The boy and the girl in the coffin
~
Cadence
~

Cadence's palms laid flat and readied for impact. Her body collided with the ground, tumbling and she inhaled from the sharpness digging into her side.

"I told you to stop doing that." The hybrid said and came to a grinding halt.

He knelt beside Cadence, his very essence digging into her senses so deeply it made her wince.

"And I told you to piss off! Turns out neither of us are good at listening!" Cadence wheezed out and pressed her head against the cool soil.

The hybrid had been on a cat-and-mouse chase, trying to put as much distance as he could from him and his brother, Gabriel.

And every chance Cadence got, she would try and wring herself free from Rexton's arms.

A hand found its way on Cadence's shoulder and she stilled, a boiling rage working its way up her throat. "Get the fuck away from me!"

The hand shook back but his voice still echoed into her ears, "I am sorry, Cadence, I will stop running so fast."

"We're not on a first-name basis, prick. Remember that." Cadence spat and drew herself upright, shaking away the dirt and muck. She avoided his watchful gaze. He could drill a hole into her head from all the looking he did.

In all her years of hunting, the enemy tended to level their gaze with the same hate, a mutual understanding, but the hybrid repelled all of that, his stare was shameless and unapologetic.

Cadence was positive no one had ever watched her as much as he had and she wanted to pluck his eyes out from the unwanted attention he was giving to her.

Scanning her surroundings, Cadence's heart plummeted into her stomach. The trees nestled tightly together, a woven maze anyone could get lost in and the branches excluded the nightly skies, ensuring darkness shrouded this very place.

Kara forest.

"Why the hell would you come here?" Cadence seethed and got to her feet.

The hybrid followed her movement and nervously coated a hand through his tousled hair. "It was the first place I thought of."

Cadence clucked her tongue, refraining from saying anything that would result in yelling, but it burned on the tip of her tongue. A chill passed through her, emitting her arms in goosebumps at the eerie-looking cave they stood outside of.

"I'll gladly lock you back in the tomb if you want," Cadence said, a laugh trembling through her words. "You could be feeling homesick."

The hybrid gave her a confused look, his fringe curtaining his eyes and he briefly shook his head, but the movement was confirming enough. He never wanted to go back in there, in the obscurity and chains.

"Please, no." The hybrid burst out and Cadence jumped back, expecting the worst from him.

He didn't feed off her when the corner of her head began to bleed nearly an hour ago and it was a lost answer Cadence wouldn't dare to ask him. Why didn't he slice his fangs back into her neck and finally finish her off?

He had a facade of being innocent and clueless, the mask holding up long enough even Accalia fell for it.

But Cadence wouldn't, she wouldn't trust the boyish face, the innocence and soft-spoken tune he sang with. The first chance given, he would strike. It would be only a game to him. The means to have the last laugh.

"How do you know Alexene?" He said after a few moments of silence.

Cadence swallowed, knowing she would have no chance of running or fighting back. His skin was steel, his strength unmatchable and he had no means to release her.

"She kidnapped me and made me find a locket that would release you," Cadence muttered, sitting back on the ground to get comfortable. If he was going to spike up a conversation and then kill her, she at least wanted to rest for the time being.

In perfect timing, he sat down, locking his arms around his crossed legs just as Cadence did. She pretended to not see.

"A locket?"

Cadence frowned, turning slightly to face him but when she saw he was already paying all eyes on her, she looked away. "Yeah, it would unlock the cage you were in. I'm pretty sure there was blood in the locket—"

"The blood would have been needed for me to wake up again, a few droplets of human blood were in the locket. My brothers created the coffin with iron and silver." The hybrid breathed out, a slight tremble in his words. "They planned this for a very long time, I assume."

"Why?" Cadence snapped out of nowhere and faced him head-on. "Why did they do this to you? You know lycans — you are one, but are you a worse monster than them?"

His lips parted, his chin propping on his arm with a timid expression dawning on him. "I—I do not know. Am I?"

Cadence froze on the spot, grappling for the means to hurt him, and cause damage to him as he did to her neck. Lycans were the catalyst of the infectious virus that plagued humans. They were not infected by the moon's curse like their descendants, but by the man that was cursed into a beast. They cursed themselves all those centuries ago.

What did the hybrid do to become a blood-sucking beast?

"Alexene told me you never fed on humans before being locked up, is that true?"

He nodded repeatedly. "Once, I failed myself back then. The second was with you, but never again. I do not need to survive off the blood as Alexene does. I need it every so often to feed my vampiric side. I fed off rabbits and deers."

The mention of feeding made Cadence fiddle with her clothing and she began to sweat at the back of her neck. She needed assurance and her weaponry usually laid claim to that.

"You were the first thing I smelt when I awoke from my slumber."

Once again, the hybrid instilled shock into Cadence that made her arm hairs stick up and she recoiled, lip curling.

"Wha—what?"

He bobbed his head slowly and fumbled with the ends of his sleeves as if he was nervous. "Yes ... smokiness, wild berries and wood. All you. Once the blood from the locket hit my bloodstream, you were the first smell I inhaled and I tracked you out of the woods. I ignored Alexene, ignored the animals, I just wanted to find you. And when I did —" His lips lifted into a crooked smile and he buried his head into his arms, disappearing from view. "Pretty. You are the prettiest being I have ever seen."

