Just as the Vampire was closing in, Dax launched himself off of the lowest rung of the amphitheater and stabbed it in the back. He started sawing through the monster’s neck and eventually brought it down before turning to Brandon. “We need to get you out of here.”
“I can’t walk.” Brandon gestured at his shattered leg.
“That’s all right. I can carry you,” Dax insisted. He didn’t give Brandon a chance to respond before he leaned down to pick him up, but the second Dax moved Brandon’s leg, he screamed, and Dax had to set him back down. My nails dug into my palms.
“Sorry. It’s not gonna work. If Heather can block Holland, we should be able to mow them down.”
“She doesn’t know how to do that,” Dax replied.
“That’s okay. She can do it.”
“Why not just ask Cass?” The gunfire was getting closer, and it was hard for me to
The monster’s knees buckled, and he fell to the ground. Brandon winced when his broken leg contacted the earth, but then the giant of a man rolled over on top of him, and any sort of scream was choked off. I realized I was watching my boyfriend throw up all over the place because of the pain he was in and had to switch my IAC to someone to else for a minute—anyone else—not just because it was gross but because I was certain he’d want some privacy for that. I knew I would.When I switched over to Lex, it became evident why the Vampire had weakened. Heather had managed to get the shield up. All around the battlefield, the tide shifted, and the LIGHTS members were easily able to cut down their assailants.I went back to Brandon to see Dax kneeling over him. The Vampire was gone, and Brandon was covered in ash—and a little bit of puke—and lots and lots of blood.The other Vampire, the one who’d been hollering a minute ago, d
I wondered if Cadence was listening in to all of this, too. I looked around the plane briefly and didn’t see her. Maybe she was still in the cabin, or maybe she was in the bathroom.I returned my attention to Brandon. I saw Antonio headed his direction through Dax’s IAC and was glad Brandon would be getting some relief. “You hanging in there?”“Yeah. Did you see all of that... like all of it?”Part of me wanted to lie to him. But I couldn’t. “It doesn’t matter. You’re going to be fine really soon.” Antonio was unzipping his bag, and Brandon and I were both relieved to see he had some morphine. “He’s got the good stuff.”The shot hit him pretty quickly, and I knew he’d get loopy soon, and with any luck, he’d pass out. “Where are you, Cass?”“I’m in your head.”He ch
I’ve always wanted to visit Rome. I thought of Brandon and I taking in the ancient sights together, maybe jetting over to Venice, spending the night in Paris.... Okay, different country, but much closer to Rome than Shenandoah, Iowa. Never would I have imagined I’d be visiting only to retrieve my boyfriend after a portal sucked him up in West Virginia and spit him out on another continent.We rode to the Roman team’s headquarters in one of their SUVs, and it was a tight fit, even though Cale volunteered to stay at the airport with Dr. Stewart. It was basically silent, except for Ashley sniffling every once in a while. I tried to focus my attention out the window. I was still angry at her. And Tara was driving me crazy with all of her giggles. She was actually not riding next to me, which would’ve been strange if I hadn’t purposely waited until she picked a row and then got in another one.The view out the window was amazing, even if I was
“I’ll see if I can remedy that and get you a better Healer,” Cadence offered. When the elevator door opened, it was evident we were not all going to fit inside. I looked around for a stairwell but didn’t see one. “For now, why don’t Cass, Amanda, Tara, and I go up, and the rest of you can head that way in a few minutes?”That made the most sense to me. I followed Cadence into the elevator. It was still a tight squeeze with all of us in there, and Lex. He smelled so good, I wanted to ask him what kind of cologne he was wearing so that I could get some for Brandon, but that seemed really weird. I’d just check his mind later.Lex pressed the button for the fifth floor. I wondered why these elevators hadn’t been modified to work with IACs, but then this building was so old, it was a wonder it even had elevators.“Brandon is doing well. Maybe he could have healed himself without it, perhaps. But I thought it
Cadence left, along with all of the others who had come up with us, and those who came up in the second trip, except for Tara and Amanda. Dax came over to me, and I let go of Brandon’s hand momentarily to give him a hug. “How are you?”“So much better now that I’m here,” he said. “That was the worst experience of my life.”I didn’t want to ask him to compare watching Tara almost die from Bonnie’s attack, so I didn’t mention it. “It’s so great to see you again.”“Thanks. Tara and I are going to go down the hall for a few minutes. There’s a little lounge over there. We just wanna talk in private.”“Oh, okay. See you soon.” I knew they could talk in private right here through their IACs, but I couldn’t blame him for wanting to spend some alone time with his girlfriend. I wanted Brandon to myself, too, but his mother was sitting right here.
