Time Jacker by Aaron Crash (nonfiction book recommendations .TXT) 📕

Chapter Twelve

JACK DROPPED THE HUNK of retaining wall rock into the grass. The voice of the woman was one thing. Her appearance was another.

Standing before him was an angel. How could he tell? A golden halo of righteous light illuminated her shining blond hair. That halo shone as brightly as her eyes. Her wings were big, fluffy, and white, and she wore a gleaming white tunic. A sheathed sword hung off a solid gold belt. On the other side was a curled golden horn. She also had several golden rings and two thick golden bracelets.

“Who am I?” The angel had perfect pink lips. They seemed even pinker, her skin seemed whiter, in all the light. “I am Gabriella Jibra Jibril of the Pinturicchio Legion. And I’ve been watching you, Jonathan, and so far, I can’t accuse you of any wrongdoing. But this? This is an example of wrongdoing.”

Jack had to take a minute to think about the last few days. He was pretty sure he did something not quite right every day. Then he remembered. “What about what Bailey and I did in the shower with Wanda?”

The angel kept her halo, but the glow left her eyes. They were a sweet cornflower blue, so light, so soft, so different from Bailey’s single icy blue orb. “The sin of lust wasn’t yours, Jack.” She sighed. “It was this rogue sex demon’s lust. And really, Beyazul Baal? It’s not BB? Name change or not, it’s not like heaven will forget what you are and what you’ve done.”

Bailey marched right up to the angel. She stuck a scarlet fingernail up in the air. “All I’ve done is eat. I mean, your boss created me to fuck. And believe me, I’ve fucked. You should try some Ijjinaya, sweet tits. You might enjoy the tingle you get in your little yellow whisker biscuit.”

The angel put a hand to her mouth. Her cheeks glowed with a blush. “That’s lewd! Why must you debase the holy act of lovemaking with such foul language?”

“Because sometimes it’s lovemaking and sometimes it’s fuck-making.” From out of nowhere, Bailey pulled a black war pick, some medieval-looking weapon with chains on the shaft and dual heads, one under the other. “Out of our way, angel!”

“I will not let you corrupt him, demon!” The blonde unsheathed her sword, which, of course, was imbued with a magical glow.

Jack stepped between the angel and the demon. “Hold up. I know you two were built to fight, but I don’t have much time, and I need to get into that house.”

“Why, Jonathan?” the angel asked, a hurt look in her soft blue eyes. “Why would you choose to go down the wrong path?”

“It’s probably not so black and white as that,” he said. “Unless you can get me cash in other ways.”

Bailey’s tail flashed out from under her dress and shoved Jack to the side, and that war pick came down. Those twin spikes almost found a bloody home in the angel’s chest. At the last minute, however, Gabriella Jibra Jibril brought her sword up and caught the pick.

Bailey whipped the sword away and shoved the angel back. The demon let out a scream, a single word: “Exoria!” And the angel vanished. Gone.

“Bailey? What the hell?” Jack asked.

The demon shrugged. “It’s fine. She was getting in the way of our fun. Don’t worry, it’s not like she’s under Marianna. I don’t know what this Pinturicchio Legion is, but it’s probably one of the lesser armies. Heaven has all these armies, and some you gotta take seriously, but others you can ignore.”

“And what’s Exoria?” he asked.

Bailey winked at him. “Old school banishment spell I learned from this nasty witch in Italy a few centuries ago. We have a second. To be honest, I didn’t think it would work. She must be new. Which means no one is going to listen to her. The angels are ridiculously hierarchical.”

Jack pointed at the war pick. “And where did that come from?”

“It’s my tooth,” she said. “All demons are made with a weapon we call our tooth. Back when I was new, all of hell was trained for the Tempus Bellum, whether we wanted to fight it or not.” She flicked her hand, and the war pick vanished in a cloud of smoke. Her tail was gone as well.

Jack retrieved the big stone block off the ground. Now that he knew heaven was watching, he had to pause for a minute. What kind of a man did he want to be?

He didn’t know. But he did know that both Preston and his father had screwed their fair share of people in their time. The lawsuits had been endless, and there had been some really tragic stories. Bottom line, Preston Tarrington could afford to fix the glass, and he could afford to lose some of his pocket change.

Jack flung the stone through the patio door near the lock. The window shattered. Everything was still silent, so time hadn’t started again.

Jack walked across the broken glass.

Bailey followed. “Wow. I thought all that angel talk might stop you.”

He turned. The headache was starting—probably because he’d had to stop time for all of Bailey’s puking. If only he could track his powers better. He needed a dashboard. “What about you, Bailey? You saved Evelyn Mundi and you didn’t need to. Are you evil?”

Bailey gave him a withering look. “Of course I’m evil. Duh. I’m one of hell’s minions. It’s just...sometimes...I find myself liking humans. They’re interesting, and I like all the sex, and really, you have your tragic backstory, and I have mine, okay?”

She pulled off her red dress and dropped it into a pile in the kitchen. She was just wearing her stilettos. She walked past him, her hips wobbling, her ass moving up and down with every stride. So very hot.

She turned and he got a nice view of her tits and her eyes. “Well, now, let’s go up to the bedroom, and I can tell