by Bethany Shaw
“I could have scared him away,” she murmured through clenched teeth. “He didn’t have to die.”
“Yes, he did. You saw what happened with the werewolves before. They don’t stop. They’d have come after us again with bigger numbers. In fact, I think it’s best if we leave in the morning.”
“You think they’ll still come after us?” she asked with a sigh. “I spooked them tonight.”
“I don’t know. It’s unlikely they’ve come across magic like yours before, but I don’t think we should risk it.”
Cadence nodded and lay back into the pillows.
“Get some rest, sweetheart.” He adjusted the blankets so they covered her, then watched as her eyes fluttered shut.
Zak watched until her breathing slowed and her chest rose and fell in soft, even breaths. He huffed while running his hands through his hair.
Her powers were stronger than he’d imagined. A few months ago he'd wanted to obtain an ally. Today, he only cared for her wellbeing. How could he help her gain control? Was it possible? Someone with her ability should have been training for years.
A soft groan came from behind him, and he turned to study his witch. Her brows rose up and her mouth parted as she twisted in the bedding. She was having a nightmare.
He shook her in an attempt to wake her. “Cadence.”
Cadence coughed, gasping with a sharp intake. The metallic scent of blood entered his nostrils, and he swallowed as her eyes flew open. He met her wide eyes.
She coughed again, wheezing as her lungs fought for air. Her hands trembled while shoving the blankets away from her. Red bloomed over her belly. Blood. Her blood.
“Cadence?” he whispered, scanning her body. What happened to her? She hadn’t been injured earlier. He would have noticed.
She opened her mouth, but only a pained gurgle came out. Her hands fisted the sheets as she thrashed. Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, and he swiped it away. Why was she bleeding?
“Cadence? What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice rising.
A dry cough forced its way out of her lungs, followed by more crimson. Droplets flew through the air, smacking his face as she fought to breathe.
He lifted his wrist to his mouth and bit, holding the fresh wound over her face. His blood dribbled over her lips and into her mouth, but he couldn’t tell what was his and which was hers.
“Swallow,” he instructed as he cupped the back of her head with one hand and bit into his wrist again.
She sputtered and gasped as more blood seeped through her lips. He forced his wrist to her mouth, praying his blood got ingested.
“Stay with me, Cadence,” he begged as he met her scared eyes.
Cadence gurgled as her hand reached up to grab his shirt. Her fingers grasped at the fabric as she coughed again, wheezing.
His blood wasn’t working, or she wasn’t getting it. Zak swallowed and bit into his already healed wrist again, placing it back at her mouth.
Her eyes widened, her hand went limp, falling onto her chest where the large red blot bloomed through her garment. Slow hisses escaped her parted lips. Her heart slowed and her body convulsed, her lungs trying to draw in a breath that wouldn’t come.
“Cadence,” he gulped. His blood wasn’t working. She was dying.
“No. Stay with me, Cadence,” he urged as he stroked her face. “Cadence.” He tore into his wrist again and used his fingers to pry her jaw open further, dripping his blood into her mouth.
Her lips moved as a croak passed through them.
“Cadence,” he whispered as she wheezed in one final breath.
“No,” he shouted. “Cadence.” Her heart thumped once, twice, and then stopped.
He bit his wrist again as the light left her amber eyes, leaving them dull. She couldn’t be dead. It wasn’t possible. He lifted his wrist over her mouth, watching as the droplets that should heal her passed between her parted lips. Nothing.
Tears pricked his eyes and he gulped. His hand went to her bodice, tearing the fabric away from her body. A large wound oozed close to her heart. There was no way the wolves in the alley had done this. This was something else. Something magical. Someone had attacked her and altered the timeline. Killed her — murdered her.
He bellowed as red blurred his vision. Cadence was dead, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Chapter Nine
Cadence wheezed, filling her lungs with air as she stumbled forward. She pitched onto her knees, the hardwood biting into her while she tried to keep herself from collapsing completely.
