He slid his arms around me and pulled me in. “I missed you,” he whispered right before his lips captured mine. I leaned into the kiss, relishing the taste of him.
I pulled away from him to look at our ride. “A limo? You really outdid yourself this time.”
He looked offended. “I’ve clearly lost my touch if you think a limo is me outdoing myself.”
He opened the door for me and I slid inside. “I hope you like Shakespeare,” he said, “since we’re going to the theater.”
I could feel my face light up. “A play? You’re taking me to a play?”
Andre entered the limo right after me. A small smile played along his lips. “Hamlet. And I’m glad you’re excited about it.”
“Are you kidding me? We’re seeing a Shakespearean play on the British Isles? I think I might’ve just died and gone to heaven.” Andre’s smile blossomed a little more.
Inside the luxurious car, a bottle of champagne chilled. “Are we celebrating something?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at the bottle.
“That,” he said, “is to congratulate you on solving your first case.”
His words warmed me to my core, but in spite of them, I furrowed my brows. “I hardly solved it,” I said. “That was all you. And the Politia only just decided to believe me.”
Andre rapped on the screen that separated us from our driver, and the limo pulled away from my dormitory. After he did so, he grabbed the chilled bottle of champagne and uncorked it.
“Not many your age have even faced the challenge of solving a case,” he said, grabbing two champagne flutes from a compartment built into the limo. “Even fewer have been required to do so while receiving blame for the crimes committed and pressure to solve the case before a protective truce dissolves.”
Well, when he put it like that . . .
He poured out the champagne into two glasses and handed one to me. I took the one he offered me, my fingers brushing his. “I thought you didn’t serve alcohol to minors.”
“You miss nothing,” he said.
“I seriously doubt that.”
Andre ignored my comment. “In public—in the normal world—you’re a minor. In the supernatural world, you can legally drink.”
I thought that over and shrugged. “Works for me.” I leaned forward and clinked glasses with him.
“To us,” he said, his eyes intense.
I got the impression he was toasting to more than just solving a case, but I decided not to dissect that thought too much.
“To us.” I took a sip, the fizzy alcohol tickling the back of my throat.
His gaze still lingered on me. “Samhain is tomorrow,” he said. As soon as the words left his mouth, the mood in the car shifted from happy to somber.
Reluctantly I tore my eyes away from the bubbles that foamed at the top of my drink. “The day I’m supposed to meet the devil.”
“That’s not going to happen Gabrielle.”
I watched the beautiful man who sat across from me. “You keep saying that, but I still don’t believe you.”
“He’s not going to come after you until after sun sets—that’s when Samhain begins. And I’m planning on being by your side for the whole of the evening.”
I nodded reluctantly. “Sounds good,” I said, still somewhat unconvinced. “I’ll be at the Witches Festival tomorrow by the time you wake up.”
“Gabrielle, no.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What?”
“Do not put yourself in danger by being on the ley line during Samhain.”
I was momentarily surprised that Andre knew enough about my school’s traditions to know that the Witches Festival usually took place on the ley line. “They moved it this year, due to the murders. It won’t be on the ley line.”
Andre’s mouth thinned, a clear indication that he didn’t think that was good enough.
“I don’t want to be sitting alone in my dorm room waiting for you,” I said. “I’d rather be around lots and lots of other people.”
“Anything can happen to you tomorrow night, and you will put other people at risk by being around them.”
I hadn’t thought of it like that. For a moment, I considered staying in my dorm tomorrow until Andre picked me up. And then I thought about my previous interactions with the devil. In all the years I’d seen him, only once had he taken me, and it was while I was alone. If past actions were anything to go by, I’d be safer around others. Not to mention that I didn’t want to miss one of my school’s biggest events. You only live once.
“I’m not compromising on this,” I said.
Andre’s jaw worked. “You are putting your life in danger, and I am not going to just sit idly by and watch you do that.”
I took a long swallow of champagne, letting it burn its way down my throat. “You don’t get a choice Andre. That’s what I’m doing.”
“You are the most wearisome woman I’ve ever been with.”