#Isadora Ryder | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

clansayeed · 4 years

Text

Bound by Destiny II, part 1 ― Chapter 32: The Circumstances (Epilogue)

PAIRING: Kamilah Sayeed x MC (Nadya Al Jamil) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Destiny II, part 1 ⥽

While struggling with nightmares of lives she’s never lived, a shadow from the past looming over her city, and the proposed idea that her life may just be a little bit too weird to handle alone, Nadya makes sure to tell herself that everything is perfect just the way it is. If only. When the self-proclaimed King of Vampires (and Maker of her sometimes-girlfriend and always-boss, can’t forget that little tidbit) Gaius Augustine returns intent on claiming Manhattan as the throne that was promised, she and her friends find themselves forced into the task of saving the world. But with millennia-old vampires and an Order of hunters on their heels as well as allies hiding catastrophic secrets at their backs… it won’t be an easy task. Too bad destiny didn’t exactly ask for her input.

Bound by Destiny II and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the Bloodbound series and spin-off, Nightbound. Find out more [HERE].

TAG LIST: @googlesentmehere, @cess02, @hellyeah90sbaby,

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Destiny II tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

The winds of change blow down the eastern seaboard all the way to New Orleans. While on date night, Taylor and Ryder join Katherine in finding out just how bad things are for their friends abroad.

[READ IT ON AO3]

Several days earlier...

By the time Taylor takes his fourth lap around the perimeter of their floor, Ryder decides enough is enough. Reaching out to catch his wrist before he can get too far — he pulls the halfling back into the booth and practically on top of his lap. It’s about the only place he doesn’t get any resistance these days.

Not-spoken too soon. Immediately the hunter has his arms full of squirming anxiety with blond hair and, upon closer inspection, a few scraps of skin missing from his bottom lip. Worn away by teeth picking relentlessly.

“Not right now, Nik,” mumbles Taylor restlessly, “I’ve just — I’ve gotta move. Too much energy, you know?”

“Oh, I know. You’ve been doin’ laps in bed all week.”

Taylor’s nose crinkles at that. Not because he feels bad about it or anything, but he knows how little sleep Nik gets as it is and the thought of being yet another thing keeping him awake just drops a cherry on top of his worries.

“… Sorry.”

For both their sakes it’s shrugged off; forgotten. For a lot more than that, too. They can’t afford to get into any argument tonight, no matter how fickle.

“I would’a thought a world-class actor like yourself would be better at playin’ it cool.”

Taylor blinks in surprise. It’s enough to still him for the moment. “I’m totally playing it cool.”

“Sure — and I’m a pixie.” Ryder jerks his chin up and out, motioning for Taylor to give a (subtle) look at the booths around them. Most notably how his constant round-and-round-and-round has them on edge too; shifting weights and too many drinks ordered to quell the jitters even for a crowd as uppity as Persephone’s.

Of course, being Taylor, he’s about as subtle as a freight train, but the point gets got.

“Sorry,” force of habit, “I’m just…”

“Hey, I get it. An’ I know it’s been a bit since you’ve been on a job with me but you’ve got to relax or it’ll all be for nothin’.”

A job; the way he says it so casually. Taylor scoffs.

“This isn’t just any old job Nik — and you know it.”

“Sure I do. But if we don’t treat it like any old payday things tend to go wrong. The pressure…” resting broad, scarred hands on his boyfriend’s trembling shoulders — thumbs pressing deep to try and relieve some of that tension, “will keep ya from makin’ the right calls when and where they need made.”

A few moments of silence and circles of pressure at the young man’s collarbone and eventually—finally—Taylor relaxes. Enough that Ryder can let him sit all on his own, even.

“We’re exactly where we need to be,” the man continues lowly, “nothin’ more we can do but watch and wait.”

But that’s all they’ve been doing; and Taylor has to physically bite his tongue to keep the words from being said. Ryder’s well aware just as Taylor’s well aware and pointing it out doesn’t do either of them any good. If it did then something big would have happened by now.

No word from Cadence. No word from Nadya — or any of them. Just a month of watching the news reports out of New York City getting weirder and more dangerous. A month… and tonight.

Come to Persephone. Just after sunset. Make yourself seen, and whatever you do, under no circumstances are you to approach me. Stay away. For your own good.

Doesn’t exactly take a spy-criminal-mastermind to figure out what has Isadora de la Rosa reaching out for the first time since the Council meeting Cadence had called. Something’s going on, something she can’t say to them in person or via letter or messenger. Something that made her shut down Flechette for ‘temporary renovations’ that definitely weren’t needed at the beginning of the week and kept her from responding to any of the fancy-pants official missives Vera had sent on their behalf under the title of the Smoke.

Ryder reaches for his glass and downs the last dregs of his bourbon with a sigh. “Still think we should’a brought backup.”

“Yeah and I’m still kinda disturbed by that.” It’s not an unreasonable reaction in Taylor’s honest opinion. Since when did Nik Ryder ask for backup?

Since recently, apparently. “I take risks but I know when they’re worth taking. And there’s not a damn thing that could ever be worth takin’ on vampires. Especially ones like Smith was goin’ on about.”

Old, bloodthirsty, powerful and power-craven vampires, to be more specific.

“Ask me nicely and I’ll think about it.”

Together Taylor and Nik whip their heads around so fast they nearly collide — and wouldn’t that have been something. But really, in retrospect, neither man is surprised that the booth behind them is occupied by a familiar cheeky voice.

Katherine slings her arm around the back of her booth, turning to face them with an eyebrow raised and less mirth in her smile than normal; which isn’t saying much. Unlike everyone else around the club (Taylor and Nik excluded; only because they spent their ‘Fancy Party Threads’ budget on more important things this month — like groceries, and Garrus’ rent) she’s kept her leathers on for tonight. Hair tightly woven in a long violet braid kept out of her eyes and with her muddy boots carelessly kicked on top of the shiny chrome table in front of her.

He’s honestly never been so happy to see her in his life.

Well… unless that time… nevermind.

“What,” she glances between them with mild amusement, “don’t tell me you two idiots are surprised. You’re like Tweedledee and Tweedledum without an adult to make sure you don’t burn the place down.”

Ryder groans with the effort of his eye-roll. “You accidentally let one fuckin’ elemental loose on an abandoned warehouse and never hear the end of it.”

“You couldn’t stop a fire elemental on a harbor pi— you know what, no, we’re not doing this right now.”

“You started it!”

“And I’m ending it —” Katherine swings her legs down and stands, cracking her neck side to side, “— especially since you can’t seem to banter and pay attention at the same time.”

They follow the path of her eyes down below, through the iron-wrought ornamental railing to the level below. Between the gambling tables, bar, and dance floor it takes Taylor’s senses a second to adjust and focus on sight over everything else — just one of those not-at-all-cute quirks that came with developing his fae heritage.

Lo and behold — and like she didn’t vanish off the face of the earth for a brief period of time — Isadora de la Rosa crosses the main floor of the club with the same confident stride she does anything. She doesn’t weave in and through the crowd; they part for her because they know it’s their job to. And those who don’t learn. Fast.

Even from this distance he can feel the nervous energy billowing out from her; thick like fog and just as unsettling. It makes Taylor give a full-body shudder. “She’s freaking out,” not that her impassive nonchalance would betray it, but this is Izzy de la Rosa they’re talking about, “like… heart-going-a-mile-a-minute you-know-what-I-mean freaking out.”

Ryder gives his fellow Nighthunter a quick jab with his elbow without looking away. “You get a personal not-invite too?”

“No,” she elbows him back—harder, “but I’ve been keeping tabs on her. Shiny Bentley picked her up outside Flechette about an hour ago… I must’ve beat her here.”

“Not like it’s a long drive.”

“So what’s she been up to for an hour?” asks Taylor, mostly to himself. It earns him two deadpan stares and a flush of shame. Because what else would the city’s most important vampire be doing before a social evening where the club offered everything but blood donors?

“Got it. Carry on.”

Katherine sweeps another look about the floor, focusing on the path Isadora leaves in her wake. “Weird not to see her tailed by… anyone. No guards, not even her daughters.” And her daughters go with her everywhere. That’s just one of those things, you know — facts.

“I’m more interested in who Izzy’s got at her hip, myself.” Ryder comments; and a second look proves him right. It’s hard to catch pairs in the fast-paced movement of dancers, gamblers, drinkers and already-drunks, but she isn’t alone. Whoever keeps up beside her, face obscured from this angle by a wave of dark brown hair, does so easily. A little too easily.

“Can’t get a good look at her…” He trails off. Suddenly, Taylor feels the burning question in his boyfriend’s eyes without fail.

A twitch of his nose — focusing as best he can… but it’s always harder with someone he doesn’t know. Harder still when they aren’t human, or alive for that matter. Finally Taylor exhales, face red from strain while he shakes his head. “I can’t get a read on her.”

Not even when the woman throws back her head in a laugh a little too loud; the kind of laughter that comes from the want—or need—to be seen. To demand it of anyone within earshot. Lilting and sweet and just enough to be heard over the club band.

Her fangs catch in the light of a chandelier overhead. As if they needed confirmation of what she was.

Beside them Katherine’s breath hitches; caught in her throat with an icy grip. Taylor tears away from their target long enough to catch a glimpse, to see if she’s okay, and holy shit she is not okay. “Nik—” She’s white as a sheet, just as fragile too. He can feel her from here, the terror that clings to every bead of sweat on her forehead, then on his own.

Ryder doesn’t even open his mouth before it’s all bottled back up. Kathy’s always been good at that. Even for an empath, Taylor can’t quite understand how she does it. It’s frightening, honestly.

“You know her then.” Ryder isn’t asking. Katherine’s hands tighten on the railing as she nods.

“That’s… fuck…” her shudder cuts her off, makes her start over, “that’s, uh, Priya. Priya Lacroix.”

Wait. “The fashion designer?” Just when Taylor thought he was getting a hang of keeping up with them, too.

