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A n g e l w i t h A t t i t u d e
L o c a t i o n , L o c a t i o n , L o c a t i o n Niagara Falls
Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls
Send Me An Angel – Real Life Since I picture each scene like a movie in my mind while I'm writing, I need a decent cast! While reading the book, you may have a different idea of what the characters look like, but here's who I'd pick for my dream cast of Angel with Attitude:
The idea for Angel with Attitude originated in the summer of 2004 as a story I wrote for a online writing workshop, about a fallen angel who becomes a private investigator. It's waaayyy different than the final novel (darker fantasy bordering on light horror) but the seeds were there from the beginning! Read the short story here.
B o n u s M a t e r i a l # 1 FALLEN GRACE The woman sat across from me, weeping openly with her head in her hands. While I waited for her to pull it together I listened to the sound of my heart beating – loud, too loud – and the rush of blood through my ears. I don’t think I’d ever get used to this human body. Finally the woman, whose name was Melanie, looked up, her eyes red and glistening. “So you’ll help me?” she asked. I glanced down at my notes. “So, let me get this straight,” I said, and pushed a long, annoying strand of blond hair out of my eyes. “Your fiancé disappeared three days ago and he didn’t say anything to you or anyone else. And there’s no note.” “That’s right.” Next, I glanced over at the retainer check she’d written. Five thousand bucks. Made out to yours truly, Valerie Grace of Grace Investigations. Money like that didn’t grow on trees. At least not any trees I’d found so far. “You don’t think he just took off, do you?” I tried to make my words as gentle as possible. She was in enough pain by the looks of it without me inadvertently adding to it. For that kind of money it was the least I could do. “Is it possible that there’s another woman?” She met my gaze. “Stanley loves me.” The tears were mostly gone now and replaced with a look of fierce determination. “But there is another woman. His mother. She won’t talk to me about anything, especially concerning Stanley’s whereabouts.” “You think she’s hiding something?” “Probably, and I want you to find out what it is.” That pretty much ended the meeting. I shook the woman’s hand and promised to be in touch by the end of the week. I saw her to the door and watched as she got into her S-class Mercedes and drove away. Nothing seemed all that strange about the case. That’s what seemed strange. In the six months I’d been a practicing private investigator (license pending), I typically got the unusual cases: charms gone bad, mystical disappearances, vampire stalkings, and the like. I didn’t advertise myself this way. The small ad I’d placed in the yellow pages read very normal. But the weird stuff always came my way. Could be because I’m fairly weird, myself. I’m an angel. Not a Charlie’s Angel, trust me on that one. I’m the real deal. Well, until six months ago, anyhow. I’d unfortunately gotten involved in a protest against upper management and it hadn’t gone over so well. I’d been thrown out of heaven – the only place I’d ever known – and down to earth. I was given a human body, read: mortal, and told to do some good around here, earn some brownie points, and maybe, someday, I’d get a ticket back into the big show. That’s the short version of the story. So far I’d endured six months of this punishment. If I’d known upper management was going to get so bent out of shape about a little creative criticism I would have called in sick that day. So there you go. And here I am, trying to help a few schmucks out on this level of existence. Today’s task was finding Miss Thing’s boy toy. A few hours went by, paperwork, gotta love it, before I finally grabbed the address of Stanley’s mother and headed out the door, locking it securely behind me. I turned around and ran smack into a firm, muscular chest. I rubbed my smooshed nose and looked up with annoyance. “Hey Val,” Nathaniel said. “Where you off to?” “For starters, away from you.” I brushed past him. “Is that any way to talk to your best friend?” Best friend. Ha. That was a laugh. Nathaniel No-Known-Last-Name, is quite literally my nemesis. When lower management (if you catch my drift) learned of my fall, they sent an agent of their own to keep tabs on me. He usually got in my way and loved every minute of it. His job was to mess my work up so I wouldn’t earn my way back into heaven. Apparently they wanted me down under – and I ain’t talking Australia. Sometimes it’s nice to be popular. This wasn’t one of those times. It did suck that Nathaniel was incredibly attractive. And me, in my shiny new human female body, couldn’t help noticing that fact. Hey, I think a ‘look but don’t touch’ policy is the best plan in this particular situation. Nathaniel didn’t like to be ignored. Funny, he should be used to it by now. Luckily for me he looked like he actually might be taking the hint today. I unlocked the door to my previously owned, eight year old Corolla and got in, tightly fastening my seatbelt – you could never be too safe – and pulled onto the street and away from my rented, one room office. “So where are we going?” Nathaniel’s smooth voice cut through the silence in the car. I jumped with surprise, and