Hell On Heels(19)

I couldn’t think straight with him so close. “I. . .um, I don’t know.” I pulled back a little bit so my brain would work. I touched his lips and gently ran my fingertips back and forth. “This was the best night of my life.”
He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch. “Mine too.”
“Really?”
“Yes Dixie, really, really.” He chuckled. “Would you like something to remember it by?”
“Yes.” I knew even without a memento I’d remember this night forever.
He removed a small feather from his wing and handed it to me. It glistened in my hand like a jewel.
“Thank you.” I would treasure it forever. “I’ll see you at class tomorrow?”
“No,” he said regretfully, tucking my windblown hair behind my ears. “I have to take care of something tomorrow, but I’ll see you on Friday.”
My disappointment was embarrassing, but it seemed to make him happy.
“It’s only one day.” He pulled me into a tight hug. “I promise I’ll be thinking about you the entire time we’re apart.”
“Okay,” I said as I tried to hide my disappointment.
He lifted my chin and brushed his mouth against mine. My lips tingled with need. “Go inside now.”
“Your truck,” I remembered. “It’s at the field. How will you get home?”
Hayden laughed and spread his wings. “I have several modes of transportation.”
Hades, after an entire night of amazing, I had to end it with something stupid. “Right,” I murmured.
“Dixie.” He stopped me as I was about to go into my little house. “Tonight was perfect. You are perfect and I’ve never been so happy in my life.”
My breath caught in my throat. He gave me one last intense kiss, turned and flew into the night.
He was right. It was perfect.
I felt his absence keenly and my cozy bungalow made me more lonely than ever. I grabbed my now working cell phone and quickly texted Stella a big thank you and a semi play by play of the highlights minus the flying part. I wandered to my room and crawled into my bed fully dressed. I clutched my feather to my chest and fell asleep.
That night I dreamt about flying, but for the first time in my life. . .I wasn’t flying alone.

Chapter 8
 
Class was boring without Hayden there. I found myself unable to concentrate on anything academic. My father would be delighted. Stella had a field day giving me crap, but nothing could rip my mind from reliving the most beautiful night of my life. Well, nothing except another round of group therapy.
Due to the fact that we were scheduled to leave Hell soon, we'd graduated from therapy to combat training. As usual anything we did turned into a royal cluster. . .and of course we were back at my bungalow.
Not having heard Carl speak much in the months I'd known him, I remembered why when he tried to persuade the group to take up hip-hop instead of combat.
"You thould all realithe that fighting ith dangerouth and hip-hop ith good cardio," he explained as he busted a few moves, trying to impress.
"I really don't think hip-hop will protect us from Angels and all sorts of other things that will want to kill us on Earth," Myrtle volunteered as she tried to imitate Carl's moves.
"Angels really want to kill us?" I asked in a strangled voice.
"Sweet Lucifer's bouncing balls, of course they do! Angels, other Demons and Hell knows what else," Janet chimed in happily.
Why she was happy was a mystery, but I was not. "Guys, what would you say if we decided not to go to Earth and we just stayed in Hell and opened a dance school?"
Carl looked intrigued, but Janet and Myrtle shook their heads impatiently.
"No. Satan has said Earth and to Earth we shall go," Janet declared.
"Your dad may be a whack job, and please don't tell him I said that, but he's been around for millions and knows the score. If he's sending us there it's for a reason. And I prefer to keep my head," Myrtle said.
"What if we open a danth thcool on Earth?" Carl suggested as he did a tremendously horrid split leap that made my groin hurt.
"I don't want to go," I said quietly. "I have no power yet."
I wondered if this new wrinkle would cause a violent episode. I knew if they demolished my house again Stella would come to my rescue. My odd little group didn’t even seem to notice the bungalow had reverted back to its former glory or even care that I was powerless aside from a few normal Demon tricks. Whatever. I hadn’t been able to figure out a kind way to dump them and I wasn’t sure I really wanted to. So here we all sat back in my bungalow debating kick lines as opposed to kickboxing.
"You power will come," Carl said gently. My nutty group surrounded me protectively. "Bethides." He grinned evilly. "We've been holding out on you."