Heaven's Hellhound

Author's note

Here comes a romance of roughly 9k words. It's a stand-alone without further instalments. I hope you enjoy it and leave a vote or a comment.

The sexual content is only hinted at, so if you're looking for quick stimulation, I'm afraid this isn't the right story for you.

My thanks go to my editor who prefers to remain anonymous. His contribution makes my story far better than it would have been otherwise.

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"Tracy! Hi!" I said as soon as I answered the phone, knowing from the caller ID who it was.

"Hi, Stephen! How are you doing?"

My reply came a bit hesitatingly as my older sister had addressed me with my given name. That could only mean she wanted something from me. Don't get me wrong. We love each other, but usually she calls me 'Little One', 'Youngster', 'Baby Bro', or something along these lines. Mostly because she knows I hate it. But she is also aware that I treasure her endearments as they are one of her ways to say she loves me.

We exchanged the usual pleasantries but she was clearly in a hurry and soon came to the reason for her call.

"Can you do me a favour?"

I grinned and started to save the files I'd been working on so I could turn off the computer.

"I don't know. I'm awfully busy today. I have to water the cactus and really need to empty the dishwasher."

I know. Childish banter, but that's part of how we communicate. We both knew I would help her if her request wasn't totally unreasonable and I can't think of much that could be considered as such. She would do the same for me.

"Can you pick up Jim and Scott from school at four?"

My ten-year-old nephews, identical twins. If you took an encyclopaedia and looked up the word 'rascal' you'd find a photo of them next to it. I loved them to bits.

"Sure. Do you want me to take them to dinner?"

"You can, of course, but it's not necessary. I'm just running half an hour late."

My sister worked in the marketing department of an international clothing chain. She was probably stuck in a meeting or something. I, on the other side, am self-employed. Companies hire me to challenge their IT security. That means, once I'm hired, I try to hack into their networks to gather information - anything from cleaning plans for the housekeeping to the deepest secrets of their R&D departments - and then give them recommendations on how to improve their defence.

"So, I pick them up and deliver them home? Shouldn't I stay with them until you're back?"

"That would be great but if you're busy, I think the house can survive half an hour of them without supervision."

It wasn't a regular occurrence, but occasionally she asked me to help her out with the logistics of her boys. Today's request was the first time in this school year and it was already February.

"Consider it done."

"Thanks. I need to get back to my meeting. Bye, Dwarf."

Standing at one eighty-five, I was a good fifteen centimetres taller than her, and have been since my growth spurt when I was a teen, but that didn't stop her from using the childhood tease. Her voice revealed her grin as she bid goodbye. Now that she had my promise, she returned to her normal teasing ways. Of course, there never was any doubt about my help unless I had been really unavailable. In that case, she would have understood and found a different solution without it being a problem between us.

One of the perks of self-employment is that I can mostly work when it suits me. Obviously, I have to meet customers on their schedule but the actual labour, trying to breach their security or writing the final documentation and recommendations, could be done whenever I felt like it. Of course, you don't talk about an eight-hours-a-day-job when you are self-employed. But you can decide for yourself whether you work from midnight to four in the afternoon or from eight in the morning to midnight. Nevertheless, I took a break to have a quick coffee at the restaurant on the ground floor of the apartment block I lived and worked in before I had to leave to pick up my nephews.

While I sat in the restaurant, Mom called to update me on the latest family gossip and try to make me feel guilty about not giving her any grandchildren to spoil. I lost track of the time a bit talking to her. When I realised that I was running late, I simply threw enough cash on the table to cover the bill and jumped up. As Murphy's Law demands, the waitress walked past me right then and I pushed the chair into her path. Of course, she stumbled and doused me with the beers she was about to serve to another table.

We both apologised to each other but I had no doubt that it was my mistake. Still, running late, there wasn't much I could do but apologise again and promise I'd be back to cover the damage. I was a regular and often ate lunch or dinner here, so they knew me well and had no problem with me running off. I quickly pondered to go upstairs and change but I was already tardy unless the traffic lights all worked in my favour. Therefore, I scurried down the stairs that took me to the underground parking where I threw the jacket, which had also been soaked, in the boot.

