“How about a little help, huh?” He asked in a very deep baritone voice.
I tapped my foot impatiently, and he shrugged. He took one sweep of his arms against my legs and his own strength knocked me back. He grabbed onto my foot and began pulling himself up, using me as leverage. I struggled to get free, but his grip tightened to the point that I felt like he was crushing my ankle. I tried to kick him a couple of times, but that only seemed to annoy him. He grabbed onto my other ankle with his other hand. Then he stopped struggling for a moment, and I had thought perhaps Zane had intervened.
Until I felt a sharp stab in my right calf. The newly risen vampire had stuck his fangs into my calf and began sucking, almost mewing like a baby animal suckling from its mother. The pain intensified, burning as it was being pulled from my veins. I screamed and sat up straight away, sliding my stake through his ear and out the other side like his head was butter. He was paralyzed, but his grip had loosened, and I freed myself from his teeth and arms.
I stood up, feeling my warm blood trickle down my ankle. The more I moved, the more it poured. He was still motionless, except his eyes. They moved back and forth worriedly. And around the stake in his head were blackened burn marks from the silver. I walked behind him, taking out the other stake from my holster and crunched down.
“You should be worried!” I looked down at my calf again, feeling the painful burning ache. “Fuck!” I shouted no longer able to internally contain the pain.
Then, I pushed the stake from behind through his heart. It slid like it was passing through sandstone. It was difficult to drive through perhaps for an average person, but with enough oomph, it could be done. For me, it wasn't exactly difficult, but it grated through my hand to my arm. Like scratching nails on a chalkboard. I could feel the crunch of his solidness, but the softness of his internal organs.
Around the stake, a glow started like coals, and it spread out like fire incinerating whatever was flammable in its path until nothing was left except ashes and my stakes. The supernatural fire from the imbued stake ate through everything.
I sat back on my butt and glared at the stakes on the ground. Zane sat next to me and without word lifted my calf. I was suddenly nervous, seeing the illuminated predatory look in his eyes. I was pretty sure he was more vampire than man at that moment. In one quick motion, he could suck my life out of existence. I noticed his teeth had elongated beyond his usual showing off and he was throwing off that lovely evergreen spicy wilderness scent that calmed me.
I watched stunned, but not paralyzed as he bent over my calf and licked the wound, but didn't pierce it again. The injury began to tingle and itch. I saw it start to heal before my eyes as he continued licking around the wound lapping up any trace of my blood that showed.
Mark down "healing saliva," I thought, remembering on my checklist.
His eyes began to glaze over like he was drugged. When there was nothing left for him to savor, he dropped my leg and closed his eyes leaning against the tombstone. I swear I could hear a purring coming from him, but I was still in shock so it could have been the buzzing in my head for all I knew.
“Another perk?” I asked nervously, to which he just nodded lazily. I cleared my throat. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yeah, but it’s not happening anytime soon . . . I can’t concentrate on anything, but the way your blood tastes. Just as I imagined it would.” He almost sighed dreamily.
I cleared my throat anxiously, uncomfortable with the idea that he was probably comparing my blood to some drug.
“How about if you become mad with me? Will that help get you out of the state you are in?”
He chuckled lazily and softly.
"I mean, think about it. I stood over Bobby-boy and taunted him. I didn't listen to anything you said about my guard, and he took me. I thought I was smarter than you. Than him."
That did it. Irritation started to seep from Zane's pores. It was slow, but it was there.
“That’s helping,” he growled. “I need a little more. Maybe some irritation from you. Like what sort of name is ‘Caden’? What . . . is it short for Cadence?”
I stuck out my tongue. “It’s not short for anything, turd. It’s just Caden.” I sighed and tried to glare evilly at him, but I doubted it came across that way.
He opened his eyes, and they were the normal wild eyes that I had come to expect, but I had turned his curiosity.
“Did you just call me a ‘turd’?”
I nodded.
