by ID Johnson
“I have some theories about where he might be, but I want to talk to Christian about it first. And as far as the helicopter is concerned, I’m really not sure. Unlike a plane, a helicopter can land a lot of places, so if he managed to stay off of the radar, he could potentially hide it indefinitely.”
“Do you think he’s going to try and use it against us somehow?”
“I honestly have no idea. I can’t figure out what he’s got planned, and it’s driving me crazy,” Aaron admitted.
“Hopefully when we get there and can meet with Andrew in person we can start to put some things together,” Cadence said, patting his arm with her free hand.
“We just need to find Giovani before he’s ready, or else, this is going to be a lot more difficult than anything we’ve ever done before,” Aaron reminded her.
“Either way, we can stop him. We have to,” Cadence sighed.
“Let’s just pray there aren’t any distractions,” Aaron replied.
“Amen to that,” Cadence agreed. More than any other time since she Transformed, she would need to completely focus on destroying Giovani and Gibbon. If anything at all unexpected happened that could interfere with her ability to keep to the task at hand, this could end very badly.
***
Gibbon was stirring, moaning uncomfortably, pulling against his restraints. Giovani was beside himself with glee as he peered down at the face of his monster. The phrase, “It’s alive!” came to mind, but he didn’t say it out loud, just chuckled and clasped his hands in joy.
“Zabrina, did you finish patching up that nurse?” he called to her over his shoulder. “I believe our new friend may need a refreshment.”
“I did,” Zabrina replied from her seat across the room. “But I don’t think she’s managed to regenerate yet. She was almost completely bled out by the time we got her here.”
“Did you feed off of her?” he asked, turning to look at her sharply.
Zabrina glared at him. “Well, someone had to! Otherwise, she wouldn’t be reserva de sange, she’d just be a wounded human.”
Giovani growled at her. “Then get me the detective.”
Without changing her expression, Zabrina stood and crossed the room. The male they had captured was sprawled on the floor next to the nurse, and each of them had a hand chained to the brick wall behind them. He appeared to be sleeping, but she knew he was likely just unconscious, not yet fully refilled from the draining he’d received at the hospital.
Managing the full grown man was no problem for Zabrina. She slipped a key from her pocket and unfastened the lock, pulling him up by his arm. He groaned as she did so, but it didn’t make her actions any gentler. She hoisted him up and half-carried, half-dragged him to the bed. “Where do you want him?” she asked, still annoyed.
Giovani looked at her with disdain before he replied, “Drop him.”
Zabrina did as she was instructed, and the man cried out loudly as he hit the cement floor. Zabrina crossed her arms and walked back over to her chair, plopping down noisily in an attempt to show Giovani she was still upset with him.
He didn’t even glance in her direction. She could go hang herself at this point for all he cared. Gibbon was the only one that mattered now. “Steven?” Giovani called quietly. “Open your eyes, Steven. It’s me—your father.”
Gibbon’s eyes fluttered for a second, and then they were open. Steel gray pools peered back at Giovani, clearly confused. “Where… where am I?” he growled.
“You’re at your new home,” Giovani explained. “And I am your new father. And together, we are going to destroy that bitch of a step-mother of yours.”
Once again, Gibbon’s forehead furrowed. “My step-mother?”
“Yes, Barbara. She needs to die. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Gibbon nodded in agreement. “Yes. She needs to die.”
“And she is on her way here now,” Giovani explained. “So we need to make sure you are all ready. Now, I’m sure that burning in your throat is getting rather annoying, isn’t it?”
Gibbon attempted to place his hand on his neck, but his arms were still tied down.
“Now, now,” Giovani cautioned. “I can’t let you lose just yet. You’re far stronger than you realize, and you could harm yourself. Luckily, I have just the thing to stop the burning right here, and I’m happy to help.” He pulled Detective Dixon up by the arm, draping his body across Gibbon, and pulling his arm over towards Gibbon’s mouth he said, “Drink. Take sustenance. Find life.”