“I’ll go turn on the shower for you,” Amanda offered to Brandon and stepped into the adjoining bathroom.“I hate to ask you ladies to leave, but this gown isn’t closed in the back so....”Brandon didn’t need to say more. Heather shot out the door like a firecracker. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and followed her, closing the door behind me. I was glad his mom was there to help him get up and make sure he could walk okay. She’d worked in a nursing home, after all, so she should be good at that sort of thing.“So... yer sister? She nice? I mean, she seemed kinda nice but also a little wound up. Pro’ly ‘cause her fiancé’s gone, ya think?”“She’s nice. She’s great. You’ll like her.”“That’s good. Them other fellers is nice. I like Jamie. Elliott’s a little bit of a... knucklehead. But he ain’t bad. I ain
I sat with Brandon on the plane ride to England. His mom was nice enough to give us some space. I know they’ve never been close, though she’s working on that now that she’s sober and back in school. But she sat next to Hannah, and they were chatting like good friends, which was cool. I had a feeling Elliott would appreciate his teammates welcoming Amanda. I glanced at Aurora and felt sorry for her. She looked pathetic, like she didn’t know if she was allowed to be sad about him being gone or not.Cadence had gotten a text from Aaron while she was in with Lex and Gia. She’d let us all know then that Aaron had a plan on his side as well, and we just needed to carry through with what we had talked about. She didn’t go into detail about what it was, and I wondered why that might be. So I asked Brandon.“What do you think Aaron’s plan is?”He swallowed hard and wadded up an empty bag of chips. He hadn’t stop
“I don’t know why Dr. Stewart wouldn’t want to go into the portal.” So even Christian can be sarcastic. “I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to free himself before the demons come for his soul.” He laughed like a villain in a really bad B movie.Stewart was restrained with the special kind of handcuffs Vampires can’t break. He also wore shackles and a whole mess of duct tape. He was trying to break free but was getting nowhere. “Why don’t you just let me float him in?” I looked at Christian when I said it, like maybe I meant him. Maybe I did.“I would,” my sister said, “but I’m probably going to need a shield from you. Holland’s going to give this everything she’s got. And I don’t want any shifting or super strong Vampires if we can help it.”“Heather can do it.”Cadence looked past me to our new friend, who was between Brandon a
Cadence was glowing, holding both of her babies, one in each arm. I smiled at her and then focused on Josephina. She wasn’t crying now, but her little face was wrinkled as if she might burst into tears at any moment. Aaron had his hand on her back, beaming with pride as he looked at his little family. Jamie and another Healer, Ona, were cleaning up a tray table, but I caught his eye, and he winked at me. I hoped he could tell how grateful I was. If it wasn’t for him and his life saving blue magical healing powers, not to mention his medical skills, Cadence never would’ve come back to life.“Where’s my new favorite lil girl?” Elliott asked beside me.“Hey! I’m your lil girl. You’re going to have to think of something else to call her.” I threw an elbow at him.“Oh, I’m just teasing,” Elliott assured me. “Still, she is definitely lil. And she is my girl.”“I&rsqu
I’ll never forget the day my sister died. Even now, eight months later, sitting outside of Jamie’s operating room with Brandon’s hand in mine, every time I think about what happened that day, I get tears in my eyes. So many things could’ve gone differently, if only one of us would’ve made a different choice. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on what I could’ve done differently myself that day, and even though everyone tells me there’s no point in dwelling on it, what’s done is done, it still haunts me sometimes when I’m trying to fall asleep at night, when I can so vividly see Cadence hanging there in the air before she plummeted to the ground, the whoosh of power that left my hand just missing its mark.The new Hunter Leader is a guy named Daniel Bower. He came in from California a few months ago. He’s awesome. I’ve known him for a while. He’s the one who helped capture Professor Stewart after th
I continued to beg and plead with her to come back to us. At fifteen minutes, Scarlet’s whispers were loud enough for me to detect what she was saying to Cale. “How long will he give it?”“I don’t know.” Cale seemed agitated and upset, certainly more connected to my sister than Scarlet. “Not yet.”“Please... Cadey, please.” I felt as far and as deep as I could, thinking about how I’d had to go so very far into her brain to plant that dream. The clock continued to tick. Cadence still wasn’t breathing, and Jamie began to sound desperate. At twenty-five minutes, when Jamie said “thirty,” his voice broke. He knew that the chances of her coming back to us now, after this long, were minute at best. He couldn’t give up, though. We couldn’t give up.Aaron blew two breaths of air into my sister’s lungs, and Jamie started counting again.Something was diff
