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“We’re the good guys. Come on, I’ll let you in on our secret.” Sy led Glen around the corner into a section of lockers where Theo and El wouldn’t be seen.
“Lay back,” El said, placing his hands on Theo’s chest and thigh. More of that blessed heat spread from those points of contact. “When I’m done, go home with Daniel. Let your mate take care of you, yeah?”
Theo closed his eyes and basked in the healing warmth, and as a wash of drowsiness overtook him, he had just enough awareness left to answer, “My mate… yeah.”
Daniel
“I’ve put Theo into a healing sleep. It should last a couple of hours. Sy and I will bring him to your apartment.” El fussed over Theo’s still form, and as Daniel watched, most of the more significant bruises and swelling decreased.
“Thank you,” Daniel whispered, unwilling to distract El from his work. “What are you going to do about Glen?”
“Recruit him to our side, of course.” El glanced up at him and winked. “There are a few humans around who know about us. They keep their eyes and ears peeled and report in as needed.”
“Like Father Hector?”
El chuckled. “Ah yes, our enigmatic priest. He joined us last year.”
“I thought he was a homeless guy until I came across him on the boards this morning leading a choir singing holiday carols.”
“Sounds about right,” Sy chipped in.
Glen followed Sy, several steps behind, appearing as if in a daze, but upon seeing Theo’s prone body, he hustled forward. “What did you do?” He looked over El’s handiwork. “You healed him.”
“I said I would, sweet child.”
Glen groused. “I’m not a child.”
El’s laughter fell like a beautiful melody around them. “Put your things away, Glen. You’ll accompany us to Daniel’s and then I’ll escort you home.”
Glen’s shy smile and faint blush tugged on Daniel’s heartstrings. If only Theo was human, then he might have that, too. But he wouldn’t pray or wish for it…
Theo was an angel. He was God’s… Not his.
Friday: Sunrise
Thelial
Theo woke slowly. His bed felt different. The sheets weren’t as soft as they usually were, and the pillow was harder than he liked. He blinked in the dim light, the room illuminated solely by the flash of neon creeping around the corners of the blinds. He took in a plain wall and a nightstand beside the bed that wasn’t his.
He started to roll to his back and stopped, a warm body blocking his way. An arm fell across his chest, a hard erection pressed against his backside.Daniel.The last thing he remembered was lying on Glen’s table in the locker room with El standing over him, healing him…Ah…
Theo eased off the bed, adjusted the waistbands of the briefs and loose pants he wore, and shivered in the cooler temperature of the room. He wrapped his arms around his torso, trying to keep himself warm as he glanced out the window into the darkened city.
Across the street, an electric menorah glowed. Six plastic stalks and theshamusstanding all over the others flickered like real candles. It was almost magical. Kind of like his life. Almost two thousand years had passed since he died and was reborn among the clouds of Heaven. He spent the first century learning how to be a proper Angel of Love, making match after match, regardless of sex or skin color. He watched over many couples throughout the tumultuous years of stubborn, spiteful men and overzealous priests who thought they knew best. Generations upon generations spewing hatred. Theo helped his couples resist and survive.
It was during one of those harried times when he came upon Judah and his brothers battling a demon-infested, false house of worship. He stood in awe of their prowess and leapt to meet them after they’d sent every imp and ghoul back to Hell.
He took to stalking them until one day Leo caught him. It was all uphill from there. Once they received Yofiel and Adonai’s approval, that is. Centuries passed, training and fighting, all while continuing to do the job Father had originally assigned him: orchestrating scenarios for humans to meet their soulmates. Bars became his favorite haunts, and he’d learned the trade well. He still missed the dance halls of the early nineteen-hundreds, but there was an appeal to the mass of uninhibited persons that took to the modern club dance floor with the DJs spinning hard-hitting beats that beckoned for one to lose themselves in.
How many had he served over the years? Ten of thousands, at least. He’d stood on the sidelines and watched his friends fall one by one, joining their other halves on Earth. He couldn’t remember when he’d started to wonder if he might join them, didn’t recall the first time he’d wished for someone to call his own.At last… At last…
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the pink blush of dawn break the night’s hold over the city. The menorah across the street turned off. Lights began appearing in various windows. Below, a store employee rolled open a security gate.
Another night gone.
Reaching his arms upward, he stretched, carefully testing each part of his body. He paced into the bathroom, amused that Father gave him all the human processes, like having to urinate. Thankfully, he’d spent more than enough time among humans to know how to flush a toilet and took the time to wash his hands. As he dried off on a small hand towel, he peered into the mirror at his reflection.
Theo gingerly touched the mottled skin around his eye, grimacing not from pain, but from how bad it looked. Father and El did not do him any favors in keeping the bruises.
