by Alisa Woods
He drew back, confused. “But you Fell—”
“I Fell from Lust.” Her face took on that familiar steely, determined look, as if this were a great truth she was telling him, and he had better hear it. “But it was Love that restored me.” Then she sighed. “But I cannot promise it will be the same for you. Taj, I just wish…”
“What?” He knew that she was unique among angelings. He did not need her to tell him this.
“I just wish for you to be happy, my dear friend.”
He laughed. “I will settle for duty well served.”
“You should not.” Her expression was filled with both heartbreak and concern.
It tore at him. “Well, if we are headed for the apocalypse in any event, perhaps I shall demand happiness as well. At least for a brief time before I Fall.” He had meant it to be a joke, but the sorrow did not leave her eyes. So he changed the topic. “What about your father? I feel like the uprising in Seattle is key in all this. If he would only help…” Erelah’s father, Razael, was a dark angel but an ally of sorts. He helped save his daughter and her baby, at least, even though she was in the light.
“If Razael were to brawl with Elyon’s angelings, on the side of the light, in the streets of Seattle, how long do you think it would be before the Warriors were called out of retirement?”
“Not long,” Tajael admitted.
“And for the same reason, Markos does not call out legions of angelings from other angels of light to fight this battle. It’s a delicate balance, I fear.”
Tajael shook his head. “One that centers on the humans. A battle for the soul of humanity, with the added complication that they may soon enter the battlefield themselves. What does that sound like to you?”
She sighed. “It might not be the End of Times, Taj. We don’t know. At least… that’s what I told myself when I fought to keep Aurora. To give her a chance at life. Love and life can’t be the wrong choice, Taj… they just can’t.”
“I feel the Truth of that, but still…” He didn’t finish. There was no more to be said about it. He had a duty, and he was wrong about one thing—knowing more about the larger battle raging around him did not help. Just as it wouldn’t help Charlotte to know the dangers that surrounded her, either.
Erelah stepped closer and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Go Guard your charge, Tajael. Do your duty. And if your heart leads you to Love… remember what we were created for.”
“To serve?” Tajael didn’t need that reminder—it was a constant mantra inside his head.
“To love.” She smiled, and he couldn’t deny that Truth. But the holy love of angels for humanity was a far cry from the stirring and tormented feelings he had for Charlotte.
“I’ll try to remember.” He mustered the best smile he could. “Forgive me for interrupting your time with your mate and your child. For all that you have fought through, you’ve earned the right to enjoy your new life.”
“Good luck, my friend.” The way she said it made Tajael hesitate, but then he turned to go. Soon, he was outside the keep, then opening an interdimensional door and returning to Markos’s Dominion.
He should plead his case to Markos once more. He should warn him that Charlotte may hold the key to everything. But he was no longer sure that was wise.
Wisdom might be spending the evening in Penance, expunging the body-thrilling desires that Charlotte roused in him. But in Truth, her absence felt unnatural, like a hole in his heart where her presence should be. Had he already fall in love with her? Was returning to her just one more step toward his doom?
He didn’t know. But returning to her side seemed the only choice worth choosing.
So, he twisted again, and this time arrived in her small bedroom in Seattle. Oriel hovered over her, watching her sleep. The small rise and fall of her chest seemed to mesmerize him. Tajael’s sudden appearance didn’t startle him… at least not enough to tear his eyes away from Charlotte.
Oriel finally raised his gaze to meet Tajael’s. “I understand your battle, my friend,” he said softly so as not to wake her.
This spiked a sharp jealousy through Tajael. He did not want Oriel to understand how tempting she was, how bright-shining her soul, how brilliant her mind.
“I am restored,” Tajael said stiffly. “I can resume my duty.”
Oriel nodded his head, but in a sad way. “Do not Fall, Tajael. We can’t afford to lose you.” And then he twisted and disappeared, no doubt returning to the immortal realm whence he came.
