Are you ready for some April flash? So much better than April Fools. And we do have some good picture flash today. No foolin’! The story is inspired by the following picture and managed to get the Muse interested in writing on the third Concrete Angels book, ANGEL INK. About time! It’s all in first person so Michael is the one thinking and speaking.
I settled into a chair around the table near the window of Jitters and checked my phone. No new texts from Haley since the last one that said she’d meet me at the coffee shop. Apparently she had some news to share. I swallowed hard and tried to let the sunny afternoon calm my nerves.
I have a little news to share, too.
Actually, it wasn’t so little. I was going to take a chance on her and tell her who I really was. I wasn’t supposed to do that. Humans didn’t deal well with the Elder Races. They either feared us and tried to kill us – something that rarely worked out for them – or they tried to use us for some sort of inane power-grab. The human intending to grab power usually ended up taking a dirt nap.
But Haley was my true mate, the one who’d won my heart and held it in her hands, and we’d never be truly together if I didn’t come clean on who I was. The problem was, I still hadn’t come up with a good way to say it.
So, yeah, you know all those stories about the winged beings called angels and one of the most powerful being Archangel Michael? Yeah, that’s me.
Somehow that didn’t sound nearly as plausible at the moment in a coffee shop in Fort Collins. I tried to find my smile as the barista brought over two coffees and set them on the table, but it came out more like a grimace. She didn’t seem to notice and sauntered away just as my phone rang.
I hoped it would be Haley, but it was Viper’s ringtone. I frowned and answered the call.
“Yeah, Viper, what’s up?”
“Oh my glory, Michael! They just snatched her, right off the street. You gotta get here.” She sounded angry and scared, not a good combo in Viper.
“What? Slow down. What are you talking about? Who got snatched?”
“Haley!”
My gut sank and I went cold all over.
“They just grabbed her and took off in these ugly ass SUVs. I didn’t see the tags, but Karma might have caught them.” Viper’s voice was breathless. “Holy shit, we couldn’t get to her before they were peeling away. I’m so sorry, Michael.”
I grabbed my coffee and swigged as much of it as I could before I rose and headed for the door. No point in wasting good coffee.
“Who, Viper? Who took her?”
“I don’t know, dumbass. The SUVs didn’t have any biz decals.”
I snarled something only my brother Luke would understand and jumped on my bike, connecting my phone to the bluetooth speaker in my helmet.
“Where were you when they took her?” I started the bike and tore out of the parking lot, leaving spooked pedestrians in my wake.
“South of campus. They took off toward the freeway.”
“Fuck!”
“I’m really sorry, Michael. They came outta nowhere.”
“Get Torch and Samurai on it, and tell Neo to start tracking the tags when Karma remembers them.” I sped toward the freeway with a sinking feeling. “If it’s who I think it is, they’re headed to Denver.”
“Who do you think it is?”
I snarled. “Backlog.”
~~~~~~~
That’s it for me this month. Stop by the other authors’ picture flash to get more tales. Happy reading!
Well, Backlog doesn’t sound like a lot of fun! 😀
Oh, they’re not. They’re the baddest of the bad. Thanks for commenting, Bronwyn.
No sense wasting good coffee… hahahahaha… I’m with him, only can it be tea? And I’m with Bronwyn, they don’t sound like the party crowd 😀
Hehehe yup. There might be an emergency, but coffee (and tea) must be consumed. Thanks for commenting, Kris.
Soooooooo . . . When do we get book 3? Hmmmmmm? Would you believe, I was just talking about Dude with a Cool Car about an hour ago. Even mentioned I was looking forward to Michael’s book. Then I see this. *tapping fingers* Can’t wait to read!
Book three is coming together. Not as quickly as I’d hoped, but it is coming. Woot on Dude With a Cool Car. Always glad to hear people talking about my books. 🙂