the only family I had.
Unfortunately, she spent our entire sisterly relationship trying to kill me.
I swallowed hard. “He said even after Ophelia, it wouldn’t be over. Another fallen angel would just come and take her place.”
Will held up a silencing hand. “True. And generally, that’s how it is. Once Ophelia was stopped, all it meant is that someone else will take her place and come after you, trying to get the Vessel for himself. But, Sophie, no one knows about you. Ophelia had a connection to you.”
I sat back, both startled and impressed. It must have shown on my face because Will stiffened. “What? You don’t think I know anything about this whole fallen angel business? You’re my charge, love, and I’m well-versed in all the things that go bump in your nights.”
An inappropriate hot blush washed over me. I clamped my knees together, mentally claiming that the fire was the reason for the sudden sweat at the back of my neck—it had nothing to do with Will and what went bump in my nights.
I took a refreshing sip of my beer. “What about Adam? He was working for Ophelia and he knew what I was. He said he did.”
“Just before the building he was in went up in flames.” Will smiled. “Remember? I was there. I was the bloke with the rubbers”—he pointed to his shoes—“and the enormous hose.”
The hopelessness of the situation must have gotten to me, because I found myself giggling uncontrollably when Will said “enormous hose.” He watched me, his hazel eyes catching the gold glow of the cracking fire. The warmth raged inside me again and I sucked down half my beer in a single gulp. I winced, burping softly.
“’ Scuse me. And I don’t mean to be naïve, but aren’t fallen angels like”—I struggled for the words —“immune to fire? Adam didn’t even flinch, and the flames were right on us.”
“Adam isn’t here, love.”
I finished my beer. “So you’re just going to dismiss this whole thing? Just like that?”
“I didn’t say that. As per our otherworldly agreement, I’m keeping an eye on you, and you’re keeping an eye on the Underworld.” Will smiled and clinked his glass with mine; then he finished his beer. “Another?”
“I guess,” I groaned.
By the time Will came back with our second round, I had kicked off my shoes and had tucked my legs under myself, enjoying the calming warmth of the fire, the comfort of the little pub with its beer-and-shepherd’s-pie scent.
“I guess I could be wrong,” I said, taking a hearty sip.
Will turned to stare at me, full in the face. His eyes were wide with incredulity. “You don’t say!”
I took another gulp. “Shut up. I do have another theory.”
Will raised an interested eyebrow. “Do tell.”
“Well, Mrs. Henderson burned Nina up.” I held up two fingers. “Twice.” Then I hiccupped and took another sip to wet my mouth. “And Kale ...” Here I looked over each shoulder, scanned the bar for intruders, and crooked my finger, beckoning Will closer. “Kale,” I started in a hoarse whisper, “and Vlad were almost
A mask of confusion—or maybe disgust—set across Will’s handsome features. “Get what?”
I gestured wildly, slopping some beer on my wrist and licking it up. “Mrs. Henderson burned up Nina.”
Will grabbed my near-empty glass as I tried to negotiate it to my other hand to make the requisite two-finger gesture.
“I know, twice,” he said. “But you told me yourself there is no way Nina is involved, and I have to agree with you.”
I scooched closer toward Will, until he and I nearly were nose to nose. I began enunciating exaggeratedly, certain that that is what it would take to get my point across. “And then Kale seduces Vlad, and she gets hit by a car.” I took my drink from Will and finished it, wiping my foam mustache with the back of my hand. “Get it? It could be VERM, out for revenge. They’re protecting their kind.”
Will blinked at me and I fanned myself. I leaned over and deposited my empty beer glass on the table and took a healthy slug from his. “It’s hot in here.”
A waitress stopped by and poked at my glass with the nub of her pencil. “’Nother?”
“No,” Will said, eyes firm on me.
“Yes,” I said, eyes just as firm. “He’s trying to be my party pooper.”
The waitress returned with another round of beers and a selection of appetizers, which Will had suggested. He read off the menu and I nodded to each one. Now we had an army of deep-fried deliciousness picking up the comforting flames of the fire.
I smashed a hunk of deep-fried mozzarella in between two slabs of boneless buffalo wings and tossed the whole thing in my mouth, reveling in the hot, deep-fried goodness as I licked the gooey residue from my fingers. I finished off my bar menu canapé with a slug of cold beer. “So what do you think?”
“I think maybe you’ve had enough.”
I slapped down my glass. “You know, I’m really tired of you patronizing me. You would be out of work, if not for me.”
“You do realize I work for the San Francisco Fire Department, right?”
I nodded my head hard and rolled my eyes. “I mean out of guardianship work. And what’s with that, anyway? Do I need to remind you who drove a stake through the last fallen angel? Shouldn’t that have been”—I poked Will in the center of his rock-hard chest—“your job?”
Will looked unfazed. “Do I need to remind you who climbed out her flat’s bathroom window to fall into dubious battle with the fallen undead?”
“And whose fault was that?” Somewhere in my sober subconscious I was fairly aware that it was me, but I could see the alarm growing in Will’s four eyes, so I left it alone.
“You might want to calm down, love.”
“I’m calm.” I pointed at him with a half-eaten chicken wing. “I’m just trying, once again, to give you a little heads-up to the things that go bump in the night.” I smiled, gritting my teeth against a hiccup.
Will stopped trying to fight his grin and it pushed up to his earlobes. “All right, then. I’m listening.”
The setting sun was glistening off the line of empty pint glasses on the sticky little coffee table as I polished off the last potato skin, licking sour cream off my fingers.
“I might be wrong,” I started, then hiccupped, “and I hope I am, but I am not being overdramatic. It just kind of adds up a little bit. I mean, their whole organization. . . Hey, isn’t it weird that in England they spell ‘organization’ with an
“VERM has a website?”
“Everyone has a website.”
Will nodded, picking bits of chicken from the front of his shirt. I finished off my chicken leg, gave myself a makeshift bath with a Wet Nap, then blinked.
“Do you think everything is going to be okay, Will?”
Will’s grin was easy and slow as he tangled his fingers in my hair. His fingertips brushed my naked neck, making me shiver. I closed my eyes and let the warmth from the fire—and from the beers—wash over me.
Will nodded. “Nothing is going to happen, love—not if I have anything to say about it.”
“You have pretty, pretty teeth. Do Guardians get good dental?” I hiccupped again.
“I think you’ve had enough.”
“Now I think I’ve had enough.”
Will slung his arm around me and carried—er, led—me out the door. A slow drizzle had started in the ink black night and I pulled my jacket up over my head, feeling the flaming red curls that I had so carefully relaxed frizz
