Soul Thief (13 page)

“I can't tell you,” I told her. “If I could, I would.”

“Is it drugs? Are you in a mess with the wrong people? You don't just go out to a club and get two puncture wounds in your neck, Riles. And lying to your parents about going on a date with that psychologist guy… if he even is a real psychologist.”

“What do you mean?”

“I checked his credentials. They match, except that when I emailed the doctors mentioned, nobody had heard of him.”

“What the hell, Mich! Why would you even do that? It's none of your business.”

“So you knew. You knew he wasn't a real psychologist.”

I didn't respond because I didn't know what to say that couldn't make it worse.

“Then why?” she asked. “Why is he pretending to be? Where do you know him from? I never heard you talk about him before.”

“I didn't know him. Before, I mean.”

She shook her head and sighed. I'd never seen her so serious before. “I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth, Riles. I thought we were friends, I thought you knew you could tell me anything.” She licked her lips. “Just so you know I intend to tell the principal about him being a fake.”

“Don't,” I said. “You don't understand.”

“Then explain.”

“I can't!” I shouted in frustration, throwing my hands up in the air. “Just trust me. Can't you do that?”

Michelle swallowed hard. “Fine. You have until Friday to make sure he quits, or else I'm telling the principal.”

She was as stubborn as a mule and I knew this was all I was going to get. She walked past me out of the bathroom, leaving me alone. I stared at my image in the mirror. Despite my pale skin, I looked more radiant, more alive, than I ever had before, probably due to the vampire attack. My hair glowed like gold.

But I'd trade it all just to go back to normal, to be a regular teen again.

I sighed and checked my cell phone. Still no message from Leander. He hadn't even reacted to my mental message. Then again, I was so new at this he might not have received it.

I splashed some cold water on my face and walked out of the bathroom, back into the swirling mass of bodies and sweat.

MY CELL PHONE RINGER
sounded as loud as a fire truck. I pushed the ‘silent' button and twisted around in my bed. We'd stayed at Gravey's Place until nearly curfew and it was only seven o'clock now. Whoever had woken me up, I swore I'd make their life a living hell.

I rolled around when the cell phone buzzed again. Katie. I groaned and picked up. She better be in mortal peril to call me this early.

“What?” I grunted.

“Riley!” she sounded as awake as if she'd gone to bed at nine instead of one-thirty. “I have the best news in the world! Myron just called me and he kept on apologizing for not making it last night. His car broke down and his cell phone battery died, so he couldn't contact me.”

“That's great,” I said, slumping down in my pillow. I yawned out loud, hoping that would make her understand I wasn't in the mood for talking. “I'm glad for you.”

“I know! I'm still kind of mad, but he promised he'd make it up to me. We're going on a date Wednesday and he's taking me to this fancy restaurant, Tilliers.”

“While that's all great news, if you don't mind, I'm going to take another quick nap and go off to slumberland,” I said, pulling the blankets over me. “Bye, bye.”

“Wait!” Katie said. “I never properly thanked you for going out and searching with me.”

“No problem. Bye,” I said, and put the phone down before she could say anything else. No sooner had I put the phone down when it buzzed again, a text message this time.

Leander. My heart thrummed in my throat. You're still angry with him, Riley, I reminded myself.

I pushed the ‘open' button, cursing my cell phone for not opening the message quicker.

Hey. Sorry for the late response. I would've loved to come, but they kept us overnight. Is everything all right? I had a bad feeling like something is wrong.

My anger melted like snow in the sun. He'd been worried about me! And he would've loved to come.

An army of butterflies gathered in my stomach and any sleep I might've still had was lost. I pushed the blankets away and typed a message back.

Do we meet today for practice? I got attacked by vampires last night, but I'm fine.

I took a shower so I wouldn't sit there pining away like a crazy cat lady until I got a response. I investigated the vampire bite in the mirror. Leander had told me next to nothing about vampires, but I hoped this one bite wasn't enough to turn me into one. The last thing I wanted to be was a half-angel, half-vampire hybrid.

By the time I got back from showering, I'd gotten another text message.

Vampires? What? I can come pick you up right away.

Hmm. Well, Mom and Dad said they'd be out for most of the day, so…
Okay
, I texted back.

