Susan Ee

“Sure, I’m pissed off. But my actions are not entirely without thought. I might regularly open my mouth without thinking, but I never start a fight without consulting my brain. For this one, I figured I’d won as soon as I made the first move. Intimidation tactics like his are common among bullies. The smaller, weaker opponent is supposed to cringe and back off.”

“My friends call me Wrath,” says Raffe. “My enemies call me Please Have Mercy. What’s your name, soldier boy?”

“Tall, dark and friendly. What more could a girl ask for?”

“I never kid about my warrior demigod status." "Oh. My. God." I lower my voice, having forgotten to whisper. "You are nothing but a bird with an attitude. Okay, so you have a few muscles, I’ll grant you that. But you know, a bird is nothing but a barely evolved lizard. That’s what you are.”

“Angels are violent creatures.” “So I noticed. I used to think they were all sweet and kind.” “Why would you think that? Even in your Bible, we’re harbingers of doom, willing and able to destroy entire cities. Just because we sometimes warned one or two of you beforehand doesn’t make us altruistic.”

“I wonder which will get you killed faster—your loyalty or your stubbornness?”

“If I was good at marketing, I’d spin you an empty story that sounds profound. But the truth is that we’re all just stumbling around in the dark. Sometimes we hit something terrible.”

“I am not afraid of you, your kind, or your god.”

“So,what do they call you if they don’t know your name?” There’s a brief pause before he answers. “The Wrath of God.”

“Here, I’ll show you how to use it. Let me see your foot.”“That’s a pretty intimate demand in the angel world. It usually takes dinner, some wine, and sparkling conversation for me to give up my feet.”

“She? You’re not one of those people who name their cars and coffee mugs, are you? It’s an inanimate object. Get over it.”

“But then again, Cinderella didn’t live in a post-apocalyptic world invaded by avenging angels.”

“You," he says, with a dirty look, “don’t deserve salvation.”"As if you could give it to me,” I croak. “Why would I want to go to Heaven anyway when it’s crammed full of murderers and kidnappers like you and your buddies?” “Who says I belong in Heaven?”

“The logistics of breaking you are easy. The only question is when.” “Right. If you could do it, you would have done it already.” “Maybe you entertain me.” He says with supreme confidence as if he’s in control of the situation. "Like a monkey with an attitude and a pair of scissors.”

“They're not ‘fellas.’  They’re not anywhere near human. They’re nothing but leaking sacks of mutated maggots, just like you.” Lookswise, he and the other angels I’d seen were closer to living Adonises, complete with god-like faces and presence. But inside, they were maggots for sure.”

“My mother hums a haunting melody, one that I think she made up. She used to sing it to us when she was in her half-lucid state. A wordless tune that is both sad and nostalgic. It may have had words to it at one point because every time I hear it, it evokes a sunset over the ocean, an ancient castle, and a beautiful princess who throws herself off the castle walls into the pounding surf below.”

“Are you really an archangel?” I whisper.He gives me a cocky grin. “Impressed?”“No,” I lie. “But I have some complaints I’d like to file about your personnel.”“Talk to middle management.”I follow him out the door, giving him mydeath-by-glare expression.”

“Their presence and attitude remind me of Raffe. He would fit in. It’s easy to visualize him sitting in the booth with that group, drinking and laughing with the gang. Well, the laughing part takes a little imagination, but I’m sure he’s capable of it.”

“He’s downed four drinks in the short time it took for me to get myself together and find him. Either he’s shaken by something or he’s falling off the wagon hard and fast. Great. Just my luck to be partnered with an alcoholicangel.”

“It could get them all burned.” Then he adds in a whisper, almost to himself, “But the fire can be tempting.”

“You are nothing but a bird with an attitude.”

“Does moping actually help humansfeel better?”"I'm not moping."“Of course you’re not. A girl like you,spending time with a warrior demigod like me. What’s to mope about? Leaving awheelchair behind couldn’t possibly show up on the radar compared to that.”