I didn't run any red lights nor did I speed excessively, but my driving was at the upper limit of what I regard as morally permissible. I parked in the pick-up zone outside the school ground several minutes late. If I had been on time, I would have had difficulties finding a space among all other cars waiting to pick up children. As it was, there were no vehicles left.

As soon as I stopped the car, I looked over to where Jim and Scott should be waiting. What I saw changed my perception of the world as I knew it. I had an instant of absolute clarity. I understood in that very moment how Archimedes had felt when he saw the water level rise as he climbed into his bathtub or what went through Isaac Newton's mind when he was hit by the apple. Time stopped, the world came to a screeching halt and for a tiny, fleeting, eternal instant I was one with the entire universe. I had laid eyes upon the most heavenly creature to ever grace the surface of earth.

She had mesmerising, light brown, almost golden eyes. They drew my gaze and I barely registered the face around or the body beneath them. Even over the dozen or so metres distance, I spotted a foreshadowing of the paradise in them. Their sparkling promised delights that went beyond anything a human should be allowed to experience.

My body started moving of its own accord, opening the car door, and climbing out. Somehow I managed to almost lose my right shoe in the process and I clumsily tried to slip it back on while walking, fighting to keep my balance.

Scott looked up and waved when he saw me approach the gate. My hand acted autonomously as I returned his greeting while my eyes were locked on those iridescent golden gems that had attached themselves to my innermost core.

I still hadn't managed to slip back into my shoe when this divine messenger said something to my nephews. I couldn't make out the words but her voice was so melodic, it was worthy of leading the heavenly choir. The sound was so beautiful that it completely confounded my neural system. With the signals from my brain interrupted, my feet stopped walking while my upper body followed the laws of inertia and continued onwards. I stumbled stupidly, only catching myself because I lost eye contact with this creature that must have descended straight from the Garden of Eden.

At last, I managed not to faceplant myself and put the shoe back on. I looked up to the boys and who I supposed was their teacher. This time, I was minimally prepared and kept my wits mostly together.

"Hey, boys! I'm sorry, I'm late."

"Uncle Stephen!"

The two scallywags ran through the gate to hug me. While I absentmindedly returned their hug, I watched the angel approach and used the opportunity to drink in her appearance. What I hadn't seen at first glance because my gaze had been riveted on her captivating eyes, were all her other alluring features. She was somewhere around one sixty-five, with a wild, dark-brown curly mane, an olive skin tone pointing to Mediterranean ancestry and seemed to have a perfect body. Dressed very conservatively, she still couldn't hide her firm bust, maybe a bit over a handful, her wonderfully curved hips, or her trim legs. Somewhat reluctantly, I forced my attention back to the twins.

"Your Mom is held up at work, so she asked me to pick you up and take you home."

"Lit! Do you stay for dinner?"

Of the many functions I had in their lives, one was to be the 'cool' uncle. I was the guy who gave them the gifts their mother, officially, didn't want them to have. The guy who took them to the funfair and bought them tons of candyfloss or rode the bumper cars with them. The guy who let them get away with murder and conspired to keep it from their mom. Of course, all gifts I gave them were approved by my sister and while certain things stayed strictly confidential, I kept Tracy in the loop about the topics of discussion between the boys and me.

So getting picked up by me held a lot of promise to them. From the corner of my eye, I saw the celestial being catch up with the boys and looked up to bask in the warmth and comfort she exuded. I noticed her taking a breath and opened myself for the expected euphony which would come when she started speaking.

"You're drunk! I will not let Tim and Scott climb into your car!"

The screeching noise of chalk on a blackboard contrasted heavily with the beatific sounds I had anticipated. It ran down my spine, made my skin crawl and my ball sack shrink.

"What? I'm not drunk!"

"You could barely walk here from your car, you almost fell over, and you smell like a brewery. Of course, you're drunk! Tim, Scott, get back into the yard."

"But Ms Alonso," Scott started to say but she didn't let him finish.

