"You sound disapproving."
"I disapprove of sin, not of you." He straightened back up and opened his eyes. "You I pray for."
I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't like being prayed for. "What do you mean?"
He smiled at me, and I nearly sighed at his beauty. I longed to have him as a conquest, but he'd proven resistant so far. Of course, that only added to his appeal. I sometimes felt that if I could ever taste it, the energy from his soul would feed me for a lifetime.
"I pray for your physical and spiritual health. I pray you will sin no more. I pray you will find some man you can marry and have children with." He hesitated. "Although, I'd prefer it more if you took vows."
I arched an eyebrow of surprise. "Why?"
"Why not? You read and write. You're more educated than half the brothers at the monastery. You'd be a great asset to the abbey."
I tilted my head so that some of my hair spilled over my face, knowing how the light would set it ablaze. I held onto his gaze tenaciously. "Is that the only reason why? Or do you just like the idea of me never being with another man?"
Andrew looked away and took a long time answering. "I'd like you to be my sister in Christ," he said finally. "We all struggle with temptation, and I would like to see you removed from it." With that, he stood up and straightened the kinks from his body. I remained sitting. "I should leave. It's getting late."
He started to walk away, but I called after him. "What about you? Do you struggle with temptation?"
He stopped walking and glanced at me over his shoulder. A small smile, rueful and sad, played at his lips as he regarded me. "Of course. You are my great temptation, and you know it. I'd like to be free of that as well."
"Are you sure?" I asked softly. Shaking his head, still smiling, he left the garden.
That had been our last truly happy day together....
Back in the present, in bed, sleepiness started to take over and interrupt my recollections. I put a bookmark in my thoughts, reluctant to leave the memory of when life with Andrew had still been sweet and good. I hadn't been able to stop that story's ending, but as I rolled over and studied Seth's sleeping form, I vowed history wouldn't repeat itself.
CHAPTER 10
When I came home from Seth's the next day, there was another note stuck to my door reminding me about the package. I plucked it off and went inside, surprised to find Vincent there again. I'd figured his angel business would be keeping him busy elsewhere.
"How's it all going?" I asked. I rummaged through my cupboards, looking for food. I'd skipped breakfast. "I mean, if you can tell me without having to kill me."
He sat at my kitchen table, leafing through newspapers. "Ah, well, still can't give you details, of course, but I can say that...um, well, progress isn't being made as quickly as we'd like. There's leftover lasagna in the refrigerator if you want it."
I opened the refrigerator door. Sure enough. "Wow. Did one of the angels conjure this up for you?"
"Only if you consider Yasmine's cooking a type of conjuring."
I uncovered the casserole dish. It looked great. There might be magic afoot after all. I put a piece in the microwave and set the timer.
Sitting down across from him, I peered at the spread out newspapers and remembered finding them left out the other day. "You sure like your news."
He grimaced. "Most of it's depressing."
Glancing at the headlines, I had to agree with him. Murder. Corruption. Theft.
"You hear about the cop shooting the other day?" I asked. "That one was really depressing."
Vincent turned his attention away from a story about domestic abuse. "No, what happened?"
"This cop was outside a convenience store and claims someone was inside shooting his partner. So, he ran in, gun in hand, and started shooting. He ended up killing his partner himself."
Vincent frowned. "Huh. I hadn't heard that one," he murmured. From the distracted look in his eyes, his mind had clearly latched onto something I wasn't privy to.
I gave him a sidelong glance. "That mean anything to you? Maybe to this mission from God you're on?"
His easy smile returned. "You're good but not that good. You know I can't say anything."
The microwave dinged, and I retrieved my food. As I stabbed a piece of cheesy pasta, I recalled what he'd said about Yasmine's cooking. My curiosity got the better of me. As it often did.
"Vince..." I began slowly, carefully keeping my eyes on my food. "I know it's none of my business..."
He laughed. "I always love it when people introduce topics like that - and then go ahead and dive in anyway."
Blushing, I shut my mouth.
"No, no," he said, clearly entertained. "Go ahead. What were you going to say?"
"I...well, nothing really. It's just, I mean, it doesn't matter to me...but I just sort of noticed that you and Yasmine seem, um, close."
His levity faded. I quickly looked up and met his eyes apologetically.
"I'm sorry," I blurted out. "Forget I said anything."
"No...it's, I don't know." He folded up the newspaper, staring at it without really seeing it. "Yeah, I guess. I've known her for a long time, and after a while, it's easy to...well, she's easy to like."
"Yeah, she is."
A few pregnant moments passed. When he spoke again, I heard affection in his voice. "I first met her at this fair in Akron, of all places...about, oh, fifteen years ago. Not sure what she was doing there - you never do with them - but I found her walking away from a concession stand. She had this giant tower of cotton candy. I swear, it was taller than she was. And, since I could tell she was an angel, it made the situation that much more absurd."
The story made me smile too. It also shed light on why he was here with the A-Team. I could tell she was an angel. He was another gifted human, like Erik and Dante, who could sense the immortal world. "And you went and talked to her?"
"I hadn't planned to, but then the cotton candy started to fall over, so I went to help her and ended up eating half of it myself."
"That's sweet," I said. "Er, no pun intended." It didn't matter that in the last few months, I'd f**ked one guy in an office chair, used a leather whip on another, and gone down on another in the back room of a seedy club. I still loved romantic stories.
"She started asking for my help after that, off and on, once she realized what I could do. It was supposed to just be that...nothing more than her, you know, professional cases. But after a while, we couldn't help it. We're together all the time now."
I swallowed another piece of lasagna. It was divine. Seriously. "Do any of the other angels know?"
"Yeah, right. Joel barely tolerates me now..."
"But obviously, you guys aren't, um, you can't be - "
"No, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be physical. Really, it's ironic. Angels are creatures of love. They're supposed to love everyone. They're just not supposed to love one person so much more than another."
"That's stupid," I stated adamantly.
"To you, maybe. And to me, I suppose. But to her...well, she devotes her entire existence to the service of a power and cause bigger than all of us. To be so in love with something - or someone else - is distracting. You can't serve two masters without eventually betraying one."
I looked down again, turning over his words. "And yet you guys still stay together. Sort of."
He shrugged. "In as much as we can. Maybe I should move on with my life, but, honestly, there's no one else I want to be with. I accept what she is. It's why I love her. I'd rather be with her in a limited capacity than none at all."
Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck. He'd just stated a variant of what Seth used to tell me all the time, back when I would continually urge him to leave me and find someone else. I'd accepted his choice by now and honestly couldn't imagine not having him in my life. But still. Sometimes I didn't entirely get how he could be okay with everything between us; hearing another person support such a choice was refreshing.
As though reading my mind, Vincent gently asked, "Am I hitting too close to home? Carter mentioned a boyfriend..."
"No. Yes. I don't know. He - Seth, my boyfriend - says the same thing as you. That if it can't be any other way...well, then this is the way he wants it."