He laughed softly and grinned to himself. “Come on, Little Warrior, let’s go home.” He held out his hand for me to grip, but I didn’t quite yet.
“That’s what my mother, Flora, used to call me.”
“That is what your name means in the Old Language. . . Little Warrior.”
I laughed silently to myself and grabbed his hand. We stood up at the same time, and I held onto him as tight as before, but before anything happened, he whispered in my ear for me to close my eyes this time.
I closed my eyes against his chest and held on for dear life, breathing in his scent. It still hung strongly in the air. Unlike everyone else's scent, his seemed to penetrate a part of me and soothe it. Even after knowing everything that I did about him, breathing it in, I felt safe. And then I felt the weightlessness as he dematerialized before the rush. However, this time, when I came to, I wasn’t nauseated.
He breathed into my hair to let go when we had arrived back at the manor. I almost had to pry my hands off Zane’s body as if they were glued. He darted away from me as fast as he could and turned away looking at the wall.
I wasn't sure on how to approach him. It seemed to bother him when I was close, and he had a taste of my blood, so I'm sure that wasn't helping him with swearing off humans as food if that's what he used.
“You want your holster back?” I prodded hoping to get some response out of him.
“No, it’s yours.”
I stood there a few more seconds before starting for the upstairs. “Same time, tomorrow?”
He nodded with his back still toward me.
I knew that was all I was going to get out of him for the rest of the evening, so I ran upstairs to find Sera. She was in a living room off to the right hallway as I reached the steps. I walked into the room and saw Sera focusing her attention on the news and gripping the remote until her knuckles were white.
“Sera?” I whispered her name. I wasn’t sure how she would respond.
She looked my way, and I noticed how pale her face was.
“So?” She rasped.
"I'm back, aren't I? Alive. See?" I turned around so she could inspect me.
“So?” She asked a little more level.
“Killed a vampire. Really learned not to let my guard down. Zane wasn’t a problem. I’m fine. Sera, I can do this.”
She sighed and turned off the television. “I’m not going to get used to this. I don’t like you endangering yourself. But it’s your calling. I understand.” She grabbed her jacket and put it on. “Let’s go home.”
“Did you learn much while I was gone?”
She shrugged. “More Mundus Noctis information. He tried to help me with the language some more. And then I sat, and waited for you.”
Just as we were heading for the door, I stopped in front of the portrait of Pari Muaz, my birth mom. Finn appeared from around the corner.
“Why do you have a painting of my mom?” I asked him.
Sera looked taken back for a second and gave me a questioning look. I looked sheepishly at her. I forgot that I hadn’t told her yet what I had found out. I looked over at Finn, who smiled sadly at me and then back at the painting.
“She was an amazing woman.” He reached a hand up to the painted cheek.
“So, I read,” I responded, drawing his attention back to me.
He looked at me quizzically.
“She left me a letter,” I replied to his unanswered questioned. Finn’s gaze toward me softened to an expression I had never see
n on his face.
And Sera gasped as she looked between Finn and me. She suddenly came closer to me, grabbing my hand in a protective gesture, even as she paled, looking at him, which I didn’t understand. Especially since she already knew he was Fae and she was accepting of that.
But Finn didn't miss her reaction, and his face became hard. An emotional exchange past between the two before Sera found herself.
“Come on, Caden,” she whispered, pulling me toward the door, not taking her eyes off Finn.
“Everything all right?” He asked Sera, challenging her.
We both stumbled into the closed front door.
“We are fine.”
He smiled coldly. There was little emotion in his face, and the man that was Fae beneath the human disguise started to shine through, appearing hauntingly beautiful, but very alien. Finn reached out behind Sera and open the door for her.
“Caden, Zane has asked that tomorrow you come prepared to go out hunting.”
“Tell him I’ll be prepared.” I smiled gently at him as we exited the house, Sera practically pulling me into a jog homeward.
