Chilling Cadence

Twenty

“Was Lorelei right?” Grimm asked when the Vampire had long since been far enough away to not be able to hear what was going on inside the house anymore. Grimm was laying across the back of the couch casually, licking at his paws.

For a long time, Cadence didn’t answer. She didn’t want to. She wanted to pretend that what had happened to her had been nothing but a very realistic nightmare. But she knew the truth. She had felt the wind against her cheeks, and the fabric of the high-quality lace against her arms. And the heat from his hands was also undeniable. If Lorelei felt like she was made of ice, Azrael was like he was made of fire. The heat from his hands was almost painful. She felt like she could still feel the weight of them on her shoulders.

She swallowed. “I think so.”

“It’s not surprising he would contact you on Samhain.” Grimm’s voice was almost casual as he rested his head on his paws. “It’s the easiest time for those in the dead and those in other dimensions to contact those here. I should have seen it coming.”

Cadence sighed and rubbed at her temples. “I don’t think anyone saw that coming.”

“The headache will fade. Most likely, you were in Hel. Suddenly being forced from one dimension to another and then back again is incredibly taxing. Just sleep it off.”

She nodded. Of course, Cadence knew she had not been anywhere on earth when she had been talking to Azrael. Demons couldn’t come to earth unless they had blood ties here. Like, if they became a familiar, or sired a child…or if they took a powerful bride. Those were the only ways Demons could come from Hel to the surface.

She stood up and trekked her way upstairs to her room. On a typical day, she would have liked to take a shower before bed, but there seemed to be no typical days in her life recently. She always only managed to shower before she headed out. The moment she was back in her new home, she would conk out on the couch.

When she had changed out of the clothes she had worn today and into an old, tattered sweatshirt, she climbed into bed without further delay. Grimm was already lying on the spot on the pillow beside her he always claimed.

Before she dozed off, she mumbled, “You didn’t want to change into your real form for Samhain?”

“I would have liked to change, but we might need my real form later on.”

Cadence was suddenly wide awake. “Are they nearby?” she whispered.

“They should be arriving later tonight.”

Cadence sat up suddenly, sharp filaments of pain lancing in her skull and dancing around across her brain. She closed her eyes briefly at the pain and nausea it brought her, and when her body had calmed down, she opened her eyes to stare at Grimm with betrayed disbelief.

“They’re coming tonight?” she shrieked. “Why are you so calm? What are we supposed to do? I’m in too much pain to use magic and you haven’t fully recovered from the who Cyhyraeth thing. You’re stronger now than you would usually be in your condition because of Samhain, but you’re nowhere near your full strength right now. We won’t be a match for them like this, Grimm. We—”

“You worry too much. I’ve already told Lorelei everything. She’s gathering people to handle things for tonight.”

Cadence leaned back against her pillows, her head throbbing in double time. “Will everyone else help? They have no reason to.”

“The people in Glasskeep protect each other. The moment you protected the people here and used your magic to defeat something that would have killed them, you were considered one of their own. Here, people protect their own.”

Grimm’s words were filled with such conviction, Cadence couldn’t help but believe him. And even though she wanted to stay awake, traveling between dimensions against her will had had adverse effects on her body because she fell asleep the moment she closed her eyes.

GRETEL AND HER brother arrived in Glasskeep a little after twelve. The energy of the Nightingale Witch was so strong that, even if the Association hadn’t told them where she was, they would have been able to follow the trail of it. The car the Association had assigned to them rolled through the vacant scenery. Although they had arrived in Glasskeep, the actual town itself was still a five-minute drive away. Right now, they were surrounded by thickets of dark trees on either side. Off in the distance, a Lycan howled.

“A town full of monsters,” Hansel murmured. He sounded more intrigued than horrified or disgusted. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before. Monsters usually don’t band together.”

Gretel pressed her lips together, her gaze focused on the windshield. She didn’t like the idea of monsters banding together in the least. They were dangerous enough on their own, she didn’t want to imagine how difficult they would be to contain if they were all under some kind of truce.

“How come we’ve never heard of Glasskeep before this?” Hansel asked, not noticing his sister’s displeasure. “I mean, they always talk about the different Vampire nests and Lycan gatherings but there was no mention of Glasskeep. I wonder wh—oh, shit.” Hansel pressed down on the brakes involuntarily, trying to avoid hitting the person who suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. Although, as soon as they looked at her, they realized Hansel could have run into her at eighty miles per hour and the only people who would be hurt would have been the two of them.

Underneath the sign that marked their current course as Witchlight Road, stood a Vampire. There was an unusual glow to her pale skin under the streetlights, and the abnormally bright hues of her blue eyes glimmered eerily in the headlights; it was like a nocturnal animal’s eyes at nighttime.

Hansel and Gretel glanced at each other and climbed out of the car. They had expected something like this. A town of monsters had to have a leader, and since Vampires were often considered the top of the supernatural food chain, it made sense that one would be in charge of a town like this.

