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

raised it and aimed, not with her eyes, but with something else altogether.  She pictured the man in the bed, the woman beside him.  There was only a pinprick of a chance she was going to make this shot, even with her eyes open. 
     
    “Are you serious?” Jari snorted. 
     
    “On three.” Muriel shifted her weight, still feeling that presence behind her.  Strange.  It was comforting, calming.  Her hands weren’t shaking anymore at all.  “One… two…”
     
    “Three.” The voice behind her whispered.  She felt a brush of breath on her cheek, light as a feather. 
     
    “Three,” she said, letting her arrow fly. 
     
    She opened her eyes to fireworks. 
     
    It never failed to thrill her, that moment when two people connected for the first time.  She’d watched hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people fall in love through the ages, and still, it moved her.  Jari didn’t pay attention anymore to the human emotion, the result of her marksmanship.  She was always far more interested in hitting her target, and this case was no exception.
     
    “Bullseye!” Jari cheered, her wings buzzing with excitement.  She was actually turning in circles like a dervish, whooping the whole time, so proud that she’d made the shot.  Muriel was already anticipating the bragging that would go on later when they were gathered for practice at the archery range.  Not many cherubim, none that she knew of, could claim they’d ever hit the center of a pure black soul with their arrow.  She supposed bragging rights were in order. 
     
    Of course, the humans in the room had no idea an angel was cavorting just a few feet away over what she’d done to them.  They had no idea that, when Norman’s eyes fluttered open and settled on his ex-wife’s face, a spark was kindled that lit them both from the inside.  Muriel watched those fireworks with the light reflected in her eyes, a warmth spreading through her as the thread that now connected them began to braid itself organically, with no prompting at all.
     
    And the two humans hadn’t even spoken to each other.  Just their eyes met, but Muriel sensed a million things being said in the silence. 
     
    “How in the world did you make that shot with your eyes closed?” Jari had stopped celebrating long enough to glance over the bed at her. 
     
    “I don’t know.” Muriel blinked, remembering the voice and looking behind her again. 
     
    Nothing. 
     
    But somehow that invisible presence was still there. 
     
    “Well come on, let’s go!” Jari flew toward the door, slinging her bow and quiver.  “I can’t wait to tell everyone.  A black soul, Muriel! And you hit it with your eyes closed !”
     
    Muriel looked at the black soul in question.  It hung over the man’s head, still dark, but not quite black.  She thought she saw a tinge of red in it now, like heart’s blood.  It reminded her of a dark placenta, with a golden, twisting umbilicus, as if the man was somehow being reborn. 
     
    The two were talking now, in hushed tones, connecting—reconnecting.  They had been down this road before.  There had been love there, and the arrows she and Jari had let loose had just tethered them once again, rekindling something remembered. 
     
    “Muriel!” Jari turned back at the door, exasperated.  “Come on!”
     
    “I’m going to stay a minute.” Muriel hovered, leaning closer to the couple, wanting to catch their whispered words. 
     
    “Whyyyy?” Jari drew the word out, almost a whine.  Muriel knew she wanted to get back, eager to start telling everyone about the amazing shot they’d made, ready to make them into legend, if she possibly could.  And Muriel also knew Jari only wanted her there to back up her tale. 
     
    But Muriel was more interested in Norman and Eliza and how this was all going to progress.  Besides, The Maker hadn’t sent them another call, and until they got one, Muriel wasn’t obligated to be anywhere.  Even