Cupid Central - 1. Story

With his bike slung over his shoulder, Theliel ran up the stairs, wincing every time one of the pedals bumped into his lower back. But he couldn’t slow down if he wanted to make it on time. Horace must have seen him coming, because he was holding the door wide open when Theliel reached the landing.

The security man shook his head. “Cutting it close again, Theo?”

“Alarm didn’t go off! Thanks, Horace!” He headed for the bank of elevators at the end of the hall, sending a prayer to whatever angel happened to be watching over him when he saw the cabin in the middle was empty. Quickly juggling his bike around so it blocked two suits from following after him, he swiped his key card in front of the reader. The doors closed and a golden arrow flashed up. Glancing at his wrist, he saw the time bar was still mostly green. Just a sliver of red was showing.

The moment he stepped into CC’s foyer on the 12^th floor, it was measured strides only, no matter how late he was. Ayil would have his balls if he caught him rushing around in an undignified hurry. Theliel nodded politely at Naya'il behind the reception desk, while pushing his bike over to the storage space. Everyone knew Naya'il had been transferred for disciplinary reasons and was taking it out on them by reporting on improper conduct.

A well-aimed hit to the upper left corner of his locker had the door springing open. Theliel took off his gloves and helmet, untied his ratty Converse, pulled his socks off, and stuffed everything inside. Remembering dress regulations at the last moment, he undid his messy braid and ran a brush through the long, dark strands. Then he grabbed his bow, slammed the door shut, and left as fast as he thought he could get away with. Of course, it was just his luck that outside he ran into Diniel and her gaggle of nestlings. One even rammed her tiny bow into his calf. Theliel caught her before she could fall on her butt. “Hey little angel, caused any mischief today?” She giggled before she smacked a kiss on his cheek.

Diniel sighed. “You have no idea! And she is one of the more obedient. I will never piss off Ayil again, I swear.”

Their boss was in the nasty habit of doling out the most unpleasant punishments if they did something wrong, for example, missing their appointed timeslot. Overseeing targeting practice was one of them. With that in mind, Theliel slowly pushed his way through the tiny boys and girls barring his way to the silver double doors at the end of the hallway.

He managed to step in front of the counter the moment the last sliver of the green time bar vanished. “Once again, you are just on time. With not a second to spare, Theliel.” With a stern look Ayil passed him a quiver.

“My alarm didn’t go off. And then I ran into Diniel outside.” Seeing Ayil’s face, Theliel snapped his mouth shut. His boss didn’t care for excuses. So instead, he quickly strapped the quiver on his back and reached for the data pad with his new assignment. Only his boss didn’t let go of the pad. Irritated, Theliel looked up and Ayil held his hand out to him. “Congratulations on becoming a full angel with the CC Department.”

“I…er…. What?” Automatically accepting Ayil’s handshake, Theliel didn’t comprehend the words, until he threw a gaze back over his shoulder. “Oh my G− em… Wow!” Red arrows, not purple.

“Now that you are a full angel, I expect you to always be on time. No excuses.” Ayil narrowed his eyes at him before he pointed at the pad in Theliel’s hand. “The scouts deem them red arrow worthy. I checked their data and agree with them, but protocol says a full angel has to confirm the findings onsite.” He smiled. “And fire the arrows.”

Full angel meant the research had to be even more thorough. Humans hit with red arrows fell deeply in love, as in ‘love-of-their-life’ love. If something went wrong, if he didn’t run his tests properly, they would suffer greatly. Some never recovered.

Still reeling upon his new responsibility and status, Theliel had difficulties concentrating on the data the scouts had filed for him:

Patrick, forty-three years old, auto mechanic, working at Lyle’s Garage, always extremely shy in the presence of women. Ridiculed for stuttering and stumbling over his words in the past, he had given up on finding a life-partner a long time ago.

After that a long list of numbers followed, documenting test results the scouts acquired.

Linda, forty-four, receptionist at a vet clinic, divorced for three years from an abusive husband, still struggling with trust issues and a fear of touch.

“I’m on it.” Theliel saluted smartly with two fingers touching his head, grabbed one of the red test kits from the counter, and left the room. In measured strides. Outside, he pumped his fist in the air, then hugged Rahmiel, who was next in line getting his assignment. “I made full angel!”

The other angel grinned. “Congratulations. Did you get the ‘always on time speech’?”

“Yep. Although… I think Halaliel manipulated my alarm. He doesn’t like me because I warned Diniel not to go out with him and his tentacle hands.”

“Don’t let him hear that. You know our Lord of Karma is easily offended.”

“Whatever. I’m so happy, I would give even him a hug.”

