I beamed myself into Tan’s room, but I miscalculated and landed on top of her vanity dresser. A bottle of lotion rolled to the ground and thumped hard. Tan flew up like she’d spotted a demon, her brown eyes rolling back and forth.
She was so frantic, she didn’t even see me in the shadows. Tucking herself back into bed, Tan mumbled, “Get yourself together. There’s nothing there. You just had a bad dream. It’s not a memory. You’re not a killer.”
I hopped off the dresser. “I agree.”
Her eyes widened and she peered at me, snaking her gaze past my brown shoes, blue jeans and T-shirt. I crossed my arms over my chest so the light hit my tattoos. I’d convinced Gavreel to add the ink for fun. He’d gone a little overboard, but I made it look good.
Unfortunately, Tan didn’t complement me on the tattoos. “Hello?”
Her voice trembled. She looked genuinely scared despite the effort I’d put into looking as normal as possible. I started to wonder if she had spotted a demon. Glancing over my shoulder, I prepared to look one dead in its beady eyes.
There was nothing there.
I spun back to Tan and poked a finger at my chest. “Are you talking to me?”
“Yes…” She spoke as if I’d asked her a stupid question. I let it slide. “Are you a nurse?”
“Nurse?” I laughed. Maybe I should have gone with another body. Moving to the mirror, I pinched my cheek and caught Tan’s hand inching toward her cell phone in the reflection of the glass.
So we were back to this again?
I sped over to her bed and hopped in, snatching the device from her fingers. She was starting to annoy me. “Tan, don’t you recognize my voice?”
“A-angel?”
“My name is Jada. It’s nice to finally meet you. In the flesh.” I held out my hand, eager to feel the sensation of skin on skin. No wonder humans loved touching each other. What a fascinating contact.
Tan stared at my face. “Where did you go earlier?”
“I went to see the King.”
“You mean…?” She pointed upward.
“Yup.”
“And… did you?”
“Did I what?” I pinched my skin again. Was it supposed to feel that soft?
“Did you see Him?”
“No,” I said. My expression sobered as I thought of the Governor’s words. “I was given another mission before I could.”
“Another mission?”
The next question was on the tip of her tongue. Hoping to distract her, I shoved my arms out and admired them in the light. “I’ve never had skin this dark. My palm is so unique. Look at it!”
“Jada…”
Tan’s face was more screwed up than a dog sucking on a lemon. Oy. My ploy hadn’t worked.
“What do you want to know?”
“Did you find out anything about Denise?”
“Nope.”
“Did you find out what happened to me? What happened to her? If you have inside information, I can forward it to the police and we can take down the guy who did this.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find out what happened to Denise.”
“What do you mean ‘we’?” She frowned. “You’ve got access to the Guy Who Sees Everything and you came back with nothing?”
“We’ll catch who did this,” I said, “because that’s my mission.” I grinned proudly, wishing I still had the ability to glow. It would have been a nice touch. “I was assigned to you. I’m your new guardian angel!”
Tan tried to smile. She failed. “Great…”
“You sound less than pleased.”
“Forgive me if I don’t jump for joy at the thought of Denise’s guardian angel taking care of me.”
“What happened to your friend was a tragedy but—”
“There are no buts, okay? None! What kind of loving King would allow this…?” Tan sighed. “Look, I don’t want to fight with you. I don’t really want to see you either. Go back to the King or whoever and tell them you want to be reassigned. The police will find Denise’s killer without your help.”
Go back? To what? The nursery? No way. I had to calm Tan down, get her to see reason.
“I can tell that you’re upset.”
“You think!”
“But screaming at me isn’t going to solve anything. Why don’t you go back to sleep?”
“I don’t want to,” Tan said, shifting in the bed and folding her arms across her chest.
I could see the darkness hovering over her mind. It wasn’t a demon yet, but it would harbor one if left unattended. “Are you having nightmares?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Go on and close your eyes,” I said. “I’ll ask the King to preserve your rest and give you sweet dreams.”
She glared at me, her eyes narrowing to slits. “I’ve been stabbed. My best friend is dead. And the police think I did it. I doubt I can dream of anything sweet right now.”
I arched an eyebrow, daring her to take me up on my offer. Tan pushed her lip out until it threatened to touch the other side of the wall, but obediently hunkered down and closed her eyes.
My lips moved in silent supplication.
“King of all Kings, take charge of this little one. Give her peace. Give her rest.”
The power of Heaven crackled beneath my skin, striking through the flesh that covered my true form. I focused on the negative energy hovering over Tan’s body. It pulsed and sputtered, recognizing that it was being threatened.
A blast of light shot out of my fingertips, seizing on the cloud and squeezing it tight. Tan let out a little gasp and then dropped her head, dead to the world.
Well, not dead dead.
She’d be up in a few hours. Until then I had some demons to visit.
I cracked each knuckle, anticipating a fight. I was Jada, guardian angel sent from Heaven. It was about time I proved it.
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