3:55pm, April 14

The small classroom was full of tension and sounds of twenty-nine students's scribbling, pens hastily spilling words on to the pop quiz handout. Cam leaned back in his seat and lazily twirled his yellow No. 2 pencil around his fingers. He used a pencil just to annoy the professor, Miss Gibbs. She wore thick glasses for older people and had trouble reading things written in pencil. Well, that was too bad. The same two words she had said to him when she paired him up with Luce for the class project and he said he wanted a different partner. "Too bad. Everyone was randomly paired up. No switching partners."

Needless to say, Cam knew European history better than anyone else in HIST 101: European Civilization, 1648-1945. He lived it. Even if he did not experience certain events himself, he read about it. Being a loner and immortal means you read a lot to pass the time. In fact, he was sure he could ace the Asian, American, and African history classes, too. Newspapers and books kept him company before television and movies came along. But he still preferred to read. Books had been his friends long before television ever was.

Cam pulled up the hood of his grey zip hoodie over his head and glanced at Luce. She was sitting in the small chair desk to the left of him. She looked pale and distressed, gripping her pen too tightly as she stared at the paper. Muttering something to herself, she hurriedly wrote down her answer to the 5th question. There were ten questions in all and she was running out of time. Class ended in five minutes.

Looking towards the front of the class, he noticed that Miss Gibbs was busy grading papers at her desk. Cam and Luce were sitting in the last row. He often sat in the back of all his classes so he could read books on his phone undisturbed. But today he was going to be breaking the rules with Luce. Now, to get her attention. Cam stared at her hard and soon enough, she glanced at him.

Sliding his paper discreetly in her direction on his desk, he mouthed the words "Need some help?" Luce's mouth dropped open and she quickly looked around the classroom. No one was aware of what they were doing. She turned back towards Cam and bit her lip, hesitating. He frowned at her and pointed at the clock on the wall. She finally nodded and carefully moved to the right in her seat to look over at his paper. He smiled to himself, the idea of corrupting her even in this small way giving him a twisted sense of pleasure. As Luce copied the answers from his paper, he read the answers to himself silently to help her further, in case she had trouble reading his writing. She finished just as their professor told everyone that their time was up and to pass all of their papers forward.

Everyone did as they were told and Miss Gibbs collected them. The students started to gather their laptops and backpacks. They shuffled out of the room, groaning or complaining about the quiz under their breaths. Luce was frozen in her seat, guilt and regret etched on her face. Cam reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple green flyer for some school event a student had given him earlier. He turned it over to the blank side and wrote "Cheater. You pretend to be innocent, but I can see right through you. Embrace your dark side, Luce. I'll be waiting for you on the other side. -Cam" He crumpled it up and nonchalantly dropped it on her desk as he headed towards the door.

Tapping the pack lightly in one hand, Cam pulled out one of the cigarettes that slid out. He put it in his mouth and lit it up with his lighter. Taking a long drag and blowing out the smoke, he leaned against a tree, waiting for her to come out. There was no way she was leaving him alone after he helped her cheat on the quiz. Even if he hadn't written that taunting note. Maybe he shouldn't have given her that note. But it was an impulse. A sick impulse of wanting to drag her into the darkness with him. Or maybe he wanted her to pull him back into the light. He wasn't sure what he wanted anymore.

A few minutes passed before he saw her walking towards him. Even when she tried to seem nerdy, she was still so beautiful. She had her hair up in a loose bun and had her thick-framed, more round than rectangle glasses on. Her straight, feathered bangs fell across her forehead, above her warm hazel eyes. A loose, grey knit top and a long, pale pink skirt obscured her figure. The pleated skirt flowed in a mesmerizing, majestic way as the breeze pulled and played with the airy fabric. From the waist down, she reminded him of a princess from the past. Luce had actually been a princess in some of her lifetimes. But every time, the prince she was waiting for was Daniel. And Cam was the evil witch who never quite succeeded at keeping them apart. Except they never got their happy ending...until now. There was still a witch lurking in the shadows, determined to tear them apart, though. A much more powerful and malevolent monster that was after her. It forced Cam to play the role of the reluctant hero, the knight protecting the princess that he secretly wanted for himself.

Cam couldn't resist giving her a sardonic smile and an exagerrated, mocking bow as she came within a few feet of him. "My lady."

Luce rolled her eyes and covered her nose and mouth. "Do you have to smoke now? We need to talk."

"Relax, they're just herbal cigarettes. I'm trying to quit. They suck, by the way."

True, angels did not have to worry about the health affects of cigarettes. But now that Cam was spending a lot of time with Luce, Roland convinced him to quit so that she didn't have to breathe in the secondhand smoke all the time. He didn't give a damn about the other humans affected by his smoking. But for Luce, he would try to quit. If only she knew all the sacrifices he was making for her.

