CADENCE POV
I wake up on the bunk bed with Zephyrus climbing the ladder to get to the top of where I lay. Here comes little miss sunshine, I think irately. She straddles my lap to the bed, in a prison of all places, I muse to myself. She holds each hand with hers and holds me down with vampire strength enough to break the bed, with an intent look in her eyes. I try every ability I have even with the locket hidden in my underwear, yet nothing works. No clairvoyance, no time spell, not even the Nix body damage with snow spells works. I am saddened that I am such in a weak state and I think about giving up. Zephyrus does not force a kiss on me like she usually does, but moves her mouth inches away from my face, where she breathes hot air onto me. "Listen," she says softly, "We're here together now, which is a good thing. I know you feel lost, but I'll explain to you that my locket needs yours to unlock the full caliber. I had the same prophecies as you growing up. My father and mother of the Holloway family have passed away, but they knew your parents. We should wait for the guards to go on lunch break before speaking about this."
Her long slender fingers were suddenly intertwined with mine. Her thumb carefully caressed the small of my inner palm and I become flustered. I was unaware of the longing for Zephyrus' true touch...it had been so long since I've been caressed... I think to myself regrettably. The guards finally leave for lunch and I ask Zephryus in a condescending tone, "Are you sure you aren't still working for the Vanguard Society Order of the Houndsmen?" "No, stop with the malarkey and small talk about them. I'm here to protect you, for real, for real. And why do you think that I've been captured, put into a prison cell with you? Eloise has been watching us the whole time. I'm not lying though my teeth like Eloise is. You know who to trust, Cadence. I faked my death so that I could come and tell you that I am a guardian of yours under strict orders of the Lamille. I-" But I cut her off mid-sentence and tell her how I feel about all of this nonsense "Wait, why would you lie about your death? And why should I trust you?" She hesitated, not knowing what to say. Then she came forth with her left hand and pointer finger.
"One, come closer..." she leans into my face, her lips about to land on mine but she teases me and licks my tender neck wounds from yesterday. "I'll take half your sadness away. I knew before you knew that you were an alchemist. And I know your grandmother from the Lamille Order of Grand Alchemists. She sent me on request to protect and guard your health. Zephryus says an unknown Latin word for light (lumen) that opens up her locket revealing a photograph of my grandmother and mother when she was my age upon graduation at Kensington Academy. "So," she says deliberately, "Can you trust me now? Let's promise to never betray each other's trust again."
"Promise..." I say. We lace our pinkies together and made the pact to never commit treason to our group ever again. She dismantled the idea of lack of trust for me... I think I can trust her, I muse over the idea of having Zephyrus, another powerful vampire, to back Vernon, and I up to defend the non-belonging and hybrids. You know, you also can't know how other people feel or think. But what I was guessing is that she had immunity to my clairvoyance and other powers because she has the other half of the locket as the prophecy foretold. I was a bit circumspect, but I thought more about it and decided to trust Zephyrus this time.
Lux responds from the next cell, "Are you two gonna kiss already or what? The suspense is killing me!" We both laugh and Zephyrus tells me how she feels. "Cadence, I care about you more than anyone. I have known since you were born that you were carefully selected from the rest of the alchemist babies. I was in the same boat as a young alchemist. Hybridism (being an alchemist-turned vampire) allowed me to keep my prophecies from within the locket, but lose my magic and all other related powers. It appears as letters in the air for only my eyes to view. My prophecy from the other night reads this about our lockets being combined, and I am still not sure how it's supposed to work or the integral mechanisms."
She reads the prophecy about the powers of our lockets being one:
Cadence and her locket is strong
But with Zephyrus' locket, nothing can go wrong
Life is only viable if,
Cadence blood, without a myth
Trust each other to the core
And prowess and beauty shall grow all the more
YOU ARE READING
Adorned By Her
Vampire***Premise of the story The Hounds Vampire Order has existed for over a millenia. For thousands of years, the order has not been questioned for their existence. Patient, kind, and virtuous, the organization is known for raising up the best and primi...