“The former member of the Council of New York,” she corrects, “leader of Clan Lacroix.”

Oh. He’s caught up now.

Ryder’s frown deepens. “Didn’t Smith say she was one of the ones who…” He trails off; doesn’t finish the thought — or maybe he can’t.

It’s okay though. They were all there. They know how it would have ended.

The woman Isadora coaxes through a roped-off doorway, a friendly hand resting on her lower back, is in league with the King of Vampires. She sold out Adrian, and Nadya, and Nadya’s girlfriend, and Cadence and all the rest of them; a traitor in the name of power.

Not… the greatest look Isadora’s ever had. But surely there’s a reason… right?

Before the fae attendant can close off access to their private reservation, the woman herself stops and allows herself to take in the opulence of the club for the first time tonight. Not that it looks any different than normal… but everything makes a little more sense when part of her reverent moment includes looking directly up and right at them.

Taylor’s heart catches in his throat. He waits, and watches…

Isadora gives a tiny nod, barely a twitch, before sliding the mask of a smile back in place and joining her guest out of sight.

Like a gunshot Katherine’s up and starting off towards their level’s interior rooms. “Come on,” she snaps at them over her shoulder, “we can cross them if we take the back stairs.”

Taylor and Ryder scramble up to join her. But before he gets too far the hunter doubles back, swallows the rest of his drink in one large gulp, and jogs to catch up.

The back stairwell is usually restricted to attendants and other staff. Tonight is no different, other than the fact that they have need of it, so restrictions don’t really apply. They approach the locked door and Ryder manages to coax Katherine back, both of them giving the halfling a wide berth to do his work. Sparks at his fingertips, cool to the touch like a glass of water on a hot summer day, iridescent with no-name colors as they fall on the handle and lock. The metal sizzles where they make contact, a thin stream of smoke makes his eyes water.

But he’s been practicing quite a lot recently, and it doesn’t take long before his fae magic overloads any other; cancels it out and allows the door to swing open of its own accord.

“You’re gettin’ better at that,” comments Ryder; and Taylor flushes at the compliment. He takes the lead — always the first to run into danger. Taylor and Kathy keep close behind.

“Lessons with Elric have really been paying off. It’s not all giant black pyres and feeling your horniness before you do.”

“Was that a hint?”

“Surprisingly not this time.”

Beside him Katherine pretends to gag.

It’s a mad rush to the ground level. Hunters stepping back automatically this time, and maybe it’s just Taylor but the second lock doesn’t take nearly as long. He blows the smoke from his index finger like an imaginary blowtorch snuffed out.

Pushing past them both, Kathy pokes her head out first. There’s a stake in her fist that wasn’t there a second ago, aimed and ready, but the tension doesn’t last long before she steps aside. “Now we’re fucked…”

When they join her in the corridor it makes sense. Stretching out from their doorway left and right — it looks almost endless in the dark. He can’t even see the distant lights from the gambling floor. Just another of the illustrious wonders this place is known so well for — and so not the thing they need right now.

“How are we supposed to know where they went?” Taylor looks at each of the closed cherry-wood doors with growing dismay. “We don’t have time for this.”

“No fae magic trick up your sleeve?”

“I don’t have one for everything.”

“You had one for opening the pickle jar.”

Taylor scoffs indignantly. “That—That was a serious issue!”

“Can you two try and take one thing seriously?” snaps Kathy, hissing between clenched teeth. “Lacroix skins her houseboys for fun. This isn’t a dinner date going down.”

Nik really doesn’t like being scolded though.

“Then what is it, All-Knowing Kathy?”

“What the fuck do you think?” When she doesn’t get an answer; “Isadora’s part of the bloodline, don’t you see? Made by Carlo, who was made by someone… I couldn’t find a name in Cade’s research. But Carlo��s Maker was definitely one of the Augustine progeny.”

Butterflies flutter in Taylor’s gut as he thinks over her words. “So… what, Izzy’s on his side because of parents or something?”

Kathy hesitates to answer. Never a good sign. “I don’t know. I don’t — that’s why we need to find out what they’re up to. Now.”

The three of them keep close, in case the hallway is really as magical as it seems, and scour for any sign of… anything. Nik beats them out, pulling them back to him with a whispered “There—” as he points to the only light source around — was that even there before?

Ye olde gas lamp flickers a soft orange glow up ahead. A beacon in the fabricated night. And in front of one door no different than any other door, but for the waves of emotion—cruelty—bitterness—amusement—boredom—hunger—that definitely means they’re in the right place.

The trio hesitates several paces back, using the darkness as a cover while Ryder gives the door a more detailed look-over. “No guards posted,” —odd for a place like this, even Taylor knows that— “but the door doesn’t seem bewitched. If I get us close enough, Taylor, think you could use some of that empathy to hear what’s on the other side?”

If he can’t they’re sorta screwed, so better to try than not. The hunters slip across the hall with practiced stealth and ease; Katherine’s silent steps and Nik’s pretty epic (and definitely show-off-y) barrel roll.

They flank the door and wait—listen—before gesturing at Taylor to join. He just… tip toes over. No parkour needed. Joins Nik on his side and takes a moment to steady his breathing and focus with his eyes closed. They really don’t have a second chance at this.

Slowly the world around him begins to fade. The musty carpeting no longer tickling his nose; unable to taste the dryness of his own mouth. He drowns out three heartbeats all out of sync, the whistle of the air in a vent overhead, the hiss of the lamp above.

“Hey, Rook.”

“I’m kinda focusing.”

“I know. Look at me.”

All the sounds come rushing back like a tidal wave and Taylor opens his eyes a little nauseous for his troubles. He’s glad he did, though. Because for all their banter and mockery and how Ryder refuses to ever ever open a pickle jar for him, there’s just something about the trust, honest and open, that makes the man’s eyes light up from the tiny flame overhead.

“You can do this.”

The sincerity makes his cheeks burn all the way down to his toes. Taylor has to look away for fear of drowning in the combined emotion of them. “Was that ever in doubt?”

“Don’t make me answer that.”

Attempt number two. Closed eyes, heartbeats—whistles—hisses all reduced to something less than white noise. Pushed back until he can force whatever’s left of his senses both inside and out through the door like it’s a sheer curtain instead of solid wood.

Slow, steadily the room comes into view behind his eyelids.

Isadora sets her drink on the arm of her chair. One leg crossed over the other and the liquor in her glass jostles, ice clinking softly, but never spills.

“What your King — and you by association — seem to have a hard time grasping is that down here things are simply done differently. There are rules of decorum. Legalities; traditions of respect that are followed to ensure everyone lives… calmly at the very least.”

“Why would His Majesty give a damn about anyone else’s lives here in this miserable mosquito net of a town?” The woman’s voice pitches with unsung laughter as she speaks. Her fingernails tap-tap-taptaping repetitive on the side table where her martini rests.

To her credit, Isadora remains cool and level-headed.

“As I’m to understand it, all of the traditions carried out by our cousins overseas are of his making, are they not?”

“I guess so. I don’t bother slumming it with those gutter rats. If I’m in Europe, I’m launching a new line.”

“Then your Council, we’ll use that as a perfect example.”

“The Council is gone, Izzy darling. The Clans are disbanded, those idiots hiding in the tunnels have been smoked out. There’s only the King’s Realm, now.”

Every word seems to jab into Isadora like an individual knife. The glass in her hand creaks dangerously as she grips it tighter.

“Bully for him then. My point stands.”

“Oh you poor thing… I don’t think you actually get why I’m here, Lady de la Rosa. Which is sad, really, and totally on you for thinking you could get out of choosing sides.”

The other woman shifts, switches her crossed legs and looks down her nose at Isadora; there’s a first time for everything. “I couldn’t give less of a fuck about the way you want things done. Because that’s not how they’re going to stay.”

Isadora’s eyes flash dangerously. “Then enough of your placations. Why are you here, Priya?”

“That’s Princess to you, hag.”

“Ha, don’t make me laugh.”

“I’m not here with a request. I’m here with a command.”

“This is America, if you’ve forgotten. We don’t take kindly to kings here.”

“No, you don’t,” sneers Priya in reply, “but that’s only because you’ve been waiting for the real one and didn’t even know it. The throne is clear and the butt it was made for is finally seated and ready. His Majesty isn’t totally disgusted with the way you’ve been running things down in the South. You’re lucrative, profitable, and your family name inspires loyalty.”

“A concept you aren’t quite acquainted with, as I’m to understand it.”

Priya grinds her teeth together, lips pursed into a thin line.

“You don’t know shit. But since you think you do… let’s make one thing clear. My loyalty is to power. Whoever’s got the most gets my vote.”

“Kings aren’t voted in.”

“It’s a fucking figure of speech. I’m on the winning team, whatever. The more you pull this shit, the less likely that option becomes for you.”

A smart woman; always in control — Isadora leans forward and sets her glass down on the table before them before she plucks her response out of careful words.

“Continue then.”

Priya “hmmphs,” sounds for a moment like she won’t out of pure spite. But she’s here for one reason, and she won’t risk that careful affair she has with the new power in charge.

“The King is choosing to graciously overlook the fact that you should have already come to his Court to swear fealty to him. He likes your family line, or whatever. But it’s a one-time kindness.

“You, Isadora de la Rosa, are duty-bound by blood to serve Gaius Augustine. He’s the founder of your line — of all our lines actually — and when you took over the family business you took on the family oaths with it. You’ll come back with me, to New York, and take a pretty knee. Everything you do will be in his name, for his benefit, and in return you get to keep your weird little… playpen with the mortals until he decides otherwise.”

Ryder’s hand, heavy and warm against the ice in his veins, drags Taylor out of the room and back with the hunters. The man’s face is etched with worry; his expression grim.

“What’s the matter? What are they saying?”

He doesn’t waste time shushing — just focuses back on the vampires with a lump in his throat.

Isadora raises her chin slightly. “And if I do not agree to the King’s… generous offer?”

“Do I really have to spell it out for you? I thought you were supposed to be smart.”

