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With the blood moon being only six days away, I figured today would be our one and only chance to really enjoy some time together. I knew Wanda wouldn’t take long to figure something out for us to get into the Hellmouth and I also knew that Makeysha would be getting twitchy to do something other than relax and enjoy doing things together.
As we strolled out of the front door, holding hands, I decided we’d head down towards the river and take a leisurely walk along its banks so we could chat without fear of distraction or interruption.
“So where are you taking me first?” Makeysha asked, flashing me a smile.
“To the river. I thought we could take a romantic walk along the banks and gaze into the disgusting brown waters.”
She laughed. “I’m sure it’s beautiful in its own right. You humans have a habit of only focusing on the negative aspect of things, rather than appreciating the positives.”
A cool breeze slid down the street, bringing with it a pungent stench of stale liquor and urine. I screwed my nose up and coughed, trying not to choke on the overpowering mix of disgusting smells.
“What is that?” Makeysha asked, her eyes watering. “It stinks.”
“Bourbon Street is behind us—” I pointed to the street running across the top of Dumaine Street “—it’s pretty infamous for its smells.”
“That’s really gross. Please tell me we’re not going there?”
I grinned. “Technically, we should. It’s part of the whole French Quarter experience.”
“I think I’ve just experienced it,” she said, giggling. “Come on.” She tugged at my hand. “Before another gust of wind chokes us to death.”
We made a hasty retreat towards the Mississippi river. As we put more and more distance between us and Bourbon Street, thankfully a wide variety of pleasant smells enveloped us as we made our way to the river’s edge. Freshly baked goods, roasting coffee beans, the sweet scent of jasmine and small trees—it was all a perfect mix to truly embrace us in the arms of a bustling city with plenty to offer.
“I almost feel like a tourist,” Makeysha said, inhaling a deep breath. “If the world wasn’t about to end, I’d dare say I could almost call it a holiday.”
“When we met last night,” I said, remembering for some odd reason what she’d said to me hours ago. “You said you’d only been back four hours. Where had you been?”
“I took a trip,” she said, grinning. “I decided to do some sight-seeing. I wasn’t gone long. Only a couple of months.”
I raised an eyebrow. “A couple of months? That is a long time.”
“Maybe to you humans. But to me, it’s like a week or something. Time really isn’t relevant to angels.”
I hadn’t ever considered that option. It was an interesting point. “So where did you go?”
“All the typical places most tourists go. Stonehenge, the pyramids, the Mayan temples.” She shrugged her shoulders. “The usual.”
“That sounds like quite a trip.”
“It was good. I felt a little guilty though.”
“Why?”
“Because my job is to help souls pass over and I’ve abandoned that duty for the last few years in pursuit of my own happiness.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Has Lucifer come up here and told you to get back to work?”
“No.”
“Then I wouldn’t worry about it.” I squeezed her hand in an effort to reassure her. “If you’re going to be stuck down here then you may as well enjoy the world, right?”
She smiled at me and lifted our joined hands to her mouth. Then, she brushed a soft kiss across the back of my hand. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For trying to make me feel better. Being an angel means we have to be totally selfless but the more time I’ve spent on my own, wallowing in self-pity—” she smirked at me, making me grin “—the more inclined I’ve become to do things that make me happy, but at the same time, it makes me feel bad. Does that make sense?”
I chuckled and nodded. “You, my lady, are a total paradox.”
“I presume, being a geek and all, that you like such things?”
“I do indeed,” I said, taking our hands to my mouth and gifting the back of her hand with a tender kiss.
“Can I take your picture?”
The sound of a male voice interrupted our moment. I turned to the sound of the voice and saw a young man in his early twenties with short fluffy blonde curls and a face covered with freckles. A camera hung around his neck, the lens on it big enough to knock someone out.
“Sorry?” I said, not understanding why he wanted a picture.
“What you did there, kissing her hand, the way you looked at each other was just incredible. It was perfect for a picture of a young couple in love.” He offered me his hand. “Sorry. My name is Dale Chambers. I work for the local newspaper. I love capturing shots of unique things in our city and I’d love to include you two in it.”
I took hold of his hand and gave him a firm handshake. “Sure, no problem.” I turned to Makeysha. “You good with that?”
Makeysha stood staring at him, open mouthed, shock filtering through her golden eyes. “You...you can...you can see me?”
Dale frowned and gave me a curious look before looking back at Makeysha. “Err...yes, Ma’am.”
