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The savior looked utterly ridiculous on the raspberry expanse, heavy ar off the sides, his black T-shirt and beat-to-hell blue jeans an offense to such delicate fabric

Heron came into his head a split second later and jumped to his feet, ready, alertand none too pleased

"Ice wine?" Nigel inquired as he went over to a French bombe chest, the marble top of which served as a bar "Or perhaps a drael"

"So is that a &039;no&039; on the tipple?" He took his ti the Baccarat decanters, and when he poured, it was slowly, steadily

He was not some dolt of whom to make demands, and Heron needed to learn soel pivoted and took a sip " &039;Tis light and refreshing"

"Fuck the wine"

Nigel let that one stay where it lay, and just stared at the savior

When the Creator had appeared unto Nigel and Devina, and explained that there would be a final contest, both sides had had to agree to Heron&039;s being the one on the field with the seven chosen souls Naturally, each opposite wanted its values represented, and the end result was that thisafore hiood and evil in hiel believed, however, that the fact that Jim&039;s slain mother ithin the walls of the ht that was true Moments like this, however, ael looked ready to kill

"You have to tell me who it is"

"And as I have said before, I cannot"

"I lost, asshole And she cheated"

"I am well aware of the lines she has o&039;erstepped, and if you recall, my advice to you was to let her do what she will - reprisals shall come"

"When"

"When they do"

Heron did not like that answer, and he began to pace about the ornate tent with its drapes of satin and its Oriental rugs and the low bedding platforel realized too late, two sets of very different clothes were scattered

Nigel cleared his throat "I cannot risk having an overturn that goes against us I have stooped to Devina&039;s level tooyou Adrian and Edward If I help you any further, I chance forfeiture of not just a round, but the entire contest And that is unacceptable"

"You knoho the soul is, though And so does Devina"

"Yes"

"And that doesn&039;t strike you as seriously uneven? She&039;s going to go after them herself - probably already has"

"By the established and agreed-upon rules, she&039;s not allowed to interact with the souls She, as with myself, is supposed to influence you to influence them Direct contact is not allowed"

"So why haven&039;t you stopped it?"

"&039;Tis not row a set - "

"I assure you, his balls are just fine"

At the dry interjection, both Nigel and the savior turned to the draped archway that led into the bath Colin hadn&039;t bothered with a robe, but was standing there unapologetically nude

And now that he had everyone&039;s attention, the archangel tacked on, "I&039;ll also ask you to watch your language, mate"

Heron&039;s brows shot up, and there was a , whereupon his head went back and forth between the two of theel cursed under his breath So ruffly "And ?"

"I&039;h But your lack of modesty offers you no better cover than the teuest"

A grunt was all that came inthat there was no reason to be a stuffy old tart

Lovely

Nigel turned back to the savior "I arant you what you seek Believe that"

"You helped me with the first"

"I was permitted that license"

"And look at how nu concern behind a sip of his glass "Your passion is laudable And I will tell you that your return to Caldwell is well-served"

"Thanks for the tip There are two odda is arbitrary, and there are no coincidences, Jim In fact, there is another who shall seek what you do, and as the separate quests unite, you will find the next soul"

"No offense, but that doesn&039;tto apologize to the talk police for that Sorry"

Colin crossed his arms over his bare chest "Suit yourself, lad And I&039;ll do the same"

Read: Maybe I&039;ll pop you now Or el needed was a fistfight in his quarters as undoubtedly that would bring the other archangels, as well as Tarquin at a full gallop Hardly the intero soak your head"

"I&039;h, thank you"

"That is a ain "Go forth and have faith that you will be where you should d do what you el That&039;s like picking up an unloaded gun and thinking it&039;ll shoot soot to put the bullets in the chareater things at work than your efforts"

"Okay, wonderful, so put that on a Christmas card But don&039;t try to feed that bullshit tointo the hard face of the savior, Nigel knew a flash of fear With this attitude, there was yet oneAnd yet what could he do? Heron had no patience or faith, but that did naught to change the rules of the game or the likelihood that the Creator would inevitably redress Devina&039;s liberties

At least the latter worked in their favor

"I believe we are through," Nigel said "Nothing favorable shall co"

There was a dark, rather evil arded him with a kind of fury

"Fine," the savior said "But I don&039;t give up this easy"

"And I aer that"

In between one blink and the next, that angel was gone And it was not until silence rang out within the tent that Nigel realized he had not been the one to send Heron on his way He had done that hier, wasn&039;t he

"Do you want o down and watch over hireed to hih reins to hold him I truly did"

"And so I say, shall I depart and watch o&039;er hiel turned to his dearest friend, as so ue and a confidant "That is the purpose of Adrian and Edward"

"Stipulated But I worry where his growing coood path with this"

Nigel took another sip of his wine and stared at the eh he kept silent, he had to agree The question hat to do, what to do