Don’t do it Izzy. He wants to scream; burst in there with Katherine’s stake and just do the thing. But he’s frozen in place. At the mercy of the undecided future of not just the city’s vampires, but New Orleans herself.

“Well,” Priya snaps with impatience, “what’s it gonna be?”

Isadora closes her eyes.

#bloodbound fanfiction #nightbound #nik ryder x mc #nik ryder #katherine nightbound #nightbound mc #mc: taylor hunter #oc: isadora de la rosa #priya lacroix #fic: oblivion bound #oblv: bound by destiny ii #oblv: new chapter #; my fics

10 notes · View notes

biserker-kadan · 6 years

Photo

Just my Inquisitiors looking like snacks (not including Jaydn and non!inquisitior Delyth).

#myrinah lavellan #valerio lavellan #isadora cadash #ryder trevelyan #rosalind trevelyan #kadir saar adaar #eirianwen lavellan #ts dragon age ocs #dragon age

15 notes · View notes

nightsfclls · 2 years

Text

* 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐘 .

˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ isabella & zeke ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ federico & zeke ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ federico & millie ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ meline & cyrus ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ sylvie & emilio ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ leticia & nikolai ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ ryder & poppy ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ aryan & layla ⠀.

˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ lavinia & isaac ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ vance & isadora ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ venus & kellan ⠀. ˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⠀ luca & viviane ⠀.

0 notes

swtsins · 2 years

Text

* 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐘 .

* ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › isabella & zeke . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › fede & zeke . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › fede & millie . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › meline & cyrus . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › sylvie & emilio . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › ryder & poppy . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › leticia & nikolai . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › aryan & layla .

* ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › vance & isadora . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › lavinia & isaac . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › venus & kellan . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › luca & viviane .

* ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › priya & zeke . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › priya & elodie . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › fede & elodie . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › farrah & alonzo . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › rhys & aiza . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › emmerson & aiza . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › emmerson & ryder . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › grey & winnie . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › reese & ash .

* ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › seline & kolton . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › everleigh & emmett . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › saint & amalia . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › angel & avani . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › miray & donnie . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › kiaan & dakota . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › ares & malina . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › maxine & nazario . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › ambrose & thalia . * ◞ 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 › sage & nixon .

0 notes

lovesharder · 3 years

Text

another tag drop !! asdfgj

0 notes

doortotomorrow · 5 months

Text

isadora/jaal » on their date

#Mass Effect #Mass Effect Andromeda #Isadora Ryder #Jaal Ama Darav #ro: taoshay #masseffectedit #meaedit #this scene was so romantic and steamy #I was blushing through the whole thing!

32 notes · View notes

full---ofstarlight · 3 months

Text

In case you thought I abandoned my other girls 💕💕💕💕

#char nyx Shepard #char Artemis Ryder #char isadora trevelyan #char Celeste Cousland #char Delvyre #my art

4 notes · View notes

selena-snape · 3 years

Text

Sexta Generación:

¤ Lilith Moira Riddle y Julian Cameron Gray

¤ Bloom Larissa Peters y Sky Aurelius Peters

¤ Hazel Opal Peters y Magnus Roman Watson

¤ Theodore August Peters y Meredith Mavis Monroe

¤ Aaron Christopher Weasley y Verena Michelle Dyer

¤ Joshua Stephen Weasley y Esther Amalia Holt

¤ Charles Samuel Weasley y Ruby Stephanie Saffron

¤ Iris Aurelia Weasley y Marshall Everett Conrad

¤ Theophania Calliope Richardson y Corinne Roxanne Everleigh

¤ Arabella Beatrix Richardson y Henry Oliver Brooks

¤ Kai Dominick Richardson y Flynn Milo Wolf

¤ Willow Cosima Levin y Nicoletta Pomona Wilford

¤ Fern Violet Levin y Marie Honoria Ollivander

¤ Euphemia Alessandra Levin y John Florean Palmer

¤ Dorothea Giovanna Levin y Elladora Eloise Gibson

¤ Salazar Lucius Levin y Holly Avalon Barnes

¤ Eleanor Hope Levin y Savannah Genevieve Shaw

¤ Gracie Isadora Novak y Marvin Declan Sullivan

¤ Alec Aurelian Novak y Claire Piper Johan

¤ Mason Ezekiel Novak y Clementine Octavia Albion

¤ Lotor Comet Snape y Giovanni Benjamin Lestrange

¤ "Moon Demon" Darius Angelo Snape y "Dark Angel " Arianne Alysson Snape

¤ "Killer Shadow" Lazarus Ignatius Snape y "Ice Demon" Urania Calliope Snape

¤ Morterius Viktor Snape y Hisirdoux Artemas Casperan

¤ Regris Niven Snape y Acxa Valda Snape

¤ Kevin Ethan Snape y Gwendolyn Stephanie Tennyson

¤ Regulus Orion Snape y Abel Austin Khemse

¤ Cygnus Arcturus Snape y Frederic Alistair Weasley

¤ Elle Rigel Snape y Matsuda Touta

¤ Beyond Aurelian Snape y Mikami Teru

¤ Alexander Valens Snape y Magnus Sebastian King

¤ Lysander Nikolaus Snape y Vladimir Micah Masters

¤ Gwendolyn Hiroko Snape y Tanaka Misaki

¤ Ezra Yamato Snape y Luveva Rosemay Sutherlamd

¤ Ryan Yoshio Snape y Avery Daxon Sinclair

¤ Keith Akira Snape y James Oliver Griffin

¤ Yuudai Riley Snape y Danielle Edna Young

¤ Yuriko Harley Snape y Debra Kathleen McIntosh

¤ Clarice Suki Snape y Alphard Delphinus Black

¤ Mako Ethan Snape y Giovanna Naomi Hamilton

¤ Morgana Kendra Voorhees y Karin Delilah Summers

¤ Carrie Margaret Voorhees y "Sue" Susan Danica Snell

¤ Jessica Lorna Kimble y Steven Malcom Freeman

¤ Audrey Andromeda Malfoy y Andre Perseus Bourgeois

¤ Gabriel Bastian Malfoy y Emilie Calliope Graham de Vanily

¤ Roynard Hydra Malfoy y Violet Rowena Deekers

¤ Raymond Lynx Malfoy y Cedric Atticus Diggory

¤ Draco Lucius Malfoy y Astoria Coraline Greengrass

¤ Merle Ariel Malfoy y "Jesus" Paul Finnegan Rovia

¤ Hope Leah Malfoy y

¤ Carl Thomas Malfoy y

¤ Levi Armand Malcoy y

¤ Daryl Hunter Malfoy y Rick Jonah Grimes

¤ Vitale Astaroth Sparda y Luka Nicholas Sparda

¤ Neron Asura Sparda y Kyrie Serena Kiernan

¤ Merak Emory Sparda y Portia Manon Hendrix

¤ Armand Vincent Sparda y

¤ Nicholas William Sparda y

¤ Septimus Canyon Sparda y

¤ Loretta Margot Grace y Calvin Raphael Foxglove

¤ Julius Grant Grace y Ivy Roxanne Baxley

¤ Benjamin Vidar Grace y Edgar Zachary Maddox

¤ Ophelia Nozomi Jensen y Cordelia Avery Bkwie

¤ Eileen Victoria Jensen y Silvius Dael Sinclair

¤ Thomas Lysander Jensen y Othello Natalie Reeve

¤ Nova Genesis Jackson y Allison Leah Reid

¤ Losa Iris Brooks y Briar Anais Tedford

¤ Nina Rosie Brooks y Asa August Harding

¤ Connor Cyrus Brooks y Sandra Sabine Simmons

¤ Esme Aurora Donovan y Maxine Riley Crosby

¤ Arabella Cassidy Donovan y Robert Dashiell. Davenport

¤ Arianne Odette Donovan y Terrence Gideon Graves

¤ Kendra Alessandra Donovan y Alexis Scarlett Bishop

¤ Cassandra Abigail Donovan y James Anthony West

¤ Pansy Genevieve Parkinson y Theodore Phineas Nott

¤ Avalon Forrest Parkinson

¤ Damien Emory Parkinson

¤ Ursa Alexa Corvinus Y Narcissa Hazel Ripley

¤ Nora Alyssa Corvinus y Lydia Skylar Abernathy

¤ Annabelle Danica Corvinus y Rowan Vladimir Norwood

¤ Luna Pandora Lovewood y Rolf Elijah Matthew Scamander

¤ Ronan Artemis Marcelly y Adam Timothy Reed

¤ Giovanni Octavius Marcelly y Robin Mikhaila Mckinley

¤ Ivan Alistair Marcelly y James Christopher Peters

¤ Mika Valentina Donnelly y Arthur Ethan Bowers

¤ Damien September Delaney y Melione Rowena Robinson

¤ Kira Dominika Delaney y Marlon Oliver Williams

¤ Kanna Amelia Delaney y Gael Ethan Byron

¤ Nicholas Hadrien Delaney y Madison Edith Emerson

¤ Armand Demetrius Corwin y Persephone Aspen Cormac

¤ Tatiana Aubrey Corwin y Marcella Carolinne Cervenka

¤ Pandora Evageline Corwin y Cecilia Honoria Van Frietag

¤ Natasha Piper Dresden y Donna Mary Berkshire

¤ Emily Alisha Ansel y Nana Eliza Martin

¤ Isabelle Veronica Ansel y Carmen Emilia Reyes

¤ Kenneth Paul Dollins y Ella Isabella Evans

¤ Joseph Herman Dollins y Juliet Corina Rogers

¤ Hailey Amelia Flint y Lucia Naomi Barnes

¤ Ashley Jasmine Flint y Maxwell Benjamin Norton

¤ Piper Savannah Flint y Louis Howart Daxton

¤ Chase Akira Braken y Felix Lucius Quinn

¤ Florian Narcissus Braken y Colin Leonard Frone

¤ Callum Daniel Fox y Marjorie Katie Vance

¤ Dante Ezra Fox y Leila Juniper Thomson

¤ Nathan Soren Fox y Matthias Isaac Parker

¤ Magnus Gideon Fox y Desmond Ethan McReynolds

¤ Lucian Harrison Fox y Apollo Anthony Greene

¤ Jude Eli Hudson y Theodore Declan Vesper

¤ Olive Genesis Ivanovich y David Cameron Canyon

¤ Tate Roman Ivanovich y Molly Aurora Wiley

¤ Ivory Leah Ivanovich y Diane Barbara Jennings

¤ Devon Julian Kane y Ophelia Pauline Colins

¤ Claudine Barbara Kane y Matthew Benjamin Rothchild

¤ Castiel Dominc Kane y Charlie Isaac Lauder

¤ Natasha Bella Kane y Mackenzie Riley Hills

¤ Caroline Samantha Kane y Sarah Emma Fuller

¤ Harper Eva Kane y Daniel Michael Baker

¤ Henry Jasper Kane y Duncan Joshua Evas

¤ Nathan Pietro Kane y Elijah Maxwell Crimson

¤ June Opal Kane y Felix Octavius Rhodes

¤ Jane Ophelia Kane y Angelo Dominic Lowell

¤ Aldora Corinne Prince Amora Lyra Stout

¤ Odolette Lila Prince y Thalia Cora Fulton

¤ Amon Rowan Prince y Elira Bianca Thorton

¤ Amelia Robin Prince y Nicolo Dorian Guthrie

¤ Alastor Robert Prince y Dinah Pandora Pearson

¤ Gavin Marshall Prince y Megara Eloise Lang

¤ Sean Colin Prince y Rebecca Odette Douglas

¤ Renee Tara Prince y Miles Edgar Lambert

¤ Eric Lance Snapey y Millicent Corinne Curtis

¤ Marlon Levi Snape y Lily Alyssa Yancer

¤ Luther Garth Snape y Judith Naomi Tailyour

¤ Hannah Ebony Snape y Lincoln Nathan Penfold

¤ Marie Clarice Snape y Leslie Regan Eastwood

¤ Jade Tiffany Snape y Leah Eliana Rees

¤ Grant Devin Snape y Geraldine Annalie Harfield

¤ Dean Leighton Snape y Fiona Charity Wheeler

¤ Mason Riley Oakley y Cartie April Willis

¤ Morgan Harley Oakley y Ian Paul Wenman

¤ Robert Damian Lake y Marion Corinne Turner

¤ Roy Ethan Morrinson y Griffin Rhett Essex

¤ Joy Ebony Morrinson y Kilian Lee Rowell

¤ Holden Ethan Snape y Eleanor Nadia Heron

¤ Corey Silas Snape y Jane Lydia Orchard

¤ Astrid Juliette Snape y Rhonda Hope Pataki

¤ Tate Julian Snape y James Ronan Poole

¤ Soren Jaspn Snape y Carmen Marianna Rojas

¤ Edgar Samuel Snape y Ingrid Ianthe Lauder

¤ Castiel Gabriel Dream y Cecilia Ember Bonavich

¤ Callum Paul Dream y Avalon Ginevra Carmichael

¤ Cedric Ernest Dream y Bathilda Sibyll Irvine

¤ Garett Elia Dream y Padma Orla Astor

¤ Austin Jordan Dream y Magenta Pomona Hearst

¤ Daryl Silvanus Dream y Nuru Sura Van Doren

¤ Calliope Scarlett Dream y Gemma Pomona Windsor

¤ Cordelia Maribelle Carter y Ivar Rainn Kline

¤ Howart Steven Carter y Sylvia Peyton Bechtel

¤ Lysander Casimir Carter y Enid Jivanta Galumba

¤ Pierre Milford Afton y Kylie Olivia McKeehan

¤ Rupert Stanley Afton y Andrea Jocelyn Varner

¤ Warren Philip Jefferson y Michelle Sabine Castle

¤ Ellie Audrey Jefferson y Shireen Monroe Marks

¤ Giselle Corina Leighton y Mia Velvet Bushnell

¤ Odette Marina Leighton y Nicoletta Verona Goldstein

¤ Larissa Dirina Leighton y Winry Carmina Montgomery

¤ Magnus Cassidy Edevane y Harry Leroy Baker

¤ Stella Andromeda Orville y Harold Russell Mcquiston

¤ Lucille Arabella Orville y Jace Colton Rutledge

¤ Lee Amos Evans y Zoey Makayla Camfield

¤ Cadmus Orion Evans y Trudy Nayala Lovell

¤ Florean Newton Evans y Xenia Sybil Herron

¤ Ivory Ooal Evans y Edmund Wilfred Frankham

¤ Luisa Veronica O'Kelly y Connor Evan Carson.

¤ Finn Andrew Harley y Portia Marilyn Curtis

¤ Abel Nolan Harley y Bonnie Thea Proudley

¤ Louis Xander Harley y Petunia Jamie Deakins

¤ Claire Norah Harley y Lance Chandler Western

¤ Camille Loena Harley y Myrtle Denise Golby

¤ Cora Adelaide Harley y Selma Kelsey Hicks

¤ Juliette Theodora Harley y Daisy China Kempster

¤ Cyrus Maximua Harley y Meredith Shannon Crocker

¤ Horatio Gideon Harley y Heidi Antoinette Deacon

¤ Dorothea Euphemia Harley y Terence Xavier Croucher

¤ Violetta Leopoldine Murphy y Franklin Leonidas Burton

¤ Nova Orion Murphy y Faustina Spencer Odam

¤ Comet Sky Murphy y Yvonne Wilhemina Hibberd

¤ Phoenix Bianca Murphy y Rosalie Simone Stratton

¤ Celestine Xiomara Glenwood y Rylan Waylon Mills

¤ Isla Cosima Glenwood y Neil Rowan Lee

¤ Jacqueline Glenna McCoy y Jarome Staley Orline

¤ Ann Marie McCoy y Ridley Everett Anderson

¤ Apoline Elian McCoy y Simom Edward Thompson

¤ Aubrey Lynn Orson y Braxton Hunter Young

¤ Amelia Faith Orson y Ryland Linden Allen

¤ Lucy Ella Volkov Jacob Jhon Wright

¤ Freya Leah Volkov y Rome Canyon Adams

¤ Martin Lane Volkov y Brianna Mirella Collins

¤ Monet Valentina Volkov y Callahan Anselm Morris

¤ Robinia Venus Carrington y Aragon Glorianne Watson

¤ Damon Micah Carrington y Selie Nia Rise

¤ Calla Seraphina Balckwood y Ariel Calyx Reid

¤ Adriana Norah Blackwood y Windsor Athen Foster

¤ Trevor Narcissus Blackwood y Larry Eugene Fraser

¤ Heather Kalina Moore y Lucilius Nicholas McIntosh

¤ Bernadette Alexa Moore y Ares Gabriel McLean

¤ Althea Ruby Lexington y Trinity Elizabeth Bland

¤ Camellia Iris Lexington y Damian Anthony Boswell

¤ Taylor Sidney Lexington y Fabian Dominic Bartlett

¤ Elena Vittoria Lexington y Athena Aubree Birch

¤ Oris Edward Goodwin y Ryleigh Nadia Chapman

¤ Archer Emrys Goodwin y Paisley Autumm Pannell

¤ Raphaela Esperalda Goodwin y Ryder Quentin Hamilton

¤ Ike Neron Goodwin y Bailey Stephanie Adams

¤ Lilianna Persephone Blackwood y Jared Fabian Crawford

¤ Albert Christopher Blackwood y Gemma Alyna Gibson

¤ Alfred Stella Blackwood y Nicholas Julian Munro

¤ Rose Mary Blackwood y Sebastian robert Walker

¤ Bernard Alden Blackwood y Katherine Calliope McGregor

¤ Benjen Isaiah Blackwood y Seraphina Harper Docherty

¤ Lewis Beckett Blackwood y Samirah Luna Ross

¤ Vlaire Harley Blackwood y Aurora Isabelle Gordon

15 notes · View notes

randomestfandoms-ocs · 3 years

Text

Miscellaneous OC Masterlist

*note: several of these ideas may get scrapped, but I’m not ready to make that commitment yet!

Name: Aeryn Of Blaviken

Story: Hell Bound

Fandom: The Witcher

Face claim: Emilia Clarke

Love Interest: Jaskier

Summary: After Renfri’s death, Aeryn of Blaviken was the last survivor of the The Curse of the Black Sun. And despite everything that had happened, Geralt couldn’t leave her for Stregobor to slaughter, so he brought the young child along with him. He raised her as his own, and trained her in the ways of the Witchers. For many years, it had only been the two of them, until the day they meet a bard by the name of Jaskier.

Name: Alaska “Seven” Ryder

Story: Court Disaster

Fandom: Six Underground

Face claim: Chloe Bennet

Name: Amelia Bolton

Story: Never Grow Up

Fandom: High School Musical

Face Claim: Dianna Agron

Summary: No one outside of her family knew why Amelia Bolton was in the hospital. Actually, most people didn’t even know that she was in a hospital, just that she wasn’t at East High. But, after spending Christmas at a ski lodge, Lia is returning to school with a brand new attitude. The status quo is a hell of a lot more dangerous than anyone seems to realize, and it’s time for East High to get rid of it, even if Lia has to destroy it with her bare hands.

Name: Beatrice Devereaux

Story: 365 Days

Fandom: Princess Diaries

Face claim: Melissa Benoist

Summary: Beatrice Deveraux had always had a lot in common with her big brother, including a taste in girls. Unfortunately, this time, the girl in question is none other than the Princess Amelia Thermopolis herself. First, she wants nothing to do with any Deveraux, which, given their uncle, fine. But then she gets engaged and continues to flirt with her brother? So not fair. Now she’s refusing to get married, and somehow in all of this obsessing over the princess, Beatrice completely forgot that she was supposed to be wed by the time she turns 21. Who better to understand her plight than the princess-turned-queen?