felt my heart thud violently against my ribcage. He leaned forward so I could see he’d materialized in the backseat. Sure, he still had powers when I didn’t. That was so not fair. Sometimes I wondered if he knew I was powerless. I didn’t want him to know that. I didn’t want to think about what he might do if he found out I was helpless. I sighed. “I’m on a case and you’re getting in the way. Like usual.” “It’s a gift.” He grinned and disappeared briefly, reappearing beside me in the passenger seat, seatbelt on. “What kind of case?” “Missing person,” I said without taking my eyes off the road. Maybe if I was all friendly today he wouldn’t get in my way any more than necessary. After all, I’d already decided that this was going to be an open and shut case. No problem. “Forget the case,” he said. “You don’t need to do any of this. Why don’t you just come with me? My boss has a real sweet deal for you.” “Same sweet deal as yesterday and the day before?” I said. “No dice. Besides, I enjoy what I do.” “Sure,” he said. “Working eighteen hours a day for chump change to get back to a place that doesn’t appreciate you?” He ran a warm hand down my bare arm that made me shiver. “What a waste.” I jerked my arm away from his not unpleasant touch. Eye candy. He was just eye candy. Evil eye candy. “Is there anything I can say to make you go away today?” I asked through clenched teeth. “You can try abracadabra.” I gave him a look. “Abracadabra.” He smiled. “Well, I guess that didn’t work, did it?” “Fine, if you’re going to stick around, just do me a favor and keep your mouth shut.” He placed his fingers against his lips and mock zipped them closed. Only he was able to do it for real so for a moment he didn’t have a mouth. But unfortunately it was only for a moment. Then he grabbed my file folder that was up on the dashboard. I tried to snatch it back from him but it was too late. He flipped it open and looked at the few things I had on this case. Not much. A couple of photos of Melanie and Stanley, the address to Stanley’s mother’s place, my hastily scrawled notes, the retainer check. Nathaniel held one of the pictures up to the light. “She looks different now,” he said. “Who looks different?” He cleared his throat. “Nobody. So I take it we’re going to the mother’s house?” “I am. You’re just along for the ride.” Mommy Dearest lived only ten minutes away from my office so it was a blissfully short drive. I parked next to the curb and without waiting for my uninvited guest, I made my way through a maze of vines and overgrown weeds to the front door of a rundown house. The doorbell was broken so I knocked. Then I looked over my shoulder. Nathaniel was waiting in the car. Strange. After a moment the door to the house opened a crack. “Yeah, what?” the old lady on the other side greeted me in a less than friendly manner. “Are you Rosalyn Johnson?” I asked. “Who the hell wants to know?” I forced a smile. “My name is Valerie Grace. I’m looking for your son Stanley.” “He’s not here.” “Can you tell me the last time you saw him?” My answer was the door slamming in my face. I sighed. I turned to leave and found that Nathaniel had come up right behind me again. “It’s not nice to sneak up on people,” I said. He ignored me and knocked on the door. Hard. The woman opened it up a crack again and peered out. Her eyes widened when she saw who was now on the other side. “You!” she said, her mouth forming a wide O shape and her face visibly paled. Nathaniel cocked his head to one side. “Hello Roz,” he said. “Where’re you hiding Stanley these days?” “I...I dunno. I just told her the same thing. I dunno where he is. I swear it.” “What’s going on here?” I asked. “You two know each other?” Roz tried to shut the door but Nathaniel was able to hold it open with one arm. He pushed inwards and the old woman staggered backwards. She held her hands up to ward off the incoming evil. I had a moment where I didn’t know what to do. Was he going to attack her? Just because he made a pretty package didn’t mean that he wasn’t one hundred percent pure evil on the inside. He was a minion of you-know-who, after all. I wouldn’t be able to protect anybody from him, not even myself. “Where is he?” Nathaniel asked, his words growing deeper and fiercer, like the growling on a tiger whose prey had just pissed him off. Roz clung to the wall behind her. “Our father, who art in heaven...” Nathaniel laughed. “Yeah, that will get you far.” His laughter cut short and he grabbed her by her throat, hard, and pulled her face near his. “I’ll only ask you one more time. Where is he?” I grabbed his other arm, digging my fingernails in. “Let her go,” I said. “You’re going to kill her.” He turned to face me and I cold have sworn I saw flames where his eyes should have been. But only for a moment and then they were gone. His green eyes stared back at me. “Don’t you know?” he said, and his voice was quiet now. “She’s already dead.” He let the woman go and she slid down to the ground, crying into her hands like Melanie had done earlier. “Dead?” I said. “But, how...how is that possible?” The crying got louder until I realized that it wasn’t crying at all. It was laughter. Rosalyn Johnson was laughing so hard that when she raised her face up, tears streamed down her cheeks. She slowly got to her feet and brushed her dirty clothes off. She wagged a finger at Nathaniel. “Didn’t think you’d