Angel's Messiah

4. Shopping-1

4. Shopping

Werewolves were a lot of fun to hunt. They were bigger and fiercer than vamps and rarely travelled alone. Danny had made it his job to find them for me, then he’d hang back while I walked in and let them take a bite out of me. As long as they stuck to my legs, arms, or upper body I wasn’t bothered too much. The small amount of pain I had to endure was nothing compared to the pleasure afterwards. I was still wary about letting them bite my stomach and lower abdomen, even though no damage had been done so far.

We didn’t bother clearing away the bodies. It all added to the fun, knowing the vamps and werewolves would be wondering what was killing these massive creatures so effectively — how they were being turned into stone. Maybe there was a market for them in the city. People would buy anything if they thought it was art.

After the four werewolves currently fastened to me whimpered and died — they all whimper in the end — I was on a high from their energy. I pushed their bodies away — detaching their teeth from my flesh always hurt a little — and rushed over to Danny, jumping into his outstretched arms and wrapping my legs about his waist. I’d have to eat ten vamps in order to get the same buzz from four werewolves. Maybe a permanent change of diet was in order.

“I’ll race you home,” I laughed, and dropping down to the ground started running.

It was a good four hundred kilometres back to the cottage. I wasn’t going to run the whole way, but Danny didn’t need to know that. Besides, I’d probably have difficulty finding it on foot. I looked back over my shoulder. He wasn’t there. As I looked ahead of me, I caught movement out of the corner of my left eye. It was Danny. The sneak had transported ahead and was now intercepting me. He wrapped his arms around my waist as I ran. Before I could react we were back at the cottage, in the garden at the rear. Something smelled different. It was a familiar smell, yet not one that belonged here. I found myself thinking of the beach, of all places.

“Clearly you need to burn off some energy, again. How about a swim?”

I looked behind me. A good portion of the garden was gone, replaced by an Olympic-size swimming pool. I clapped my hands and, wriggling out of Danny’s arms, ran and jumped into what I hoped was the deep end. It turned out that it was the same depth the whole way around. Danny probably didn’t know that most pools had a shallow end and a deep end.

My clothes were weighing me down, so I sent them away without much thought. The water may have only came up to my neck, but clothes were a hassle in a pool. I looked down at the water. I’d always liked the way water can make your body look distorted — with the small waves I made my body appeared to be undulating.

Danny dove in one end of the pool and swam all the way underwater to where I was, grabbing my legs and pulling me under. He kissed me and lifted me out of the water.

“I like your swimsuit,” he said.

I looked in the water and grinned. “Yours isn’t bad either.”

Danny rubbed my stomach, something he’d taken to doing a lot lately.

“Are you putting on weight?” he asked.

“It’s not like I’m supposed to,” I said sarcastically.

“Okay, you were being sarcastic, weren’t you?”

I laughed and kissed him. He was so funny sometimes.

“Let’s do some laps before I wear you right out,” I said. “Maybe a bit of dancing later … I still have to show you what a lap dance is.”

He ran his hands through my wet hair and kissed my neck.

“I’m looking forward to learning how to do that one.”

“You’ll be a passive participant,” I murmured in his ear.

He gave me a look that said he didn’t understand. I tapped the side of my nose and smiled. That was for me to know and him to find out.

I took off down the pool to do some laps, and after half an hour, and a few kilometres of ground covered, I was ready for a tango, salsa or rumba. I’d leave the decision up to Danny. He was getting very good at the tango, though really needed to work on the other two. Whichever he decided didn’t matter, it would be a good warm up for the other dancing still to come.

“Tango, I think,” Danny said.

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“If you thought it any louder our nearest neighbours a couple of hundred kilometres away would have heard it,” he chuckled.

“Oh,” I said.

It must be another pregnancy thing, along with vagueness. It was a good thing I could summon things. I kept putting stuff down and forgetting where I’d put it, and forever had to summon it back to me.

I stepped out of the pool, naked and dripping, and returned to the cottage. Danny met me in the ballroom and suitably attired us. My costume was a bit tight — I was putting on weight — and I adjusted it accordingly.

An hour into the dance Danny switched to a slow dance. He was trying to wind me down. I didn’t mind. The more energy I saved now, the more I could expend later. As we slowly made our way around the dance floor I was conscious of my stomach pressing up against Danny.

“Danny, I’ve been thinking.”

“About what?” he asked dreamily, contentedly.

“About the baby,” I said. “It’s going to need a room of its own and lots of things. Babies are a lot of work.”

“Don’t worry too much, we can cater for her every need.”

Danny had his heart set on having a girl. I hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed if it were a boy.

“I know we can, but I’d really like to do this the way it would be done if I were still mortal. I want the whole shopping experience.”

“Shopping,” Danny groaned.

“Yes, shopping, and I want us to do it as a couple. I think it’ll be great fun buying all the stuff the baby will need.” I pushed my belly hard against Danny to remind him what we were talking about. “I’ve still got my credit cards.”

He laughed and hugged me tight, in a warm, safe cocoon. “What is it about spending money that you like so much?”

