Chilling Cadence

Twelve

The graveyard was a little away from consecrated ground and Cadence—although she was not as affected by consecrated ground as a Vampire was—could feel the moment they left the grounds of the church. A pressure she hadn’t realized had been there—due to her surprise at Lorelei’s sudden vehement anger and fretting over whether she’d have to use another spell, even though she had already used more magic today than she wanted to—had suddenly been relieved and her mind was suddenly lighter than it had been before.

What was more, she could tell they were no longer on consecrated ground because Lorelei let out a sigh of relief. The sound had startled Cadence because she was so used to the absolute silence that came naturally with a being that did not require breath. When her gaze had wandered over to Lorelei, the Vampire’s shoulders had relaxed and the air around her wasn’t as frightening as it had been before. The fear that existed for Cadence now was her own and not due to the undead aura that Lorelei normally seemed to hide away. The stiffness in her limbs was gone, replaced with her typical languid grace.

“I do apologize,” Lorelei finally spoke up, turning her head to look at Cadence. Her lips pulled up into a smile, her teeth flashing in the silvery light of the moon. “Entering consecrated ground is a painful thing. Vampires don’t do well with pain, you see.”

That was news to Cadence. Even with all the books she had read on Vampires in her youth, at her Grandmother’s behest, there had never been any information like that. Although, thinking on it further, it made sense that Vampires would hate pain. A Vampire was in a state where they were, for all intents and purposes, dead. Not only did their hearts not beat and blood no longer flow, but their nerves and all sense of bodily pain had also evaporated. Even if you managed to be fast enough to split open their skin with a blade, the only thing you’d manage to do would be annoying them, particularly if it was near their heart; just because they couldn’t feel pain, didn’t mean they were unaware that the moment something sharp—especially a wooden stake—pierced their heart, they would die.

All of that being considered, it made sense that the idea of pain was foreign to Vampires and so, of course, they would react adversely. Probably, Lorelei’s instincts had been screaming at her to kill the nearest person to her—which had happened to be Cadence. She shivered. All things considering, Lorelei had a firmer hold on her vampiric nature than most. Cadence had always heard that Vampires were creatures who completely relied on their senses, more so than any other creature, and as such, they listened to their impulses and felt no need to fight them. Those impulses are what let them live. And yet, Lorelei was pretty adept at fighting hers from what Cadence could see.

Now that she was thinking about it further, the other day when Lorelei mentioned the fraying veil, she had mentioned that her thirst was stronger than it had been before. That combined with the pain she had felt should have made the lure of killing Cadence impossible, and yet, Lorelei had resisted.

A sense of grudging respect flooded through Cadence. She didn’t like Lorelei nor did she fully trust her—Vampires were far too cunning and had the tendency to see people like chess pieces—but she did believe that the Vampire wouldn’t kill her. That was enough to make her feel more comfortable.

“It’s fine,” Cadence finally responded.

During her inner-monologue, the Vampire had turned away, probably to respectfully allow Cadence to gather her thoughts.

“To be honest, you probably handled it better than most of your kind would have.”

Lorelei stopped suddenly, and Cadence’s steps halted, too.

“Another Vampire would not have handled it at all,” she murmured, her too-bright eyes watching Cadence. “The moment most Vampires enter consecrated ground, they die.” She watched Cadence’s expression for a moment more—Cadence wasn’t sure what kind of face she should be making or what kind of face she was currently making—before Lorelei gestured around. “Do you know why we’re here?”

“Not exactly,” Cadence admitted.

The hairs on her arm were standing on end. The graveyard seemed darker than anywhere else had been. The gravestones were all mostly old and there seemed to be a dense layer of fog here even though there wasn’t fog anywhere else. She and Lorelei were standing by a statue of an angel, its hands cupped in prayer and its head bent.

Cadence had never liked graveyards. Although she wasn’t a Necromancer, the art of Necromancy was in her blood and she could always feel the presence of spirits. In places like this, they were far louder than they were ordinarily. With every breath of the wind, Cadence could hear them whisper. The words were indistinct, but she could hear the voices call to her. Even if she couldn’t make out what they were saying, she could understand.

Open your heart to us and we will serve you. Give yourself over to your power, Cadence.

Cadence’s hand clenched into a fist and she took a breath. Those words coupled with the fraying veil made using her magic seem like such a beautiful thing. She held fast to herself. Mom, Dad, Grandmother. She knew what had happened to them. She had witnessed her Grandmother’s growing emptiness with her own eyes.

“I didn’t expect that.” Lorelei’s voice broke the veil’s hold on her and brought her back to herself. Despite everything, Cadence was grateful to the Vampire yet again. She didn’t seem to be able to stop being grateful to her.

