Diego’s Dance with Death - 12. Two Very Different Meetings

Diego finished putting his room in order and checking to make sure Sablo’s bags were ready for him to collect. His brother had a tendency to leave stuff lying around, and he’d been in a hurry to get ready for his confrontation with Theo. Thank Heavens Rahmiel had been able to confirm his friend was present at Cupid Central, although it had taken him awhile to cajole the cupid to talk to him, let alone admit he knew where Theo was. Diego finally resorted to a spot of bribery, and he had the feeling Sablo wouldn’t be amused if he found out someone else knew about the tattoo.

After the drama of the past twelve hours, he felt exhausted and wanted to collapse on his bed. But as he got back to GC, after helping Sablo over to CC, and finally turned on his phone, a notification had appeared.

Guardian Angel Diego Fuentes. Prep meeting for award ceremony. Commander Ariel’s office. 1500 sharp.

With this meeting less than an hour from now, there was no way he’d get any rest. Or was there? Time to test a theory.

“Azrael. I need you. Please.”

Moments later there was a knock on his door. Heart wildly beating, Diego strode over and opened it.

Dark, compassionate eyes and a soft smile made his breath hitch. “T…thank you. I hope it we...was OK?”

“Any time, any place.” Once again the sensual voice made him shiver.

“Can we go to your garden? Please?” Diego stepped back, and Azrael followed him inside.

As soon as he shut the door the Angel of Death took his hand, and before he could utter a word of thanks, they were among the flowers and trees. A comfortable-looking recliner stood in the grass, and Diego folded himself down onto the cushioned surface with a sigh.

“Sorry about taking advantage of you like this.”

“Shush, sleep as long as you need. If I’m not here when you wake, simply say my name.”

Diego wanted to express his gratitude, but he slipped into a deep slumber before he could open his mouth.

When he woke, Azrael was sitting on another recliner next to him, but in an upright position. Diego pulled himself and the chair up too, and the Angel of Death motioned to a box next to him, which held a jug of water and a full glass.

How does Azrael always know exactly what I need? Although, in this case guessing I’d be thirsty probably wasn’t so difficult.

After downing two glasses of the best water he’d ever tasted, he finally felt fully awake.

“Just what I craved, both the sleep and the drink. You may have saved my life, or at least my sanity. I don’t want to face Commander Ariel when I’m zonked out from exhaustion and dealing with Sablo.”

“You’re welcome. Ariel isn’t the easiest person to consort with, even when he’s in a good mood.”

“You can say that again, and he seems to have been exceptionally grumpy the past few weeks.”

Azrael nodded, but didn’t elaborate. Diego was learning to see the signs of topics best left alone.

“It wasn’t the kind of return to this garden and your company I’d hoped for, but maybe, now that I’m here, we could discuss where to go on our first date?”

“I like all your ideas, so I’ll leave it up to you completely. My only stipulation is that you’ll wait for me if I need to attend to a death. I can be called away at any time when I’m on Earth.”

“Another good reason not to go to a restaurant or to the movies. I’ll bring a packed lunch, and hopefully we’ll have time to enjoy it before duty calls.” Or before we get hit by silver arrows.

“We can always return here, if we want to be undisturbed.”

“You mean, nobody can enter this garden unless you bring them?”

“You may from now on, but no one else. Simply say the words Azrael’s Garden and will yourself here.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.” Convenient too. I wonder if Azrael has a house here…with a bed, maybe a shower? Of course, I wouldn’t mind making love right in this spot with all the flowers and trees.

The Angel of Death suddenly stood up, and Diego thought he saw a slight blush. Ooops, can they read my mind? Or perhaps only when we’re in this place.

He got to his feet, and carefully keeping his mind on the beautiful garden and the melodious bird songs, he strolled over to Azrael.

When the Angel turned to look at him, Diego took both their hands, leaned forward and kissed the tempting mouth, briefly and chastely.

“Thank you for your trust and for saying yes to go on a date. I hope you won’t regret it.”

The delighted surprise on Azrael’s face was priceless. There was a sparkle in their dark eyes, and a small pouting of their lips almost called for another kiss.

In a blink of an eye they were back in his room. Azrael leaned forward and ghosted warm lips over Diego’s cheek to his ear.

