Tied With a Bow

pinched her arm. The sharp pain sobered her. Okay then, Alice, go down the rabbit hole. Or up, as the case may be.
    Kate strode to the stairs, dragged the heavy door open, and ascended.
    On the roof, snow-dusted wire topiary skeletons of mythical creatures stood next to planters filled with rock crystal and alabaster. A winter garden , she mused. She pulled her wrap tighter, her breath smoky on the cold air.
    “One of these things doesn’t belong. Which one?” she whispered the childhood singsong, spotting another enormous angel. Formed from golden light that shone outward, he wore a buff-colored loincloth and a gold ring around his neck. Skill had apparently not been spared when forming the angels, but despite the aggressive musculature, he carried no armor or weapons and his tousled hair flowed carelessly.
    “Hello, Kate,” he said as the lovebirds flew past and landed on the head of a bear topiary.
    She approached him. “If you’re about to bark out some orders or recriminations, you can save your breath.”
    He smiled. “Not recriminations. Advice.”
    She raised her brows.
    “Destroy the ring now, and when you see him, don’t allow yourself to hesitate. Let instinct guide you.”
    “Who are you?” she asked, unable to move away from his glowing warmth.
    “Don’t waste time on things that are of no consequence to you, Kate. Ask important questions as your education and experience would dictate.”
    “Why should I destroy Nathaniel’s ring?”
    “That ring was forged in the flesh of a future angel. Gadreel flamed the ring and burned Nathaniel with it, leaving a scar that never fades. Hatred bound them together, demon and angel, in an epic battle. When the angel’s wings are fully formed, he will take up the dagger and hunt, the urge irresistible. They track each other through the ring, drawn to the symbol of their malice. Destroy the reminder, and you’ll spare him the memories for that much longer.”
    “He doesn’t remember what happened?”
    “Not yet. I was given permission to alter the course of his memory’s return.”
    “Why? By whom?”
    He smiled. “Nathaniel was not born an angel. He was human, and after nineteen hundred years his heart needs more than vengeance. It seeks what it lost. Love. In you, I saw a spirit that suited his. So I showed you to him. When the ring was torn from his finger during their battle and fell to earth, I cast it into your path and let you see it. You took it up and kept it of your own accord. The angel chief of war thinks Nathaniel carelessly let the rain hydrate the blood and soak your skin, that you were bound by an angel’s blood by accident. I say there was nothing accidental about Nathaniel’s distraction. He did not dry the water from his skin before taking the ring and you had it clutched in your hand while you slept for a reason. In anticipation of each other.”
    “But he never talked to me. Never introduced himself. It’s been years since that night. If we’re so fated, why did he ignore me all this time?”
    “Ignore you?” The angel’s laughter warmed her skin like sunshine. Her muscles loosened and relaxed. She felt that she could have lain on the nearby bench and slept for an age.
    She shook herself, trying to steel herself against the effect his presence had. “Cut it out,” she growled.
    “So you think he’s ignored you? Lovely Kate, I want you to remember something. The investigation for which you won your great award—do you recall the details of that day?”
    “Of course. The discovery of that nest of vampires changed my life.”
    “In the cave, when your flash woke the oldest, the most powerful, you ran toward the cave’s yawning mouth, toward the sunlight, but you knew you wouldn’t make it. You’d gotten too close. You felt the brush of cold fingers, and sharp nails grazed your skin when you were still eight feet from freedom. What happened?”
    Adrenaline spiked her blood at the memory of that terrifying moment. If that vampire had gotten a firm hold, her bones would’ve joined the pile of human remains in that cave. “I got lucky. The vamp tripped.”
    “Are ancient vampires clumsy? And even if one stumbled, could you outrun it once it regained its balance?”
    “What are you saying?”
    “I’m saying something watches over you. I’m saying a warrior angel waded into the shadow and when that vampire reached out and would have grabbed you and dragged you back, a deadlier creature struck him down. You