“Damn it.”

Walking up to the target, Charmian shook her head in disgust. Yanking the arrow fiercely out of the outer ring (instead of the bull’s eye she could usually hit every time) she stalked back to the shooting line and took her stance up again, reloading her bow. The bow and arrows she normally used weren’t so very ordinary – divine cleansing flames weren’t too commonplace – but since she was at a public facility she had to blend in. As immortals, it was always difficult trying to find somewhere for them to be able to practise properly. They got enough odd looks for using normal weapons, and none of them could really let rip with full strength. In a sparring match in a gym studio Lucas had once left a Carmel sized dent in the wall when he threw her too hard; it hadn’t hurt Carmel in the slightest, but had been tough to explain.

“You know, if you don’t calm down you’re only going to keep missing.”

“I’ll tell you what, Zac,” she shot him a glare before casting her eyes back down to her wrist guards. They felt loose. “You try losing the love of your life eight times and then see if you can relax while your pals are out torturing a demon for info on him.”

Zachariah sighed sweetly. “I can’t tell you how much pleasure I get out of knowing Anton’s in pain right now.”

“About half as much as I do. Just wish I could be there, but…”

“You don’t want to give the game away. It’s cool, I get it. Besides, Anton’s not stupid – we all know how afraid he is of you so usually we just threaten him with big bad Charmian and Piggy squeals. If you actually start showing up he’ll know it’s important.”

“Heh.” A smirk crept up on one side of her face.

Once upon a time, Anton had been considered a big deal in the underworld. To give him his due, he’d been cunning and a master of manipulation even before he fell from grace; as a demon however he’d always been the one coming up with the schemes and moving the pieces around the chessboard. In his time he’d pulled off some major successes, until he’d had the misfortune to cross Charmian and land himself on her radar. After a few foiled plans and spectacular kickings of his ass, his reputation had been crushed and he’d since become known as useless in a real fight and not half as clever as he thought he was. Everyone knew that the only reason he wasn’t dead was because the avengers preferred the devil they knew to the one they didn’t… at least until he provoked one enough. Going after Justin might well do it for him. 

“So what exactly is it that they want out of him?” Zac asked.

“Well…” Charmian let loose another arrow, which found its aim improved but not what it should be. “They’re trying to work out why he’s following Justin, and more importantly if he’s aware of who he really is.”

“Why?”

She smiled. It was patronising of her to find Zachariah so cute, but he had so much to learn that he almost made her feel young again. He’d only been raised a couple of millennia ago so was very new to the game by their standards; that was why he was with her instead of having fun with Lucas and Carmel, who’d gone to assist Micah and Katherine. Zac was up to scratch on the physical side of things but hadn’t yet developed all the knowledge and instincts he needed. That was too dangerous to let loose around a crafty demon who knew how to wheedle information out of people.

“Well, for Justin’s past few lives we’ve been working on the assumption that by hurting him they’re trying to screw with me or with us and Justin’s part was only as the poor sucker in the crossfire.”

“With you so far, that makes sense.”

“But since they found Anton following him when I’ve barely been near him, we’re now wondering if it had nothing to do with me and if maybe it was him they were after all along.” She had fully concurred with Micah’s idea when he’d presented to her, it seemed logical. Besides, at this point in the game she was ready to snatch any and all new theories.

“So, that would explain wanting to know why he was following him, but why do we need to know if he knows who Justin really is?”

“Because if he knows that Justin is really Michael,” Charmian’s eyes involuntarily narrowed and made her miss yet again. “Then it doesn’t really prove anything either way because obviously they expect me to be around Michael. That could still plausibly mean it’s me they want.”

“But if they don’t know then obviously they can’t be following him because of you, it’s something specific about him?” Zac finally caught on.

“Exactly. Hence why Anton should be choking on holy water right now.”

“Explain to me why holy water works when the Christians aren’t right?”

“Being right is never the point with the religions,” she explained. “The point is that it’s sanctified and holy, part of offerings to the light, so the light honours it anyway same as it would for any properly blessed object of any religion. And since demons can’t cope with purity it hurts the bastards.”

“Huh.” Zac shook his head out, an ironic smile on his face. “You know, when I was human I’d never have believed that angels tortured anyone.”

“We’re not angels, Zac.” She shook her head, casting a pointed glance at him. “Far from it.”

“You know what I mean.” He waved a hand dismissively. “I always figured that the good guys would frown on it as stooping to their level.”

“We don’t torture humans ever, even if they’re possessed. Demons however don’t understand much but imprisonment or pain; they can’t be reasoned or bargained with unless they’re putting some sting in the tail so the only way to get through is to sting ‘em first and harder.”

“I know, we’ve done this lesson already. I’m just saying, that’s all, it’s different to how they teach the humans it is.”

“Things are always a little greyer than they make out to the humans.”

“Why? They can’t understand the truth?”