“What I would do with angel intel, I don’t know. But it can’t hurt to gain a little knowledge.Tell that to Adam and Eve.”

“Don’t you want it?” I ask.“That depends on why you’re giving it tome.”I shrug. “Sometimes, as we’re stumblingalong in the dark, we hit something good.”

“That calls for a witty comeback."Whatever," I say.”

“Who says I belong in Heaven?”

“. . . he lies on the couch with only his pants, boots and bandages wrapped around him. I thought about taking off his pants and boots when I sprayed the blood off him in the shower, but decided that I wasn’t here to make him comfortable.”

“I make a show of lifting him and puttinghim into the chair, grunting and staggering as though he’s terribly heavy. I want the watchers to think the angel is as heavy as he looks, because maybe then they’ll conclude that I’m stronger and tougher than I look in my underfed five-foot-two frame.Is that the beginning of an amused grinforming on the angel’s face?Whatever it is, it turns into a grimace of pain as I dump him into the chair.”

“I stick to Raffe as close as I can manage without having to explain why I'm hugging his back.”

“I'll be sure not to let anyone but you carry me in her arms." He turns and leaves the kitchen before I can figure out what to make of his comment. A sense of humor is one more thing I don't think angels should have. The fact that his sense of humor is corny makes it even more wrong.”

“I don't even like you.”

“Someone knocks on the door.Laylah's eyes widen in alarm. Josiah looks like he's just been condemned to hell."It's just my dinner," says Raffe.”

“Maybe you entertain me.” He says with supreme confidence as if he’s in control of the situation. “Like a monkey with an attitude and a pair of scissors." -Raffe”

“My hand stays out with the offered food long enough to make the moment awkward. "Don't you want it?" I ask."That depends on why you're giving it to me."I shrug. "Sometimes, as we're stumbling along in the dark, we hit something good.”

“I'm not moping," I whisper back. "Of course you're not. A girl like you, spending time with a warrior demigod like me. What's to mope about? Leaving a wheelchair behind couldn't possibly show up on the radar compared to that." "You've got to be kidding me.""I never kid about my warrior demigod status.”

“‎"Was that your plan all along? Show me where to go, then convince me there's nothing I can do to save my sister?""Actually, my plan all along was to become a rockstar, travel the world collecting fan girls, and then getting really fat and spending the rest of my life playing video games while the girls kept comin', thinking I look good as I did in my music videos." He shrugs as if to say, 'who knew the world would turn out so different?”

“In the long second before everyone absorbs what just happened, I see the angel rolling his eyes heavenward, like a teenager in the presence of overwhelming lameness. Some people just have no sense of gratitude.”

“Don't. Talk. About. Her.”

“A little weird? That was freakin' Bizarroville."He pauses and looks back at me. "Are you speaking English?”

“I'm Penryn. I'm named after an exit off Interstate 80.""Nice." They nod as if to say they understand what it's like to have parents like that.”

“Those pigeons couldn't take us out if they send their entire chirping flock.”

“Obi sits on the cot and ties my ankles together. I'm tempted to make a quip about requiring dinner and a movie before getting so kinky, but I don't.”

“Oh, please. Your giant head is getting too big for this forest. Pretty soon, you're going to get stuck trying to walk between two tress. And then, I'll have to rescue you." I give him a weary look. "Again.”

“Your sense of judgement could use a dash of common sense.”

“I'm not an actress and I suck at lying. I am also far from being a seductress. It's hard to practice the art of seduction when you're always pushing your kid sister around in her wheelchair. Not to mention that daily jeans and baggy sweatshirt do not a seductress make.”

“Either he's shaken by something or he's falling off the wagon hard and fast. Great. Just my luck to be partnered with an alcoholic angel.”

“The thought of superhuman beings with human temptations and flaws sends a chill through me.”

“Don't let my appearance fool you, Penryn. I am not human. The Daughters of Men are forbidden to Angels.”

“I don't have the luxury of leaning on anyone's strength, least of all an angel's.”

“It seems to be our fate to continually pass our debt back and forth.”