After Aaron finally moved forward, I followed, staying back a little bit. I didn’t want to see her like that. I had never seen a person’s body after they’ve fallen that far, but I could imagine what it was like.Only when I finally did take a few hesitant steps around the trees, Brandon’s hands on my shoulders, she didn’t look like I expected her to at all.Cadence was lying flat on the ground with her hands folded over her abdomen, sort of like Snow White. Her feet were out straight, and her hair was blown out around her. She looked absolutely beautiful. And still. So very, very still.Jamie was doing chest compressions, and when it was time to breathe, Aaron did that for my sister. Some sort of automatic pilot must’ve turned on for him because his movements were very robotic. Jamie would say thirty, and Aaron would breathe into my sister’s open mouth twice before Jamie started counting again.Tears were rolling
“No!” My scream echoed across the mountainside as I watched in horror as my sister fell. I cannot guide what I cannot see, and I didn’t have a chance to get a grip on her before she plummeted. My hands shot out in her direction, but the surge of power I’d sent to grab her went over her head. I saw a streak of blue do the same and knew Jamie had missed as well.Fumbling through Cadence’s stream of consciousness, I tried again, hoping I’d be able to figure out how to get my powers around her before she hit the ground, but she was moving too fast, and without my eyes on her, I wouldn’t be able to get a grip.Part of me wanted to at least jump into her head, to be with her, to let her know she was okay, but then, the thought of what she was about to endure, when she hit the tops of the trees and then cascaded down through them to the earth, I couldn’t bear the thought, and I knew she wouldn’t want me to see it.I
“Brandon!” I shouted, floating over to where he had disappeared. He didn’t answer, and I realized he must’ve fallen all the way in. “Dang it.” I looked around the battlefield. I knew he was safe down there, but I hated that he was in that miserable place. Cadence was firing at Daunator now while Christian moved in, to place the grenade, I assumed, so I thought perhaps she’d be safe for a few minutes. I decided to help Brandon.“Are you all right?” I asked, using my telepathy.“Thank goodness,” he thought, probably not even to me. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just really dark in here.”“I know. Hold on, and I’ll get you out.”“If I hold on, won’t it be harder for you to get me out?”“All right smarty pants.” I needed to focus all of my energy if I was going to do this
“You okay?” Brandon shouted to me as he moved a little closer to where I was standing. The holes in the ground were not shaking now as much as they had been before, but they were still an obstacle we had to consider. I didn’t want him to get too close because of my tornadoes, but I was glad he was nearby.“Great,” I called back, sending another pile of creatures over the side of the mountain.Aaron was fighting his way through the crowd of black creatures, working his way to Cadence. The path was getting clearer, as far as the minions were concerned, but once he got within about a hundred yards of Cadence’s location, one of the Vampires that had been engaged with our forces closer to the top of the mountain broke off, clearly on his way to intercept the Guardian Leader.Whether he liked it or not, Aaron wasn’t alone now. I wasn’t sure where she’d come from, but Eliza was running parallel to him, fighting off
Moving the black creatures off of the ledge worked well, and I was just starting my second round when I realized my sister had taken off running toward Daunator. Christian had reached him already, a grenade in his hand. I prayed he didn’t get sucked down into another hole. The fact that Cadence was so far away from Aaron was worrisome, but he was busy with the creatures. While Cadence was slowed a few times by the minions sinking their teeth into her arm or grabbing at her heels, for the most part, they seemed to be letting her through, which seemed like a bad sign to me. Did Daunator want her to fight him?A blast of light illuminated the mountain, and then a wave of smoke obscured my view of Christian and Daunator. He’d thrown a grenade, the old kind, the ones he knew wouldn’t work. When the smoke cleared, Daunator’s laughter echoed through the air, and Christian went flying twenty feet in the air.Paul’s voice came over the IAC as I tos
Christian’s eyes widened. “Get out of here? We can’t. We have to get Daunator.”“We will. But for now, we need to go back and regroup. The most important thing is that you’re safe now,” Cadence explained to him.Christian was starting to freak out again. “No, Cadence, you don’t understand. We can’t just leave from here! We can’t just let him go!” His eyes were wild, and he reached forward and grabbed my sister’s shoulders. That lasted about half a second before Aaron grabbed him and pulled him off.“Listen, Christian, I agree. It’s important we come back and end this, but you need medical attention. And a good visit with Hannah.”And a shower, I thought to myself. But I was staying out of this one for the moment. I felt a stirring in the ground and a shift in energy somewhere further up the mountain. The argument was about to be moot.“No,