Nathaniel Teen Angel (3 page)

Chapter
Four

Nathaniel stood up, his face only inches from Michael’s. “I’m talking about Eloise. Devlin tried to molest her tonight by possessing her boyfriend’s body. He’s still out there somewhere and there’s no one to protect her. You must’ve known Devlin had already sold his soul because you just said Lucifer had my ward in his radar. So why didn’t you tell me instead of letting me go off to talk to her? I would’ve taken my powers back immediately had I known what Devlin was up to, then I could’ve burned his wings off when he kissed Eloise. You certainly weren’t there to burn them off, and neither was God. But it didn’t take long before I was cast down to Earth, and I did less than Devlin.”

Michael raised a perfectly arched brow. “You didn’t do less, Nathaniel. Not only did you have physical desires on your ward, you fell in love with her. I’m sorry about what occurred with Devlin just now, but we had to let you experience firsthand what could happen if you were tempted to stay here on Earth as a human instead of accepting your wings back.”

Nathaniel folded his arms. “Oh, I see. You had no intension of letting me spend time with Eloise. It was all part of your plan. You tricked me.”

“I didn’t trick you. I had no idea of the outcome. We just let it play out to see what would happen, but we were ready if needed.”

“Ready if needed? Eloise needed you tonight, yet you weren’t there for her.”

“Come on, Nathaniel, nothing happened to her except a kiss, and at least you got to see the problems you’ll face if you stay as a human with no angel powers to protect her. We guessed that once you’d had a taste of human pleasures and desires, you’d want to stay on Earth with Eloise. However, we decided to give you a second chance, but first we wanted you to know what you were getting yourself into before you made your final decision. I know it’s hard for you, Nathaniel, but you see, you’re the only guardian that can save Eloise. No other angel knows Devlin as well as you do. You were his best friend for thousands of years until Eloise was born. You know what makes him tick. And yes, we found out this afternoon that he has been dealing with Lucifer. In fact you know already that it was Lucifer that caused you to accidently possess Tom’s body. Lucifer was hoping you would be tempted to kiss Eloise. He needed something to bargain with, something that you’d want so desperately that you’d sell your soul for. Of course he couldn’t sway you to do that, so he went after Devlin.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Nathaniel scowled. “But how was it possible for Lucifer to push me into Tom’s body? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Because, my dear boy, you wanted to. You must have had the desire, whether you consciously knew or not.”

“What?” Nathaniel stared at him in disgust. “That’s not true. I had never thought of such a thing, not until it happened and I was holding her in my arms—well actually, they were Tom’s arms.”

“I’m afraid you
have
thought of such a thing before, Nathaniel. You just don’t remember.”

Nathaniel’s brows puckered together. “What are you talking about?”

“It was in the hospital while Eloise was having her operation. The time Devlin waited until she was unconscious, then took her soul to his cloud. You remember that don’t you?”

“Of course I do, but what’s that got to do with me falling for Eloise? That didn’t happen until today.”

Michael paced the ground. “That night when you rescued Eloise from Devlin, you took her on a joy ride to see a shooting star, remember?”

“Yes, but I wanted to give her a crucifix because she’d lost her own and she needed one to protect her from Devlin and Lucifer.”

The archangel stared at him for a long moment. “Yes, Nathaniel, but you were enjoying her attention that night, enjoying that she could actually see you. You wooed her until she had a crush on you and when she kissed you, you fell for her.”

Nathaniel’s eyes grew wide. “That’s not true. I don’t remember Eloise kissing me that night, or falling for her.”

“That’s because you knew it would put her in danger if you had those kinds of feelings for each other. After taking her back to the hospital, you erased the memory of her ever seeing you from her mind, then you called me for help. You wanted me to remove the love you felt for her from your mind and also the memory of the kiss, so I did. So you see, Nathaniel, Lucifer knows how you really feel about Eloise because he was there that day. He actually set it up so you and Eloise would fall for each other. He’s been waiting for an opportunity to tempt you again, and he will keep trying to bargain with you, offering you the girl you truly love as a prize. So you see, my boy, being with Eloise won’t work for you because without your wings, you’re leaving the poor girl vulnerable to Lucifer and Devlin. Now do you understand?”

Holding his face, he stared at Michael. “Holy Heaven. I guess I have to believe you, though I have no memory of it. It certainly explains why my wings were burned off when I kissed Eloise again, but it doesn’t justify why you used me to risk her safety. Who knows what would’ve happened to her if her mother hadn’t turned up when she did.”

“And who do you think organised Madeline to turn up at that precise moment, dear boy?”

“So it was
you
?”

“Listen, Nathaniel, it doesn’t really matter now, but if you decide to accept your wings back, Eloise’s soul can be saved. If not, she will have no idea what Devlin is up to, and as a human, neither will you. So what’s it to be? Do you want your wings back right now, at seven in the morning, or have you decided to stay as a human?”

Nathaniel held his hands out. “I’m not sure what you mean. If I wait until tomorrow, Devlin could go back to Eloise tonight. I can’t risk that. I need my powers back now.”

Michael Smiled. “You have passed the test, Nathaniel, so you still have until 7:00 am. And don’t worry about Devlin. He doesn’t know that we’re onto him yet. In fact I had plans for him tonight and he is already in lockdown. He won’t be going anywhere for at least two weeks.”

“I ... I don’t understand. You just said Devlin had dealings with Lucifer this afternoon, so why don’t you just burn his wings off instead of keeping him in rehab for two weeks? You know yourself that he has to want to be rehabilitated, not forced. Otherwise, when he gets out, he’ll just go back to his old ways of lusting after beautiful girls.”