Gibbon still looked puzzled, so Giovani dragged his long fingernail across the soft flesh of Dixon’s forearm, drawing a flow of crimson blood. As soon as the scent hit his nostrils, Gibbon’s fangs shot forth, and he began to salivate. Laughing in glee, Giovani held Dixon’s bleeding arm to Gibbon’s mouth and watched him sink his fangs in for the first time. The echoes of Giovani’s maniacal laugh bounded off the walls. His plan was coming together, and soon, Cadence would be destroyed once and for all.
Chapter Fourteen
Cassidy had never been on a train before, and neither had Brandon, so pulling into the Amtrack station and determining what to do next was a bit of a challenge for both of them. Cassidy had already purchased her ticket online, but she made her way to the ticket booth, credit card in hand, and made sure there was a seat for Brandon as well.
“I can pay for that, you know,” he said as he lingered beside her in line.
“I know,” she said shrugging, “but why should either one of us pay for it when my sister can? She has an actual Monet hanging in her apartment. I think she can handle it.”
“How did you get your sister’s credit card?” he asked, grabbing her by the arm as she took the receipt from the booking agent.
Pulling away, she said, “She keeps an emergency card in her freezer. Now, come on. We need to board.”
“But—what if she uses the credit card to track us?” Brandon asked hurrying to keep up with her despite his super powers and her lack thereof.
“She won’t notice until it’s too late,” Cassidy assured him. “Let’s go. I’ll feel much better once we are on the train. If anyone from LIGHTS followed us, they’ll be out of luck once the train pulls out of the station.”
Brandon complied, looking over his shoulder for any semi-familiar faces. He did see one strange looking man staring at them, but he looked away quickly, and Brandon assumed it was just a coincidence; he’d definitely never seen the man before. “I bet your sister could find a way to stop the train if she really wanted to,” he muttered as he followed her to the loading platform.
“She’s not going to leave Philly to come and chase us down, and by the time she figures out where we are, we’ll be disembarking at…” she looked at her ticket, “Thirtieth Street Station.”
“And a few hours after that, we’ll both be dead,” Brandon said sarcastically.
“Oh, come on, Brandon! Be adventurous!” Cassidy chided.
“I’m still in the middle of my last adventure,” he reminded her. “You be adventurous—I’ll be planning my new, new future.”
“It’ll be fine,” Cassidy assured him. “She’ll be mad, but she’ll get over it. She likes you. She loves me. We’ll survive!”
“I’m glad you’re so certain,” he replied, tossing his gym bag over his shoulder. “I just hope it’s all worth it.”
“It will be,” she assured him as they boarded the train. “It will be.”
Neither of them noticed the odd looking man was not only staring at them intently, he was also following them aboard the train.
***
It was difficult to get rooms at the Warwick Hotel, Rittenhouse Square, on such short notice, but Andrew had managed to pull a few strings, and once Cadence and Aaron reached their room, she was tempted to collapse on the bed and take a long nap. She’d tried to doze on the plane, but she kept dreaming that she was falling—thanks to her last experience on an aircraft—and now she felt even more tired than she had before they left KC.
<
br /> “What’s the plan?” she asked, exiting the luxurious sleeping quarters and approaching Aaron who was sitting on the sofa working on his laptop.
He finished with whatever he was typing before he turned his attention to her. “Well, Andrew set up a meeting with Detective Abby Watson for 3:00, which is in about an hour, and then I thought the three of us and Christian should go drive the route Giovani’s henchmen took and see if we can figure out where they might have disappeared to.”
“Okay,” Cadence agreed, dropping onto the couch beside him. “Who is Watson again?”
“She’s one of the detectives who brought Gibbon in, the lead on the case, in fact. She was there last night when Giovani showed up, but she was asleep in another hallway. She came out to see if she could save anyone, especially her partner, but by the time she got there, it was too late,” Aaron explained.
“I see,” Cadence said mulling the information over. “So you need to talk to her why?”
