Angel in Training (The Louisiangel Series, Book One) (3 page)

I sniffed, wiping my nose and tears away with
the back of my hand in a very unladylike manner. I ignored the
un-amused look I was getting and took a gulp from the glass.

“It’s water,” he confirmed at what I am
guessing was a startled look on my face. I was expecting vodka, and
frankly, I was disappointed that I didn’t have it. “You’re too
young to be drinking,” he added.

“Are you going to kill me?” I asked him,
refusing to move my gaze from the glass I was cradling.

The guy sighed, “Angel, you are already
dead,” he told me. “You are an Angel Potential.”

I glanced up, surprised to find patience in
his eyes, despite the fact he had told me this several times now.
“But there are no such things as angels!” I told him, a slight hint
of desperation tainting my words.

His eyes rose upwards, staring at the
ceiling. “It is not mine to question,” he sighed. “Are you sure you
chose the right person?”

I looked up, half expecting a voice to
start booming out, but nothing happened. I lowered my gaze and
found the guy staring at me, his eyebrow arched in mild amusement.
I rolled my eyes and took another sip of water. “Fine,” I groaned.
“Let’s just say that for one moment I agree to believe in angels
and all that jazz.” There was another arched eyebrow sent in my
direction. I ignored it. “What on earth would possess you to
make
me
one? I don’t
believe in angels. I don’t believe in heaven and hell, and I’m
sorry, but I really don’t believe in God. Surely there are hundreds
of other people who are better suited to this?”

The guy settled back, one arm resting on
the arm of the couch. “There are,” he agreed. “However, there are
only a handful of people who can
become
an angel. I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but there
aren’t as many angels as you would assume.”

I frowned, trying to remember back to high
school when we were supposed to be studying the Bible in one of our
classes. I had spent most of those hours, staring longingly at the
back of Steven Cooper’s head. “I thought you made thousands of
angels?”

The guy gently shook his head.
“
I
didn’t make them. We were
created billions of years ago. Once there were enough to rival
every human on the planet. Today we are vastly outnumbered. A while
back we lost some of our number. A third of us fell and the Fallen
have been growing in size while we remain the same.”

“So this is your recruitment drive? Me?” I
was only just stopping myself from laughing.

He shrugged at me. “Essentially, yes. The
world has changed. The population has increased and we need to
increase our numbers to reflect this. We archangels-”

“Archangels?” I blurted out, cutting him off.
“You’re an archangel?”

He nodded. “I am Michael.”

I quickly finished the drink, again wishing
it had a kick to it, and slumped back into the couch.

“We archangels,” he continued, “Were sent to
Earth to prepare for war. Recently, we have set up Houses in
strategic locations around the world, to find as many Potentials as
possible to help in the coming fight.”

“Of all the places in the world, you ended up
in New Orleans?” I asked, unable to keep the sarcasm from my
voice.

Michael nodded. “Yes,” he agreed, apparently
not registering the sarcasm.

“Please,” I muttered, pulling a face.
“Hurricanes, poverty, homes that are never going to be rebuilt, oil
spills... this city has had so much crap thrown at it, and you’re
telling me that there are angels here?”

Again, Michael nodded. “Yes. Regardless of
what has happened or what is happening, this city fights.”

Okay, he may have had a point. The
citizens of New Orleans were resilient, I’d give him that. “And you
think you’re going to find Potentials here? Angel Potentials?” My
eyes widened. “You think
I
could
be an archangel? The Archangel Angel?”

“You have the potential, yes,” Michael
confirmed. “Assuming you can earn your wings.”

“But I’m only twenty!” I pointed out to him,
awkwardly scratching my head. “I dropped out of girl scouts before
I could earn any badges and you want me to earn wings?”

The Job Description

Seeing the confused look on Michael’s face, I
cleared my throat and sat upright, leaning towards him. “Alright,
I’m listening. What exactly does being an angel entail?”

“You live here now,” Michael told me. “This
is your home until you are instructed to go elsewhere. You will not
tell anybody about this place and you will not invite anybody here
unless you have permission.”

