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Michael
“No.”
Seraphina Fox slammed the door on my face. She refused to let me, the Archangel of Regent City, enter the Clifton territory public library, never mind that I’m an honored guest of this city and it’s Archangel.
My jaw ached from clenching it. My power roiled to find release in punishing the offender. If it was anyone other than Seraphina, they would already be buried six-foot-under. But Seraphina was the exception. She had suffered enough. She had been an innocent caught up in the injustice meted out to her family. She had every right to hate me.
But I ran short on time. Back home, vampire attacks were on the rise. The only reason I had visited Crescent City was to accelerate production of the vampire bite antidote. This territory unlike my own, had the infrastructure to mass produce the vital cure. The more people we saved, the better. My days were filled with strategy meetings that must be completed before my departure in two days. Not to mention my mother…
Taking a cleansing breath, I prayed for patience and knocked on the massive door again. I heard the very innovative curse clearly. Douchefrickingpancake. I pursed my lips, holding back my smile. What the weird heck?
The door swung open again and Seraphina stood there with her arms crossed. Even with her glasses perched on the end of her button nose, her crystal-blue eyes were bright as she glared at me. In any other situation, I would’ve admired the two red blotches on her cheeks, not to mention how juicy her pursed lips looked with that orange-colored gloss on them. She was a stunner but I don’t think she would appreciate my interest in her. Even if everything in me wanted to pull her close and see if the taste of her lip gloss tasted as luscious as it smelled. I had never felt instantly attracted to any woman and frankly, it was very disorienting.
“Let’s talk like two civilized people,” I said, nodding to the library behind her.
She looked over my shoulder. “I don’t see a civilized person other than me here,” she mocked.
“This is a public library. I’ve a right to enter,” I testily replied. It was clear this painfully gorgeous woman would be a handful already.
“It’s after hours. The library is closed,” she responded, looking at her nails, rather than meeting my gaze.
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Please.” While my mother had taught me good manners, that was a word I didn’t have to utter often, because Archangel and all. I’m not surprised that she’s the one who had me using it in the first five minutes with her.
She surveyed me from head to toe with a smirk on her face, as if she was counting the number of body parts she wanted to chop off. Her gaze stopped momentarily at my crotch and I swear the beast twitched at her open perusal. Seraphina checked her watch, looked up, and with a huff turned around with the door left open.
I swallowed my relief and followed her, secretly adjusting my pants. The open corridor we walked through was lined with posters and pamphlets on the sides. The rows and rows of bookshelves fanned out behind. I inhaled the smell of books, the musty, paper scent a constant in this space. She led me to an office, her office as the Head Librarian, I realized. She settled on her chair and adjusted her long flowy, orange-colored cotton dress over her thighs. Her toned, bare legs peeked out from the slit in the middle of the dress.
“My answer is going to be no. But I know you Archangels love to hear yourself talk.” Tugging her hair off her glasses, she leaned forward. “So go on.”
I bit my cheek, willing myself to not choke her with my bare hands.
“You didn’t respond to the invitation.” The accusation tumbled from my lips. Shit. I didn’t plan on blurting that out, but she was getting on my nerves.
With raised eyebrows, she pulled an embossed, cream-colored envelope from her desk. Her insolent look had me oddly aroused. “You mean this one that says I’m invited to a ceremony to honor my parents who were executed under false charges of treachery?”
Though not a lie, I cringed at her wording. The invitation had masked the injustice with elegant words. “It was preceded by a letter…er…letters of apology which had also gone unanswered.”
“Then take a hint. I’m not going,” she retorted. She leaned back and crossed her arms.
I tried not to be distracted by the milky cleavage peeking out from her dress. But the sight was enough to strain my pants again. Sitting with a hard-on was almost as challenging as learning to fly.
I rubbed my face. This was not going as planned. I was supposed to show up, apologize in person, and ask her to return to Regent City with me. That should’ve been the end of this story. She wasn’t supposed to be this stubborn and this gorgeous. My emotions were a constant tug-of-war between rage and lust.
Injustice had discolored her view of me and my family. Rightfully so. Her parents had been executed as traitors despite my father not having proof. In fact, if rumors were to be believed, her parents had been sacrificed to appease my father’s jealousy. He’d been insanely bitter of the time his wife spent with her best friend, Seraphina’s mother. So, he rigged the testimony, and had them killed to end their friendship.
“My mother is dying,” I said, the words painful to utter.
Lately, everything in my world was turning to shit. Protecting my city was a full-time job. The infuriating vampire attacks were the greatest threat the Archangel territories had faced in a century. And then, my mother fell sick. Her health had gone downhill after my father’s death. Could it be, she simply didn’t have the will to go on without her husband? It broke my heart to watch her fade.
Seraphina looked away, her eyes distant. “My mother is dead,” she whispered. She pursed her lips even as her chin quivered slightly, then turned to face the window.
I hung my head, shame sat like a boulder on my chest. Becoming an Archangel had been my destiny. I hadn’t resented it, even for a single day. My father made more mistakes than good, and I learned what not to do watching him over the years. So, when I took the mantle, one of the first things I did was to right whatever wrongs I could. Returning Seraphina’s family’s good name was on top of the list. She needed to be able to return to Regent City, once more. Not just because it had been a false charge but also because my mother insisted. Finally free of my father’s obsession, she had wanted to fix the wrong done to her best friend before she died.
“I cannot bring your mother back, but I want to return the good reputation and dignity to your family,” I said.
Eyebrows close together, she continued staring out of the window. “There’s no reason to trust you. You are your father’s son. You may fix my family’s reputation and go on to ruin someone else’s.”
I ground my teeth at the accusation. There has to be a better way to convince her.
