Bleeding red
~
Cadence
~

Dirty and bleak water soaked her boots, leaking into her socks and meeting the skin. The water was drizzly and cold like she was being submerged into a lake during a blistering winter.

Only when Cadence's eyes squinted open did she realise she wasn't in the water but tied to a chair in a puddle.

This is grim, was all Cadence could spell out in her mind.

Her wrists wiggled against the restraints, the rope rubbing against her skin uncomfortably and ceasing her in redness as it wove around the chair arms.

She lowered her gaze to the floor and found herself shaking her head, bemused. Her feet, submerged in water were restrained and tied to the chair's legs.

A pitiful peal of laughter quaked out of the depths of Cadence's dry and croaky throat and she flung her head back.

"Why me? Honestly, why does this shit always happen to me?" She rambled to herself and tried to wheeze out of the ropes with anger fleeting her goal.

Cadence wouldn't bother herself with the torment of how this occurred. It branded in her head like a mark. She had a plan with Accalia and then, everything darkened around her without warning.

Arms and hands invaded her body and she was gone in a flash.

She had never crossed paths with a being so fast — too fast for her to fathom and decipher her surroundings. That was part of the reason she blacked out and ... ended up here.

Cadence figured she was in a cave.

The water was a stream, connected to a river or creek that could lead out and a rocky dome at the roof of the cave where over time rocks must have caved in. Cadence stared at a cluster of stars.

She didn't have to time admire its beauty and a fire brewed near her — a fire someone started whilst she was unconscious. She had some light. Some warmth. No ounce of comfort.

"Of course," Cadence realised in a splutter and leaned back in the chair, making the legs creak against the water and rocks. "Why wouldn't they kidnap me? I did almost chop off that bitch's arm."

If Cadence had been kidnapped by lycans with a desire to kill, she didn't need to be told that she wouldn't make it out alive by being tied down.

"Maybe you should have chopped the girl's arm off," a voice soared through the cave in a chilling echo.

Cadence froze in place, feeling her heart drop and stomach do a flip.

The first thing she caught on to was the tone of the person. Not a voice of a male, but a clear and velvety female. A spark shuddered through Cadence's body.

"Who are you?" Cadence demanded, trying to scan through the cave with her limited and hazy vision.

She couldn't look behind her but by the telling of the voice, it seemed to shroud the entire area, voices coming from every angle.

"You needn't worry about that right now," the voice echoed.

"You kidnapped me," Cadence uttered and looked from side to side. "I'm just trying to figure out if you're a lycan or not."

The person laughed, a heavy cackle thrilling through Cadence's ears. "Trust me, if I was that, I wouldn't have kidnapped you,"

Cadence clenched her jaw, completely bewildered by the being she was conversing with. She could be lying. She could be a werewolf. Or something else entirely.

"An oracle?" Cadence guessed.

The voice hissed. Wrong. Cadence needed more confirmation than that.

"I've been watching you for some time now, Cadence,"

Cadence rubbed her wrist against the ropes, feeling stings and itchiness.

"How do you know my name?" Her voice was a cool calm, but her irritation scratched close to the surface. Cadence disliked games, especially with strangers.

"How could I not know you? You're a Larren hunter. Cadence Athena Larren."

Cadence froze and her body went icy cold. "How the—"

"Athena Larren — your grandmother's name. I still think you should've carried your mother's name. It seems more fitting, but alas."

Fear punched through Cadence's chest and left a waking, dark hole. She tossed her head around to catch sight of the person, but all she saw were emitting flames and dark rocks.

"How do you know so much?" Cadence demanded.

The person spoke with such simplicity. "You're a hunter and with all the hunter bloodlines, a Larren."

"Where's my cousin? Did you hurt her?" Cadence tried to bite down on the sharpness in her tone. This person was only going to be cryptic and cynical.

If Cadence wanted to get out of here, she would have to play her cards right and by doing that, her only idea was to try and act as compliant as possible. Until she got the upper hand.

"Lycus Fenris," Her voice was marked with poison and trickled with disdain. "How you ended up in his possession was almost divine and ill-fated. After you left his pack and went to visit your parents, as you do every year, you played right into my hands. Accalia turned her back for a moment and it was perfect timing to get you."

Something familiar dug under Cadence's skin. "You speak of Lycus's name with such hate, has he done something to you?"

"He's done something to everyone,"

Cadence stayed still. She wouldn't get anywhere with this person. She wouldn't get freedom.
"Why did you need to get to me?"

