Ramiel’s eyes flashed a warning.

Adrenaline fueled Wrath. “Such a pretty little armful.” He imitated Ramiel and tapped his chin. “If she’s going to be on my heels, I might take advantage of what you’ve been refusing.” He sent a mental apology to Haziel, this wasn’t about her. He was just using her to piss Ramiel off, and it was working.

Ramiel swelled to twice his size. “You will stay respectful of Haziel.”

“Like you are?” Wrath reveled in the sore spot he’d found. “For a being who is so protective of her, I notice you don’t hesitate to use her feelings for you against her.”

“You know nothing of which you speak.” Ramiel switched to angelic in his anger. “Haziel has value to me, and you will not touch her.”

Wrath stepped right up to his swollen counterpart. “Or what?”

“I will end you,” Ramiel growled and disappeared his ass out of there.

Wrath was taking that as win, although he was still spoiling for the fight the archangel pussy had denied him.

“Even for you, that was low,” Haziel said from the doorway.

He repressed his guilt and turned to face her. Maybe it would be a good time to find out how not lightweight she was. “Even for me?” he drawled.

“You’re a dick, Wrath.” She shrugged, cool as a cucumber. “We both know this to be true.”

Motherfucker! These technicalities were like shackles. He was a dick. And because he was, he said, “You should be thanking me.”

Haziel laughed, and it was such a pure, sweet sound, he nearly lost the edge of his hard riding anger. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

“For a being who treats you like a doormat, Ramiel is super protective over you.” Wrath stepped close enough to catch the scent of her—lotus and rose—and lowered his voice. “Wanna use me to make him jealous?”

Her soft olive-green eyes crinkled in her tawny pretty face. “Oh, Wrath, you’re impossible.” Her giggle took the last of his bad temper away. She placed one long, slim hand on his chest. “You only want to provoke Ramiel.”

Three thoughts hit him in rapid succession. One, her small hand felt so right against his chest. Secondly, it had been since Rosabella that he had shared his time and space, and his body, with a female. And thirdly, and strangest of all, he didn’t feel rage anymore.

Chapter Five

Sophia sat in the auditorium of the Paradise Players Theatre and stared at the dark stage. Humans really were the most ingenious species. Over the ages, they’d constantly amazed her with their ability to entertain themselves. For beings who had such a short lifespan, they seemed determined to extract every ounce of pleasure from their existence they could. She didn’t like this particular age. Humans had lost contact with what they really were. They scurried around in isolation and ignored that their true strength lay in what they could achieve together.

She remembered when theatre had been a group of humble priests delivering religion to the masses. They had been so passionate about getting their message out, and so determined to deliver it in language that the masses understood.

Even then, she’d been drawn to theatre.

But before then, the Greeks had used theatre to bring their gods to humanity. Oh, the days of those amateurish spectacles. And the danger. She had seen more than one performer catch alight or get caught in some dodgy invention.

Now, humans had television and movies and the internet. An entire world on those little cell phones they were so bonded to. But they had forgotten this. She looked up at the banks of silent lights waiting to flood with electricity and shed the spectacle before them in shades of pure magic.

There really was nothing like live theatre. It was immediate, flawed, passionate, primal, and so innately human. The silent auditorium thrummed with the passion and laughter, the tragedy and the joy that had taken place here. A vortex of all that was most human.

Shade had left to find his Eddie. Perhaps he didn’t even realize how much he loved her, but Sophia knew. She’d watched him over the ages, the beautiful play of emotion in his glacial eyes, and the way he looked at Eddie…dear universe. Sophia pressed her hand to her chest to soothe the aching. How she ached to have him look at her like that. It was like something in the very core of that hell prince had warmed and found life.

And Eddie didn’t know it. Sophia ached for Shade as much as she ached for the fact that she would never be the being to bring him into the full flower of his existence.

“Sophia?” Lillian walked up the abandoned aisles toward where she sat. “What are you doing in here?”

Sophia, a name she’d chosen for herself meaning wisdom. It had been her tiny little giggle as she moved amongst humanity. So wise that she’d fallen in love with a being who wouldn’t love her. How many plays had been written about that? She smiled at Lillian. “Just thinking. I love the quiet here.”

