by ID Johnson
“I think I’m okay,” the woman replied.
“Good,” Cadence said, and with a deep exhale, she led her out of the room. The woman gasped to see the mess, but Cadence was more interested in checking for surveillance cameras. She didn’t need what she had just done to be on film that other law enforcement or YouTubers could access. Since she didn’t see any recording devices, she decided that this establishment must pre-date the invention of videotape, and gathering her helmet, which appeared to be unscathed, she followed the woman through the dusty debris on the floor.
She saw the lady look out the window to make sure her son was still there and then breathed a sigh of relief. “Should I call the police?” she called to Cadence over her shoulder.
Cadence, who still needed gas, went around to flip on the pump she needed and dropped a twenty onto the cash register. Even if the store happened to belong to the Vampire, that didn’t make it okay to steal. “You can. If you want. But I won’t be waiting around. I got no time for cops.” She said it in a way that might make the woman assume she was on the lam herself.
“Oh, okay,” she replied. She was rubbing her wrists where the ropes had begun to cut into her skin. “It just all happened so fast. I asked to use the restroom, and he came up from behind me. The next thing I knew… I was in the closet, tied up.”
Cadence nodded. “That’s terrifying. Well, you’re okay now.”
“Thanks to you,” she smiled.
“Don’t worry about it,” Cadence said with a shrug as she approached the door. “Go see your son. He’s gotta be scared.”
“Right,” she said, a tear in her eye. “Is there anything I can do to repay you?”
“Nope, I’m good,” Cadence assured her with a smile. “Take care.” She patted her on the shoulder and headed out the door, happy to be out in the fresh air again.
Cadence was suddenly in a huge hurry to get to Cale’s. She needed to talk to her teammates and see if anyone else had noticed this peculiar behavior. It made sense that this Vampire operated out here in the middle of nowhere and was willing to go after people in broad daylight. She wondered if he intended to take the mother back to save for later, an idea she’d been introduced to with Giovani in Philadelphia. Perhaps he had planned to come back for the child. She watched the woman pull her son out of the car and throw her arms around him in a long embrace before they both climbed into the Chevy and hurried away.
Cadence started filling her tank, not really worried if it went slightly over the twenty she’d left behind. She could be compensated a little for her trouble. Hanging her helmet on the handlebar, she slipped out of the backpack and checked to make sure Elliott was okay. She was relieved to see the tape had held, and he hadn’t been crunched out of his new container when she’d fallen. Checking the other compartment showed that her conditioner hadn’t been so lucky. Thank goodness it was in a baggy or else all of her clothes would’ve been covered in a lovely film of white.
Her bike full, Cadence replaced the pump handle and climbed aboard. She should be in Reno soon. Perhaps it was time to let Cale know she was coming.
Chapter Ten
“Where are you, exactly?” Dr. Cale Ryan asked over the IAC. Cadence could tell he was surprised the second she’d given him the news that she would be by to pay him a visit shortly, but she couldn’t tell if the secondary emotion was annoyance, irritation, or anxiety.
“Well, exactly where I am, I’m not sure. But I’m probably fifteen miles outside of Elko,” she explained.
“And why are you coming?” he asked.
Oh, it was anxiety. That was better than the alternatives. “I told you. I’m on a secret mission. No one can know I’m coming. And no one knows I’ve left.” It was better this way. No reason to try and list the people who knew she had gone. The only one who knew for sure where she was headed was Christian, and he was in Connecticut. Even Jamie didn’t know for certain.
“All right. But how am I going to keep your presence a secret from my staff? You recall the layout of our headquarters, right? And my apartment is on the top floor.”
“I know,” Cadence replied. The problem had already occurred to her, though she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. “Don’t you have a freight elevator or something? Or maybe I could use the fire escape.”
“We have a freight elevator,” Cale assured her. “I guess you could use that.”
“Can you make some sort of announcement to keep people away from it for a while?”
There was a pause, as if the question was ridiculous, but then finally, he said, “Sure. But you are going to tell me what you’re doing when you get here, right?”
“Yes,” she agreed. She had intended to tell him anyway. If there was one person she could trust not to tell Aaron what was going on, it was Cale.
“All right. Let me know when you get here, and I’ll come meet you.”
“Will do. Thanks, Cale.”
“No problem.”
She could tell there really did seem to be a problem though. She hoped that he wasn’t starting to suspect that she was coming out here for him. Surely not. The last she’d heard, he was seeing someone. Maybe he thought she’d gotten angry at Aaron and decided to give him another try. With a sigh, she gunned the gas. No reason to let that misunderstanding linger any longer than necessary.
Finding Cale’s office with no GPS was not a problem at all. She hadn’t stayed in Reno long when she’d come to help him out with a nasty ring of Vampires last summer, but she’d gotten to know the layout of the town pretty well. She found that she was much better with navigation now that she had other super powers.
She let him know that she was there and went around to the back of the building where he instructed her to go. They had several bikes similar to hers in their fleet, and he assured her no one would think anything of seeing it parked back there for a bit. He’d have it moved to a more secure spot later.
