bedeviled & beyond 05 - bedeviled & besmirched by sam cheever Page A

will get pissed off?”
    It was my turn to look at him like he had a boot box for a head. “You’re kidding me right? You’re not afraid of Dialle’s reaction if you and I started spending all day, every day together?”
    “I’m not afraid of that slick bastard. Besides—”
    “If you say ‘He’s not the boss of me’ I’m blasting you in the foot with a power arrow.”
    Slayer got all shoulders squared and chin jutting, and I rolled my eyes. “This conversation is over. I’m not hiring you. Go away.”
    His eyes narrowed on me for a moment and I thought he might argue, but he finally smiled and stepped back, hands up in surrender. “I’ll give you some space, Astra. In the meantime, if you need my help feel free to call.” He pointed to his hand, indicating I should use the hickey he’d given me.
    I frowned, not enjoying the reminder that he’d tapped into my internal communication system without asking me first. It seemed the men in my life tended in that direction and it really pissed me off.
    He space shifted away and I sat down behind my desk, determined to get some work done before I got pulled into the next personal crisis.
    It didn’t take long for my good intentions to get waylaid again.
    The air before my desk shimmered and my Aunt Myra appeared, glaring at me as usual. She looked so glacial, I almost expected to see frost begin to form on the surfaces of my office. I stared into her coldly beautiful face and tried taking a chink out of her cold demeanor by flinging a sharp smile at her. “Hey, Aunt.”
    “Astra.” She gazed at me for a minute, her expression accusatory.
    My infamously short temper hit the end of its abbreviated track. “What? What did I do now? Who’s pissed off at me? What impossible hoops do I need to jump through to fix it?”
    My aunt’s glacial expression cracked just enough for her to raise one eyebrow in disgust at my outburst. “Simmer down, halfling. I just came because I’m worried about you.”
    I let my shock show in my expression. “You did? You are?”
    Myra dropped her tukus into my client chair and a steaming mug appeared between her hands. Celestial warriors are allowed a minimum number of harmless vices. Myra’s biggest vice was coffee, hot and black like her mood. “It’s obvious someone wants you dead, Astra.”
    I scrubbed a hand over my face. Argh! Reruns. “I just had this conversation with someone else, Aunt. I don’t need to have it again with you. I can take care of myself.”
    Myra sipped her coffee thoughtfully. “That is true, Astra. Under normal circumstances, but this is different. You need someone to watch your back.”
    I hated to do it but it was my only shot at conserving the status quo. “I have Flick.”
    Myra grimaced. “Yeah. About that.”
    My eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? They’ve shuffled the coconuts on me again?”
    “Flick just wasn’t working out, Astra. And now that he’s gotten himself embroiled in the mess...”
    I leaned forward. “Mess? Does this have anything to do with his girlfriend?”
    “You know about that?”
    I grinned. Gotcha! “Only that he has one.”
    Myra frowned. “She wasn’t the best choice, unfortunately, but having made it, Flick is determined to make it work.”
    “Do tell.”
    She glared at me. “I didn’t come here to gossip about a fellow guardian, Astra.”
    I sat back, frowning. “No, you came here to tell me that I’ve been pushed to the bottom of the slush pile again.”
    She just shrugged and sipped. “Regardless, until we get you another guardian, you need to surround yourself with protection.”
    It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her if she and Slayer had colluded to work me over. But I knew if I even mentioned his name she’d jump on it. Then I’d be fighting them both off. So I just flung my hands into the air and kept my mouth shut.
    Never an easy thing for me to do.

CHAPTER SIX
    Does Hell Have Doilies?
    Our heroine sees new rings of Hell, peopled with