“But this place is a museum,” I told him.

“
No, it
was
a museum,” Michael corrected me. “It was acquired just
before you died. For the last ten months this place has
been-”

“
What?” I asked, my voice doing that
annoying thing where it jumps six or seven octaves. “I’ve been
dead
how
long
?”

“As I have told you already, six months,”
Michael said, somehow refraining from sounding impatient.

“What about my aunt?” I demanded, getting to
my feet. “And my friends? What about finals?” I asked, now pacing
back and forth in the small gap between the coffee table and the
couch. “How on earth am I going to make that up?” I quickly did the
math in my head. “I’ll have to do my junior year all over again.
That’s assuming they actually let me repeat the year and I haven’t
been kicked out. Oh, good god! What if they don’t let me back?”

“You won’t be returning to college,” Michael
calmly informed me, watching me pace with mild interest. “Because
you cannot tell people what you are. It is forbidden.”

I could feel the blood rushing from my head.
I quickly sat back down, hiding my face behind my hands. College
wasn’t really the issue. Yeah, it was a pain in the ass that I
wasn’t going to graduate and would still have student loans, but
the real issue was my aunt. After my parents died she looked after
me like I was her own daughter, the fact that she would never know
what happened to me was heartbreaking to me. “I have to at least
let her know I’m alright,” I muttered.

“It is better your aunt knows nothing,” he
told me, somehow knowing who I was referring to. “Besides, if it is
any consolation, it won’t be long before you outlive her.”

My head snapped up so I could glare at him.
“That’s supposed to be a consolation?”

Michael suddenly looked sad. “Yes. Humans
will die, you will not. It is easier if you have no bonds.” The
sadness quickly disappeared and he stood, walking back to the side
to pour himself a glass of water. “You are immortal. You will not
die.”

“I thought I already was dead,” I shot at
him. Archangel or not, I really wanted to punch him.

“Your body is dead. You – your soul, can live
forever.”

“So why do I need this...” I gestured to my
body. “Vessel? Why am I still within walking distance of my aunt if
I can’t visit her? Why the hell didn’t you send me to Siberia?” I
demanded, my fingers curling into fists as my anger built.

“I am not based in Siberia,” he told me. I
couldn’t tell if he was genuinely answering my question, or if he
was being sarcastic. Then I heard his next words. “The nearest
Archangel would probably be Uriel, who is in South Korea.”

Okay, if Michael exists, it would make sense
that other archangels would too, but it still surprised me. “South
Korea? Really?” I managed, in between my mouth flapping open and
close like a fish.

“We are all over the world, Angel. We go to
the places that need our presence the most,” he informed me.

“
But South Korea?” I said again. “I’m
fairly certain their main religion
isn’t
Christianity.”

“Who said it had to be?” Michael asked with a
small smile. “We help those who need it. We do not judge them based
on their beliefs.”

“Whatever,” I sighed, my hand raking through
my hair. It got caught on a knot and I pulled it to me, ready to
work it out. Instead, I found myself staring at the ends in
complete disbelief. “Are you kidding me?” I exclaimed. With a lack
of mirror in the room I had awoken in, I hadn’t checked my
appearance before leaving it. My attention had been a little
preoccupied with everything that had happened since, I hadn’t even
paid attention to the hair that had fallen into my eyes.

I was appreciating the irony of going out
dressed like a devil now.

My hair was still that bright cherry red.
I mean
bright
. Despite
the fact several months had passed, it was still vibrant and
showing no signs of having faded.

“It is not exactly what I envisaged,” Michael
sighed, taking a long sip of water. “However, your vessel is frozen
in time.”

“
What the hell does that mean?” I demanded.
Okay, it wasn’t exactly how
I
had
envisioned remaining forever, but I didn’t exactly appreciate the
insult.

Michael’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “I
thought I told you not to refer to hell anymore.”

“You told me not to refer to hell in ‘the
Lord’s house’,” I corrected him, complete with finger quotes.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but this isn’t his house, it’s
yours.”