Cale was tall with light hair and blue eyes. Seeing him standing outside the back door of the building, dressed in brown slacks and a striped shirt, his hands in his pockets, his eyes narrowed against the sun, Cadence was briefly taken back in time to when they had briefly dated. While there was no doubt in her mind she’d made the correct choice to get back together with Aaron, the doctor definitely made a case for himself.
Bringing the bike to a stop a few feet away from him, she pulled her helmet off and stretched her back. It had been a long ride.
“Hey,” he called walking over slowly, a small smile forming. “How was the drive?”
She put down the kickstand and hung up her helmet. “Freeing,” she said as she threw her leg off of the bike and stood up. “And long.”
Cadence wrapped her arms around him in a sort of half-hug, and he patted her on the shoulder. She could tell by his body-language that he was being cautious. The last few times they’d seen each other hadn’t been awkward at all, but then she’d literally been with Aaron. Now, he was questioning her motivation.
“Give me your keys and I’ll have someone put it in a proper spot in a bit,” he said in the English accent that had driven her crazy. “They’ll assume it’s one of ours.”
“All right,” she said, complying.
“Are you planning on staying the night here?”
“If you’ve got a spot for me and you don’t mind,” she replied as she followed him into the building.
He looked around to make sure they were alone and then led her toward the large service elevator. “I’ve a guest room,” he said, once the elevator doors had shut, “if you don’t think that will be… uncomfortable.”
“No, not at all,” she assured him. “Don’t worry, Cale. I’m not here to try and win you back or anything. Aaron and I are still very much together. We just happen to disagree on something pretty major.”
“I see,” he said, though she wasn’t sure if he really did. His sigh of relief seemed to have more to do with the first part of her sentence than the last.
When th
ey reached the top floor, he said, “Mine isn’t the only apartment up here, so I can’t guarantee no one will see you.”
“All right,” Cadence replied, adjusting the backpack on her back. Luckily, she was fast.
Cale checked the hallway and then made a gesture for her to follow him. In a few seconds, they were safely behind the door of his apartment, undetected.
“Phew!” Cadence said, letting the breath she’d been holding go.
“Come on in,” he said as he walked across the living room. “I’ve got a few things on my plate today, but I do have a few minutes if you’d like to tell me what’s going on.”
Besides being an area leader, Cale was also still a practicing surgeon, and he actually saw patients in this same building, which housed the headquarters for the region. Most of his patients knew about the Ternion for some reason or another, whether it was a relative or having actually been a practicing Hunter or Guardian at one time.
His living room was fresh and white. Even the furniture was so clean, she didn’t want to sit down for fear of getting it dirty. He offered her a seat on the sofa, however, so she slipped her backpack off and took it.
“Can I get you anything?”
“I’m okay for now, thanks,” she replied, realizing that he wanted to hear what was going on more than she wanted a drink of water—although she could have really used some water right about now.
“So you just left Kansas City without telling anyone you were going?” he asked, sitting in an equally white chair to her right.
“Not exactly,” Cadence replied, scooting back. The couch was so soft and comfy, she thought she might fall asleep. “Jamie, Aurora, Meagan, and Brandon all know I left. And I told them they could let Hannah know, since technically she is in charge when Aaron and I are not there, but I didn’t tell her myself.”
“Okay, but you said no one knew where you were going.”
“No one did know where I was going. They just know I left. Christian knows where I went, I think, because he said something about Reno the last time I talked to him, but he’s not at headquarters. And Cassidy knows that when she gets there for her training session tomorrow morning, I won’t be there. The only people who know why I left are Jamie and Christian. The rest just know I had something important to do.”
He ran a hand through his blond hair and pressed the heel of his hand against his eye as if he was having trouble keeping up with all of the information. “And what does Aaron think?”
“Well, he’s in Connecticut. So as far as I know, he thinks I’m still there.”
“Why didn’t you tell him you were leaving?”
Cadence licked her lips. She should’ve asked for a drink. “Well, he doesn’t want me to do what I’m about to do.”
“Which is…?” he asked, hesitantly.
“I’m sorry, Cale. It’s kind of complicated. Could I get some water?”
“Sure,” he said with a sigh and a small, forced smile.
He disappeared into the kitchen and returned a few moments later with a chilled bottle of water. “Would you like a glass?”
“No, thank you,” she replied, taking it from him. She downed almost half of it before she returned the lid and sat it on a coaster—also white—on the glass coffee table.
“So… what is this complicated thing you are doing?” he asked, having returned to his chair.
“Right. I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of the blue moon portal?”
He scratched his head as if he were thinking about it and then said, “I can’t say that I have.”
He hadn’t been a Guardian all that long, so Cadence honestly wasn’t surprised he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Well, long story short, in 1804, a Hunter accidentally killed a Guardian. He felt so bad, he spent years trying to find a way to bring him back. He finally found an ancient Guardian who told him about the blue moon portal. That man told him, if he took the remains of his friend out on a clear night, under the blue moon, a portal would open and the Guardian could return from the other side.”