His words fell hard on Tajael’s shoulders. For, in Truth, he couldn’t afford to Fall, either… if he were in shadow, then someone else would take his place as Guardian for Charlotte.
And suddenly, that appeared the least attractive option of all.
The numbers on the screen swam in a haze.
Charlotte rubbed her eyes and forced them to focus. Her latest calculations of the optimal resonance frequencies for the Dimensional Drive—she refused to call it the SExI MRI—became clear again. Something was off—she needed the object to come into coherence right in the middle of the MRI’s measurement range, and somehow, her model of the small paper crane she wanted to use kept coming in high. Maybe she wasn’t modeling the paper right. Or maybe the folds made it too complicated. But she didn’t want to give up on the crane—it symbolized happiness, good fortune, and peace—and it needed to be the first object that went through the machine.
She tweaked her estimate of the paper roughness and resubmitted it to run again.
Then her eyes glazed out as she waited. She wasn’t tired—she’d never had better sleep since she started having nightly dates with Mr. Buzzy—but she couldn’t seem to keep her thoughts from drifting to a certain Greek god who lived two doors down. Seriously, how did she not see him in her apartment building before now? Was she blind? Maybe he was always out rescuing people or “working at home” whatever that meant for a guy who did personal security. He was built like he could handle anything… including her.
She swallowed hard. Her fantasies about Tajael’s hot-and-hard body up against hers, with Mr. Buzzy’s help… well, that part inside her she thought was broken? Totally coming back to life. She’d never had orgasms like that before. Like, literally never. And if somehow, in some crazy alternate universe, Tajael decided he wanted to rub his Greek god body up against hers… a flush of heat between her legs made even more heat rush to her face.
She glanced quickly around the office to see if anyone saw her, as if they could read the fantasies in her head by her half-lidded eyes and flushed face. But the construction guys and engineers were all busy working on the device.
Holy crap, Char. Get a grip.
She struggled to focus on her screen again. The new simulation had finished… and the numbers were good! Okay, science first, sex fantasies about hot men later. But even as she printed off the latest numbers, she couldn’t help flashing back to that morning when she stopped by to knock on his door before her personal driver picked her up. She’d made blueberry muffins, and she figured Tajael might like something tasty to start the day, but when he answered the door, he just seemed… awkward. And a little haggard. Like maybe she was bothering him. Who was she kidding? He probably had a supermodel girlfriend that kept him up all night with sexytimes, and here she was, dragging him out of bed for a muffin. She was just trying to repay him for rescuing her. Plus saying Hey, thanks for being so hot! Fantasizing about you gives me the best orgasms! was definitely not the right way to thank someone for saving your life.
She jolted back to awareness when Jerry poked his head into her office.
“Hey,” he said, his gaze carefully on her face. “They’re asking for you in the lab.” Then he ducked his head and scuttled back to his cubicle next to hers. They were squished closer together now, given that “the lab” took up half the office space, but Jerry had never treated her so professionally in all the time she’d known him. It had been over a week since he’d tried to attack her, but they never talked ab
out what happened. In fact, they didn’t talk, unless it was strictly business. But she couldn’t help a small smirk every time she saw him. He was thinking about Tajael too, although not as she was.
Which just reminded her how much she really owed the reclusive private-security guy. But she didn’t want to creep him out or make him regret rescuing her, and she was afraid maybe that’s what this morning’s muffin encounter was about. She was turning into some kind of stalker in her attempts to thank him properly. Which left a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t like not seeing him anymore—at all—but the last thing she wanted was to make him uncomfortable.
It vexed her. And distracted her from her work.
