Angel in Training (The Louisiangel Series, Book One) (28 page)

He didn’t blink, keeping his eyes on me, and
then I was aware that the gap between us was growing bigger – the
chair back was slowly dropping backwards. “Joshua!” I yelped,
reaching for the door handle.

The hand that had been on the button to
recline my seat was quickly on mine. “Will you relax?” he asked me.
“Do you really think I’m going to do what you think I’m going to
do, right here, in the middle of a parking lot? Really?”

I could feel my face heating up – he was
still uncomfortably close, and yes, I had thought he was going to
do something he shouldn’t. “No!” I lied, my voice squeaking.

“Of course not,” he smirked, settling back
into his seat, though still facing me. “Just lie back and shut your
eyes.”

My mouth fell open as I crossed my arms.
“No,” I told him again.

Joshua rolled his eyes. “Seriously, our first
time is not going to be in this car.”

This time I threw bulging eyes in with the
open mouth. “There isn’t going to be a first time, period,” I
informed him, even though I desperately wanted to know exactly what
he had in mind when we did sleep together. Hypothetically speaking,
of course.

“
Of course not,” he repeated himself in the
same tone which clearly read –
you keep telling yourself that.
“However, until then, will you
just shut up, lie back, and close your eyes?”

I pulled a face but did as he asked, and
settled back into the leather seats. “Now what?” I asked, my eyes
closed.

“Think about the night you died-”

“I thought you didn’t believe I was dead,” I
muttered, opening my eyes.

“Angel, shut up,” he ordered. I shot him a
scathing look, but shut my eyes again.

“It was Mardi Gras,” I sighed.

I had gotten back from the nail salon,
deciding at the last minute to have a manicure and deep cherry red
nail varnish. I had gone straight to my bathroom to apply the red
hair dye, watched a full episode of The Vampire Diaries instead of
half, when I should have rinsed the dye from my hair, and as a
result, the color was insanely vibrant.

It had then taken two hours in front of the
mirror, with enough hairspray for me to be concerned enough to make
sure I didn’t go within twenty feet of a naked flame. Finally, the
hair was perfectly straight and flicked out at every layer. I had
put my makeup on – smoky eyes and long false eyelashes. The tags
had been pulled off my new red underwear and I had just slipped on
the short, strapless cherry red dress. Just in case my aunt caught
me on the way out, I pulled on a pair of jeans.

After making sure the devil horns were placed
right, I put my heeled Mary Jane’s on and hurried downstairs where
my friends were waiting in the car. We headed straight to the
Quarter, and I quickly shed the jeans. Hannah was the only one who
wasn’t drinking as she was driving, but as soon as we parked, she
took the bottle of Southern Comfort from Nina’s hand and consumed
half the bottle.

We started off in the bars closest to Canal
Street, but as the night grew later, and the bars grew busier, we
worked our way further down the street. I think, three or four bars
later, I had decided that I was going to quit college and I was
going to disappear around the world. Nina had met up with her
boyfriend not long after that and gone home with him.

I don’t know what happened to Hannah and
Rachel. I remember coming out of the Dead Donkey and hearing the
music spilling out of a bar further down the street. By that time,
I should have stopped drinking, but I vaguely remember going in and
buying another drink.

“The next thing I remember is Michael asking
if I wanted eternal life or eternal happiness,” I sighed. My eyes
flickered open and I stared at the ceiling until I had to look at
Joshua and work out why he hadn’t said anything. He was staring at
my abdomen, and it took me a moment to realize my shirt had ridden
up just enough for the bottom tip of one of my silvery scars to be
poking out. Biting my lip, I pulled the top up enough for all of
them to be visible. “I don’t remember getting stabbed,” I murmured,
staring at the thin lines.

With his eyes still on the scars, Joshua
leaned over tracing his fingers over them. “How long were you lying
there?” he asked, quietly.

