Cadence turned to Lucy and asked how she was doing, and Lucy told her she was doing okay. I thought Lucy had acclimated very well to her new life, especially since she’d moved in with Tara. She was also taking online classes now and was enjoying them. “Do you think it would be okay if I started watching the training sessions?” Lucy was asking. My ears perked up. I couldn’t imagine Lucy wanting to get up early to go watch people work out. It sounded odd. But then, I guess she was just excited to get on with this as soon as possible.
My sister didn’t answer right away, so Lucy continued. “I know I can’t participate yet, but if I could watch that would be cool.”
It did not sound cool to me, but I would be happy to have Lucy there, so I said nothing. Cadence slowly nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll ask Aurora.”
“Thanks,” Lucy said, looking relieved. I wondered if she’d been thinking about as
Knowing that Brandon was standing on the other side of the door waiting for me was always a comfort, but as soon as I settled into my trance, I had the feeling this was going to be different, more intense.The stars reached out to me like they always did as I felt myself fade away. It seemed like I should save the most hazardous task for last, so I pushed Holland off and honed in on the situation in Houston. All of the Vampires that had been present during the hunt were dead now, obviously, but I hoped I could get some sort of a read on what had taken place from other Vampires in the area. The chatter was mostly about how violated the Compliant Vampires were feeling, that they didn’t understand why they were being targeted when they hadn’t done anything wrong, and I had to agree with them to an extent. But some who were claiming innocence held secrets in their minds, ones no one had been able to access until I walked in. So when my sister and Aaron had declared to
Going into Holland’s mind is always a risk because she can get information from me as quickly as I can get it from her. So I had to be fast, and I had to be quiet. I had a feeling she was still in Melbourne. We still hadn’t been able to determine exactly where her headquarters was, and she’d done everything she could to mask that information from me, as well as keep all thoughts of anyone who knew the location, other than Hines, out of her thoughts so I couldn’t determine who to pinpoint. I wish I knew how to zero in on people I hadn’t met or didn’t know, but my skills didn’t work that way, or if they did, I hadn’t figure out how to make them that precise.Something was different this time. I could tell immediately, the second I slid into her nefarious mind. While that sense of overwhelming despair she still harbored for Carter was obvious, there was an undertone. What I had perceived as nausea before hit me in a wave, and I tuc
“We’ve been over this.” Brandon had his arms folded and stared at my sister as intently as I had been. I was so glad he was with me. At least he took me at my word. “Cassidy is certain that Holland is pregnant. So what now?”“I don’t know.” Cadence scooted back on the couch and hit her head on the wall, absently rubbing it like she hadn’t even noticed as she continued. “I mean, obviously, we need to talk to Aaron and Jamie.” She was shaking her head. I knew what she was thinking. The only way there had ever been a baby Vampire before was when a Vampire was heinous enough to bite a baby and change them. This was a first—but it was the truth nonetheless.I was ready to go back to my prison cell downstairs now. I’d had enough of my sister’s doubts and wanted to see if I could clean the bad mojo I’d picked up from Holland out of my mind. “Okay.” If she thought I was going
My mom shook her head and folded her arms. “I don’t understand why Cadence is doing this, getting more of that serum injected into her body. It all seems so... unnecessary. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”Eyes wide, I studied her for a moment. If it were me, she’d be standing at the foot of my bed the whole time, wringing her hands because she’d be so worried I might die. Cadence could do whatever she wanted, and my mom didn’t bat an eye. “It’ll make her better at her job,” I reminded my mom.She shrugged. “I guess so. I don’t really see a difference.” I guessed the conversation was over because she headed over to her recliner.“You don’t see a difference?” I wasn’t done yet. “Mom, Aaron and Tara are, like, ten times faster than the rest of us. They’re stronger.” She was unimpressed. “They have X-ray vision.”“Now, who
Elliott was nervous. I could tell by all of the awful jokes he was making on our way over to Jamie’s operating room. Of course, he always makes a ton of jokes, but these were more “dad jokey” than usual. I couldn’t blame him for being nervous; I would’ve been, too, I think. But since Elliott had been told nothing could kill him, there was a pretty good chance he’d come through this unscathed. Perhaps it was the intense pain he was likely to experience that had him a little sillier than usual. If this process felt anything like going through the Transformation process felt like for me when I initially went through it, he was in for a pretty crappy morning.I hadn’t seen Cadence, and she still hadn’t answered my message from the night before. I figured she was busy and would likely be a little late because she has a tendency to come in a few minutes after she’s supposed to be some place when she has a lot going on, but when
“Okay, I’m guessing it’ll be about two minutes of severe pain, and then you’ll be fine,” Jamie explained to my sister and Elliott as he picked up a needle and flipped the lid off. “Asleep, but fine.”I didn’t see any tourniquets or anything, which I thought was odd, but I figured Jamie knew what he was doing. He took ahold of Elliott’s arm and bent it at the elbow for a second, like that would be enough for him to find a vein, and I figured if a person has been finding veins for two hundred years, it doesn’t take much.As Jamie brought Elliott’s arm back down so that it was straight, Elliott looked at my sister and said, “See ya on the other side, kid.” I glanced over at my sister and thought she looked slightly calmer. I wondered if Elliott had used his green sparkling eyes of trickery to make her feel a bit more relaxed, but I didn’t have time to think about it too long before Jamie w
Once everything was put away, Jamie went around the end of Cadence’s bed and took Aaron’s hand in both of his for a moment. A few seconds later, it was completely healed. Jamie stifled a yawn as Aaron thanked him, and then the Healer asked, “Are you gonna hang out here for a while?”I had a couple of hours before I was due in the gym, and while I’d had my fair share of watching people sleep when Tara was lying in this very room not long ago, I planned to stay as long as I could. Brandon was getting us both chairs, I realized, and my eyes stayed focused on Aaron, wondering what he would say.He looked surprised that Jamie had even asked, like it hadn’t crossed his mind, but he replied, “Yeah, I guess so.” He didn’t move to get a chair, though, only took a few steps backward, out of Jamie’s way as the doctor crossed the room to do something at a prep station, and Aaron took on a distracted look, like he wasn&rsq
“I guess the Transformation serum took, then?” Elliott asked, still a little dazed from just waking up.“I think so,” Jamie nodded, clearly relieved and glad that he’d figured this process out. “Everything seems relatively normal.”“Relatively?” Elliott asked, sitting up completely as Jamie stepped back.“Yeah, your heartbeat is a little faster than it was before, but that’s to be expected.” I saw Elliott glance around Jamie at Aaron who had only a small grin for his best friend. “Aaron’s heart rate is always elevated.”Elliott seemed to accept that. He slid over to the edge of the bed so that his legs were dangling for a minute before his feet touched the floor. “Can I go then? I’m starving.”“What else is new?” I muttered, smiling at him. At least one of them had woken up with no horrible side effects.“Sure,”