She blinked, gathering her bearings. This wasn’t the bedroom she’d been in, and Zak... Zak was gone.
A dry cough forced itself out. She grasped her chest, desperate to breathe. Her wobbly legs fought to stand, and she glanced around while her screaming airway fought to regain control. Her hands went to her abdomen, freezing as her fingers met a black cotton tank top.
What the hell is going on?
Her fingers trembled as they rolled the fabric up. The blinding pain she’d felt moments ago was gone, and she didn’t appear to be injured. Her breathing evened out as she finally caught her breath. She bit her lip, gazing around the darkened corridor.
There was something familiar about the beige and white wallpaper. She frowned, reaching out to touch it, making sure it was real. Her fingers skimmed over the smooth finish and she swallowed, trailing them along the wall as she continued down the corridor.
A strangled sob left her lips when her eyes fell on the front room. She was home — well, her childhood home.
How is this possible?
“Cadence, sweetie, it’s time to turn your lights out,” her mother’s voice called.
Cadence turned to the right, staring into the kitchen where her mother was finishing up the dishes.
Her hand flew to her mouth as tears pricked her eyes. She’d time traveled again. To the future, but also the past. Her mom was here — alive. She gaped at her mom while her heart pounded in her chest. Her mom was alive and loading the last dish into the dishwasher. Her flowing blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders.
“Mom,” Cadence breathed. A stray tear trickled down her cheek. Her bottom lip trembled, and she bit it to keep from sobbing.
“One more chapter?” her younger self called from the bedroom.
Her mother huffed but smiled as she shook her head. She shut the dishwasher and glided toward the hall, wiping her hands on her jeans.
Cadence froze as her mother’s hazel eyes fell on her. Her mom blinked but kept walking to the hall, unfazed. Cadence held her breath, letting it out when her mother walked past her without question.
She can’t see me.
Cadence turned to the bedroom where her younger self was conversing with her mother. She smiled and leaned against the wall, trying to pick up bits of the conversation.
Her mother’s voice was soft and loving. She closed her eyes, enjoying the quiet lilt that she thought she’d never hear again.
The doorbells’ chime shattered her moment. Her eyes popped open as her mom walked down the hall and rounded the corner.
“Don’t answer it,” she called. Her pulse roared in her ears. Unease rolled through her, causing her to shiver, but she didn’t know why. It was a feeling in her gut. Something was wrong.
Her mother continued on, oblivious to her warning. Cadence raced forward. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but whatever it was wasn’t good.
The deadbolt twisted as her mother unlocked the door. Cadence threw herself against the wood but it opened anyway, passing through her. Frowning, she stepped back. She punched the door and whimpered as pain sliced through her knuckles.
Great! She could touch things but not interact — she couldn’t change things. What was the point of being here if she couldn’t do anything?
Her mother greeted the person on the opposite side. “Katherine, it’s late.”
Katherine? The same Katherine from the coven?
Cadence
wiggled her fingers, making her way around the door to see. The elder witch offered her mother a smile.
“May we come in?” Katherine asked as two other witches joined her at the door.
“Don’t let them in,” Cadence told her mother. She couldn’t remember the other two witches’ names, but knew they were elder witches who worked closely with Katherine.
“No,” her mother snapped, moving to close the door. “It’s late, and my daughter is in bed. Whatever it is, we can discuss it in the morning.”
Katherine’s arm shot out, blocking the door from closing. “We need to speak tonight.”
“No!”
“Don’t make this any more difficult than it needs to be, Rachel,” Katherine said.
“This is about Cadence again, isn’t it?” her mother growled.
“Yes. We just want to ask her a few questions,” Katherine said, making no effort to move.
Her mother stood in front of the door, blocking the entrance with her body. “I don’t know what the ghost witch Liana told you, but Cadence is a little girl. She has nothing to do with Zakariah Smith.”
