hyacinth’s command. He can’t take me from you.” He smiled and pulled her to him, his lips slowly turning down into a frown when she resisted his embrace.
“If you’ll still have me,” he murmured, dropping his forehead to hers.
“Of course I will, that’s not the problem. I guess I need to know if you’ll forgive me first for how I treated you. I’m surprisedyoustill wantme.”
He jerked his head back in shock. “I will always forgive you! I’m so sorry, Kelly. I thought it would be better for you if you didn’t have to see me die. I thought it might hurt you, and I didn’t want that, so I was trying to make it easier. It was stupid.”
“It was stupid, but sweet, Mal.” She smiled gently and with one finger, raised his chin to stare into his eyes. “I don’t think anything could ever top that kind of gesture. A literal demon from Hell prayed to Heaven for me and was ready to fight an angel on my behalf. Malachi, you truly care about me.” Her voice was full of wonder, and something he couldn’t identify that warmed his insides and fluttered like a horde of rampaging butterflies.
Momentarily distracted by the thought of exactly how a butterfly could rampage, he turned his attention back to her waiting stare. Nodding, his lips quivered. “I do.”
“Dummy.” She laughed and gently kissed him. “I hope you know I care about you, too. Now please, come inside and just hold me for a while.”
Reeling from her acceptance of his feelings, the knowledge they could be together, and the fact that Heaven had actually answered his prayer, Malachi simply nodded and followed her quietly into the house. In the living room, she threaded her fingers through his and tugged him towards the bedroom. Pausing by her side of the mattress, she pulled down the comforter before crawling under it, patting the pillow next to hers.
“C’mere, you, get in bed.” Chuck grinned at him, her eyes alight with mischief.
Thinking he should change into pajama pants, it was only then that Malachi realized he was stark naked. He remembered he’d gone outside as a canine, then turned full demon before going human, thus no clothes. Bursting into laughter, he quickly leapt over her and hurriedly yanked the blanket up to his waist. “I cannot believe that asshole angel let me stand there and argue with him naked.” Shaking his head, he smirked. “Probablybecause I kept getting his name wrong on purpose.” Chuckling, he pulled her over so she could lay her head on his chest while he wrapped his arms around her and recounted for her the different variations he’d come up with.
After she laughed and gently chastised him for it, she snuggled in deeper, her breathing evening out. Soon, she was asleep, and he lay there, listening to her quiet sounds. Savoring each one, knowing they should have been the last. By some miracle, he was safe from Hyacinth’s threats and now had the opportunity to find out who was after his Chuck and keep her safe. No, not just some miracle. His own miracle, courtesy of an angel named Nick.
“Thank you,” he said, casting his gaze up to the ceiling, knowing now that someonewaslistening.
