Birthright

Ch 6: Falling Out


The clattering of metal caught Cedric's ear, and he increased his speed in its direction, hoping he would find Sofia and not anyone else who might be lurking about in a graveyard in the middle of the night. Demon or otherwise, there could be no good reason to possess such a hobby, and he'd rather not meet anyone who did.

Well, there was a singular good reason to be hanging out in a graveyard at night, pursuing a teenage girl no less, and he had managed to stumble upon it. "Sofia!" he called again, this time to gain her attention now that he'd found her, but she only slumped forward, gripping the iron bars and staring out beyond them. Damn it, he'd known she wasn't recovered enough to be out here. Breaking into a run, he closed the remaining distance between them in mere seconds and reached a hand out to grip her shoulder.

Instead, she spun on her heels, glaring at him with features so contorted by contempt that they were virtually unrecognisable. "One year?" she demanded loudly enough to wake the dead, possibly quite literally.

Was he meant to know what she was talking about or why she was so upset? Cedric shook his head, drawing a complete blank.

"Slayers live one year? How could you not tell me?"

"I– I… Sofia, I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about, but..." He raised his hand again, meaning to draw her in, but she jerked away from his fingers. "Look, whatever it is, let's just… go home. We'll figure it out there."

She turned and kicked the fence again instead of making any motion to head back to the palace with him. "There's no way you didn't already know." she spoke so quietly that he scarcely heard her, and he took a hesitant step in her direction in case she had anything else to say. "Goodwyn's Slayer lasted two years. Quite the accomplishment, I'm told. Then she died, and he's somehow a hero because it didn't happen a year sooner."

"Sofia, I was an infant when my father was an active Watcher. I swear, I didn't know anything about her."

Her eyes, when she finally looked at him again, were oozing pure venom. "You expect me to believe that no one ever mentioned it? Not your father, not in all your fancy training?" Cedric sighed, trying to recall if he'd ever been told exactly how long Slayers tended to survive, other than 'not very'.

"I'm sorry. It was a long time ago, and I did say I never paid much attention", Cedric confessed, bowing his head apologetically.

"Because it didn't matter?" Sofia supplied the reason, painfully astute as ever.

"Yes! Wait, I mean…" He ran a hand down his face, trying to maintain his already unsteady grasp of what was happening. "Would you just let me explain it properly?"

"No, I think you've made yourself perfectly clear. My life wasn't important enough to be bothered with. Sorry to be so much trouble for you." She tried to pass him, to take the path back to the village, perhaps, but now he wasn't ready to end this discussion. Not on that note, at least.

Though he knew he didn't possess even an ounce of her strength, he gripped her wrist as it swung at her side, tugging her back toward him. "You have never troubled me."

He meant it. Even when she was a precocious child, constantly foiling his plans without even suspecting that he was up to no good, it was impossible to begrudge her. How could he, when she constantly went out of her way to be nicer to him than anyone else had bothered to in a very long time? When she gazed up at him with such innocent adoration that even a heart made of solid forever frost couldn't stand a chance against her?

"Never", he repeated firmly. "If I was told that number, it was in the context of some nameless girl that I had absolutely no good reason to care about." Truthfully, that sounded a lot better before he said it aloud, but it was too late to fix it now. "Look, I'm a selfish bastard. Have I ever claimed otherwise?"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she enquired after a pause, yanking her arm away.

He opened his mouth to respond, but she wasn't finished.

"Or was it merely for your sake? A convenient excuse for how you can harbour so little concern about whether somebody else lives or dies must make it so much easier to sleep at night."

"I haven't", he mumbled under his breath, shifting his focus to the dirt beneath his boots, which he kicked at absently.

"Haven't what?"

He hadn't really intended for her to hear him, but since she did he took a deep breath and lifted his head again. "I haven't slept. Not through the night at least, not since you were called."

He wouldn't tell her everything. The last thing Sofia needed right now was to be burdened with the bleak details of what he dreamt during the brief patches of slumber his body forced upon him, devastating images of him collapsing beside an open grave, blubbering useless apologies as his heart shattered to pieces over her loss, scenes that played through his thoughts long after he jerked himself awake again, tormenting him just as much by the light of day as they had the night before. He wasn't entirely sure what he expected from her by telling her even this much. Not sympathy, obviously — not when she was out here endangering herself for everyone else's sake and he couldn't even be bothered to remember such a crucial detail about her new role.

