Slay Alive

Chapter 22

twenty-two

That night I drift off to Cade stroking my back, fingers lightly running up and down my spine slowly. Cade rubs the base of my neck gently before he slides his hand down the length of my back. I wake up a couple of times while he does this. Each time I wake up, Cade’s touch, his presence, the fact that I’m curled right up against his side with my head on his shoulder and wrapped up in his sheets is enough to put me under again.

It’s during one of those times when I’m between sleep and waking that Cade shifts towards me. He kisses my forehead and moves to hold me closer.

“ When you walk in daylight, violence no more, with secrets told and hearts joined, when you set love loose will you find her in a hunter’s body. A champion you will be.”

He’s reciting Rhia’s prophecy…but why?

“When you set love loose…” Cade whispers, the gentle rumble of his voice against my ear is comforting. I want to fall back asleep, lulled to sleep by his speaking but I don’t. I can’t. Not when I finally understand what Cade’s been brooding on while I’ve slept.

“I’m going to get you home even if I have to let you go, love.” My heart pounds, the earnestness in his voice is so raw and true. I’ve never heard anything like it before. “I love you, Bonnie,” he whispers to me in the dark.

“I love you.”

The feeling I had earlier that the end was closing in on me rears its stupid head and I almost scream at him to shut up. To take it back. I don’t do either of those things because I can’t. I’m too scared to move. What if I move and I’m sucked back into my world?

I couldn’t bear to leave him. Not now. I stay still and quiet. I don’t move a muscle.

Cade hums, the sound forming a melody and then a song. The rise and fall of his voice makes my heart pitch. I don’t know the melody he hums but it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to.

“I love you,” Cade whispers again.

I lay awake for a long time after that, long after Cade has stopped humming to me and long after I feel him finally drift to sleep. I stay awake until I’m sure nothing is going to happen.

I fall asleep holding him so tight my arms ache.

“Coffee?” Cade slides a coffee mug my way.

I yawn and accept it with a grateful nod. “Thank you.”

Cade eyes me while I drink down the coffee. It’s my third cup. “Thought you were asleep before I was,” he says softly.

“I guess the day tired me out.” I smile and stand to stretch but really it’s to turn away from him so he can’t see my face while I run over the plan I have for today. I’m going to Rhia to sort this whole prophecy thing out. I can’t be his soulmate and leave him.

Cade or the real world?

Why would I have to choose like that?

I pull on my coat and look over at the windows.They’re enchanted to be sunlight proof. The view we see isn’t real. You wouldn’t even know that it's fake until you get right up close to it and see the shimmer of magic turning the window into basically a television screen. It’s blue skies and puffy white clouds out right now. Much too bright for Cade to follow me.

“I’m going to get you home even if I have to let you go, love.”

My stomach hurts. Cade can’t follow me where I’m going to go. This is biz between Rhia and me. I turn back to him and kiss him before he can register the look of pain in my eyes. I’ve never been good at hiding my emotions. Cade will read my ass like a book.

“I’m going to go check in with Tamsin. Tonight is the Eclipse of the Eternal Night Masquerade.You heard Adrian about tonight. Something big is probably going to be going down,” I tell him when we break apart.

Cade’s brow furrows. “You think the Ascendents are going to be up to something?”

“Or Lucien. We still haven’t figured out that shadow I was following.” I’m right. We both know it. The vampire is a loose cannon. “After last night…running into those vampires on patrol. If you’re saying those are Lucien’s people then I’m worried. Why wouldn’t they take full advantage of the eclipse tonight to cause trouble?”

“The shadow. I think I might know what it was. How big was it, you say?”

“Hard to tell really with the way it was moving and it was far away, like on the tops of buildings but it was big. Really weird limbs. Its arms were too long. It ran on all fours but I swear I saw it stand.”

I did see it on two legs on the top of a building before it leaped into the streets. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought it was a lion or some kind of animal, except for how big it was and how it climbed freaking buildings like a radioactive spider.

“I’ve never seen anything that fast.”

“That’s because there is nothing that fast,” Cade says.

“What?”

“You saw an Ascendent. An original.”

“Like an original vampire?” Tamsin had called them ancient. Vampires that walked the earth before there was light in the sky. “But it didn’t look like you. How is it a vampire?”

“Because I’m diluted with humanity.” Cade gestures at himself with a cocky flourish that makes me smile. “That’s why I’m so pretty to look at. All vampires are, but the Ascendents are pure uncut evil. They’re all demon, love.”

“Well fuck.”

“Yup.”

Cade and I stare at each other before I nod. “Right then. So an original demon daddy sighting confirms the Ascendants are going to do something. I’m going to see Rhia about them. She owes us after getting me stuck in a video game.” I move to leave the loft but Cade catches me by my arm.

“Hey, you know we’re going to fix that. The whole you being stuck in…” he pauses and I know why. He has no clue what a video game is, even if I tried to explain it being like a book that you can play. “In this story,” he settles on finally. “You will go home, love.”

Fuck. He looks so committed. He knows if I go home then that means I leave him behind, but still he’s selfless. A lump forms in my throat and I swallow hard.

“Yeah, of course, I do.” I rise up on my toes and kiss him again. This time I take my time and run my fingers through his hair. I take in a breath, breathe him in and commit the way he feels against me to memory. We’re both breathless when we pull apart and Cade smiles at me.

“What did I do to deserve that?” he asks.

“Maybe it’s me that deserved it,” I tease him and then step away. “You’ll be in the training yard?” I ask.

Cade holds up his dark-lensed shades. “Yeah, supposed to put in an afternoon with the hunters.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you after I see the witch. Don’t tell anyone if they ask. I’d rather we figure out what we’re dealing with before bringing the hunters into the mix.”

Cade nods. “I can do that but be careful, Bonnie. Rhiannon is powerful and fearsome. She’s not to be trifled with,” he warns.

“I promise. I’ll be on my best behavior.”