Staggered footsteps outside of the doorway drew Cadence’s attention, and she realized Jamie was headed back. Since Tara seemed to have calmed a bit, she hastily jumped up and went to help him. By the time she got to the hallway, he looked like he was about to fall over. She rushed forward and put her arm around him, catching a few loose items as they fell from his hands. “I gotcha, Doc.”
Once they were back in the playroom, Cadence lowered him to the floor, and Jamie took a few calming breaths. Perspiration beaded his brow, and he had a glossy look to him, like he was about to pass out. Or throw up.
“Looks like I’m giving Tara her blood transfusion. With my own blood,” she said, wishing it was as easy as opening the refrigerator and pouring it down her throat like she’d seen Faye do with Bonnie only the night before.
“Just give me a second,” Jamie said, blinking a few times like his eyes wouldn’t focus.
The computer wasn’t currently her friend, and Cassidy decided it was best not to randomly start punching in codes that could potentially lock it up altogether. In the distance, she could still hear the alarm that was doing its job and wished she could somehow communicate with it through telepathy.Brandon’s footsteps were discernible to her ear by now, and she heard him slow down as he approached the desk. “Jamie and Cadence are giving her the blood transfusion now,” he said, standing back a good two feet from the glass partition, his hands in his pockets. “They still don’t know if it’s going to work, but Cadence seemed to be in a good mood.”“Oh?” Cassidy asked, surprised to hear that.“Giddy, maybe. She’s probably exhausted and just doesn’t know it yet.”“Right,” Cassidy replied, definitely knowing the feeling.“I’m going to go see if Auror
Aaron’s throat burned and his neck still felt like it was hanging open, even though he was pretty sure the skin had reconnected. It would take a long time before the memory of the pain dissipated, though. Over the years, he’d sustained injuries from Vampires a few times, but this was one for the books. He’d been coming around the corner in the office, headed for the sound of Cassidy’s voice, when Bonnie had come out of nowhere. Before he could even react, she’d ripped into his neck and hurled him through the door. There was no question at this point, whatever had come through that portal, it was going to be hell sending them back to Hell.The basement was dank and smelled like mildew. Most of the lights were off, save a few blinking bare bulbs on chains, but that didn’t matter since he had X-ray vision. It cut through most everything. Elliott, who strode cautiously beside him, his Glock at the ready, didn’t have that luxury, but with
Aaron had asked Shane to take a team and gather up all of the wounded, transporting them to one of the larger rooms on the ground floor near Faye’s office. Even though they’d ridden up a couple of floors from the lowest level, that floor was still above them here, and Aaron remembered the first day he’d toured this facility with Janette and Jordan and they’d explained how it was virtually impossible to escape from. Unless, of course, your maintenance man Vampire decides to become a turncoat.“Thanks, Shane,” Aaron said, forcing himself to focus on what Vern was saying, even though he wanted to check on Cadence and see how she was doing, as well as Tara, the injured Hunter Shane had spoken of.“They just... seemed not to be thinking straight. And Spittle said he knew what to do, how to trip you up so you couldn’t talk to one another. He said he knew how to get into the apartments, that he’d been watching.&rd
The room was a little more spinny than it probably should’ve been, so Cadence decided now was as good a time as ever to go ahead and disconnect herself from Tara. Jamie was out, had been for probably close to ten minutes, and Tara was so still, Cadence had put her hand on her chest twice to make sure she was still breathing.“Do you need help?” Cassidy asked, leaning over her friend and steadying Cadence’s arm as she pulled the needle out. Cass took the tube and held it up so that the blood that was still in it wouldn’t spill on the floor as Cadence grabbed a cotton ball out of the supplies Jamie had brought and held it against her arm.“I don’t know if we’re supposed to take it out or leave it in,” Cadence said, eyeing the needle in Tara’s arm.“Why wouldn’t we take it out?”“What if they need a line or something later?”Cassidy shrugged, still holding up the
“Cassidy unjammed it, whatever it was. Maybe she can walk you through it so you can make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Cadence’s sister glanced up briefly but then returned her attention to her friend who appeared to be sleeping again.“I’m sure I can figure it out,” Christian replied, obviously unwilling to admit he might need help at all, much less from a sixteen-year-old girl. “Anyway, Jamie said once we administered the serum, we could move her over to the operating room. How long do you think it’ll take?”“Me?” Cadence asked, not sure what he meant. “How long do I think it’ll take to work? I have no idea. For Aaron, it was overnight. But… he died first. So… there’s that.”“Yeah, Jamie said he hoped he was awake before that happened so he could keep it under wraps.” He looked at the two teenagers in the room suspiciously, as if it was ju
Paul Larkin had been the Area Leader of Melbourne for almost half a century now, having been appointed by Jordan Findley in the mid-60s. The fact that he was related to Jordan’s wife shouldn’t have made any difference since Paul had proven himself in the field time and again before the appointment, but as he stared out at a sea of stars and wondered which one was Janette looking down on him now, he questioned his abilities ever so slightly.Something was amiss, he was sure of it. He’d been talking to Aaron frequently over the last few days. High numbers of missing persons were one thing, but when trackers stopped working and nearly all activity came to a standstill, it didn’t sit well with Paul or the rest of his team.Around him, six members of his crew, three Hunters and three Guardians, loaded up a van. It was the first time they’d be going out into the field in about five days, which was unheard of. Everything around here had been dead
Research had told them there were only three theaters here. Originally, there had just been one screen, but over the years, before the economy tanked and the cinema closed down altogether, two more had been added. Becky and Tanner walked through the first empty space, stepping over broken red, plush seats and the occasional pile of trash, sweeping their weapons out in front of them, making sure the room was clear.Neither of the other teams had discovered anything. The only creatures in the basement had been rats, which while vile and potentially deadly under the right circumstances, were not Vampires. “We’ll head up and check the equipment rooms,” Steph said, sounding slightly squeamish from her time with the rodents. She wasn’t a fan of such critters.“Moving to theater number two,” Becky informed the team as she and Tanner continued on to the next large room.This one, like the last, showed no sign of being inhabited, excep
Standing in a makeshift hospital room surrounded by twenty-some-odd Guardians whose bodies were struggling to put themselves back together, Cadence tried to concentrate on what the doctor was explaining to her, but too many distractions filled her mind, and she ended up just nodding along.It should’ve helped that Dr. Cale Ryan was the second hottest guy that she’d ever met in real life. With his wavy blond hair and light blue eyes, he was tall and dreamy. And his British accent was to die for. When they’d first met the year before, she’d fallen for him almost immediately. Her anger at Aaron had driven her on a self-discovery tour that eventually took her to Cale’s territory—Nevada—and while their relationship had been short-lived thanks to the ambush and tragedy at Sierraville, she still counted the doctor as a friend. So paying attention to him shouldn’t have been this difficult. When Aaron had asked him to catch a plane the n
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