Resurrection: The Clandestine Saga Book 2

by ID Johnson

  Again, Jack laughed, this time louder. "I don't need that, Cadence," he replied. "My brother's training me." He glanced around, as if he was expecting to see Giovani, but he wasn't quite sure what had happened to him after he grabbed the blond.

  "Your brother isn't qualified to train you, Jack. But I am. Come back to Kansas City with me, and let us help you. We don't want you to do anything that's going to get you in trouble," she cautioned, taking a few steps forward.

  "What?" Jack asked. It suddenly occurred to him that she was saying "we" as if she was on their side. "Cadence, I'm a Vampire now. It's amazing. I'm not going in so some group of Hunters can tell me what I can and cannot do. Giovani warned me about that. He said they'd want to tag me and track me. Forget it. That's not happening."

  "No, Jack, that's not true, not exactly. Listen, it's not an option. You have to come in," she implored, closing the gap between them slightly.

  "Cadence, I can't believe you'd take their side," he said, a look of confusion on his face. "You and I can be together now, just like we said. Remember? In the hospital, you said you'd always love me. Now, come with me and we can live forever." He opened his arms and took a step forward but stopped when he saw she was retreating. "What's the matter with you? You don't need to be afraid of me."

  "I'm not afraid of you, Jack," she admitted. "I'm afraid of me. Your brother hasn't been completely honest with you. I can't become a Vampire. I'm already a Vampire Hunter." Hearing a crunch in the snow to her right and feeling the activity in her stomach increase, she added, "Isn't that right, Giovani?"

  Even as Jack began to verbally protest the possibility that Cadence was being honest and that Giovani was deceitful with him, the older brother stepped out of the shadows, pushing a tied and gagged blond in front of him. She stumbled in the snow, falling to her knees. "That's not exactly true," Giovani replied, leaving his prisoner where she had fallen. "I didn't tell him you weren't a Vampire Hunter."

  Cadence looked surprised and confused. She had no idea who the woman on the ground was. "Who the hell is that?" she asked Aaron on the IAC.

  "Son of a bitch," Aaron mumbled. "Were we aware that Laura was here?" he asked his team on the IAC. "Is Laney here somewhere, too?"

  There was a bit of a pause before Eliza said, "They made contact with me, and I told them to get on the IAC. I guess they. . . didn't, exactly."

  "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, clearly frustrated. "How am I supposed to coordinate an assault when I don't even freakin' know who's on the field?"

  Eliza didn't answer, but Laney sent a request for access to Aaron and said, "Laura won't turn her feed on. Do you have a visual on her?"

  "Affirmative," Aaron responded. "I suppose you see her now," he added, giving her visual access.

  "Shit!" Laney replied. "What's the plan?"

  "I don't know!" Aaron spat. "I had no idea you were even here!"

  "I'm sorry," Laney stated, honestly. "She didn't want any help."

  "That was a wonderful decision. Now, I've got two hunters on the ground, unarmed, with two Rogues, one of which is well-known for killing whoever the hell he wants to. Eliza, get over there and guard Laura, now," he ordered.

  Cadence was listening to this conversation, ascertaining that the woman on the ground was a fellow Hunter, named Laura, though she had no idea who she was. She gave access to Laney so that she could see what was happening with her sister. Simultaneously, she was listening to the ramblings of an apparently insane Rogue Vampire, trying to justify to his brother why he didn't bother to tell him that the woman he loved, the one he planned to turn into a Vampire, could never be turned.

  "Jack," Giovani explained. "She doesn't have to be a Vampire to live with you forever. She's already practically immortal. Although, I could shoot her right now, if I wanted to," he added, pulling a Glock out of the back of his pants.

  Jack looked from his brother to Cadence, who didn't seem too worried about the weapon being pointed directly at her. "Giovani, that's not funny, man. Put that gun down. We all know you're not going to shoot Cadence."

  Cadence didn't know that Giovani wasn't going to shoot her, although she didn't show him any fear or vulnerability. "Jack, clearly you can see he's not being honest with you. You can't trust him."

  Giovani snickered, watching his brother look back and forth, obviously torn. "Jack, she's been a Hunter for a month and didn't mention it to you. She didn't even tell you about her new boyfriend either."

  Just then, Eliza ran out of the trees and stood between Giovani and Laura, using her body as a shield, the gun in her hand pointed at the ground, clearly a warning. The Vampire could shoot the Guardian, but he couldn't kill her. If he shot Laura or Cadence, they could die.

  "You have a boyfriend?" Jack asked, a stunned tone to his voice.

  "He's lying, Jack. I don't have a boyfriend. No, I would tell you if I did. Jack, you know how much I care about you. Just, please, come with me.

  "He's not coming with you; you know that. We need to get Laura and get out of here," Aaron said as calmly as possible over the IAC.

  "Where did lover boy run off to anyway?" Giovani asked, surveying the area. "I know he was here. Laura, do you think he'll try to save you or just leave you for dead?" Laura could say nothing, the gag still in her mouth. "By the by, Cadence, do you know Laura?" he asked, looking back at the unarmed Hunter across from him. "Did you know she's the first in the long line of the esteemed Guardian Leader's teammate-girlfriends? Yeah, I bet you didn't know that, did you, darling? Let those visuals sink in for a moment."

  Cadence understood who she was now, but again, she said nothing in response to Giovani's remarks. Eliza was growing increasingly angry, however, and she began to fidget with the Glock she held at her side. She could take Giovani out right now, if she wanted to, but she had not received orders to do so, and he would also return fire, which could potentially kill Laura or Cadence.