Name: Princess Bronwynn

Story: Epic

Fandom: The Witcher

Face claim: Sophie Turner

Summary: Bronwynn didn’t want to get married; she’d been saying so for years, not that anyone listened. But after her uncle seized the throne that was rightfully hers, and chose a husband who was as vile as he was loyal to the usurper, she didn’t think she had a choice. Not until a Witcher and his bard made their way through her kingdom, showing Bronwynn a new hope, a new future.

Name: Caelia Alvin

Story: Angel On Fire

Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Face claim: Emeraude Toubia

Name: Corrine Denton

Story: Bravado

Fandom: Dare Me

Face claim: Sydney Sweeney

Summary: Cori Denton knew that she would never be a part of Beth-And-Addy. She was number three. Not the Captain or the Lieutenant; always the third wheel. She had accepted that she would always be on the outskirts, that she would never breach that infamous inner circle. But when the new Coach arrives to shake up the entire foundation upon which the Squad, and Cori’s life, is built, the rules that she’s always taken as law start to crumble.

And when Sarge Will turns up dead, it’s all Cori can do to make sure that she doesn’t go down with a rapidly sinking ship.

Name: Elara Asriel

Story: The Girl Who Died

Fandom: His Dark Materials

Face claim: Malina Weissman

Name: Elliot Stinson

Story: Untitled

Fandom: How I Met Your Mother

Face claim: Blake Lively

Name: Evalina Creed

Story: Yo Ho

Fandom: Pirates Of The Caribbean

Face claim: Clara Paget

Name: Emily “Em” Possible

Story: Impossible

Fandom: Kim Possible

Face claim: Sadie Sink

Summary: Life can be pretty tough when your sister is Kim Possible. Especially when most people hear your name, Em Possible, and hear “Impossible”. Don’t misunderstand–Em loves her sister more than anything, but it’s a lot to live up to. She’s not special, she’s not cool, she’s not much of anything, other than Kim Possible’s Sister. But that doesn’t mean that she’s nothing–really, it doesn’t–and she’s sure that if someone took the time to look, they’d find something in her too.

Name: Eve Holliday

Story: A Christmas Eve

Fandom: The Santa Claus

Face claim: Emilia Clarke

Name: Gigi Ross

Story: The Perks Of Being Invisible

Fandom: The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Face claim: Kaya Scodelario

Name: Harriet “Junior” Bond

Story: Die Again

Fandom: James Bond

Face claim: Sophie Cookson

Name: Hecate Crow

Story: Melodrama

Fandom: American Horror Story

Face claim: Kaya Scodelario

Name: Holly Peralta

Story: The Weight of Family

Fandom: Brooklyn 99

Face claim: Selena Gomez

Summary: Holly Peralta loved twin brother, her parents, and her godparents, and the entire Nine Nine family. Really, she did. They were all the reason that she had decided to become a cop herself. Hell, she’d just gotten transferred to the Nine Nine herself, where her godmother, Rosa, was now captain. But it was still hard to live in the shadows of two police legend; especially when she learns that her latest lead is Michael Augustine, a prolific thief with a grudge against the couple who’d locked him away over twenty years ago. It looks like Holly will have to dig into her family’s past to solve the case.

Name: Isabel Ozera

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Vampire Academy

Face claim: Danielle Rose Russell

Love Interest: Rose Hathaway

Name: Isadora Turner

Story: The Beast Below

Fandom: Pirates Of The Caribbean

Face claim: Lily James

Name: Joni Evans

Story: Untitled

Fandom: High School Musical

Face claim: Meg Donnelly

Love Interest: Troy Bolton

Name: Kinsley Bradford

Story: Falling

Fandom: Veronica Mars

Face claim: Madelaine Petsch

Name: Mya Fisher

Story: Burning Out

Fandom: MTV’s Scream

Face claim: Madelaine Petsch

Name: Raven Acosta

Story: Angel With A Shotgun

Fandom: Charlie’s Angels (2020)

Face claim: Emeraude Toubia

Name: Theodosia Swann

Story: Deluge

Fandom: Pirates Of The Caribbean

Face claim: Bella Heathcote

Name: Valentina Edwards

Story: Untitled

Fandom: Princess Diaries

Face claim: Maddison Brown

Love Interest: Nicholas Devereaux

#masterlist

15 notes · View notes

rockefcller · 4 years

Photo

TASK 036 : GOVERNORS OF THE UNITED STATES

in the united states, a governor serves as the chief executive officer and commander-in-chief in each of the fifty states, functioning as both head of state and head of government therein. as such, governors are responsible for implementing state laws and overseeing the operation of the state executive branch. as state leaders, governors advance and pursue new and revised policies and programs using a variety of tools, among them executive orders, executive budgets, and legislative proposals and vetoes. governors carry out their management and leadership responsibilities and objectives with the support and assistance of department and agency heads, many of whom they are empowered to appoint. a majority of governors have the authority to appoint state court judges as well, in most cases from a list of names submitted by a nominations committee.

the NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES is a geographical region of the united states. its divisions are new england ( connecticut, maine, massachusetts, new hampshire, rhode island, and vermont ) and the mid-atlantic ( new jersey, new york, and pennsylvania ). although it lacks a unified cultural identity, the northeastern region is the nation's most economically developed, densely populated, and culturally diverse region. of the nation's four census regions, the northeast has the second-largest percentage of residents living in an urban setting ( with 85 percent ) and is home to the nation's largest metropolitan area ( new york city ).

NEW ENGLAND. CONNECTICUT : laura wilmer ( cate blanchett ), republican, since 2011 MAINE : caitlin westcott ( ellen pompeo ), republican, since 2019 MASSACHUSETTS : felicity benson ( rashida jones ), democrat, since 2015 NEW HAMPSHIRE : christi goode ( reese witherspoon ), democrat, since 2017 RHODE ISLAND : adela sebti ( emmanuelle chriqui ), democrat, since 2015 VERMONT : derick han ( john cho ), democrat, since 2017 MID-ATLANTIC STATES. NEW JERSEY : shaun russell ( laurence fishburne ), democrat, since 2018 NEW YORK : isabelle andrews ( zoe saldana ), democrat, since 2021 PENNSYLVANIA : violet beck ( rooney mara ), republican, since 2015

the MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES is one of four census regions of the united states census bureau, occupying the north central part of the united states. its divisions are east north central ( illinois, indiana, michigan, ohio, and wisconsin ) and west north central ( iowa, kansas, minnesota, missouri, nebraska, north dakota, and south dakota) ). chicago is the most populous city in the american midwest and the third most populous in the entire country. chicago and its suburbs, called chicagoland, form the region’s largest metropolitan area with 10 million people.

EAST NORTH CENTRAL STATES. ILLINOIS : tracey marsh ( sally hawkins ), republican, since 2019 INDIANA : garth butler ( justin chambers ), republican, since 2017 MICHIGAN : donna randall ( viola davis ), democrat, since 2019 OHIO : philip tirrell ( donald glover ), democrat, since 2019 WISCONSIN : percy hewitt ( john mulaney ), democrat, since 2019

WEST NORTH CENTRAL STATES. IOWA : kelly grant ( rachel weisz ), democrat, since 2017 KANSAS : dale garner ( clancy brown ), republican, since 2019 MINNESOTA : sadie lawrence ( winona ryder ), democrat, since 2019 MISSOURI : andrea miller ( michele dockery ), republican, since 2018 NEBRASKA : silas nelson ( sam elliott ), republican, since 2015 NORTH DAKOTA : samuel fulton ( daveed diggs ), democrat, since 2016 SOUTH DAKOTA : alicia atkins ( aja naomi king ), democrat, since 2019

the SOUTHERN UNITED STATES is is a geographic and cultural region of the united states. its divisions are the south atlantic ( delaware, florida, georgia, maryland, north carolina, south carolina, virginia, and west virginia ), east south central ( alabama, kentucky, mississippi, and tennessee ), and west south central ( arkansas, louisiana, oklahoma, and texas ). the south does not precisely coincide with the geographic south of the united states but is commonly defined as including the states that fought for the confederate states of america in the american civil war. the deep south lies entirely within the southeastern corner. the region is known for its culture and history, having developed its own customs, musical styles, and cuisines, which have distinguished it in some ways from the rest of the united states. the southern ethnic heritage is diverse and includes strong european ( mostly english, scotch-irish, scottish, irish, and french ), african, and some native american components.

SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES. DELAWARE : cornelius bancroft ( michael shannon ), republican, since 2017 FLORIDA : angela valdes ( gina torres ), democrat, since 2019 GEORGIA : gabrielle shaw ( octavia spencer ), democrat, since 2019 MARYLAND : damien park ( daniel dae kim ), democrat, since 2015 NORTH CAROLINA : artie barnes ( sam richardson ), democrat, since 2017 SOUTH CAROLINA : shannon todd ( leslie mann ), republican, since 2017 VIRGINIA : rebekah milton ( julianne moore ), republican, since 2018 WEST VIRGINIA : lori taylor ( helen mccrory ), republican, since 2017

EAST SOUTH CENTRAL STATES. ALABAMA : maynard gardner ( richard jenkins ), republican, since 2011 KENTUCKY : wilson beaumont ( kevin costner ), republican, since 2019 MISSISSIPPI : julianne hargrave ( amy adams ), republican, since 2012 TENNESSEE : shane montgomery ( andrew lincoln ), republican, since 2019

WEST SOUTH CENTRAL STATES. ARKANSAS : jason wickham ( eddie redmayne ), republican, since 2015 LOUISIANA : christine robson ( antonia thomas ), republican, since 2016 OKLAHOMA : michele abrams ( lea thompson ), republican, since 2019 TEXAS : lorraine crawford ( kelly reilly ), republican, since 2015

the WESTERN UNITED STATES is the region comprising the westernmost states of the united states. its divisions are the mountain states ( arizona, colorado, idaho, montana, nevada, new mexico, utah, and wyoming ) and the pacific states ( alaska, california, hawaii, oregon, and washington ). as american settlement in the united states expanded westward, the meaning of the term “the west” changed. before about 1800, the crest of the appalachian mountains was seen as the western frontier. the frontier moved westward and eventually the lands west of the mississippi river were considered “the west.” the west contains several major biomes, including arid and semi-arid plateaus and plains, particularly in the american southwest; forested mountains, including two major ranges, the american sierra nevada and rocky mountains; the long coastal shoreline of the american pacific coast; and the rainforests of the pacific northwest.

