Free Three Wishes by Debra Dunbar

betray. They are foul beings who de-evolve with every decade. Creation would be a better place if they were exterminated—wiped from existence. As much as she was attracted to Dar, she could never forget what he was and that he’d sell her out for the right price in an instant. Don’t trust him. Have your fun, but never let your guard down for him. He’ll betray you in a heartbeat.
    Maybe, but there was another voice in her head that countered her fears. The one who formed you was an Angel of Chaos—one of the rebels who fell. Surely some good must remain in the demons, some remnant of the angels they once were.
    Asta shook her head to rid herself of the pesky voices and took another bite of the luscious crepe. She was the youngest of the angels. She’d never met an Angel of Chaos. All she had to rely upon was the word of those Angels of Order who remained in Aaru. Yes, the demons she’d killed in the last century had been up to no good, but who was to say they were all like that?
    This was her job. They were violating the treaty by their very presence here. Regardless of whether the war in Aaru was justified, or who was right, these demons were trespassers. And the penalty was death. Except for Dar, who, thankfully, had immunity. Thankfully, because there was no way she could ever bring herself to kill him.
    “You came back.”
    She spun around and saw the human who had approached her earlier.
    “Carter Phelps?” He extended a hand towards her. “Look, things are winding down here, and my staff can handle the rest of the evening. Would you, uh... would you like to have a cup of coffee next door?”
    He looked so sweet standing there with his outstretched hand and earnest gaze. There would be no harm in having a cup of coffee with a human, and he might be able to give her some insight on what demons could possibly want with a cyber-security conference. She’d given up on an enjoyable evening, might as well get as much work in as she could. With any luck, she could catch this demon and spend the rest of her time here having fun with Dar.
    When Asta didn’t respond, he spoke into the awkward silence. “Just business. Just a cup of coffee, and we can talk business.” A nervous smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.
    “Okay.” Asta shook his hand and felt a twinge of guilt as the man’s eyes sparkled in excitement. Great. Now she had a lewd stalker demon that she was having very improper thoughts about and a human admirer.
    Phelps made small talk about the weather and various sports teams as they walked to the café. Espresso in hand, Asta sat across from him at a little table and listened, her eyes glazing over. This human was... boring. Although that was kind of unfair. He was probably perfectly nice; it’s just that after verbally sparring with Dar all day, this one-sided discussion about the White Sox seemed rather flat.
    Time to change the subject, find out what she could from this man and let him down gently. “I’m not very knowledgeable about cyber security. Can you tell me about your company?”
    A bit of an abrupt change in conversation, but Phelps didn’t seem to notice. The man practically glowed with pride. “We help companies, both large and small, guard against security breaches. Last year, over thirty major firms had their data warehouses breached with the Whippet virus, and nearly a hundred-thousand credit cards were subject to identity theft. Every one of our clients remained secure from the virus. Companies and institutions that subscribe to our software have remained safe from over ninety-nine percent of attacks in the last three years.”
    This was a bit more interesting than baseball. “Wow.” Asta didn’t have to feign admiration. “And all the other companies at the conference do the same thing?”
    Phelps grinned. “They try. Some have other specialties, but none of them have our record of success.”
    It wasn’t just a sales pitch; this man truly believed in his product