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me.”
    Veronica shrugged and slumped back in her
chair. “Yeah, you have a point. Anyway, mustn’t keep you. You don’t
want to piss off an archangel.”
    Having no desire to do just that, I thanked
Veronica as she cleared our plates away and I followed Cupid back
up to Michael’s door. “This is where I leave you,” he said, turning
to me.
    “You’re not coming in?” I asked in alarm.
    “Nah,” Cupid shook his head. “I have my own
duties. I’ll see you later.”
    He disappeared back down the stairs,
leaving me outside Michael’s door. I raised my hand to knock, but
he was already calling me in. “How did you know it was me?” I asked
him, closing the door behind me. He just flashed me a Colgate
advert-worthy smile. I swooned inwardly. Regardless of what I
thought of him, he was beautiful.
    “Did you sleep well?” he asked me, already
business-like.
    “I think I was out cold,” I replied. “Even
though I have just slept for half a year.”
    Michael nodded thoughtfully. “That is to be
expected as your vessel acquaints itself with your new
capabilities. The more it becomes accustomed, although you will
still need to rest, you will be able to go for longer periods
before you do.”
    “Oh,” I mouthed, unable to think of much more
to say to that.
    Michael gave me a reassuring smile. “Good.
Today you will meet your charge.”
    I took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Who
is he?”
    He clasped his hands together, resting his
elbows on his mahogany desk. He gestured to one of the seats in
front of his desk, waiting until I sat. “First, some ground rules.
Your charge is called Joshua Walsh. He is your responsibility. If
something happens to him, you will be the one held accountable, so
if he needs you, he becomes your priority. No matter what. He is
the only exception to the ‘tell no one what you are’ rule. All the
others still apply.”
    Don’t kill him. Got it. Jeeze, anyone would
think the world was going to end. How hard could it be? Someone who
needed an angel’s protection had to be good, so they couldn’t
possibly be that much trouble. And what was I supposed to be
protecting him from? If things got hairy I could just call the
police. Suddenly feeling much more confident, the smile I gave
Michael was much less forced. “So where do I find him?”
    Michael cocked his head at me. “You can’t
sense him?”
    I don’t know why, but I looked over my
shoulder as though I expected him to be there. Seeing as we were
the only ones in the room, I looked back at Michael and shook my
head. “No. Should I?”
    Michael cleared his throat, looking
uncomfortable. “Actually, yes. Try concentrating.”
    Unsure what he wanted from me, I closed my
eyes and tried to sense... anything. The only thing I could feel
was Michael’s stare. I opened my eyes and shook my head. “I don’t
think I’m tuned into ‘Radio Joshua’.”
    I looked expectantly at Michael, but he was
staring through me, rather than at me. Suddenly he blinked. “He’s
in The Salty Dog.”
    Not quite what I expected. I rose to my feet.
“Thank you.”
    “You should be able to sense him once you
meet him,” Michael informed me, although he didn’t sound overly
confident. “Make sure you help him in any way you can.”
    I stopped and turned back to him. “Help him?”
I thought I was just supposed to be protecting him. “How am I
supposed to do that?”
    “You will know when you meet him,” Michael
informed me, returning his attention to some paperwork.
     
    * * *
     
    Most of the bars on Bourbon Street chose to
close in the small hours of the morning, with some reopening to
serve coffee and breakfast. The Salty Dog was one of the few that
remained open twenty four hours a day. Of the handful of times I
had been in there, I had never been in a sober state and was always
a little worse for wear.
    As I entered now, I wasn’t at all surprised
that the only thing that was remotely familiar was the neon green
dog behind the