Playing With Fire [Cade]

[goblingirl]

burning down the house

In the back alleyways of the city, there was a sixteen-year-old leaning against a wall, one leg straight out, one leg bent with her foot resting against the stained concrete.

She looked like a perfectly normal teenaged girl. If you’d met her on the street, you wouldn’t have taken anything amiss.

But Mahalia Woodman, known to her friends as Malia, was not a normal teenage girl. She was a firetamer, and a very good one for her age, and the fire in the trashcan down the alley was entirely her doing.

Malia cocked her head and her eyes glazed over. The dull glow inside the trashcan went out like a snuffed candle, and she grinned. The girl extended a hand in front of her, palm upwards, and took a deep breath, exhaling. Flames sparked at her fingers, curling around them, and pooled in her palm. She couldn’t keep this up for long; fire didn’t like to just burn air, but the fire was beautiful, dancing in her hand like that. A tendril snaked up her arm and coiled through her hair, looking for something to burn. A nearby pile of junk was the answer. Malia put out her arm, and the fire jumped from her fingers to the trash.

She looked around to make sure no one was watching, then smiled even wider and clapped her hands.

The flames flared high, their reflection flickering in Malia's eyes--

And she started and whirled around, one arm out, a thick curl of fire following the movement of her hand, as someone walked into the alley behind her.

[caden]

Why was there nothing better to do for a handsome guy on a Friday night? No, that was a lie. There were plenty things the fallen angel could do. Lord knew he had been invited for quite a few, ah, activities for tonight. He just hadn’t felt up to them. Any of them. If he didn’t know any better, Cade would think he was coming down with a cold or something. But after being on the earth for close to fifty years as a supernatural, Caden had not even had a case of the sniffles. If he were able to get sick, then he would have by now.

Instead, Cade found himself wandering around in the old town. He wasn’t entirely sure what he hoped to find. Some sort of excitement. Maybe he’d find a stupid vampire trying to suck the life out of a poor, unsuspecting human. A smile grew on the young man’s lips as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. A fight would definitely brighten up Cade’s night, as messed up as that sounded. He continued to walk aimlessly down the old roads, hands shoved into his pockets. A bright flashing caught Cade’s attention out of the corner of his eye. He wandered that direction. It was no vampire, but maybe it’d be something else interesting.

Caden found a young firetamer, practicing in an old alley. Leaning against the wall, the fallen angel silent observed the girl, impressed. He planned on not saying anything, until he felt as though she noticed he was there. The blond began clapping his hands in a slow, bored many. “Very good,” he praised. “How old are you? Eighteen, nineteen?” She seemed very good for her age.

[goblingirl]

burning down the house

It was just…a man. A tall, blonde man, maybe twenty, in a dark coat. He was good-looking, she guessed. For a guy.
And he wasn’t freaking out about the firetaming thing either. Which probably meant he was some kind of supernatural. An immortal, maybe, or some kind of angel. Malia cocked her head and squinted. Hmmm….angel. Yeah, definitely angel.
She clicked her fingers and the fire went out, sending up a thick puff of smoke. Be a pretty big signal to anything that was out there, but then again, anything that was out there would get a nasty surprise if it tried to eat her. A nasty, hot surprise.
“Jesus,” said Malia, looking at the guy. “Don’t do that, you gave me a heart attack. And I’m sixteen.” She walked closer to him, looking him up and down. She could take him if it came to a fight, she decided. Coats like that burned easily. And she’d be able to justify it to her mama, which was even better.
Malia extended her hand. “Malia Woodman. Nice to meet ya.”

[caden]

Caden stood calmly as he was scrutinized by the young firetamer, a smirk lightly playing at his lips. The fallen angel shifted his weight from where he was leaning against the disgusting alley wall, as if leaning there was uncomfortable but he was much too lazy to stand up straight. Good thing he didn’t care much for this coat, or he’d be entirely repulsed by the fact that it was touching the gross wall. Caden could be quite prissy when it came to his clothing. At least this coat had been cheap.

He eyed the girl’s hand when she offered it before accepting it in a handshake. “Pleasure. Caden Salvatore,” he introduced himself. Cade glanced at the girl again before looking around her, checking to see if there had been anyone else in the alley. Didn’t need anyone sneaking up. After he was sure that there was no one else, Cade turned his gaze back onto Malia with a smile brightening his features. “You’re only sixteen? Could’ve fooled me.” Cade hadn’t met many firetamers. Tried to avoid them on principle, actually, seeing as how many had tempers that matched the fire they controlled. All Cade needed was one run in with an Ellis to figure that much out.

