Blood Ties

3

Courting Revenge
~
Cadence
~

Cadence's gaze didn't fall from Tristan's face once since he got up. They stalked like the eyes of an eagle scouring the skies for its meal in a circular motion.

She had been up since dawn and waited for the others to seep out of their slumber. Sleep hardly came over her throughout the night and it was the dead man's doing.

Cadence dared to check out the bite mark he placed on her. It was safe to say, this reignited her desire to stab him with a stake and watch as those undead eyes finally met their true meaning of dying.

The punctured holes left bruises and swelling. Tristan was right, she was weak. Not wanting to eye the mark any longer, the need to destroy the creator growing, Cadence had cleaned the wound and resealed it.

Soon enough, Tristan took a seat on a wooden chair and sipped his black coffee across from Cadence.

He offered her a boyish grin. "Yes, Cadence?"

Cadence's lips curled into a twisted smile, but it immediately fell. "I'm stronger today, not weak as I was. Do I need your permission to leave?"

A tickle of guilt taunted her from yesterday's altercation with her cousin, but Tristan had a big mouth and needed to learn when to shut it.

Tristan hid a teasing smile and placed his cup on the wooden table. "How's your neck?

A shudder passed through her. "Fine."

"You don't need my permission for shit, Cadence, I just needed you better from what happened yesterday," Tristan explained and went back to sipping his coffee.

Cadence clucked her tongue and took that as her queue, standing up. She already had her bag set, weapons ready and an overload of boldness in walking straight into a fire she didn't know she would come back from.

She knew, in the cogs of her battlefield thoughts that this could end with her being in a ditch. But it still stands, this dead man was locked away for a reason, had connections to the Fenris brothers and Alexene for a reason.

The huntress needed answers, but if Lycus preferred a fight, she will gladly give it to him.

"But I'm coming with you," Tristan announced.

Cadence gave a hard and confirming nod. "We're leaving soon, I'm not waiting around."

Erisa and Thea were still sleeping the morning away, tucked under the covers and blissful from the issues that lurked within.

Cadence often wondered what was stopping her from doing the same. She reminded herself to say goodbye to Frankie before she left. He was always up bright and early.

Cadence took it upon herself to lift her leg and kick the girls awake. Groans of annoyance waved through the room and a pillow was thrown in her direction.

"Me and Tristan are leaving for the Fenris pack."

It was as though ice was thrown over them and they shot upright, throwing the covers off them.

"Are you stupid? I swear you need to be put in a nuthouse, Cadence!" Erisa shouted in her groggy and tired voice. "You're going to get yourself killed."

Cadence exhaled, this information going in one ear and out the other. "I'm not having this conversation. That vampire bit me, had more than two fangs and his eyes were ... I don't know how to explain that. Lycus will know how to put him down and I want to be the one to do it."

Thea's face became grave. "You want to kill the monster that bit you?"

Cadence's lips tightened and scooped her bag from the floor over her shoulder. "I'm a hunter. A hunter above everything. He needs to be stopped and Lycus will know how to stop him, he locked him away after all."