by ID Johnson
“Right,” Cadence said, finally turning around. Hannah and Jamie were over on the side of the building where they could see the front, their gestures indicating they were talking about obstructions, so Cadence walked over to join them, Aurora lagging behind her, checking out the location.
“Are they here yet?” Hannah asked her as she approached. Everyone knew that Cadence would sense the Vampires long before any of them actually saw the bloodsuckers.
“Not yet,” Cadence replied.
“Aaron wanted us to split up and come in from opposite sides of the parking lot. So I guess Aurora and Jamie will head over there and find a secluded spot in those trees,” Hannah said as Aurora walked up behind Cadence.
Cadence had her arms crossed and simply shrugged, causing Hannah to look at her questioningly for a moment before she continued. “And there’s a nice copse of trees on this side that you and Aaron can use if that works for you.”
“’Kay.”
Hannah’s expression shifted to concern. “Cadence, is everything all right?”
She could feel Hannah attempting to use her abilities to influence emotions to calm her down, and she looked her in the eyes and simply said, “Don’t.”
“It’s fine,” Jamie interjected. “Just a difference of opinions.”
“All right, then,” Hannah said, but her face showed she wasn’t particularly convinced. She had strawberry blonde hair, and though she appeared to be in her mid-thirties, Cadence knew she had to be significantly older. “Well, I’m going to take position on the roof with the two observers. You sure you’re okay, Cadence?”
“Just peachy,” Cadence said, forcing the sappiest smile she could muster on her face, leaving Hannah shaking her head and wondering what in the world was the matter.
“So… I’m guessing there was no sway?” Jamie asked, taking a step toward her.
“You don’t even know,” Cadence replied, surveying the parking lot. It appeared from their position that most of the spots were empty. She knew they’d need to get into position soon, but Aaron was still intensely discussing something with the new observers. They were hanging on his every word—especially that pretty blonde one.
“What am I missing?” Aurora asked. “Is something going on?”
“We just had an argument,” Cadence replied, attempting to brush it off. She couldn’t tell Aurora the truth; the fewer people who knew there was a possibility that Elliott might be able to come back the better. That would leave less explaining to do if her plan didn’t work.
“Must have been a doozy,” her friend replied.
Cadence just shook her head. “Well, I don’t know what the king of the world is talking about over there, but I’m going to get in position. I would suggest you both do the same.”
“Right,” Aurora nodded. “I’m basically letting you run with this one. I’ll just cut them off if they catch wind and take off.”
“They won’t,” Cadence assured her as she and Jamie took off in a blur to gain their positions without being detected by anyone passing by. Cadence was in less of a hurry, though she probably should have been more cautious. If any of the employees or shoppers noticed a woman dressed almost entirely in tight black leather, armed with a Glock, wandering around in the parking lot, they’d likely call the cops. It was dark, though, and she avoided the lights of the parking lot as she made her way to the copse of trees Hannah had pointed out.
The twins were young girls, in their teens, both with a Goth look from what they’d been told. Apparently, they had always gone everywhere together, except for a certain Halloween party where one of them had gotten herself infected by a Vampire. Once she’d turned, she immediately turned her sister as well. Born together, die together. Cadence couldn’t imagine doing something so terrible to her sister, but then, it had been partially her fault Cassidy had been infected. Giovani had been after Cadence after all. The guilt still kept her up at night sometimes.
Shortly after 10:30, they were down to two cars on Cadence’s side of the lot, both of them parked at the far end of the parking lot. A row of bushes ran between the cars and a road that passed down the center of the larger parking area. The lot was fairly large with several stores, but Hannah had a clear view and could alert the team if they needed to move. Cadence had a feeling the owners of those two cars would be the mark, though she didn’t know why. She started to get a fluttering feeling in her gut and knew the Vampires were nearby. She considered telling Aaron he needed to get into position, but she didn’t bother. She could do this herself.
Cadence spotted them first. They were slinking in the shadows from across the road, both dressed in black with dark, scraggly hair, their pale skin the only part catching the light. She watched them cower in the bushes near the cars. The rest of the team would be able to see them, too, through her IAC, if they were watching her feed. A few seconds later, Hannah made the call, alerting the team, Aaron sent his new friends up to the roof and began making his way over to her, and Jamie and Hannah shortened up their proximity, using the shadows and trees between parking spots to pass unseen.
“You ready?” Aaron asked as he crouched down beside her.
“I’ve been ready,” Cadence said, keeping her voice even. She pulled the Glock out of her hip holster, tripped the after-market safety, and attached a silencer Christian had especially made for her. She thought it was a good idea to have it on when they were in an urban area.
Clearly choosing to ignore her attitude, he said, “I was explaining to them that it would be very beneficial to watch how you approach the mark. Ashley needs to learn to move as quickly and directly as you do, while Mickey will have to learn how to try and anticipate his Hunter’s movements so he can provide the right protection.”
“Okay.” Cadence replied, refusing to look at him. Her weapon was ready to go. Normally, she would re-holster it; she almost always preferred decapitation. Tonight, she chose to keep it in her hand. She could tell by the way Aaron was looking at the gun and then back at her that he noticed the difference.
