Soul Thief (8 page)

MY GUESS WAS ONLY
half wrong.

The restaurant Leander had picked was a cozy Italian bistro tucked away between two larger buildings. I must've passed by about a dozen times, but never noticed it before because of my not-yet-a-supernatural status.

Inside, the restaurant was decorated in typical old-school Italian style, with rustic furniture, red-and-white checkered tablecloths, dark green walls, and a few paintings. On each table was the obligatory wax-dripped candle in a wine bottle. The lights were dimmed and soft piano music played in the background. It could've been the perfect romantic restaurant to go on a date if half of the creatures inside weren't out to kill regular humans.

“Guess that one.” Leander nodded toward a woman who nearly knocked her head as she stumbled inside the restaurant. She hobbled from one leg to the other as she made her way to an empty seat. Her size was as impressive as her height.

“Giant? Troll? Yeti?”

Leander frowned. “Where do you come up with these things?”

I shrugged. “Height? Size?”

“You have to look beyond that. How they look doesn't define what they are.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “Take the Council for example. I bet you thought all Angels would be gorgeous and majestic.”

“Pretty much.”

“And are they?”

“Some of them are.” My thoughts went to Seraphyn. If anyone ever asked me to describe majestic, I'd picture her. With her silvery shower of hair and sharp features, she'd looked like a fairytale princess come to life. “But some aren't.”

“Exactly. That woman, by the way, is a caster.”

“A caster? Like, a witch?”

“Nope.” Leander shook his head. “Witches use herbs and they draw power from nature. Casters draw power from within themselves.”

I squinted at the woman, trying to look past her appearance. “How do you know?”

“Easy. Did you see her shoving back her seat to sit down?”

“No. So?”

“She didn't. The seat moved on its own. Witches wouldn't be able to do that.”

I arched my eyebrows and turned back to him. “Impressive.”

“There are other clues, but you'd have to be closer to find out. If you touched her hands, you'd feel a small bolt of electricity. And if you looked into her eyes, you'd see either dark or light circles around her pupils. If they're dark, I suggest you don't ask too many stupid questions.”

“Right.” I sighed. “This is tougher than I thought.”

The waiter, a balding man with a large belly nearly bursting out of his shirt, appeared next to our table. “Leander! It's been too long,” he said in a heavy Italian accent. His black moustache curled whenever he spoke. “I was beginning to think you got reassigned!”

“Antonio, I'd never leave Fairhaven if that meant leaving your delicious food behind.” Leander winked at him.

The waiter waved his hand. “You know it's my Mia who does most of the cooking. And who is this beautiful young lady?” He turned to me.

My breath choked in my throat.

He had no irises, and two white pearls stared from his eye sockets.

“That's Riley,” Leander introduced me, saving me from having to respond myself.

Antonio frowned. “You're not a full blood Angel.”

“No. She's a Halfling.”

“Ah, I see.” He licked his lips, as if thinking something through. “Well, welcome to Antonio's. We have the best food for any supernatural — if I do say so myself.” He smiled, which made him look only slightly less creepy. “Have you made your choice yet? I recommend our pepperoni pizza.”

“Then I'll have that.” I tried to pull my eyes away from his, because although it was completely rude, I couldn't stop staring. He wasn't just blind — it was as if he could see, even without his eyes.

“Same for me.” Leander handed him the menu back. “And bring a bottle of your Sauvignon.”

Antonio took my menu as well, nodded at both of us, and left.

I waited until he'd gone far enough so he couldn't hear, then leaned over the table and whispered. “What creature is he?”

“A seer,” Leander said. “He can see glimpses of the future now and then. I'm not too fond of seers, but he's a friendly guy.”

“I noticed.” I was about to say something else when my cell phone buzzed. Mom had replied ‘okay' to my text about how I was going to dinner with Katie and Mich. One of my first white lies to her and I didn't even feel sorry about it. I closed the message and frowned when I read the time. “How can I be starving when it's only five?”