“Andrew seems to think she may know something more,” he replied, closing his laptop. “I don’t know how helpful it will be, but it can’t hurt, and since I have no idea how much of a hurry we need to be in, I can only assume we have time.”
“Sure,” Cadence agreed, shaking her head in disbelief. “Well, we may have a better chance of finding Giovani during the daytime, but chances are he won’t come looking for us until after dark.”
“Right,” Aaron agreed. “He’s not likely to come out into the light if he can avoid it. He feels more comfortable lurking in the shadows.”
“It’s funny to think of someone being afraid of the light when we are so conditioned to being frightened of the dark,” Cadence thought aloud.
“People fear the unknown—Vampires fear discovery. It’s all about perspective.”
“Very true,” she nodded. Then, with a sigh, she changed the subject and said, “Well, assuming you don’t need me, I think I’ll head over to Andrew’s office and see what they’ve put together. He said that they have one MIA employee, who just happened to work in the blood bank….”
“Ah-ha,” Aaron exclaimed.
“So I’m guessing that’s our insider, most likely.”
“All right. Be careful,” Aaron said leaning over to kiss her.
Cadence pressed her lips against his, and then pulled back to say, “You, too,” before he pulled her in again.
“Always am,” he replied, sarcastically as he stood to leave.
“See you in a bit,” she smiled. “Hopefully, we’ll have more answers by then.”
“Not likely,” he admitted as he crossed to the door. “I’ll be happy if we don’t end up with more unanswered questions.”
***
The world around him was spinning, full of darkness, dampness, and pain. Above all else, there was the unbearable pain. Every vein in his body seemed to pulsate with an overbearing burning sensation. His arm ached, his ribs stabbed him with each breath, and his neck was swollen, the gaping holes festering and bleeding. With blurry vision, it was hard to make out the body of the nurse where she lay crumpled next to him. She had to be in even more agony considering she had also been shot. He secretly hoped she would just die so that she wouldn’t be in such misery, but he could hear her crying softly. Dixon was born to help others; knowing he was helpless to save her, in many ways, was far worse than the physical pain he was experiencing. If he had enough energy, he would reach over and wrap the chain that held him to the wall around her throat. But he couldn’t move. Even if he somehow managed to rest long enough to restore himself, he knew they would just come and drain him again.
It had happened three times now. First, there had been the hideous monster in the waiting room, the one that began this nightmare. Then, he had been draped across Gibbon on two separate occasions as his captors facilitated the draining of his veins so that their creature may live. He had never been one to believe in the supernatural. Now, he wished he knew more about how to stop these demonic beings so that he could save the nurse and return to his beloved girlfriend, Cindy.
As he lay on the floor staring through unfocused eyes at the table that contained Gibbon, he prayed that his partner had survived and that Abby Watson would find a way to help him. Otherwise, he just wanted to die. And the more he lay there, the more he hurt, the more he watched the creature come to life at the expense of his own blood, the more the latter sounded appealing. For Detective Dixon, dying would be most welcome.
***
Abby Watson lived in a quaint apartment near the precinct where she worked. And by the sounds of the locks she unlatched after Andrew knocked, it was also quite secure.
“Ms. Watson?” Andrew said, smiling politely. “How are you this afternoon?”
“About as well as can be expected,” Watson shrugged, pulling the door open just wide enough to speak to him. She had dark circles under her eyes, and though she was dressed and her hair and makeup were done, it was obvious she had been recently crying.
“This is my superior,” Andrew began, gesturing to Aaron.
“Aaron McReynolds, nice to meet you, detective,” Aaron said offering her his hand.
She shook it, but she had a questioning look in her eyes.
“I hope you don’t mind me coming along. When Andrew said you’d called and wanted to chat, I thought it might be a good idea for me to come as well. I’ll be handling the investigation from now on,” he explained.
“Oh, no, of course,” Watson stammered. “Won’t you come in?” she asked, stepping out of the way.