I picked some nice clothes to put on, something casual but not too casual, and combed my hair. I'd barely finished when the doorbell rang.

I opened the door and stared right into Leander's face. “You look like you didn't sleep all night,” I said.

“I didn't. I just got back from the meeting and the first thing I did was check your text message. Why didn't you call for me when they attacked you?” he asked. Then he grabbed my chin and pushed it to the right so he could take a look at the vampire bite.

“I did call for you. Several times, as hard as I could.”

“Well it's not festering, so that's good. How many vampires were there?” He let go of me, but he didn't take a step back.

The invasion of my personal space didn't help to calm me down. I stared at the floor. “Five.”

“Only one of them drained your blood?”

“Yes.”

“Well you still look like you need a hearty breakfast, and so do I.” He walked a few steps back. “You choose. Pancakes at Erin's Diner or I can show off some of my cooking skills back at my place.”

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. “Your place will be fine,” I said, trying my best to keep my voice neutral. “I'd rather talk about this somewhere private.”

“Good choice,” Leander said as we got into his car.

We talked about the vampire incident as we drove to his house. My heart beat faster and louder with every mile we drove, until I was sure he must hear it. I told him about the attack and about the mysterious supernatural creature who came to my rescue.

“Taking out five vampires isn't nothing. They're weaker than us physically, but it doesn't differ much,” he said. “You did well to fight them off for so long.”

“What I don't get is why they attacked me in the first place. I've lived here my entire life and I've never even seen a vampire before. Now I see five of them.”

“When you became a Halfling, you became a beacon in the darkness,” Leander explained. “You stand out now to other supernaturals. When you were a human you were mundane, you blended in with the rest. Now you're unique.”

“A special cookie… great. I'd rather go back to normal though. And how come the wound didn't heal properly? I thought I had super-healing.”

“You do, but when vampires bite you, they inject a venom into your skin, making it more difficult to heal.”

Leander parked the car in front of his house. The sheer size of the mansion still surprised me. My house could easily fit four times in there.

“Can't you teach me how to fight? Mental barriers are awesome but I'd rather be able to kick some vampire ass in case they decide to go after me again.”

“Those guys won't bother you again,” Leander said while he fiddled with the lock. “Silver blades kill them.”

“Oh, well, other vampires then.”

“You're right about needing to learn how to fight. But before you can fight, you need to learn how to defend yourself and how to call for help. I'm worried about why your message to me didn't go through.”

We walked inside the mansion, our footsteps echoing on the floor. Leander led me through a labyrinth of hallways and doors into a kitchen fit for a restaurant. It was U-shaped, large, and one wall of the kitchen was made entirely of glass, looking out onto a Japanese garden. The cabinets were sleek and white with black door handles. There was a kitchen island with four high stools.

“Want me to help?”

“No need. You sit down,” Leander said, gesturing at the chairs. “Want some orange juice?”

“I never say no to orange juice.” He got some out of the fridge and gave me a glass. Then he started getting ingredients out, walking back and forth from closet to closet.

“Maybe you were too far away,” I suggested.

“That shouldn't matter. It's the bond between two people that determines the strength of the link, not the distance.” He put down a pack of flour. “I think someone blocked the signal.”

“Why would anyone do that?” I frowned. “And how?”

“The how is easy. They could've disrupted the signal halfway through and neither of us would've noticed. Think of a mental message being sent as a rope being thrown from one end of the river to another. If you catch the rope halfway and lead it to someone else, it'll never arrive on the other side.”

“You mean we've been hacked,” I said, taking a sip of the orange juice. “Somebody can read our secret messages and even delete them.”

“Sort of like that. To do that however, they'd need to be a stronger empath then we are.”

“That doesn't sound very hard. I'm a lousy empath,” I decided.

He patted me on the head in a very big-brother-like gesture. “You're not a lousy empath. You're an inexperienced empath.”

“Same difference.”

“Anyway, they'd have to be more powerful than me, which rules out quite a few of them.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You're quite full of yourself, aren't you?”

“I'm just being honest. We all have a particular talent we're better at than others. Mine is mind influence or mind control. That's the main reason why they charged me with training Darius, and now you.”

“So you can control our minds?” I nearly dropped my glass.

“Yes. But don't worry. I'd never do that, unless I had no other choice.”

