The Kiss of Angels (Divine Vampires Book 2) Read Free

She’s gone.”
     
    The woman’s eyes filled with tears and she let them fall, lowering her dark head.
     
    Muriel knew that Sarah was the daughter they’d had together.  She’d been twenty when she’d died.  A frat party, far too much to drink, so much the amount of alcohol in her blood had killed her.  Like father, like daughter.  Norman cried out again in his sleep, something sibilant, probably his daughter’s name again.  That incident alone might have broken some men, but Norman was well on his way over that cliff before his daughter had died.  His divorce when his daughter was just five had been followed by years of alcoholism, a stint in prison for eight years for breaking and entering, and most of his last few years spent homeless.  This was the first bed the man had been in for months, and he would likely die in it. 
     
    Muriel had heard of black souls, but in eons spent working as a cherubim, she had never seen one for herself.  They were that rare.  She had expected to find a man whose history reflected the darkness of his soul, an evil man who had done evil things.  Who she saw was a man whose life had unraveled slowly over time, a man who had been beaten down so far there was simply no light left.  He wasn’t evil, he was just horribly, ineffably sad.  Why did one soul manage to keep its light under similar or even worse circumstances, while others grew murky, fading to dusk?
     
    It was a question for The Maker , and one Muriel knew she’d never have the answer to. 
     
    Human life could be both joyful and tragic.  Often within moments. 
     
    “Muriel!” Jari jolted her out of her thoughts.  “Are we going to do this or not?” 
     
    Of course they were.  If Muriel could find her target.  The dreadful thought of failing in any task The Maker gave her was enough to get her to raise her bow and cock her arrow.  There was simply nothing to aim at. 
     
    “Right in the center!” Jari prompted from the other side of the man’s hospital bed.  “It’s a pinprick, but it’s there.  I swear it.”
     
    “I don’t…” Muriel murmured, the bow shaking in her hands.  She hadn’t been this nervous drawing her bow since she’d faced Jari across the Nile when Cleopatra had met Marc Antony. 
     
    “Close your eyes.” The words came from behind her—most definitely not The Maker —although when Muriel looked, she didn’t see anyone.  “Just close your eyes.  You’ll find your mark.”
     
    “Muriel!” Jari again, impatient.  “Let’s do this thing!”
     
    She glanced behind her once more, looking for the source of the voice, but there was just darkness.  The room was dim except for a small fluorescent light over the bed.  She supposed there could have been someone hidden in the shadows, but humans couldn’t see angels, and if it was another cherubim, she would have known in an instant. 
     
    Maybe I’m losing it.  Muriel frowned at nothing, turning back toward her target, trying to focus.  For a moment, she thought she saw a glimmer of something in the man’s soul, a pinhole of light.  She raised her bow, glancing over at Jari, whose hands were perfectly steady.
     
    “Ready?” Jari asked. 
     
    “I don’t know.” Muriel’s voice shook.  Maybe it was time for Jari to find a new partner and for her to retire to a desk job.  Something in the administration on the Fey Advisory Board, perhaps. 
     
    “Close your eyes.” The voice was closer now, right behind her.  She could have sworn she felt the warmth of a presence.  “You can do it.”
     
    She took a deep breath and did exactly what the voice told her to do.  She closed her eyes.  It was crazy advice, wherever it had come from, but she intuitively knew it was right. 
     
    “What are you doing?” Jari called. 
     
    “Just tell me when.” Muriel definitely felt someone behind her now, but she didn’t move or open her eyes.  She felt a warmth in her hands, touching the bow.  She