As they sat down in chairs near the minimalistic gray couch, she asked, “Can I get you anything? Water? Tea? Coffee?”
“We’re fine,” Andrew assured her. She nodded and dropped down on the couch in front of them. “We don’t want to take up any more of your time than necessary.”
“I appreciate that,” Watson nodded. “I was hoping to go into the office today… but my chief wouldn’t let me. He said… he said I should take some time to clear my head.”
“That’s understandable,” Aaron said, “considering what you’ve been through.”
He had a gentle nature about him, and coupled with the serenity of his blue eyes, Watson began to feel calmer. “I’m glad you could come,” she said dropping her eyes to the floor. “I mean… I didn’t know if I should call you or not—part of me thinks that what I wanted to talk to you about sounds crazy. Now. In the light of day. But…” she paused, considering whether or not she should continue. They were both looking at her with patient, encouraging expressions. “I want to make sure that—if I saw what I think I saw—someone knows about it. I just don’t want you to think I need to be committed. Although, I’m pretty sure that—if you are who I think you are—you already know that what I saw was real.”
“Detective Watson?” Aaron asked, leaning forward in his chair. “Did you see a Vampire last night?”
Andrew choked a bit, clearly startled by the bluntness of the question, and Watson was momentarily distracted, which gave her a moment to gather her thoughts. As Andrew assured her that he was fine, she finally nodded and said, “I believe so.”
“You’re not crazy,” Aaron assured her. “And you called the right people.”
Watson let out a deep sigh of relief. “Really? You don’t think I’m insane?”
“No, you’re perfectly sane,” Aaron assured her. “Now, I know it won’t be easy, but can you tell us exactly what you saw?”
Taking a deep breath, Watson looked into his eyes for a moment and stilled herself for what she was about to say. “I was asleep when… when everything happened. I woke up to what sounded like assault weapons being fired. I grabbed my revolver and checked the hallway. It was clear, so I started moving toward the nurses’ station. I thought there would be a silent alarm there. I didn’t see anyone else; I had no way of knowing if everyone else was down or if they were hiding, but I found the alarm and tripped it. And then….” She paused again, taking another deep breath. She was having trouble putting
into words what she had witnessed.
“It’s okay, Detective Watson,” Aaron assured her. “Just tell us what you saw.”
“Well, when I approached the waiting room, first I saw the body of a nurse—her name was Sally—on the ground, shot. And then I saw this… man… this big brute of a man, straddling my partner, Peter Dixon, and he was… sucking his blood. He had his mouth pressed against his neck, but when he pulled his head back… I could see. I could see his fangs dripping my partner’s blood.
“I froze. I ducked behind the wall—and became paralyzed. Maybe, if I could have reacted faster—maybe I could have saved Dixon. But, I just couldn’t get myself to move forward. It took me a few seconds… maybe twenty… and then, when I finally pulled myself together and started to move into the waiting room, they were gone. The monster, the nurse, and Dixon.”
Aaron and Andrew exchanged glances, and after a moment, Aaron reached over and placed his hand reassuringly on her arm. “Thank you for sharing your story with us, detective. And I assure you, there was nothing you could have done to save your partner. If you had tried, you wouldn’t be here with us today. Your bullets would have done no good against the Vampire you saw. You would have been powerless to stop him.”
Tears were streaming down Watson’s face now. “I just wish I could have done something.”
“You are doing something,” Aaron reminded her, leaning back in his chair. “You’ve told us, and this helps us tremendously. Now we know for sure that we are the right people to investigate this case. We know what we’re up against. Thank you so much for being brave enough to talk to us today.”
“Do you think there’s a chance he’s still alive?” she asked, a hopeful expression on her face.
Although Aaron was well aware of what Eliza had seen in Giovani’s lair in the Czech Republic, he knew there was really no reason to give Watson false hope. Even if they did find some semblance of Dixon, he would never be the same man she had known. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but Vampires like the ones we are up against don’t keep people alive.”