Chapter 14 Not The Enemy

• As Cadence slowly trudged home, she couldn't stop thinking about Luca's parting words. What did he mean when he said he 'knew things'? Were these things about her? Her mom? Her coven? Did any of it have anything to do with the night his brother was bound? Did Luca hold any of it against her, because it was her blood that sealed the door, subjecting his brother to eternal damnation?These were just some of the questions swimming in her head, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, Luca had gotten to her with his cryptic words."Stop it!" Cadence shook herself, well aware she was driving herself nuts with questions only Luca could answer. But a part of her couldn't help thinking that messing with her head and shaking her faith in everything and everyone she had believed in her whole life was part of his plan.The more distance she put between them, the more convinced Cadence was that Luca was playing games with her, and his cryptic words were his wicked attempt to manipulate her into helping his cause. Maybe her mom was right, she thought as she pushed through the front door, disappointed to find the house empty when she got home. At some point during her five-minute walk across the marsh, she'd resolved to make things right with her mom. It looked like she'd have to wait. As she rushed to her room, Cadence realised the past didn't matter. Only the present did. And Luca, with his sinister motives and his devastatingly charming good looks, had to be stopped. Her mom and the coven did what they thought was right at the time, and who was she to question their decision? Faced with the same choices as her coven back then, she'd probably do the same thing.Cadence sat down at her vanity station in her room and stared at her reflection, wondering how she could feel so hollow inside. A part of her knew nothing had changed. On the inside, she was still the same Cadence who loved to dance more than anything in the world, the same girl who'd choose to stay home with her mom and watch reruns of the Young and the Restless over hanging out with friends. She was still the same girl who'd die for strawberry sundaes and marshmallows, the same person who wore mismatched socks because her mom taught her it was okay to be different and unconventional, that being normal was overrated and so uncool.But another part of her, the one numbed by all the revelations she'd learned lately, knew she was so much more. She had banished several powerful vampires for eternity when she was just a baby. Now, decades later, Luca was out for her blood. Literally. Depending on one's view of the events, he was determined to undo the damage—or good—her coven had done.Weary to the bone, Cadence went to the bathroom, opened the taps wide, and waited for the water to get unbearably hot, before she stripped off her clothes and stepped inside the shower.The jet sprays stung her skin like acid rain, and within seconds, red blotches covered her entire body. The unbearable hot steam inside the glass cubicle made her all dizzy and lightheaded, but she couldn't bring herself to turn off the taps or step outside into the coolness. In here, she felt alive. The numbness in her mind and the ice around her heart didn't stand a chance against the heat. They swirled down the drain, along with the dirt and grime she'd collected throughout the morning. Soon though, the temperature became so intolerable she couldn't breathe. She gagged and sobbed, fighting for air. Through her foggy vision blurred by the shower water and her tears, she made out the faucet's knob and turned off the water. Her legs crumbled under her weight, and she sagged on the slippery tiles and wiped away her tears and the water dripping from her hair.Hard as Cadence tried to stop crying, she couldn't. There was so much wrong now with her once perfectly boring life, and Luca was at the centre of it all. Whether he'd meant to or not, she'd never know, but his return to Shadowbrooke had thrown her world off-kilter."It's okay. You'll never give in to him," she assured herself as she closed her eyes and rocked back and forth on the damp tiles.When Cadence opened her eyes again, it was dark outside, and the water droplets dripping from the showerhead were the only sound filling the bathroom. She figured it was early evening from the weak light streaming through the window. Her mom wasn't back yet. Otherwise, she would have checked on her and never allowed her to sleep on the cold tiles for a large part of the afternoon. Cadence dragged herself from the cold floor and made her way out of the shower. She turned on the light, wrapped a towel around herself, and quickly ran a brush through her damp hair.She was about to leave the bathroom when something on the glass wall caught her eye.Her handwriting was blurry and faded now from the steam, but she could still make out 'LUCA'. She didn't remember writing his name, but she must have at some point before she passed out.She furiously wiped it off with the hem of her towel, determined to remove every trace of the man, wishing that erasing him from her life was as easy.Cadence was surprised to find the door leading to the wrap-around porch open, and her sheer curtains flutter gently against the cool evening breeze. She didn't remember leaving the door open before she went to take a shower. But the emotional mess she was when she got home, anything was possible.A quick inspection of her room told her everything was as it should be, except for the small crumpled-up white paper ball on her desk. She hadn't left it there. That much she was sure of. Reluctantly, she approached her desk, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Relief and joy instantly flooded her body as she squealed with delight when she saw it wasn't a discarded piece of paper, but an origami crane.She stared at it, intrigued by how delicate it looked, and the amount of thought and care its creator had put into making it. It was so beautiful that it made her sad and happy all at once.Cadence unfurled the crane and read the message: 'I'm not the enemy.'His penmanship was neat and pristine, but remarkably masculine and bold, like everything about him.In just four words, Luca had made himself loud and clear. The note had to have come from him. But as intrigued as she was by his gesture and its meaning, the thought of him being in her room, looking through her things and leaving her cryptic messages, unsettled her.A spurt of anger roared to life in her heart, and she was so tempted to go across the marsh and give him a piece of her mind. But, if she went across, Cadence reasoned, she'd play right into Luca's hands, and it was exactly what he expected from her. She'd never give him the time or satisfaction to know that he had succeeded in getting her attention. It saddened Cadence to let go of the origami swan, but she couldn't hold on to it. Keeping it would mean she was open to hearing Luca out. And listening to him meant going against her mom and the coven.She threw the paper crane in the bin under her desk and made her way to the porch to get some air before turning in for the night, regretting her decision almost immediately when she found Luca on his front steps, looking up at her.Cadence just stood there, watching him back, and they stayed like that for some time until Andrew came out to drag him back inside the manor.Luca hesitated, throwing another look in her direction, before reluctantly following his friend up the steps. But just as they were about to slip through the front door, he turned back, his eyes searching for her again.Cadence could swear she saw him smile when their eyes collided, his fangs glistening in the moonlight. But she knew it was impossible. Luca was too far away. Heck, she couldn't even be sure he was looking at her. She hurried back inside her room when she heard her mom slip through the front door.