"I need the help of a hunter, a hunter unswayed by her loyalties and faithful to her heritage. Someone who can work on the inside."

Unswayed by her loyalties.

Faithful to her heritage.

Was she that? The best hunters were. Her mother was. Cadence didn't know if she was, although, she tried to be, to honour her parents the only way she knew how.

"Help with what?" Cadence asked distantly.

"I need you to find an object. It could be anything by this point, hidden in plain sight or even buried. It's an item that I need to find."

"And if I don't do this?" Cadence demanded with an edge in her voice.

"I will kill Accalia and Tristan. Then Erisa and her uncle, Franklin Jaeger. I will kill them all."

Cadence wanted these restraints wrapped around the person's neck. Hard enough to break the neck or completely tear it off. She suppressed the shakes of fury drumming through her bones. Every name she cared about was on a death list ready to be ticked off if she didn't bend to this being's will.

A new wave of fear washed over Cadence.

"You've got a file on me or something? Who are you? How do you know my family and friends, all the people that mean something ..." Cadence's voice trailed off.

This was a predator. Who watched, stalked and kidnapped, Cadence grew weak at the thought.

"Why can't you do this yourself?" Cadence demanded.

"I have tried. Many times. I have tried lycans who detested Lycus, but they would die by his hand. Werewolves, but they were always loyal to their predecessors. And women, but Lycus Fenris hardly looked their way. But I have yet to try a hunter, a hunter such as you."

Cadence furiously shook her head. "Accalia and I left the Fenris territory, we escaped again and have no intention of going back."

The person hissed, venom lacing her tone as she spoke, "Accalia is rather ... predictable, Cadence. I knew as soon as I took you, she would blame Lycus and that was exactly where she went. Back to his pack."

Cadence's lips parted to snap back a retort but sat with this. Blindsided. Accalia wouldn't do that. If Accalia truly believed Lycus was the one that took her ... there was no telling of what she would do then.

This person knew. Knew too much, many things, about many people.

Then, Cadence croaked out a laugh and flung her head. "You wanted her to go back to him."

"I wanted Accalia out of the way, out of your way and by doing that, she went back to Lycus, deeming him as your captor."

Cadence nodded with a tight-lipped smile, knowing it to be the truth.

"This is about Lycus? You want something from him?" Cadence probed, slowly piecing a few of the puzzle pieces together.

"He's the only person that has what I want." The nameless figure explained.

"Can't you just go into the house yourself and get what you want yourself?" Cadence grumbled in question.

"It's warded against me,"

Cadence frowned deeply at that. Warded against her? How could that be? Could be an oracle's doing, but even that was a long shot. It was the Fenris Pack, in the end, there were thousands of werewolves and lycans protecting the territory.

Cadence clenched her jaw. She hadn't been this weak in a long time. Even back in the Fenris cellars, she knew her chances. Here — now, she sat bound to a chair with no way of escape and accompanied by being she didn't know was a lycan or an oracle.

She would rather be in a battle with lycan than a fight inside her own head.

She would rather be with her family, the only ones that remained than have their lives in danger.

"What do I need to get for you?"

The fire nearly evaporated when a gust of wind shook through the cave, making Cadence's hair fly everywhere and lose sight of anything incoming.

And something did come, a dark silhouette of a girl stood in front of Cadence and towered over her like a ghost.

Cadence leered at the girl and could have laughed.

She was younger than Cadence, an ageless texture coated her ghostly skin and her black pin-straight hair was slick back and untouched. Her face was flawless with a sharp nose and thin lips. She wore a velvet dress with a bow at the front.

Her eyes, however, Cadence had never perceived something so odd. They were ruby red, the colour of blood and more damning than the black eyes of a lycan.

The girl had her arms laced behind her back and when she raised her hand, Cadence flinched back and waited for impact. She couldn't believe she was going to be smacked by a little girl.

But instead, the girl only whipped out a piece of paper.

That was dramatic, Cadence brooded.

The girl conjured up an eerie grin, set straight white teeth withholding nothing sincere.

The paper fell onto Cadence's lap and she peered at a drawing. A rectangular piece with whirling patterns around it but in the centre was a red diamond. The colour of the ruby could have been blood.

It could almost be worn as a necklace or a ring, Cadence thought, marvelling at it. It was a pretty item, worth a lot of money and could be easily sold. She shook those ideas out of her head.

"I need to find this?" Cadence asked after a moment and dared herself to look back into the girl's eyes.

