Hey, everyone! This is my first CGiC fanfic, so please be patient with me! It also seems to be the first CGiC fic on this site, which is surprising. This is the third fic in a series that I'm doing. They are all based on Taylor Swift's Red album. This fanfic is focused on her song Treacherous, one of my personal favorites.

Also, as a note, I couldn't find CGiC in the category listings (the first thing that appears when you try to upload a fic), so I put it under "misc" instead. If anyone can find the book in the category listings, let me know!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, all rights to that book go to Holly Black. I also don't own the Red album. Taylor Swift lays claims to that music.

Title: treacherous.

Summary: He was beginning to think daydreaming dangerous. (And he liked it that way.) [In which Gavriel realizes just how treacherous Tana can be. Oneshot. Fanfic for The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.]

Songs Used: Basically the whole Red album, but it's heavily inspired by Treacherous. I also logged on to 8Tracks and listened to a playlist called my lady, the tiger.

WARNING: If you haven't finished the book yet, be warned that there are some spoilers. This fic is also kind of confusing in the format. But then, so is Gavriel.

treacherous.

by Everyone's a Mortal.

"This hope is treacherous.
This daydream is dangerous.
This hope is
treacherous."
~Taylor Swift, Treacherous.

His expression was shuttered.

It seemed that this was the best way to describe his features. He could feel his mouth closing, stretched into a line straining to mask the delicious feeling of blood.

Her blood.

His eyes were lit with a dangerous fire, but Tana's -dear, young, Tana- had eyes shining with shock and surprise and little bit of something else, something that made him want her all the more. Her eyes were filled with the look of someone who knew what they'd just done was dangerous.

(And they didn't exactly care.)

Gavriel felt his mouth drop open, and then close again. With a shake of his head, he broke the shuttered glance and said, "You are more dangerous than daybreak."

Then he fled.

...

In the short time he'd known Tana, he had found her more enchanting and enticing than any of his past companions.

This was what worried him.

It was one thing to be momentarily interested in someone, but it was another to think of one in ways Gavriel had not thought of one in a hundred years. The whole business was slightly revolting and also a little bit insane.

Maybe that's what he liked about it.

He dreamt of her, he dreamt as he walked, never telling anyone of just how deeply she had etched her way into the very heart of the virus that kept him alive. The first few days in Coldtown, before visiting his oldest and most treacherous companion, Gavriel waltzed (he literally waltzed, hands resting on an imaginary partner with dark hair) into a tavern and sat down, sucking the blood out of the most willing victims he'd ever seen.

It was his fault, that they so willingly clamoured for death.

(Funny how he didn't really care.)

As he took dainty sips from them, he told them the tale of a dark haired girl who wore nothing but a slip and a smile brighter than the devil's (he'd never seen God's). Then, he'd bite his meal, leaving them half-way to hell and waltz back out, head full of plans for revenge and evening dreams of her living lips against his dead ones, all the blood rushing out of her mouth.

(He was beginning to think daydreaming dangerous.)

...

It was only when she killed Lucien and fled, leaving Gavriel opened mouth, mind blank for the first time in decades, that he realized just exactly who Tana was.

The most dangerous hope.

She was the girl who knew she was dangerous but tried so hard to hide it, to do the right thing, and it never worked out in the end. Tana was the girl a boy would give himself to only for her to stomp all over him. She was the girl who didn't know she was breaking you.

Tana was the master, and he was her slave.

(Or was it the other way around?)

Gavriel shook his head, looking at Lucien's shrivelled bones and then turning as the door slammed shut, signalling Tana's escape.

He didn't have to go after her.

(Really shouldn't.)

"The coldest girl in Coldtown," he said, and grinned, his mop of curls spilling around him as he strided out after his demise.

...

He found her, finally, after countless warnings from her friends (they were good people, her friends. Good people, but bad enough to deserve this life. Or maybe it was this life that had made them bad?), warnings he'd ignored because this was Tana and she was many things, among them dangerous, but Tana was not a monster.

(Though time with him could change that.)

So he told them to lock the door behind him and slowly, he unchained and unlocked every stopper between them.

(You'll corrupt her.)

Gavriel unlocked the first chain.

(She'll ruin you.)

The second lock broke.

(Do you know what she is? Really, truly? She could be the worst thing in the world.)

Gavriel stopped. His hands hovered over the next couple of locks, pondering the question his worn-down mind had thrown at him.

He could hear her cries from the small, dark room. "Hello? Who's there? Stay away!" She sounded like she was attempting to be tough, but instead it came off as tired and sad. A tad afraid.

How dare he leave her alone?

The next locks came free.

...

It was during those final moments that the pieces clicked into place.

Lucien had never been his most treacherous companion.

It had been Tana, all along.

"My lady," said he, "the tiger."

(And he liked it that way.)

"This slope is treacherous.
This path is reckless.
This slope is treacherous.
And I, I, I, like it."
~Taylor Swift, Treacherous.

It's kinda short, sorry. But I hope y'all enjoyed it!

Review, favorite, bake a pie... mostly review, please!

Blessings from Coldtown,
Joss.