bedeviled & beyond 05 - bedeviled & besmirched Read Free

his narrow chest. He was very nervous about something.
    An impossible thought took root in my beady little brain and I couldn’t stop it from sprouting into full blown realization, despite the horrendously ugly nature of the thought. “Oh good Him, Flick! You have a girlfriend!”
    Flick nearly passed out on the spot. He turned nondescript brown eyes on me and they were filled with a plea. He didn’t want me to tease him.
    Too bad I was part devil, and with my Settling roaring down on me, possibly the larger part devilish. My lips spread in a grin. “Flick, after five hundred years you’re finally having sex.”
    His knees buckled and he landed in my chair. The usually pasty color of his complexion worsened to the point where it was hard to tell where his angelic robes stopped and his skin began.
    I laughed outright. “I’m shocked, Flick, appalled actually, now that my traitorous mind is painting a picture of you doing it with some...girl. Let me guess, she’s small and mousy and pale...just like you?”
    He frowned. “I’m not going to help you extract the nest of dragons, Astra.”
    I frowned right back. “You’re my guardian angel, Flick. It’s your job to keep me safe. If you’re sitting comfortably on your cloud while I tackle those dragons all by myself and I get eaten you’re gonna get fired.”
    He shook his head, leaning back in my chair like he owned the place and dropping his size nine narrows onto the top of my desk.
    Throwing a significant glance toward the sneaker-clad feet, I cocked an eyebrow at him. It appeared Flick was stiffening a bit of spine under all those flowing robes.
    “There’s a special clause in your contract. Since you live such a dangerous life and you’re so bullheaded, your guardian isn’t strictly responsible for keeping you alive. I’m only obligated to give it my best shot.”
    “And sitting on your lily-white ass while I tackle an entire nest of dragons by myself is giving it your best shot?”
    He looked slightly uncomfortable but stuck his smallish, sparsely haired chin in the air and stood up nonetheless. “Yes. I’ve told you that you shouldn’t do it. If you do, you’re on your own.”
    He started to shimmer away.
    “I’ll just see if my aunt Myra agrees with you!” I shouted before he was completely gone.
    Flick disappeared with a pop and I threw my mug at the spot where he’d been standing. Luckily the coffee I’d been drinking was gone and I missed the window, only breaking the mug.
    “Shit.” Now what was I gonna do? Who could I call for help? I dropped into my chair and swiveled it so I could look out the window. It was my thinkin’ position. Several moments later, the only thing I was thinkin’ was that I was screwed.
    The televisual on my desk bleeped and my sister Darma’s face blinked into view.
    “Astra!” Her voice, as usual, made all the blood in my body run for cover. There was a mass exodus of fluids to the back of my body, where my internal organs and skin could protect it.
    Before I could stop myself, I rolled my eyes. Ever since she broke up with Dialle’s brother Torre, my bossy sister had been all up in my grill about everything.
    Her usual scowl deepened a couple of degrees. “I saw that.”
    I sighed. “Whatever. What do you want, Darma?”
    “There’s no need to be rude.”
    “Actually, there’s a very good need. I have a problem and I can’t find a solution. You’re interrupting me with most likely a problem of your own. I’m full up on problems and in the market for some solutions.”
    “What’s the problem?”
    I stood up to pace. “You wouldn’t be interested.”
    “Try me. You might be surprised.”
    I snorted. Like Darma would want to help me oust a bunch of squatting dragons. “Not a chance.”
    “Astra!”
    Just to get rid of her I told her what I needed.
    She thought about it for a few minutes and then nodded. “Okay. I’ll help.”
    I did my best imitation of Flick being discovered with a penis