When we were no longer in ear-shot, I yanked my hand out of hers.
“What the hell was that about, Sera?” I demanded, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Caden, be very wary of the Fae," she warned; her voice thick with a stern admonition. Then she picked up her steps, not worrying whether I was following her or not. I stepped in line behind her, heading for home.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“So, tell me more about the vampire training,” Meredith inquired, peering down at me as she sat on her bed.
I was resting my worn body on her plush bed. I had convinced Sera to let me spend the night at Meredith’s even if it was a school night and even though Ms. Weber was working. All I had to say was that I wanted to feel like a typical teenager and she instantly caved. I hadn't lied, but a part of me felt like I was manipulating Sera. Regardless, she drove me over to Meredith's when we had gotten home.
So there I was, my hands were behind my head, looking up at the ceiling. I had forgotten how very different our tastes were, which was probably a blessing when it came to guys. Her room was very pastel, pink and purple. In fact, I was surrounded by a sea of pink and purple. Pink and purple vertically striped painted walls, pink floral bedding. It was definitely a girl's bedroom but actually didn't seem to fit her style. She was very earthy and bohemian when it came to how she dressed, her little makeup, and hairstyle. So it was rather interesting that her bedroom was so girly.
I was less girly I supposed. My bedroom walls were sea green, but I enjoyed the darker earth-toned colors, like Sera actually. Perhaps it was the way we were raised, in a sea of earth-tones. Sera liked the blues and browns; I liked the green and black colors of the earth. I wondered if some of those concepts explained our choice of guys. Meredith liking the fun, Sera the practical; so did that mean that I liked the dark and evil guys? I shook my head. No, that wasn't possible. Nate was a little alternative, but he most certainly was not evil by any standards.
“What is there to tell? It’s like getting your ass kicked every day,” I sighed still staring at the ceiling.
She was almost bouncing up and down on the bed, eager with anticipation.
“What’s he like?” She asked, her eyes glittering with intrigue.
“Mere, he’s a vampire,” I muttered. What more was there to really tell her?
“I have never met a vampire . . . In fact, I haven’t met anyone outside of Witch or Healer. Except you of course. And Ajax, I supposed.” She had that bewildered look in her eyes even if her lips turned down at the mention of Ajax. “We have been taught about these things, but never interacted.”
“You stick with me, and I am sure you will meet everything.”
She lit up in excitement, which quickly curled my stomach with worry.
“Mere, these things out there are dangerous. I would not be so happy to be thrown into the mix here. In fact, I’m not. I’m terrified.”
She shook her head, her curls bobbing from side to side, trying to relay some seriousness, but I could still see her excitement.
“Of course they are dangerous. And I would never seek out trouble . . . like you.”
I glared at her, ready to interrupt, but she continued.
“It is just interesting that there are in fact other things out there.”
I sighed some more.
“So . . . ‘Zane’?”
“What is there to tell? He is my trainer. He kicks my ass and then hands it to me. He’s grouchy three-fourths of the time and the other fourth of the time, he’s irritated with me.”
She tried to hide her giggle, but not well enough. I wanted to give her the “look of death” to discourage her.
“You two sound like a match made in heaven.”
My eyes widened, but internally, something clicked. We were pretty similar. Almost too similar. I dismissed the thought as quickly as it appeared.
“You really want to go there? Do ya?”
She nodded her head.
“Hah! Puh-lease. Yes, I’ll admit he’s hot, but I think I could get cozier with a cactus. Less prickly and a whole lot less issues. Nah, I won’t go near that one.” I frowned. “I can’t help the way my body reacts to him though. I am glad that my mind is solely on someone else.”
She mockingly sighed and fluttered her thick auburn eyelashes. “Oh, Nate,” she mocked in a voice filled with faux adoration. “That boy is so clueless.”