Lorelei was watching Cadence contemplatively. She was sitting on the base of the angel statue, her legs crossed. Cadence got the impression Lorelei had been like that for a while and she wondered how long she had been fighting the veil’s whispers.

“All things considered,” Lorelei went on, “I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised. The Nightingale’s are known for their bloodlines holding powerful Necromancers. But you did not strike me as one until this moment. Typically Necromancers carry an air about them…You might not quite understand, but to a Vampire, Necromancers are something to be feared and worshipped, you see. Not only can a Necromancer revert us back to death, but they can create new Vampires. No biting, no painful transformation. And so, the air around them is usually heavy, sweet, intoxicating. Alisyn was the same. Did you ever plan on saying anything?”

“Why would I?” Cadence’s voice was sharper than she had intended but she couldn’t find it in her to care. She didn’t like talking about magic and she especially didn’t like talking about Necromancy. The sane Necromancers only used it when they had to and the ones who had gone off the rails, like her mother, used them to do terrible things. “I told you, I don’t use magic. I used more tonight than I ever wanted to track down the Necromancer who summoned the Cyhyraeth. I don’t plan on using anymore again for the remainder of my stay in Glasskeep.”

Lorelei’s eyes glinted with curiosity. Cadence’s lips thinned, she didn’t want to say anymore tonight.

“Very well.” Lorelei waved a hand as if waving off this entire situation. “You aren’t the Necromancer we’re here to discuss anyway.” She ignored Cadence’s glare and went on, “I brought you here because every Necromancer needs a graveyard to use their abilities, do they not?”

Cadence nodded. “They do. A Necromancer needs to be close to death to live.” It was why, when Cadence was a child before her mother had lost her sanity, they had lived down the street from a graveyard. “But what does that have to do with why we’re here.”

Lorelei gave her a deadpan look. “Really,” she said in exasperation. “For someone who is usually so intelligent, you falter at the most necessary moments, don’t you.” She sighed. “Yesterday, when the Cyhyraeth failed to appear, you said something wasn’t right. Today, we learned that the Necromancer was controlling it. Now that the Necromancer has realized we know they’re out there.”

Cadence suddenly put two and two together; her spine tingled. “They’ll attack tonight.”

Lorelei nodded grimly. “The teenagers who come here on weekends sneak their way into the graveyard while Rev is asleep. They should be here any minute. Since a graveyard is an optimal place to attack, our Necromancer should show up, too.”

Complete understanding flooded through her; they would be fighting the Necromancer tonight.

Cadence let out a loud, annoyed sigh. “You couldn’t have told me that before?” she complained. “I would have called Grimm, at least.”

Lorelei rose a brow, looking completely unbothered. “You can call him through the bond, can you not?”

Cadence said nothing. She was afraid if she spoke, she might do something crazy, like using a word of power to turn the Vampire into ashes.

After she had called for Grimm through the bond—if things came to a head, she really would need him—she stood rigidly on the far side of the statue, her eyes scanning the darkness of the graveyard, wishing they were half as good as Lorelei’s were. She could see more than an ordinary human could, but they were nowhere near as amazing as Lorelei’s eyes were. She wasn’t sure how far Lorelei could see—to the front of the graveyard? Where her car was parked?—but she knew it was amazing. Especially at night. Vampires could see twice as better at night than they could during the day.

Cadence shifted from one foot to the other. She wasn’t sure how long she had been standing exactly but apparently, it had been too long. Her feet were protesting.

“Could you sit down?” Lorelei asked. “You’re making me…incredibly anxious.”

Cadence shot the Vampire a look. “I thought you said Vampires don’t feel things apart from self-preservation, curiosity, amusement, and the rare romance?” Her voice sounded incredibly sarcastic even to her own ears.

The amusement Cadence had spoken of twinkled in Lorelei’s eyes. If it had been anyone else, Cadence wouldn’t have been able to make that out but because Lorelei’s eyes were so bright, even with the moon trapped behind a group of clouds, Cadence could make out the emotions in them easily.

“That’s true,” Lorelei said, biting back laughter. “But watching you move from one foot to the other so rapidly has apparently reanimated emotions that are long forgotten. If you would sit, I’d be grateful.”

Cadence sighed but did as she was asked. She sat on the other end of the statue, far enough away from Lorelei that she felt comfortable, but close enough to see her movements from the corner of her eye.

Grimm arrived shortly before the teenagers did. He was curled up in Cadence’s lap, looking eager. He had been looking forward to catching the Cyhyraeth for some time now, even more so after he had learned it was being controlled by a Necromancer. He was hoping—even if the Cyhyraeth was weak—at least the Necromancer would be good enough to give him a good fight.

Even in his adorable form, Cadence was never able to forget he was a demon who had conquered much of Hel. It was because of his desire for a good fight that he had conquered so much of it. Even Lucifer, a former celestial, had been no match for him. It was moments like this that made it impossible to forget the life he had led prior to the new one Cadence had given him the moment she had named him.

