Once Cadence and Elliott were gone, the four of us were thrust back into silence. I could see how hard Jamie was fighting to wake up and thought it must be so odd to be lying there fully conscious but unable to do anything. At least he knew his sister was safe.
“So… how long has she been…?” Cale finally asked, looking at me, though I think anyone could’ve answered.
“Not long,” I told him. “Just a few minutes before you guys came in.”
“Okay. Well, there’s no point in me standing here and watching her. I mean... you guys can. She’s your friend. I get that. But….” He looked around again and then walked across the room. I had no idea what he might be doing, but it was obvious he didn’t want to have anything to do with this situation, so he may as well go do something else if he could.
“Who is that guy?” Dax whispered, and I got the impression he was tired
“Tara’s vitals are returning to normal,” Cale explained. “I guess… whatever you guys did worked.”I couldn’t help but smile. I patted Jamie on the shoulder and gave him a little squeeze. “Thank you, Jamie. I guess I need to thank Christian, too.” It pained me to say that, but he had been the one to administer the shots.“He’s working on the trackers and the IACs,” Cadence explained. “We should let Tara continue to rest. Once she’s awake, we can see what she’s capable of.” That made me think that Aaron knew what we had done. “Did anyone contact her parents?”“Her mother passed away a couple of years ago.” Jamie’s voice still sounded weak. “She lived with her grandma, and her health isn’t good, so I wanted to wait.”I felt a little stupid for not having thought of any of that before now, but I had been so worried a
The sky had turned dark by the time Brandon got me settled in my wicker chair atop the apartment building. This was the same place where I’d contacted Mina, but I was going into this differently. No longer naïve that the other side didn’t know about my gifts, I was determined to accomplish my own goals while not allowing them to use me for anything.Brandon had been hesitant to leave me, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the task at hand with him staring at me, so he reluctantly went to wait on the other side of the door with strict instructions to come back to me if I wasn’t done in half an hour. I knew I would have to go in pretty deep to find what I was looking for, and part of me was concerned I might not find my way back again without help from the outside world. Mina had told me all of the answers were in my own head, but to find Paul, I’d have to reach into the minds of the undead, possibly the demonic Vampires who had c
Concentrating all of my effort, I thought back to the dream, the one where I had clearly seen both of their faces. I had little memory of the images, but Mina reminded me when I’d spoken to her. A fluid picture came into my mind’s eye, and the harder I tried, the more I was able to bring it into focus until I clearly recognized where I was.I was standing in at least a foot of sand. A dry breeze floated past me. I tried to remember I was still in my own mind, and I took a deep breath, determined not to leave until I found what I was looking for.As I looked around me, I remembered some of these views from my dream. An old, dilapidated building stood to my right. From behind its walls, I heard the screams of a thousand people, dead or undead, I wasn’t sure. I also heard the sounds of hammers and other tools. Dirt, graffiti, and grime covered what was supposed to be a white exterior, and I immediately knew this place should be feared. The scent of death
Brandon insisted I stop by my apartment and get something to eat before we headed over to the meeting. I was famished, so it didn’t take much to convince me. He made me some mac and cheese and I took a few notes about everything that I had experienced in my trance—or whatever you want to call it. I was pretty sure I’d remember the most important parts, but I wanted to make sure I told Aaron and Cadence everything I knew so that they had as much information as they could get in order to find Paul, get him out, find Holland and Carter, and destroy them. It sounded a lot simpler on paper….After we put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, I grabbed a Dr. Pepper and we headed out the door. I was running on fumes at this point, and I thought the caffeine might help, though I had a feeling when I crashed, it might be for a day or two. I thought my sister was probably feeling the same way, and when I saw her, that was confirmed. She had dark circles under her
I was really hoping no one would question how this worked with me, but of course someone did. Christian’s tone was accusatory as he asked, “Are you saying you think the reason you’ve been so aggressive lately is because she’s controlling you?”I probably wouldn’t have had to say anything to defend myself as at least half of the team reacted negatively to his question. Elliott’s hands immediately formed fists, and Jamie’s usually passive countenance turned to a scowl. I decided to speak up for myself, though. “Aggressive? If you’re talking about when I hissed at you the other night, that had nothing to do with Asteria. That was because you’re a moron.”Elliott laughed, and Christian eyed him like he was ready to take on the Guardian who was easily twice his size. Returning his narrowed gaze to me, Christian said, “Hey, I’ve done a lot to help you get where you are. Seems like you’v
Knowing what the enemy was doing was all fine and good, but it didn’t solve the problem. We were all silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to handle it. Elliott was the first to put the question to the table. “Terrific. So what the heck do we do about it?”An answer popped into my head, a thought that hadn’t occurred to me before. Holland’s telepathy was strong, I knew that for certain. But I had a feeling mine was just as strong, maybe stronger. I had been able to get into her head, after all. I’d been in Paul’s head, too, and he wasn’t a Vampire. I’d even sent and received a message from Aaron the night before during the raid. I heard Christian say something in response to Elliott’s question, and caught the end of it, “I’ll have to go back and see if I can….”Certain we were on the same wavelength, I said, “Go. Change the frequency. Do it now.” He looked at me lik
Cadence continued giving directions. “Aurora, you’ll be in charge of all of the Hunters while I’m gone, but you’ll ultimately answer to Hannah. I want you to get with Ashley and Meagan and discuss the tactics and weaponry we saw work the other night and the things that didn’t.”Aurora nodded, but she looked a little nervous, like she wasn’t sure she was the best woman for the job. “Right.”“You will also want to step up Tara’s training,” Aaron interjected. “She’s much faster and stronger than the rest of you now.”That raised some eyebrows, but no one asked exactly why that might be, so the Guardian Leader went on. “Shane has experience with these beasts, as does Dax. So ready them. I’ll be sending Cale home because I don’t want to leave Reno up in the air. They’re practically surrounded as well. Morgan will need his help.”“So tha
After Aurora left, only those of us who would be traveling to Australia remained in the conference room. I wanted to get up and go, but I was so tired, I needed a minute. Brandon ran a hand through my hair and said, “Christian seemed a little disgruntled.”“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Elliott chimed in, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “He seemed perfectly gruntled to me.”“He’ll get over it,” Aaron said, but I didn’t necessarily think that was true, and I didn’t think that he believed it himself. “You guys, we’re about to undergo an extremely dangerous mission. You know they’re going to throw everything they have at us. The Melbourne team is good, but they’re not up to the caliber of what we’re used to working with. We have got to be extremely diligent and not veer from the plan, especially since, as Cassidy noted, we’ll be going into this wit