A Hymn of Snakes

TWELVE

The schedule picked back up, Alex hasn't spoken to me since discovering Ithe. The Keepers found and killed the Lost, but in exchange- forty nine people lost their lives.

I studied a book in the fallen sunlight of the window seal as the moon rose upon us, I missed the warmth of the sun. However, living within the moonlight was just as gorgeous. Or so I thought, that was until a little ex fiancé had to ruin my mood. "Cordelia." He called my name in full, sending a wave of chills down my back. Ithe snickered, she didn't like him just as much as I did.

When I turned to look at him, I noticed he looked disheveled. The naturally clean cut Theron was struggling to keep himself tidy. Growing out his beard but barely even and his hair was in an array of stands before his eyes, the Keepers didn't appreciate disoriented soldiers. It caused curiosity to spike in my mind, "What do you want?" I asked his eyes bore holes in my face, every instance of fear adorned on him.

"The Keepers want a report on the witches." He told me picking at the dirt under his fingernails. Strange. Theron looked over his shoulders, I slid my book to the side and positioned myself towards him. The metal of my blade tapped my leg but I ignored it, studying his frantic movements.

I shrugged without a care in the world, motioning to the argument that was brought across to me a day before. "So? I'm not a Keeper anymore, that's not my problem." Theron took a sharp breath, he was scared of me, Ithe laughed in the back of my head. She wanted him to be.

Instead of allowing his fear to guide him he swallowed it and looked my in my eye instead. "Every witch incident must be reported, you know this. Even you." Then his face turned back to the door of the library, he was afraid someone would be listening in. I lifted my hand and sung a spell, the doors flying shut as the twist of the lock could be heard. He jumped in his skin as Theron relaxed his shoulders, "You used magic." He accused me, and I nodded with a quick reply.

Standing as I moved my things around the shelves, silence stilled in the room. "Is that such a surprise? You already know I'm a witch." I offered, not understanding the true meaning of his nervousness. Theron was a strong man, I knew I wasn't the same obedient girl I used to be but this level of fear wasn't necessary. I've never done anything to prove to him that I would bring him harm. "None of this is new Theron, don't act surprised." I told him and he quipped slightly.

Theron was never the quiet type, I remember in school he was voted the class clown. Sure he was serious but never quiet, I should like him like this. But I couldn't shake the feel of dread as he spoke, "Something strange is happening," Color has been drained from his face as he looked like a ghost, floating around the room as he sat down at the table. He played with his fingers, his eyes drilled down against the wood grain. "When we were sent out to find the lost, it reacted strangely." He started vaguely, which didn't help me at all.

I pulled out a chair and follow behind him, with my legs pointed at him and all. "What do you mean?"

He took a breath and collected his thoughts, he was terrified, curling his lip between his teeth first before speaking. "It spoke to us." Theron whispered to himself again, my brow rose. It had eaten him alive from the inside out, I couldn't believe a Captain like him was so afraid. "I killed it, we cornered it at a park but- it spoke. It was Russian or something." He talked about the Lost.

Ithe pipped, He's not lying-  I had no doubt that he was telling the truth, I would be a fool to believe anything else. After everything that has happened, the impossible is possible. "Losts haven't been known to talk, what did it say?" I couldn't imagine that Theron had kept this from the Keepers or the Council, and the fact that he was telling me right now.

I was stuck.

He shook his head in his own disappointment, "I didn't understand it, Russian was the one language I never had a chance to learn." No one desired to learn it, because the Vampiric Queen hated Russians. She almost never allowed them in court. Russian Vampires had their own Keepers and laws to abide. "I was hoping if you went to the kill site you could find out for me." He looked up at me, I swallowed down on my pride.