Urban Fantasy Homesteading

She crossed her arms and glared, and he frowned and dipped his head. Color crept up his cheeks and down his neck, and I wondered, not for the first time, exactly where he had taken me. "After all that," she said, her voice a silky lilt that made me want to listen to it for hours, "after all that, you dare come to me now? Here?"

"Here is where you are," he pointed out. "If I were going to come to you at all, it would have to be here. If I'd asked you to meet me elsewhere, you wouldn't have come."

Her glare softened a little, as the edges of her mouth quirked upward. "Have you gained a little sense at last? The world must be ending."

"Actually...." I said, and slapped a hand over my mouth. He'd explicitly told me not to say anything.

She looked at me. By that point, I'd met quite a few angels, so you'd think I'd be used to the dizzying beauty of them. Apparently not. I, once again, had to resist the urge to fall to my knees and spout bad poetry. Maybe if I were a better poet, it'd be a harder urge to ignore, but fortunately I had the tendency to rhyme "breath" with "death" and we were all spared. "You?" she asked, raising both eyebrows and looking back over at Mike, who still looked embarrassed. I didn't know it was possible to embarrass him, so this angel had earned all kinds of my respect just by that.

"He doesn't know," he said, which was rapidly becoming my least-favorite sentence.

"And you didn't tell him?"

"Would you?"

"Yes." Okay, I was starting to be very glad that he'd dragged me out here.

Mike was outright chagrined. "Okay, so yeah, you would. But not yet? He's -- he came with Uri?"

She looked at me again and then back at Mike. "Oh."

"Yeah. So -- it's complicated. Like Facebook complicated."

"I can't believe you just said that."

He shrugged. "I've been sharded here for a long time, okay?"

"I never expected it to get to you. Not you, of all angels." She laughed, which was even better than just talking. "So Armageddon, then?"

"Armageddon. Ragnarok. You name it, it's upon us. Will you come?"

Today was full of surprises. Most people were just told where to go. Mike in particular was really good at giving orders. I don't think I'd ever heard him ask anyone if they would come; he just took it for granted that they would. He called, they answered.

She frowned, and sighed. "I suppose I'll have to. I'll need a little time, though."

"How much?" he asked.

"A few...." She sighed again. "Two hours. I can be ready in two hours."

He nodded. "We'll wait. Sam's good with heavy lifting, if you need any."

"Hey!" I protested. "Standing right here."

"You always are," she said, giving me a smile that made me sit down hard. "You always are."