Sherealized what she had said, blushed, and picked up her fork. She immediatelystarted rummaging through the leaves and scooped out a candied almond. "Sorry,Lady."
"Don'tyou dare be. I am being stupid. My little Candace is growing up. Sniff."
Shestuck her tongue out and put the candied nut in her mouth, groaning inpleasure.
"Good?"
Shenodded and plucked another on out of her salad and put it on the plate next tomy giblet burger. It looked about a thousand times more appetizing than thefaux lunch on my plate, so I tried it and groaned a little, too.
"See?"
"Yeah,yeah. Salad good. Burger bad. Bad Dot."
Shesnickered.
"Kindof surprised, though."
"Aboutwhat?"
"Inever thought I'd see the day you put nuts in your mouth." I grinned ather, earning myself an eyeroll.
"So,are you going to tell her?"
"Fine.Yes."
"When?"
"Atyour wedding. How's that?"
Atear actually slid from the corner of her eye and she nodded even harder thanbefore, smiling as she nimbly bit the leafy greens from her fork.
Charlieset our glasses on the table and blinked as a thundering boom echoed in timewith the contact. She even picked them up and looked at the bottom of theglasses. "What was that?"
Candacepointed outside.
Charlieturned, gasped, and backed toward the register.
"Relax.I think they're here for me," I said and stood, frowning at the wingedangel through the glass.
Itstared back at me, not moving from the rippled grass where it landed at theedge of the park. From its back, it unsheathed a silver sword that erupted in yellowflame as it was exposed to the sunlight. Pointing the tip of the blade in mydirection, its maw opened, exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth. Something toldme it wasn't there for the turkey burger.
"Whatdoes an angel of light want with you?" Charlie's voice quivered in fear.
"Beat'sthe hell out of me. I haven't seen one in a month. Thought they gave up tryingto drag me to Hell."
Icould feel her 'I told you so' stare at Candace.
"Donot go out there, Lady."
"IfI don't. It will come in." I headed for the door, practically draggingCandace with me as she tugged on my shirt, frantically trying to keep meinside.
"Please."
"Stayhere, Candy." I looked at Charlie over my shoulder and nodded towardCandace. When the elf's arms were around her, I opened the door and steppedoutside. Only when the door clicked behind me did I started walking toward the veryun-angelic looking angel. How anyone who had ever seen one could mistake themfor creatures of good, I would never know. They were the stuff of nightmares,with pretty wings. "What can I do for you?"
"Youhave shattered the natural order and are an obscenity."
"Whatthe hell are you talking about? I'm not pregnant."
Ittilted its head in confusion. They were bright on the outside just not in thehead. "You have accumulated the powers of a god."
"Ihad the powers of a god. The god you dragged kicking and screaming intoTartarus. So?"
"Itwas decreed eons ago that there shall be no new gods."
"Youknow you guys should really advertise this stuff. How the hell was I supposedto know? Don't get a mortal preggers. Don't become a god. I swear, you guysmake this shit up as you go along."
Itclosed the distance between us and brough the sword down in an arc that nearlysliced me in half. Under the bright, midday sun, I was practically powerless,but I was still a witch. My shadows couldn't help me. The only vampire at mydisposal was Yuki. Ellis could function in daylight, but he probably didn'teven know I was in danger. Dar, on the other hand, was already running from thestore. I could feel him. Yuki wasn't far behind him. Either way, I'd mostlikely be dead before they got there. I barely managed to dodge the sword as itsliced into the concrete beside me.
Ialmost laughed. It had barely missed, but the blade was embedded in the ground.Just as I thought there was an opening, I launched a bolt of fire but nearlygot cleaved in half as it swung its sword sideways, flinging chunks of concretebehind its blade.
Luckily,my vampiric speed kicked in and my body bent like a reed in the wind, theflaming trails close enough to my face that I wouldn't need to bleach anythingfor a few weeks. At my awkward angle, I didn't have a chance in hell ofblocking the fist that bashed me in the midriff.
Everyounce of air in my lungs exploded as I gasped for breath and instinctivelyrolled away. Yuki shot over me like a cruise missile and blew the thing backlong enough for me to catch my breath and un-collapse my lungs.
"Areyou alright?"
"Yeah."I managed to wheeze as Dar helped me off the cold concrete.
"Weneed to get it away from the center of town." He lifted his head andfrowned over my shoulder.
Turning,I saw why. Yuki wasn't holding her own. It was faster than she was, a far cryfrom the other angelic beings I'd fought in the past. "What the hell?"
"Itis an arch angel," he answered.
"That'sbad?"
"Very."He nodded without tearing his eyes from the battle behind us.
"Canwe beat it?"
"Idoubt it. Maybe."
Achair flew through the window of the bistro and Candace hopped down onto theconcrete in front of us, Charlie screaming her name from inside. Candace gaveme a once over, to make sure I was okay, and then turned to face the angel. Iwas getting ready to scoop her up and run away when she bent at the waist andunleashed a blood curdling scream at the arch angel.
IgnoringYuki, it turned its head and the searing hatred in its eyes ebbed, just as myvampire sliced through its robes with sharpened nails, spilling silvery bloodin a spray across the street. It frowned at the wound and kicked Yuki in thechest, launching her at the brick wall beside the bistro window. Concrete andbone crunched as she slid down the wall and landed in a heap on the sidewalk.
Theangel turned to Candace, took a cautious step forward and stopped. Uncertainty heldit in place for a moment until it finally spread its wings and launched itselfinto the sky.
Darand I stared as Candy straightened herself, paused a moment before turningaround and giving us a sad look before collapsing not far from Yuki.
"Whatthe hell just happened?" I
