My body freezes. Time seems to stop. For a moment all I hear is my heartbeat, thudding in my ears as adrenaline surges through my veins.

Valentine.

Valentine is here.

My hand – frozen in my satchel – grips tightly onto the Ardor arrow; its cool length brings me little comfort.

Roses are red. Violets are blue. I need your heart for what I'm to do.

Valentine doesn't move a muscle. His eyes survey me with a heated interest – I can almost feel his gaze burning into my body. And though my mind is screaming at me to run – my legs won't move.

I'm transfixed.

Held in his gaze.

"I've been waiting a long time to meet you, Lila."

His voice is a low, deep growl – a slight Irish lilt to it. It's laced with amusement, as though he alone knows the punchline to a joke. My breath catches in my throat and my pulse begins to speed up. I move my gaze defiantly up to his face.

"Likewise," I manage to say – my mouth is dry and the word comes out much weaker than I would have liked it.

I need to get out of here.

As his eyes look me up and down, I survey him too; the guy Cal seems so afraid of, the guy Cupid wants to kill.

He's tall, at least as tall as Cupid, and broad shouldered too. His hair is black, shaved closely to his head, and as I meet his eyes I see they are a shocking blue. He's wearing a sharp black suit, and an intricately decorated bronze bow is slung across his chest.

The way he stands - confident, arrogant, to attention - and the way he manages to look both rugged and clean cut at the same time, makes me think of a soldier, it makes me think of someone who has been trained to kill.

My heart thrums against my ribcage.

His full lips curl upwards devilishly and he chuckles at my response. It fills the abandoned gym and makes the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. Yet at the same time there's something almost captivating about it, about him. He exuberates power. And danger too. It radiates from him and the air around us crackles with it.

His eyes are fixed on my face – glinting violently. He's looking at me like I'm some kind of play thing; a mouse between the paws of a cat.

I need to get out of here.

I need to get out of here now.

My body suddenly comes back to life and I spring into action.

I spin around. My eyes latch onto the closed double doors of the vast hall.

Twenty feet. I can make it.

I run.

And...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

I freeze.

I feel his breath on my neck, hot, his low growl just behind me. My heart plummets to the depths of my stomach and my blood turns cold. Because It isn't possible. He can't be behind me. He was at the other side of the gym.

Adrenaline surges through my body.

I'm going to die.

My lips harden.

Not without a fight.

I spin around, pulling my hand out of my satchel, and I thrust the red tipped arrow upward.

He grabs it before I can pierce through his crisp white shirt. With ease he pulls it from me, snaps it in two between the fingers of one hand, and lets it fall as ash onto the grey, school floor. At the same time – with his other hand – he grabs my neck and a few moments later we've cleared the twenty feet of the gym and I am thrust against the wall by the door.

I splutter, the wind leaving my lungs, and I feel a searing pain in my back. I can't speak. I can't breathe. My mind is scrambled, it can't make sense of what has just happened – what is still happening.

His shocking blue eyes hold mine – they dance with amusement, like they know the confusion I must be experiencing; like they're enjoying it.

"Tut, tut, tut," he says, "that wasn't very polite."

He is inches from my body, his fingers still touching my neck – but he releases the pressure and I gulp in the air, greedily. My legs feel like jello, but I refuse to let him see I'm afraid.

I flatten myself against the wall behind me to support myself, to get as far away from his overbearing body as possible.

"What do you want from me?" I say – glaring up at him.

The scent of decay is stronger now – but I don't think it's coming from Valentine. I think it's coming from something behind the double doors. As I take another deep breath it hits the back of my throat and I physically gag.

What is that?!

I glance toward the exit of the room and Valentine follows my gaze. He smiles.

"I apologize for the smell. I have a couple of my boys guarding the door. You met them last night, in fact. I didn't want us to be interrupted," he moves his hand from my neck though doesn't take a step back, "they're a little ripe. I haven't found a way to stop that."

I glare at him. His eyes are still fixed on me, glinting with curiosity – assessing my reaction.

"What do you want from me?" I say again through gritted teeth.

"Just to..."

I lurch to the side.

It's pointless. I knew it would be.

