Joe just nodded. “I can respect that. Couple guys got hurt on that patrol, though, I can see that much. Roadside bomb. They recovered okay, but it reads like nobody was sure it’d turn out that way. You were in this little village… did it even have a name?”
“Hell if I know. Prob’ly ain’t even there no more.”
“Oh, it’s there. I can show you the satellite from three days ago.” He paused. “Is it still there because of you, Wade? You and the Lieutenant’s sudden dental problem? He freaked out and you kept him from blowing up a village full of innocent Afghans, didn’t you?”
“Sounds like a pretty good secret there,” Wade shrugged. “Shame ah can’t confirm it for you.”
“See, that’s what I thought,” Joe grunted, “and you know I wouldn’t put all that out in the open unless I had already confirmed it through other means, right? So yeah. I think you’re one of us, Wade. I think you’re one of the good guys.”
“That so?”
“Yes.”
“You’re the good guys?”
“We are, Wade,” he said. “But I gotta tell you, I’ve got some doubts about the people you’ve been running around with. I’m not sure they’re up to the sort of thing you want to be involved in, and I don’t-“
Wade slammed his hands down on the table and interrupted, with a triumphant grin, “Fear Down and We Know All.”
Joe blinked. So did Paul. “What’s that?” asked Joe.
“That’s your approach. You spent a couple minutes tryin’ to develop a rapport, ‘cuz you knew a stern posture would be dumb, so you went for a sympathetic tone, an’ then you made your interrogation approach. You’re blendin’ the ‘Fear Down’ approach with ‘We Know All.’ Took me a second t’ figure it out, ‘cuz ah was lookin’ for just one approach, but y’all went and blended two an’ came at me with both of ‘em.” He pointed to the files. “Izzat folder stuffed with blank papers? Or totally irrelevant stuff, like th’ manual suggests? Wait, no, ah’m sorry, y’all are FBI. Probably got y’all’s own manual. Y’all don’t use the Army Intelligence and Interrogation Handbook, do ya? Ah got mah copy at Barnes amp; Noble.”
Joe stared at him, his friendly demeanor vanishing. He took in a long, slow breath. Paul looked at him with more concern than he intended to show.
“An’ y’all still can’t process whut jus’ happened, ‘cuz all y’all can think is that this kid talks like a dumb-ass redneck, so he’s gotta be an idiot, am ah right?
“So whadda we do now?” Wade asked. “Ah don’t really need t’ go t’ the bathroom, by the way. Ah jus’ figured you’d offer an’ then pull it away from me t’ put some extra stress on me, but really, ah’m fine. This is fun. It’s like that time Mr. Choy pulled that pop quiz on us all in civics an’ didn’t think ah studied. What’s next?”
* * *
Even angels suffered flaws.
That they enjoyed an existence free of many mortal limitations was never in dispute. Ageless and powerful, they lived without many of the needs of humanity. There was no hunger, nor deprivation, nor fear of disease. Apart from extraordinary circumstance, death would only ever be temporary. Their hierarchy and society reached for lofty goals. They dedicated themselves to compassion and honesty, to the defense of the weak and service to the divine.
For all that, they were imperfect, and as uniquely made as any living being. Arrogance abounded, though often muted in its expression. Though they did not suffer the influence of the mortal body, whose queasy stomachs and trembling nerves could exacerbate the impact of fear, an angel’s courage could still fail.
Angels could miscommunicate. They could be cliquish. Insecure. Judgmental.
Rachel had always faced her flaws and her fears head-on, openly in front of all of her peers, and thus never quite fit in among her own kind. In the beginning there were only the angels, and their world was perfect. Then came the Fall, when those who could not rise above their flaws turned against the rest and tried to overthrow the divine order. The faithful accepted that they, too, were flawed, but vowed to overcome their faults, and soon comforted themselves with the belief that they largely succeeded. Admission of imperfection became a polite conceit-but, being the direct servants of the divine, those imperfections were never considered significant.
Rachel had never accepted that. She was flawed; perhaps not quite as badly as the fuck-monkeys who created and inhabited Hell, but just the same, she knew she was broken. She could name some of her faults and knew there were others she could not see in herself. Every other angel had such faults, too, and they all knew it, but Rachel-not uniquely, it must be said-refused to pretend to perfection.
And so it passed that Rachel did not fit in, which inherently marked her among her peers as genuinely, obviously flawed.
Angels loved. They enjoyed deep friendships, and close bonds as warm and accepting as mortal families, and passionate romances… all among their own kind.
Rachel once loved another angel. She experimented with others, engaging in dalliances and trysts, but only once did she fall in love. Their peers saw chiseled perfection, and for a long time so did she, until he burdened Rachel with his flaws more severely and more thoughtlessly than he could ever recognize. She left him, to the shock and sharp judgment of her peers, further exposing her many flaws.
Angels could be imperfect, and stubborn, and honest, and terribly lonely.
That loneliness, at least, was now a thing of the past. Rachel lay atop her dangerous, seductive lover, who kissed and manipulated Rachel’s body with hunger and skill. The demon knew that Rachel was flawed, and did not judge, and loved her.
Rachel trembled in ecstasy, writhing over Lorelei just as the succubus intended, bathing in sensuality and acceptance. Seductive fingers stroked her sides, taunting her sensitive breasts and more while her kiss occupied the angel’s mouth.
Mortal hands slid up her back, warm and lustful and loving. Rachel’s breath quickened as Alex moved in behind her. She broke her kiss with Lorelei, looking down through dangling blonde locks at her lover’s wicked smile. The succubus spread Rachel’s legs open with her own. Rachel put up no resistance.
He was, in so many ways, every bit as flawed as Rachel-and, being mortal, had many more burdens to bear. Rachel saw those flaws. She also saw his strengths, and his charm, and the light of his soul. She knew truths about him she could not share. He held complete faith in her judgment, and she loved him all the more for it.
Rachel’s breath shook as she felt him tease her, probing gently to ready her for the coupling she now desperately wanted. She looked down at Lorelei, her lip quivering and her brow knit together in a pleading expression, almost apologizing for this, for wanting him as much as her. Balancing multiple lovers was never easy, nor something one could take for granted. Entering this relationship, Rachel hadn’t known how things would work out. She didn’t know it could be this good.
She felt his cock slip between her and Lorelei. She pushed her hips down, capturing his length between herself and her other lover just to enjoy the intimacy the three shared.
In the eyes of many of Rachel’s peers, Alex and Lorelei vindicated all Rachel had ever done and had ever been. In the eyes of others, the pair represented glaring evidence of just how broken Rachel truly was.
Fuck ‘em. She knew she was flawed. She knew she made mistakes. She also had love, and if it was not the love of other angels, that suited her just fine. She had it much better here in the Bedroom of Misfit Toys. She had made love with angels before, but those angels had never loved her for her flaws as well as her strengths… and not one of them had ever fucked her like this.
She gave in to them both, to a demon grown tired of evil and the mortal who’d never given a second thought to being anything but good. Rachel soaked in Lorelei’s embrace while Alex penetrated her, filling her and bringing her to complete surrender.
Alex took it slow, indulging her in a rhythm that would inevitably build with time. His lips trailed up and down her back as he worked his hips, holding himself up from the bed with steady arms. She felt him enjoy her deeply, and knew Lorelei could feel it, too. They stared into one another’s eyes, sharing him through the bond that first brought them together.