"Whatever," he breathed, eyes focused on the bed.

I bolted for the dressing room and slammed the door shut behind me, breathing hard as I leaned against it. My skin felt dewy with sweat and I fanned myself frantically, my pulse pounding in my ears. To think that my body could betray me so easily was appalling. I staggered into the room and my hand hit something soft on the table-a dildo the size of Manhattan.

Horrified, I stepped backward and took a good look around me. Remy's room was like something out of, well, a bad porno. Posters of close-up shots of Remy's face licking all kinds of anatomy adorned the walls, and there was a large bed with silk sheets in the center of the room. Mirrors covered the ceiling. Sex toys of all imaginable types were lined up on every inch of counter space, and her open closet door, revealed a ton of lingerie and spiked shoes. The dildo stared at me from across the table, along with a few other pieces of equipment that I did not not want to guess the purpose of. want to guess the purpose of.

So much for a safe haven. I flew right back out and heard Remy's cries of "Oh yeah, baby, do me just like that!" and "Harder!" echoing in the room.

I had to get out of here.

I bolted out the first door I found, ignoring the buzzer that went off as I escaped through the emergency exit into the alley. I stumbled over to the main street, where I allowed the pedestrian traffic to swallow me. My brain was throbbing, my loins were throbbing, and all I could think was that I'd rather flip burgers for the next millennia than end up astride some guy for money like Remy.

I headed across the street to a small chapel that was sure to be deserted this early in the morning. Alone time was just what I needed.

The peace of the tiny church washed over me as soon as I stepped through the doorway, and I hesitated in the aisle. I felt like a hooker at a church social. I didn't belong here anymore, did I? Forcing those thoughts out of my mind, I moved to the back row of pews to sit down and focus my thoughts.

No sooner had I sat down than I felt a hand on my arm. Startled, I jerked away, only to find myself staring at the most singularly beautiful man I had ever seen. White-blond curls framed his pale face, and the biggest pair of dark blue eyes stared back at me. A faint smile touched his lips. He was dressed in flowing white robes, with a white fur cape tossed over his back.

Frightened at his sudden appearance, I jumped out of my seat, clutching my handbag. "You can't sit here. That seat's taken."

"It is a sin to lie in church, Jacqueline." He gave me a soft smile.

My jaw dropped; so did my purse. "How do you know my name?"

"I am sorry if I startled you." Again, the self-deprecating smile.

"Who are you?" I began to suspect my new friend wasn't your normal garden-variety churchgoer. "And why are you dressed like something from Jesus Christ Superstar Jesus Christ Superstar?"

He laughed, a sweet, gentle sound. Weird or not, there was something appealing about his manner, and I relaxed. "Is that what you think, my dear Jacqueline? Look closer." He obligingly leaned forward to show me.

I gasped. What I had taken for a fluffy fur coat was actually feathery down: massive wings cascaded around his shoulderblades and swept down his back.

"Holy shit, you're an angel."

His smile faltered as he sat upright. "Please, your words."

I gasped and covered my mouth. "Ohmigod, I'm so sorry." When he flinched again, I winced. "Oh crap, I did it again, didn't I?"

"God understands the vagaries of human language, but I confess it is a bit hard on my ears."

I collapsed on the pew next to him again. "I'm so sorry," I repeated, not knowing what else to say. "What are you doing here? Are you cast out, like Noah?"

He looked a little green at the thought and shook his head. "No, no. I am not like your Noah."

I blinked hard. "You're still an angel, then. Like, a real one, not a Serim. Wow."

The angel gave me another softly sweet smile, and I immediately felt trampy and unworthy in my Juicy sweatsuit and overly bountiful new body.

"I am glad that you have come here. I wished for us to ... talk a moment. My name is Uriel. I've heard of your plight."

Uriel-it even sounded angelic. I was in awe: a real live angel, here with me. My hand reached out to touch a ringlet of his white-blond hair to make sure that I wasn't dreaming, and it felt real and baby-fine. "I can't believe I'm meeting an angel. I never thought it would happen to me."

"Most likely it would not have. Only the deceased may gaze upon us, and we rarely exit Heaven. Humans with regular lives never see our kind." He cocked his head at me and took my hand in his. "But that was stolen from you, was it not? A regular life?"

To hear someone else state it like that made me pause, uncomfortable. "I guess so. The succubus thing is a little hard to get used to, but it could have been worse." I pried my hand out of his-not that I didn't love touching him-but my hormones were keeling toward overdrive and I didn't want to think nasty thoughts about the beautifully pure man before me. It seemed ... wrong. "Remy's been really great, though," I defended. "Noah, too. I'm lucky that I have them to fall back on."

He gave me another knowing, pitying look and clasped my hand in his. "Is that true?"

