Jack took another drink of his beer, gulping the rest down before he placed the glass back on the table, wiped his mouth on his hand, and attempted to formulate the question burning in his mind into articulate words. Somehow, however, before he even asked for clarification, he knew what Giovani's answer would be. "Who is Holland?" he began. "And, how can she be my mother?"
Giovani smirked and signaled to the waitress who had just started her shift. Still tying her apron, the petite brunette approached the table, her shoes clicking noisily on the wooden floor. "Can I get a couple more Buds?" he
Dr. Arnold stared at the phone on his desk, contemplating exactly how he was going to explain the disappearance of Jack Cook's body to his parents, particularly since the scene in the morgue had called to mind more horror movies than he cared to count. Dr. Arnold was a man of science, not usually one to believe in the paranormal. But after witnessing firsthand what appeared to be a corpse without a drop of blood left inside, with sharp fang marks over the heart, and with no earthly explanation as to how Jack Cook's body just seemed to walk out of the hospital, the only conclusion he could draw was that, in fact, Mr. Cook had done just that.
The ringing of Mrs. Cook's phone jarred Cadence awake. She hadn't even realized she had been asleep and wondered if anyone else had noticed. If they had, no one said so, and she wiped the sleep out of her eyes while listening to Alice Cook's half of the conversation she was clearly having with someone at the hospital."Yes, I see," Alice was saying. "All right then. We'll be by shortly. Thank you, Dr. Arnold," she said pressing the End Call button. Everyone in the room was perfectly still, their attention focused on Jack's mom as she gathered her thoughts in order to relay the message. "That w
"Is that possible?" Jack asked, giving his full attention to Giovani. "Can we track Cadence down and convince her to become one of us?""Of course, brother," Giovani stated emphatically. "Why not? If you can be changed, she can be changed, right?" He withheld the information that Cadence could never be turned in to a Vampire because she was already a Vampire Hunter. Jack had no idea that his ex-girlfriend was now his deadliest enemy, and telling him so would likely work against Giovani's plan.
The Hunters were a pair of sisters, the older of whom had previously worked for LIGHTS but had been on her own for the last decade or so, recruiting her sister to work with her. Though she had been successful for many years as part of the team, she had her reasons for departing. Laura, the older and taller of the two, was royally pissed to see Giovani speeding away in his familiar black Corvette. She had been tracking him for more years than she could count, and it seemed that they were just about to get a two-for-one hit when he caught their scent and bailed. "Dammit!" she yelled, her black knee-high boots coming to a screeching halt on the sidewalk outside of the dinky little bar Giovani had so rapidly exited. "We almost had him!"
Cadence glanced down at the number on the screen of her cell phone. She didn't recognize it, but she knew it was local because the area code was the same as the number in Jack's dorm room. Thinking it might be someone back at the hotel, she answered. "Hello?" she said, still trying to hear the conversation going on around her.There was no answer at first, just some commotion in the background. It sounded like a restaurant or other public venue. "Hello?" Cadence said again, this time slightly louder.
Elliott's eyes were locked on Cadence, and his brow was furrowed, as if he were deep in thought. He still managed to answer Hannah's question. "Same old story. Rogue Vampire, no one can seem to get a handle on him. You itchin' for a hunt, Cadence?" he asked, a thought popping into his head.He had her attention now, even though she was well aware that Elliott was not her biggest fan. "Always," she replied, almost absently.
Mitzy from Lincoln wouldn’t normally have been one of the first people Aaron would expect to hear from after awaking from surgery, but under the circumstances, he wasn’t surprised. "Just wanted to make sure you're aware that we've got a newbie in Lincoln. He's hooked up with Giovani, and a couple of free agents are attempting to relocate them now. Think they're headed toward Omaha. I saw him earlier and was about to call him in myself, but I heard you were a little under the weather and didn’t want to bother you. But these two Independents were persistent."
Ahead of them, Giovani was finding humor and excitement in the pursuit. "They've been chasing me for years," he explained to Jack, whose grip on the "oh-shit handle" was so strong, his knuckles were white. "I love it when they get real close and then I rocket away from them. Crazy bitches."Jack had so many questions he wanted to ask, but he was afraid, if he opened his mouth, the only thing that would come out was a scream, or vomit. Although, he wasn't quite sure that Vampires were even capable of that second one. The faster they went, the closer they got to the other vehicles around them, t
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