Hansel had kept the keys in the ignition and the headlights on so they could see the Vampire better. Upon closer inspection, she was one of the more beautiful Vampires Gretel had ever seen. Vampires were known for their pretty faces, but this face was something truly extraordinary. Gretel bet this Vampire had lured in a bunch of innocent prey with a face like that.

Her hand strayed to the holster on her thigh that carried the cross. Vampires found holy objects from any religion painful. And this Vampire made her…uneasy. Gretel didn’t like the air of malice that hung around this Vampire like a second skin. Since the Witch that tried to kill them when they were kids, Gretel had never let herself feel unease in a supernatural creature’s presence. But now, she couldn’t push back her feelings of unease.

She glanced at her brother who was glaring at the Vampire. She thought his face seemed uneasy, but with the quick glance she had given him, she wasn’t able to fully tell.

“We’re not here for you,” Gretel called out. Her voice, at least, didn’t give away how uneasy she was. She had enough practice dealing with these creatures that such feelings like unease and fear wouldn’t show so obviously on her face.

“Oh?” the Vampire’s eyebrows rose, her head inclined to one side. “And who, I wonder, are you here for?”

Gretel didn’t like this Vampire’s mocking tone and had a mind to rush at her and remove her head from her neck but she controlled herself. If she had been as impulsive as Hansel was, she might have done just that.

“We’re looking for Cadence Nightingale?”

“Cadence Nightingale?” the Vampire repeated in that same mocking tone. “Well, there certainly is someone in our town by that name; an adorable little Witch with a former High Demon as a familiar, no less.”

Gretel and Hansel shot each other a look. Even though they knew the Nightingale Witch was here, it was different having someone confirm it.

“Seeing the legendary Hansel and Gretel here, I suppose it’s no wonder the poor thing looked so terrified when she got here a few days ago.” The smile that spread across the Vampire’s face was cold. “I wonder if you might tell me what you want with Miss. Nightingale.”

Gretel’s eyes narrowed. She’d had enough of this Vampire by this point. “Is there a reason we need to tell you that?”

The Vampire’s eyes widened with false innocence. “Well, I would say so, little Hunter. The Nightingale Witch is under my Protection, you see.”

Gretel’s muscles locked in surprise, and beside her, she heard Hansel suck in a breath. It was a common thing for Vampires to lend their Protection to humans who had ventured into the supernatural world—willingly or otherwise. Witches, though, did not often seek the protection of a Vampire. Mostly because there was a blood feud between the two races, but also because Witches were known to be strong enough to take care of themselves. In the supernatural world, most beings steered clear of the most powerful Witches the same way they steered clear of Vampires. Especially a Nightingale Witch whose power was so abundant, Gretel could feel it reverberating through the ground and vibrating through her knees, like a loudspeaker shaking the ground at a house party.

There were few Vampires a Witch would allow themselves to be protected by: the Ancient Vampire herself, who lived with her thralls and Children in New Orleans, the Ancient one’s Kin—her brother’s and sisters who had been created long after she herself had been—or, a thought that was equally as terrifying as those…a Royal.

Royals were wild cards among Vampires. Some of them could be as powerful as one of the Ancient One’s lower-ranked Brides, and others could be as powerful as one of her Kin, gaining the power of a Vampire who had lived for thousands of years in a mere decade. Even at their weakest, Royals were powerful enough that the Association avoided them when they could. A lot of them were known for not being as civilized as their queen was.

Gretel stared at the Vampiress in front of her hard, her eyes narrowing in their concentration. The Vampires she and Hansel had always been dispatched to kill were lower-class Vampires and she had never been in the presence of a Royal before, but even she had been able to tell right away that this Vampire was different from all of those she had encountered before. She had felt it the moment she had seen her.

“You’re a Royal.” Gretel didn’t know why she said it out loud. Typically, she would have kept the fact that she knew such information to herself until she and her brother were safely away, and then she would tell him. It was the unease this Vampire woman made her feel, she decided, that made her speak more than she normally would.

The Vampire’s face twitched. Gretel couldn’t quite decipher her expression, but she thought the woman seemed…displeased.

“I suppose you might refer to me as such,” she finally said, threading her fingers through her silky black hair; Gretel couldn’t help but notice how it glimmered under the streetlights, so beautiful it was hypnotizing. “But what I am and what I am not isn’t what matters here. You asked me if I had the right to know what you planned on doing with the Nightingale Witch, now you know that I do, in fact, have a right to know. If you give me a good enough reason, I might be inclined to give her to you.”

Gretel stared at the Vampire who stared back. She took in a deep breath, steadying herself. She couldn’t let this aura of unease get to her.

“Cadence Nightingale is on the Associations list. She is to be assassinated by the end of the year. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of the Treaty between your kind and the Association.”

Beside her, Hansel was rocking back and forth, his body language almost anxious. The atmosphere this Vampire was putting out was affecting him even more strongly than it was affecting Gretel. She put a hand on her brother’s arm to steady him, and he stilled.