I slid my hand back out of his once more. I liked his touch way too much for my own good. "Look, I'm feeling a bit under the weather right now, so I'd prefer that you don't touch me, if it's all the same to you."

His brows drew together in a faintly puzzled look, then acknowledgment dawned, and he shied away from me like I had a wad of snot hanging off my nose. "Ah."

"Yeah." I blew my bangs up off my face in frustration. "It's the downside to the whole shebang-the constant maniac sex drive." I dug through my purse for some aspirin for the throbbing that was bound to turn into a headache soon.

"Don't forget eternal damnation."

I choked on the aspirin that I had just flung into the back of my throat. "What?"

"Eternal damnation," Uriel repeated and turned innocent eyes on me. "Did your new friends not explain that that to you?" to you?"

I spat out one of the aspirin, my throat suddenly dry as a bone. The other had lodged itself to the roof of my mouth and I had to fish it out with a finger. "No one menshioned efernal damnashion," I said around my finger.

He gave a knowing nod. "I thought not. Their kind prefers to gloss over the negative details of their hedonistic lifestyle." Uriel had a hand to his heart, a sad look on his face. "I seek to help you return to your normal, mortal life. Don't you fear what paths you will take if you follow your friend Remy's lead?"

"Her lead?"

A line formed between his brows. "I refer to the Afterlife."

Now that threw me for a loop. "Uh, I thought I already died?" I looked around. Yep, still New City. I could smell the smog even from inside the church. "It's not exactly what I pictured, but it could be worse."

He shook his head, white-blond curls moving in a symphony that made me long to reach out and touch them again. I picked up my purse and clasped my hands around it to keep from reaching out. "This is not your Afterlife. You were scheduled for greater things, had not you been forcibly detained upon this earth."

He had my interest all right. "Forcibly detained?"

Uriel arched a delicate eyebrow at me. "Do you mean to tell me that you planned this?"

Well, no, I hadn't exactly. "Er ..."

He nodded, as if that was the answer he had been expecting. "Precisely. It is lucky for you, Jacqueline, that I have decided not to hold your current status-or the company you keep-against you. Most of my brethren would not be so enlightened."

My feelings hurt, I resorted to the oldest of defense mechanisms: sarcasm. "So what makes you so special?"

Uriel's lips thinned, a sure sign I was irritating him. "I see I must get straight to the point with you. Very well, then. I need a favor."

"From me?" There was a squeak in my voice, despite my best efforts. "What could Heaven possibly want with me?"

"Not Heaven itself," he corrected me. "Just me. Uriel." He sent me a smile so warm, I thought I would melt right there in my seat. "Your friend."

"Oh," I breathed, scooting closer to him. He had the most beautiful face. Even Noah's amazing looks didn't compare with Uriel's perfect, sculpted beauty.

"Watch the wings," he reminded me in a gentle voice.

I shied back in embarrassment. "Sorry."

He touched my cheek, and I felt my knees go weak. "It is all right. I know you do not want to harm me."

"Oh, I don't," I said, breathing hard.

"I know," he repeated, the smile looking a little more ... forced at my adoring gaze. "Especially when I have heard of your situation and decided to help you."

"Help me? How?" My ardor turned to puzzlement. How in the world could an angel help me with my current situation? Unless ... I slid a glance over to the confessional. "You mean ... I thought angels didn't do that."

"And how is it that you think Noah got into his predicament?" Uriel tilted his head at me like an inquisitive bird.

"Sex?" I blanked for a moment. "Really?" Noah had mentioned that, come to think of it.

Uriel leaned in, his voice soft. "It is not my story to tell, but perhaps you should ask your friend the next time you see him."

I noticed that the angel scrupulously avoided Noah's name. I almost asked about it, then changed my mind. I didn't want to make him angry. He seemed so ... sweet. Wholesome.

I wanted to do dirty, nasty things to the man. His scent was wonderful, like cookies and baby shampoo-an odd, but fresh combination. And he was leaning very close to me, his gaze intent on my face.

"You shouldn't lean in to me," I warned him, recognizing the signs. "I'm sort of ..." There wasn't a delicate way to put it. In heat? About to tackle him in a fury of lust? I just pointed at my eyes, which I'm sure were bluer than his own. "You know ... this."

He smiled and my heart melted. "It's why I'm here."

I straightened in my seat, surprised. "You're here for that? But you just said ..." I frowned at the thought of helping an angel, well, fall. fall. Word traveled fast in the Afterlife. "I'm not some sort of celestial hooker, thank you very much." Word traveled fast in the Afterlife. "I'm not some sort of celestial hooker, thank you very much."

Uriel looked almost as offended as me. "You've misunderstood me." He shook his head and put his fingers on my chin, pulling me closer. "Let me show you."