Cadence drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Oh my God,” she whispered as she ran her fingers through her hair. This was Liana’s doing. It had always been the witch’s doing. Liana had been making plans for years — maybe even decades — or centuries. This wasn’t a dream, it was a memory from her past. Fragments seeped into her mind as she watched the scene unfold.
“Not yet, but in the future,” Katherine replied.
“The future isn’t written yet. You’re a fool to believe that it is,” her mother said as she tried to shove the door shut.
Cadence grasped the door, or tried to – but her hand evaporated through the wood. “Damn it.” She’d touched the wall and door only moments ago. It was magic. She could see everything, feel things too, but she couldn’t change what was transpiring. Her body and mind were here, but not completely.
The door burst open, and her mother faltered as she stumbled backwards. Katherine used her power to send her mom careening into the wall. Together the three witches stepped into the house, chanting something that had her mother frozen in place. Cadence gritted her teeth, calling on her energy to help her mother against the witches. Nothing happened. Not even a spark of magic.
“Mom?” her younger self called out as footsteps crept down the hall to the front room.
“Stay in your room,” her mother said. Blood dribbled from her nose as her body shook. A bolt of lightning shot out of her hand at one of the witches.
The woman fell on her butt as white bursts of energy convoluted all over her. A blur whizzed by Cadence. Her mom shrieked, but the noise was cut short. It finished in a gurgle as she was lifted into the air and dropped to the floor.
“Mom!” Cadence cried out as she flew to her mother’s lifeless body. A large hole was in her chest where her heart had been. Blood spurted out of it. Cadence drew in a breath and turned, crying as she saw the one man she was growing to hate more than anything else in this world.
Malcolm stood, clasping her mother’s heart in his hand with a wide smile on his face.
“No!” she hollered, sinking to her knees next to her mother. Her mom was dead, and there was nothing she could do about it.
“Bring me the girl,” Malcolm ordered. He lifted the still-beating heart to his lips and inhaled, smiling like it was a steak and not a human organ.
“Mom? Mom?” her younger self cried out as heavy footsteps beat against the hardwood.
Cadence pushed to her feet as Malcolm drew a knife from his belt. He twirled the blade in his hands. Cadence rushed forward in an attempt to tackle him. She couldn't let anything happen to her younger self.
She rushed the vampire, but instead of grasping him, she fell through him, colliding with the coffee table and rolling off it to the floor. Pain raced up her arm as the cold floor bit into her. She had to do something. This couldn’t happen. History was changing. Or was it? A memory flickered in her mind, but she squashed it away.
Cadence pushed to her feet as her younger self entered the living room. She paused, staring at her twelve-year-old self. The girl’s bottom lip trembled as her eyes darted around the room before they landed on Rachel.
“Mom,” she whispered. Tears welled in the girl’s eyes. She raced toward her fallen parent.
Malcolm lunged forward, his vampire speed no match for the girl’s mortal movements. He plunged his dagger deep into her younger self’s torso. The girl gasped, wheezing as she dropped to the floor. Malcolm held the end of the dagger, twisting it slowly while keeping it buried deep within her gut.
“No!” Cadence shrieked as she sprinted toward him. She punched his back, but it did nothing. Her fists went in and out of his body. He couldn't feel it. He didn’t even know she was there.
Why am I here if I can’t do anything? I have to help. There has to be a way. I can’t just sit here and watch them rewrite history.
If the child died now, she would never become an adult. Maybe that’s why she was here. History was rewriting itself and she was powerless to stop it. She was being forced to watch her death. Next, she’d evaporate into thin air. Would Zak remember her? Would the whole timeline change?
She dropped to her knees and caressed the child’s face. Malcolm sneered down at the girl as she struggled to breathe. Cadence leaned forward, meeting the girl’s eyes and holding them. Could she see her? She hoped so. The last thing her young self needed to see was the bastard Malcolm, watching as she drew in her last breaths.
The girl rasped, choking on her own blood just as Cadence had only a few minutes ago in Zak’s arms.