"No backtalk. Into the yard. Now!"

The two boys did what both my sister and I had demanded again and again since they had started school: They listened to what their teacher told them.

Before I had recovered from the shock that this pretended divine messenger turned out to be an envoy from hell, she had followed the boys through the gate and closed it behind her.

"Listen, lady. I'm totally sober. In fact, I haven't even had a single drop of alcohol in weeks."

I wasn't an abstainer but I needed a good reason to drink. I enjoyed a beer or a glass of wine as much as anyone but I could watch sports or be with my friends without the need to get drunk or even buzzed. Often I would go months sans drinking anything alcoholic for no other reason than not feeling like it.

I took a step towards her.

"Stay back!" she yelled at me, right before she hit a prominently displayed, fiery-red button. I knew that this was an alarm which would cause immediate action in the police station next door. Two years ago, there had been an attempted kidnapping by a divorced father which had only failed by pure chance. The gateway and this button had been installed afterwards as a countermeasure.

"What the..." I started before I remembered that Jim and Scott were both listening and watching me. "Miss. There's no reason to act so rashly. I'm no danger, neither to the boys nor to you."

My focus was still on the hysteric monster but from the corner of my eyes, I saw several officers running out of the police station. I pulled my mobile from my pocket and chucked it to Jim. I didn't need the boys to witness a possible arrest of their uncle.

"Jim, Scott. Go back inside. This will take a while. Call your mother to come and pick you up. Get started on your homework."

As much as the twins could drive you crazy, they knew when they had to listen and do what they were told. Without a single comment, they turned and left. I sighed and laid my hands on my head. Most likely, I would know at least one of the officers that came running, but with guns involved, I thought it best not to take any chances.

As expected, the officer leading the rush was an old friend of mine. I had grown up and lived in this town of maybe twenty to twenty-five thousand people most of my life, except while I was at the university. It was too big for everyone to know everyone, but there was still a good chance that you knew a person you met, especially if they were about your age. Walter and I had been to school together until our lives took different paths when we went to our respective studies.

"Stephen? What's going on?"

The officers still had the guns at the ready, scanning the surroundings for imminent threats.

"Nothing, really. I came to pick up my sister's kids and suddenly this ... woman starts hurling insults at me and punches the panic button."

My intonation made it clear that 'woman' was not my first choice of words and it wasn't very surprising that the person in question didn't let my statement stand unopposed.

"A man I've never seen before arrives here, stumbling, tripping over, reeking of beer, and wants to take two of my children with him. Of course, I refuse to let him take them!"

"Jim and Scott calling me Uncle Stephen and hugging me like crazy wasn't enough of a hint that I might know them!?"

Walter interrupted the banshee before she could reply and the shouting match spiralled out of control.

"Stop it. Both of you," he stated with the confidence of a well-trained law enforcement officer before turning towards the fiend. "I've known Stephen most of my life. He's one of the most responsible persons I know. He rarely drinks anything alcoholic and neither have I ever seen him drunk nor does he give a drunk impression right now."

I was just about to slag her off when Walter turned to me, "No matter what, you really stink like a beer barrel. What were you thinking coming here, smelling like that? Is this the example you want to set for your nephews? You're not usually that daft and Carmen was right in being careful."

The self-righteous expression appearing on her face certainly didn't help to cool my fury.

"She wasn't careful, she was completely hysterical. I was late because of a call from my Mom and right as I was about to leave the restaurant, I was doused in beer by a waitress. I didn't have time to change as I didn't want the boys to wait in this freezing cold any longer than necessary."

"I wasn't hysterical! I acted rational and thoughtful based on the information I had available."

Her reply was delivered fast and loud. There was a hellfire in her eyes that could have set me ablaze.

"You were either hysterical or PMS-ing. Can I take the boys..."

"You bloody, chauvinist pig! How dare you..."

"ENOUGH!"

That was Walter, again using his full authority as a police officer. His tone even made the other officers consider drawing their weapons again. They had holstered their guns once they had concluded that there was no real threat to a child.