A group of teenagers had appeared. Luckily, they were close enough for Cadence to watch, about sixty yards away. There were four boys and three girls, Cadence noticed, and she spotted one of the boys carrying a small case of beer.

Cadence wasn’t quite sure how long she and Lorelei watched the group of teenagers as they gulped down beer they weren’t old enough to drink and spoke in tones loud enough to wake the dead that lay beneath the headstones they were leaning against, but Cadence felt a shift in the air.

Grimm’s ear perked up and he jumped from Cadence’s lap, his hackles rose threateningly, and instead of letting out the sound of a hiss—which was what one would expect from a cat who had taken such a defensive position—he let out a low, deep growl. No matter how many times she heard it, Grimm’s growl always managed to startle her. The sound of it reverberated through her spine and made its way simultaneously to the crown of her head and the soles of her feet. Her heartbeat sped.

Lorelei was suddenly right beside Cadence, but Cadence was so caught up in the presence of this powerful Necromancer, she couldn’t be frightened by how quickly and soundlessly the Vampire had made her way to her side.

When using magic, all Witches had a certain aura depending on their specialty. Her Grandmother’s aura was like moonlight—cool and silvery, captivating and serene. Her father’s had been like sunlight on a scorching hot day and hers was like a barely contained atomic bomb, the more she used, the closer she came to exploding. This aura was like her mother’s was, although not quite as pronounced. The dead that had been whispering to Cadence all responded to this aura, ready to do the bidding of this Necromancer the moment they were called upon. A scent like long withered roses was stronger now than it had been in the woods, and the scent violently assaulted Cadence’s nostrils. It was so strong, it made her eyes water and her head swim. The chill of the October night air turned into a cold so bitter, it was more akin to December weather.

“The Necromancer is here,” Cadence whispered to Lorelei. For the third time tonight, she found herself glad Lorelei was here. Because when she looked over, Lorelei’s face was perfectly composed. Even in a situation like this, there was no fear on her face. Even if it was because Vampires couldn’t feel fear, it still calmed her.

Lorelei nodded. “I can smell our dead raising friend.” Although her tone was friendly, the Vampire’s face was anything but. Cadence almost pitied the Necromancer who had managed to earn Lorelei’s ire.

A scream ripped through the night air and Cadence’s eyes automatically went in the direction the scream had come from, her heart beating faster than it had before.

She had never seen a Cyhyraeth before, but even still, she understood what she was looking at. The former Witch wore a long white dress that hung from her practically skeletal frame, her bony hands—which were like claws—had clasped around the arm of one of the girls who was struggling to free herself from its grip. Wisps of long dark hair floated around the Cyhyraeth’s head. All the other teenagers, Cadence noticed, had disappeared but Cadence could still hear them screaming off in the distance.

Lorelei said something to Cadence, her voice was so much quicker than normal that Cadence hadn’t been able to catch it all before she ran in the direction of the girl and the Cyhyraeth.

Cadence had never seen Lorelei move so quickly before, and she was briefly stunned. She seemed to be unable to feel anything but surprise tonight. Grimm took off after Lorelei, his eagerness spilling over through the bond. He had tripled in size and was now the size of a jaguar, his dark fur blending into the dark as he raced ahead.

Cadence cursed under her breath and ran after them, readying her mouth to speak words of power. The spell she planned to use to stop the Necromancer wasn’t big enough to rob her of her soul, but she still hoped she wouldn’t have to use it.

Lorelei had already extricated the girl from the Cyhyraeth. Cadence was steadily approaching, but she was still a few feet back, breathing hard as she ran.

Dammit, she thought. I would have exercised more if I knew this would be happening.

The Cyhyraeth shrieked, the sound of it so intense, Cadence nearly dropped to her knees. The wail of a Cyhyraeth was, in one of the old books she had read, likened to the cry of a banshee. The only difference between the two was that a banshee cried out to signal death but a Cyhyraeth only wailed to put their victims at a disadvantage.

She saw Lorelei flinch, her body stilled. So, Vampires were affected by a Cyhyraeth wail. Cadence stored that information for later.

“Grimm,” she called out, urging him to act. The Cyhyraeth was closing in. Devouring a human soul was one thing, but if it devoured Lorelei, too, it would definitely be too strong to handle.

Grimm didn’t need to be told twice, with a guttural growl, he launched himself at the creature. Freed from the Cyhyraeth’s wails, Lorelei blinked. Cadence came running up at that point. She huffed, her hands moving to her knees.

“Son of a b***h,” she huffed. The sweat that had beaded on her forehead did nothing to help with the unseasonably cold weather the Necromancer had summoned.

