Page 20 of Angel I Am Not

Dante leaned back as he released me, nodding enthusiastically. “By everyone’s reaction, I think this is going to work out just fine.”

“She’s an angel! She can’t be here!” Luc angrily pointed at me.

Nick smirked but remained silent. Dante waved his sons into seats across from us as he sat beside me. “She can. She was thrown out of heaven.”

It dawned on me how ironic this situation was. Dante had been thrown out of heaven once. I guess he saw some part of me in him but it didn’t make any sense why he thought I’d be any good at gathering information from demons.

I couldn’t sense any good vibes from them and when Luc had taken my hand? My insides had warmed and while I enjoyed the sensation, I hated the fact that Luc had been the cause of it. I mean, what was I supposed to do with the fact that their demonic presence was getting me all hot and bothered?

And as for their gifts? So far, I couldn’t sense shit. Hell, I couldn’t even sense my own.

Nick leaned forward, intrigued by the information. “Wait… who’s your father? Angels don’t have parents.”

“They’re basically parents,” I spit out, for some reason defending a man who had evidently thrown me to the wolves. “But apparently Uriel didn’t see it the same way and—”

Nick threw his head back, chuckling. “Shit, this keeps getting better. Your father was a fucking archangel and he sold your soul to the Devil? For what possible reason—”

This time I was the one smiling as I invoked a reaction from them. “According to everyone upstairs, Uriel tried to overthrow heaven.”

The shock on their faces was priceless. I wish I had the balls to find a phone and take a picture. Dante was giggling right there with me and for a moment, I felt like part of the group. It didn’t make any sense, seeing as how I was an angel in the midst of two demons and the king of hell.

Dante sat up straight, changing the tone of the conversation. “She wants her soul so I gave her a challenge but, my sweet girl, it’s not the challenge you thought it’d be.”

I stilled, looking at him for an explanation. Was I not going to be their guide after all?

“I could give two fucks about my creations tearing apart the human realm so long as it was done tastefully and with style. The bastards upstairs would definitely try to put an end to the chaos but I’d still retain my job as ruler of hell, because where else would I go? Purgatory?”

He let out a hearty laugh but the thought was terrifying. He didn’t have anyone to answer to anymore.

“Then what am I doing here?” Panic rose in my chest as my gaze shifted between the three of them. This felt like some poorly put together intervention but I wasn’t sure if it was for Luc and Nick or me.

“Glad you asked!” He clapped his hands together, his look becoming more sinister by the minute. “I wanted to see what would happen when someone Heaven insists is pure got close to the things they insist are sin.”

I narrowed my eyes. “That sounded carefully worded.”

His smile widened. “You’re learning.”

“You’re… what’s the word—you want to pimp me out?” I cried out, horrified as Luc just smiled. “They can’t find their own goddamn dates?”

The fact that I wasn’t completely turned off by seeing what happened when a demon fucked me told me that I was absolutely stained with darkness. The worst part was how much I wanted Nick to be the first one inside me.

My gaze slid down his torso, falling to the waistline of his pants and just a little farther down, focusing on the outline of his cock. He wasn’t even hard, and I still had to bite back a moan before all three occupants in the room realized where my head was at.

The fact that Dante was already on the verge of laughter again, I knew he knew exactly what I had been thinking.

“Ari, it’s not that hard. You just have to meet them. Exchange a greeting and let me know how it went.” His expression sharpened just enough to kill some of my panic. “Anything beyond that is your decision. I’m not ordering you into anyone’s bed.”

“How noble.” I frowned. “ Wait, so you lied to Raphael?”

“I told you I can’t do that. You are still very much gauging their gifts. Just… in a different way.”

I could see that Dante was still avoiding the truth about something but I couldn’t figure out what it was. When he turned to me with that dark smile, my face lost all its color, my ability to keep my human form crumbling. Concentration and practice kept me from revealing my angelic presence on this plane, however, with the constant stress Dante had me under, I couldn’t do it anymore.

Energy rippled across my skin as the urge to shift took over. Unlike demons, the only true difference between our Earthly forms and our angelic ones was our wings and the heaviness of our angelic purity. A grimace fell from my lips as I slid away from Dante, my wings shooting out and flapping a few times.

Dante didn’t move, watching in awe as I stood there, my darkening wings spread out behind me. Nick and Luc had toppled over the back of the couch and it was my guess that they didn’t come in contact with many angels. Dante gave me a moment to breathe, not in the slightest bit worried that my wingspan was dangerously close to ruining adornments around the room.

“Deep breaths. Good. Pull those wings in. Now, I’ve set aside a week for this little experiment. Complete what I asked, and our arrangement ends.”