Chapter 61: Oh Thank Heaven

I stared around the white expands for a minute. My heart still beat fast. My mind kept replaying Remi's kiss. The more I stared, the more things started to take shape. There were desks in the distance with people dressed in white at them. When I finally got my emotions under control, I started walking towards them.

It felt like I walked a mile before I stood in front of the first desk.

"How can I help you?" The person asked. He looked human.

"I would like to buy a contract."

"What is the nature of the contract?" He asked.

"Umm... he's an angel."

"Long term or short term?"

I frowned. "Long term? I want to own the contract, not borrow it."

The man looked up from his screen to narrow his eyes.

"I have payment." I debated pulling the soul stone from my pocket, but I wanted to be able to negotiate if I needed to."

"Right. You'll need to submit an application for intent to purchase with the contract holder at the contract holder desk, apply for a permit to hold a contract at the permit desk, and speak with an agent about writing up a purchase agreement to transfer the contract at the agent desk."

All of this sounded very complicated. "And which desk is this?"

"The information desk."

My eye twitched. I could feel my anger start to bubble. "Look, I don't have time for all of that. I just want to buy Angandriel's contract. I have this thing. Can I just trade you and go?" I pulled the soul gem from my pocket."

The man eyeballed my gem. I could have sworn I saw a hint of surprise on his face, but he didn't react otherwise.

He lifted his eyes to me. "Imprisoned angels must go through the crimes desk after a thorough investigation and you will need a level five background check."

I scrunched up my face in anger. I could feel myself about to lose it. I sucked in a deep breath. "Okay," I hissed. "Do you happen to have any agents that can help me through this process?"

"Yes, you will need to check into the advocate desk."

"And where is that desk at?" I tried to keep the heat from my question. I failed.

The man pointed to the left. I turned to look. The more I stared the more the desk came into view. It looked be another mile away. I shot another look back at the information man. He was looking back down at his screen.

"Fuck," I spat. I could feel my anger rising. The stone in my hand glowed. I was starting to feel the power in it. With the name soul stone, it must have contained an entire soul. I could feel that energy, an entire lifetime of energy in one rock. And now it was starting to thrum through me.

The information man looked up. His face went pale. Angels clad in shine armor started landing around me in a wide circle. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I needed to look like I did. My anger was bubbling over at the moment, so I decided to lean into that.

"Listen up. Give me Angandriel. I want his contract. Otherwise, you know what this stone can do." I didn't but they probably did. It sounded like a good threat.

The information man stood up. "You... you need to file the correct paperwork."

I jerked my chin at him as I eyed the imposing angels surrounding me. "You do it. You know how this bureaucratic crap works. Do it for me and I won't," I had to take a guess here, "Blow a hole in heaven."

That seemed to get him moving. He sat down at his desk. His fingers flew across the surface of his desk. Form after form came up on the display. I stood tapping my foot and staring down the angels. They were all beautiful. They had all different types of coloring, but they were all hot as fuck, even the women. I wondered if when they died they got an upgrade on the beautiful scale. Or maybe heaven only too pretty people. Angandriel had said heaven was complicated.

"Are you done yet?"

I sent some of my anger into the soul stone. It flared with energy. Bright rays of peach light beamed out of it. The angels around me took a step back.

"I'm working on it," the man muttered.

"My patience is growing thin." I shook the soul stone a little bit. The energy of it surged up through my arm making the tattoos on my arm crawl with energy. I could feel them soaking in some of the power.

The man gave one final tap to the desk and stood. He held out a roll of paper. I stepped forward and accepted it. I unrolled it with on hand across the desk. I didn't understand the garbaligook it had sprawled across it.

"Tell me what this says," I demanded.

The man frowned and started to read it, "The hereby contracted party-,"

"No, tell me what this means so I can understand." I flared the stone again for emphasis.

"Right..." he stuttered. "When you sign this, Angandriel will be in your service for the rest of your lifetime. Upon your death his contract will be up for auction. He is to obey and serve you at all times, if he breaches the contract, it is your prerogative to punish him as you deem fit. We offer a host of punishing options for a fee."

"I don't care about your options. Is he mine?"

"Just sign on the line." He offered me a needle.

I poked my finger on the end of it and pushed it down at the bottom of the contract. The contract split in two. The information man took one. I rolled up the other. He held out his hand.

I stared at him.

"The stone. As payment."

"Angandriel first."

He nodded. The angels behind me backed off. Angandriel appeared with an angel escorting him by each arm.

"Lanie?" He asked as he approached.

I let the stone go. It fell into the information man's waiting hands. I grabbed up the contract. With a few flicks, I it hid against my body. I murmured a quick spell and it absorbed into me. A net trick I had learned to hide small things a very long time ago.

I turned to Angandriel and ran the rest of the way. I clung to his side as the angels let go of him. "Let's get the heaven out of here."

He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into the air. Hopefully heaven wasn't too pissed off at me for taking one of their angels.