Angel's Messiah (9 page)

“What if the baby wants to know about it because
I
was once mortal?”

“Then that’s her decision. She can learn about mortal religions if she chooses, as long as she doesn’t take them as gospel.”

I could feel my blood pressure start to drop. “I think I’m going to go to sleep now,” I whispered, just as my eyes rolled back. I barely managed to close my eyes in time.

I woke in the morning, still in Danny’s arms. He hadn’t moved an inch and neither had I.

“You can drop off to sleep in the blink of an eye now,” he marvelled. “You went to sleep as soon as you’d stopped talking.”

“Hormones,” I said, falling back on my standard excuse for everything.

“There were quite a lot of fireworks last night,” he said.

“What do you mean? Was there a fireworks display in the forest?”

“No,” he rubbed my belly, “she was entertaining me while you slept and lit up the room with a lovely red glow.”

“I wish it wasn’t red,” I said. “I’d rather have the angelic lights or that lovely bright white light. Why does it have to be red?”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Danny said. “Maybe it’s not red, but as it passes through your flesh it picks up the colour of your blood.”

6.
Fan Club

“I need to patrol today. I must be able to honestly report to Michael, even if it’s simply a matter of relaying that there’s been no activity. I’ll have to pay him a visit soon. Will you be okay without me?”

“Yes, Danny,” I rolled my eyes, “I can manage without you for a few hours.”

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t hunt, but knowing you, you’ll probably hunt anyway. If you really feel the need for a snack, please don’t venture very far.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Promise me.”

“Okay,
I promise
.”

I actually didn’t want to hunt without Danny. I’d stay at the cottage, sitting on the rocking chair in the nursery for a while, imagining hearing a baby gurgling in the cot, maybe watch a movie and go outside to chew on some freesias.

“Don’t be too long,” I said.

“I’ll try to get it over with as quickly as possible. I’ll be back before you know it.”

I felt a sudden need to be near him and slipped my hands around his waist, resting my head on his chest. I could hardly get my arms around him now, my stomach was so big. It was getting to be a bit of bother when I hunted. The wolves knew I was pregnant and went straight for my stomach. They were never able to penetrate far enough to reach the baby, yet it freaked me out every time.

Danny ran his hands through my hair and kissed the top of my head.

“I love you,” he said.

I looked up at him and he kissed me. I was
so
tempted to tell him to forget about patrolling. He leaned down and kissed my belly.

“I love you too,” he said to my stomach.

“Go on, get going,” I said, “before I change my mind about letting you go.”

He blew me a kiss as he walked away. I poked out my tongue and blew a raspberry.

I pottered around the cottage, rearranging furniture and changing the colour scheme of the nursery. I lay on the couch and watched a movie. I sat outside and sucked on freesias. I swam laps in the pool and enjoyed how my stomach didn’t feel so heavy when I was in the water, and I blacked out.

When I regained consciousness I was at the bottom of the pool, my lungs and stomach full of water. I managed to pull myself out of the pool just in time to cough and vomit more water than I thought was possible for one body to hold. The baby protested fiercely as my stomach clenched and heaved, adding to my discomfort. I was glad Danny was not home to see it. When the vomiting finally ended I half crawled, half dragged my body to the garden swing, where I lay soaking up the sun to reenergise myself —
pregnancy sucks
— and dozed.

I was still on the swing sleeping when Danny returned. He brushed the hair away from my face and kissed my forehead. It was a pleasant way to be woken up.

“You don’t look very well,” he said.

“I swallowed some water swimming,” I confessed, “and it made me ill.”

He stroked my cheek and smiled. “I can’t leave you for one day, can I?”

I didn’t realise my ego was so
delicate
at the moment and burst into tears. Danny wiped away the tears and kissed my eyelids.

“Not long now, Helena. I know it’s difficult for you.”

Huh! You try walking around with a belly the size and weight of a granite boulder.

“I know. I just feel like a giant beach ball with a small head and tiny arms and legs. Everything seems so out of proportion.”

Danny helped me off the swing and into the cottage, where we sat on the couch in front of the fireplace, which was filled with scented pine cones and potpourri. Danny swung me around so my feet were in his lap and gently massaged them.

“Ah, that feels
good,
” I said dreamily.

“I thought you might like it. I was wondering, with the baby being so big, should we still …”

“Danny, are you asking if we should stop having
sex,
just because I’m the size of a small house?”

“Well, yes actually. Won’t it be a bit awkward?”

I rubbed one of my feet against his stomach and gave him a sly grin.

“You leave the logistics of it to me. I think we can manage until
I’m
ready to stop.”

He laughed. “I thought as much.”

Danny continued to massage my feet and slowly worked his way to my calves. It was so nice and relaxing that I dozed again, and the baby was quiet for a time.

I was in bed when I woke, and panicked, thinking Danny was gone. My heart started racing and my stomach fluttered. The baby was annoyed by my panic and let me know with a sharp kick near the ribs.

“
Danny
,” I called out.

He came into the bedroom carrying a book.

“Don’t you ever leave me without telling me where you’re going,” I said angrily.

“I was just getting a book,” he said, mystified by my sudden outburst.

I started crying. “
Please
don’t leave me again.”