Two employees came out the front door of the establishments, both carrying blue smocks tossed over their arms. One stopped to lock the door from the outside and the other surveyed the parking lot. She didn’t seem too worried, as they were both laughing and carrying on a conversation as they made their way across the parking area. This was a fairly safe part of town—usually.
The woman was a short bottle-blonde with frizzy ends and a southern accent. The guy with her was short and stubby with facial hair and dark-rimmed glasses. One look at them and Cadence had no doubt they didn’t stand a chance against the sisters who were already up, preparing to pounce.
Noticing their new positions, Aaron asked, “Are you ready to move?” only to her through the IAC.
Cadence said nothing. This is the point in the operation where she should have been closing the gap, ready to attack. She couldn’t wait until the Vampires launched themselves at the victims. By then, it would be too late, and the innocents could be infected. Even a scratch could be enough to turn them.
The lady was digging in her purse, clearly looking for her keys, as the man unlocked his car with a clicker. They were nearly at the trunks of her mini-van and his Volvo, still laughing and chatting. As the woman pulled her keys out of her bag, the twins sprung up out of the bushes. Cadence saw Aurora shift into gear, obviously wondering why in the world Cadence hadn’t already covered the ground and taken them out, Jamie right behind her, and Aaron was instructing her to move, while Hannah was also giving directions to close in.
The Vampires were in the air now. Though they couldn’t fly, they could fling themselves far enough for it to appear as if they could. They were both stretched out, coming down fast when Cadence nonchalantly stood, aimed, and with two flicks of her finger sent a spray of ashes up into the air. Without a word, she pulled the silencer off of her gun, replaced the safety, and put it away.
Aurora and Jamie pulled up a few feet from slamming into the Volvo. Bot
h of the employees were screaming, and as the ashes dissipated in the breeze, Aurora began running interference, trying to convince them that they had seen a pair of coyotes.
As Cadence began to walk back toward her bike, Aaron caught up to her, and taking her by the shoulder attempted to get her to stop. “What the hell was that?”
She shrugged him off. “Target practice.”
“But I just told you that I wanted them to watch you move in on the target, not annihilate them from forty feet away.”
Cadence wasn’t in the mood to explain herself, so she just kept on walking. Normally, nothing made her feel better than ripping the head off of a bloodsucker, but tonight, she just wanted to show him that she could make her own decisions.
“Seriously, Cadence. It was your idea for them to come. You’re the one who wanted them to get something out of this.”
She stopped halfway across the parking lot and turned to face him. “I guess I taught them the importance of being a good shot.”
While no one could run interference like Elliott could, Aurora had gotten a lot of practice lately, and soon the two employees were settled down and in their cars headed home, probably a bit shaken up but no longer fearing for their lives. The rest of the team began to assemble in the back of the building where they had initially met.
Aaron switched to the IAC for privacy’s sake. “I always thought that, no matter how mad we were at each other, we would continue to operate cohesively.”
“I was being efficient,” Cadence replied, trying to stay as calm as she could.
“But Aurora had no idea what you were doing.”
“She didn’t need to know. She was running second. I had the lead. I took the shot. End of discussion. You always say, ‘If you have the shot, take it.’”
“Fine. I guess we’ll use this as a learning experience in the debrief, and the newbies can say what you could have done differently.”
Any control she had over her anger was gone with that remark. She turned to face him, just feet from her bike, as the rest of the team members caught up to her. She heard Aurora say her name, her friend clearly able to see she was about to lose it, and rather than screaming the expletive that was on the tip of her tongue, she used the IAC instead. The hurt expression in his eyes was almost enough to make her regret it, but she pushed the pity aside and focused on the rage as she climbed aboard her bike and took off, hoping the speed would calm the storm.
Though she was tempted to skip the debrief, it was required, and she couldn’t hold her teammates responsible for attending if she blew it off herself. She arrived at the building long before the rest of the team. The ride had helped cool the raging fire in her a bit, but not enough, and she was hoping she could keep this short. Maybe she should’ve torn their heads off after all.
Entering the meeting room, she made her way to the front of the room and moved her chair a good two feet away from Aaron’s and sat down, pulling herself up to the table with a huff. It had been a long time since she had been this angry with him, and she wasn’t sure if it was all because of the situation with Elliott or if she was also jealous that he seemed to be paying so much attention to Ashley. Not that it should have bothered her in the least because, after all, he really didn’t have any choice in the matter did he? Cadence was the Hunter Leader, so he was now tied to her by fate or whatever the hell it was everyone kept saying would bring them together and keep them together.
And maybe that was part of the problem, too. What if he wouldn’t have chosen her if he could have had someone else? What if he only thought he loved her because he was supposed to? Was she really good enough for him? How could she be?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the Enclave pulling up outside and the slams of car doors. As the group shuffled through the door, Cadence heard Ashley’s bubbly voice saying, “It was just so fast. I mean, I didn’t expect it to happen that fast.”
“Hey, Cadence,” Aurora said with a reassuring smile as she dropped her tall frame into a chair facing the leaders behind a second row of tables. Jamie and Hannah also said hello, while Ashley waved and Mickey offered a shy grin.