MOUNTAIN STATES. ARIZONA : daniel rivera ( alfonso herrera ), democrat, since 2019 COLORADO : wyatt harvey ( forest whitaker ), democrat, since 2015 IDAHO : malcolm jackson ( michael fassbender ), republican, since 2019 MONTANA : omar faraj ( marwan kenzari ), democrat, since 2021 NEVADA : noelle bloomfield ( maya rudolph ), democrat, since 2019 NEW MEXICO : oscar méndez ( diego luna ), democrat, since 2019 UTAH : william daniels ( seth meyers ), republican, since 2021 WYOMING : colleen leighton ( felicity jones ), republican, since 2019

PACIFIC STATES. ALASKA : veronica filippova ( mila kunis ), republican, since 2018 CALIFORNIA : maria reyes ( salma hayek ), democrat, since 2019 HAWAII : makaio kekoa ( keanu reeves ), democrat, since 2014 OREGON : isadora tyler ( susan sarandon ), democrat, since 2015 WASHINGTON : felix kessler ( jeff goldblum ), democrat, since 2013

#hshqtask036 #sebastian : tasks

8 notes · View notes

clansayeed · 4 years

Text

Bound by Destiny II, part 1 ― Chapter 11: The Auction

PAIRING: Kamilah Sayeed x MC (Nadya Al Jamil) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Destiny II, part 1 ⥽

Bound by Destiny II and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the Bloodbound series and spin-off, Nightbound. Find out more [HERE].

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Destiny II tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

The Amulet is one bid away, but they aren't the only vampires willing to pay whatever cost. Valdas and Isseya have their own ideas about ensuring Gaius' victory... or is it their own? It's hard to tell.

[READ IT ON AO3]

Taylor reaches the pair of vampires before the rest of them can make it down the stairs.

He approaches with an authority one wouldn’t expect to see from someone as human-looking as he is.

“Is there a problem here?” He doesn’t look at Valdas when he speaks — it’s immediately clear he couldn’t give less of a damn what the man has to say. He only cares about Cadence.

Taylor reaches out and places a tentative hand on the taller man’s arm. “Cade, are you okay?” But he doesn’t get an answer.

When Valdas recovers from the shock of being interrupted, he doesn’t come out on the other end nearly as caring as he’d sounded before. “This doesn’t concern you, halfling.”

But Taylor’s the type to take anything, whether it ‘concerns him’ or not, and stick his nose in it regardless.

“Back off, man. I think it’s pretty plain he doesn’t want you around.”

“He doesn’t know what he wants. Get out of my way.”

“Touch me and see what happens.”

With a scoff the vampire reaches for Taylor’s shoulder, and Nadya almost trips in her haste because she’s seen the way Valdas can get when he’s angry. But even the barest touch and she watches in startled awe as Taylor’s shoulder… sparks? Whatever it is it gets Valdas to back off.

“First one’s a freebie. Next time I’m gonna let my trigger-happy boyfriend up there go to town.”

So behind him Valdas watches, uncharacteristically silent as he takes in the sudden ease Cadence feels at the presence of his friend. As Nadya and the others push their way through to the bar she sees the barest shadow of doubt in his eyes before it vanishes without a trace. Replaced by cool nonchalance and an all-too-familiar smug smile.

Only it’s directed a little higher than Nadya’s glare.

“Adrian, you’re looking well.”

Anger flashes over Adrian’s face and he actually draws his fist back ready to swing. “Don’t,” and when Nadya grabs his elbow she knows if he really wanted to she would have just been hurled along for the ride but thankfully it’s enough to stop him, “he’s just baiting you.”

“If he thinks he can just stand there and get away with kidnapping you —”

The smallest furrow creases in Valdas’ brow. “Did I not ensure her safe return?”

“You think that justifies it?!” Adrian practically roars. Around them more and more guests and eager bidders turn away from their conversations and card games to watch the unfolding events.

But if she doesn’t get to yell right now neither does Adrian. It’s only fair.

Taylor gives her a panicked look. “You guys need to cool it or they’ll kick us out.” Calm him down or something, his eyes scream. And in this Nadya hates it — like really really hates it — but she has to agree.

“We can’t risk it Adrian, please.” Because there’s no question as to why Valdas is here; why Isseya is probably somewhere slithering in the shadows. Which means they need a game plan, like, yesterday. “Please, Adrian, come on…”

But Adrian is still tense under her touch. “He’s not worth it.” Though that she says loud enough so more than just the vampires can hear her. “He’s too pathetic for that.”

It would have been nice to see him look anything even on the spectrum of shamed but Valdas just quirks his brow slightly. “Tactful as ever, Miss Nadya.” Then, voice lowered slightly; “You look in good health.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you.” She darts a quick look behind him. “Where’s Isseya?”

“Why do you care?” Valdas asks, genuinely surprised.

“Because she has a funny habit to trying to kill me.”

“There needn’t be any bloodshed tonight — or ever again.”

“You two are the ones who keep resorting to violence.” She can still feel a phantom of the pain where she’d all but been dragged by the hair…

Valdas chances half a step forward; Nadya refuses to trust the false regret in his eyes ever again. “I told you, Nadya, that going forward my acts will not entirely be of my own will.”

“Like I’m supposed to believe you; like you haven’t lied to me over and over again?”

“Perhaps, but where words can lie I’ve found that memories have no choice but to reveal the truth.”

What — does he want her to look into his head again; to push Adrian aside and take his hand and see some hidden truth? No way.

Nadya’s brow furrows, resolute.

“If you were really worth trusting you wouldn’t need to lie at all.”

The vampire’s sigh weighs heavy on his shoulders. He doesn’t get the chance to lie to her again.

The clanging of a gong rings high over their heads and echoes through the center of the club manor-house. Now they really need to get going. Nadya jerks her head for Lily to help her pull Adrian back. Eventually — a little too late in her opinion but better late than never — he eases up. The sharper edges of his eyes seem to smooth out.

He shakes his head as if clearing a fog. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“We’ll talk about it later.” But despite her smile Nadya taps him with the back of her hand. “And we are talking about it later, Adrian.”

It’s a threat as much as it is a promise. He’d better believe it.

“C’mon, Cade,” Taylor tries to coax the man forward with a little push; and Nadya’s pretty sure she’s not supposed to hear the next bit but she’s too close not to catch when Taylor mutters under his breath; “what’s up with you lately, man? You’ve been like this for a month now…”

“It’s nothing.” Cadence replies just shy of a whisper.

“It doesn’t feel like ‘nothing.’”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t go poking around in my emotions.”

“I can’t help that. You’re like a bullhorn in a church.”

They almost make it to the stairs — and a waiting, arms-over-her-chest doesn’t-know-yet-if-she-wants-to-hug-him-or-strangle-him Katherine. Almost.

“It was not my intention to cause you such distress… Cadence.” Valdas calls at their backs; he says the name like it’s acid on his tongue but every other word is sincere enough to make Nadya’s heart hurt in an odd way.

She’s pretty sure if it weren’t for his friends practically forcing him forward Cadence might have actually turned back. Even if only for a moment.

But the only one who does is Lily — and that’s just to give him a finger Nadya doesn’t approve of. But this once she’ll just keep her mouth shut.

Before they get back to Isadora, Lily holds her behind from the others. Adrian is too lost in his own thoughts to notice. Taylor throws them a raised eyebrow, but it’s all good.

Thankfully, her best friend keeps her voice to a low level. The fae with his black box is still skirting around the edges of the booths. They must have something to do with the auction. “Firstly, you make some bonkers friends.”

“You know you’re my friend, right?”

“My point stands.” And yeah, fair, Nadya will give her that. “Second, if Gomez is here there’s no doubt Morticia is somewhere nearby. But what if that means…”

Thankfully there’s no Addams Family analogy equivalent for the hellspawn of all evil that is Gaius Augustine, but Nadya presses a finger up against Lily’s lips anyway. “Don’t… don’t say it.”

On some level all of them probably had that same thought during their miniature confrontation. It’s inevitable.

Lily kisses her finger aside. “You know what I mean, though?” And she sneaks glances about as subtle as the hulking Minotaur stomp-stomping his way across the bar floor down below.

“Yeah, I do. But I don’t think he’s here, Lil’.” I would have felt him.

All the way across that long long table where he couldn’t be denied. No matter what he looked like, Gaius didn’t seem the type to see an event as splendorous as this and find himself content to hide away from the spotlight. “It’s his scene, but I think if he were here we would have known it by now.”

“What, we’d be on our knees worshiping him or something?”

Nadya laughs dry and humorless. “No — we’d be dead.”

They arrive back to the booth in time for the lights cast off from the chandelier to glow a rich white-blue. Isadora unfurls the ever-changing parchment of lots and bids and states the obvious; “It’s beginning…” And suddenly there’s a whole new kind of tension hanging around the exclusive vampire club table.

The first lot is a statue that the auctioneer claims is made from solid ruby. It definitely looks that way, but while the prices jump higher and higher, the bids coming in faster and faster in the pursuit of the luxurious, Nadya can’t fathom who would want it — or why for that matter.

It sells for twelve and a half million dollars to a stone troll wearing, of all things, a cape. She looks like she’s made of pure rubies, herself.

From where he’s perched leaning against their booth, Nadya notices Taylor looking a little paler than before. “You okay?” she whispers.

He nods and tugs at his collar. “Yeah, just thinking of how quickly I could pay off my student loans with that kind of money.”

“Preach.”

