Mandy had fallen asleep with her head on Yomiel's lap. The guardian angel was stroking her fiancée's messy brown hair as she picked her copy of The Silmarillion back up and resumed reading, savoring the quiet beauty of this moment.
While Yomiel was engrossed in the bittersweet tale of Beren and Lúthien, her ringtone (Hallelujah, of course) suddenly rang out. Thinking for a split second that it was the doorbell, Yomiel instinctively tried to cover her bare breasts with her book.
Mandy stirred. "What's that, Yomiel? I heard something..."
"I think it's the phone," Yomiel said as she stood up. "You can go back to sleep; I'll handle it."
Mandy nodded and snuggled up to a pillow. The human girl pretended that it was Yomiel's soft bosom as she drifted back to sleep.
Yomiel picked up the phone and recognized the number immediately. This was a call from Victoria "Tori" Vordenburg, scion of the famed Vordenburg family of monster hunters. As a guardian angel, Yomiel worked closely with any monster hunters who had business in the territory Heaven had assigned her to protect, namely Jefferson County, Washington. Yomiel would help the monster hunters investigate supernatural crimes, aid them in slaying the truly evil, and prevent them from killing the wrongly accused.
Tori Vordenburg was a pretty principled monster hunter, but she harbored an ancient grudge against the von Karnsteins that troubled Yomiel. Yomiel hoped her friend wasn't jumping at Carmilla-shaped shadows again. She answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi," said Tori's voice. "Is this 'Angie Ward' I'm talking to?"
"It is," Yomiel responded. "No need to stand on formalities, though. Just call me Twinkles like you always do."
"Can't," said Tori. "I'm on a commercial flight. Someone might overhear."
"I think it's probably safe," laughed Yomiel. "It's just a cute little nickname, after all. Nobody's going to be lying awake at night wondering how I got it."
"Okay, Twinkles," said Tori.
"You really must learn to be less uptight," Yomiel advised. "This is a stressful enough job as it is."
"Believe me, I know!" Tori laughed. "Now, to business. I'll be in town probably the day after tomorrow if this damn flight stays on schedule..."
"Please try not to say 'damn' to an angel," Yomiel sighed. "It's highly upsetting."
Tori chuckled. "Okay. I'll be here the day after tomorrow if this DARN flight stays on schedule, and I could always use an extra set of hands, eyes, and wings."
"New case?" asked Yomiel.
"You bet your halo!" Tori said. "It's personal, too."
Yomiel sighed. "Is this about those poor von Karnsteins you hate so much?"
"Too early to say," Tori answered. "It's mostly about my cousin, Beck Hamilton. Remember my Aunt Kim?"
"Very well," Yomiel smiled. "I met her that time your father so graciously invited me to his family reunion. I was honestly surprised she didn't join the family business. She struck me as unusually strong-willed."
"Well, it was her dream to become a veterinarian," said Tori. "Anyway, Beck's her kid. They're an AFAB non-binary person with freckles and light brown hair that they wear in a fade cut with frosted platinum tips. They're usually dressed in masculine-leaning clothing with a midriff-baring spaghetti strap mixed in to show off their belly button piercing."
"Thanks for the description," said Yomiel, "but why are we looking for them? Have they been kidnapped?"
"Nothing like that, Twinkles," said Tori. "But Aunt Kim's been noticing weird things about Beck lately. They've been putting on a lot of muscle mass overnight, they're getting a bit hirsute, traces of semen have been showing up in their room with no explanation, and Aunt Kim's been catching glimpses of them covered in what looked a little like fur."
"Sounds werebeast-related," Yomiel observed.
"That's my main theory right now," said Tori. "I'm coming to Stokerville to investigate, and I'd really appreciate your help, considering Stokerville's just a half-hour drive from Byron Heights."
"You can count on me," Yomiel agreed. "Anyone else helping out?"
"Yep," said Tori. "There's my girlfriend Erzulie, of course. You know, the Voodoo witch? I'm also bringing along my two newest contacts, Fiona MacGorrie and Megan Swanson. Erzulie and I met them on our last case. We were in Scotland taking down a rogue vampire who'd started some kind of sacrificial cult with the locals. Fiona and Megan were both vampires, but we cured Fiona on her request. Megan didn't want to be cured, I'm sorry to say. We still decided to bring her along; you never know when you'll need an ally with access to all those vampire powers, after all. You're good with working alongside a leech, right?"
"Considerately better with it than you are, Tori," Yomiel giggled. "You be nice to Megan, please."
"I'll try, Twinkles," sighed Tori. "Megan is pretty nice as leeches go. It's just so hard to turn off your fang-related suspicions, y'know?"
"You can do it, Tori," Yomiel said encouragingly. "I have faith in you."
"Thanks," said Tori. "Well, good to have you aboard again, Twinkles! Just like old times. Anything new going on with you?"
"Aside from the fact that I just had to answer the phone without a stitch of clothing on?" Yomiel laughed. "Yeah, I have some pretty huge news. I'm engaged!"
"Really?" Tori asked happily. "Congrats! Who's the lucky one who snapped your glorious self up?"
"My roommate Mandy," Yomiel said.
"Oh, I remember her," said Tori. "Yeah, Amanda Cooper. Funny, I didn't think she played for our team. She had a boyfriend when I met her. Real piece of work, that guy."
"It would seem Mandy's more flexible than you realized," said Yomiel.
"Is she why you're naked right now?" Tori snickered.
Yomiel blushed. Shame was an unfamiliar emotion for an angel, but she was feeling bucketloads of it right now. "Y-yes, actually. We were... celebrating her proposal."
"Well, I hope you two'll be as happy as Erzulie and I are," said Tori. "Good thing lesbians can't produce nephilim."
"You can say that again," said Yomiel. "I have zero intention of getting in trouble with Heaven like Azazel and Semyaza did back in the day."
"Smart," Tori agreed. "Well, I'll be seeing you in Stokerville, Twinkles. Bye!"
"Bye," Yomiel responded as the call ended. She mulled the situation over in her head. Did Beck really need help? Yomiel supposed that depended on whether her therianthropic transformation had been voluntary or not. She and Tori would have a lot of questions for the magicals of Stokerville soon...