She grabbed the printout of the sim results and headed back to the lab. Which was only a short walk past a table laden with leftover sub sandwiches from lunch, a cart full of snacks, and a newly installed soda machine. Those were to feed the hungry hordes that Dexon had employed to bring her dream into reality. The whole back half of the office was now blocked by a new, bright-white wall that was pristine and blank… except for where Dexon had “hilariously” written SExI MRI over the door in wide black marker. For a week, the office had been abuzz with construction workers and engineers, all crafting the modified MRI device inside. The whole operation was run by a high-energy Latino woman named Maria Sanchez, who basically kicked ass and took names until stuff got done.
She was Charlotte’s hero.
Charlotte pushed open the door, but only part way, because it was cramped inside “the lab.” The two engineers—Robert and a new vibrations expert, Tomaz—were wrangling a long cylindrical device out of the MRI. That was the insert that would hold the object. The MRI itself was huge, taking up most of the space with its futuristic donut ring of magnets and radio wave coils and imagers. Unlike the kind you’d see at the hospital, this one had no bed for a patient to slide into the scanner. Instead, they’d built the insert, which would do all the vibration work. The lead engineer, Jimmy Choi, was looking over some technical drawings pinned to the wall.
“You were asking for me?” Charlotte asked, carefully stepping out of the way of Robert and Tomaz as they set the insert end-down on the floor, balancing it up as a column.
Jimmy waved her over. “I’ve got some bad news for you, Dr. Netherman.”
Dr. Netherman. She was still getting used to being called that, but Maria was a stickler for some things, and that was one. “What’s wrong?” Charlotte scanned the tech drawing, but she was a physicist, not an engineer. She could tell it was a disassembled version of the insert, but that was about it.
Jimmy pointed to an interior structure. “We’ve tried three different ceramics, but they keep crumbling right here when we turn on the sonic resonators.”
“You mean the insert is shaking itself apart?”
“Basically, yes.” He scowled and turned away from the drawing. “We’ve got alternatives, specifically some plastics, but I’m thinking the insert isn’t the way to go.”
“How do you mean?” She was open to anything, as long as it worked.
“You need to create the resonance to properly tune your device, correct?” Jimmy was the engineer, but the physics was her part of the operation.
“Right.” She handed him the paper with the latest sim results. “It’s got to be in a narrow range, so the resonance will be within in the range the MRI can operate. The sim says we can get there with the crane. But not if the insert’s not working.”
Jimmy glanced at the crane she had folded as soon as they started building the machine. It sat in a small glass box they’d velcro’d to the top of the MRI. Sort of the inspiration for them to keep going in this frenzy of machine-building and testing.
“You’re not thinking of putting the box in there, too, are you?” Jimmy asked. “Because we haven’t accounted for that.”
“I’m for whatever works.”
He nodded his approval. Jimmy had a few fine gray hairs at his temple and had been building stuff since Charlotte was playing with Legos and looking through her toy telescope. If someone could make this work, she was sure it was him.
“I think we should go with virtual fields here,” Jimmy said.
“Virtual?” She frowned. Was he talking some kind of simulation? Because that wouldn’t work. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you really don’t want anything inside the dimensional drive that you don’t want going somewhere else.” He gestured to the MRI. “If your theory is correct, anything that’s in the right range will get shoved into your extra dimension.”
She frowned. “I suppose that’s true.”
“So this quickly becomes a one-way device if we accidentally transport half the apparatus each time we turn it on.”
“Okay.” But she was smiling. Because Jimmy was talking like it would actually work, and in her heart of hearts, she still harbored doubts. But Daxon’s reputation preceded him—he wasn’t afraid to dream sky-high impossible projects, and he only hired people who were all in on making them happen. “So, we generate the virtual vibrations, so the only thing inside the drive is the object. Just the crane,” she clarified. “Um… how do we do that, exactly?”
Jimmy pulled a pencil from his pocket and started sketching over his printed-out tech drawing. He quickly produced something that looked like the insert had been cut in half and squished out to the edges. “We set up a standing field between the two end pieces. Both outside the main dimensional drive space. They’re sonic wave generators, so it’s not like we need the physical structure anyway. We just need a way to contain it so that the sonic waves don’t pull everything apart. But the MRI fields might be their own containers. We’ll have to run some tests to see. Could be hard on the MRI machinery.”