At his touch, my whole body throbbed, and I leaned in to the embrace. Instead of my lips, though, he brushed my forehead with a chaste kiss, and I pulled away in surprise. "You came here to do that?"

The edges of his mouth pulled up in a faint smile. "You take too much at face value, Jacqueline. Tell me, do you feel any different?"

I sat for a minute, thinking. My fingertips tingled, but that could be due to the fact that I was clenching my purse against my body. I set it down gently on the pew before me. "Am I supposed to feel different?"

"No urges?"

Gasp!

He was right. The obnoxious throbbing between my legs that told me that I was about to go sex crazy again had stopped. Ceased. Gone. My breasts didn't feel heavy and aching with need, and I could think clearly. I shot him a look of disbelief and jerked my purse open, rummaging through it for a compact. Sure enough, a quick look in the mirror showed my eyes bleached to the pale silver of Remy's and Noah's.

I was cured!

CHAPTER TEN.

Uriel's next words shattered my hopes.

"It's a temporary reprieve, I'm afraid. The effect should last about a week, but I think you'll enjoy it in the meantime."

"Hell, yeah," I enthused, wincing at his grimace. "Oh, sorry. I keep forgetting who I'm talking to." I stared at my forehead in the mirror. The spot where he'd kissed me glistened like it had been covered with glitter. I touched it, but it didn't rub off. "Gosh, I don't know how to thank you." It was true-grateful couldn't begin to describe how I felt at the moment. Not having to track down Noah in the next few hours sounded pretty darn great. Going to him for sex would have been humiliating, and I didn't have any other likely candidates.

"You could do me a favor."

Uriel's slightly wheedling tone made me look up from my mirror. I'll give him credit-his face was perfectly neutral, not showing a hint of any sort of interest, but I knew it was there, all right. I wasn't born yesterday. Reborn, like maybe two days ago, sure.

"A favor?" I was reluctant to ask, since I knew that I probably wasn't going to be too keen on the idea, but the tingle on my forehead reminded me that he'd already made a gesture of goodwill toward me. The least I could do was hear him out.

Uriel shook his head and smiled. "Nothing quite so dire as that, my dear Jacqueline. I promise."

I felt bad for doubting him. "Sorry. I've been a little touchy for the past few days, as I'm sure you know." I couldn't resist sneaking another peek into my mirror to look at my wonderfully washed-out eyes. "Ask away."

"I'm not sure how much Noah has told you about our kind. As an angel, I am bound to sacred grounds. I cannot go where the ground is not blessed, or is unhallowed."

"So you can't leave this church?" He nodded and I promptly stopped feeling jealous of his beauty. Wow, that really sucked.

"As one of the fallen Serim, Noah can visit both hallowed grounds such as this church, or 'neutral' territory like your city. He cannot visit unhallowed ground or someplace blessed by the darker side of nature. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Oh, I understood all right, and I was scared. "I'm thinking you want me to go visit some voodoo temple or some graveyard, and I'm not interested."

His lips thinned into a narrow line. "You exaggerate as to what I ask. What I meant to say before I was ... interrupted"-he leveled his best "I'm an angel of God and you're not" look at me-"was that I need to know some information, and I cannot go where I need to find it."

Information? That didn't sound too bad. Besides, I was starting to feel rather guilty with the kiss burning on my forehead and all. "What information is it?"

"There are vampires in this city-the more extreme version of your friend Noah-who have chosen a darker path. If you have not already encountered them, I suspect you will very shortly."

Vampires? Oh dear. Remy had mentioned we were supposed to avoid them. "I don't know ..."

"Vampires are immoral creatures, as you can imagine, and they are stirring like a black horde through this city. They follow a queen, an unholy demoness who they adore and worship. I believe she is planning something foul against our kind, and I must find out what it is."

"Whoa there," I said, putting both hands in the air. "What the heck am I supposed to do against a flock of vampires and their demon queen?"

Angels have amazing poker faces, I must say. He didn't show any outward signs of annoyance with me other than a slight compression of his lips again, but I knew he was frustrated.

"You will not have to go to anywhere dangerous. The vampires you wish to question congregate at several nightclubs in the city. All you need to do is get the information I seek. Do this for me, and you will receive another kiss, a longer-lasting one. You would be free from your obligation for a month, possibly longer."

No wonder Remy called them dealers. "Visiting a few nightclubs doesn't sound too bad." Something about this deal bothered me, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "Don't vampires eat people?"

Uriel's lips slid into a faint smile. "Jacqueline, the vampires would never never hurt you." hurt you."

I doubted angels could lie. "What makes you say that?"

"Your kind fascinates them. You will not be harmed but welcomed."