Adorned By Her

**Chapter 28 THE CAPTURE

CADENCE POV

Once we arrive, to my utter amusement, Zephyrus appears from inside of a locked prison cell. There are no prison guards to be seen. I carefully approach the prison cell when Zephyrus eyes' light up with wild desire, her originally pale blue moon eyes turning a deep vampire red. She suddenly bites directly into my jugular vein, delivering a burning sensation into my body, in which I feel different this time. The same vampire that was destined to be killed turned out to be the one protecting me all along. She gave me some juice this time, with the energy flowing through my veins and this time she didn't suck the life out of me, literally and metaphorically speaking.

A dark shadow maneuvers out of the darkness and a whoosh sound is heard that is aimed at Vernon's arms. He falls to the ground and what happens next is unspeakable. He doesn't bleed or cry out for help, which was the worst sign of all. Vernon voices his concern to me and says that he's not feeling so well. He pulls up his sleeve and a marking is engraved on his skin that looks like a viper. "I believe the witches have marked my death...this spell is cast to impose death immediately upon the next day...I won't live too long, Cadence." Vernon doesn't cry like most would, but instead stays stoic and calm the whole time we look at each other a little worriedly.

I go over to Lux who is shell-shocked by the vampire leeching scene and I spill to him the details before I lose the chance to tell him. With no vampire guards in sight, it is safe to tell him. "That's just the price we pay for a lie. Eloise is indeed the Chancellor's granddaughter. And I found out that she was hiding her identity all along. She's next in line for the succession," I unwind the news to Lux, my most trusted friend. He is left speechless, zoning out when suddenly a whoosh of wind is heard, distracting us. There are bats that join us in the torture dungeon. Just a false alert, I think to myself, with my palms sweating and a nervous heartbeat.

"What was that?" he asks me. "I don't know, just some bats flying around; I wish I understood the nature of these confusing turn of events. Seems like we've been thrown a curveball. I don't know who to trust either..." my voice trails off. Lux seems on edge and is still speechless when he finally opens up to me saying, "I kind of had a feeling she was hiding something. She moved too quickly in the relationship for it to be real. Maybe she does like you, but it doesn't seem genuine. She might just be lusting for your powers or something."

I head back to Zephyrus' cell. Zephyrus whispers to me through the cell "I told you she's the one imprisoning the innocent vamps. She didn't try to bite you hard because she's holding back the true power you would gain otherwise. She has had salacious intent in her heart since the beginning. She's working for her father under his command this whole time behind the scenes. And she seduces all the naive ones, just like you were." She stops before gathering her thoughts together. "She's just like her terrible father...but I have a plan. I'll break out as soon as you take this amulet and meet your mother. She'll teach you how to use snow damage to hard objects so that you can break me out of here. When the time's right... wait and come to see me when you feel it in your bones. My locket is the missing half for a reason. I've been entrusted to show you the way as a vampire-alchemist hybrid. I chose to become a vampire instead because I preferred their species, but never in a million years would I have expected the Vanguard Society to fall to such tyranny. You're a clever clairvoyant alchemist, so it shouldn't be too tough. I knew your mother way back in the day. But more on that later. Go with Vernon and Lux to your mother. Now."

Her demonic tone suddenly sounded so angelic to me. Zephyrus telling me that she knew my mother was so earth-shattering. The news sent me to the moon and I realized that she had my back all along. Zephyrus speaks to me and unveils that "I am an alchemist of the Lamille Order that chose to become a vampire. I didn't want to have clairvoyance, which was a possible downside of the gift of being an alchemist. I would rather prefer the benefits of being a turned vampire. And I didn't have a choice to keep my powers like your grandmother, Beatrice Madlock, and her lines of succession. My parents were both pure-blooded alchemists that worked for the head of the Lamille Order of the Grand Alchemists, of whom your grandmother was the head." I nodded and my mouth dropped open as I was astounded to hear the unraveling.

DIARY:

I began to brainstorm comprehensive ways to stop the evil masses, first utilizing my snow abilities to slow them down. Then, I would depend on Vernon and Zephyrus to fight back the main guards. More on that later, I would see if we could take down the latter guards, the weaker less trained ones first. There are a myriad of ways that this can go, but I trust that my burgeoning powers are enough to stop them along with my two teammates, minus Lux who is far too weak to defend even himself.

Love, Cadence Madlock

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