Rami practically stomped their foot. “Yes, because it’sfunny!Now laugh!”
Julian actuallydidfind it pretty humorous. But it was much more fun to watch the angel’s face turn red again.
“Ugh! You are positively no fun. Get in the damned car,” they whined, and then slammed the door as they did just that.
Julian’s mouth dropped open, and as the car started he fumbled for the door handle and slid into the rather small passenger seat.
“Angel, did you just curse at me?” Julian asked.
“It’s very possible,” they said, and backed out of their driveway oh-so carefully. “I have been on Earth for quite some time. It would be difficultnotto pick up on certain human mannerisms.”
Not very angel-like,he thought.
“They slip out every now and then,” Rami explained, and waited until they’d come to a stop beneath a red light to turn the knobs on the dashboard.
Julian stared at all the buttons, and then watched all the different cars roll past. He knew about them, of course, had heard about them in Hell, spent some time with the creators of such things, watched compilations of dash cam videos. He just didn’t remembereverythingabout them.
And he’d certainly never been in one. Julian pursed his lips as he ran a hand along the smooth arm rest.
Demons had wings; they didn’t needwheels.
“Why aren’t we just flying?” Julian asked.
Rami arched a brow at him before quickly turning back to the traffic as the light turned green. “Humans don’t know about angels for the same reason they don’t know about demons. So we can’t exactly be seen.”
“Please,” Julian sneered. “If they can handle dragons and werewolves and fairies, they can handle demons and angels.”
Rami hummed. “Well, do you want to be the demon responsible for that? Revealing the entire race to the humans?”
Julian pursed his lips. If the higher-ups hadn’t already informed humans of their existence, there must be a reason.
“Didn’t think so,” Rami drawled.
The road was busy and winding, and they passed all the businesses Julian had wandered around the day before, including the alley where Hell had contacted him.
Julian leaned forward and pushed some of the buttons. One turned on the radio, but there was no music playing, just a commercial. Something about cars.
I’m in a car; I don’t need another one.
Julian shut the radio off with a pout and tried a few more buttons. He turned the air on, and then off. And pushed the button with a snowflake on it.
“What’s that do?”
“It’s super cold air conditioning. Will you please stop touching everything?” Rami asked, exasperated.
Julian pouted, and leaned back in his seat to stare out the window. To even be able to properly tempt the angel, Rami had to at leastlikeJulian, so, fine. He’d try not to get on Rami’s nerves.
With his focus on their surroundings, he realized they were going rather… slowly. Cars were passing them left and right. Someone went around them with the blare of a horn.
“I thought you said this was a perfectly functioning vehicle?” Julian asked.
“It is!”
“Then why are we going so slowly?”
Rami’s hands tightened on the wheel before the car whirred a bit more, and then they were keeping pace with the other cars around them.
“See, was that so hard?” Julianprodded.