[goblingirl]

burning down the house

The angel smiled and shook Malia’s hand, introducing himself as Caden Salvatore, then looked at the alley behind her. If you weren’t a supernatural, you wouldn’t have seen the point—it was a dead end. Of course, if you were a supernatural, you knew there were all sorts of very nasty, very hungry things that could have entered the alley that way without breaking a sweat.

“Been sixteen for eight months,” said Malia. “Thanks, though.” She frowned slightly as something caught her thoughts. If he was an angel…

If he was an angel, he ought to be following a human around, making sure they didn’t get their scrawny little behind sucked up by some vampire or faerie or maybe a firetamer in a bad mood. Malia’s eyes flitted around, looking for a human, but there didn’t seem to be any around. Maybe he was following at a distance to stay out of sight—but angels could make themselves unseen, couldn’t they? Yes. Yes they could. And angels couldn’t touch anyone, and she’d just shaken his hand. Which meant—fallen angel, of course. Okay, note to self, stay away from any topics of conversation referring to angels or angelic duties or any stuff like that.

“So…what’s somebody like you doing in the back alleys on a Friday night?”

[caden]

Caden smirked at the firetamer’s comment. He’d partially been wondering that himself, but Cade wasn’t one to dwell on things. He was more of a carefree sort of guy, preferring to go through life with a smile on his face and be completely ignorant to everything than be bogged down with worries. It was what had kept his ass out of the brewing war, helped him say neutral when both sides were trying to drag him in. So while the blonde was partially bothered by the exact reason for him being out here, he wasn’t going to obsess over it. In fact, he had mostly forgotten about it and was content to just let it be. In the young Salvatore’s mind, everything happened for a reason. He was a very strong believer in that notion. And while he wasn’t entirely sure why he was wandering out around here, he was sure there had to be something.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Cade said, avoiding the question by asking another. The smirk was still on his lips, but not as prominent as before. While it might have been strange for Cade to be wandering the alleyways, it was even stranger to see a young girl out here alone. Yes, Malia was a firetamer and therefore better off than just some human girl, but that didn’t mean she was absolutely invincible. Maybe that was why he was out here wandering; he was supposed to meet up with Malia.

[goblingirl]

burning down the house

“Oh, yeah, way to get out of answering me,” said Malia, not really caring. It was, after all, his business, and if he was some kind of creeper he’d be sorry if he tried to take her on.

“Well, tonight is another one of those really annoying lines-in-the-sand parties, and we always get an invitation, and when we do somebody’s gotta go, y’know?” She made a face. She really hated those parties. Vampires in the dark corners, sucking on their “pets”. All those Ellis boys, trying to chat her up even though she’d made it clear multiple times she was not, in fact, interested. Everyone watching everyone else. And it was always her who had to go. Her mama would be too strong a statement, and all her older sisters were out of town on capital-B Business.

Of course, she didn’t say any of this. What she said was, “I’m always the one who has to go, and I really hate ‘em. If I disappear off into the back alleys, Mama can send Daddy and one of my sisters instead of me. Not that I get away with this a lot.” In fact, Mrs. Woodman knew exactly what her daughter was doing, and allowed it on the basis that everybody needed a break sometimes.

“Okay,” said Malia. “I answered you, now you answer me. And no wriggling out of it this time.”

[caden]

So she had caught that, the whole avoiding the question with another question thing. Not that it was really all that tactful. The only surprising thing was that Malia had called the fallen angel out on it. People didn’t typically do that, whether it be because they were polite or too afraid to say something or just plain didn’t notice their question had been glossed over. Whatever the reason, it was just something rare. And Caden couldn’t help but be happy that Malia had actually pointed it out; this was a girl who wasn’t afraid to say what was on her mind. Plus, things were always so much more interesting when the blonde couldn’t just get away with things. He always liked a challenge.

He found himself shaking his head at a mention of a party. Those were stupid and an awful place for humans to wind up in. Malia didn’t even have to mention the Ellis family for Caden to know that they were involved. Those firetamers always had their noise in everything, seemed to be behind any mass gathering of those aligned with the darker side. Conley Ellis was a dangerous force to be against, that was for sure. Luckily for the fallen angel, he was neither for nor against the man and therefore had no reason to draw his attention. Yet. Caden was sure he’d soon be in the same boat as Malia. “Then I don’t blame you for skipping.” That was the last place he’d want to be as well.

The young Salvatore laughed at Malia’s repeating of the question. So she was a stubborn one too. “I don’t know what I’m doing out here,” Cade replied with a nonchalant shrug. God. He sounded stupid or high or drunk or somehow otherwise impaired. He didn’t know what he was doing out here? Like he was just wandering. Which was basically it, yeah. And as weird as the truth sounded, it was the truth he told because Caden hated to lie.