She didn’t understand all of it… but enough. “Sounds like it could work.”
He gave a small smile. “I’ve already cleared it with Daxon. We’ll get some extra hands in here tonight and have something operational for you by the morning.”
She had to restrain herself from saying they shouldn’t have to work all night. But it was clear Jimmy was as excited about this as she was. “Great. You want me to stay?” She wasn’t much help with the operational stuff, but she wanted to lend moral support.
He held up her simulation results. “No need. I’ve got your specs, and Maria’s ordering in pizza.”
“No Domino’s this time!” Tomaz piped up.
“And extra pepperoni,” Robert added. They were both disassembling the insert.
Jimmy smiled. “We’ve got it covered. Get your rest, Dr. Netherman. We’ll need you in the morning.”
“All right.” She beamed a smile at him. “Thanks.”
He just tipped his head and went back to studying his drawing. She hustled out of their way, floating high on their making progress. And that everyone was working so hard on her project. It was exciting and affirming and filled her with a joyous buzz that felt almost like agitation. Like she needed to share this good news with someone. She might bother Tajael just one more time, only to let him know she was doing well and everything was great at her work—obviously, it was super secret so she couldn’t tell him the details—and then she wouldn’t bother him anymore. He was a Private Security Guy, and she didn’t want him to think she was a stalker-in-the-making. Nope, just a normal woman with good days at the office and came home to a normal life, even on time, sometimes!
She snagged her purse and was ready to head out when she noticed the spread still left over from lunch. Pizza was coming, so the guys didn’t need all this. She found one of the delivery bags and scooped up all the leftover sub sandwiches. Hank would hit the jackpot today. Maybe he had friends he could share with.
She called her personal driver—a guy named Max—so he could meet her at the front of the building. She bustled into the sedan with her big bag of sandwiches.
“Are we making our usual stop, Dr. Netherman?” Max asked. He was middle-aged and very tanned… like whenever he wa
sn’t driving private cars, he was hiking in the mountains outside Seattle.
She’d been making her twice-daily visits with Hank even though she wasn’t walking to the bus anymore. Just a quick in-and-out, since the car was basically blocking traffic. “Yes, indeed!” she sang.
Max smiled. “You’re early today. Must have been a good one?”
“Yep. And I have a feeling tomorrow’s going to be even better.” Her grin just wouldn’t quit.
Hank’s spot was super close, so it took no time to get there. She hopped out quickly and hurried up to the old man sitting in the opening of his tent. It was such a beautiful day—all sun and no rain—that he didn’t even have his blanket out.
“Hank! I’ve got a surprise for you!” she said, a little breathless.
He looked up, but his mouth was full of something. And in his hand… a muffin.
“Hey, Ms. Lady,” he said around a mouthful. He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, but Charlotte’s eyes were fixed on the half-eaten muffin in his other hand. A blueberry muffin. With the red-and-white specialty muffin tin wrapping she bought online once and saved for special occasions. Like treats for hunky neighbors.
Hank swallowed his muffin. “Sorry. Not polite to talk with my mouth full, Ma’am.”
“It’s okay,” she said, automatically, her mind coming out of the haze of recognition. “I brought you some sandwiches.” Her tongue felt thick and heavy. Why did it matter that Tajael gave away her treats? He gave them to Hank, so it’s not like he threw them away.
Hank’s eyes bugged out as he peeked in the bag. Then he peered up at her. “You have some kind of party?”
“No,” she said, dully, still staring at the muffin. Then she snapped her attention back to him. “I mean, yeah, kind of. Hank, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” he said, packing away his bounty into his tent. “Not sure I’ll have an answer, but you go right ahead. Ask ten!”
“Where’d you get the muffin?” She braced—she wasn’t even sure why she was asking. She knew.