"Sofia, we'll figure this out. We'll talk to Goodwyn, and... and train harder, night and day if need be. With enough practice, I'm sure–"

She scoffed, shaking her head at him and crossing her arms, drawing herself into her own embrace instead of seeking his the way she usually did when she was upset. "I tried that today and you practically shoved me out the door, remember?"

Of course he did, but that was only because he'd been shook awake by another nightmare, and the sight of Sofia sleeping soundly beside him, alive and well and looking every bit like a fiery seraph in the pale light that streamed in through his window to wash over her… that was all too much to handle at the time. By the time he came back to find her standing in his hallway, he freaked out, and that was his own problem to deal with. Later, once everything between them was back to normal again.

"That was about something else", he excused the behaviour awkwardly, perfectly aware of how lame it sounded.

"Right. You'll be happy to know that I have no interest in training with you. You've… how did you put it earlier? 'Lucked out'." She started to leave again as he mulled over the statement, forcing him to hurry so he could catch up with her.

"What are you talking about? Of course we'll train. We both will, I told you, we're–"

"Yes, please. Tell me again how 'we're in this together'. How this is something you and I are both facing, while you sit in your tower with your guides and your, your Watcher's journal, as I go out every night without any guarantee that I'll ever return."

Her voice cracked, and if he wasn't positive she would just reject him again, he would have tried to comfort her. Still, she was accusing him of sitting back and doing nothing, and of being indifferent to her safety, and he felt obligated to defend himself.

"That isn't fair. You know I would be out here with you if I could", he insisted, pointedly ignoring the way she rolled her eyes at him. "If I did that, Emily'd…"

"Of course. Well I have news for you and Emily. I'm done." She tried to take off again, but he sped in front of her, planting himself firmly between her and the path to the exit.

"What do you mean, done?" Cedric quizzed, scooting to keep her there whenever she tried to get by.

"Just what it sounds like. I refuse to be the Slayer", Sofia informed him, as though such a choice was anywhere within the realm of possibility.

"Sofia, you can't do that. You're the chosen one, it's your destiny."

She was stubborn enough to try it, and he shuddered to think about how the Council would react to a Slayer who refused to hunt. He was certain it had never happened before. It would signal the end of his probation, that much was obvious.

"And being a Watcher was yours. Look how seriously you took it."

"You can't escape this. It's who you are now."

"Watch me."

"Sofia..." If she would just stay still and listen to him long enough for them to sort things out, he believed they could get past this.

Unfortunately, she refused to cooperate, even moreso than usual. "You want the vampires dealt with so badly?" She stopped and dug her stake out, trying to hand it to him. When he refused to take it, she threw it to the ground instead. "Then you go kill them. I'm finished with monsters and graveyards, and especially with the Council."

"But not me, right?" he called after her as he watched her back disappearing into the distance.

She couldn't be through with him. They were best friends.

Weren't they?

"Slay them myself", he muttered, retrieving the discarded stake and glancing around in all directions.

She might have at least told him where the vampires were first.

Sofia ambled the twisting paths of the cemetery, allowing herself to get as lost in the rows of headstones as she was in her own head. She'd never quarreled with Cedric before, at least not this seriously. In all honesty, as much as it irked her to learn how little interest he once held in the fate of his future Slayer, now that she had some time to reflect on it, it was obvious that he cared greatly now that it was her life on the line. Besides, she wasn't entirely certain he was who she was mad at in the first place. It had just come as such a shock, what the hooded man said about the longevity of a Slayer, and Cedric showed up right when she was desperate for an outlet. He didn't deserve that, she scolded herself. Coming to a halt, she tried to guess at which direction she should take in order to find him again and apologise for her outburst. Again. I seem to have a lot to be sorry for lately, she moped silently.

Just as she was deciding on the most promising way, her senses detected a presence behind her. "Why are you following me?" Her question was met with a throaty laugh as the hooded figure stepped into her field of vision.

"You're good, I'll give you that much. I could always sneak up on the last one."

It occurred to her that he might be lying, so she purposely squelched any indication that he'd raised her curiosity with his claim.

"I hung around the entrance for a while, but you didn't come out. Thought you might have got yourself into trouble again."