She turned to look at me, tears filling her eyes. A broad smile spread over her pretty face. “He can see me, Ronin.” She gasped. “Of course. The transfer...” she motioned a hand between us “...of our pow—”
“Shhh,” I whispered. In my mind, I said, “Don’t freak the human out.”
Her cheeks flushed red as she stifled a giggle. “Sorry,” she said, turning back to Dale. “I’ve spent a long time being invisible to people.”
Dale gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been bullied, ignored, and ridiculed all of my life. It’s something I’ve just learned to accept now though.”
Makeysha reached out and wrapped her hand around his forearm. “I really hope that changes for you. And soon.”
I watched in amazement as reels of rainbow coloured energy rolled off her and surrounded Dale. When she released her hold on him, his whole body seemed to glow with a renewed energy. His cheeks gained a new shade of pink, and he stood taller and squared his shoulders.
“Thank you,” he said. “I hope things change for you soon, too.”
Makeysha smiled at him. “Would you still like to take our picture?”
“Yes, please. As you were when I saw you.”
I lifted our hands to my mouth again, gazing into Makeysha’s glorious golden eyes as I did so. She looked back at me, warmth and compassion pouring from her soul. I swept a kiss over her smooth skin, revelling in the moment.
A distinctive click sounded through the air, telling me that Dale had indeed got his shot. I looked at the young man to see he was already greedily scrolling through his camera’s memory.
“Wow,” he breathed, turning around so we could see the photo. “This is stunning.”
I had to agree with him. The background behind us, all of the different coloured Creole style buildings, gave the perfect setting to a picture of a young couple who were happy and the epitome of being in love. Both of us smiled not just with our mouths, but with our eyes, and the way my lips puckered up to kiss Makeysha’s hand was the perfect vision of a lover’s kiss, even if it was only to her hand.
“You two make a stunning couple,” Dale said. “Thank you so much for this.” He fished out a card from his back pocket. “If you want a copy, swing by my office in a couple of days and I’ll print one off for you.”
“Thank you,” Makeysha said, taking the card. “It’s a lovely picture. We’ll see you soon.”
Dale nodded before scurrying off towards a café on the other side of the street. Makeysha pushed the card down her cleavage before motioning towards the river.
“Shall we?” she said.
“Did you just put that card in between your boobs?” I asked, struggling not to laugh.
“It’s not like I have any pockets.”
“You only had to ask,” I said, grinning. “I bet he would have had a heart attack if he’d seen where you put it.”
She laughed and resumed walking towards the river. “Maybe. They’re only breasts. They’re really not that fascinating.”
“That’s because you’re not a guy.”
Shaking her head, she continued laughing. “If you say so.”
“You got a surprise or something for me down there then?”
She frowned, then giggled. “No,” she said, giving my shoulder a playful slap. “I meant if you say so to them being fascinating.”
I grinned as we carried on ambling towards the river bank. “What did you do to him? When you touched him?”
“Nothing much,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I just changed his aura and his energy so people would take him more seriously. I gave him a bout of luck, if you like.”
“A bout of luck? You can do that?”
“Yes...why?”
“That’s amazing. You’ve potentially just changed that guy’s life with a brief two second touch. Do you have any idea how huge that is?”
“For him, yes. For me, not so much.”
“How so?”
She pursed her lips for several seconds. “Think of it like rescuing animals. You can’t save them all, right? You can’t possibly change the whole world, but you can change the world for one animal at least. That’s all it is. I’ve changed his world, but it’s not affected mine in any way. If I rescued a stray dog, I changed the world for that dog, but not for me.”
“That’s a really odd comparison but I get your point. Do you not feel anything about the fact you’ve just changed his world?”
“No. I’ve just done my job, that’s all.”
“Your job?”
“Yes. Part of my angelic duties, aside from the soul’s thing. I’ve selflessly helped him in his life. It’s just part of what we do.”
“So why don’t you help everyone?”
“It’s not that easy or that simple. First off, not everyone deserves a lucky break. Second of all, we have to like them as a person and want to help them. If we change someone’s life and they do something horrific like murder a bunch of schoolkids, that comes back on us. We should have noticed they were a bad soul.”
“I get it. So you see into their soul, so to speak?”
“That’s exactly it. Well, their aura at least. Dale was full of joy and positivity, despite having been bullied, ignored, and teased for all of his life. That’s a special person right there who deserves some divine intervention.”
“You’re amazing,” I said. My heart clenched as I said it and my body ached to wrap her up in my arms and kiss her until the world melted away underneath us. “I can’t believe my life has changed so much in less than twenty-four hours.”
“In all honesty, neither can I. I’ve never been this lucky. I can only guess Fate has a part to play in this which makes me curious as to where exactly it’s going.”
