“Is that the beginning of an amused grin forming on the angel's face?”

“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.”

“And it’ll be longer still, now that you have those wings.” Beliel grins, but his expression still manages to be cruel. “Women and children will run screaming from you now. And so will angels.”

“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.”

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

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

“Why were the other angels attacking you?""It's impolite to ask the victim of violence what they did to be attacked.”