He climbed onto the bed and gathered me into his arms. “Helena, I am not planning on leaving you.”

“I thought you were
gone,
” I cried.

He kissed my cheek and I pulled myself up, wrapping my arms about his neck and seeking his lips. The hunger within, the need for his touch, his skin against mine, took hold.

As I took charge the baby kicked in time to our rhythm and my stomach glowed like a beacon, distracting Danny.

“Helena, I can’t be doing this. What she’s
doing
… she knows what we’re up to,” he complained.

“Then close your eyes,” I said, my heart racing faster —
there’s no way I’m stopping now
— “and enjoy the ride.”

Danny was very quiet afterwards. I was sure it had to do with the baby’s reaction to what we’d been doing. Did it disgust him that I was such a slave to my needs and desires? I hadn’t always been like this. I so desperately wanted to hear his voice, even if he talked about boring stuff like the angelic histories. The quiet was too much for me.

“So how was your day?” I asked, gently rubbing his chest.

He rested a hand on my belly, but remained quiet.

“Do you have anything you can report back to Michael about?”

“If you must know, I came upon a demon today when I patrolled the city,” he sighed.

“You went to the city? Why didn’t you tell me? I would have come along.”

“I
was
patrolling, Helena. I stopped at an old haunt of yours to make sure its owner was behaving.”

“You didn’t go to The Cage, did you?”

“I did. It seems the preacher has been sent where he belongs, but you already knew that didn’t you.”

I tried to swallow the small lump that was stuck in my throat. How much did Danny know?

“The new management happens to be a demon,” Danny said.

“Did you call for help?”

“We had an interesting conversation. He disappeared before I could send a message to Michael.”

“You had a conversation, with a demon?”

“It happens, Helena, more often than you’d think. Information is a very valuable commodity, and some demons will trade it to save their skin.”

“And you let them live?” I asked. I thought the armies of the archangels were meant to annihilate the demon threat.

“I didn’t
choose
to let this one live. As I said, he left before I felt it was time to send a message to Michael.”

“So you listened to what he had to say instead of calling Michael straight away?”

“Yes.”

“What did you talk about?” I asked.

“He said strange times were afoot when dead angels walk and visit the den of a demon. He also asked after you. Apparently it’s known that you and I were together before I died.”

“Well, Satan did offer to take my pain away. He transformed to look like you — a demon in the guise of an angel.”

Danny nodded thoughtfully. “That explains why you didn’t believe it was me when I was sent back.”

“And the demon, he knew of me?”

“Yes. He said he saw you once at a feast.”

“Oh.” I hoped it was one of the more tame feasts.

“It seems you have quite a fan club in hell,” he said dryly, “with Satan being your number one fan. He would handsomely reward anyone who returned you to him, mortal or immortal.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly how long
did
you spend in hell?”

“I have trouble working out the time difference between here and there. Maybe five or six months, hell time,” I said. It
had
only seemed like a few months to me, but in reality five years had passed topside — the equivalent of one year in hell.

Danny chuckled and I was relieved.

“I was worried you might have spent
more
time with
Satan
than
me.
You seem to have this effect on men,” he said and sighed. “I’m glad you haven’t met Him, for if He wanted you I could not deny Him …”

“It’s only
immortal
men I seem to have an effect on. Mortal men only see me as an object or possession,” I said.

“I don’t think that’s right. Peter at the La’miere —”

“Was one of the
few
exceptions,” I butted in. “Most mortal men aren’t like that, at least not in my experience. Life isn’t like the movies.”

“I think you’re wrong,” Danny said. “I think had you been born under different circumstances you’d have known how much love mortals are capable of.”

“And I’d probably not be here, with you,” I said in exasperation.

The baby kicked, letting me know it didn’t like our heated debate. Danny rubbed my stomach soothingly, trying to calm the baby down. Its reaction was not lost on either of us.

“You said the demon disappeared before you could summon help. Why didn’t the demon take the opportunity to kill you? Where do you think he was headed?”

“I think he was more concerned about returning to hell with the news that I live, and that wherever I am you are bound to be close by. I’m going to have to see Michael ahead of schedule. I fear we’ll need a guard, or I’ll need to find you another safe place for a while.”

“I’m not leaving you,” I said firmly, “and don’t you dare think of leaving me so they won’t find me. I’ll find you wherever you go.”

“Helena, if it was only you and me, we could face whatever happened, just the two of us, but I will not risk the life of
our daughter.
She is too precious to risk.”

I crawled into Danny arms and kissed him on the lips. A long and lingering kiss, then started crying again.

“As long as we remain together, I don’t care where we have to go,” I said.

7.
Welcome Back

After we’d showered in the morning Danny dried my legs for me. I had trouble reaching the lower part of my body now. He held out an enormous robe for me and I slipped my arms into it before tying it up around my belly.

“Should I come with you?” I asked.

“It might be better if I went alone initially. Michael and the others may need time to get used to the idea. Seeing you like this may be somewhat of a shock.”

I laughed. “They’re bound to know what we’ve been up to regardless.”

“Have you not heard of the immaculate conception?” Danny chuckled. “Some would prefer to believe that is what has happened.”