”Creating mental barriers takes a lot of energy. You can compare it with a non-stop workout.”

”Awesome.” I put my cell phone in my backpack and slumped back in my seat. “Working out without getting sweaty, that's my life-long dream.”

Antonio brought our bottle of Sauvignon wine and poured a glass for each of us.

When he left, I frowned at Leander. “You know, technically I'm underage and not allowed to drink. You're bringing out my bad side.”

Leander lifted his glass. “First of all, you're a supernatural being. The rules of the human world don't apply to us. Secondly, I've lived most of my life in Europe, and there people can drink at age sixteen. And lastly, am I supposed to believe there's never any underage drinking during your high school parties?” He smirked.

“All right, you got me there.” I let out a short laugh and took the glass in my hand. “I'm not a huge fan of alcohol though.”

“No, you're not a huge fan of beer.
This
is wine, and a fine wine at that.” He pointed at the glass as if it was filled with liquid gold.

I sniffed from the glass. It didn't smell half bad. Better than the wine I had at Gran's last week, anyway.

“You may think I'm old-fashioned because I don't remember what that vampire movie was called, but I've witnessed several generations of teenagers and there's a few things they have in common, like how they're always broke. Wine is too classy and too expensive, so beer it is.”

“Smart thinking.” We toasted our glasses. “What are we drinking to?”

“To you,” Leander said without missing a beat. “The newest member of our Angel family. Welcome.”

I blushed and took a sip of the wine to hide my embarrassment. It had a rich, sweet aroma, and I tasted berries and apple. “It's good.” I put the glass back down and licked my lips to savor the taste. “Thanks for taking me here. Even if you only did it so we could play ‘guess the monster',” I added with a smirk.

“That's not the only reason.” Leander folded his hands. “The Council was rather… frigid toward you and I want to make you feel at home in our world. All this change has to be difficult, so I'd like to take your mind off things.”

“Well, it worked. It's been
ages
since I went on a date.” The words hadn't even left my mouth before I wanted to slap myself. “Not a date. I mean, went out, had food, that kind of stuff. With friends.”

“Heh. You're hilarious.” Leander leaned back in his seat. “I've trained dozens of Angels, but not many Halflings. Darius, a few before him, and now you. I'm always amazed at how much more refreshing you Halflings are.” He stared into the distance, as if reliving a memory. “Regular Angels are rather boring. We spend all our time working for Heaven, getting assignments, wondering about good and bad, battling demons and that's about it. But humans… you have a sense of humor. You live short lives, but you manage to fill them with so much meaning.”

“I don't think you're boring.”
Great job, Riles, you're starting to sound like a love struck kitten.
“I mean, you're not
that
boring.”

“Thanks.” Leander smiled and looked me straight in the eyes. A blue spark flared in his green irises.

Something lingered between us, an unspoken thought, a wave of energy.

Antonio appeared out of the blue with two pepperoni pizzas. Startled, I hit my wineglass, nearly spilling it on the table. My superfast reflexes kicked in and I grabbed it before it fell. “Sorry.”

“Enjoy your meal.” Antonio gave a quick bow before he left.

“Thanks,” I said to his back. Then I looked down at my pizza and my stomach started grumbling as if it had gotten an early Christmas present. I started cutting the pizza into slices. After I'd taken a bite, I let out a soft moan. “This is delicious.”

“Best pizza in the world. I can tell, since I tried every restaurant in the whole of Italy.” Leander took another bite. “I met Antonio in a small village there. An entire family of seers, running a tiny restaurant. It was the most amazing thing I'd seen in centuries, so I convinced them to come here.”

“Why here of all places? Fairhaven isn't the most exciting town in the world. How about L.A.? Vegas?”

“Vegas gets boring fast. And Fairhaven is special. It's a source of great power.”

“Why?” I nearly choked on my pizza. “If Fairhaven is special, then I have a good chance of becoming President of the U.S.A. during the next elections.”