“We didn’t burn Devlin’s wings of because we’re giving him one last chance to save his soul. Plus we didn’t want him bothering Eloise while she has no guardian. Once that’s been sorted, it won’t matter as much what Devlin does.”

Nathaniel scratched his head. “I’m still confused about something.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “What is it?”

“Well, you also said if I stay as a human, I won’t know what Devlin’s up to, yet I clearly saw him fly into Tom’s body this evening.”

Michael smiled. “That’s because we’re giving you a second chance. We allowed you to see Devlin so that you knew exactly what he was capable of doing and how he could do it. Like I said before, we wanted you to have all the facts before making your final decision. Now, I have to get back to my work, Nathaniel, so I need to know what you’ve decided.”

Looking at his shoes, Nathaniel bit his lip and pondered on Michael’s words. He said Devlin was in lockdown for two weeks, so he’d obviously be having full on therapy. That meant if Devlin
was
rehabilitated, Eloise wouldn’t be threatened by him.

“Nathaniel, did you hear me?”

“Yes, but I’m still not sure what to do.”

Michael shook his head. “But I thought you’d already decided to have your wings back. You called me here for that, didn’t you? Just talk to me, and let me help you.”

Blowing out a sigh, Nathaniel sat back on the bench and rested on his elbows. “You can’t help me, Michael. No one can. Not even God.”

“Ooh, now that’s blasphemy. Come on, Nathaniel, we have the ability to deal with all our problems. We are angels of God.”

He glanced up at him. “But I’m not an angel. I’m human at the moment, a powerless and useless human.”

“If you’re worried whether or not you can help Eloise, I can show you how. First, you have to get rid of all the distractions that are stopping you from helping her. Until you do that, you can’t help her or yourself.”

“Yes, but that means allowing you to erase my memory of how I really feel about her, and I don’t want to lose that. Why can’t I keep my true feelings for her, and have my wings back?”

Michael threw his hands in the air like he was losing patience. “Because it wouldn’t work, you know that.” Squatting down in front of him, he spoke in a soft voice. “If you hang onto your romantic love for Eloise, it will eat you up. You will suffer badly and she will be in danger because you’ll be too busy watching every boy she goes out with instead of checking the real danger that will be happening around her. You’ll be forever tempted to fall to Earth so you can be with her again, and if you do, she could get kidnapped by one of Lucifer’s demons because she has no guardian angel to protect her. Not only will it be your fault, but you’ll be left on Earth to suffer without her. Do you understand what I’m saying, Nathaniel?”

He shrugged. “But why can’t you appoint another guardian for her. Wouldn’t that work?”

Getting to his feet, Michael sighed. “I could, but appointing another guardian wouldn’t solve the problem if Devlin decides to fall. We don’t even know if therapy will work for him yet, but we’ll try our hardest. If it doesn’t work, Lucifer will probably use him to get to her, and he’ll also try tempting other fallen angels, including you. Plus you were once Devlin’s best friend, so you know him better than any other angel. You know his weaknesses, his strengths, and his charm. You, Nathaniel, are the best angel to guide Eloise, and that’s the reason you were asked in the first place. I’ve been watching Devlin for a long time now, so I knew he was dealing with Lucifer. If you need more time to think about it, I’ll give you until tomorrow afternoon, but if you make your decision now and it’s to have your wings back, I’ll appoint two guardians to protect you, then you can spend some time with Eloise in peace and privacy until 4:00 pm tomorrow. After that, I’ll erase both your memories of meeting each other as humans and you will get your wings back. Then it will be your job to protect her as you did before.”

“So I will just know her as I always have, as my ward?”

“That’s correct. You will have no more romantic notions about her.”

“They’re not just notions, Michael, I love her.”

“Well, you can still
love
her, but you won’t be ‘
in love’
with her, not after tomorrow. But if you do decide to stay as a human, you’ll have no more contact with angels, and though they’ll be watching over you, you won’t be able to feel, hear, or see them. So what is it to be, Nathaniel? Do you agree to my terms?”

Nathaniel sat up and scratched his scalp. “So you’re telling me that if I decide to have my wings back, I can spend the remaining time I have as a human with Eloise?”

“Yes, that’s what I just said.”

“But what if I was to kiss her or if she kisses me? Would I still get my wings back?”

Michael raised a brow. “Are you actually
bargaining
with me?”

Frowning at him, Nathaniel folded his arms. “I most certainly am. After what I’ve been through, I think I’ve at least earned a kiss. I didn’t purposely possess Tom’s body, but it happened. And now that I’ve fallen for her, I want to know how she feels about me. That might be crazy, but I want to know.”

Staring sternly at him, Michael shook his head. “That’s only because you have a human brain at the moment, but I can see you’re going to be stubborn about this, so I’ll leave it to your digression. However, once you have made your decision, which
will
be in the next minute—kiss or no kiss, you won’t be able to change your mind. And at 4:00 pm tomorrow, your memory of your time on Earth with Eloise will be erased, and so will hers of you. You will have your wings back and there will be no going back. Do you understand?”

Nathaniel got to his feet and paced around. “Oh, I understand all right. I know there’ll be no way I can come back as a human, not unless I want Eloise to lose her body and soul to Luci
fer, and maybe to Devlin. I obviously I don’t want that.” Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a moment, then he looked imploringly at Michael. “But if I just have this one night to hold Eloise in my arms as a man, I’m sure I can deal with it.”