The first thing she did when she arrived in her apartment was contact her sister and let her know that Brandon would be picking her up Saturday instead of Cadence. While she was clearly put-out, she was also in the middle of algebra class and couldn’t argue and concentrate on instruction at the same time. Cadence assured her that she would fill her in on everything as soon as she could but that this mission was top secret, and Aaron didn’t even know about it. Cassidy’s profound response had been a resounding, “Whatev.”
Cadence spent the rest of the afternoon talki
“Just calm down,” Jamie repeated in a serene voice as he sat on her couch. Cadence was not sitting. She was pacing, furiously, back and forth. Luckily, she’d been able to control her anger long enough to set the urn back down without heaving it across the room. It sat on the mantel again, reminding her that her fiancé was not to be trusted.“Why would he do that?” she asked probably for the hundredth time since Jamie had shown up, five minutes after she’d called him on the IAC shrieking about what Aaron had done, which had been about twenty minutes ag
“All right, we’ll do rock, paper, scissors, and whoever loses has to go in first, got it?” Mike O’Shea said in a sharp whisper, his pale face barely visible in the streetlights beneath his dark green hoody. A sharp wind blew the leaves around them, causing them to screech across the concrete sidewalk, and a shiver went up his spine.“There’s no way I’m going down there at all,” his girlfriend, Tiffany Dickens, cried. She was wearing a faux fur coat and no hood, leaving her standing in the shadow of the brick wall shivering.
Most nights, Cadence either dreamt that Jack was chasing her or had no dreams at all. This night, however, she dreamt that she was with Elliott. They were at a basketball game, and though she had very little interest in the sport, she recognized Larry Bird and Magic Johnson on the court. He was sitting next to her, clapping and cheering, and soon she found herself cheering right along with him. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him so happy. Every time the Lakers scored, he jumped out of his seat, applauding and whooping along with the other Los Angeles fans.Eventually, she leaned over,
The information she found said this should be a twenty-two-hour drive, and she saw no reason to make it much faster than that. She had five days after all. Still, Cadence was used to going faster than humans, and she pulled into Salt Lake City around midnight, well ahead of the time she should have arrived by people standards.She’d already decided she would spend the night there and scoped out an unassuming motel on the outskirts of town. She wanted a place that took cash, even though she had a credit card with her just in case of emergencies. If she used it, Aaron could find her. As it
Aaron had messaged Cadence after his hunt last night, and she had ignored him. She finally decided to go ahead and let him know she was alive around 10:00 as she was humming along down the highway at a pretty good pace. “Hey,” she said. “Sorry—I went to bed pretty early last night.”“That’s okay. How’s it going?”
There was a dinging noise as the bell above the door signaled Cadence’s presence, and right away, she knew something was wrong. Behind the counter, an older man with a scraggly beard and unkempt graying hair stood, a nervous smile on his face. “Morning, miss,” he said, his fingers rapping on the counter before him.“Hi,” Cadence said, looking around the rest of the store. There was no sign of anyone else inside, which couldn’t be right. Also, the fluttering feeling in her stomach told her that either this cashier was a Vampire or one was hiding nearby. She t
“Where are you, exactly?” Dr. Cale Ryan asked over the IAC. Cadence could tell he was surprised the second she’d given him the news that she would be by to pay him a visit shortly, but she couldn’t tell if the secondary emotion was annoyance, irritation, or anxiety.“Well, exactly where I am, I’m not sure. But I’m probably fifteen miles outside of Elko,” she explained.
Besides being an area leader, Cale was also still a practicing surgeon, and he actually saw patients in this same building, which housed the headquarters for the region. Most of his patients knew about the Ternion for some reason or another, whether it was a relative or having actually been a practicing Hunter or Guardian at one time.His living room was fresh and white. Even the furniture was so clean, she didn’t want to sit down for fear of getting it dirty. He offered her a seat on the sofa, however, so she slipped her backpack off and took it.
Hannah took Jo to give her a bath, and Ona helped Cadence get Cadon latched while Jamie left to go check on his own one-month-old baby. Cadence’s son was a pro almost immediately, latching on the first try to resting peacefully while he nursed. Cadence couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have even one sweet baby, let alone the blessings of two. He wore a tiny little cap to keep him warm, and she couldn’t help but stroke his head while he made soft baby noises in her arms.Hannah brought Jo back before Cadon was finished. It took her daughter much longer to latch. She kept turning her feisty little face away, growling her discontentment as Cadence tried to get her on and not disturb Cadon at the same time. With Aaron’s help, their daughter finally latched, but he had to have his hand on her back or else she’d pull off again. “She is definitely a Daddy’s girl,” Cadence declared, shaking her head at her strong-spirited daughter.
