Type: Series
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: M
Characters: Andrew, April, Cadence, Luca, Rachel, Rudolf, Willow
Word Count: 980
Word Count: 980
Glossary:
Warning: language
I can't be
Losing sleep over this No I can't
And now I cannot stop pacing
Give me a few hours
I'll have this all sorted out
If my mind would just stop racing...
Somewhere in Between-Lifehouse
“You have to make a decision soon, Luca. If you want the hunters it has to be now!” Andrew blew out an impatient breath.
He was getting increasingly frustrated with Luca. He didn’t know how else to get through to him. His cousin wanted to retaliate, but he didn’t want to leave Cadence, not when she was still in her spectral form.
“I know. But I can’t leave Cade. Not like this,” Luca shook his head and stared at Cadence playing with Rudolf and Rachel.
They were teasing her with a foil boil, and judging from her angry hisses she was getting tired of them, just like Andrew and April were getting tired of him.
“Give me a few minutes okay, please,” he turned to Andrew again.
April just glared at him and tapped the watch on her wrist. She didn’t have to say anything, he understood. They were running out of time. Not just with the hunters. But with Ethan too. He’d called a few minutes ago and threatened her. He wanted the Star back. Their two weeks was up. In fact they were going on the fourth week now. And if they didn’t deliver the Star to him soon, he’d find his way to Twinbrook. Their whole plan was coming undone; Ava had picked a fine time to attack Cadence.
“How long will she stay like this? It’s been two hours; shouldn’t she be awake by now?” Luca addressed Rachel.
Rudolf snorted in his seat and that just pissed Luca off.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He demanded.
Rudolf rose from his seat and matched his angry glare. “This is your fault. If you never returned to Twinbrook Ava would not have had any reason to go after Cadence. You should have stayed away from her!”
“You’re right,” Luca’s reply surprised everyone. “I should have stayed away from her. It would have been the right thing to do. But I didn’t, and here we are. So we can waste the whole night passing blame, or we can figure out a way to help her.”
“We can’t,” Rachel murmured as she propped herself between Luca and Rudolf. She could feel a battle simmering, Rudolf was spoiling for a fight, he never liked Luca, and now that Cadence had almost died because of him it was a good enough reason to destroy him.
“There has to be a way. There has to be some magic spell! Something!” Luca refused to accept that Cadence was stuck in her spectral form.
“The spectral form is a way for us to shield ourselves from danger. But sometimes, when we have an important decision to make it helps us get in touch with our spirit guide,” Willow murmured without looking up from her Grimoire.
“I’m sorry, a spirit what?” Luca asked.
Rachel smiled. It would take a long time to explain everything about witches and their spirit guides, but she tried to keep it short and simple. “Cadence’s transformation was brought on by the attack, but she should have changed back once the danger passed. The fact that she’s hasn’t we can only assume she’s communicating with her spirit guide. She’s grappling with something, and she needs guidance. She’ll break the trance as soon as she’s reached a decision.”
“Okay,” Luca nodded. But it wasn’t okay. He wanted her awake so he could hold her and tell her how much he loved her; he wanted her awake for his peace of mind, maybe when she took on her human form again, the guilt plaguing him would ease up. And maybe he could focus on other things. Like revenge. And releasing Julian and the others.
“And how long will it take for her to reach a decision?” April asked.
“It’s different for everyone, and it depends on the magnitude of the decision. It could be a few hours, or a few days,” Willow replied.
“We don’t have days!” Andrew growled.
“That’s it! You both need to cast some spell to get her to wake up. We are running out of time!” April piped in.
Their raised voices annoyed Rudolf. A low growling sound rumbled deep within his chest, a slight froth was starting to form at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes glowed amber, Rachel knew that any second now he’d transform.
April and Andrew stood defensively side by side, ready to tear him apart the moment he attacked them.
Luca raised his hand, silently asking everyone to stand down.
Willow breathed a huge sigh of relief when Rudi retreated back to his seat and picked up Cadence from the floor.
“Did she say anything to you when she was here earlier? Did she looked troubled, sad, confused? Do you perhaps know what she’s struggling with?” Rachel squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. The gesture, as small as it was, left a huge lump in his throat. It said a lot without saying anything at all, he could count on her.
“Luca, it’s important that we know what Cadence is struggling with. Maybe if we know, we can help her,” Rachel prodded again.
Luca knew alright what Cadence was struggling with, it was all the stuff he’d told her about Warrick being alive. If he’d known how much emotional distress it would cause her, he would never have said anything.
“It’s not my place to tell you,” Luca replied before he left the room.
April and Andrew followed him to the crypt.
Now that he knew Cadence wouldn’t wake up for a good couple of hours, he had to move things along. April agreed to stay and watch over the nest while he and Andrew went to deal with the hunters. Willow would prepare the ritual space and as soon as Cadence broke her trance, they’d break out the Forsaken and get the hell out of Twinbrook, assuming of course she wanted to help them…