"Well, as you can see, I'm perfectly fine, so–" A scream ripped through the graveyard, causing Sofia's heart to leap so high into her throat that she thought she might choke on it. "Cedric."

She raced off into the direction that the clamour had come from, and the stranger followed after, struggling less to keep up than she expected.

"Your Watcher? Why would he be out here?" he panted while running alongside her.

"Because he's an… because I'm an idiot", Sofia confessed, keeping her eyes trained on the ground so she wouldn't trip, which would cost her valuable time in reaching Cedric. "I told him to fight the vampires himself."

They skidded in front of the mausoleum, but there was no sign of him.

"You are an idiot."

This caught her off-guard, to the point that she almost stumbled.

"A Watcher is no match for a vampire, not even a newly turned one. All that training doesn't teach them a thing about what it's really like to battle demons."

"I know that", she spat out, gripping her side where a cramp threatened her search efforts. "I didn't think he would actually try... It's your fault, too", she accused him, scanning the dirt until she found tracks: footprints and larger ones that appeared startlingly like a Cedric-sized man being dragged.

He's okay. He has to be. I haven't apologised to him yet. She stayed on the trail, trying to pay no mind to the mysterious man as he travelled along with her.

"My fault? Do you always have this much trouble accepting responsibility?"

"You have no idea what kind of responsibilities I have to deal with." How dare he question her, and about that of all things. She'd been racking up insane amounts of duty and obligation since she was eight years old. Aside from that, her life wasn't any of his business.

"Stop", he commanded, and she felt her cheeks flame with anger.

"No, you've–"

His hand flew up to block her, and she understood why when she spotted a small group of vampires — four to be precise, circling an unconscious robed figure. Cedric.

"Why aren't they…? You know", she whispered.

He collected her hand and led her behind a row of graves, and though she considered him to be detestable in general, she was grateful for this, because if she'd been left to her own devices the sight of Cedric in danger would have left her frozen in place.

She waited for an answer, but he simply shook his head, pushing her further down behind the headstone as one of the vampires paced by. When the coast was clear, she peeked back up to keep an eye on Cedric while she tried to concoct a rescue plan.

"I think I know", he informed her, his obscured face turning from her to Cedric and then back again. "Are the two of you- have you been close?"

Sofia furrowed her brow, failing to grasp his meaning. "What are you talking about?"

"Physically. Have you been physically close recently? A hug, or- or…?" He trailed off and her thoughts turned to an afternoon spent cuddled up in bed with her best friend.

She opened her mouth to tell him, only to shut it again in an instant. 'We were in bed together.' 'We slept together.' She wasn't naive enough to miss how easily such words could be misconstrued.

"It's possible", she settled on, praying that the renewed burning in her cheeks wasn't visible in the darkness.

"He probably reeks of you. It's a trap."

Of course. There was something in Cedric's book about their heightened senses. After her run-in the night before, they knew she was the Slayer, and if he smelled like her it would only stand to reason that she'd come for him.

"What should we do?"

"Leave him. Live to fight another day."

Under any other circumstances, Sofia would have given the man a piece of her mind, but she didn't have time to waste on arguing with him, not while Cedric needed her. The only option was to fight, with or without his help. She rose quietly to her feet, surveying the area for anything that might function as a weapon, cursing herself for leaving her only stake behind.

"Sofia, let's go", he hissed, wrapping his fingers around her forearm to drag her away.

To lead her to safety. He cared if she was safe, had since they met in the mausoleum. Well, if he wanted to keep her out of danger, he would first have to follow her headlong into it, because there was no way she was leaving here without Cedric. She shook herself free, stomping on a nearby branch and bending it back until a piece of it broke off that could reasonably pass for a stake. The echoing crack put every vampire on alert, shouting to each other about the noise and falling back to defend the marker Cedric was slumped against.

"What are you doing?"

"Rescuing my best friend!" She ran straight into the group, smirking victoriously as she heard his heavy feet chasing after her.

Whatever else this man might be, he was about to become her reluctant ally in battle.


Author's note: Sorry it's a few hours late (technically Thursday here), but here we go. Just wanted to say the view count after the last chapter went up was far beyond my expectations. I'm really happy to see there's still an interest in this story after almost a year!