“Oh they could understand.” Finally the arrow shot straight and true, dead on target. “But they’re not built like us, Zac. You or I could torture the living daylights out of any hell beast that comes to call and we’d still be able to walk away without feeling it because we were shaped to be able to do this shit without succumbing to the temptation or guilt. They aren’t, which probably makes them better than us, but once they start it tends to screw them up and make them ripe for the demons. So we make life a little easier for them by dealing in more absolutes.”

“It’s a hard life, making life easier for other people,” he observed.

“Preaching to the choir, boy. Preaching to the choir. Heads up, I heard someone on the path so no more shop talk.”

‘Uhh, Charmian, why is that guy staring at you?’

Having far wider peripheral vision than a human, Charmian was able to glance to the other side of the field without turning her head. It quickly became obvious why Zac hadn’t wanted to say it out loud even though it wasn’t immortal talk – she was being gawked at and he didn’t want anybody overhearing. The reason they’d been openly chatting about work was because up until that point they’d been alone.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake, can’t I go anywhere without him turning up?’

‘Who is it?’

‘Justin.’

‘I didn’t know pop stars were into archery.’

‘He had better not come over here.’

‘Well if he does you need to get a better poker face. You look like you’re about to pop a vein.’

‘Shut up and respect your elders.’

“Uhh, Charmian?”

She heard the call from behind her and didn’t know what else she could do but turn around and acknowledge it. “You stalking me or what?”

Justin laughed, under the impression it was a joke. “I got to do this big charity thing and I don’t want to screw up and not win them any money, so I came to get a lesson first. But I wasn’t expecting you… I guess you’ve done this before?” He gestured to the target, out of which two arrows were sticking to the bull’s eye and one in the ring nearest it.

“Hobby,” she lied. “So, charity?”

“Yeah, they get a bunch of us famous types to line up and take a shot and the closer we get to the middle the more money we get. I don’t understand why they won’t just let us donate instead, but I agreed before I knew what I was doing.”

“So, I need to get going but I’ll see you later,” Zac smiled innocently.

‘Leave me alone with him and I swear I will make you train with Lucas until he’s knocked out every last molar.’

‘Bye now!’ he thought smugly to her as he sauntered out.

“So…” Justin said awkwardly, trying to fill the silence. “Until my instructor gets here can you show me some pointers?”

“Sure,” she replied with a sigh, giving in. She was never going to be able to get away from him, was she? In his other incarnations she had to admit she’d never really tried all that hard to stay away from him, she’d been weak, but now she was busting a gut and yet still she couldn’t manage it.

“So were you okay after the other night?” He asked. Once she had woken up she had quickly ushered him out, clearly embarrassed and uncomfortable. Little did he know that she had no issues with him seeing her unwell, she only wanted him gone as far from her as possible.

“Fine, thanks. So, you stand perpendicular to the mark, like this,” she demonstrated, eager to get the subject onto something nice and neutral. “You load the arrow onto the string, hold the bow beneath the arrow and then the string you hold with your top finger above and the rest below the arrow, like this.”

“Okay.” Was it just her, or was he staring at her hand far too intently?

“Then you take aim…” She pulled the bow taut, arm quivering slightly. “You want it shoulder height, and make sure you pull it right back behind your ear – not too close to your face though, you don’t want to catch your eye.”

“Okay.”

“Then…” She let the arrow fly. It hit the bull’s eye with a solid thud. “Release. Just make sure the arrow’s gone before you lower your arm.”

He applauded. “Wow. You’re good at this.”

“Practice,” she shrugged. She didn’t tell him how many years of practice. “Your turn.”

“Lord.” He took the bow from her, face filled with obvious trepidation. He kept biting his lip. “So, like this?”

“Yes,” Charmian approved his stance. “Then load the bow like I showed you, yeah… that’s good, now aim.”

She tried not to laugh. His face was screwed up in ugly concentration, but his shoulders were so hunched and his lip sticking out so oddly in a strangely feral pout that he looked like some bad B movie Robin Hood.

“Relax your shoulders.”

“Like this?”

“You didn’t even move them. Shoulders down, relax.”

“But I have a loaded bow and fucking arrow in my hands and I’m about to pee my pants I’m so nervous.”

“Unless you miraculously manage to shoot backwards there’s no need to worry.” She hesitated for a moment, but then stepped forward to stand behind his back. Gently she put her hands on his shoulders and forced them down to a more normal position. She tried to pretend she didn’t notice his body reacting to the touch as well as her own. “Relax. Breathe.”

Tempted to squeeze his eyes shut so he couldn’t watch, he forced them to stay on the target and let loose the arrow. The shot was too high, landing in the outer ring, but his face spread in a wide grin as he realised he’d actually managed to hit the thing at all.

“I didn’t miss!”

“You didn’t miss.” Why were her hands refusing to come off his shoulders? She wrenched them off as if they were burning. “Not bad for your first time.”

As Justin smiled his hugely infectious grin at her, Charmian thought miserably that if he kept being so damn cute she was probably going to have lost restraint and jumped him within the week. That wasn’t good.