Leander ignored my comment. “Fairhaven lies on the crossroads of ley lines. Only the
fae
can see ley lines — that's why they're called fey lines sometimes as well. Other supernaturals can't see them, but we can sense them sometimes. They give power to every supernatural being around. There are several towns like this one scattered across the world. According to myth, it's a place where the barrier between the world of the fey and world of the humans is very thin.”

“Faeries are real too? Cool.”

“You
don't
want to hang around with faeries. They're not exactly evil, but they like playing games. Games with disastrous consequences.”

I sighed out loud and stabbed my fork into the pizza. “I'm tired of all these supernatural things I know next to nothing about. Tell me about Europe. About Italy. I've always wanted to go there.”

We spent the rest of dinner talking about Europe. He told me about London, Prague, Milan, every city he'd ever visited. About the kings and queens he met in real life. I got lost in his stories, savoring every word.

We ordered dessert, and he talked about Ireland and Scotland, and the rough, stone-built castles, Loch Ness's monster, and which legends were true and which ones weren't.

After dessert, we sipped our wine and talked some more.

“So what happened when you told the Pope?” I leaned on my elbows, mouth slightly open, completely engrossed in the story.

My cell phone started buzzing and I nearly had a heart attack. “Sorry,” I mumbled, digging through my backpack to find the culprit. The screen lit up. Mom.

The clock read eight. Oh God, I should've been home half an hour ago.

“Damn,” I mouthed to Leander. “I need to take this.”

Leander nodded. “Okay.”

I got up and rushed outside. Sharp autumn wind wrapped around me like a cocoon. “Hey, Mom,” I said when I picked up the phone.

“Where are you?” She shouted through the phone. “I was worried sick about you.”

“Dinner ran kind of late.” I bit my lip. White lies weren't that easy after all. “Sorry, I should've texted.”

“Spare me the lies,” Mom snapped. “Michelle dropped by at seven. She was wondering if you needed help with math, since you missed a class because you had an appointment with the school's psychologist. She knew nothing about a dinner date.”

I cringed. How would I explain this?

At the same time, her accusing me of lies made my blood boil. My small lie was nothing compared to her lies about my real father.

“You've got a lot of explaining to do, young lady. I expect you home right away.”

“I'm downtown. I'll be there as soon as possible.” I hesitated. Rage and guilt battled inside my heart. “I'm sorry, Mom.”

“You better be.” She hung up on me.

I looked at my cell phone, cursing the damned thing.

Someone put a hand on my shoulder.

I cried out, twisted around on my heel, and stood face to face with Leander. “Phew, thank God.” I let out a deep breath. “I didn't sense you.”

“That's probably because I didn't mean to attack you this time around.” He smiled, and I half forgot about how mad my Mom was. “Everything okay?”

“My Mom is pissed. She knows I didn't go out with my friends and I missed curfew.”

His smile faded and he rubbed a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble.”

“That's okay. It's my fault. I should've come up with a better excuse and made sure I was back on time.” I shrugged. “But your stories were so fascinating. Why would you say Angels are boring if you've got stories like that?”

“Most Angels
are
boring. Maybe I'm an exception.” He paused and looked down at my mouth.

Warmth spread through my entire body and a warm blush crept up my cheeks. I trembled even though I wasn't cold.

He put his thumb on the corner of my mouth. “You have some pizza sauce here.”

“Oh.” Instead of being embarrassed, I stared at him. An eerie electric current swept through my body.

Leander wiped the sauce away. His thumb lingered on my lips for a little too long.

I opened my mouth a little, not sure if I wanted to say something or not.

Then he pulled back and the moment was gone. “I'll take you home.”

I blinked. His voice plunged me back to the present. “I'm not sure if that's a good idea. My mom is already pissed off. Maybe you can drop me off a block away from home?”

“So your Mom would be less pissed if you went somewhere on your own, without proper explanation, and walked all the way home in the dark, than if you went out on a date but you were just too chicken to tell her?” Leander smirked. “I find that hard to believe.”