“Finding a bargain or that special little thing is very much like the thrill of the hunt. I get a real adrenaline rush out of it. Shopping helped me through some hard times years ago.”

Danny nodded his head. He still felt guilty about what had happened to me after he’d died — how I’d suffered, and the things I’d done as a direct result of his death. If there was one thing that would guarantee me getting my way, it was playing the guilt card, intentionally or not.

“When do mortals usually do their baby shopping?” he asked.

“It depends if they’re superstitious or not. Most miscarriages happen in the first three months, so a lot of people don’t shop before then. There are lots of women who think having any baby clothes in the house before the baby is born is bad luck.”

“What’s your opinion on it?”

“I say you get started on that room today. I want to go shopping, and we’ll need somewhere to put everything.”

“Did you want me to create the room now?”

I thought about it, for all of two seconds, and nibbled his ear.

“After,” I said. “It can wait until after.”

Danny created the baby’s room off our bedroom. Like when he’d added the ballroom, from the outside the cottage looked no different, though on the inside it was bigger. He made everything pink. I hated it. It looked like some sort of fantasy room for dirty old men to get their rocks off with girls dressed in school uniforms. It reminded me that the baby’s education was another thing we’d need to discuss.

“I don’t mind a mix of pale pink and pale blue, but not this,” I snorted. “It’s disgusting.”

“I’ve never dealt with babies before. I don’t know what’s right and wrong. You’ll need to provide me with some guidance,” he said.

“Oh,” I replied, not that I’d had much to do with babies either. “Well how about I take care of decorating and you can be in charge of assembling all the furniture we’re going to buy.”

Danny shook his head. I wondered if he wondered what he’d gotten himself into. I was a bit of an emotional terrorist at the moment. My hormones still hadn’t settled down. I slipped my hand into his and kissed his cheek.

“The room is great by the way, the perfect size for a baby. You can always make it bigger as the baby grows and wants more personal space.”

“Personal space? What about us, are we going to get any personal space?”

I laughed. “Not for a long time to come, Danny. Having a child means being on call all the time. Our lives will revolve around the baby.”

“She’s not even born and already I’m wishing she was grown up,” Danny chuckled.

My stomach rumbled and Danny rubbed it.

“I don’t know what I want more, a snack or a sleep,” I sighed. “I never seem to get enough of anything these days.”

“I wish I could say the same,” Danny whispered, “me, I’m getting too much.”

“When are you going to tell Michael?” I asked. “You might need some time off for a while. I’ll be needing help, I’m sure.”

“I plan to tell him in a few months’ time, when I’m next due to report in. I’m sure there’ll be lots of questions — not only from Michael — and angels wanting to document the whole thing. The longer I leave it the less intrusion on our lives there’ll be.”

I hadn’t thought about that. I hoped they wouldn’t want to come and witness the birth. A whole heap of boring old farts, even if they were angels, weren’t what I wanted hanging around when the time came.

“Maybe you can tell him when I’m as big as a whale and don’t get out much. Whatever happens after that won’t be so much of an imposition if I’m housebound anyway, as long as they don’t want to stay to watch the birth. I flatly refuse to have hundreds of angels gawking at me while I’m pushing out something the size of a watermelon. Which reminds me, we need to talk about meals. I probably won’t want to travel far to eat.”

“We’ll worry about whether or not you should dine in when you’re as big a whale, as you think you’ll be. That will be quite some sight to see,” Danny said. “For now you need rest, then a quick bite to eat before you drag me off to be tortured by some woman trying to peddle every gadget and gimmick under the sun that our daughter may or may not need.”

“You’re funny,” I laughed.

Danny gently steered me out of the nursery. “Come on, off to bed with you.”

I blinked. I felt it happen this time. If we’d been upstairs I could have seen Danny walking with his arm around a seemingly non-existent body. I’m sure it would have looked strange and I giggled. Danny said nothing. He simply guided my invisible body to the bed while I focused on trying to blink back. I appeared for a moment, though when I relaxed my concentration I was gone again. It was then I had the deliciously wicked idea of how much fun it would be to …

“What’re you doing?” Danny said.

“Ah, please,” I said. “Just a little bit of fun before I go to sleep. It’ll take my mind off food.”

“I can’t even see you,” he said.

“Mmm, but I can see you. I’ll do all the work,” I purred in his ear, “I promise.”

“I think I need a vacation already,” Danny mumbled, but he didn’t put up much resistance and I got my way.

Afterwards he said it was a very surreal experience, knowing something was happening, though not being able to see it happen. It was not something he really wanted to be on the receiving end of. He was quite willing to practice extending himself though, so I could experience it for myself. The idea made my stomach flutter. There was so little I hadn’t experienced that the thought of something new was a big turn on. Or maybe it was just my hormones in overdrive.

The sun had well and truly risen when I finally woke up. Danny was already awake.

“What time did you get up?” I asked.

“I didn’t go to sleep.”

“Why not?”

“Your dreams are a little too weird at the moment, even for me.”