I sat up from my position and looked at my hands in despair. “Meredith, he’s not clueless. He’s just not interested. He’s an Empath. He has known how I have felt about him since day one. If he wanted to, he could have left Korina and been with me. But he won’t.”
All the joking was put aside, and she looked at me tenderly, her hand softened on my knee.
“Caden, he chooses her, for a reason most people with our gifts do. He can’t feel her. You have to understand what that must be like for him. To feel everyone else’s emotions. Not sure about his own. And he came across someone that he can’t feel without his amulet. In fact, he can trust himself around her. Of course, he may not be able to trust her, but he knows what he feels when he’s with her. It may not be love, but he can sort things out. Clear his head. That’s why he stays. It’s a relief for him.”
This explained to me at least why he stayed. I felt little relief knowing that he didn't care about Korina the way I always thought that he had. It was hard to swallow that he would prefer to be with someone he didn't trust than with someone who was crazy about him. It was also hard to know that we would probably never be together if he did actually felt that way. I pitied his gift; the poor guy. I had no idea that empathy would be something difficult to live with.
“I guess I get it…now. This doesn’t mean I’m gonna pine after someone else. Nate is a safer choice than the vampire."
“So, they are not all evil? Not all part of the Scelesti?”
I shook my head.
"That's good because that would suck to jump at all the things that go ‘boo' in the dark."
“Nope. They are not all part of the Scelesti. But I guess beings of the Casti prefer to be around their own kind. So, what we will probably see are Scelesti unless anyone from the Casti seeks us out.” And let’s hope that doesn’t happen, I added mentally.
“And this Zane? Part of the Casti?”
“Nope. Part of neither. He has chosen to leave the Scelesti, but it will take forever for him to redeem himself to get into the Casti.”
“That sucks.”
I nodded in agreement.
“What about you? Does that make you part of the Casti.”
I chuckled with derision. "No. I'm a tool for the Casti. I cannot truly be ‘good’ because I have to kill. Therefore, I can never truly be a Casti. But you and Nate, aren’t you guys? You both are truly good.”
She smirked at me in her own form of skepticism. “The Casti
are not a group that we really want to be a part of. My mother and I have received no help from the Mortalis council. Our coven isn’t even recognized anymore because only two of us survived and ‘two witches’ don’t make a coven.” Her nose crinkled with disgust. “Overall, both Casti council and Mortalis council are sort of overzealous puritan groups. They have their own rules, which are almost impossible to follow for those that live like humans. And the Mortalis council is looked down upon by basically the whole Mundus Noctis. We are seen as lower class because we are mostly human. My mom and I prefer to be on our own. Our coven is gone. All we have left is each other.
“Even Nate’s family disassociated from the Mortalis council. They saw what happened to us and made their stance with us. We are now our own clan. You are included in that ‘we’ by the way. I would prefer to align myself with a ‘tool’ for the Casti than with self-righteous asshats that can’t see the needs of all their people.”
And there it was – the feeling that I hadn’t felt since Martin and Flora were alive. I had a family. A home. I was home. I felt a single tear slide down my cheek, and I had hoped that Meredith didn't notice. I quickly brushed my cheek.
“Gee, Mere. I don’t know what to say.” I was utterly speechless.
Meredith rolled her eyes. Both us were not entirely comfortable with feeling mushy.
“Tell me more about the hunt. How does it feel? Does it feel natural to you?”
“It’s scary, Mere. I have the senses to do it. And one time they did kick in, and it felt natural to me. But I personally don't feel like I'm in touch with my Huntress. She's there, but I think she is trapped. I don't know how to get her to surface."
Meredith rubbed her chin, thinking and staring off into space.
“I think I might actually be able to help with that,” she said as a matter of fact after a few minutes had passed.
“Yeah? With magic?”
Her eyes twinkled. “Yeah, with magic.”
✽✽✽
A loud clap of thunder sounded as we walked out into her hallway on the way to the attic, making us both jump from the randomness of it and the lights went out.
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