Page 24 of Midnight with the Devil

“Diana? She’s not my…wait, you said an angel? What angel?” Lucien didn’t have women who belonged to him, except where Diana was concerned. She washis, and no angel had any right to go and take what was his.

“Where is she?” Lucien demanded.

“Leaving her class. They’re grabbing coffee.” Andras smirked.

“Coffee?” Lucien growled. “I’ll tear his wings off myself.”

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them he was standing in the hall outside her classroom at the local university. His skin prickled as he sensed an angel’s close proximity.

“Show yourself,” he ordered.

Suddenly a young blond-haired man in slacks and a white dress shirt appeared. The shadows of his invisible wings fanned out on the wall behind him.

“Jimiel?” Lucien recognized the angel as one of his brothers from before the fall.

“Lucifer.” Jimiel’s eyes narrowed, and he tossed his bag to the floor, then assumed a battle stance.

“You’re the one sniffing around my woman?” Lucien opened his palms, balls of fire manifesting.

“She’s not your woman,” Jimiel said, his gaze cool and aloof. “Diana Kingston is mine. The moment she was born, I was assigned as her earthly guardian.”

“Father is up to his old tricks? I thought he gave up the whole ‘guardian angel’ thing centuries ago.” His hands still sparked with flames, and he was hungry to burn the winged idiot to ash. He may have been demoted from angel status, but being elevated to king of hell had some real perks, including smiting angelic assholes like Jimiel.

“For certain mortals, he still assigns angels. Diana is one of those. She is destined to change the world for the better. Her life must be guarded at all times.”

Lucien scowled, letting the balls of fire in his hands die. “Where were you when she signed her soul away to me? Father’s really let heaven go to the dogs.”

Jimiel scowled. “Hold your tongue, Lucifer.”

Itching for a fight, Lucien stepped closer to the angel. “I have a contract with her. She belongs to me, andonlyto me, for the next three months.”

Jimiel’s arrogant smile made Lucifer want to rip his wings off and kick him into a never-ending abyss.

“I know the terms. You have her only on Friday night until dawn the next day. Every day between belongs to the light, to us, and I can remind her every day why she should choose our side, not the dark.” Jimiel was still grinning, until Lucien smirked.

“You can be there all you like during the week, but she is still mine.” Lucien knew that Jimiel couldn’t reveal his true nature to Diana. It was part of the uptight rules that belonged to the good guys. Rules that Lucien didn’t have to abide by. The classroom door opened, and Diana stepped out and froze when she saw Lucien and Jimiel.

Her face paled, and her gaze darted between the two men. Jimiel retrieved his bag and smiled at her.

“Ready for coffee?” he asked.

“I…” Her gaze darted between them again.

“You can go to coffee with him, or you and I can catch dinner in Paris.”

“Um…” She struggled for words. “It’s only noon, and I really should go with Jim. We have homework and…” Her voice grew firmer as she got braver. “I’ll see you on Friday. Let’s go, Jim.”

“But—” Lucien sputtered, shocked. “You can’t just…” But Diana was already walking away with that damned guardian angel.

“That didn’t go well,” Andras said.

Lucien sighed, frowning. “No,” he ground out. “It certainly didn’t.”

“I’d be happy to smite him. I haven’t fought an angel in more than two centuries. Please?” Andras asked. “Let me turn him into a pile of ash.”

As much as Lucien was tempted to say yes, he knew he couldn’t. Jimiel might be a little prick with wings, but he was keeping Diana safe, and Lucien didn’t want anything to happen to her when he wasn’t around. He felt protective of her.

Because she’s mine, mine for pleasure, and I don’t want my new pet destroyed. Or even damaged. It would take all the fun out of the arrangement.

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