The Vampire noticed, of course, she did. She smiled and when she did, Hansel jerked backward, his hand automatically going to the double-bladed axe he carried on his back. The perfectly white teeth had been replaced by needle-sharp fangs. The two of them were used to seeing a Vampire’s fangs, but seeing this particular Vampire’s natural weapons made them both even more uncomfortable than they had been before.

“Of course I remember our Treaty,” the Vampire murmured, her voice just as taunting as it had been before. “I was there when the one in Transylvania was signed. I remember each and every section of it.”

“Then—”

“I also remember,” she continued, pretending as if she hadn’t heard Gretel speaking, “the very interesting section about the Association not touching anyone under a high ranking Vampire’s Protection. I may not be the Old One, but I am quite far from average. Why would I give a perfectly good pawn over to you?”

“Pawn? What are you planning on using the Nightingale Witch for?”

The Vampire held up a hand, the light from the streetlight above her and the headlights in front of her reflecting off of that hand freakishly.

“How I plan to use those in my arsenal should be of no interest to you. Call your Association and tell them this, if they want to touch a hair on the Nightingale Witch, they will be breaking their treaty with Lorelei Darkhe. I will await your answer.”

The two of them watched as the Vampire blended into the darkness and headed in the direction of what looked like a restaurant further down the road. What would ordinarily be a five-minute drive was a quick walk for the Vampire.

“Are we just going to let her go?” Hansel asked, finally finding his voice after a few minutes.

“We have no other choice. She was right. The Treaty does say we aren’t allowed to bring harm to those under a high ranking Vampire’s Protection. Even if the Treaty didn’t exist, that woman had no intention of handing over the Nightingale Witch to us.”

The two of them were quiet, standing and staring at the restaurant in the distance where the Vampire had disappeared to, its parking lot was filled to the brim with cars. Gretel could see the bright artificial lights of the restaurant’s sign and the light coming through the windows shining on every car in the parking lot clearly.

“She said her name was Lorelei Darkhe, right?” Hansel looked over at his sister wide-eyed. “Have you heard that name before?”

Gretel nodded once. “She’s one of the untouchables.”

Even though Gretel didn’t think it possible, Hansel’s already wide eyes widened further. He looked like he was trying to detach his eyes from his skull.

“An untouchable? You mean, like the Old One?”

Gretel nodded once.

Hansel looked in the direction of the restaurant, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

“Why is she unable to be touched? The Old One is the one who keeps all Vampires in line, so it makes sense not to attempt to kill her and leaving her Children, Thralls, and Kin alone also makes sense. But why is the Association protecting a Vampire like her? Do you know?”

“I don’t,” she admitted, not liking the way it sounded coming from her mouth. “Only that our orders were to not offend a Vampire named Lorelei Darkhe.”

For a moment, Hansel was silent and then he groaned loudly, throwing his head back in exasperation. He was a lot like a child having a tantrum. She couldn’t help but recall their childhood days when he acted like this.

“Then what are we supposed to do?” he griped.

“Stop complaining.” Gretel sighed. “There’s supposedly a hotel ten minutes out near a place called Barry’s Gas n’ Go. We’ll send our report to headquarters and stay at the hotel until we’re told what to do.”

“We’re staying here?”

“Why wouldn’t we? Lorelei Darkhe never said anything about us staying in town.” She leaned toward her brother, looking at him seriously. “We’ll be able to keep a better watch on the Nightingale Witch this way.”

His mouth shaped in an ‘O’ of understanding, and he nodded seriously.

“You’re right.”

“When am I not?”  she asked, forcing a grin.

Hansel’s answering grin was not as forced as hers was, but it was still tense. “Shut up before I leave you here.”

“IS EVERYTHING TAKEN care of, then?” Rev asked. “We’re sure they won’t cause any trouble for Miss. Nightingale?”

Lorelei was sitting with Ruth, Rev, and Eleanor in the section the restaurant used for Glasskeep residents. Although the parking lot was filled as it always was, business was slow enough for Eleanor to take a break and sit with everyone else. The four of them were the only ones in the area for residents. Everyone else had fallen asleep a long time ago; the events that had happened in Glasskeep these past two weeks had taken a toll on everyone in Glasskeep. Cadence had come along and taken away a large thorn in the town’s side when she destroyed the Cyhyraeth and caught the Necromancer behind it, but there were still mountains of problems and no one had forgotten that.

Lorelei twirled her fluted glass that Eleanor had graciously filled with fresh blood from one of Lorelei’s favorite Thralls between her slender fingers.

“I’m sure,” Ruth said, nodding. “They won’t cause any trouble for now. Peering too far ahead is…well, it impossible for me. I’m not a Diviner, Ayami might be able to help you better than I can.”

“You’ve helped us plenty, Ruth,” Eleanor said, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand.

Ruth smiled and placed her hand on top of Eleanor’s. “Thank you, dear. Ah, as I was saying, Hansel and Gretel will stay. I can’t say how long, but Cadence will be. I don’t see them hurting her.”

Eleanor looked over at Lorelei, who was still toying with the glass. “That’s good, right?”

“Whether keeping Cadence alive is a good thing or not…it’s too soon to tell,” she murmured.