Angel Unawares

Venice

"This is so romantic!" Amber exclaimed as she and Danny floated down the Grand Canal in a gondola. Remembering a book report she'd done about Venice, Italy in middle school, she'd asked Danny to take her there.

"Sure beats Disney World, doesn't it?" laughed her otherworldly companion.

"Oh, no contest!" Amber replied. "Just look at all these ancient buildings! And I love the bridge!"

"It's called the Rialto Bridge," Danny told her. "We'll walk across it after the canal tour, if you'd like."

"Oh, I'd love to do that!" said Amber. "But right now I'm just happy to be here on the canal, looking at all the interesting things on the shore." She leaned back against the gondola's plush interior and sighed with contentment. The sun was setting, bathing the scene in an orange glow. Danny put his arm around her and held her close, and a ripple of excitement passed through her.

After the canal ride, they walked along one of the inclined covered ramps of the bridge and went into some of the shops. One was a flower shop, and Danny bought Amber a dozen red roses. She was too thrilled even to wonder where he got the money.

When they reached the portico, they walked to the side and stood looking down. "It's beautiful," Amber sighed.

"You're beautiful." He lifted her chin with his fingers, and suddenly his lips were on hers, warm and moist and urgent. His arms wrapped around her and held her tightly, and she felt an electric shock as the tip of his tongue touched hers. Then abruptly it was over, he'd let go of her and turned away.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled in a low voice.

"Sorry for what?" asked Amber. "That was great! I enjoyed it!"

"You're only sixteen," Danny replied. "I should have been more responsible than to have let that happen. It won't happen again."

"But all we did was kiss!"

"Which can lead to much more."

"So?"

Danny was solemn as he turned and began to slowly walk down the other inclined ramp. Amber got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wondered whether the entire weekend was ruined now. "I don't think what we did was wrong," she said.

"I care for you a lot, Amber," he replied. "Too much to make the same mistake twice." He smiled and held his hand out to her. "Come on. There's lots more to see in Venice."

Jade wept as she stumbled back to her own apartment. Never in her life had she ever felt so utterly alone. Having been rejected by both Danny and Gideon, she had no idea what to do next. If only Gideon hadn't taken the computer...

Absently she opened her closet door and began to look through her clothes, and an idea came to her. She chose what she thought was her sexiest outfit, took a good half hour to apply her make-up, and then, when she finally judged her appearance to be acceptable, left to go to the bar down the street.

As she got closer, she saw that a policeman was standing by the bar's entrance and cursed under her breath. She knew she'd never be allowed in without being asked for her driver's license. Disappointed, she turned to leave when she heard someone call to her. "Hey, baby! Where you headed?"

She turned to see a strikingly handsome man who was wearing expensive clothing. He had longish dark brown hair and wore a gold chain around his neck. She knew that he was at least twenty-five, perhaps thirty.

"I can't go in there," she told him.

"Why the heck not?"

"I'm not twenty-one yet."

"Sure could have fooled me." He smirked. "Screw this place. I know of a place that's way cooler that won't even ask for your ID."

"Really?" In normal circumstances, alarm bells would be going off in Jade's head about now, but in her present state of mind, she wasn't even aware of that part of her psyche.

"Yeah, sure. Come on. It's only a couple of blocks from here." He nodded toward a shiny new red Corvette, and all doubts instantly vanished from her mind.

"He took you to Venice?" Bailey was incredulous. It was Sunday night, and the two girls were in Bailey's bedroom. "Does he by any chance have any angel friends?"

Amber giggled. "I'll ask."

That night she lay awake in bed for a long time, thinking about how much fun she'd had with Danny over the weekend. He'd seemed so alive, so enthusiastic, so full of joie de vivre. It was just so hard to reconcile that memory of him with the image of his body lying cold and still in his casket.

The following day after school, she took a walk to the cemetery where he was buried. She'd come here a half dozen times or so during the first year after he'd died but hadn't been back since then. She was filled with guilt when she saw that the marker was now partially overgrown with weeds. She reached to sweep them aside and cried out in pain as a thorn pierced her flesh.

"Here, let me see that." She turned to see the loving concern in Danny's eyes. He reached for her injured hand and kissed the wound, and it healed instantly.

"I should have come here more often," she mumbled.

"Why? I'm not here anymore."

"Well, something's still down there." She recalled once reading an article about a body that had been exhumed after having been buried for six years. New evidence had come to light that the man might have been deliberately poisoned. The article had described his body as being covered with mold and partially decomposed. Was that the condition of Danny's mortal remains now?

Amber shuddered involuntarily.

"It doesn't matter, you know." Danny's fingers softly caressed her cheek. "That isn't really me anymore. It's only the empty shell that I used to live in."

"Yeah." Amber's voice was almost a whisper.

Danny reached for her hand. "Come on. I'll walk you home."

Jade was surprised when the shiny red Corvette pulled into a parking space at a convenience store. "What's your poison?" her new companion asked.

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Beer? Wine coolers? Vodka? Schnapps?"

"But I thought we were going to a bar!" An icy finger had begun to creep along her spine.

"Nah, I don't feel like doing that anymore. I've got kind of a headache. I thought maybe we could just hang out at my place instead."