“Better not.” Rahmiel shuddered, then hurried to get through the door.

***

Theliel willed himself to be where Linda was and he surfaced beside her bright green Prius. She had brought her car to Lyle’s Garage for her annual service and was just handing the keys over to Patrick.

He watched them for a few minutes. The scouts had been right. Their bodies seemed to gravitate towards each other. Their auras had almost an identical color, a deep orange, and were drifting together, even merging at the edges. A very good sign. He circled them slowly. No violent whirls just smooth swirling. There were some tiny dark spots around Patrick’s waist, though, which indicated he was developing an addiction problem. Maybe alcohol. Nothing too worrying yet. But the red smudge near Linda’s head was a little more alarming. Anxiety and depression.

Theliel pulled out a test tube from the kit he’d clipped to his belt. Holding it near Linda, he waited until it was filled with the orange mist of her aura. He did the same with Patrick, then pushed each vial into his portable reader and compared the findings. Linda and Patrick were a good match. Just to be on the safe side, he also took a sample from one of Patrick’s dark spots and Linda’s red smudge. The new readings confirmed his suspicions. Still, nothing a new love couldn’t heal.

Theliel felt slightly queasy, but then decided not to overthink it. The readings, Linda’s and Patrick’s outer appearances, and his gut feelings told him to go for it. So he did.

Carefully taking several steps back, he heard his old instructor’s voice in his mind. Assume the correct shooting stance. Stand upright without tension. Hold the bow with your left hand, point your left shoulder to the target.

What he was about to do didn’t guarantee lifelong love, too many unforeseeable things could happen, but he knew that at least on his side he’d done everything he could.

Taking in a deep breath, then letting it slowly out again, Theliel nocked the first arrow. He raised and drew the bow in one fluid motion. Nothing could distract him now. Allowing his subconscious to guide his movements, he relaxed his fingers and the arrow left for its target. He watched as it flew until it hit Patrick.

The effect was immediate. Patrick froze briefly, then subtly straightened his back, sucked in his gut, and expanded his chest. When he brushed off his grease-stained jeans in a vain attempt to clean them a bit, Theliel grinned. Patrick was preening his feathers for Linda.

Without further delay, Theliel fired again. As with Patrick, Linda reacted almost instantly to the hit. Flicking her hair backwards, she smiled coyly at the mechanic. While they talked, she kept playing with her earrings and the bracelets on her arm, effectively attracting her man’s attention. But when she jokingly tapped Patrick’s arm and shoulder a few times, Theliel had to swallow. In the past, she had never allowed for anyone to come this close, let alone touching them, especially men. He suddenly felt very optimistic about his first assignment as a full angel.

Linda finally said goodbye, and Theliel was pretty sure Patrick would ask her out when she picked up her car in the afternoon. On a whim he decided to follow her around a little, seeing if there were any ill after-effects from the arrow.

As always on her day off, Linda went grocery shopping. Theliel watched her examining the meat, probably wondering what Patrick’s favorite food would be. While he watched her indecisively perusing the selection, he felt a dissonance of sorts. Looking around for the source, he found it coming from a man in a green apron, standing on a ladder stocking shelves. The nametag read ‘Kyle’. He was gazing after a guy in a suit and promptly dropped the glass jar in his hand. Instinctively, Theliel grabbed it to slow it down enough for Kyle to catch it, when he was rudely shoved aside.

“Get your paws off my charge, Cupid!”

He barely caught himself from crashing into an aisle by latching on the edge of a shelf with his hand. A tall man – angel – had placed himself protectively before Kyle. Thick, broad, and glaring, everything about him screamed guardian angel. Wonderful.

Theliel straightened up, brushing imaginary dust off his sleeves. “What is your problem, Guardian?”

“You lot have done enough to him already.” Then the guardian’s hand shot forward, stabilizing the ladder just in time to prevent it from toppling over. Kyle had been leaning too far to the right, futilely trying to catch yet another jar. Seconds later, everything smelled of pickled red peppers and Theliel’s feet were drenched in vinegar.

He glared right back at the guardian. They were usually recruited from humans who came from the serve and protect divisions: firefighters, police officers, military, and the like. “He is beyond clumsy. What would ‘my kind’ have to do with that?”

“Clumsy?! Kyle had never been clumsy before one of your half-trained pretty boys used him for target practice!”

Theliel stepped forward, not caring about the glass shards. Being on duty he wasn’t substantial enough to get hurt. “Half-trained? Target practice?! We do not send out untrained angels for target practice with humans!”

The guardian threw his hand back over his shoulder in a contemptuous gesture. “Whatever! Fact is, he hit him with an arrow but then missed his counterpart.” He pointed at the man Kyle had been ogling. “Now Kyle pines for Carl, who couldn’t care less. You just saw the result.”