The girl nodded intently, a look of hunger painting those red eyes bloodier. "Yes, I am assuming Lycus still has it. He wouldn't just get rid of it. I need you to find it for me,"

"Why do you need it?"

The girl raised a finger and silenced Cadence to a dead stop. "As you move along in your duty, you'll know more, I can tell you that much."

"How long do I have?" Cadence asked.

"A few days after the full moon,"

Cadence's eyes snapped open. "Are you joking? The full moon is at least three days away."

"You'll find I'm not the joking kind. I need this object and I need it as soon."

"I need more time," Cadence objected. She had an entire pack to cover. She had the manor, the pack house and lands to unearth.

The girl went silent with narrowing eyes. If she was on a deadline, Cadence couldn't care. She needed more than three days.

"You'll give me an update after the full moon then," the girl negotiated.

Another concern filled Cadence's head. "And if Lycus finds out?"

"He won't find out and trust me, if he does, he won't be after you,"

Cadence only had one job. To find the bloody item.

"Fine," Cadence grunted reluctantly. "We have an agreement. I find the item, you leave my family alone. I find the item and you piss off out of my life, right?"

The nameless girl nodded curtly. "Agreed. Just know, Cadence, you are doing a good thing."

Shove it, Cadence wanted to shout.

If this girl, this dumb, foolish girl wanted to go up against the most notorious lycan of all time, she could. It was her death sentence. Cadence wanted no part in it. She agreed: she would find the item and that was it.

"You're going to let me go now?" Cadence barked and gestured to the ropes with a wrathful leer.

"I will, but I need to ensure once you go back to the Fenris territory, you will keep your mouth shut. You are sworn to secrecy. You cannot mention a word to Accalia — she is connected to Lycus. When you return, you must act as if you don't remember a thing."

Cadence nodded eagerly — absentmindedly and tugged at the ropes that were biting into her skin. She just about had it. "Yeah, got it. You do realise, though, that he will probably kill me once I step back into his lands, right?"

The girl looked sceptical with a daring gaze. "After I collected you, I returned to the cemetery to find Accalia and Lycus there searching for you. I highly doubt he will kill you, Cadence Larren."

Looking for me? Lycus and Accalia, the match made in the deepest pits of hell are both out looking for me? Cadence pondered in confusion. She needed to see it to believe it.

Before any more questions could escape Cadence's mouth, the unnamed girl ripped the ropes from her festering and flared skin and stood back.

Cadence pushed to her feet, feeling slightly faint. She cringed at her boots completely soaked in water, but found herself standing — alive. She rubbed her wrists, trying to soothe redness and fixed the girl in front of her a leery glare.

"What's your name?" Cadence asked after a moment.

"My name is Alexene."

Alexene.

A pretty name, but unsuited for a gnarly individual who kidnapped people to make them do their bidding.

"Lycus must've done something really bad to piss off a little girl like you," Cadence muttered bluntly.

"Not just to me. Lycus believes me to be dead and it needs to remain that way. He will figure it out and then, it will be too late. His first action will be to protect Accalia. His second is to protect his secrets." Alexene informed Cadence simply.

Dead. Secrets. Protection. There was so much more to the Alpha of Alphas than what Cadence had read about him.

Perhaps this Alexene girl will be Lycus's downfall.

"Well, Alexene," Cadence drawled spitefully and sized the little creature up with her towering height. "This has been a shitty day, lycans wanting my cousin dead, my family's anniversary of their passing and then getting kidnapped. I'm going back to the Fenris territory now."

Alexene dashed in front of Cadence at an unnatural pace and laid both hands on each side of her face, stilling her to the spot. Their eyes met, red and black, and Cadence froze to the spot like she was sinking further and further into something she couldn't be saved from. She couldn't move, no matter how much her mind told her to.

"However," Alexene uttered softly, so delicately and Cadence found herself at a standstill, listening. "I do not trust easily, I need to ensure you will do everything I have asked. If anyone asks questions, you will tell them you didn't see my face, only heard my voice. Keep our conversation to yourself. Your task is to find the item I showed you. After the full moon, you will come back here where you will update me on everything. Tell me you understand, Cadence Larren?"

Cadence was dreaming. Her head didn't connect to her thoughts and her eyes pinned straight at Alexene.

Cadence nodded numbly. "I understand."

Alexene smiled an enthralling and joyful smile that met her bloody eyes. "Let's take you back to Lycus Fenris, where you'll send him my regards and ruin his existence from the inside out."