“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
Biting her nails was a bad habit Cassidy had picked up from watching her sister, but right now, she was sitting in a room listening to Tara’s heart monitor beep every twenty or thirty seconds, waiting to see if each blip might be the last, the noise only offset slightly by Jamie’s even breathing on the bed next to her; Cassidy wasn’t willing to give up the vice.It’d only been about five minute since Dax had left to go find a snack, but it seemed like an eternity. It was amazing just how many independent, disturbing thoughts could flicker through her mind’s eye in just those few minutes. The most disturbing of all involved the little girl who’d begun all of this mayhem, and Cassidy was still baffled at how she’d missed the true intent behind Mina’s plea to take care of her little girl. How had she been so easily tricked?Asking that question was sort of pointless, though, because Cassidy already knew the answer. Mina had
Jumping up out of her chair, Cassidy leapt over Dax’s long legs and took off. “Brandon!” she shouted, hoping not to wake Jamie but not giving it too much thought as she chased after her boyfriend. “Brandon, wait!” The fact that she was sprinting while he was walking in an angry stomp allowed her to close the distance, though she stopped midway down the hallway when she realized he hadn’t yet pushed the door open but stood instead with his hands resting on it, staring at his Converse.From this angle, she couldn’t tell if he was angry or exasperated. She gave him a moment and tried to read his heavy sighs. With his back to her, he said, “I had a feeling something like this would happen as soon as you got here, though, I have to admit, I thought it’d be someone older than me, someone flashier.”Confused, Cassidy took a few steps forward. “What’s that?” she asked. “Brandon, what are you ta
Brandon’s eyes widened. “Why do you say that?”“Because… I hissed at Shane yesterday in training, and I almost lost my shit on Christian last night.”A cocky smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Well, in fairness, they’re both a couple of douchebags.”Smiling in return, she said, “Nevertheless, I probably shouldn’t try to kill them. I might just be able to.”“Of course you can. You’re a Hunter. You could crush my skull right now.”She rolled her eyes, knowing she’d have to overpower him in order to do that—if she wanted to. Which she didn’t. Anymore. “I’m being serious.”“I know. I’m sorry. It does sound like something we need to deal with, but I know it’s not something you can’t handle, Cass. You didn’t kill either one of them, even if they deserved it.”His words did
The scent of mildew mixed with the taste of aluminum and stale vomit, and Paul felt his stomach lurch as a searing pain shot through his head, centered around his brainstem and his right eye. He fought to open his eyes even a crack, scraping off the pain in order to try to focus long enough to remember where he was, what had happened. The last thing he could remember, the team was loading into the van, ready to go on a hunt. After that, everything was… hazy, just like his vision.His left eye felt swollen and puffy. He pried it open just a slit, but his right eye stung so badly it refused to budge out of a tight squint, opening only enough for tears to pour down his cheek. Everything looked foreign. A bare light bulb flickered, swaying on a chain a good three feet in front of him, casting shadows around what appeared to be a small room made entirely of concrete. Trying to lift his arm to wipe at his eye was futile, and he realized he was chained to the wall. His biceps
“Here it is,” Perses said, carefully placing a gray piece of metal so small it was barely visible to the naked eye on a napkin so Asteria could see it. They were standing in the newly constructed operating room, or as Hines liked to refer to it, the toy room. The tweezers he had been using to hold it were bloodied but not nearly as much so as the scalpel lying on the table next to it. Hines had been disappointed Larkin hadn’t been awake for his first experiment.“That’s it?” Asteria asked, holding her red locks back with one hand as she peered down at the device. “It looks so inconsequential. How can they do so much with such a tiny speck?”“I don’t know, but that’s it. The fabled Intelligence Assistance Communicator. Without it, they’ll never be able to track him, and he won’t be able to tell them what’s become of him either.”Asteria stood, her arms folded for a moment be
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