Underworld Lover (A Guardian Angel Romance #2)

Dedication

Thanks to my wonderful chapter sisters at San Francisco RWA, and especially author Tina Folsom, who has been not only a wonderful mentor, but friend. To Bella Andre for her pep talk when I needed it most.

Thanks to my husband for his critiques and generous reads, especially the sex scenes. Being the husband of a romance writer is a good thing.

To my other critique partners, Pam and the Tuesday Group, all of them talented in their own right. Thanks for slogging through some of my earlier versions and helping me make it sparkle. To Rochelle at Edits That Rock, for her careful editorial services.

I hope you will continue to join me as we explore further the world of Guardian Angels and the humans and other angels they fall in love with. At this writing, I have completed four in the series. This is Book 2.

Chapter 1

Joshua Brandon used his three-hundred-year-old patience to keep from chastising his trainees, and instead tossed back shots of fifty-year-old whiskey. The sting at the back of his throat barely made his pulse elevate. He told himself he was keeping his mouth shut and biding his time until the right moment to make his teaching point. But he knew deep down he was bored to all Hell. Which was where the three of them had ascended from this morning.

It was barely nine and the morning sunlight hurt his eyes. His two trainees scanned humans, dark shades hiding bloodshot eyes caused by drinking too much RedEcstacy last night at the strip bar in the Underworld. This was an early outing for the trainees. Joshua was looking to cause them some pain for their excesses of last night.

He couldn’t make up his mind if Felix, the newest one, was worth keeping or killing. In the old days, it didn’t take much to piss Joshua off. He’d have vaporized Felix on the spot, as easy as blowing his nose, if he’d suspected the young Dark was a spy. But knowing Felix was sponsored—
made
—by the director himself and was required to audit Josh’s new recruit training class made him wonder what the wily new director of the Underworld was up to. So Felix had been granted a reprieve, however temporary.

Today Karl and Felix were to demonstrate their prowess at claiming souls for the Underworld. Josh slipped the waiter a hundred dollar bill to keep the drinks coming, since the sidewalk restaurant’s usual breakfast fare was French press coffee and eggs Benedict. He rounded up his patience again. This could take awhile.

He looked at the older and younger angels.
This is all I get these days? These are the future of the Underworld?
He winced and tossed back his drink, then called for another.

The human world was a little too bright and was giving him a headache, even with dark sunglasses shading his eyes. His black jeans were feeling too tight as he uncrossed and crossed his legs. He tightened the leather thong holding back his ponytail. The whiskey wasn’t taking enough of the edge off. Ominous changes were going on down below, interfering with his lifestyle, his bucket list.

Josh inhaled, taking in the wet pavement smell that mingled with that of fresh coffee.  The variety in scents was one of the things he loved about being up top, in the human world. The girls were cleaner too. Little droplets of colorful thoughts from the passersby dotted his consciousness, providing an endless parade of emotions, the spice of his life. And he could choose any human he wanted. But lately, he felt his access restricted little by little each day, as if his invisible wings were being clipped feather by feather. Hard for him to relax. 

A large gray cloud smothered the sun, which made him smile. He opened his eyes.

Thanks, old man.
He couldn’t bring himself to call the big guy
Father
like the Guardians did. Besides, they didn’t work for him. They worked for the director of the Underworld. And that dude didn’t work for anyone but himself.

Josh looked at the starched white tablecloth, his empty glass neatly parked on the fabric without a drop of spillage. Karl and Felix’s glasses had sloshed over the sides and had made caramel colored stains on the linen. When the waitress brought him the next round, he and his trainees toasted under the green canvas awning of the bistro.

Watching people bustle about between bursts of rain and sunshine, between dark and windy patches, helped his mood. And if Josh could claim a tormented soul or two while he was at it, all the better. Cull the human population of those wishing to seek oblivion. No screaming or blood, just a gentle acceptance of the dark side and a man’s fate was changed in an instant. It was a simple skill he’d perfected over the past three hundred years, and it made him the most successful trainer.

Today he was looking for another notch on his belt. Although technically, he only wore suspenders. He had a whole dresser full of them in every color and texture he could find. He also had a separate bedroom to house his silk tie collection. Those ties were used for many things, but mostly for shackling the beautiful wrists and ankles of women who died so they could spend their eternity being his playthings. It made him hard just thinking about them, especially the redheaded Guardians he had turned. Nothing tastier.

Easy job, this. So why am I so damn nervous?

His drink arrived just in time. He rolled his head from side to side, his neck releasing a loud crack, then pressed his shoulders forward and back and sighed
.
He chiseled out a smile for his two hapless assistants. “You guys got a bead on anybody yet?” The blank stare he got back confirmed his suspicions. He doubted they’d bag anybody if they sat there for a whole week, 24/7. There wasn’t enough whiskey in the universe to douse his concerns.

“I don’t pick up anything this morning, boss. Maybe too much rain.” Karl removed his sunglasses. He was a big man with a small brain. His rheumy eyes darted from side to side. But most people noticed his tightly packed yellow teeth that jutted out from his red gums like the Sawtooth range in the Rocky Mountains. Josh was grateful his breakfast had settled. He didn’t like to be around food when the hulking dark angel was near, especially since Karl’s breath was as bad as his teeth.