find me, no I didn’t. But you did, and good on you.” I was confused. People who were dead went to heaven or hell. One or the other. They didn’t stay on earth. It just didn’t happen. Even creatures who were thought by the general public to be dead, like vampires for instance, weren’t actually dead. They were just a different kind of alive. I didn’t know how this was possible. Roz smiled then, showing her jack-o-lantern-like teeth. “Come,” she curled a finger at us. “Stanley’s waiting. He’s been waiting a long time.” I looked at Nathaniel but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. “You should leave,” he said, and I noticed that I still had a hold of his arm. “I can’t leave. I have to talk to Stanley.” “Leave,” he raised his gaze to mine and said it so quietly that I could barely understand him. “Trust me, Valerie. Leave this place.” He pulled away from me and followed Roz through a swinging door and into the kitchen. I stood in the hallway for a moment. The front door was still open and I could see the car outside. What was going on in the kitchen? Why was she hiding Stanley? How did Roz know Nathaniel and why did he say that she was dead? See? I told you I got the weird cases. I swallowed hard and turned towards the kitchen. This was going to be worth a whole lot more than five thousand dollars. I just had a feeling. The first thing I noticed upon entering the ramshackle kitchen was the smell. Something was cooking and it smelled like soup. There was a big metal pot on the top of the stove. The second thing I noticed was Melanie sitting at the kitchen table across from her boyfriend’s mother. She smiled at me and raised her hand in greeting. I didn’t return the gesture. “I thought you said she wouldn’t talk to you,” I said. “I did say that, didn’t I?” she shrugged. “Sorry about that. I don’t normally lie.” “Melanie,” Roz said with a chuckle. “Okay,” Melanie said. “I admit it. I lie all of the time.” “Somebody better tell me what is going on here,” I said. “Right now. Where’s Stanley?” Roz stood up and brushed past Nathaniel who stood in the corner, still and unspeaking. Like a sentry, a guard, a watcher of some kind. He didn’t look at me. “Stanley should be almost ready,” Roz said coming towards me. “And then we can begin.” I watched her with growing horror as she approached the stove, and the pot of boiling water. She plunged her bare hand into the water without flinching and pulled out a skull. “Stanley!” Melanie exclaimed and leapt forward towards the counter. “He’s looking good. Didn’t take as long as you thought.” “No, it didn’t,” Roz said. “I’m surprised.” I felt a lump rise in my throat and the need to gag was overwhelming. “What have you done to him?” I managed. “Well what does it look like?” Roz said, placing the skull on the counter. “We had to get rid of the flesh somehow.” “You knew,” I said to Melanie. “That she did this to Stanley?” She nodded. “He was a willing sacrifice. It’s all going exactly according to plan. Especially now that you’re here.” “What do you mean, now that I’m here?” Roz had a mallet in her hand now and in the flash of an eye she brought it down on the skull, smashing it in apart. I held my hand to my mouth to stifle my scream when something caught my eye. Inside the skull something sparkled. Like gold and diamonds. Roz and Melanie shared a look of joy. “Just as it was foretold,” Roz said. Melanie reached into the shattered skull and pulled out a long chain with a large golden locket on the end of it. She held it delicately in her grasp and gazed at it. “What is it?” I heard myself say. They looked at me, with matching smiles on their faces. “The Octavius Pervatium,” Roz said. “The door to heaven.” I shook my head. “That’s just a fable. It doesn’t exist.” Nathaniel stepped forward finally. “But it does. And this is it. The door to heaven. The wearer of this necklace can walk right into heaven without invitation and do whatever he or she pleases. No one to answer to. No one to bow before. All pleasure and no pain.” “No,” I said. I’d heard of its existence, of course, for as long as I could remember. But it couldn’t truly exist. It was impossible. Roz gingerly took the necklace from Melanie. “I shall pave the way for all who follow my path to join me. I will carve out a large piece of heaven and it shall be my dominion.” Nathaniel disappeared and reappeared behind me, I could feel the press of his body as he held my arms to my sides. “There’s only one last ingredient,” he whispered into my ear. “The blood of a living angel.” I didn’t like the sound of that. Roz clicked open the locket where my blood was to be spilt. Melanie reached into the cutlery drawer and pulled out a sharp knife. “That’s why you hired me?” I said to Melanie. “So you could kill me and use my blood to make the locket work?” She grinned. “The devil made me do it.” “I’m sorry Valerie,” Nathaniel whispered. “My boss savors the chance for an open invitation to the one place he’s been denied. If it was up to me it wouldn’t be this way. I’m sorry.” “I’m sorry too,” I said. “Because I’m not an angel. Not anymore, anyhow. The only blood you’ll spill today is mortal blood.” I felt him stiffen behind me. “You lie.” “Not in my nature to lie. They made me one hundred percent human. That was part of the punishment. Your little chemistry project isn’t going to work.” He pushed me around to face him and I could