“What color?”

“Huh?”

“The arrow. What color?”

“I don’t know. Light blue?”

“Well, light blue wouldn’t cause this much of an infatuation. A harmless crush maybe, nothing more.”

“Does this look like a harmless crush to you? He is so out of it, Guardian Central had to appoint him his very own angel! They called me in even though I had some time off after my last charge passed over.” He fixed his eyes on Theliel. “After living a long and satisfying life I might add.”

Theliel lifted both eyebrows. “Ah, so that is what this is about. You’re angry because they called you in to work on your time off.” He looked him up and down. “Probably right out of your favorite leather bar, I presume?” A tight, black t-shirt stretched over the guardian’s broad chest, and the thick long legs were encased in black leather pants. Theliel hid a smirk behind his hand. The badass look was only slightly ruined by his bare feet, and the curly blond hair hanging down the guardian’s shoulders.

Now it was the guardian’s turn to invade Theliel’s personal space. Their chests almost touched. “You seem to know a lot about this.”

Theliel flicked his hand dismissively. “Whatever floats your boat, Guardian. I still need the exact date and place Kyle’s incident happened. As well as your name.”

“What for?”

“To look up the reports, talk with my boss, and get back to you so we can repair the damage?”

“If you can do that, why hasn’t it been done already?”

“Because no one reported it?”

“I personally reported it!”

“With CC?”

“With GC.”

“You might want to check with your people then. Just in case someone forgot to forward it to us.” With a last gaze at Linda, who was happily perusing the beer aisle, even though Theliel knew she didn’t drink the stuff, he said, “Now would be good.”

“September 2^nd. Here. The name is Sablo.”

“Finally. I’m off.”

***

“I can’t find any entries for this date. No report of a failed arrow.” Ayil frowned, while he went through the list on the screen a second time.

“From GC or from us?”

“From GC. Let’s look at our reports now.” Ayil tapped on the screen. “September 2^nd, you said? Amadeus filed a failed arrow. He is from the light blue division. It says here Anael cleared him, as it was only a light blue arrow. Still, no one went back to check on Kyle, as would have been proper protocol.”

Uh-oh. Seeing Ayil’s face, Amadeus and Anael were in trouble big time. “So what do we do now?”

“I’m going to clear this with GC, tell them to whistle back their guardian, and then you will personally check Kyle’s aura, maybe Carl’s too while you’re at it. It was probably just an overreaction because Kyle is extremely sensitive. Something Anael would have caught if he had checked on him. After that, we will screen your findings together.” Ayil lifted his hand when Theliel frowned. “Not because I don’t trust you, Theliel, but because this is an official complaint. It’s proper protocol.”

***

Sablo narrowed his eyes at Theliel. “Why are you here?”

“I came to offer my help.”

“Your help. Right, Cupid.”

“It’s easy, actually. I’m going to take samples of Kyle’s and Carl’s auras. Then my boss and I will review them, find a solution, and you can go back to your leather bar.” Theliel slapped the guardian’s shoulder. “Go find your favorite flogger.”

Ignoring his last remark, Sablo followed close at his heels. “Why are you doing this? It was just a light-blue arrow, right? I believe those were the words you used.”

The guardian didn’t trust him, not that Theliel could blame him after what had happened. “Because it’s our responsibility? The incident has been reported, but no one did a follow up─”

“Aha! So CC really screwed this up again.”

“We couldn’t find any reports from Guardian Central. Duh. Whatever your fucking problem is with us, Sablo, your agency is as much at fault as mine. No one on your end thought of checking this either. As would have been proper protocol.” Theliel couldn’t believe Ayil’s favorite words ‘proper protocol’ had just left his mouth. “And now, step back dickhead, and let me work. Your boss already approved this by the way.”

Theliel took several samples from different areas of Carl’s and Kyle’s auras. They were of the same shade of green. Kyle’s was maybe a tad lighter than Carl’s. No unusual discoloring, apart from some purple swirls around Kyle’s head, which was nothing, considering he suffered from a failed hit. Young Amadeus did have a good sense when he attempted to pair them up. He just had to brush up his targeting. Theliel grinned. Ayil would make sure he did.

Sablo was breathing down his neck the whole time, except when he had to catch the things Kyle dropped. It was almost funny watching the two of them.

Theliel stoppered his last test tube. “Okay. I’m done here. We will check this out and get back to GC soon.”

***

“So, what do you think?” Ayil turned his head and watched Theliel going through the test results.