Cadence paled, frosty coldness itching in her face and she tensed up, wanting the roots from the earth to rise and swallow her whole. "Fuck off."

"Pardon?" The hybrid popped back out of his sweater and he looked like a cloudy haze, blurred and dream-like.

"Some nerve you got! What is up with you Fenris brothers? So weird and selfish, a bunch of pricks. Calling me pretty? I'm not pretty, I'm scarred and bruised up all the time. You're calling me pretty? I've done ugly things, things that will make you look like an angel with that face!"

Cadence stood up, her boot crashing into the earth so they wouldn't smash into his bewildered face that offered nothing but innocence. She hated it, that facade he held and how he carried it with him.

At least she had the decency to show others what she was really like, through the roughness and malice, everyone saw her for what she truly was.

Why did the hybrid have to lie as if Cadence would fall for it? Fall for him?

"I didn't get this bargain done, risk my family's lives, go through all the nightmares — being stuck in that fucking coffin in that cave just to sit next to you like you deserve to be here. Because you don't. I hate you, I hate your brothers and I hate your entire kind." Cadence sneered, her heart beating faster than she could have imagined, and so loud he could hear.

She stumbled back as he rose to his feet, growing taller and taller. It made her feel so pathetically tiny even when she wasn't. Unequal to him, weaker in every single way.

"Forgive me," His chest heaved up and down, as her heart did in a similar tune. "I will take you back, I should not have done this."

Cadence laughed, her glee shrieking through Kara forest and she almost fell to the floor. "Now you want to take everything back? Nah, do your worst, stick it out and do what you want with me. You want to bite me again, feed on my blood, do it!"

"I did not want to do that, Cadence." The hybrid confessed to her.

"Don't say my name!" Cadence yelled and looked to the cave that glowed in blackness. She wanted to run into it and never resurface if it meant getting away from him. "And to think, I heard screams — your screams and I thought they were mine. If you didn't want to bite me, you would have taken the blood bag."

In the lining of her vision, she saw him move and could see the steady distance he kept between himself and the cave.

"If you don't want to be in this place, why'd you bring me here?" Cadence distracted him with the question and she took a step toward him, her back facing the cave.

His eyes widened, a spark burning and his lips parted. "I did not want my brother to find us. I wanted ... to be alone with you."

Cadence licked her lips, taking a step back as he took one forward, matching her footing.

"How did you hear my screams, Cadence?" The hybrid asked, stilling to the spot as he tilted his head in curiosity.

Cadence froze at the utter of her name falling from his lips like it was his to claim. Certainly, a Fenris trait, crossing the bounds others attempted to put up.

She still tried to understand why she was in a coffin when searching for the locket. It was as if, every time she grew closer to the mission ending, the more entrancing the nightmares became. The closer she got, the worse things became.

And now with him free, the dreams were no longer present and no longer terrorised her.

"I don't know and I don't want to know," Cadence admitted and backed away as Rexton drew closer.

Turning a blind eye, Cadence seized her chance to run into the cave and to the coffin. Away from him.

The hybrid came at her and in a matter of seconds, he met the harsh ground before Cadence could and she fell onto his shoulder with a grunt.

Gently, he shifted his weight and barricaded her to the ground, coming on top of her. Her legs were heavy against his and her arms restrained against his hands.

Cadence's thoughts ran rampant and she considered smashing her head into his again just to blackout, and take herself out of this without bearing witness to it.

"My screams? Did you hear my screams?"

Cadence's face reddened from rage and she screamed, "I DON'T KNOW! God, are you this pathetic? When looking for the locket I felt like I was in a coffin, suffocating, unable to breathe and no one could hear me."

His features morphed, a stellar look crossing past him like a shooting star — like a revelation.

"That happened to me, for the first few years: screaming," The hybrid confessed, voice loosening in trembles as he recounted the time in the darkness. "Until I stopped feeling hungry for blood, thirsted for water and I slowly ... felt my body fade. I felt like I was dying, and yet, I wasn't. I knew my body was failing me as was my strength. I've been told by my brothers I am strong, but I wasn't strong enough to flee the tomb. I had no choice but to rest. And now, being here, I—I don't think I ever want to sleep ever again."

Dry throat, sweat pooling at the skin like a second layer and complete and desolate terror of being unheard. Cadence knew exactly what he talking about, she recalled placing a knife to her cousin's throat from the bouts of fear that wouldn't leave her in the dreams and when getting out of it, she still thought she was there.

"How could you possibly know what it felt like?" His face came close to hers in desperation. "Tell me how?"

Him being on top of her, Cadence caged between the earth and the source of what caused this mess in the first place, invoked a newfound fresh type of hate. She wanted to hold no bounds to him. In this life, in death and in that tomb. Keeping her eyes on his, Cadence wedged her hand into the dirt and felt her nails crunch against it.

"You really gotta learn when to shut your mouth," Cadence snapped suddenly and cupped a handful of dirt. "I'll do it for you."

