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“You can’t trust a man like him,” Liam blurted, following her into the kitchen. “Magnus is very slick with the ladies. I’ve seen it.”
Cora let out a huff of laughter, reaching for a glass and filling it with water. “I appreciate you caring, but there’s something you should know about me. First of all, I can take care of myself. I’ve told you that. I’m a pretty decent judge of character, and I’m not going to get into anything I can’t get myself out of. Second, I’ve been dating long enough to recognize when someone’s putting on a show. I know Magnus is a smooth talker and he’s dialing up the charm right now, but you’re the one who said there might be more to him on the inside.”
Liam scowled. “I never said that.”
“Yes, you did.” Cora took a sip of water and leaned against the kitchen counter. “You said just because a man knows how to live life and have fun doesn’t mean he’s insincere or flippant with his feelings. No, let me finish.” She held up her hand when Liam opened his mouth to interrupt. “Third, and most important, I don’t need an overbearing father breathing down my neck, telling me who I should and shouldn’t date. I grew up with one of those, and I’m so over it.”
She marched out of the kitchen, and Liam followed her down the hall.
“Listen, I just think you should—”
“When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it,” Cora said, opening the door to her room. She turned to face him, and Liam recognized the determined, stubborn tilt of her chin. There’d be no reasoning with her tonight. “Who I decide to date is really none of your business.”
If only he could tell her how wrong she was. “You deserve much better than him. He’s not the kind of man to take a relationship seriously.”
“Okay. Let’s say you’re right,” Cora said, crossing her arms. “Has it occurred to you that maybe I don’t care? Maybe I’m not looking for anything serious, either. Maybe I just want to blow off some steam and have fun with no strings attached.”
“Blow off steam?” Liam didn’t like the sound of that at all. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
Cora rolled her eyes. “Think about it. Smart guy like you? I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Good night, Liam.” With that, she shut the door in his stunned face.
Liam’s blood simmered to an angry boil as his mind filled with all sorts of wicked images involving Cora and Magnus blowing off steam. Hell would freeze over before he allowed that to happen. There’d be absolutely no blowing and no steam between the two of them,ever. Not if he could help it. Magnus was an arrogant libertine with too much confidence when it came to reeling women in, but Liam knew exactly how the man worked. He could knock him down a peg. All he had to do was find ways to hit Magnus where it counted—his pride. And Cora had to witness it.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to sleep, Liam went back outside to breathe in the warm, jasmine-scented air. He sat on the front porch step, trying to wrangle his disturbing feelings into something useful, like a plan. A week ago Liam had respected the hell out of Magnus and admired the way the man lived. But now that Magnus was sniffing around Cora like a hungry mongrel, everything changed. In the course of just one night, Magnus Blackwell had gone from being the most admirable person Liam knew in Providence Falls to the most manipulative, scheming reprobate in all the world. Magnus’s style of reeling women in didn’t bother Liam at all until he had Cora on his hook.
A soft meow came from the bushes as Angel sauntered out to greet him.
“Wandering the neighborhood again, I see.” Liam scratched the purring cat under the chin. There was a small cat door in the back of the house that allowed him to come and go as he pleased. For the most part Angel was content to laze around inside, but sometimes he liked to wander at night when the neighborhood was asleep. “I saw what you did to that rat bastard’s hand earlier. Good job, you wee crafty thing.”
Angel’s purring grew louder as he stared adoringly at Liam with big headlamp eyes. It was a comforting sort of purr. Very soothing. But then the cat opened his mouth, and the most alarming noise emerged.
A sound like the blast of a thousand golden trumpets ricocheted through Liam’s eardrums, making his teeth vibrate and his skull ache.
He slammed his hands to his ears, scrambling off the step and backpedaling into the yard. “What wasthat?”
The cat twitched his nose, utterly unperturbed by the noise he’d just made. Then he plopped onto the step, stuck a hind leg in the air and began licking himself in a most ungentlemanly manner.
“Did you not hear me, cat?” Liam sputtered. “That thing you just did, with your...snout.” He waved a hand in the direction of the cat’s nose and mouth.
Angel opened his mouth and “trumpet-meowed” again, only this time the sound was even louder and longer and more bone jarring.
“Stop!” Liam commanded, trying—and failing—to block the terrible horn blasts from rattling his brain. The unearthly melody roared through his head, pulsing deep into the marrow of his bones until he lowered to his knees in the grass, shaking.
When it finally ended, Liam cautiously lifted his head from the ground and risked another glance at the cat. What he saw made him groan. “I should’ve known you two were behind this.”
Three angels now sat on the front step—a furry one who couldn’t be bothered to stop licking himself, and two heavenly sentinels with wisps of mist clinging to the tips of their sparkling wings. Even under the old porch lamp covered in cobwebs, Samael and Agon glowed with an otherworldly grace that defied the laws of nature.
Liam sank back on the grass, rubbing his chest. His arms. His scalp. The booming, soul-deep cacophony had stopped, but he could still feel the residual effects of it pulsing under his skin. The sound had affected him on a visceral level, snapping along every nerve ending with a heady, sharp energy that was too powerful to harness and too vast for a mere mortal to comprehend. Liam felt as if he’d just sipped lightning from the holy grail itself.
“Was that supposed to be fair warning before you appear?” he croaked.
“It was Samael’s idea,” Agon said with his usual cheer. “He thought since we’d already mentioned it earlier, our sudden appearance would be less startling if preceded by the glory of celestial trumpets.”
Liam’s emotions were so scrambled from the evening’s events, he couldn’t stop the nervous laugh that tumbled from his chest. “You sure you two work for the man upstairs, and not the other one?”
Samael looked unimpressed, but that was nothing new. “Your attempt at humor is unappreciated, ruffian.”
“Oh, I wasn’t joking,” Liam said, rising from the grass and slapping dirt from his hands. “I’ve wondered about it often, but no matter. We’ve got a problem on our hands, lads. Cora went out to dinner with a man who’s all wrong for her, and she enjoyed herself. He’s a charmer, this one, a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. Manipulative, self-absorbed and mercenary.”