Lot the second is a brightly-polished sword. When the goblin offering closer looks comes around their way Nadya can see her reflection clear as day in the flat of the blade… if her reflection were that of a much younger girl with close-cropped hair and the weight of ages pushed deep into the sunken parts of her face gaunt with starvation.

“That’s mine…” she mumbles, and almost finds herself reaching out for it before the goblin snatches it away in yellow-skinned clutches with a sneer.

“To look! Not to touch!”

Nadya yanks her hand back as if stung. Isadora isn’t interested in the blade and waves him off, but she’s too good not to have noticed her little exchange. Not like she’s hiding anything though — after all the woman’s been inside her head. She knows the parts of the story Nadya carefully left out.

Wow, the bids scrolling by on the parchment Adrian watches ever-vigilant sure look fascinating…

The sword sells for 3 million and an added black flame candle to a fae with green tones in their skin. Lily watches the unlit candle trade owners and hands with wide eyes. “You think if we light it we’ll summon Bette Midler?”

Nadya shrugs — at this point anything is possible. Taylor grins and leans in conspiratorially.

“Black flame isn’t so hard,” he whispers with a mischievous grin, “it’s actually a type of fae fire. Remind me to show you before you guys book it back to New York.” And judging by the way Lily’s looking at him she’ll hold him to it — like a ‘literally will not get on the plane until she sees it’ kind of deal.

Lots three-through-five she forgets; obviously they weren’t memorable things. That or whatever’s in the little cocktails an attendant keeps bringing around packs a harder punch than she thought.

Lot six is rusty iron nail and that’s when things start to get weird.

“Sixty!—Seventy-five!—Three hundred!” calls out the auctioneer with barely a breath between them.

And these are in the millions.

Nadya still can’t figure out what’s so awesome about something that looks like it rolled under the shelves at a hardware store when it just becomes a repetitive game with the same two players.

The auctioneer goblin raises his aging, sickly green hand and a hushed silence falls over the entire club. “It seems we have our first bidding war for the night…” And he looks way too gleeful for Nadya’s comfort.

“If the bidders would join us down on the floor, come come…”

She looks to Isadora and Adrian, already in intent discussion about which lot the Amulet could be based on how much people have already thrown out. Cadence might as well be asleep and Katherine…

Katherine shakes her head. “You don’t want to see that, Nadya. Trust me on this one.”

Thank god Lily’s just as confused. “What’s so valuable about a friggin’ nail?”

“It’s what the nail does,” murmurs Cadence; and surprises them all by doing so, “it’s a cursing nail. Old magics banned in New Orleans and likely not practiced outside of the birth places of their magical foci. Whoever takes home the nail takes with them the ability to curse anyone they wish unrepentant.

“The curse could be something as simple and clean-cut as death, or something as vengeful and specific as the cursed person losing everyone they hold even the barest affection for.”

Down below and graciously out of sight comes the screech of breaking glass; the crowd roars and laughs in bloodthirsty delight. Nadya’s really glad she didn’t go watch at the railing, now.

“But if it’s banned here, how can they sell the nail?”

“It’s the act of the magic that’s banned; but the curse can be put in place anywhere in the world. Unfortunately it’s like Lily said…” he sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, “there’s nothing illegal about a simple nail.”

Nadya watches as a silent and haunted look passes between the city locals. Katherine jerks her chin towards the other side of the balconies and Taylor barely offers Nadya a smile of farewell before he’s racing away like the Devil is chasing him.

“Lot six for a generous six hundred and thirty!”

She didn’t even catch who won.

Maybe that’s for the best.

“Next up we have here a modest luxury to be certain, very pretty very heavy but don’t let that leave you wanting — lot seven, the famed Amulet of Nero.”

Nadya grasps Adrian’s hand on instinct.

While the auctioneer starts talking up the history of the Amulet, the same goblin as before comes around with a heavy wooden case, the lid propped open and the Amulet resting inside. Large and gold with a pendant piece probably half the size of Nadya’s fist; she has no trouble recognizing it at first glance.

It’s hers. Well — Gaius’, but also hers in a way. It calls to her in the same way the sword did and then some. The dark red center stone catches the light and reflects it across all their faces but she feels it like a siren song. Like she wants the light all to herself.

What Nadya didn’t expect was the way it holds everyone else captive as well. Well — everyone but Katherine. She gives it a glance and that’s that but the vampires? They’re transfixed.

With a greedy grin glinting on pointed teeth the goblin strides away to show it off to the next booth of potential buyers. The moment the Amulet is out of sight the effect is immediate; a held breath released across the booth that leaves the humans meeting eyes with the same kind of confused understanding.

“Okay… you guys felt that, right?” Lily asks, and Nadya hasn’t seen her this flushed since she was alive, “Please tell me that wasn’t just me because there is nothing I own that would match that thing.”

Isadora clears her throat and visibly shifts where she sits. Clearly never a woman out of her own control, having it happen twice in the such a short amount of time has her ill at ease. “No — there is a powerful energy to the thing. At least we won’t have to worry about confirming its authenticity.”

“Which means the Trinity know it’s the real deal, too.” Nadya says. She doesn’t want to, but ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. Trust her — she’s tried.

Adrian runs a hand over his mouth; his expression hard to read and Nadya doesn’t like not knowing what’s going on his head for this long. Frankly he’s been acting strange ever since they touched down in Louisiana but now isn’t the time for her to start up an argument about that. Once they have the Amulet safe and in hand, though…

“Are you ready?” When he doesn’t look up Nadya nudges his shoulder with hers. “Adrian, if this is gonna be too much —”

“Double the starting bid.” He says instead; and Isadora nods in agreement.

That answers that, I guess.

The auctioneer starts at fifty thousand. Isadora scribbles their bid down on the bespelled parchment. Not a breath after—

“Three million.”

The pen breaks in her grasp. Wordlessly Adrian pulls one from his breast pocket and all but shoves it at her.

Awesome. Really just… super great.

Three million. Then four. Then six — ten — one hundred. Every time the number goes up even the slightest bit—bam—a number almost unreasonably high. But there’s no question as to who’s to blame.

But as she watches the Trinity alone in their booth on the far side of the floor it becomes more and more obvious that their calm is nothing more than a ruse. Sure they rest against the richness of Persephone like they belong but their drinks are untouched, the tension enough to deter attendees and attendants alike. Nadya has a feeling you don’t need to be psychic to feel the energy coming off of them in waves of approach and die.

One thing’s for certain: the Trinity’s tactic of throwing larger numbers out of left field works quickly to deter anyone who might have a passive interest in winning. While all the other lots had taken up decent chunks of the passing hours, the Amulet of Nero is already halfway to one billion dollars in under ten minutes.

Isadora bumps up their bid by a meager million. Immediately Nadya looks across the way again.

Isseya and Valdas whisper together, heads lowered and in an intense debate. If she didn’t know any better she might even call it an argument — one that obviously can’t be that bad since it ends in a firm kiss pressed to the vampiress’ forehead.

She eases herself out of the booth shortly after. Turns back and lets one last longing look pass between them before disappearing around a roped-off doorway — and deeper into Persephone’s depths.

Really, Nadya tries not to let herself dwell on the whole thing. After all even vampires have to go powder their noses, right? But then Valdas rolls up his scroll and sets it aside. The auctioneer doesn’t call out a counter to Isadora’s most recent bid.

“In an unprecedented turn of events a bidding war has… been requested,” he says instead, and its obvious his scaling lips curl around the words with no small amount of confusion, “but does the opposing party accept?”

Valdas abandons the booth as well. Nadya is so trained on his every step that she doesn’t feel her body being moved until Adrian is gently pushing her aside; face set grim and determined.

“Adrian…”

But he barely spares her a look back. “Everything will be fine Nadya, I promise.” But there are no promises, not here. Not when there are two thousand years separating him and Valdas and not one of those in Adrian’s favor.

“The bidders will be joining us on the main floor, if they please.”

Nadya nudges Katherine’s leg under the table. “Kathy — quick — what’s back there?”

The Nighthunter follows her eyes to the doorway Isseya had vanished through. “Just the rest of the club,” she answers (unhelpfully), “party rooms, play rooms, bedrooms; that sort of stuff. But it looks closed off for the auction.”

“And what happens to a lot once the bidding is finished?”

“The house keeps it until the end of the night. Gives people time if they bid more than they have on them.” She looks Nadya over with a frown. “Why?”

The two vampires reach the opposing staircases at the same time.

“I suppose there’s nothing that could sway you?” asks Valdas.

Adrian scoffs. “And if I gave you the same offer?”

“I would say yes.”

There’s an unrepentant honesty that almost—almost—makes Adrian falter. It’s brief, and maybe you wouldn’t even notice it if you didn’t know him very well. But Nadya does.

He can do this.

The least she can do is be just as brave. “I think Isseya’s gone to steal the Amulet while everyone’s focused on the fight.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Isadora demands and all but kicks them up on their feet. “Go, I will keep an eye on Raines, make sure he doesn’t get himself killed. Try and do the same.”

Finding Isseya ends up being easier than they expected. All they have to do is follow the trail of blood and goblin bodies and it’s like breadcrumbs right to her. Through the winding maze of Persephone, down some back stairs and through a literal giant metal vault door just chilling at the end of a corridor like it has any reason being there at all.

The vampiress stands the picture of serene in the center of a bloodbath. The club had spared no expense on guards and she had cut through them all without so much as a snag in her dress.

It’s telling that Nadya isn’t the least bit surprised by any of this. She’s come to expect brazen violence from the likes of them.

Katherine’s the one with the stake but its Cadence who puts himself in front of them. “Give us the Amulet and no one has to get hurt.”

She looks up with a raised eyebrow and a deadpan frown.

“Okay — no one else.”

The Amulet’s golden chain is wrapped around her clenched fist. She could easily carve a path through them all; leave no human, vampire, or Nighthunter left standing. But instead she lets the Amulet hang at her side and stares at them all in disdain.

“I don’t know how he can stand the sight of you.”

