Natural Consequences (45 page)

“Yup,” Onyx said. “He’s meant every word he’s said since he sat down.”

“Huh? What, are you running some sort of lie detector spell on me?”

“Yup. You may not be a player at heart, but you’ve got all the talent for it, and you
have succubus cooties all over you. Girl’s gotta be careful.”

“And he’s not even mad,” noted Molly.

“Nope,” said Onyx.

Alex waited, saying nothing.

Again, Molly waited until she couldn’t. “What do you think?”

“I think we may have
a winner,” Onyx solemnly declared.

* * *

Angels needed neither food, nor drink, nor sleep. They lived without material wants. The guardians, in particular, were largely defined by their responsibilities. Most came to love their charges, seeing their work as a pleasure and comfort rather than a duty. Socialization with their own kind happened in a haphazard manner, as friendships developed in conjunction with the relationships of guarded mortals. And while duty never ended, the simple facts of mortal life sometimes allowed a guardian to step away from time to time with no danger to his charges.

Yet it was not until the dominion of Seattle fell under its newest management that any guardian angels could enjoy something as revolutionary as “time off.”
To Rachel, everyone deserved a day off now and again—even if they’d never felt the need for one before.

“Annalise, Jordan, Christopher,
Malik: you guys have Cassandra’s work load ‘til sunset tomorrow. Split it up. Be good. Brian, Bob, Sara, Dave: you’re pickin’ up for Boris tonight. Don’t give him any shit, either. He’s burned out.”

“Why do you keep calling me ‘Bob?’” asked Robert.

“Because you look like a Bob.” Rachel turned from them to the next small clutch of angels standing atop the skyscraper. Others glided by overhead, listening for updates or instructions. The Columbia Tower stood taller than any other building in the city, and therefore offered a wonderful vantage point for planning.

“Is that it for coverage issues? Anyone else gotta take a coffee break?”

An angel raised his hand. “Uh, do we actually schedule
coffee
breaks, too?”

Rachel opened her mouth to deliver an incredulous answer, then closed it. She shut her eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Sorry!” someone else yelled. “Stan’s new here! We’ll take care of him.”

“A’right!” Rachel carried on, addressing everyone. “We already have a much cleaner shithole than we had a month ago, but it is
still
kind of a shithole! Remember that I trust your judgment and I encourage you to take the initiative when you see a problem. We will observe the right of free will and we will not overstep our bounds, but that leaves us with a fuck-ton of leeway to do some fuckin’ good, you hear me?”

Many cheered. While all remembered Rachel’s old reputation, they also understood how much she had accomplished in recent weeks.
Many greatly enjoyed her management style. After untold centuries of observing the balance and simply holding ground, it felt good to be proactive once again. Not every angel cared for Rachel’s demeanor, but they at least appreciated the chance to act with a free hand. A few others rolled their eyes at her coaching, but they didn’t object to her instructions.

“Again, we still have a shitload of out-of-town monsters fuckin’ around in this city. Do not feel constrained to any of that ‘cycle of nature’ bullshit. They are fucking monsters. You see fangs or a trench coat with tentacles or some jackass with two legs and a tail, you are
weapons free! Don’t give ‘em any breaks. No free dinners in my city.
Miracles are authorized.
”

Again,
her orders received a scattered cheer. Rachel turned away, but then turned back. “But watch out for the fake fangs! You’re in Seattle. Don’t go Flame On just ‘cause you spotted some aging Capitol Hill Goth boy, okay?”

“Rachel, we got this!” called out another angel. “Go take your night off!”

The words of appreciation surprised her. Rachel’s face broke out into a smile.

Angels floated or dove away on broa
d white wings. Others, having farther to travel, all but vanished in a flash of light. Still others remained; not everyone at the impromptu briefing had a pressing engagement.

A few waited for a private meeting with the boss.