“Yeah.” Lillian slid into the seat beside her. “There’s nothing like it, is there?”

Lillian had such a narrow view of the universe, limited by her humanity, but in this she was absolutely correct. “No.”

Lillian nodded and took a deep sniff. “Nothing smells quite like a theatre.”

A mixture of sweat, paint, and dust. Sophia nodded. This human woman saw her as a threat. In that, she was so much more aware than her compatriots, but not for the reasons she thought. “I’m not here to take your glory,” Sophia said.

“Then why are you here?” Lillian turned in her seat and looked at Sophia fully. “I get the strangest feeling that I’m missing something.”

Lillian was missing a great many things. Sophia answered as honestly as she could, “I’m not really sure.” Initially she had come because Shade was here, and wherever he was, she had to be, to balance his power.

“Anyway.” Lillian flicked her hair behind her shoulder. “You know our next show is The Importance of Being Earnest?” She touched her chest. “I will, of course, play Gwendolyn. And I think you should audition for Cecily.”

Sophia opened her mouth to gently decline, and then stopped. She liked being at the Paradise Players, and she certainly loved theatre. Gabriel would bitch, the guardians would have a meltdown. Archangels did not involve themselves with the doings of humanity. And why not? They were here to help humanity and guide their souls to ascension. Yet, they remained removed from the very souls they were guiding. “I don’t know if I can act.”

“That’s why you audition, darling.” Lillian gave her a superior look. “Peter would never cast someone who couldn’t act.”

Sophia wasn’t a totally rule abiding angel. She’d had her small moments of rebellion, but few and far between. She’d played chastity to Shade’s lust for centuries. There was certainly nothing that had demanded she be chaste herself, merely guard the seal. Still, she’d stayed that way, the perfect counterpoint to Shade. She’d been waiting for him, waiting for Shade to notice her and want her. And now Shade had gone to find his Eddie, and she was alone, untouched, and quite frankly tired of playing by the rules. She smiled at Lillian. “I’d love to. When are the auditions?”

Wrath stood in the theatre parking lot as Shade drove into the night with Xerxes and Cronus propped up in the cab of a dusty old pickup he’d found somewhere. No human would see the hell prince Asmodeus in the image he would present of himself. He’d taken the name Shade from his ability to blend in with the shadows, and he traveled like this to blend in with the humans. Shade was off to find Eddie, and Wrath had a whore weasel of a brother to track down.

Lucifer had somehow masterminded the disappearance of Eddie, and Wrath would not let him get away with it. The slimy little sludgeworm had managed to slip and slide his way out of the consequences of his actions one too many times.

The purr of an engine brought his attention back to the quiet road outside the theatre. At this time of night, the goodly folk of Clayton, Ontario were all safely tucked up in their homes, sharing a meal and watching their idiot boxes.

A single, bright light split the darkness as a large motorcycle eased down the road and into the parking lot in front of the theatre. Wrath liked motorcycles, although he didn’t share Lucifer’s obsession with speed. Humans had a few things he enjoyed. Although what they were doing to this rock circling the sun that they lived on defied sanity. They were as likely to destroy themselves without the seals breaking.

A man parked the bike and swung one leg over. Taking off his helmet, a man in his thirties, with conservatively cut hair and regular, handsome features, stopped and stared at the theatre, and then consulted his phone.

Wrath caught the tingle of awareness that indicated a guardian.

The bike rider shrugged out of his motorcycle jacket to reveal the standard black suit, white shirt, and uptight tie. Lucifer would have fit right in with them.

“Wrath?” The rider tucked his helmet beneath his arm and draped his leather jacket over it. He braced his weight evenly as if waiting for Wrath to charge like an enraged buffalo.

Wrath nodded and took his measure. Above average height, strong shoulders and chest without being overly bulky. Chris Fellows’s choice of Dee’s replacement was intriguing. Wrath had been half expecting someone more like Chris.

The guardian walked forward. “I’m Daniel Lee, guardian.”

“Good for you.” Wrath kept it noncommittal. He didn’t like guardians, although this one didn’t seem to fit the standard mold.