Cale’s eyes were wide with disbelief. “I’m sorry—what?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but Christian was there when the Hunter actually used it to bring his friend back. And my grandmother has used it, too, to speak to my grandfather.”
“That’s unbelievable,” the doctor muttered under his breath. “And Aaron knows about this?”
“Yes,” Cadence assured him. “However, he doesn’t want anyone to use it.”
Cale’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why not?”
Cadence took a deep breath. “Well, like most things in life, you take the good with the bad. Aaron believes that the last time the portal opened, not only did the Guardian come back, but so did an evil, demonic Vampire—a Vampire who had already been sent to hell. So, he thinks that, if someone were to come through the portal again, we would have another Vampire to face the likes of Dracula.”
“Wait—are you saying Aaron thinks that Dracula came through a portal from hell at the same time this Guardian came back from beyond?”
“That’s what I’m saying,” Cadence nodded. “And whether that’s true or not doesn’t really matter because there’s no convincing him he’s wrong or that it won’t happen again. Hell, I can’t even convince him that whatever it is I’ll send it right back to where it came from.”
“Was he part of the team that took Dracula down?” Cale asked, leaning back in his chair.
“Yes,” she replied, “a small part anyway. He says it was awful. None of their usual weapons worked, and they had to use all sorts of specialized tools.”
“I’ve heard some of that,” he nodded, “having grown up in that neck of the woods where Dracula visited and the book was written.”
“But not where he was eventually killed?” Cadence asked. She assumed he did not mean Transylvania.
“Right. My understanding is that it was quite difficult. I can see why Aaron is concerned.”
Cadence suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. “I understand, too,” she admitted, “but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t open the portal. Just because I open it doesn’t mean anyone has to come through.”
“And are you intending to talk to Elliott, then?” Cale asked, looking at the backpack suspiciously and then back at Cadence.
“Yes.”
Cale nodded. “But what if he wants to come back?”
“Well, he’s a grown adult. He can make his own decisions,” Cadence replied, “but the catch is he can never go back to the other side again.”
“Never?” She shook her head. “And how do you know that?”
“The Guardian who came through the first time tried to get sent back, but he couldn’t be killed. Not even by a Hunter.” She considered telling him the identity of the Guardian and the Hunter that killed him, but it seemed superfluous at this moment, and even though Cale was extremely intelligent, he might not even know American history well enough to be familiar with the story. Though, on second thought, everyone had to be familiar with Hamilton now, didn’t they?
“Cadence?”
She looked up. He must have asked her something. “I’m sorry?”
“I said, ‘What is Aaron going to say if he finds out you’ve gone through with it?’”
“Oh,” she replied, “nothing. I mean… he will find out. He’ll find out I’m gone as soon as he gets back to headquarters tomorrow or Sunday. He’ll know why I left, but he won’t know that I have Elliott with me, so I’m hoping that will keep him at bay.”
The doctor’s eyes fluttered to the backpack again, but without asking the question that must have been on the tip of his tongue, he diverted to, “Why won’t he know?”
Cadence sighed again. “It’s a long story. Let’s just say he thinks he hid the ashes, but I already had them before he took the cremated remains of some logs from our fireplace.”
A smile cracked Cale’s previously slightly agitated face. “You mean you actually outsmarted him?”
; “Hey, I’m not an idiot,” she said, finally getting in that eye roll. “Sometimes I’m smarter.”
“Not usually. No offense. No one is.”
“Well, anyway, I have Elliott. And my plan is to go out into the desert where there’s less likely to be any clouds, which could potentially keep the portal from opening, and then see what he has to say. I’m not going to tell him about Brandon or what happened to Cass. I just want to see him. That’s all.”
“And you’re going alone?” She nodded. “And you don’t think you’ll be tempted to beg him to come back?”
“No,” Cadence said, but her voice was just above a whisper and shook so that she didn’t even think she believed it herself.
There was a long moment of silence as Cale likely determined whether or not he should ask more questions or consider this enough information. Eventually, he said, “Well, you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like. I’ll show you the guest room. There’s an adjoining bathroom if you’d like to use the shower.”
Cadence wondered if she was leaving Vampire all over his couch. “Thanks.”
“I have some work to do downstairs, but I’ll be back later.” He stood and began to walk out of the room, and Cadence followed, slinging Elliott back over her shoulder.
The guest room was nice, and Cadence was certain that the plush, light blue bedspread had to be comfier than the sandpaper she’d slept on the night before.
“Let me know if you need anything. And if Aaron should contact me, what should I say?”
She sat the backpack down on the end of the bed before turning to look him in the eye. “Lie.”
“Right.” He turned as if he would leave, but then, stopping he said, “He is still my boss, you know.”
“I know. I’ll take care of it,” she assured him. “Cale, the thing is, if he gets back there before I leave your office, he’ll know where I am. I have to make sure that he doesn’t get here before I leave. And I’m planning on riding out tomorrow and just exploring a bit before I head off to the desert. I’m hoping you can help me find a location where I can be alone.”