Through the gap he placed between them, she slid her arm and smashed her hand into his mouth.

With the seconds Cadence had, through the bewildering shock of spitting out dirt, she threw a punch his way and felt her knuckles connect to his jaw.

A sense of relief soared through her at the pain rippling through her skin and she shoved him off with all her might.

The hybrid choked up, spluttering and spitting out the dirt. Cadence grinned, wiping her mouth and kicked him in the side, knocking the air out of him.

He growled at her, spitting by her feet from the sand staining his mouth and rose to his full height.

And before either could settle their issues, fight the final battle and have it done because that was all Cadence wanted since having her neck bitten, Lycus came out of nowhere and smashed Rexton into the cave walls.

"I should lock you back up for this!" Lycus roared in his face and smashed him back into the crackling rocks. "You fucked up big time, Rexton."

"You said you wouldn't." His voice cracked, closing his eyes in defeat and Lycus immediately released him.

Retreating, Cadence bumped into someone who secured an arm around her raging form. Heart hammering so harshly it could explode, she thrashed against the person and raised her fists.

Accalia locked her hands around Cadence's wrists gently and placed them at her sides. "Cade—Cadence, it's okay. It's okay, I won't let him do anything to you ever again."

Accalia threw her arms around Cadence, shielding her from the eyes watching them and breathed against her ear, "I shouldn't have felt pity for him, I should have trusted you about him. I'm sorry, Cadence."

Cadence kept her arms to her sides but felt her body become weightless, falling into Accalia as she eased at her touch. "I punched him in the jaw if it makes you feel better."

Accalia laughed against her hair and drew back, inspecting her for what felt like the first time in a long time. "Your head, it's bleeding."

Cadence hissed when Accalia brushed her fingers against it, trying to observe the gash.

"It's fine, stop caring so much," Cadence muttered sharply and looked over her cousin's shoulder, the sense of relief running away from her before it could settle.

Alexene came through the shadows of the trees and briefly scanned Cadence, eyes bleeding with indifference.

"What the hell is that dumb bitch bloodsucker doing here?"

Lycus choked on laughter and Accalia's eyes fitted wide with a fallen mouth.

"This dumb bitch bloodsucker suggested we could find you two here," Alexene hissed and came in front of Cadence with that stomach-turning speed. "I'm glad you are all right."

Deceit spoke through her leery grin and Cadence's insides coiled with contempt, not wanting another person she wanted dead to deal with in such a short matter of time.

"Piss off," Cadence spat and jutted a finger at the hybrid. "Your toy is perfectly fine, I just made him eat dirt for the amount of bullshit he says."

Lycus placed his hand on the back of the hybrid's neck and led him to the middle of the clearing, putting distance between him and the cave and between him and Cadence.

Cadence avoided his face matted in blood and dirt even as he looked at her still, no sense of revenge in his eyes. She stood confused at that. How he hadn't turned or killed her outright shook her to the core. He must be waiting her out, wanting to play at the game and see how long she could last.

"You," Lycus grumbled and slid his arm around his brother's shoulders to get the message across, "Are going to Gabriel's pack to stay with him."

The hybrid froze, rolling his shoulders back as he took everyone in with a quick sweep. "No."

Lycus grinned a shark grin, leering at his little brother and gesturing to Accalia and Cadence. "My mate lives in my pack, do you think she will now want you around when you kidnapped her cousin? People already want them dead, if you didn't do any of this—"

"I'm not leaving." He stated and crossed his arms.

"He can stay with me," Alexene muttered to Lycus.

Lycus smiled darkly, a laugh booming out of him and said, "Where do you even stay Alexene?"

"I have a place." Alexene acknowledged. "He can stay with me."

Lycus gripped the bridge of his nose, breathing through his mouth as he looked ready to throttle her. "He's a hybrid, hardly anybody knows about him and I need to keep it that way. Rex, you're going with Gabriel when we get back to the pack."

Arguments arose and no one had a middle ground to stand on.

Cadence settled by a tree trunk watching everything play out and Accalia looked about ready to run rampant. Patience was a trait her cousin catered to, but with every passing day, it lessened and it was a sight Cadence loved to see.

"Lycus, give me your keys! I'm driving Cadence home, I'll see you back at the manor." Accalia said through clenched teeth and stretched out her hand.

Lycus frowned. "No, I'll drive. I can't have you being anywhere by yourself."

Accalia glared, pointing rudely at the hybrid, all sense of empathy toward him gone. "With him in the car with my cousin? No. Give me your keys, you guys can walk and talk things out."

Cadence smirked and deemed it best for them to travel back separately. The supernatural creatures would have the energy and capability to walk for hours without breaking a sweat.

With a stubborn snarl, Lycus placed the keys in Accalia's hand and swept a kiss on the top of her head. "You better be careful."

Accalia nodded jerkily, face warming and stress lines fading. "I will."

Cadence's smirk stretched and she flipped both Alexene and Rexton off. "Have a nice walk."

~

Cadence can be very brutal at times. :/

Rexton is a sweetheart though.

Edited as best I could.

— Caranyx.