Angelfire
Page 67

"You are a beautiful girl," he said in a slightly surprised voice, his face so close that he didn't need to speak up for me to hear him over the music.
"I like your mask," my mouth blabbed stupidly. I wanted to slap my lips off. I like your mask?
He laughed, his voice like velvet. "I'm glad you like it. What's your name?"
"El ie," I answered, swooning. I leaned heavily against the wal to hold myself up.
"I'm Cadan," he replied.
"That's an unusual name," I noted absently.
"It's a very, very old one." The backs of his fingers traced along my bare col arbone. I shivered.
"Are you a friend of Josie's?" I asked, trying to concentrate on our conversation as he touched me. He made it next to impossible to accomplish that.
"No," he said, and looked up from my col arbone, his fiery opal eyes capturing mine.
As I stared into them, I could have sworn I saw golden flames flickering in the irises. I blinked and the flames vanished. "Do you go to our school?"
"No."
"Do you know a lot of people here?"
"Only one," he responded. "Your Wil ."
I blinked in confusion, suddenly sober. "My--?"
In that moment Wil appeared beside Cadan, the back of his fist flying and slamming into the boy's jaw. The Phantom mask sailed off and shattered on the floor as if it were made of porcelain.
Okay, that wasn't quite the move I had wanted Wil to make a few seconds before.
"Will!" I screamed, grabbing his shoulder and yanking him back. "What the hel is the matter with you?"
He said nothing but only stared at Cadan. Wil 's eyes glowed bright green, and even in the dark hal I could see his power humming furiously around him. Cadan rose to his feet, cupping his jaw-- laughing. I would have bet everything I owned that Wil 's punch should have crushed every bone in Cadan's face. How was he even alive?
Unless he wasn't human.
"What are you doing here?" Wil demanded, his voice subzero cold, frightening even me.
"I only wanted to meet her," Cadan said. "I had to get a look at the girl who's been rustling everyone's feathers so much lately. She seems to be the object of Ragnuk's obsession, not to mention Bastian's. Can you blame my curiosity?"
Nausea clawed through my abdomen, and my body went stiff with fear. "Reaper?"
"He's one of Bastian's vir," Wil growled, not looking at me.
Cadan leered knowingly at Wil . He reached a hand out to me, but before I could react, Wil 's sword swung through the air, and the tip pricked the beautiful demonic vir's throat.
"Don't you dare touch her," Wil warned, pressing the blade a fraction of a mil imeter deeper. Blood peeked at the tip. I glanced around, praying no one would notice.
"She's a lovely thing," Cadan said, stil as stone, his chin up, his eyes locked on Wil 's. "I see why you keep her so close. You wouldn't want anyone like me sweeping her off her feet, would you?"
"Leave!" Wil demanded. "Or we'l take this outside and finish it."
Cadan licked his lips as if the prospect were delicious. "I can arrange that."
In my horror, my voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "I can't fight dressed like a sexy nurse!"
"My dear," Cadan said, his voice as sensuous like wine, "I don't intend to harm you. Your Guardian, here, is another story. We have unfinished business."
"We aren't carrying our quarrel into the world of humans,"
Wil said. "It can wait."
I couldn't be sure if Cadan's face was disappointed or not. "Another time, then?" he asked.
"Agreed," Wil snarled.
Suddenly Cadan vanished. Wil stabbed forward in shock and anger, his blade punching through the wal . I felt warm lips on my neck and I screeched, wheeling away. Cadan grabbed me closer to him. As Wil shot toward us, Cadan whispered into my ear, "'We'l meet again soon.'"
Then he was gone again. This time for good. Was that Shakespeare he'd just quoted to me?
Wil cried out in rage and pounded his knuckles into the wal . A pair of girls came around the archway and stared at us for a brief moment before giggling and moving on. I grabbed his arm. "Calm down! I can't believe you just punched a hole through Josie's wal !" I looked around us, my heart pounding. "We should walk away. . . ."
I led him away and down a quieter hal before turning back to face him. Despite my mild annoyance with him, his version of defending my honor was stil sexy. With his angry face on, he looked amazingly gorgeous and just as dangerous.
"Wil , who was that?" I asked, my senses returning to me, final y able to feel how unnerved I truly was.
"Cadan," he growled. "He's one of Bastian's thugs. I don't understand why he was here tonight. I'm surprised he would try to attack you."
I was doubtful. "I don't think he was looking to fight. He had plenty of chances. Don't you think he would have used the opportunity?"
"Don't think he isn't dangerous because he didn't kil you on sight." His voice was uneasy, worried. "You don't understand how destructive he can be."
I leaned back against the wal with a sharp pain in my stomach. I didn't feel threatened by Cadan at al , but I had to trust Wil 's word. He knew these creatures better than I did. He was one of them.