Angel in Training (The Louisiangel Series, Book One) by C. L. Coffey Page A

it out by myself if I thought about it.
On the plus side, it did give me some form of transportation if I
needed it, and I was not in a hurry to learn teleporting. Ugh ! “But
SUVs?”
    Cupid rolled his eyes. “Oh please, they’re
hybrids. Humans might not be the most environmentally conscious
things but we’re not supposed to do anything that harms them.”
    “Surely riding a bike would be the most
environmentally effective, or even walking?” I pointed out. That
had Veronica chortling into her drink.
    “Yes, because an angel running down the side
of the interstate at the same speed as a car isn’t going to draw
too much attention?” Cupid responded, dryly.
    He had a point. “Okay then, the most
important questions,” I announced, leaning forwards to take a very
long drink of the Coke. “Why no drinking, drugs or sex?”
    Cupid rolled his eyes. “The boring rules. No
drugs is obvious. There’s only so much your vessel can heal from
and drugs are tricky. Plus they affect you differently.”
    “The same goes for alcohol,” Veronica added.
“It affects us differently than humans. We can drink and drink and
all of a sudden, just like that,” she snapped her fingers. “We’re
drunk. And not that happy drunk which humans like. It’s like a
sedative and completely slows our reflexes down.” She looked me up
and down, before shrugging. “Besides, look at the ages of our
vessels. We’re older than a millennia but there’s no way I would
ever get served at a bar. The last thing we need is trouble with
underage drinking. It attracts unwanted attention.”
    “As for the sex,” Cupid shuddered. “That’s a
little icky. There are nine different types of angels. Three of
those are on earth – the Angels, the Cherubim and Archangels. If
you think of all the Angels as brothers, all the Cherubim as
brothers-”
    “And sisters,” Veronica interrupted him,
punching his arm.
    “Okay, ow!” Cupid exclaimed, rubbing his arm.
“And sisters,” he repeated, glaring at Veronica who grinned at him.
“And so forth. Angels are all in the same family.”
    “Which makes us cousins,” Veronica declared,
wrapping her arm around Cupid.
    I grimaced. “Yeah, that is icky. I get that.
What about the human element.”
    Cupid shrugged. “We just don’t.”
    Veronica nodded, pulling a face. “There are
also the consequences of that. The Nephilim.”
    The word sent a shiver down my spine, and for
the first time, I felt cold. “What?”
    “The consequence of a human and an angel
getting caught together is that angels are cast out. That’s bad
enough by itself,” Cupid explained, looking uncomfortable.
“Nephilim are the offspring. They’re the reason the Fallen are
increasing in numbers. They’re mortal but they have the same
strength and speed.”
    I slumped back into my chair. I didn’t
realize how hopeful I had been at the prospect of there being a way
around that. Now it was evident that I was going to spend eternity
alone. “How do you two cope with it?”
    “Cope with what?” Cupid asked. “The
Nephilim?”
    Veronica shuddered. “If needed, the
Principalities step in.”
    “What the hell is a Principality?” I asked,
wearily.
    “Seriously?” Veronica asked, sharing a look
with Cupid.
    “She’s apparently not read the Bible,” Cupid
informed her as he chose to pat my arm in a somewhat patronizing
manner.
    “Laugh it up and get it out of your system,
then carry on with this Angelology 101,” I muttered, shooting them
both a glare.
    “Okay,” Cupid agreed although he wasn’t going
to too much trouble to hide his amusement. “You know there’s a
hierarchy, right?”
    I nodded. This I did remember. “Angels are
the last rung on the ladder.”
    “Well,” Veronica grinned coyly, biting on her
straw. “I think angels in training are lower.”
    “Lower than the help?” I shot back at her
with my own grin.
    She cocked her head, eyes wide, before she
joined in with Cupid’s loud, bellowing laugh.