“You speak of it like it’s a person,” I said.
“Fate is a woman. She split herself into three parts, ergo more commonly known as ‘The Fates’, but she’s actually just one woman.”
“Ergo.”
“Yes. It’s Latin for ‘therefore’.”
I smirked. “I know what it means. It’s just been a long time since I heard anyone use it in a conversation.”
“I’ve had a long time to study different languages. They fascinate me.”
“You fascinate me.”
She looked at me, her cheeks flushing pink. “You’re going to have to quit the smooth dude routine whilst we’re out in public.”
“Why?” I asked, chuckling.
“Because not many people are keen on couples kissing in public.”
“I know the perfect place we can kiss,” I said, picking up the pace.
I rushed us down the street, ignoring the fact that we should be soaking in the different shops and sights to see. My head was solely focused on reaching that river and the peaceful banks where I knew there were benches to sit on so we could relish in each other’s company.
We crossed the street, heading towards a water fountain feature with men playing instruments stood in the centre of it. The stone figures were all doing different things from playing a trombone to holding an umbrella. It was a pretty feature but didn’t hold my interest more than getting Makeysha to myself and indulging in kissing her.
Running up a set of grey stone steps, we hurried across a car park and over a railroad crossing. Green grassy banks stretched to the left and right of us. A smooth path lay ahead, enticing us to walk along it. The Mississippi river extended out in front of us in all its glory for what seemed like miles. Along the path’s edge, wrought iron benches sat every few feet, offering the perfect seating to enjoy the view. Dotted along the river banks were green gothic style lamp posts every twenty feet or so.
“I bet this is gorgeous at night,” Makeysha said. “With all those lights lit up and the river lapping away at the banks.”
“We could always come back tonight,” I said, already feeling the romantic setting she’d hinted at.
“Let’s see what the rest of the day brings first. We don’t know if Wanda is going to have any problems and will need us.”
“Such a pessimist,” I said.
“No,” she said, smiling. “I just don’t want to be disappointed when my hopes and dreams are shattered.”
I headed to the right down the path, thankful that not many people were around yet. Another hour or so and this place would be thriving with life. We strolled along, hand in hand, in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes. Makeysha, to my left, continuously stared out across the bay.
“Isn’t it just beautiful?” she said, her voice almost a breathless whisper.
“Brown water? Sure.”
She giggled and shook her head. “No,” she said. “Ignore the colours. Just look at the scenery. The open landscape, the rolling clouds, the fresh air, the peace and tranquillity being out here...it’s just incredible.” She pointed to the other side of the river at Algiers Point. “There’s a whole other world happening over there. Don’t you think that’s amazing?”
I considered her point for a moment. “I guess it’s kinda cool in a weird way that there’s a bunch of people over there, going about their day, completely oblivious to everything around them.” I sighed and then said, “Right now, as we stand here, someone is dying, someone is being born, someone is getting good news, someone else is being told something awful...don’t you think that’s odd?”
Makeysha nodded, a beaming grin across her face. “Within one huge world, there’s millions of other little worlds, all interacting and colliding together, that as a whole, affect the big world. Life is incredible.”
I squeezed her hand. “You’re right. It is.”
“Shall we sit?” she asked, pointing to an empty bench.
I led us over to it and sat down. The wrought iron was cold, even through my jeans. Makeysha huddled up next to me and I naturally slipped an arm around her. She let out a wistful sigh and then placed her head on my shoulder, gazing out over the peaceful scenery before us.
“How could anyone want to ruin this?” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“Lucifer. How could he want to let anything destroy this world? Why did he have to create such wicked creatures to wreck everything?”
“I guess his hatred for God supersedes anything and everything else. When you’re so focused on something, nothing else comes into the equation.”
“It’s sad. I feel sad for them.”
“Why?”
“Because they were such good friends. Now, it’s just all turned so bad, it’s sour and beyond repair. It shouldn’t have to come to the point where innocent lives are in danger because of some ancient petty fallout.”
“I agree, but unfortunately, that’s the way it is.”
She sighed and lifted her head. When she looked at me, her golden eyes were swimming with warmth and joy. “But there is one good thing.”
“What’s that?”
“If they’d never fallen out, angels wouldn’t have come down to Earth...and you wouldn’t exist.”
I gave her a cheesy grin. “Now look who’s coming out with all the smooth lines.”
She laughed. “It must be you influencing me.”
“I wonder what else I can influence you to do.”
“Ha, nice try. Shut up and kiss me, smooth dude.”