Fallen Angel by Patricia Puddle

far away. She smiled up at him,
her eyes luminous. “I don’t know who you are, but I must be having
a beautiful dream. I’ve never seen anything like this
before.
    He knew he should take
her back to the hospital, but first, he wanted to give her
something to protect her from Lucifer. She’d obviously lost her
crucifix. Picking her up with one arm, he raised the other above
his head and rocketed upwards. As Eloise held onto him, he grabbed
one of the particles, then swooped down, plummeting below the mist
and heading back to Earth.
    She waved her right arm
up and down. “I’m a bird.”
    Nathaniel smiled. She
looked more like an angel than a bird, especially the way her hair
was blowing around her face.
    When they descended
beneath the clouds, the vast oceans and city lights came into view.
Eloise threw her arms around his neck. “Holy crap. Now I can see
how high up we are, I’m really scared. Oh, please, don’t let
me fall.”
    As she shivered with
fear, he squeezed her tighter to his chest. “Hey, I’m an angel.
Don’t you trust me?”
    She gripped his shoulders
and gazing into his eyes. “I don’t know what to
believe.”
    Nathaniel quickly looked
away. Being so close to her was giving him strange pleasurable
vibrations and they were causing him to lose focus. Shaking his
head, he forced himself to pay more attention to where they were
going. As he flew towards the beach, Eloise peeked over her arm.
“Oh, my God, there’s Creed Valley. You’re taking me
home.”
    “ Not
exactly,” he said, but before he had a chance to finish what he was
saying, she gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. Stunned at her
actions, he blinked as a jolt of electricity shot from his lips to
his toes. Her face was so close to his and her eyes were
mesmerising him, sending his mind into a spin.
    “ Watch out,”
she screamed, grabbing onto his hair. “We’re going to
drown.”
    When he snapped back to
reality, he was shocked to see they were plummeting at full speed
towards the Tasman Sea. Alarmed at his own carelessness, he
propelled himself upwards, only seconds before they hit the ocean. Jesus Christ! What was she doing to him? At this rate, God
would burn his wings off before ever getting to Devlin’s.
Shaking his head, he glanced sideways at her, but she was too busy
staring down at the water to notice his reprimand. When they
reached the lookout, he fluttered gently down and landed on the
cliff top. “There you go. Now you’re safe,” he said, furling his
wings behind his back and putting her on the ground. “Though you’re
lucky we didn’t fall into the sea after what you just did to
me.”
    Her brows bunched into a
frown. “What do you mean? You’re the one who was navigating, not
me. I’m not an angel.”
    He smirked. “Aren’t you?”
He was tempted to tell her she was the descendant of one after what
she just did to him, but he couldn’t do that.
    She squinted at him.
“Look, why have you brought me here? You’re obviously not human and
I was supposed to be in the hospital. I feel like I’m wide awake,
so I can’t be dreaming. Please , you have to tell me the
truth. I’m dead, aren’t I?”
    He brushed a stray curl
from her forehead. “It’s all right, Eloise. You’re not dead. You’re
just having a dream and I’m a figment of your imagination.” He
hated lying to her, but if he told her the truth, it would put her
life in danger.
    Folding her arms, she
looked him up and down. “I so didn’t imagine you.” Then she
bit her lip. “But I guess you are the sort of boy I’d dream
about.”
    “ Oh, I’m a
boy, am I?” Before she could answer him, he grabbed her right wrist
and opened her fingers, then he placed the silver rock in her hand.
“I want you to always keep this for good luck and
protection.”
    As she stared in awe at
the glittering crucifix-shaped stone in her hand, her mouth dropped
wide open. “Oh, my goodness. It’s the most beautiful gift I’ve ever
been given.”
    “