“My dear Guardian, I shall never regret meeting you.”

Then he was alone, and his phone was going crazy with incoming messages. A quick look at the clock on the wall reassured him there was still plenty of time to get ready for the meeting. But first he needed to wipe the infatuated grin off his face.

***

“Enter,” Commander Ariel called as soon as Diego knocked on his office door. He went in, closed the door behind him and took the seat the Senior Guardian pointed to.

“As you may have noticed, the announcement of the time and place for the award ceremony was posted an hour ago. This is a briefing on what you can expect.”

Diego nodded and did his best to keep a neutral expression. It was too late to object to GC proclaiming his achievement to all and sundry, but he was utterly disgusted about not having had any say in the matter. Most of the messages on the phone had been from Guardians either praising or pitying him for those special missions, and he didn’t need the insincerity of the former or the veiled glad-it’s-not-me attitude of the latter. The only welcome messages had been a short text from Sablo saying Mission accomplished and a short video clip from Rahmiel showing Theo rushing out of Cupid Central to embrace his partner.

“The ceremony will take place tomorrow at fifteen hundred in the park behind GC. I will give a short speech, at the end of which I shall ask you to approach. The certificate will be presented to you, and the assembled Guardians will salute you by raising their swords. Please wear your official Guardian attire, and yes that includes boots. Any questions?”

“Is it possible to have a closed ceremony?”

“What do you mean?”

“Since I apparently can’t avoid having a ceremony, I’d like to have the audience limited to invited guests only.”

“I see.” Ariel made a note on the open file in front of him. Cupid Central may have embraced modern stuff like tablets, but Guardians stuck to good old-fashioned paper as cheaper and safer. “And who would you like to invite?”

“Sablo, Theo, and Azrael.”

“The Angel of Death will be there in any case.”

“In that case, limiting the list of attendees may be prudent, since Azrael dislikes the way people cringe around them.”

“This is no social gathering, but an official Guardian event. I expect everyone to behave appropriately.”

“So there is no reception afterwards? The ceremony ends after the salute?”

“I thought you didn’t want anything elaborate?”

“Yessir, I simply wanted to be sure. May Sablo bring his partner?”

The commander raised an eyebrow. “I expect Commander Ayil will bring the Cupid as his adjutant in any case. Why do you ask?”

“I thought it was a Guardian ceremony, apart from Azrael.”

“It’s still a public event, but unlike the CC bunch, the other Department Heads usually limit their retinue to a few people.”

“Are all the Commanders attending?” Diego felt like puking at the thought of being stared at by a bunch of superior beings.

“I doubt more than two or three will appear, but for courtesy’s sake I have to extend invitations. The head of the A.I. team usually shows up for these occasions, and I also expect the Captain of the Celestial Guards.”

Diego bit back a curse and mumbled, “At least it will be over fast.”

“I shall make a note to remind me to ask any future award receivers for their preferences. You’re the first Guardian to not want widespread recognition and celebration of your achievements.”

“Did any of them get their awards for the same kind of special missions?”

“At least two, if I recall correctly, but you have a point.”

Ariel closed the file, and Diego began to stand up.

“Before you go…” the commander gave him a sharp look, and Diego gulped and stayed seated. “I’d like to know the reason you and your brother were unavailable earlier today. I sent you the text about this meeting at zero eight hundred hours, but it wasn’t delivered until shortly after the lunch hour.”

“Um, do you know about Sablo and Theliel having a spot of trouble?”

“Unsurprisingly, all sorts of crazy rumors were going strong all morning. Those cupids have nothing better to do than create drama and gossip when they’re not shooting arrows at unsuspecting victims.”

“Well, my brother was pretty devastated, so I decided to take him on a retreat and talk things through. Luckily, when we came back he was able to patch things up with his partner, so we should both be fit for duty after tomorrow.”

Ariel gave Diego another penetrating stare, but he had years of experience as both human and Guardian Angel in keeping a straight face in front of suspicious superior officers.

“Very well, I guess no harm was done by you being AWOL, but don’t do it again. I’ll see you tomorrow. Dismissed.”

“Sir, thank you, Sir.” He walked out with dignity and only celebrated the narrow escape when he got back to his room.

“Fucking Hell, bro. You owe me for this one. Jeez, I need a beer.”