Immediately he grabs my arm, curling his fingers around my bare arm. I'm jolted back, spun around to face him. He chuckles, a low, gravelly sound that makes a shiver slither down my spine.

"You're quite the shifty one, aren't you?" his full lips curl upwards, "Calm down. As I was saying, I just want to talk."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I snarl. "You're a killer."

"I can see why you would think that, but I don't quite see it that way."

The way he's so calm, so composed, so charismatic - it unnerves me. I don't know what I'd expected when Cal told me all the horrible things he did, but it wasn't this. Cal said he'd he was his mother's favorite son - and I'd imagined him to be something like her: insane, manic, out of control. The man in the suit in front of me is nothing like that. And it makes him more dangerous somehow. 

My eyes flit across the room. My phone lays on the floor. I can see the crack in the screen from here. Even if I managed to get it to it's unlikely I'll be able to call for help.

But Cupid...Cupid must be wondering where I am...

"I'm guessing my brothers have told you all about me?" says Valentine - bringing my gaze back to him. 

"They did tell me about you," I say – my eyes blazing into his, "they know you're here. And Cupid is at school now. He'll be looking for me."

He smiles.

"Cupid is a little pre-occupied right now."

My stomach lurches. Valentine's fingers are still curled around my arm – they're cold, tight. I twist out of his grip and push him hard in the chest. He doesn't move just laughs.

"What have you done to Cupid?" I say.

"I just sent some more of my new friends to see him. Like I said, I didn't want us to be interrupted."

I feel sick. Worry for him overpowers the worry for myself.

"If anything happens to him..."

"You'll what? Kill me? I don't think so, Lila." He smiles. I don't like the way the he says my name – like he likes the feel of it in his mouth. He looks me up and down, his blazing blue eyes burning. He runs a hand across his mouth, stroking his hard jaw. It's like he's in thought. "I'm making you uncomfortable." He takes a small step backward and leans back against the wall.

I feel a slight release of tension – though, knowing how fast he can move, it still hangs thick in the air. I don't think I'm getting out of here unless he lets me. I don't know if I'm getting out of here alive.

Could Charlie still be at school? Did I tell her I was meeting Cupid in the gym?

My mind scrapes back the memory from lunch where I received the message from Valentine.

No. I told her I was meeting Cupid, but I didn't tell her where.

I'm alone.

I have to get myself out of this one.

My mind moves fast. I need to keep him talking, buy myself more time so I can come up with a plan. I look up at him.

"Are you going to kill me?" 

"I'm not a bad man, Lila," he says – watching me, "I just have to do what needs to be done."

My stomach plummets.

I need your heart for what I'm to do.

"And what would that be?" I say.

He shakes his head. But he grins.

"You ask a lot of questions," he says. "I like that."

He rubs his strong jaw again, as though he's deciding whether to tell me something.

"You know, I've had my eye on you for a long time – so I know all about you," the way he says it sends a shiver through my body. "It's like we're old friends, Lila. But still – I wanted to meet you, face to face. Ever since I found you in the Cupids Matchmaking Service system."

His voice is laced with humor. Again, it's like he knows alone knows the punchline to a funny joke. The way he says it turns my blood cold, it puts me on edge. My mouth turns dry.

"What...what do you mean...?"

"Didn't you ever wonder...?"

Suddenly the double doors to the gym fly open. Two bodies are thrown into the center of the room with a thud - black arrows embedded in their chests.

Valentine and I both jerk our heads toward the door.

Cupid is stood there. His face is masked with rage. Blood drips from his nose, and there's a cut above his eyebrow. He looks terrifying, dangerous – and fury radiates from him into the large room. His muscles bulge from the short sleeves of his white top, which clings to his hard chest with sweat.

His blazing ocean eyes find me, then fix on Valentine.

The corner of his lip curls upward, but the smile doesn't reach his eyes.

"Hello, brother," he says.

Author note: Hi guys, Lauren here! So sorry for the delay in posting! I've been quite busy the past few days. Hope it was worth the wait. I'll still be doing the Friday feature but that may come tomorrow instead. Lots of love, Lauren xx