Theliel thought he warped back to the time he were still in class when he heard Ayil using his ‘you-better-not-be-wrong’ voice. “Kyle and Carl are a surprisingly good match. If the scouts had presented this data to me, I would have definitely recommended a red arrow.” He held his breath, anxiously waiting for Ayil’s response. And the man took his sweet time with his answer.

“I agree.”

“You agree?”

“I do. I will immediately inform GC and then you can proceed.”

“You don’t think Kyle will react badly to getting shot again? He was already sensitive to light blue.”

“That was because Amadeus missed Carl. You just have to make sure not to miss him this time.”

A joke? Ayil made a joke!

***

“You can’t be serious!” The guardian stood right in front of Theliel, blocking his way to Kyle. “You want to shoot him again? No way!”

In his mind, Theliel slowly counted to three. “Ayil cross-checked my data. This is perfectly safe for Kyle.”

But the guardian shook his head. “I have seen your ‘perfectly safe’. I won’t allow it.”

Theliel tried to step around the furious angel. “It’s a done deal, Sablo. Check in with GC if you must, but let me do my job.”

“No!”

Theliel lifted his hand, and tiny blue currents flashed at the tip of his pointer finger. “Misguided as it might be, I really admire your protectiveness and loyalty, Sablo. Still, I have the means to force this.”

Sablo snorted. “Bring it on, Cupid.”

“Step. A-side.”

But of course the guardian didn’t budge. “Sablo, please. I don’t want to hurt you.” He could have talked to a wall; it would have had the same effect.

“Fine. You leave me no choice.” He flicked his finger and a blue flash emerged from the tip and hit Sablo where it hurt most. Theliel knew it was a mean move, but at any other place on Sablo’s body, the flash would have had to be that much stronger to have a similar effect on the big guy.

Sablo’s hands instantly went to his groin area as he bent over and then sank slowly down to his knees. “Son of a bitch!” He groaned pitifully, and Theliel almost felt bad. Almost.

“Nothing feels better than a little CBT every now and then. Right?”

He rounded the guardian, who by now was lying on his side, groaning pitifully. Theliel had a job to do. Blocking everything else out, he fully concentrated on Kyle. The arrow hit him right in the chest. One. He turned slightly and the second arrow hit Carl. Two. Relieved, he let out his breath when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the hollow of his right knee. Somehow, the damn guardian had managed to crawl close without Theliel noticing. Before he crashed down on the floor, Theliel grinned triumphantly at him. “Too late, Guardian.”

***

“Piss off!”

This guardian sure needed a serious dose of mood enhancer. “Good morning to you too, sunshine.”

“I have everything under control here, Cupid. Go. Meddle somewhere else!”

“There is nothing I’d like to do more; alas I have to check on Kyle.” Theliel ignored the thunderstorm on the guardian’s face and took several samples of Kyle’s aura. Then he stepped back and watched him building a pyramid from peach jars without dropping a single one. “Everything seems fine. What are you still doing here?”

“Seeing how you always fuck up, my boss decided I am to stay Kyle’s personal guardian for another three months.”

“Nice.” Theliel groaned inwardly. Ayil had ordered him to check on Kyle and Carl, look for unusual behavior caused by his arrows, and generally follow them around for at least three months. And now the numb-skull would be there all the time. Observing everything Theliel did with his distrustful eyes while peppering him with snide remarks. If he had had the choice, he would have taken target practice with the nestlings or even reception duty any time. Cupids and guardians just weren’t meant to work together. Ever.

They were watching Kyle almost falling asleep at his lecture, when Sablo asked, “Why aren’t you shooting at some of the students? Doing your job, while we’re here?”

“Really?” Theliel was about to ignore the stupid question, but when he looked at the guardian, there seemed to be genuine interest for once. Bracing himself to be ridiculed, again, he decided to answer the question. “It doesn’t work that way. We do not shoot people randomly, at least not with red arrows. Even purple or green requires some research.”

“What do the colors mean?”

“The nestlings have white arrows. Those don’t do much but let people flirt, risk a look, a smile, something like that. Light blue usually results in a crush. Blue means they get together for a short time, light green means they are together longer, a few months, a year. Green, purple and red are something else. The scouts collect data, Ayil usually evaluates them and assigns an angel to shoot those.”

“So, this means you never get to decide who you shoot spontaneously? Say…you see two humans and think ‘Hey, they’d fit’?”

“Now that I am a full angel, I could. I would have to do the required research on my own and report to Ayil later, but only to inform him, not to get his approval.”

It had been their first conversation without getting at each other throats. Still, it didn’t mean they got along better. Theliel still couldn’t wait until the three months were over. And he knew for certain, Sablo thought the same.

***