A Heavenly Christmas: A Challange Issued 

What was Ostara going to do now?  She was barely hanging on and now this!  She wondered if angels were allowed to cry for themselves.  She decided it was probably against the rules, but, since she had broken so many rules anyway, she sat with pillows of snow to hold her tears and cried for them both.  Every so often she would exchange the ice tears in her hands for fresh snow until she realized she was sitting in an ice puddle in the middle of a parking lot.  That would be a hard one to explain tomorrow. 

 

When Ostara realized she let her charge get away from her she dried her tears and once again popped herself into Nick's favorite bar.  This time there was something distinctly different.  In front of Nick was more than just his usual.  About five shots more.  And the air held a chill that even Ostara could feel.  She looked around at the patrons. 

 

There she was.  She didn't remember seeing her here before, and she would have remembered this human.  She didn't like this one and that was a first.  Ostara had even liked Hitler until she got to know him better.  Sitting at a table in the corner was a dark haired woman   who seemed to be staring right at her.  Ostara considered willing herself visible just to give the woman a start, but thought better of it.  She had broken enough rules for one day.

 

Ostara slipped over to hover in the corner where she could keep a watchful eye on Nick.  If he planned to drive home tonight, he would need someone to guide him.  It seemed the woman in the corner didn’t intend for Nick to go home alone either.  She stalked toward him in a silky purple cloud that fell away when she stopped revealing a dress that exhibited the perfection of her figure.  Even in his drunken stupor Nick had to take notice.

 

"It's never good when a man drinks alone," the woman practically purred.  "Buy me a drink so I can make it all better."

 

"Bill, make it another round for me and...?"  His voice held only a slight slur that could be recognized by only Bill, Ostara and the woman.  Bill set up the round as the woman answered the insinuated question.

 

"My friends call me Miss Kitty, but you can call me Kat."  Nick smiled.  True it had been a while since he'd flirted.  He frowned as he thought; it had been a long while.  Still it wasn't so long that he didn't know a come on when he heard it.  He only had to think for a moment.  This was exactly what he needed.  This Kat woman wasn't interested in anything more than the moment.  And he needed companionship. 

 

"Yeah, like a pet."  Nick didn't realize he spoke out loud as he shifted in his seat.  He didn't think it would get anymore comfortable as long as she was next to him. 

 

Kat leaned into him brushing her breast against his arm.  "I can be your pet if you like," she purred into his ear.  With a sudden crash all the liquor bottles shattered.  Startled cries rose from every corner of the bar.  All but one.  Kat turned to look at the corner closest to Nick with a smirk.  If Ostara hadn't known any better she would have thought that that woman knew she was there.  "It seems a little angry in here” Kat turned back to Nick, "Let's go back to your place.  It looks like this bar is closed."

 

Ostara knew she must be shimmering.  She had never been so angry before.  And now she had to virtually escort this, this creature safely back to Nick's house so they could....so they could....Ostara realized she couldn't even complete the thought.  Well, she wasn't going to do it!  From the very beginning she had done nothing right so now there was absolutely no reason for her to go out of her way to help this harlot and her Nick! 

 

Ostara stormed out of the bar as only an angel could:  Doors flung themselves wide to the screaming blizzard.  She flew straight at the moon swarming the skies with her anger.  "Why me?  Why me?  Why me?"  she screamed into the night and the winds carried her cries to the ears of Heaven.  Hermes sat up with sudden shock.  That was the cry of an angel.  There's about to be trouble.  He searched the winds to find the source and at last found Ostara on the moon crying like a child lost.

 

Hermes stayed still.  He wasn't sure what to do, but he knew he didn't want to startle the crying angel.  "Hu-um," he coughed.  Not much of a start, but it was at least a start.  Ostara looked up. 

 

"Oh, damn.  Now I'm caught.  I suppose god already knows."

 

"Um, well, not exactly.  there's been some trouble upstairs you know.  Oh, don't worry about it," he tried to sooth her.  "Just a little tiff with Hecate.  We all knew it was coming.  It just made god a little sad."

 

"Oh.  That's what it was."

 

"Well, everyone's trying to get back on track up there and, well, the Pool of Sight is off.  God's having a hard time refocusing.  I expect her to get it any minute, so if you don’t want any more trouble, I suggest you...” but before Hermes had finished his warning Ostara was back at the bar looking for Nick.  Hermes thought god had enough trouble on her hands so he decided to say nothing of this little trouble.

 

Traveling over the streets in case she saw him before he got home, Ostara worried about the tracks she saw in the road.  "I wonder if the roads are really that slippery."  Ostara became more and more worried as she got closer to Nick's home.  She knew that whoever made those tracks should not have been in a car much less driving.  And the closer she got the more likely that it was Nick who made those tracks.

 

At last she was there.  Though it only took a few minutes, it had seemed like hours to the upset angel.  there was no doubt that the tracks had been made by Nick.  His car was parked across two spaces in the parking lot with the front corner of it over the curb.  "This will never do," she thought and, looking around first, gave a little wink to set the car straight in one spot.

 

Never in her existence had Ostara been so unwilling to do her job than at that moment.  Afraid of what she'd see, she slowly walked to the window.  She knew exactly how fortunate she was that he made it home at all.  He had to have divine help from somewhere.    Ostara was surprised to see Nick staring out the window.  That woman was gone.  She didn't believe it.  What was going through that man's mind to have turned away someone like that?  She stood amazed at the thought which soon melted into concern about Nick's situation.   Once again the pain of his life presented itself in her mind and she sighed.

 

Nick stood there staring out the window.  How did he manage to say no?  And she wasn't easy to get rid of either.  There was just something about her.  Her long red nails were like claws that wanted to dig into him and tear out his heart.  Nick gave a mirthless laugh.  It wasn't as if he had a heart any more.  No, Clair had seen to that.  Then he heard it.  That whisper.  And there was the frost forming on the glass.  He looked up to see who could be hiding in the dark just beyond the glass.

 

From the moment she met his eyes, she knew what the humans meant when they spoke of hell.  Death and destruction sprang from the depths of his soul creating a whirlwind of pain that consumed him.  She was drawn into him reading his story.  His eyes spoke of a childhood destroyed by his father.  They spoke of dreams lost to the illness of his mother.  They spoke of the torture of watching her die.  They spoke of hopelessness of losing other family and friends.  They spoke of the pain of Clair's lies.  And they spoke of the loneliness of facing the world.  Ostara had known sadness and despair.  She had heard of hell, but she had never known anything that tore at her soul the way this man's eyes did.  Tears glistened upon her cheek as she read the details of his story.

 

Ostara let out her breath with a wail.  She had never known such pain before.  She knew her cries stirred up a storm that might endanger the people near here, but she no longer cared.  For the first time in her existence, Ostara wished angels could die.