“You appear to have this well in hand,” said Lawrence, who stood beside Rachel throughout her brief check-in. “I suspect I will have little to do tonight as your stand-in.” The dark-skinned angel favored her with a cool but genuine smile. “It is already a better city than it was just a month ago.”

The
smile just wouldn’t come off Rachel’s face. “You’ll make me blush,” she warned him. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”

“No, I understand. This is only one of many things that Vincent did poorly, yet no one felt justified in complaining about it. Everyone just dutifully soldiered on. It is only fair that you, too, benefit from policies you set and maintain for everyone. I don’t mind filling in again, especially as your plans to take last night off were so badly disrupted.” He paused. “I suspect I would regret asking what you’ll be—“

“I’m gonna get fucked outta my mind,” Rachel answered through gritted teeth as a handful of angels approached.

“…yes, my suspicion was correct,” Lawrence sighed.

“You’re cool?”

“Chill out,” he smiled. “I’ve got this.” With that, he turned and walked away.

That left Rachel with one further meeting. She moved over to speak with the newcomers. Two of them she knew quite well; of the others, she had only met the brunette just last night.

“Jon. Marvin,” she nodded to the familiar faces. The pair returned her greeting by way of curt nods. She didn’t take it personally; they all got along just fine most of the time, and she knew the source of their irritation. Rachel turned her face to the brunette. “Theresa, could you introduce us?”

“This is Patrick, Elizabeth and Sergio,” said Theresa, her demeanor perfectly professional despite the obvious undercurrent of tension. “The others couldn’t leave their charges to be here just now.”

“I may have to go soon, too,” added Sergio. “This is a long way from most of the people I watch over.”

“Gotcha,” Rachel nodded, perfectly ready to take everyone at their word. “So I gather that Jon and Marvin’s boys are being held by some of your people?”

“They have not been harmed,” said Patrick, “nor do I see much reason why they would be.”

“They’re being held in secret and without due process,” grunted Jon.

“You’re an angel and a lawyer?” asked Elizabeth.

“I know how mortal courts work,” Jon replied sourly.

“Not this court,” muttered Sergio.

“They slew a vampire at your Halloween party, Rachel,” said Marvin.

“They broke the law,” Elizabeth shrugged.

Rachel held up her hands. “Woah. People. Peace. We’re all good guys here. My mortal buddies are good guys, too. You all know that. You say your guys are the Feds, you say this is a matter of law… are all those Feds working in good faith?”

Furtive glances flashed between the newer angels. “More or less,” Theresa answered with a sigh, “though no one is perfect.”

“Your ‘
mortal buddies’
have held their tongues,” said Elizabeth. “This does them no favors, but so far has doomed them to nothing, either. Thus far no one has had just cause to intervene on either side of the… dispute.”

Rachel’s eyes flicked to Jon and Marvin. They both shrugged, clearly annoyed but knowing they had to concede the point. She want
ed dearly to ask Elizabeth why she said ‘mortal buddies’ like that, but decided to set an example. “Nobody’s leaving the city, then?”

“No.”

“No phone calls home, either,” noted Jon. “Drew’s family is bound to get worried in a day or two.”

“You’ll have to cross t
hat bridge when you come to it,” said Elizabeth.

Theresa put her hand over Elizabeth’s. The other angel withdrew
hers quickly, looking to her comrade with sudden annoyance. Theresa ignored it. “Rachel, as you say, no one is leaving your dominion and no one has come to serious harm. This is a trying predicament for Wade and Drew, but it isn’t fatal and it isn’t born of evil. The same can be said for Jason.”

“
Is he with Amber right now?” asked Rachel.

“
Yes. They are safe. I will look in on them again as soon as we depart.”

“It concerns me,” Elizabeth spoke up, “that your sorcerous ‘predicament’ puts you into such close contact with these mortals that you would take
this personal involvement in their matters.”