[goblingirl]

burning down the house

Malia shrugged. “That’s as good an answer as any,” she said. “And I don’t think Mama does either. ‘sides, she’d kill me if I made an alliance without asking first.”

It was true; the Woodman family was second only to the Ellis family in importance among firetamers. Conley Ellis was pissed by the fact they wouldn’t make an alliance with his family—the one time he’d spoke to Malia, he’d said that fire ought to stick with fire, and didn’t she agree? She’d barely managed to get out of that one, really. Conley Ellis was…not nice. There were other words Malia would use to describe him as well, but they were pretty much unprintable.

The “light” side kept trying to get their support too, but Mrs. Woodman was firm: no alliances until she said so. And given how large the Woodman family was, it could be months or even years ‘til they came to a decision. (Not that Mrs. Woodman wasn’t fully and firmly ensconced as sole matriarch and arbiter of the whole clan, but she liked to at least look diplomatic.)

She squinted at the moon. “And she’ll also kill me if I’m not home before midnight. You have any idea what time it is?”

[caden]

At least Malia hadn’t thought it was strange for Cade to just be wandering without rhyme or reason. He found himself doing that most nights anyway; honestly unsure of what he was really doing. The devote philosophical types would say that he was lost and confused, that he was on his journey of finding his purpose in this life or some other equally gag inducing, big worded theory. He wasn’t. Caden just needed a life or something. Needed to find friends. Scratch that; he had friends. He just needed to quit being so damn moody all the time and actually do something with them every once in a while before they all decided to leave and find something better to do.

“Not a clue,” he admitted, never being one that was keen on wristwatches. If he had his cell phone with him, he supposed he could check the time. But honestly, Cade hated cells. He had grown up in an era where they didn’t even exist and didn’t understand the addiction of staying in touch 24/7. So more often than not, Caden didn’t carry his cell phone with him at all times, typically just leaving it at home, charging on the counter. “Do you need someone to walk you home?” Always chivalrous, he figured Malia would reject the offer. But Cade wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he let her walk home alone and something happened.

[goblingirl]

burning down the house

Malia reached for her cell phone in her back pocket, only to realize she’d left it at home in order to avoid getting any calls. Ah, crap. She looked up at the sky again, but it wasn’t exactly that helpful. She should’ve paid more attention to Maggie last year. Well, nothing for it, she’d just have to go home now and play it safe. She hated playing it safe, but that was still better than getting a Look from her mama. (The Look was patented, extremely scary, and shame-inducing. All members of the Woodman family would do practically anything to avoid getting the Look. There was just something about the combination of folded arms, tapping feet, and perfectly calm brown eyes that made the strongest cousin melt like butter in the sun.)

“Uh, no, I’ll be fine by myself,” she replied as Cade offered to walk her home. What, did he think she couldn’t look after herself or something? Although…well, it always did kind of creep her out to walk back home through the alleys when she did this. Malia knew nothing could hurt her unless she let it, but she couldn’t help but feel a little scared every time she went home by herself. “’course, if it makes you feel better, I don’t have a problem with it,” she added.

NOTES: sorry this took so long, my muse unionized ><

[caden]

It was obvious that Malia was worrying about something, but he wasn’t entirely sure what. The time, maybe? It’d seem like an obvious conclusion based on the fact that she had asked if he knew what it was. She reached for her pocket, and not finding whatever it was she was looking for, the slight worrying only seemed to increase. Caden wished he could tell her that it’d be all right and that she wouldn’t need to worry, but he couldn’t rightfully do that without actually knowing what was wrong. But it was his stupid hero complex. Or the angel blood that ran through his veins. Either way, he couldn’t get away from that notion.

Of course she said she didn’t need to be walked home. There was something about girls this era. They believed that they had to be fierce and independent and do everything themselves. It was almost immoral to them to accept the help of a guy if they believed they were perfectly capable of doing it on their own. Cade was ready to argue to try to convince her that he should walk her home, because it was going to happen whether she liked it or not. But then Malia agreed and Cade was glad to find that his job had just gotten easier. “Lead the way?” He asked, clearly having no idea where the young firetamer lived.

[JURATE]

THIS THREAD HAS NOT BEEN REPLIED TO IN A LONG TIME. I AM MOVING IT TO THE ARCHIVES, BUT IF YOU WANT IT BACK, JUST PM ME WITH THE LOCATION OF WHERE IT WAS ORIGINALLY.

JURATE <3