“For the record, there really is no comparison between us naming our son after a famous jazz pianist and you naming your daughter after a murderous dictator,” the Healer pointed out before getting back to the task at hand. “I think in two or three more pushes, we’ll have a baby.” He was looking at Cadence now, smiling at her above the draped sheet that made her feel a little more secure even if it didn’t really hide anything at all from the doctor.“Okay,” she said again, ready to get it over with. Jamie told her to push, and she did, as hard as she could, hoping for two and not three as the lucky number.“Keep pushing,” Jamie said, even though Aaron had reached ten. “She’s almost there.”Cadence strained even harder, giving it every bit of energy she had left, and a few seconds later, she felt her daughter slip into the world. Listening to her cries made Cadence’s heart melt all
“One more push, Cadence,” Jamie insisted, his normally friendly-tone replaced by his not-quite-as-friendly medical professional tone. “One more time, and we’ll have a baby.”Cadence could feel the sweat dripping off of her forehead and wondered how normal human women did this, especially the ones who refused any sort of pain medication. Even with her superhuman strength and resilience, she was tired. Jamie had gloves on so he wasn’t using any of his healing powers to help her, but she had opted for the epidural, which minimized her pain but did nothing for the exhaustion.“You ready?” Aaron asked, standing next to her, holding one leg while Ona, a Healer who was acting as Jamie’s nurse, held the other.“I’m ready,” she nodded. Her husband’s smile hadn’t dimmed since her water broke three hours earlier. It might not have diminished since they’d left Prague eight months ago,
Jamie gently wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He kissed her cheek. “Love you, Cadence.”“I love you, too,” she said, returning the kiss. He took a step back and smiled at her before heading off toward the mountain.Cassidy hugged her sister a little more tightly than the doctor had. “Don’t you ever die on me again.”“I won’t. You neither. I love you, little sister.”“I know.” Cassidy giggled at her own smart remark. “I love you, too.” Cadence kissed the top of her sister’s head, and Cassidy let her go, stepping back to wait for Brandon.“Good job getting the monster.” Brandon’s hug was more like a pat on the back, and Cadence almost laughed, wondering if he just didn’t want to break her or was embarrassed.“Thanks, Brandon. Take care of my sis.”“I will try,
“The baby, Cadence,” Aaron said in her head. “You’re carrying our baby.”Cadence sucked in air all over again, like she had when she’d first fought to open her eyes. The baby! Jamie had told her she was pregnant before the hunt. How it had slipped her mind was beyond her, but yes, she was going to have a baby.Or was she? Her eyes flew to Jamie’s face, all of her questions bottled up in her eyes as she raised both brows, hoping he could alleviate her worry.Jamie smiled and gave a small nod only she could see. All of the air rushed out of Cadence’s lungs again as her hand flew to her abdomen, sighing in relief.“What is it?” Cassidy asked. “What was the other thing you couldn’t remember before?”Part of her wanted to keep their little secret just that, and she was disappointed that she hadn’t been the one to tell Aaron. She looked to him to see if
Cassidy smiled, but didn’t say anything, and Cadence could tell by her expression, she didn’t know what to make of Cadence’s revelation. It was no matter—she moved on.“Jack was pitching, Elliott. And the batter was a guy who looked so much like you. I couldn’t remember you at the time—sorry—but I asked, and my grandparents said the batter’s name was Jimmy.”“Jimmy?” Elliott echoed. “I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that name to you.”“I don’t think you have either, but that’s your brother’s name, isn’t it.”Elliott’s head rocked back and forth slowly. “Wow. If that don’t beat all.... It’s like the freakin’ Wizard of Oz. ‘And you were there, and you were there....’ Hmmm.”“Well, it gets Wizardier because your mom was there, too. Arlene. And she wa
A growl from Elliott let her know he disagreed, but he didn’t say anything more, and Christian only nodded before he faded out of view. It was just as well. Cadence was exhausted. She didn’t really want to talk to anyone else, just let her husband pick her up in his strong arms and carry her back to the SUV so she could take a shower and fall asleep for a few years.“I hate to interrupt,” Scarlet said, taking a step closer to where they were sitting. “Cadence, it is wonderful you’re okay. But Jamie, what about that serum you made? Do you think we should try it? If we can get the Hybrids back up there, we might be able to save some of those people who are still trapped in the holes.”“Oh, right.” Jamie scratched his head, like he’d forgotten about the serum. “Yeah, why don’t you and Cale start working on that. The serum is in my backpack, which is in the trees near where we first encountered the bla
Lungs burning, body aching with the pain of soldering itself back together, eyes blinded by brilliant white, Cadence opened her mouth and sucked in air for the first time in as long as she could remember. Her legs still felt like they were on fire, like she’d been running for hours, but as she tipped her head back and began to cough the memories of what had happened to her, how she’d killed Daunator and then found herself in the air with no ground beneath her boots, flooded her mind, and every trace of memory about why she felt like she’d been running fled her mind.“Cadence? Cadence!”Aaron was there. She could feel his hands on her, even though she couldn’t open her eyes to look at him yet. Her throat burned as she continued to sputter, coughing and choking on the air she so desperately wanted in her lungs. How long had she gone without taking a breath? Why did her heart feel like a jackhammer, her chest muscles sore from the exert
Jamie was at twenty-two, and Aaron was trying to focus, but the voices to his left were prominent in his mind. He could still hear Elliott’s murmurs, Cass’s sobs, sighs and gasps from others. Christian was pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, behind almost everyone. Aurora, free of her handcuffs now that she was no longer a threat, was doubled over on the ground, her hands linked around her knees, her wails having lost their voice minutes ago so that she was no longer making a noise as her body shook and spasmed. Eliza had her arm around the much taller Hunter, trying to be comforting, but Aaron was aware that, of everyone here, Eliza Wrath was the only one who really didn’t care if Cadence ever opened her eyes again. He could feel it rolling off of her in waves of ugliness like the sea during the type of storm that leaves debris littered all over the beach, breaks boats in its wake, and sends sailors to the bottom of the ocean.There were