Angelfire
Page 102

I wanted to protest, but I knew how lenient her restrictions were. She could have banned me from seeing him altogether and she had every right to. I wasn't a bad kid. I wasn't wild. I wasn't into drugs; nor was I promiscuous. I just had a terrible responsibility and I didn't know how to balance that with a normal life. I didn't know if that was even possible. My mom dropped her hand and looked at me final y. "I'm not going to tel your father that you lied, because, frankly, I'm quite sure he'd kil you. You need to be punished, not murdered, so we'l handle this, you and I. No parties, no Movie Night, no car, no phone, no hanging out with your friends for a month. At least. I'm taking your keys, and I'l be driving you anywhere you absolutely have to go. As soon as school is out, you're to be inside this house until you leave for class the next morning. God, I don't know what's with you lately. The drinking, the lying, the poor grades . . . How do you expect to get into Michigan State with grades like that? And I want to talk to Wil . I want to get to know him if he's your first serious boyfriend. You have to clue me in on your life, El ie. Help me out here."
I nodded slowly, clutching the winged pendant around my neck for courage. I wished I could tel her everything, and I wanted to cry because I couldn't. Bastian's words burned through my heart. Was I real y gambling with my family and friends' lives by keeping them so close to me? Were they targets? Did I put them in danger? Could I give them up if I had to? I'd completely forgotten that my mom and I could real y talk. Considering how close I'd come to losing my life so many times in the last few months, I wanted to feel close to her again. I didn't want anything to happen to her because of me. "I love you, Mom."
"I love you too, baby," she said. "I real y do. I want you to be okay. The rest of your choices are up to you. I hope to God you make the right ones."
"This probably won't make you feel any better," I began,
"but--I'm in love with him. I am." It felt right saying it, knowing that I'd felt this way for centuries but had been too much of a damn fool to see it.
She stared at me for what seemed like hours. "Does he love you back?"
"Yes," I said without hesitation, and held my mom's gaze confidently. "I don't expect you to understand how far he's gone to demonstrate it, but I promise you there's no limit to what he'd do for me--he's shown that again and again. I know I've made some terrible mistakes and hidden things from you, but this is something you have to real y trust me on. It's the only thing I'm sure about in the mess my life has turned into."
Her gaze fel to my winged necklace between my fingers.
"Is he the one who gave you that?"
"Yes."
She stared at the pendent for too long before she spoke.
"If you say you're in love with him, then I believe you. Please understand, however, that at your age very few loves ever last. You don't know if he'l just decide to leave you one day. Keep that in mind, okay?"
I maintained an iron resolve, because I knew in my bones Wil wasn't that type of guy. If he had stuck by my side for five hundred years, risked his life and his soul for me, then it would take a lot for him to just walk away. He was my Guardian, my guardian angel.
When the first snow fel a few nights later just before midnight, I sat on the roof of an office building with Wil by my side. I conceded that I'd lose fun nights with my friends as part of my punishment, but hunting was something I couldn't give up. I pul ed the neck of my sweater higher to my chin when the chil of winter bit at my skin. Not even the Grim could keep the freezing temperature away.
"I hate snow," I grumbled. "It's so pretty, but why does it have to be cold?"
Wil laughed softly. "It's a necessary evil."
I frowned. "So where is our un necessary evil?" I asked, referring to the reaper we had been fol owing.
His eyes scanned the dimly lit and nearly empty parking lot below us. Grayish orange street lamps dotted the lot in a grid, but they revealed no monster.
"This is where he kil ed last night. He should be here again."
Reapers were truly creatures of habit. Wil was no exception, although his habits were: fight reapers, drive me crazy, sit on my roof, eat when I'm not looking, fight reapers, drive me crazy . . .
A man dressed in a black pea coat exited the building, jangling his keys as he walked to his vehicle. He whistled a tune, happy to be heading home after working so late. As if on cue, a dark shape the size of a minivan lumbered out of the darkness. The man was completely oblivious to the reaper's hidden presence.
Wil and I hopped off the building, landing two stories below with little more than the bend of our knees. I eased toward the man and stood between him and the gigantic ursid reaper. The monster's black eyes found me, and he licked his lips. When he noticed that I was staring right at him, he tilted his head curiously as if he didn't know me. That was a shocker.
The businessman noticed me. He dropped his keys in a fright. "What the--?"
"Just drive home," I said cool y. I tightened my grip on my swords.
The man's gaze fel to my blades and his mouth opened dumbly at the same time.
I glared at him. "Get. In. Your. Car."
He scrambled, ducking for his keys and darting to the driver's-side door, muttering something under his breath that sounded a lot like "Crazy . . ."
As he drove away, the reaper growled. He stepped toward me, his talons scraping the delicate layer of snow on the pavement. Flakes stuck on his muzzle and caught the tips of the thick, inky black hair on his back. The reaper backed away from me in a circle, creeping toward the darkness he thought would conceal his body. Since I had scared off his intended victim, he must have decided I'd make a tasty replacement. Idiot.