see the flames dancing in his eyes. “Human?” One hand released my wrist and instead grabbed my neck, choking me. “I won’t fall for your tricks. I don’t believe it.” I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t breathe. His grasp was so tight that the world began to darken. I could just look at him, watch the fury in his gaze lessen as he began to realize the truth that stood helplessly before him. He released me and I fell to my knees gasping for breath, still feeling his fingers digging into my throat His chest rose and fell with his labored breathing and he frowned down at me. I was at his mercy; this demon whose mission on earth had been ruined. I watched his rage and confusion as he considered what to do next. “No!” I heard the wails of Roz and Melanie behind me as the truth sunk in to them as well. “I’ll kill her anyhow and see what flows forth,” Melanie said, arching the knife towards my helpless form. “No,” Nathaniel said, and stopped her with a word. “It is over.” He waved his hand at her and she burst into flames, screaming as she quickly succumbed to the fire. Roz made her way back to the kitchen counter and surveyed what was left of her son. “Stanley,” she said, and traced her fingers over the jagged, ruined bones. “I’m sorry, dear boy. I’m so sorry. It was all for nothing. All for nothing.” She began to change then, and it didn’t take long since she was already dead. Her face turned grey and ashen, and crumbled inwards until there was nothing left of her but a skeleton which fell and shattered to the floor. Amongst the fallen bones was the necklace, shiny gold amongst the ruin. I reached towards it but Nathaniel beat me. I sat down on the floor, still getting my breath back from my previous choking and looked up at the demon. He clutched the locket in his hand, squeezed tight, then let it drop gently into my hand. “Take care of it,” he said. “Wouldn’t want the wrong kind of people to get it.” I almost laughed at that, considering the source, and I looked up at him, still so handsome in such a horrible setting. The fire in his eyes was spreading now until his whole body glowed with its intensity. I scrambled up to my feet. “Nathaniel,” I reached towards him but he backed up a step. “I failed,” he said, and managed to give me a small grin. “I guess there’s going to be hell to pay.” I opened up my mouth to say something else to him but with a cry of pain he disappeared in a column of flames, leaving me in the kitchen all alone. I stood there for a moment, watching the spot where he’d disappeared. Expecting him to reappear any moment with a grin and a smart-ass comment. But he didn’t and I wasn’t completely sure why that made me so sad. I slipped the necklace over my head and let it fall against my chest, hidden beneath my shirt. It felt heavy and cold against my skin. Then I made my way carefully out to the car. With a final glance towards the house, I pulled away from the curb and made my way back onto the main road. I had one stop to make before I went back to the office. The bank. I was hoping that Melanie’s check was still good enough to cash. After all, even fallen angels like me have bills to pay. B o n u s M a t e r i a l # 2 The beeping woke Nathaniel from his latest nightmare. He sat straight up in bed, sweat poring down his forehead, his bare chest moving in and out from breathing so rapidly. As he reached for the cell phone on his bedside table he noticed his hand was shaking. He closed his eyes again and tried to compose himself. Nightmares. Every night without fail. Just bad dreams. With his eyes still closed he managed to smile wryly at that thought. Right. Just a dream. And what if the nightmare doesn’t go away when you wake up? Welcome to my world. The beeping didn’t stop. And he knew it wouldn’t stop until he answered it, so he grabbed the cursed gadget and pressed a few buttons. The screen flickered in the dim light of the room. A picture. A name. A write up. It was an assignment. A blonde this time, he thought. His knuckles whitened as his grip on the phone increased. He blinked, then turned the phone off and swung his lean, muscled frame out of bed. Something caught his eye as he was about to leave the room. His shadowed reflection in the mirror on the wall. He stopped to look at himself, something he rarely did since he despised what he saw. “This is your last chance,” he told his reflection. “You know that, don’t you?” His reflection stared back at him with dark, haunted eyes. “Last chance,” he repeated, harsher now. “You know what will happen if you fail again.” He turned away from the mirror. Failure was not an option. They’d been very clear on that. No room for error. This was his final chance. However, there hadn’t been a specific delivery date attached to the assignment. It could wait. Not long, but a little while. He glanced at his rumpled bed. No harm in getting a little extra sleep in. Make sure he was strong enough to follow through this time. He’d put it off as long as he could, but he could only sleep so long. When he woke again, the blonde was his.
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Angel with Attitude Warner Forever ISBN: 0446616990 |
Angel with Attitude went through a series of titles including Fallen Grace, Paradise Falls, and Trouble in Paradise|
Copyright 2006 - Michelle Rowen
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