Cadence forced a smile in return.
Aaron looked at her, looked at his chair, shook his head, and flipped some switches on the projector to display a map of the location from the air. “All right, we’ll try to keep this brief,” he began and then added just for Cadence, “since some of us are obviously in a hurry.”
He ran them through the plan they’d all agreed on before the hunt began, pointed out various positions, and then said, “Once the potential victims were approached by the Vampires, Cadence fired two shots from her Glock from her initial position, and then Aurora moved in for interference, Jamie with her. Short, simple. To the point. So… what could we have done differently?”
The room was silent for a moment, clearly none of the veterans willing to speak up, so eventually, Ashley raised her hand and Aaron nodded at her. “Okay, so, I don’t know… I mean, I’ve never been on a hunt before. But I was expecting Cadence to, like, run over there and rip their heads off or something. Or maybe Aurora. I don’t know. I mean, that’s just what I thought we’d talked about in the planning.”
She seemed to be emphasizing the word “I”, and Cadence grew more and more annoyed each time she said it.
“Would you like to respond to that?” Aaron asked.
“Was that a question?” Cadence said dryly.
“No, that’s why I said respond and not answer,” Aaron pointed out.
Without the benefit of Aaron’s remark, Ashley looked like a wounded kitten, and Cadence felt guilty again. With a sigh, she shrugged and said, “Yes, I could have done that. I usually would have done that. I just… chose to use my weapon instead.”
“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Aaron chimed in. “In fact, when you are just starting out, it’s always best to take the shot when you have it. There are a lot of times when Cadence chooses to take risks that she doesn’t necessarily have to just because she prefers decapitation, but it really was a great demonstration for you to show how easy it can be if you are a good shot and willing to use your weapon instead of risking injury or worse by getting too close to your mark when it isn’t absolutely necessary.”
Cadence couldn’t believe her ears. Why was he being so nice? Why wasn’t he pointing out to everyone that she had acted immaturely and put her own feelings in front of what was best for the team? This was mostly her training program now, after all, and she should have been the one making sure they got to see what they needed to instead of cutting the hunt short.
Mickey was shy, but he spoke up. “I was watching Jamie shadow Aurora when she was moving in, and that was really cool. It was like he was trying to anticipate her moves without getting in her way.”
“Thanks,” Jamie said, looking down the row of chairs at him. “Yeah, it helps when you’ve worked with the same hunter for a while. You can kind of tell what they are going to do. Aurora likes to signal with her hands so you can get an idea which way she’s headed.”
“I do?” Aurora asked, clearly surprised to hear that.
“You do,” Jamie nodded.
“Does Cadence?” Ashley asked, looking from the Healer to her Leader.
“No,” Jamie said emphatically. “I can never tell what Cadence is going to do, and that’s why I don’t work with her much anymore.”
“No one can tell what Cadence is going to do,” Hannah agreed with a smile.
“Not even Cadence,” Aaron offered, patting her on the shoulder.
His touch made her tingly, like it always did, but it also made her want to flinch away. She didn’t. Nor did she disagree with what they were saying. After they were done having their chuckle, she said, “Eventually, instinct kicks in. For me, anyway. I don’t really think about what I’m doing. It’s like I see the movements that I need to make laid out in front of me, and I just follow that path.”
“But what if the Vampire moves?”
Ashley asked, clearly hanging on her every word.
“I anticipate that ahead of time. I see all the possibilities and create a contingency for each. Wherever they go, I’m already there.”
“That’s amazing,” the blonde said, shaking her head. “So, the first time you killed a Vampire, did you decapitate it?”
“Yes.”
“Were you scared?”
“No. I didn’t have time to be scared,” Cadence replied, remembering that moment like it was just yesterday.
“I guess I’m just afraid I’d get in there and forget what to do,” she admitted shrugging. “Then I’d probably panic and end up getting hurt. Does that happen?”
Cadence shook her head. “I’ve never seen it happen. Your instincts really do take over. I’ve had to give direction before, to jolt someone out of panic mode, I guess. But no, I’ve never seen anyone just freeze.”
“Have you, Aaron?” the young girl asked, her eyes wide.
He seemed to hesitate. “Not very often. And not recently.”
“But it has happened.”
“Sure. I’ve been around a long time. I’ve seen just about everything.”
Ashley seemed a little nervous. “What happened? Did the Hunter die?”
Aaron obviously didn’t want to answer that question, but he was honest to a fault most times, so he did. “Once. But that was before our current training program, and the Guardian assigned to that new Hunter was not very skilled either. We’ll keep you safe, Ashley,” he promised.
“We’ll make sure you go on a few more hunts before we put you out in the field,” Cadence assured her. “I’ll make sure you see at least one decapitation.”
“Thanks,” Ashley replied, seeming a bit more calm.
“All right, any other questions?” Aaron asked, leaning on the back of his chair now as if he couldn’t stand up any longer but didn’t want to sit next to Cadence.
Though they’d pushed through the initial uncomfortableness, no one seemed willing to prolong the conversation, and when everyone passed on asking anything more, he thanked them for their time and dismissed them.