Type: Series
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: M
Characters: Cadence, Luca, April, Andrew
Word Count: 1014
Word Count: 1014
Glossary:
Warning: coarse language
A glowing ember
Burning hot
Burning slow
Deep within I’m shaken by the violence
Of existing for only you
I know I can’t be with you
I do what I have to do’
Do what you have to Do-Sarah Maclachlan
As he paced the living room, Luca kept switching his worried glances between the sleeping form on the couch and April speaking quietly with Andrew in the corner.
Their voices were low, but he could hear their discussion clearly and it pissed him off.
They doubted his ability to lead the clan. And he could see that bringing Cadence to the house after he’d almost ran her over had further intensified their lack of faith in him; they thought he was he being sloppy and getting too entangled up with the enemy.
But what else was he supposed to do? Leave Cadence unconscious on the side of the road?
Cadence stirred and in a flash Luca was kneeling in front of her.
“Ugh!” She groaned loudly as she tried to sit up.
“Hey, slow down,” he gently pushed her back on the couch but Cadence would have none of it.
“What happened?” She asked softly.
Her eyes shone like diamonds in the dim light, and just for a little while, as he gently flicked her hair away from her face, Luca was convinced they were the only light he’d ever need. But as quickly as that thought had snuck up on him, it was gone. He hardened his heart as he straightened up from the floor. Going all mushy for the enemy wouldn’t do!
“You passed out before I could run you over,” he told her quietly.
“Why did you bring me here? Why didn’t you take me home?” It was a reasonable question and Luca just had to smile at how perfectly logical she was at a time like this.
“Sonja isn’t home, and I couldn’t exactly leave you at your doorstep,” he explained.
“I have to go,” Cadence nodded, seemingly satisfied with his explanation.
She was about to say more, but her words faded in her throat when she noticed April and Andrew studying her from their place on the couch in the corner.
“That’s April and Andrew,” Luca told her. But he didn’t shed any light on how they were all related, if at all.
The other two Vampires flashed their pearly whites at Cadence and Luca felt her tense up. He was ninety-nine percent convinced now that she knew what they were. The apprehension in her eyes as she glanced from him to the duo in the corner said it all.
“I’ll show you out,” Luca took her hand and Cadence tried to resist, insisting she could find her own way, but he ignored her.
“Thank you,” she mumbled at the door.
“For what?”
“For not running me over I guess,” Cadence replied.
“Where were you going?” Luca was curious. She’d seemed so out of it, dazed almost when he’d hooted at her to get out of the way. Thank God the brakes on his old pickup truck still worked okay.
“Dance class. With Emme.” She would have said more, but then she suddenly remembered he was the enemy and sharing too many details with him was a big no-no!
“Cadence. I-” Luca wanted to explain, say something to her to erase the disappointment he saw in her eyes. But where would he start explaining it all to her? How would he make her see that perhaps in another life they might have been friends, but in this one they were destined to be enemies and he was after her blood and he’d get it at all costs? It was all so complicated and he wished it didn’t have to be that way.
“I know what you plan to do. I won’t let you.” Her announcement didn’t come as a shock to him. What did surprise him though was the firmness in her voice. She sounded confident, pretty much certain she could stop him. Obviously Sonja had filled her in, but not on everything. He doubted she would be as determined to stop him if she knew her father was withering away in his basement.
“I don’t need your permission.” He returned her unwavering look with a small smile and for a long spell they stood locked in their battle of wills.
“But you do need my blood. And you won’t have it. You’d have to kill me first,” Cadence was the first to give in. Her submission though didn’t give Luca the satisfaction he always got whenever his prey gave in to his will.
“Killing you was never an option. But I will have you.” He drawled softly.
Gazing at her now on this wintry morning, with the weak sun rays hitting the different shades of brown in her hair, Luca realized she was the only perfect thing to come out of the last twenty years. If only things weren’t so damn complicated!
“Right. Keep dreaming.” Cadence laughed in his face, but there was no amusement in her voice. The steely pools in her eyes were harder than any stones Luca had ever touched; he knew she was carefully weighing his words.
They both knew she was in way over her head. But she wouldn’t admit it, not even to herself, and a small part of him admired her determination to oppose him. In fact, he was looking forward to the challenge.
Without saying another word Cadence walked down the crumbling steps and Luca watched her leave.
He wasn’t surprised when she turned back and regarded him. Like their impending battle if she didn’t give in, her question was inevitable.
“Why didn’t you just take it? You had your chance. I was out cold.”
“That’s not how I do things, Cadence. You will give yourself to me. Willingly,” he replied.
“You don’t know that! How can you be so sure?” Her shrill voice betrayed her heightened emotions, despite all her efforts to project an air of calmness.
“Because I know things. And when you’re ready to know things too, I’ll be here.”
He watched his answer throw her into a state of utter disarray and he wished he could undo it all, undo a lot of things, especially that night twenty years ago and what was yet to come.