“I don’t know,” I told him. “Honestly, the
last thing I remember is leaving the Dead Donkey and then it’s
Michael. I don’t know what my cause of death was.” I frowned.
“Well, obviously, I was stabbed, and I’m guessing I had some form
of internal bleeding going on, but I don’t know what organ was
damaged. I know it doesn’t help the case, but I don’t think I want
to remember what happened,” I admitted.

Joshua pulled his hand away and raked it
through his hair. “Maybe you’re right,” he sighed. Then, he turned
to me and smirked. “So, what are you doing later?”

“Huh?” I pulled my top back down and gave him
a puzzled look.

“Are you doing anything later?” he asked
me.

“Washing my hair,” I told him, dryly.

“And after that?”

“Drying it,” I informed him. I glanced down
by my side, locating the recliner button and set my chair
upwards.

“Cute,” he told me. “Well, once you’ve done
that, you can come out and join me down Bourbon Street.”

“Why?” I asked, suspiciously.

“You really need to relax,” he told me,
slipping the car into gear and pulling back out onto the road. “And
no, that’s not why I want you to come out. We’re going to head to
the Dead Donkey and see if we can work out where you went next –
see if that helps.” He gave me a sideways glance. “A devil called
Angel?” he asked, his eyebrows quirking upwards.

“And that is less ridiculous than an angel
called Angel?” I sighed.

True Colors

After returning to the precinct to collect
the SUV, I headed back to the convent. We had a couple of hours
before we were meeting up again and my stomach was grumbling at me.
Deciding to feed my vessel, I went straight to the canteen.

Being as it was early evening, I was
surprised at how busy it was in there. As usual, most heads turned
in my direction when I walked in, but I ignored them, heading
straight for the food. I was delighted to see there were some
shrimp po’boys left and grabbed one, eating it as I walked over to
Cupid, who I had already spotted chatting with Veronica.

“These have got to be my favorite food,” I
informed them, my mouth full of the item in question. If food would
one day become optional, I would continue to eat based on this meal
alone.

“I know you’re practically an angel now, but
it is still considered the norm to actually chew your food before
you swallow it,” Cupid said, reaching over and stealing a potato
chip from my plate.

“Swallow?” Veronica laughed. “I think that’s
what is referred to as inhaling your food. Did you forget to eat or
something?”

I nodded, swiping at Cupid’s hand as he tried
to steal another chip. “Mine,” I growled. Taking into consideration
the fact I was starving and Cupid was constantly trying to steal
the food from my plate, it didn’t take me long to finish off my
food. I pushed the plate away from me and leaned back in my chair.
“I need to ask you guys something,” I told them.

Veronica and Cupid shared a look. “Okay,”
Veronica muttered.

“The one who chose eternal life before
me-”

“You need to talk to Michael,” Cupid said,
interrupting me before I could even ask the question. “We’re not
allowed to talk about it.”

“But you’re an archangel too,” I objected.
“And you don’t even know what I was going to ask.”

Veronica shrugged. “You were going to ask
something about Lilah, and that’s something we can’t answer.”

“So her name’s Lilah?” I asked. I knew that,
of course, but I was hoping it would prompt them to share something
else. It didn’t. Instead the question caused Cupid to swipe at
Veronica. “Fine!” I conceded, holding my hands in the air. “I will
go ask our fearless leader.” I gave Cupid a pointed look and got up
from the table.

I made my way up to my room. My priority was
getting ready to go out to meet Joshua. If I hurried, I would still
have time to catch Michael before I left – but I didn’t want to
risk keeping Joshua waiting.

I stood in front of my open wardrobe
eyeing the contents of it.
Wear something that wasn’t going to look out of
place...
That was the
instruction Joshua had given me. Once you took away my work wear,
there really wasn’t much left in there, and a small fraction of
that was something I would wear out to a bar.

I rifled through the dangling clothes,
pushing one item to the side after another. Finally, my fingers
caught the silken material of a top I had forgotten about. I had
never worn it, having died before I had the chance, and I don’t
really remember collecting it from Sarah’s. I pulled it out and
held it up to examine in the light. It had a diamante collar, was
completely backless, and the black silken material was held in
place by the matching diamante strip at the bottom.