"What on earth is wrong with you two? You will both need to come to the station for statements. The emergency alarm was activated and we need witness reports from everybody involved."

That was not good. A lot of my business depended on me having an immaculate repute. You don't ask a registered offender to hack into your computer system. Being taken to the police station wasn't my idea of spotless.

"I can't. Jim and Scott are still in there. They should have called Tracy by now but I won't leave until I know they're safe."

Walter addressed the harpy, "Carmen, can you please wait for their mother? When she's picked them up, come to the station and give your report. Stephen, you're coming with me now."

He put his hand on my arm, not in a threatening or aggressive manner but it was enough to further surge my fury.

"Why me? Why not the drama queen?"

I had rarely if ever before been as furious as I was right now. She had completely misjudged the situation, she had overreacted, she had called the police but I was lead off. I tore my arm from Walter's grip.

"It's all her bloody fault. Take her instead!"

"Stephen," he paused for a meaningful moment before continuing markedly calm, "you will now come with me to give a witness report. Carmen will have to do the same as soon as your nephews are cared for."

"Pah!"

I was seething but somehow common sense prevailed. Resisting the police would only make things worse, no matter that I knew the officer in question. I turned around and stomped away towards the station, letting Walter stand in the dust. After a dozen or so steps, I stopped and looked back.

"Well? Are you coming or not? I don't have all day for this folly and the sooner that crone is out of my sight the better."

The activation of the school's alarm was regarded and treated as a very serious incident, so it took several hours to finish the documentation. In the end, there was a report describing the events from both our views but avoided laying blame on either Carmen Alonso or me for what was described as a communication error. It took Walter a lot of convincing to get me to sign it. I wanted exoneration and the way I read it, the report gave me a contributory fault.

+

By the time I arrived at home, I had mostly calmed down but was still of the opinion that I had done nothing wrong at all and the blame was fully on her side. I finally had the chance to change out of my smelly clothes and take a shower.

I was still standing under the hot water, imagining different methods to punish the ghoul, when I heard the doorbell. I could guess who it was and as expected, it didn't take long until I heard somebody had entered my apartment. Apart from me, only Mom and my sister had a key and considering the events of the evening, I assumed that my sister was paying me a visit. She entered the bathroom seconds later.

"Hi, baby bro!"

"Get the fuck out of here!"

"Why? You have nothing I haven't seen before. Remember, I used to bathe you when you were a baby."

I groaned. She was thirty-nine, seven years older than me, and never let me forget that. She hadn't seen me naked for at least twenty years but if she wanted to play hardball, so could I. I turned off the water and pushed the shower curtain aside to step out of the bathtub.

"At least hand me the towel if you're standing around in here."

I just about saw her turn away from the bathroom door to avoid going blind from seeing her brother naked. She just didn't have the balls to go through with her bluff. I towelled myself dry and dressed in one of my tracksuits before joining my sister in the kitchen where she was preparing a pot of tea.

"Coward," I teased grinning as I hugged her and kissed her cheek.

She returned the hug and the peck and pointed to my phone on the table. "I brought your mobile."

"Thanks."

My nephews had taken it with them when they were picked up by Tracy while I was being interviewed at the station. I knew she wanted to hear from me what had happened when I had picked up her boys or rather had failed to pick up, but in another of our childish power games, I refused to tell if she didn't ask. She didn't seem to be in a mood to play, though, as she immediately came to the point.

"Care to give me your perspective on how you managed to get yourself arrested picking up my sons from school?"

"I was NOT arrested," I shot back rather aggressively, before explaining what had happened from my point of view. My sister was just shaking her head during my narration.

"That's so not like you. You're always considerate and level-headed. Why did you go off like a maniac and started shouting at poor Carmen?"

It was obvious that Tracy and Satan's bride had already spoken but I had done nothing wrong. I was the victim, not the offender.

"Maniac? Poor Carmen? I hadn't even had a chance to say hi when she started screaming murder and pushed that fucking panic button. I was dressed in a shirt and suit trousers in freezing temperatures and was forced to stand around outside for fucking forever."