"Oh..." Luce sat down on the black metal bench, in the shade of the tree Cam was resting against. She placed her backpack on the ground and regarded him uneasily. "Thanks for helping me with the pop quiz. I don't even mind the insulting, cryptic note you gave me afterwards...that much. I have been having trouble sleeping and I haven't been keeping up with the readings, so..."

"Don't worry about it. I'm your partner, after all. Besides, I like knowing that you owe me." A trail of smoke followed him as he stalked towards her, standing behind the bench so he didn't have to see how upset she got when he taunted her. Leaning his hip against the back of the bench and facing away from her, he waited for her to react to his words.

"Why do you do this all the time, Cam? You do something nice for me, then you ridicule me. You keep your distance, yet you're continually nearby, watching me. Sometimes I think you hate me, but sometimes I think you..."

Cam's jaw clenched. He remained silent and concentrated on smoking his lame, vanilla flavored cigarette.

"Can't we try to be friends, Cam?" she asked so quietly, he could barely make out the words.

"No, that's not a good idea, Luce." Besides, he wanted to be more than friends.

Luce sighed. "I...I've been having dreams about you," she whispered.

"What?" He was so startled, he dropped the cigarette. Cam quickly crushed it under his sneaker, putting it out. He fought the urge to sit down on the bench next to her. "What kind of dreams? Don't you mean nightmares?" He nervously clutched the bench with both hands.

"No, they were not nightmares, even though something...bad does happen. It's a recurring dream. But it felt like a memory more than a dream. Kind of like a deja vu, you know? Like we have met in a past life. Do you believe in reincarnation, Cam?"

Damn it, what did she dream about? She could not be more vague about it. At least it didn't sound like it was an awful memory. But maybe that's why she had insomnia. Cam was very curious about the dream but he couldn't let her know that. Fortunately he had an answer prepared for this occasion. He knew she would ask about past lives eventually.

"I do. Because I'm psychic. I remember a lot of my past lives," he calmly said.

"Oh my God, Cam... I knew there was something about you... You give off eerie, paranormal vibes... So, we have crossed paths in our past lives?"

"Yes. But I don't want to get into all that. I'm telling you this only to warn you. I can see into the past, and I can also see into the future. You're in danger, Luce. You have a dark aura and the darkness wants to consume you. An enemy from your past wants you dead. The falling tree branch, the bombs at the concert, that's just the beginning."

Luce immediately stood up and made her way around the bench to face him. "You...you're kidding, right? Why would someone want to kill me? I haven't wronged anybody."

Cam sighed. "I wish I was, but it's true. And it's not what you did in this lifetime. It's what you did a very long time ago."

"What did I do?" She asked in a shaky voice, a confused and worried expression on her face.

"It's a long story, Luce. And I can't tell you without revealing certain details that would only frighten you. Trust me, you don't want to know."

He could tell she was frustrated and scared, but she was trying to be strong. Luce took a few deep, calming breaths and then spoke again. "So, let me get this straight. You know I'm in danger,and you follow me around so that you can save me? Do you know when I'll be attacked? But why are you willing to act as my bodyguard when you clearly despise me? Most importantly, why didn't you tell me earlier so I could tell the police and they could protect me? And who is trying to kill me?"

Cam groaned and crossed his arms. "In the order that you asked: Yes. Yes, sort of. I have visions and they give me clues, but it's possible for me to interpret them incorrectly. No, I don't exactly hate you. My feelings for you are...complicated. And an old friend of yours asked me to look after you, it's not like I want to be here. But I promised I would protect you, and I'm not one to shy away from a challenge or danger, so I'm staying here as long as I'm still needed. No, the police can't protect you from him. He knows a lot of people in positions of power, including in the police force. You can't depend on them. Besides, you have no real proof that someone is trying to kill you. No, I can't tell you who he is, not without telling you the whole story."

"Easy for you to say, you know everything and what little you do tell me only makes me more confused. I don't like being left in the dark, especially when I know someone is after me." Luce glowered at him.

Cam glared back at her. "You have no idea, of what true darkness is...the dark places I have been. The darkness invades your body, your mind, and suffocates you, devours you. It tries to steal your soul and turn you into a monster." Luce's terrified expression made him realize he was getting off-topic. "You're just going to have to trust me, Lucinda. Please don't make this difficult for me and ask me too many questions. I can only tell you that much."

Luce blinked at him, still doubtful. But slowly her frown turned into a smile, surprising Cam. "You called me Lucinda in the dream, too..."

Cam tried to ignore how her sweet, wistful smile warmed his heart and soul. It must have been a romantic dream. "It's just an old habit."

A long stretch of silence followed. Finally, Luce let out a long sigh and softly said, "Thank you for telling me what you could, I think I need to go back to my room and let this all sink in."