Malcolm had attacked her in the past — killed her. She’d never get to talk to Zak, never get to tell him how she felt about him.
A sob tore free from her throat, and she let warm tears trickle down her cheeks. This wasn’t supposed to be how it ended.
Malcolm withdrew the blade from the child’s abdomen. Her mother’s heart was still in his other hand. He deposited the bloody organ into his pocket, then used the inside of his coat to wipe the blade clean.
Cadence gagged as nausea rolled through her. What was wrong with this man?
“I didn’t realize we’d agreed to kill the family. We were supposed to talk to them,” Katherine hissed as she folded her arms over her middle. “How did you get in here? You weren’t invited.”
Cadence turned to Malcolm, curious too about how he’d entered the home without an invitation.
Malcolm smirked. “I’m Mr. Hopewell’s new client. It wasn’t too hard to get him to invite me inside for some drinks.” He turned smiling broadly as he took in the carnage. “Besides, simply talking to the girl would solve nothing. She had to be eliminated.”
Katherine sighed as she knelt next to Rachel. “I do wish things could’ve been different. Rachel was a good witch. A powerful witch. She could have done great things for the coven.”
“And she passed those powers on to her daughter, who in turn will rally against your coven,” Malcolm said. “I have seen her as a young woman aiding my son. My wife has seen it in the future as well. Cadence Hopewell will be the end of your coven. You could not allow that to happen. The girl was too strong.”
“What in the world?” one of the witches gasped, pointing.
Cadence followed the woman’s gaze and blinked down at her younger self. A white glow ebbed off the girl’s chest. Cadence squinted as she leaned over the body, barely making out the necklace with the sapphire pendant. Her fingers shook as she grasped the jewelry that hung from her neck. White light shone off it, too.
“It’s magic,” Katherine grumbled as she stood. She walked to young Cadence and crouched next to her.
“Don’t touch her... me,” Cadence snarled, trying to bat the witch’s hand away as Katherine lifted the girl’s shirt up.
The deep wound was slowly knitting back together as if the injury was a figment of everyone’s imagination.
Katherine s
ighed as she hovered her hand over the glowing light. “Something is keeping her from dying.” She gasped and recoiled as if the light had burned her.
“What?” Malcolm grunted. He withdrew his knife again, poising it as if he was going to thrust it back into the girl.
“Some type of magic. Very, very strong magic,” Katherine replied. She turned to Malcolm, eyeing the blade. “Put that away. It is of no use to us. I believe that there is something keeping her alive in the future. I see no other reason as to why she is healing.”
“Interesting and unfortunate.” Malcolm sheathed his blade. “No matter, it will be more fun to end her life after Zakariah has learned to care for her.”
“Whatever magic is keeping her from dying now could be even stronger in the future.”
“Tell Liana to find out everything she can about bonding,” Malcolm instructed. He leaned down, trailing fingers that were still coated with her mother’s blood over the girl’s lips. “Until we meet again.” He stood and whooshed away.
Cadence trembled as a sob burst out. Angry tears rolled down her cheeks. She swiped them away, vowing to get vengeance against the evil vampire.
“What do we do with her?” one of the witches asked as she took a throw off the back of the couch and covered Rachel’s body.
“I’ll bind her magic,” Katherine said. “If the three of us work together, we can make a spell strong enough to cover this up. No one will know what really transpired here tonight, not even Cadence or her father. Rachel died of cancer. It was very sudden. We’ll send Cadence away from the coven. With her magic bound, there’s no reason for her to be here. She may never meet Zakariah.”
Cadence gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. The world around her spun violently. Her childhood home disappeared, and darkness consumed her.
She gasped as her eyes popped open and she met Zak’s gaze. That had been too real to be a nightmare. The crimson stained sheets confirmed her thoughts. She was back with Zak. Her gaze darted around, taking in the bedroom she’d fallen asleep in earlier.
