Aaron paused for a moment, obviously as caught off guard as the rest of us. But he continued like he knew exactly where he meant to take the conversation next, even if he didn’t. “Cadence and I are going to go ahead and let the other areas move out and destroy those pockets Holland was organizing around the eight largest headquarters.” There was a collective sigh of relief. Everyone had been waiting for this announcement since the Roatan Guardians had arrived and been distributed to said headquarters. “We will be treating Melbourne separately, considering the stakes there, but the other eight will be left in the hands of the Area Leaders. They have all been heavily reinforced with Guardians from Roatan, and thanks to Cassidy’s surveillance and the eyes we have on the ground, mostly Independent Hunters and Guardians, we have enough information available for our teams to move in and destroy them.” I appreciated the shout out, but I didn’t real
“Dad?” Brandon asked again, hoping Elliott would say yes and let him get the second round of Transformation serum. I saw a flicker in Elliott’s eyes once more, like he was considering it.“I don’t know, boy,” he said, defeat setting in. “Let me talk to your mom.”Instantly, Brandon’s mood brightened, and I thought about how unfair that was. His mom was supposed to be the crazy, abusive one—but she was likely to say yes to this because she had already basically turned Brandon over to his dad. My mom was the one at headquarters where she could actually see how much of an enhancement the procedure created. And she would absolutely say no.Aaron moved the conversation forward, talking about how we would attack the four bands of Vampires as soon as Jamie was done with the procedures. Once I realized they were talking about how all of that would go down, I tuned back in. Maybe there would be another opportuni
My sister’s voice cut through the stillness. Cadence asked Schmitz, “Do you know what they called this monster?”Schmitz nodded, but he didn’t answer aloud, and I wondered if maybe he sent her an IAC message with the answer, but then my sister asked, “Can you tell us?”Immediately, the nod turned into a negative, a quick shake back and forth that couldn’t be misunderstood. We were all puzzled. Aaron asked, “You can’t tell us? Why is that?”Finding his voice again, Schmitz replied, “Speaking his name is said to draw him out, and even though I am certain he cannot manifest here, I’m not willing to take the chance.”I was shocked to see him so frightened by someone who was reputedly located on another continent and realized I needed to know what this thing was so I could try to find out as much as I could about him.“Can you write it down?” Cadence asked, her voi
This meeting had already been a long one, and clearly there was more on the agenda, so we left the topic of Daunator in my hands, and Aaron suggested we look at attack groups for the upcoming infiltration. “Let’s assume this whole Transformation serum process takes two days. That means we can plan on moving in on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Unless something goes wrong with this serum situation, in which case we may need more time to make some alterations to the plan. I’ll let all four of the teams handle getting their people together for the pre-hunt meeting, unless you feel like you need me or Cadence there.”He looked around at the other three designated leaders—Elliott, Hannah, and Aurora—and all three of them shook their heads. I had no doubt Elliott and Hannah could handle their teams, but I didn’t think Aurora had ever done anything like this before. She looked a little nervous. I assumed my sister had pulled for one of the l
My mom was dusting when I got home, and since the apartment is so small she can dust the entire space in less than an hour, I figured she was just nervous. Still upset about our fight, I managed a small smile, but it probably looked forced, and I headed toward my room, thinking I needed to empty my gym bag and get started on my homework so I could do what Cadence and Aaron had asked me to do. If she wanted me to tell her about the meeting, she’d have to ask. I wasn’t the one who’d asked her to look over the data.“Well?” Mom inquired, following me into my bedroom. I was leaned over, picking up my bag, and zipped past her out the door to dump my dirty clothes in the hamper for really stinky clothes I keep in the bathroom.“Well what?” I asked, flying back around her before she even moved out of my room.“Well, how did the meeting go? Did I do it right? Is that what they needed?”“Yeah, it was fine
Closing my laptop, I tried to calm myself down. My heart rate was still faster than normal, even though I was over the initial wave of adrenaline the fight had caused. In the silence around me, I could easily hear the rest of the apartment. My mom was in the other room crying. Part of me wanted to run out and tell her I’m sorry, that I’m still her little girl, and I didn’t mean to be such a horrible brat. Part of me was glad she was so upset. She deserved it, after all. There was no reason for her to stick her nose in my business all the time.I turned on some soothing music to cover the sounds of my mother’s soft sobs and closed my eyes. I needed to figure out who this Daunator person was, and I needed to reach out to Larundel and see if I could find any Vampires that were still there. When Paul attacked, I wanted him to have as much information as possible. Not only was he my cousin, but we were linked now that I had been in his mind so frequently, p
A knock on my bedroom door startled me, and I realized I had heard it with my ears, and it wasn’t some mind trick. “Yeah?” I asked. When my sister stuck her head in, I was relieved. At least it wasn’t my mom.“Hey? You all right? I’ve sent you a couple of messages.” She walked in and flipped on the light switch. It had gotten darker while I was in Melbourne, though the clock told me it had only taken a half hour this time.“I’m fine. Just....” I shook my head, not sure how to tell her everything. “I couldn’t get anything useful.”“Oh.” She was disappointed. She smiled and nodded, but I knew the team had gotten used to having me as a resource, and I’d failed them.“Daunator may have stolen all of my thoughts, and Holland has some giant wall around Larundel.”“Yeah, we’ve seen it from surveillance footage,” she replied, misund
I slept well that night, despite the research I’d done regarding my newest scheme. Brandon and I hadn’t chatted for long because he was still trying to convince his dad to let him go through with the procedure. I knew Elliott would cave, so when I woke up to a message that Brandon would meet me at 7:30 to walk over to the facility to get it done, I wasn’t surprised at all.My mom was dusting again when I came out of the bathroom, towel drying my hair. I wondered if we should buy stock in Pledge. “Good morning, honey. You’re up awfully early.”“Yeah, no training today,” I replied. “Aurora is having her procedure done. So is Brandon.”“Oh.” I was surprised my sister hadn’t mentioned any of this to my parents. “Are you going over there, then?”“If that’s all right,” I replied, thinking it wouldn’t hurt to be polite. I was still upset at her, but
By the time my sister walked in, everyone was on their cots, and the Healers were meeting in the back of the room, talking about who would administer what to whom. I heard Jamie mention he had some extra syringes, just in case something happened, like a spill or a drop. “It can get a little violent,” he said, and I wondered what made him say that—until I realized how ferocious my own Transformation had been. I realized Tara’s had been, too, though Cadence and Elliott had undergone theirs with some form of grace. I had an idea Aaron’s had been pretty vicious, too.“How are you?” Cadence asked Brandon.“Never better,” my boyfriend replied dryly.“You’ll be fine.”He nodded and looked at the door. I was about to ask Cadence if she had any idea where Elliott was when it flew open and he rushed in. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, stopping next to Brandon’s bed. “Go