The Vampire Queen was pissed, and she was doing her best to take it out on Cadence’s friends. That wasn’t going to do—not at all. The Hunter Leader chewed up the space between them as Elliott fell into step to her right, Margie, who’d seemed to materialize out of nowhere on her left. Up ahead, Jamie was ready to literally put out any fires Holland created while he healed those who’d already felt her wrath. Cassidy was doing her best to offset what Holland was doing with the other Vampires, but it didn’t seem like there was much she could do about the redheaded monster herself
Holland saw them coming, but she couldn’t stop all three of them at the same time, and as she aimed her balls of fire, Cadence and the two Guardians were able to sidestep them, their speed unquestionably a surprise to Holland. With less than a hundred yards between her and the grieving mother, Cadence tried to determine how best to take her out once and for all.<
“Hey, how’s it going?” Elliott asked, lying next to her on the ground, panting heavily. “Miss me?”“More than you can ever imagine,” she replied with a crooked smile. But the fight wasn’t over yet, and a much as she wanted to lie there and chat, she had to see if her grenade had done the job.It hadn’t—not really. She jumped to her feet, and off in the distance, she saw Holland’s dragon form flying off into the night. There was a stream of smoke trailing the monster, and she was still shrieking, but she wasn’t dead, and Cadence felt defeated. She’d ruined one of the world’s greatest treasures but hadn’t taken out the monster.“That had to hurt,” Jamie said, coming up behind her. “It might not have killed her, but that will put her out of commission for a while, I think. I doubt she’ll be able to follow us to the next portal opening.”&ld
The little red devil seemed to be a pretty good distraction for the demon hunters—while it lasted. Making it over to tunnel twenty-seven wasn’t too difficult, despite the fact that the howls and hisses were growing louder. The demon hunters were chasing Holland’s offspring from one tunnel to the next, the Guardians tracking the battle through the shrieks and growls, and from time to time, a red streak would pass by the end of the tunnel near enough that Aaron could almost make the monster baby out.The demon hunters were relentless, though, and eventually, they caught up to their prey. From a few tunnels away, Aaron heard the sound of sharp claws on rock and imagined the devil was trying to climb up to escape those chasing him. It obviously didn’t work, though, and a few seconds later, an earsplitting, high-pitched wail filled his ears. The shrieking went on for several seconds, and Aaron had to put his hands up to try to block it out. Holland’s
Normally, the attacks coincided with the portal opening, but this time, he didn’t hear the familiar pop and whooshing sound it usually made. There was no sign of it at the end of the tunnel either. So either the demons were early because they were restless, or he’d missed it. He was praying it wasn’t the latter. Surviving another six hours under these conditions didn’t seem likely.The snake was almost at his ankles by the time he disposed of both griffins. He shot it several more times, but stomping on its head was what finally made it go still. Behind it, several more pairs of glowing red eyes caught his attention.A loud grunt from Hines had him spinning around. One of the devil dogs had made its way past Christian and was gnawing on the Vampire’s head. “Son of a bitch!” Aaron screamed. Hines could do nothing to defend himself, and the canine had destroyed most of the quack’s scalp. Aaron shot the dog three times befor
The Cliffs of Moher were breathtaking, especially with the first streaks of sunlight coming up, kissing the velvety green grass with hints of gold. Ireland always seemed like a magical place to Cadence, though she’d only been there once before. Standing on the edge, gazing down at foamy waves breaking against jagged rocks seven hundred feet below her as a light breeze blew through her hair, she couldn’t help but hope the enchantment worked in her favor, and when the portal opened, her husband would be returned to her at last.“They’re here,” Cassidy said, purposely making her voice sound like the little girl from Poltergeist. Her approach interrupted Cadence’s solace, and she shifted slightly to look at her sister who stood a little too close to the edge for Cadence’s liking, despite the fact that Cassidy could float. “Dang, that’s a long way down.”“Where are they?” she asked, knowing her
Cadence hadn’t thought about the fact that they couldn’t always see the moon when the portal opened, but it was true. “I don’t think the portal is directly related to the moon. It’s just a trigger or something. Maybe it only matters when someone’s trying to force it open during the blood moon.” It had been up at Stonehenge, but not directly overhead, and she had no idea where it was when Brandon, Dax, and Heather came through.Cassidy looked across the sky before her eyes returned to Cadence’s. “Well, if this works, hopefully we’ll never have to worry about it again.”Cadence agreed. With a deep breath, she turned to look behind her. People were falling into place. It was an expansive area, and there wasn’t a surefire way to know where the portal would open, but she was standing near the coordinates Ward had given her from the work he’d done with Christian. It would be great if the portal ope
There wasn’t much time to think about it. The appearance of a body falling in their direction was both a relief and anxiety provoking, particularly since Cadence recognized it was Christian immediately. As he shot out of the portal, he swung out close to the edge of the cliff, and Elliott twisted around just in time to grab hold of Christian’s leather jacket and pull him back over the drop off.He was bleeding and breathing heavily when Elliott flung him back around and sat him down on the ground. Cadence couldn’t help but bombard him with questions. “Where’s Aaron? What was that sound? Is Hines okay?”“He’s... coming....” was all Christian managed before Jamie hit him with his blue light. Christian collapsed back onto the grass, and Cadence realized he had been hurt pretty badly. There was blood all over his clothes, as well as a black powdery substance she assumed had come from some sort of avalanche.&ldqu
His head was bleeding. So was his shoulder and his arm, and those were just the parts of him she could see. It looked like he’d made contact with a blunt surface several times as well. So many questions filled her head, but she couldn’t ask any of them. Despite his firm grip on her, it was obvious he needed help.They didn’t have to ask. Before the ocean could plunge them into the rocky shoals one more time, Cadence realized they were both floating out of the surf. Surrounded by blue healing light, as well as the ebb and flow of Cassidy’s powers, they slowly traveled up from the depths, holding onto each other with everything they had left.Aaron’s bleeding stopped almost immediately, and before they even reached the cliff’s edge, she could tell he felt much better. “Are you okay?” she asked quietly, pulling his head to her shoulder.“I am now.” Finally hearing his voice brought tears to her eyes, and s
There was a substantial shift in the Ternion. From his hole deep within the earth, Daunator felt it, and it rocked him to his core. Closing his ancient eyes, he felt out with all of his power and knew immediately what had happened. The Queen was gone, their numbers decimated, and the Hunters’ power had increased with the addition of the Hybrids.For over a hundred years, he had minded his own affairs, locking the rest of the world out of his thoughts and dealings as much as possible. Now, it was evident there was a choice to be made. He could either allow the current trajectory to follow its course, or he could take matters into his own hands, hoping to right the Ternion and bring balance back to the universe.The idea of becoming involved after all of these years was unsettling—particularly when he considered the idiocy that would draw him out. He’d warned Holland not to overstep, but her reckless self-confidence had been her undoing and nearly wiped
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