You see one hot demon you’ve seen them all.”
She laughed. “Silly one, be my guest. Julian is hopelessly insane, power-hungry, and rumor is that he’s as impotent as a garden hose.”
“Then how is he any different from Nathaniel?”
That got his full attention. His lips twitched and he almost smiled, but managed to stop himself. “I’m not insane.”
Val shrugged. “Two out of three, then.”
Yasmeen turned her gaze back to Nathaniel. Honestly, Val thought, the woman looked at him like she should be wearing a I’M NATHANIEL’S NUMBER ONE FAN T-shirt or something. It was really pathetic. Well, it would be pathetic if she wasn’t as gorgeous as a
European supermodel from Hell. As well as practically naked.
“Yasmeen must go take care of some business,” she purred. “But let us have large amounts of sex later. When you have rid yourself of the short, disproportioned human.”
Val adjusted her glamourized boobs. “You’re just jealous. You’re lucky I can’t use my evil witch powers around here.”
She fixed Val with an icy gaze. “And you as well.”
Then she walked away showing them that her leopard print bikini was, in fact, a thong.
“I’ve never been so scared,” Reggie said. “Or so incredibly turned on in my entire life.”
Nathaniel looked at Val and shrugged. “She’s a demon.”
“No kidding.” She watched Yasmeen disappear into the mansion, and then started to laugh.
Nathaniel frowned. “What’s so funny?”
Val shook her head. “I’m so unbelievably naïve that it’s ridiculous.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was feeling all sorry for you before. I thought that you . . . that whole thing about not being able to ‘be with’ anyone or you’ll break the rules and be punished. I thought . . . forget it. I’m such an idiot.”
His frown deepened and he crossed his arms. “There is a rule that a Tempter cannot be with his assigned fallen angel.”
“It really doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Yes, Valerie”—he grabbed her arm—“it does.”
“I command you to let go of me.”
He did and then stared at her. “I don’t care what she made it sound like, Yasmeen and I—”
“I command you to stop talking about this.”
He shut his mouth. “Very well. But you just need to know that she means—”
Val pushed him into the pool with a big, loud splash and turned away to go in search of a fruity drink with an umbrella in it.
“I don’t know how mature that was, Val,” Reggie said as he gnawed at the piece of pineapple that decorated her third piña colada. “But it sure was funny.”
They sat on a lounge chair a short distance away from the noisy party. The Underworld was currently experiencing a planned dark-time—Val had been told by a passing waiter that it was only to last for ten minutes—and patio lanterns were out, lighting up the pool area. Several large, demony men had shotguns and were taking target practice at the few Nightflyers that had dared to come too close. Val found it extremely disturbing to watch, knowing that the creatures had once been demons like Nathaniel. But the alcoholic beverage was helping her cope. A bit.
She’d searched around for Julian so she could continue working on him. All she needed was for him to let her hold on to the key for a while. Then as soon as she got out of his sight she would simply escape with it in her possession. But he was nowhere to be found, at least at the moment. As each minute passed she got more and more nervous that her plan was so flimsy it would fail miserably.
Maybe I shouldn’t have had that third drink, she thought.
Nathaniel had called her selfish before. Was he right? Did she only want the key for herself?
To go back to Heaven and back to her predictable, risk-free existence? She’d always thought that would be the pleasant side effect after she’d helped Barlow and saved the world. But as far as it being her main reason for going through everything she’d gone through . . .
Was she being selfish? The thought made her feel ill. Maybe she was a horrible person deep down and all of the poison was now coming to the surface.
Like the “pride” thing. She’d never known that was one of her flaws. It hadn’t even occurred to her that there had been a real reason for her expulsion from Heaven until it had been pointed out to her. Even then, it seemed like an unlikely reason.
But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she didn’t deserve to be an angel at all.
She had committed the deadly sin of pride. She was selfish. And now she feared for her own safety if Julian caught her trying to take the key.
I am a wimp, she thought dejectedly as she slurped at the bottom of her drink. A selfish wimp.
With incredibly large breasts.
Reggie poked her with his paw. “Don’t look so glum. Have another drink.”
She pushed the glass away. “No. I think I’ve had enough. Of all of this. I just want to go home now.”
“Hey, remember when I said that when you’re not looking, Nate’s always staring at you like a little lost puppy dog?”
“I don’t remember you putting it quite like that, but yeah, I guess so.”
“He’s doing it right now. Over by the mayor.”
Val looked over just in time to see Nathaniel turn his gaze away. His clothes were still damp from his unplanned swim in the pool. He hadn’t spoken to her since, or come near her.
A band had set up on the other side of the pool and they were playing music that reminded
Val of the Gipsy Kings CD Barlow sometimes played in the manager’s office. Flamenco-sounding, only these performers all looked like short, fleshy green Muppets. Short Muppet monsters that could shake a mean maraca. She kept her eyes on the mansion, through the darkness, waiting for Julian to make another appearance.
The band stopped playing after their most recent song—“She Bangs” by Ricky Martin—and Yasmeen approached the microphone.