Michael let out an exasperated sigh and
placed his glass down. “Your vessel will not age. Your hair will
not grow. You cannot gain weight and you cannot get ill,” he reeled
off at me.

Was I glad I had shaved my legs before I
ventured out! There was at least one perk to being dead.

“However, because you cannot age, humans will
begin to notice that you are not getting older,” he continued.

“And that means what?” I asked, my eyebrows
furrowing as I thought it out. “I have to move every ten
years?”

“Should you be required to remain in the same
place, you will have to change vessels every ten years,” he
corrected me. He cocked his head, examining me. “You might be
lucky. You might make fifteen years in this one.”

Unsure as to whether I should be taking that
as a compliment or an insult, I shrugged. “What does it matter?
Apparently I can’t communicate with people.”

Michael shook his head. “I never said that. I
said you couldn’t visit your aunt and your friends,” he quickly
added before I could voice my objection. “There are many jobs an
angel has, and communicating with certain humans is essential in
these roles.”

“An angel has jobs?” I blurted out before I
could stop myself.

Instead of snapping at me like I expected, he
actually smiled. “Yes. What did you think we did all day? Sit on
clouds playing harps?”

“
I didn’t think you existed,” I shrugged.
“But if I
was
going to
contemplate your existence, then yes, I would go for harp playing
on clouds.”

Michael laughed this time. “I suppose we
allowed the Romantics to get away with that one.”

“Then what do you do?” I asked him, my
curiosity getting the better of me. If he said charity work, vicar
or spiritual leader, I wasn’t going to be able to stop myself from
rolling my eyes.

“When you are not training,” he began,
avoiding my question.

“Training?” I repeated, cutting him off
instead of calling him on not answering the original question.

“Yes, training.” He frowned, returning to the
couch. “This would go a lot faster if you didn’t repeat me all the
time.”

“Michael, right now I am only just beginning
to believe that I am not dreaming and that there’s a chance you
might be telling the truth. Forgive me if I take a while to get my
head around this,” I told him.

“You are forgiven,” Michael nodded. “And, for
the record, I don’t lie.”

For some reason, I didn’t doubt that for one
moment. “Training?” I prompted.

“Training,” Michael nodded in agreement.
“When you are not learning to use a bow and arrow, or wield a
sword-”

“Whoa!” I cried, my hand shooting up in the
air. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Swords and bows? What the hell do angels
need weapons for?” I spluttered in amazement. So much for the
harmless harp playing images of angels I had in my head.

Although he gave me a disapproving look, he
didn’t comment on my choice of words. “You really don’t know
anything about angels, do you?” he realized.

“I didn’t believe in them!” I exclaimed
loudly. “And I have never read a Bible, much less picked one up. So
no, I am an angel virgin.”

Michael closed his eyes and inhaled deeply
leaving me thinking I had taken it a step too far. I braced myself,
ready for a verbal lashing. Instead, he exhaled slowly and opened
his eyes to look at me. “One of the duties of an archangel is to
protect mankind. As a guardian, you will need to be able to fight
the evil that threatens them, thus you will need to learn how to
fight.” He considered me once more and then nodded. “We will start
with the basics and build up on them. As an expert with a sword, I
will undertake your training in that area.”

On anybody else, that would have sounded
cocky. With him, I again simply believed it as a fact. There had
been something that had flashed in his eyes when he had yelled at
me for saying hell that had made me
not
want to mess with him. If he had a sword – I was staying
well clear.

“You will be assigned a human to work with.
He is important and you will be his Guardian,” Michael
confirmed.

“So I’m a Guardian Angel?” I asked,
hesitantly. I have a bit of a temper, I will admit that. But, I am
the kind of person whose bark is much, much worse than their bite.
I will rant to whoever will listen. I will even threaten to punch
somebody, but I have never hit anybody yet. It takes a lot before I
will confront someone, much less act violently towards them. In
short, I’m all talk, and definitely no action. Wielding a sword was
not something that one would associate with me. Let’s be honest, a
twenty year old, in this day and age, with a sword? No matter how I
looked at it, it sounded absurd.