The sounds of the fight between Grimm and the Cyhyraeth echoed in the air. Cadence looked toward them. Grimm had the Cyhyraeth’s bony arm clenched between his teeth, and was pulling, trying to yank it from its socket.

“We must move quickly,” Lorelei was saying. She seemed completely unfazed at the fact she had been caught up in the Cyhyraeth wail. “Sheriff Clearwater is here. If those teenagers ran into him.”

Cadence put two and two together. That must have been what she had been trying to say before she ran over to save the girl. Cadence glanced at the limp figure in Lorelei’s arms. Although she was incredibly pale—due to the shock, most likely—she seemed fine. Although, Cadence couldn’t say much about what her mental state would be like when she woke up.

Cadence blew out a sigh and looked over at Lorelei. “I have to use magic. When those ghosts from my past show up…”

“You have my protection,” Lorelei replied, holding Cadence’s gaze with her own. “And after this, you can explain in detail who I will be protecting you from. But for now, do what you must to draw out the Necromancer.”

Cadence sighed a second time and did the one thing she had not done since she was twelve: she let her magic rip from her. It exploded in the air around her, ready to use. It wasn’t only that, but the deteriorating veil made her feel all the more powerful. She could see the veil’s magic before her, intoxicatingly strong and beautiful, terrifyingly dark and old.

I need to make this quick before Hansel and Gretel are able to pin down where exactly I am.

Cadence knelt and put her hands to the earth. She closed her eyes. Although she didn’t move from the spot where she was kneeling, she could feel herself travel the small distance between where she was and where Grimm and the Cyhyraeth were engaged in battle. Sensing her magic, Grimm dropped the Cyhyraeth’s arm, which he had been gnawing on, and jumped back. A Cyhyraeth had been summoned with magic and could only be sent back by magic.

If the Cyhyraeth wanted souls, Cadence would give them to it. They were in a graveyard, after all, there were more than enough souls for it to devour. She grinned, feeling exhilarated. It felt good to reach out and call to her Necromancy abilities. The area, which had once been controlled by the other Necromancer, was now hers for the taking. The air was filled with the scent of her power—the scent of dead flowers and sunlight and decay.

She called forth all of the souls and shoved them at the Cyhyraeth. The souls of the dead beneath the tombstones, the souls of the dead in the tomb on the opposite side of this gravesite. The Cyhyraeth shrieked, moving this way and that. The souls entering it were too much for it to take.

She stretched her magic further. She didn’t care who felt it. Hansel and Gretel, the Vampires who once terrified her, the new king of Hel who the prophecies said she was supposed to rule beside. If they came, what could they do to her?

You are a goddess, the veil whispered. You are the most powerful Witch to have ever been born. More powerful than Alisyn, who sealed me. More. Show me more of your power. Sing for me, little Nightingale.

Cadence knew she was out of control, but she couldn’t stop. It felt…good. Using all of this magic after so long of repressing it felt incredible. It was like being forced to wear a blindfold for over a decade and suddenly pulling it off. It was like being forced to sit still in a cold, dark room and suddenly being able to leave that room and see the world beyond.

Cadence didn’t want to go back to that dark, she wanted to stay in this world of color and beauty that was her magic.

Cadence stretched her magic out past the graveyard and the church and gathered the souls of all of the dead. Those that she hadn’t even been able to sense before, those who had died and whose bones had long ago turned to dust.

Eat them, she thought mockingly. Aren’t you and your master both hungry for power? I’m giving you all the power you could ever want.

The Cyhyraeth shrieked again, louder this time, so loud, the ground quivered underneath Cadence’s hands. Grimm had long since backed away and was now at her side. He was pleased she was using her magic, she could see. He preferred it when she was this way, when she used her magic without abandon. He preferred it when she went wild, and cut loose the way he so often did in Hel.

The creature writhed, shrieking in agony. Off in the distance, she heard another scream but this one was more human. A flash of movement beside her let her know that Lorelei had gone after it, but Cadence barely noticed. The Cyhyraeth had not disappeared yet, which meant she should feed it more.

She added more souls, watching with a sadistic grin as the creature thrashed and thrashed. Its summoner screamed in agony, the sound of their screaming getting closer and closer. The Cyhyraeth, with one last agonized wail, exploded.

Cadence fell back on her butt, her hands shaking. She placed her shaking hands against her chest as if she could physically feel if her heart had been emptied. She searched within herself. She didn’t feel any different. She had used more magic than she had wanted to and she was sure there would be consequences.

All magic came at a price.

Lorelei reappeared, gripping a struggling figure around their wrist. Cadence blinked. Her gaze went over to the girl who was laying in the soft grass a little ways behind her.

“We have our little troublemaker,” Lorelei said, pulling at the hood of the cloak the figure was wearing.

Cadence’s heart dropped, her mouth fell open as her eyes met with the Necromancer who had caused so much grief.

“Mother?”