"Try not to worry too much, I will keep you safe. Roland is trying to find the others. They will be able to help me protect you."

"I just have a few more questions. Roland is my friend from a past life?"

"Yes."

"Do you guys work for the FBI or the military? Are you highly trained spies or something?

"I can't tell you, but we are in the 'or something' category," he said, giving her an enigmatic smile.

"Hmm...as long as you guys are the good guys. I trust you, Cam. You have already saved my life twice. Thank you for protecting me."

"I'm glad you still trust me even though I was such a jerk to you when we first met, Luce. I'm sorry about that. And you don't need to thank me. This is what I do, besides we used to be..." She waited for him to finish his sentence, but his expression had already become dark and guarded again. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your dorm room. I was going to go back to my room, anyway."

Luce picked up her backpack and they walked towards the path to their dormitory. It was a lovely, straight cement path surrounded by tall beech trees. He had always been drawn to all things emerald, the color of his eyes and his soul. Cam liked this green passage. It reminded him of being in a forest, being closer to nature and far away from humans. A place where he could be himself and let his wings out. Fortunately, they had the path to themselves today.

"Now that I know all this, can you just walk next to me from now on instead of creepily following me around?" Luce asked.

"I don't enjoy stalking you, Luce. But I have no choice. I don't know exactly when you'll be attacked. And even if you know more about the situation now, it doesn't change how I feel about you...that I don't want to be your friend. I will stay close to you, but we will only talk when I need to tell you something important."

"Alright..." She nodded a bit sadly. "I won't tell Daniel, by the way, about me being in danger. I don't want him to worry and there's not much that he can do to help me. At least I'll hide it from him as long as possible."

"Good idea," Cam replied. He was sure Daniel would not believe what he was saying and just cause more trouble for him. No doubt, he would try to get a restraining order to prevent Cam from shadowing her.

He took out another cigarette and lit it up. Luce watched him as he smoked. Maybe she found it cool or sexy, because when she realized he noticed, she quickly turned away, embarrassed. He mentally cursed. Please don't fall for me Luce, I can't do this again. You already have Daniel and this is the last lifetime you will have with him. No more do-overs. And I promised myself and Roland I would never fall in love with you again.

"Cam, were we enemies in any of our past lives? Is that why you dislike me?" she blurted out.

"No, Luce. Quite the opposite of what you're thinking." He looked up at the white, wispy clouds drifting by in the azure sky and wished he could join them. Spreading his wings, he would drift in the wind instead of having to answer Luce's questions. He had to be careful not to reveal too much.

"We were friends?"

"Yes...and more than friends sometimes," he said in a low voice. Their eyes locked and they stopped in the middle of the empty path. The canopy of leaves above them rustled in the breeze, as if they were whispering about the boy and girl below. Luce's face was pink again and he gave her an endearing half-smile.

"I always liked making you blush. It's a shame that I am not the only one that you blush for," he said gently.

Luce didn't know what to say, only giving him a bittersweet smile.

He casually took the cigarette between his lips and offered it to her. "Here, you seemed like you wanted to try it. It's vanilla. I don't care for vanilla but that's all they had left at the shop. Maybe you would like it, though."

The cigarette lingered near her mouth, in his hand, for a moment before she finally nodded and parted her lips to take it. Luce carefully mimicked the way she had seen him and other smokers inhale and then blow out the smoke. She still ended up coughing a little.

"Real smooth," Cam teased.

"It's not bad, actually," she said, taking another puff and trying to hold it cooly in her fingers.

He motioned to her to give it back to him and then took a long drag. "I hate these damn things. I need real cigarettes."

"Cigarettes will kill you."

"So? The best things in life are those that can kill you, eventually. Obsessions with money, fame, drugs, sex...love. But the highs, the pleasure, makes it worth it. Besides, I'm a masochist. I am addicted to things that hurt me." He gave her a cold stare before reaching into his jeans pocket and taking out another cigarette.

"Think of this as an early birthday present. Smoke it or throw it away. I don't care." Cam moved closer to Luce, tucking her hair back and firmly pushed the cigarette behind her ear to hold it in place.

Luce swallowed hard and stared at him, thrown by the tender gesture that followed his insensitive remark. Before she could say anything, he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and walked away at a brisk pace, letting her know that the conversation was over. He was aware of her catching up to him just as he got lost in his own thoughts.

Cam had overheard them talking about her birthday party a few days ago in the cafeteria. Well, not exactly, he could read lips. He couldn't believe it. Luce was finally going to turn eighteen after what seemed like an eternity. Unfortunately, his joy was shortlived. Lucifer was the very reason why she had died at seventeen years old, over and over for seven thousand years. Surely, he would try to end her life before midnight this Friday, when she would officially be eighteen. He had to be more vigilant these days. Luce, Daniel, Cam, and all their other angel friends had waited too long for this day. Cam was not about to let Lucifer take this, take Luce away from them again... not this time.