This would do. I pulled the tag off the
unworn garment and laid it on the bed. It took me moments to pull
out a suitable black skirt and slip both items on, finishing the
outfit off with some black heels.

I was contemplating making my eyes smokier
than they were when I caught a glimpse of the time. If I wanted to
talk to Michael before I left, I didn’t have time to add more
make-up to what I was already wearing.

I made my way upstairs to Michael’s room and
knocked on the door. When I didn’t get a response, I frowned and
poked my head in. The room was empty. “Hmmm,” I murmured.

“You’re looking for me?” Michael’s voice came
from behind me, causing me to shriek and leap into his room.

“Yes,” I yelped, turning to find his bemused
expression studying me.

“You’re a little jumpy,” he told me, ushering
me into the room.

“That’s because you crept up on me,” I told
him.

He leaned back against the wall, casually
folding his arms, and with his head cocked, watching me. “What are
you wearing?” he asked me, finally, his expression unreadable.

I sighed inwardly. Great. The outfit was
inappropriate and I was going to have to change. “I’m going out
with Joshua tonight. Not on a date or anything,” I added hurriedly.
“I’m helping him on a case. We’re heading into the Quarter and I
can’t really wear my uniform because apparently it’s too
conspicuous. I need to be able to blend in.” At his lack of comment
I did sigh. “I need to change, don’t I?”

“Angel, you look resplendent,” he murmured,
finally.

“Is that good or bad?” I asked,
cautiously.

“Good,” he muttered. “Very good.”

Weird. If I didn’t know better, I would have
said he was paying me a compliment. “Thanks?” I offered.

He cleared his throat, the distant look
disappearing from his eyes. “I would hardly call returning to my
own room creeping up on you. However, I would like to know what
brings you up here?”

“I have questions,” I informed him as I began
to pace back and forth. “Questions that Veronica and Cupid can’t,
or won’t, answer,” I added, glancing at him.

Michael sighed and nodded. “I must admit, I
didn’t think it would be this soon before you would ask. And for
the record, they can’t answer them.”

“You mentioned once that there was something
special about my aura,” I started, but stopped when I glanced back
at him and saw the surprised expression.

“Oh,” he said, simply.

“You were expecting something else?” I asked
him, pausing in my pacing.

Michael nodded. “What is the meaning of life?
I get asked that one a lot.”

“Oh,” I returned. “What is the meaning of
life?” I asked. As you can probably guess, that’s not a question I
have pondered often and to be completely honest, auras and the
first angel Potential were actually higher on the list of
importance to me.

“Do you really want to know the answer to
that?” he asked me, cocking his head as he smiled in amusement.

“No,” I admitted with a sigh. “I want to know
what’s special about my aura.”

Michael ran his hand over his mouth, a
movement that seemed nervous: something that as far as I had
witnessed, seemed out of character for him. “Very well,” he nodded,
indicating to the couches.

I was far too restless to want to sit,
much less be
able
to sit
still, but I moved to where he was pointing and perched on the edge
of one of the couches. Michael followed, sitting down opposite
me.

“What makes you ask about it?” he asked me
slowly.

“I was helping Joshua and I ended up chatting
to a woman who could see my aura. I can’t see it though,” I added,
staring down at my arm.

“No, we are not capable of seeing our own
auras,” Michael nodded.

“She said it was like lightning,” I told
him.

Michael nodded again. “Yours is exceptionally
bright. A bright white, the area closest to you tinged with
gold.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, curiously,
wishing I could see it.

“It’s rare,” he sighed again. “Rarer than you
think. Normally, you would only see it in babies, not adults. While
most think it resembles purity, which it does, it also speaks of a
strong connection to death – to angels. The closer you come to
earning your wings, the more it will change.”

“What did it look like?”

Michael pursed his lips, considering if to
answer the question. “Auras are different with everyone. Most have
auras of one color and they vary in shade and intensity.” He
frowned. “At the end, it was nearly completely white. There were
only traces of the blue still there.”