There’s no question to whom she is referring, and judging by the way Cadence raises his chin defiantly he knows it just the same.

“Feeble, weak, a bleeding heart…” her words catch in her throat, “but it’s our hearts that are bleeding. And you stand there regardless; an abomination. You don’t care. Nobody does.”

Nadya feels both Katherine and Lily reach for her, try to stop her, but she bats them away. Approaches to stand beside Cadence and the weight and burning rage of the eyes that snap to her is a pain she’s become familiar with by now.

“Please…” Though it would help if Nadya knew what she was even asking for.

Isseya barks a humorless laugh. “Pathetic — the first chance you’re given and what do you do with it? You grovel. I should expect nothing less of a human but maybe… maybe some part of me hoped you would understand. You’re the only one who could.”

Which, okay, now she’s a little insulted. “I’ve been trying to understand, Isseya. I’ve been trying to understand from the beginning. But you guys sure don’t make it easy, do you?”

Baiting the unstable vampire probably isn’t her smartest move. Not that it stops her.

“I just don’t get it.”

“Color me surprised…”

Surprising even to herself, Nadya shakes off her hesitation and fixes Isseya with a stern glare. “Why are you doing this, why are you helping Gaius? You obviously hate him, you don’t need to be a vampire to see that. That whole night he treated you like dirt; you and Valdas both. Why—Why even set him free?”

“Because he is the Godmaker. And we’ve exhausted all other options.”

“Options for what,” asks Lily, bewildered, “world domination?”

“For getting back what we lost.” Isseya fixates on the Amulet, entranced by the way the gemstone catches the light as it comes to a lazy halt.

But Nadya isn’t having it. “Nope, not good enough. I tried to help you — I met with him that night because I wanted to help you. If you think the evil vampire jerkface is your ‘only option’ then that’s just because you keep betraying anyone who might actually want to help.”

“You speak to me of betrayal?”

She flings a hand outward and Nadya feels Katherine tense behind her, ready to spring into action. But no attack comes; just the Amulet of Nero dangling awkwardly from her grasp and an accusatory finger pointed at the vampire beside her. “You stand beside him and dare to speak to me of betrayal?”

Before Nadya can even process what to say to that, a strange look catches in Isseya’s eye. She rolls her wrist and undoes the hold she has on the Amulet’s chain to let it hang on one finger. The world’s most dangerous offering.

“Screw the Godmaker, screw our debt. I’ll give you the Amulet right here and now — with but a single demand.”

Nobody steps forward because nobody trusts that.

Still… Nadya can’t not know. “And that is?”

“Fix him.”

The Trinity vampire nearly chokes on her words; so thick they’re practically in a different tongue and they may very well have been at first. But the disgust written in every inch of her skin radiates of hurt; of loss. Nadya doesn’t want to but she can feel the sting of Isseya’s tears in her own eyes.

“Fix him,” she repeats, “because you are her. You’ve found his memories before and you can do so again.” The Amulet sways with her trembling hand. “Do that, little Bloodkeeper, and we have no more reason to help him, no matter his wrath. He cannot take more from us than we have already lost.”

Shame burns in Nadya’s cheeks when she feels the weight of Cadence’s focus on her. Fear and confusion and anger coming from all sides and she wants nothing more than to fall on the ground and try to bear the brunt of it all without breaking on the inside.

But how exactly does she tell the grieving woman she has no idea what to do, or how to do it? Probably with the same personal responsibility and defeat with which she’s going to have to tell everyone she had a chance… and couldn’t take it.

“There’s nothing to fix, crazy bitch.”

Katherine doesn’t give Nadya the chance to find the right words. She launches the stake over Nadya’s shoulder but it goes wide, too wide, and collides with the wall a few inches too far from Isseya’s head.

Isseya who glances down as the wood clatters to the floor and rolls near her heels; utterly and painfully useless. “What a pathetic weapon.”

“But a decent distraction.”

One second Cadence is there and the next he isn’t; he’s across the room and drops down to swipe Isseya’s legs out from under her. She falls and it would be comical if Nadya wasn’t familiar with what she could do when angered, which means Katherine gets little resistance when she flings an arm out as a gesture for Nadya and Lily to keep back.

And as expected Isseya recovers too quick; grabs Cadence’s exposed ankle and pulls him hard enough to lose his stance and land prone beneath her.

“Don’t make me do this, Cyn’!” she snarls and struggles to hold him down. With a grunt the man wrenches an arm free and grasps her lower jaw in a bone-breaking hold.

“How… dare you!”

Something snaps and Isseya cries out in pain, giving Cadence a chance he doesn’t waste to hurl her away and into the back wall with brute force. Her collision isn’t pretty; large cracks forming in the wall and brick dust kicking up around the fighting immortals.

There’s a clatter… and Nadya catches sight of a red shine out of the corner of her eye. The Amulet.

Before she can rush to grab it though, a strong hand pulls her back by the shoulder. Katherine’s expression is grim-set and trained on Cadence with an uncomfortable stillness. She doesn’t let up on Nadya.

“Kathy, what are you doing? We can get it — it’s right there!”

“Too close,” comes her reply; barely a whisper, “wait it out.”

What it is isn’t clear until she, too, focuses on the fighting vampires. Tension rippling off both of them, Isseya’s dress torn and covered in debris. Yet Nadya’s never seen such a wild look in anything even remotely human. Not even when Vega was hunting her down like a lion to a gazelle.

No, not quite right. She’s seen it before — just not through her eyes; not as herself.

A wide grin blooms slowly around the woman’s fangs, blood between the spaces of her teeth and dribbling wetly from her mouth. Different than all the other times she’s seen that particular look of maniacal delight… Nadya is quickly forced to come to terms with the fact that she’s seeing, for the first time in decades, pure joy lit in Isseya’s face.

Though she has every chance to tear Cadence away from where he pins her just slightly off of the ground, instead a tender hand caresses his cheek.

“There you are… beloved. I’ve missed you so much.”

He waits. Or… she’s waiting. The tension is enough to make Nadya want to choke but no one is doing anything.

“We thought we’d lost you,” the tips of her fingers leave powdery stains over his bottom lip, “but you can come home…”

“Cade.”

It’s like Katherine’s voice breaks him from a spell. He jerks away from the other vampire’s touch violently, forces himself back and watches in a twisted form of grief as she slumps to her knees.

“I —” she’s crazed, she’s distraught, she’s still the enemy but the way he looks at his hands and doesn’t understand why they are red from brick dust — he would never have hurt her in his right mind, “— I didn’t… I’m sorry.”

The Amulet’s chain crunches under his shoe; Cadence bends swiftly to pick it up and secure the pendant. With every step he takes back, away from her; a little more light leaves Isseya’s eyes.

Slowly Katherine pries the Amulet from him and hands it off to Nadya. Like their win doesn’t even matter — all her focus is on her friend. “It was the cage all over again, Kathy.” He whispers.

“I know,” but she doesn’t sound any less certain than he does, “but… we’ve got it. We gotta go.”

We gotta go.

Adrian.

It’s against her better judgment that Nadya glances back one last time before they close the vault door; the only thing they can attempt to keep Isseya from following them back to the auction.

She sees the woman stand and try to brush the stains from her dress. She sees her toe off her broken heel. She sees her glance up and meet Nadya eye for eye.

Lily helps Cadence shoulder the door closed. The echo of metal sliding into place chills her to the bone.

Twice now Nadya has inadvertently been the reason Adrian ended up injured so severely he couldn’t immediately heal. Which is, in her opinion, two times too many.

“What do you mean he forfeited?” Lily demands, and manages to look at least a little sheepish at the glare her tone gets. “Not that it totally, you know, makes every bit of ass kicked less worth it.”

Adrian glances at her through a purpling eye. “Thanks… I think.”

But even what hoarse whisper he manages seems to be too much, so Isadora answers in his stead. “He gave a rousing good show, Raines too,” she meets his glare with a bemused smirk of her own, “though the violence certainly went on much longer than necessary. But when the crowd came to understand the staggering difference in strengths they quickly lost interest.”

She rests a hand on Adrian’s shoulder. “It seems to me he battered you within an inch of your life so you couldn’t get up.”

Off to the side, Ryder cracks his neck. “Yeah, you’re a lot heavier than you look.”

Nadya fiddles with the Amulet of Nero deep in her jacket pocket. “Then Valdas just… forfeited?”

“Well it was either that or finish the job.”

And she’s glad that wasn’t the case. She pries one hand away from the pendant and reaches out to where Adrian lay, prone and aching, across the short back seat of Isadora’s limousine. “It wasn’t for nothing, but I’m still so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he rasps, and manages to lift his hand enough for her to grab it, “like you said… it wasn’t for nothing.”

“Just be glad Vera was able to get the house to call an intermission before they put two and two together.”

Taylor leans back in his seat and rests his head on Ryder’s shoulder. If only that alleviated some of the worry in his eyes. “If that Isseya chick killed as many goblins as you say the Council is gonna be called in to deal with it.”

Lily frowns. “But we locked her in the vault. Practically pulled a Batman and handed her to them on a silver platter.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

The occupants all look her way, and with no small amount of worry Nadya recounts the sight of Isseya able to stand on her own two feet right before the door closed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she was gone by the time they even found out what she’d done, or what lot was missing.”

Adrian shifts and winces in pain. “That kind of strength… would definitely be enough to knock down a brick wall.”

And yet Cadence held her back like she was a rag doll. A thought Lily and Nadya both share in uncertain glances.

Ideally she wants to follow Katherine and Cadence into the night, off to where they secreted away while everyone (read: Nadya but loudly) was fussing over Adrian’s wounds. But he needed to heal so they could leave for New York as soon as possible, and that meant returning to Flechette with Isadora.

The woman glances out of the tinted window by her head to watch the French Quarter pass them by. “Relish your victory, however temporary,” she says with a sigh, “and ensure that it is made permanent when you return home.”

Nadya’s grip tightens on the Amulet so hard the metal bites at her skin.

“We will.”

8 notes · View notes