Kate's Notes:

20 days since the last update! Sorry for the long wait, everyone. Just couldn't write until recently. I really hope you like this long chapter. The cheating in class scene was another one that I thought of from the start (kinda), so I was really glad to finally write it.

I will try to get back to posting a new chapter each Wednesday, this month. I think I can do it. Even if there are delays, it won't be almost a whole month. Lol. Because I'm trying to write more to make it to 10K words for Camp Nano, this month. Btw, it's hot these days because it's summertime and that sometimes prevents me from writing and I hate it. Btw, I love the Maroon 5 song, This Summer's Gonna Hurt Like a Motherf*cker. Haha.

Oh, Camp Nano started July 1 and lasts the whole month. I'm Cryptic Kate there, if any of you are also there and want to say hi! Of course, I'm writing this fanfiction for camp. I will be posting my progress at my instagram sometimes, if anyone is interested in knowing. Lol. My username is katekatekate242015.

Before I continue with my notes, I want to tell you some big Fallen movie news, in case you don't know! (THIS IS KINDA LENGTHY AND RANT-ISH, SO SKIP THIS PART IF YOU WANT. LOL.) I just heard TODAY that the movie's release date has been pushed back to early next year. Sigh. A specific date was never revealed (only said it would be released in autumn), by the way. A lot of fans are sick of them teasing us with supposed new info, but then giving us vague answers about the movie and repeating things they said in the past. And they were supposed to start promoting the movie at Comic-Con, but that didn't happen, either. The cast have all seen the movie at different times, it seems, and of course said it was great. There has been 1 public screening that I know of, at a theater near me, just recently, at the end of June, and I had no idea! Sigh. Lauren Kate was there!

I'm starting to worry about all the secrecy over this movie. Is it that bad? Do they not have enough money to do a decent promotion? Why do we still not even have a teaser or poster? What's worse is that I just found out yesterday that it has a $40 million budget, which is not a lot, and the exact same amount that The Host had, and it totally bombed (the story was too rushed and missing many important parts, acting was bad except for Ian (Jake Abel. love him!) and cave looked so fake!) and I had such high hopes for it. The Host also was released early in the year. Well, even The Mortal Instruments movie failed and it had a ton of promotion and a bigger budget ($60 million) and the movie was quite good! So, honestly...I'm keeping my expectations low for the Fallen movie and them making the fandom so frustrated with all this waiting certainly is making it easy for me to do that. I wish it could just be as good as TMI, really. That would be awesome. Please, please don't suck and be totally lame, like The Host.

There is SOME good news, though. Promotion for the movie supposedly will officially start next week (in 6 days?) at a film festival in Italy. They are supposed to finally show some footage from the movie. Or was it behind-the-scenes footage? I forget. FOLLOW this twitter, fallen_series, for Fallen movie news and anything Fallen related, like the Unforgiven book about Cam coming out this November.

Ok, now for my Chapter 8 notes...

-Btw, about chapter 7...nick bateman is not gay in real life (he might have a girlfriend/fiancee, but i'm not sure)! lol. i just wanted a gay male character in my fic.

-Sorry, i know it's kind of stupid of luce to believe him already and not just go to the police for help, but he has saved her twice and what he says kinda makes sense, and he seems trustworthy, so... lol... it was really hard for me to write this! i hope it doesn't seem totally ridiculous to you. sigh.

-I found out that herbal cigarettes are still harmful after i decided Cam uses them. lol. damn it. they can even be worse than regular cigarettes, having more tar and nicotine? what... but i really wanted to write this scene. i'm sorry, i'll try to figure out something. maybe cam can use electronic cigarettes, though i hear those things are not that safe either. ugh...

-taylor swift's hairstyle and dress in the Safe and Sound music video! i want Luce to look like that. and that whole music video, the theme just goes so well with my story! i love it.

-i am currently obsessed with maxi (long) skirts right now! i'm not sure why. maybe because of watching Friends reruns and they look cute in long dresses. haha. i bought one that is blue and nice and flowy, but it's too shiny. like, disney princess dress for kids shiny or bad halloween costume shiny. sigh. it's still pretty but i can't wear it in public except maybe on halloween. lol. i'll try looking for a better one that is not too expensive but might be tough to find...

-I want to share the pics i use for my story! i often look up pics to help me imagine locations, clothes, their rooms, etc. I feel like it might be nice for you all to see them, too. you can see how i see the locations and other stuff, since i suck at descriptions. haha. i'll share the link in my profile soon, probably. :) maybe tomorrow. i'll also include it in the notes of the next chapter.