At that, Rachel dropped her professionally pleasant expression and
stopped trying to fight her scowl. “You wanna check the fuckin’ attitude, princess? Some nasty supernatural motherfuckers have come into my city lookin’ for mortal scalps, and these three guys are damn sure on their hit list. Friendship or not,
that
makes all this my business. And you don’t know how many conversations I have with my other guardians about the mortals they watch over every fuckin’ day of the week, so maybe you wanna watch and learn before you judge, okay?”

Her eyes swept the group. Jon and Marvin
’s frustration remained. Theresa closed her eyes to hold her temper in check. If anything, Sergio seemed to show some sympathy for Rachel’s concerns.

Elizabeth just turned her head down and looked away. “As you wish, Dominion.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, we’re all on the same side here last I checked,” grumbled Rachel. “Look, I don’t wanna take up any more of your time. You all got shit to get to. Just stay on your toes and don’t be a stranger to the other local angels. We’ve got good communications going around here finally and we need to make use of them. If it looks like this is going to go supernaturally pear-shaped, I need to know immediately, capeesh?”

“We’ll give a yell,” nodded Sergio.

Elizabeth couldn’t hold it back. “Do you plan to tell your succubus? Or your mortal lover?”

“I plan to stick to my fuckin’ duties and keep the fuckin’ faith with my fellow angels,” Rachel said through gritted teeth. “Hope everyone else does as well. We through?”

“Yes. We’re done here,” Theresa answered quickly. She turned to Elizabeth and Sergio. “Come on.”

Rachel blew a lock of her blonde hair out of her face as the trio left. She turned her eyes to Jon and Marvin. “How bad is it?”

The pair looked at one another with slight discomfort. “It’s ugly,” Marvin said. “The leader of this investigation doesn’t have the soundest judgment. He’s not after Wade or Drew, though. He wants the vampires. And the werewolves. Our boys are just a means to that end.”

“As far as we can tell, anyway,” added Jon. “Our concern is guardianship of our charges, after all.
It’s not our place to follow the agents around.”

“They haven’t spoken to either Wade or Drew since last night, either,” Marvin nodded. “At the moment, they’re both being kept isolated. The most harm they have suffered since last night has been from boredom and worry. They’re tough. They’ve come through okay this far.”

Jon snorted. “You’d probably be proud of them, actually.”

“Always am,” Rachel said. She let out a heavy breath. “Okay. Thank you. Find me and let me know if this goes wrong, okay?” She gave each of them a slap on the arm and then strode off the side of the building.

Marvin and Jon exchanged frowns. “You didn’t tell her about Hauser’s angel.”

“You didn’t, either.”

“Of course not! I didn’t want her to punch me.”

“Well, she’ll find out sooner or later… just hope I’m there to see it.”

“And hope she doesn’t punch both of us afterward?”

* * *

Anticipation built throughout the short drive back to Onyx and Molly’s home, muting the friendly banter and laughter shared in the restaurant. Streetlights flashed past as Molly drove. Though she normally kept the stereo on, tonight she opted, without conscious thought, to leave it off.

None of them missed the change of mood.

Sitting in the back of the car, Alex found himself staring at his companions. He could only see so much: arms, shoulders, their necks and hair. He wanted to see more, of course. His body and mind often reacted this way to attractive women… but in the case of these two friends, it went beyond that. There was much more.

He broke the silence: “When do you have to be in class tomorrow?”

“We both start at nine,” Onyx answered.

“Yeah, we didn’t think about that,” grumbled Molly. “You gonna be okay without stuff from home?”

“Sure. I’ll just buy a notebook and a pen from the bookstore before class.”

Again, they drifted into silence. Alex accepted it, sensing that no one found it uncomfortable. That alone bode well for them.

They arrived. Parked. Exited the car in the ever-present light rain, still in silence. Onyx found Alex’s hand with hers and held it as they walked across the small apartment complex. Molly unlocked the door and opened it, looking back over her shoulder with a quiet smile. She discarded her leather jacket as Onyx closed the door and threw all three of the locks.