Free Angel's Curse by Melanie Tomlin Page B

shoulders. “As it was she nicked the area below my hip and before I could stop myself she was engulfed in angel fire.”
    “I’m sorry, Danny.”
    “You, Helena,” he said cheerfully — a little too cheerfully, “have nothing to be sorry about, apart from nearly getting yourself killed.”
    I shook my head gently. “I don’t understand.”
    “Demon’s blood can be fatal. When it was taking so long for you to recover I thought you’d succumb.”
    Demon’s blood — was that what happened to me? I remembered pain in my back, and the throwing stars. Yes, it was beginning to come back to me now. Was that why the throwing stars had hurt so much, because they were coated in demon’s blood?
    “But you survived,” I replied.
    “Yes, and I too was lucky. It wasn’t a deep wound, not near any vital organs. The only thing I couldn’t heal was the scar. It’s a permanent part of me now. Even so, I was delirious for near on a week.”
    “So I’ll be scarred?” I asked.
    “Yes, though the wounds were very neat and narrow. They should be pretty, as far as scars go.”
    “Can I see?”
    “If you can walk I’ll help you to the bathroom and you can see the damage for yourself, before bathing.” He wrinkled his nose and gave me a half smile. “You smell a little unusual. ”
    “Didn’t you give me sponge baths while I was unconscious?”
    “What’s a sponge bath?” Danny asked.
    I rolled my eyes. “Never mind. I think I can walk.”
    Danny pulled back the covers for me and I swung my legs over the side of the bed. They were obviously still asleep, as the familiar sensation of pins and needles travelled up and down my legs in waves. When my feet touched the ground, the sensation was doubled. I sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes, flexing my toes and rubbing my calves.
    “What’s wrong?” Danny asked.
    “Pins and needles. I must’ve been in the one position for too long.”
    Danny looked at my legs and gently felt the entire length of one with his hands.
    “I don’t feel anything,” he said, perplexed.
    “Don’t angels ever get numbness in their limbs, or a strange tingling if they’ve been in the one spot too long?”
    “No.”
    “Oh,” I replied. “Well mortals do. I guess that’s another part of my mortality I retained.”
    I tapped my feet on the ground. When the sensation had almost passed I pushed down on the bed with my hands, for support when I stood up. So far so good, I thought. I moved one foot then the other. It felt like I was moving someone else’s legs. They were slow and sluggish, not like my legs at all.
    Danny pulled my arm around his shoulder and I leaned into him for support. Together we shuffled to the bathroom at an excruciatingly slow pace.
    The bath was full of hot, soapy water that was steaming up the room. I pulled the nightgown over my head. Danny drew in a sharp breath. His fingers reached out to touch my back gently.
    “Hey, that tickles,” I complained, looking back over my shoulder, the nightgown still on my arms. “It’s not fair of you to take advantage of a girl in her weakened state.”
    “No, it’s not that,” Danny said, wonder in his voice. “It’s your back. The scars are gone.”
    He turned me around until I faced the mirror over the hand basin and held a small mirror behind me, so that I could see my back reflected in the mirror. He touched the area between my shoulder blades where the throwing stars had lodged.
    “There is absolutely no trace of an injury at all. When I removed the bandage last week, it was healed enough that I didn’t need to re-dress you, yet they were still red and raw, like new scars always are.” He leaned forward and kissed my back. “Most remarkable indeed!”
    “Cut it out Danny,” I laughed softly. “I don’t have the strength for that.”
    He chuckled. “I don’t always have sex on the brain. Mind you, it has been over six weeks …”
    “Cheeky,” I replied. “I’m going to need to eat something