Fuck this. We’ll be here for weeks.
He’d have to show them.

Josh stood up, the tails of his black leather knee-length coat flapping in the breeze. He addressed his audience of two. “Rain has nothing to do with it.” He reached out and grabbed the first person who scurried past, pulling in the middle-aged man nearly a foot shorter than him, whose toupee flopped to one side with the sudden jerk. The man punctuated the morning air with a muffled squeal, making him sound like a disgusting farm animal.

“Live or die. You’ve got thirty seconds,” Josh spat in his face.

“Whaaat?” The man struggled against Josh’s iron grip, which intensified. Josh liked the creaking sound his leather gloves made as he squeezed his prey like a python.

“Live or die, man. How’d you like to party, I mean
really
party, without feeling guilty?”

“I’m…I’m late for work.”

“Sure you are. Don’t go. You hate your job. You hate your wife. You even hate your kids.” Josh leaned into him and whispered into the man’s red-tinged ear, “But you love that new little coed receptionist. The one who wears the fuzzy pink dresses a little too tight, right?”

The man looked up at Josh, eyebrows raised, mouth open, panic written all over his face. Josh nodded at the recognition he saw in the man’s eyes.

“Yes, precisely. That one. She doesn’t wear panties, does she?”

Josh saw the picture of what this man had thought about doing to the receptionist on the boardroom table. The man groaned and held his stomach as if he was going to heave.

“Okay, feel guilty. Why not do something great for your family? You get to live forever. They get the insurance money.” Josh let him go with a shove. The man hung around just a little too long, which was all the indication Josh needed. He went after him again and put a long arm over the man’s shoulder, speaking to him as if selling him a car. “My friend here, Karl, will explain it to you.” Josh turned and gave the dark angel a bow, as if he was a foreign dignitary. “Karl? He’s all yours.”

The man searched the crowd with his eyes, as if desperate for someone to save him, but allowed Karl to lead him to a table and chair a short distance away. Karl then began the pitch for his soul.

Josh looked at Felix, seated in front of him. The young Dark’s eyes were wide. The angel’s sunglasses were worn in the nest that was a mat of curly brown hair. Josh didn’t much care if it was admiration or pure fear he saw in the angel’s face. Today he’d take what he could get. Who knew when the next bit of fun would come his way?

“I can’t do that.” Felix mumbled.

“Sure you can. In time. You’ll read all of them. If they have a little worry, a concern, some piece of themselves they are afraid of, you’ll see it like how you’d see a shiny penny on the sidewalk.” Josh studied Karl, who had leaned over the table toward the new candidate like a co-conspirator. He was closing in for the kill shot, nodding, but the stranger was not. They were obviously out of sync.

For Christ’s sake, don’t breathe on him, Karl.

“I’m not good at persuading people to do stuff,” Felix said.

“It isn’t stuff. It’s called the game of life, son.” With a sigh, Josh deposited his tall frame next to Felix and finished his drink. He felt like a giant compared to the skinny man-child before him.

And now he’ll be twenty-something forever. Sucks to be you
…

He turned and raised his glass to the waiter, who scurried back inside. Time to douse his fears. He knew Felix didn’t have the killer instinct he would need to be of much use.

Damn.  

The waiter appeared with a round of refills and earned another hundred-dollar bill.

“All the same, my life has been one big fuckup after another.” Felix’s lower lip quivered.

“So why do you think you’re a dark angel then?”

“’Cause I fucked up.”

“No. You were
chosen
.”

“By whom?”

“Guess.” Josh watched Felix figure it out. “Your sponsor, who is…”

“Peter.”

“The one and only newly elected Director of the Underworld himself.” Josh forced a smile. His mind wandered down the all-too familiar path. It made him tense with apprehension.  

What is Peter up to
? Part of him craved for the dark days when the lines were clearly defined, although he didn’t miss the wings that were now outlawed. Josh would have to recruit someone more intelligent to be his second in command, or else he wouldn’t survive the war Josh knew was brewing.

The pair of dark angels silently watched Karl work his “magic,” if that’s what it could be called. The nodding stayed distinctly one-sided. In fact, the man increasingly pushed away from the table the more Karl talked.  The thought of Karl’s flapping lips, yellow teeth, and goat breath made Josh shudder.

Karl was going to need Josh’s help or they wouldn’t make their quota, even though the ex-recycling professional had been turned for nearly a year. Josh watched the human stare at the card Karl gave him and stood up. Holding his hair in place, the prospect scanned the area as if caught in a compromising act, and then walked away in too much of a hurry, scooting down the sidewalk as if he had a turd in his pants. Josh could feel relief course through the escaping man’s veins.

Shit.
Another failed attempt.
Do I have to do it all for them?
Karl had merely scared him and hadn’t made the sale, a surefire way to send the gentleman back to church and not into their clutches. Another failure in a string of disappointing days.

“Wasted Days, Wasted Nights…”

Clueless, Karl gave Josh the thumbs up, then rejoined the table. Josh winced, withheld a statement, and turned his attention back to Felix. He hoped the new recruit could give him some information about Peter. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt his own back had a target on it whenever the new director watched him. That concerned Josh, too. One thing to have a few Guardians dislike him, but this dark angel was powerful, if one believed rumors.