But it didn't mean he couldn't just do it whenever he wanted to change my mind or make me believe things that weren't true. The thought made me sick.

“Right,” I said, trying to change the subject.

“We're not supposed to talk about it. That's kind of why the meeting is secret.” Leander handed me a plate with pancakes.

“How did you know this is my favorite breakfast food? Or was it a lucky guess?” I asked.

“It's my favorite breakfast food too.” He sat down next to me with his own pancake-filled plate. We were close enough that our knees touched. It didn't seem to bother him, but embarrassment ran like fire through my veins.

He poured some honey on top of his pancakes and began cutting them.

“Do you always do that? I've never eaten one with honey before,” I said.

“Want to try?” He put a small bite on his fork and held it out.

I leaned forward and took a bite from the pancake. I let the flavor fill my mouth and then nodded. “Tastes great.”

“Well, after a few lifetimes you start experimenting with all kinds of food,” Leander said.

“Was Diane at the meeting?” I asked.

“Nope. Only Guardians and Council members allowed. Why?”

I shrugged. “I haven't seen her since she took me to the Council, and I'm curious how she's doing. So was Seraphyn there?”

Leander nearly choked on his food. “Why would you want to know that?”

“Well, she was the one who saved my life when the Council decided they were better safe than sorry, so naturally I'm a bit curious.”

The way Leander looked, his eyes glued to the table, made me think there was more going on between them than he wanted to share.

“She was there,” he said eventually. “Now, can we go back to the more pressing matters at hand, like your training?”

“Oh, right,” I said, remembering Michelle's threat from last night. “My friend is on to us. Or, well, on to you… at least to you not being a real psychologist. She checked your resume and credentials and found out they're fake.”

Leander sighed. “Great. Well, we can make her forget she ever found out. Which one of your friends is it?”

“We're not going to do that,” I said. “She's one of my best friends and I won't let anyone tamper with her brain. What if you make a mistake? It sounds dangerous.”

“I've done it a thousand times before,” Leander assured me.

“But I know Michelle. She's going to get suspicious again, do the same amount of sleuthing and draw the same conclusions by this time next week. That's just who she is and you can't change that.”

“Actually, we could,” Leander started.

“No,” I snapped. I stabbed the pancake with my fork. “She gave us until Friday, so if you quit by then, there's no problem. The therapy is a stupid excuse anyway. I've missed way too many hours of class and I'm behind in nearly all my classes.”

“Hm.” Leander seemed to consider it. “Maybe we could cut back a little on the training,” he said. “But not until we find out why you couldn't contact me. I'm not about to leave you unprotected and unable to call for help.”

“Thanks,” I said. “And thanks for not prying around in my friend's brain. Besides,” I said, “I thought you couldn't access humans' brains because they're on another plane?”

“They are, but some empaths like me can get to that plane and change the way they think. It's exhausting and a lot more difficult than doing the same thing to another angel, but sometimes it's the only option.”

“I see,” I said, stuffing my mouth full with another pile of pancakes. “These are delicious.”

“Thanks. If you like these, you should taste my pasta. When you live several centuries in Italy, you'll know how to make your pasta.”

I grinned. “Can't wait.”

Leander stayed quiet. He didn't eat, but after a few moments he put his hand on my knee. “I'm really sorry, Riley,” he said. “I should've been there to protect you. That's my job. I can't imagine how scared you must've been.”

“Well,” I said, my voice as hoarse as if I'd smoked a pack of cigarettes, “I was more surprised than scared. I didn't have a lot of time for that.”

I couldn't pull my gaze away from his hand, still lying on my knee as if it had become part of it. Butterflies exploded in my stomach.

“So you forgive me?” Leander asked.

“You were busy,” I told him. “It's not your fault.”

A guilty look flashed across his face and he stared down. “I still feel like it's my fault,” he said.

Before I could think of any reason not to, I put my hand on his cheek. His skin felt surprisingly cool. He looked up, his blue eyes sparkling like rain drops.

Time to start being brave, Riley.

I leaned forward and licked my lips. He stared at me, unmoving, not even blinking. Time stretched on as if a minute lasted an hour. I could feel his breath on my lips. My heart jumped to the ceiling and back. I held my head to the side, ready to kiss him.