  Giovani could tell he was getting to Eliza, though he wasn't sure about Cadence yet. He laughed his slow, maniacal chuckle before adding, "Look, Aaron, I got 'em all lined up, right here. Can't kill the little dark haired one, but the other two, I can take them out." He paused to think for a moment and then continued. "Course, I could shoot her, just to see her squirm. That might be fun."

  Aaron said nothing in response to Giovani's rant, which seemed to irritate the Rogue. If Giovani shot Eliza, it would hurt, but it would eventually heal, regardless of where he shot her. A Vampire could not kill a Guardian.

  "Giovani, Aaron's not my boyfriend. The fact that you have his ex-girlfriend as a hostage means little to me. The fact that you have another Hunter as a hostage, however, that I am a little pissed about. But we all know that, if we start shooting, neither of you are walking out of here alive. You're surrounded. The only way you walk out of here is if I let you," Cadence explained as calmly as she could. "Now, why don't you just back yourself up, go on, get out of here, and let us take Jack in. You know he has to come."

  "I don't know shit!" Giovani yelled, a fresh wave of madness clear in his voice. "You're not taking him in. If you do, he'll be destroyed. I know your boss is aware of what my brother's done. He won't let him live after that."

  "What?" Jack asked, still glancing back and forth between them. "Destroy me?" he asked, looking back at Cadence.

  "We're not going to destroy you, Jack. If you come in and get tagged and trained, follow the rules, you'll be perfectly safe. He's lying to you again, Jack," Cadence insisted, her tone purposely bordering between calmness and boredom.

  "Oh, come on!" Giovani yelled. "You should know that's bullshit, woman. You believe that because Aaron told you so? Hasn't he ever lied to you, Cadence? Doesn't he lie to you pretty much all the time?"

  She paused to consider what he had said but pushed it out of her mind. "No, he doesn't lie to me. What the hell are you talking about?" Turning back to Jack she said, "Trust me, Jack. I will keep you safe. If you come in, no one is going to hurt you."

  "Cadence,
you're not trying to bring Jack in. Not anymore. You need to get the field cleared before someone gets hurt. That's an order," Aaron said as calmly as he could muster.

  As much as Cadence didn't want to leave without Jack, she realized Aaron was right. Giovani wasn't going to let him go, and she couldn't convince him to come with her with his brother standing there with a Glock pointed at her. She had never faced a Vampire with a gun before except for the single shot Sebastian had fired at her after she had defeated Holland, and it was an experience she did not feel prepared for. Though Vampires could use weapons against Hunters, they usually preferred hand-to-hand combat. Clearly, Giovani was unconventional in many ways, and Cadence wasn't sure if his maniacal state might cause him to make some very poor decisions.

  "Jack, we are at an impasse and I'm all out of iocane powder," she said, making a reference to a favorite movie they used to watch together all the time. "If you want to leave with Giovani, go. But call me. We've got to sort this out, and soon, before he convinces you to do something you shouldn't do."

  Jack glanced over at Giovani before turning back to Cadence. "Come with me," he begged her. "Cadence, you said you wanted to be with me. Come with me, now."

  She shook her head. "I can't do that, Jack. Not right now. Call me and we'll figure it out, okay?"

  "She's choosing him, Jack," Giovani chimed in.

  "Shut up," Cadence replied, glaring at him. "I'm choosing to deescalate this situation. That's all I'm choosing. You know they won't let me walk out of here with you. They don't trust you."

  "She's lying, Jack. She's choosing him and continuing to give you hope so she can trick you into coming with her later."

  Jack oscillated again. "Giovani, I think we should just go," he said quietly.

  "We aren't walking out of here without her. We came for the girl; we're getting the girl," the older brother replied, telepathically.

  "Fine," Giovani said aloud. He turned, as if he were going to walk away. He could feel Eliza relax behind him, her gun still pointed down. Spinning around, Giovani shot her, first in the shoulder, then in the stomach. Eliza reeled in pain, falling to the ground next to Laura, who was now left exposed. Even though Jamie rushed in to try and cover Laura, he was too late. She was folded up on the ground, attempting to protect her head with her arms. The first bullet hit her in the hip, the next in the back. Jamie got there just in time to prevent a third shot from hitting her. It grazed his arm, doing little damage, as he was able to heal himself fairly quickly. He fired at Giovani, who stepped behind a large pine tree, taking cover there.

  At the same time, Christian covered Cadence. She was unarmed and completely exposed. He didn't wait for Aaron to give the order; he just did it. Elliott stepped out of the trees, his weapon also trained on Giovani.

  "Do you think I can't keep firing from back here, behind this nice, fat pine tree?" he yelled into the air.

  Aaron jumped down from his post then, taking matters into his own hands. He had ordered Hannah to restrain Laney, once the shooting began, not wanting her to rush into an already volatile situation. He wasn't sure how badly Laura was hit, but he knew Jamie wouldn't be able to heal her if he had to keep healing himself. Apparently, Giovani knew that as well.

  "Elliott, go cover Cadence," he demanded as he stepped forward, his gun drawn. "Giovani, this is over," he called across the open field.

  Aaron was standing a few feet from Jack, who looked completely shell shocked, having never seen anyone shot before and completely unsure whether or not Laura was dead.

  Elliott rushed over to stand beside Christian, making Cadence feel both safe and restrained. "Does anyone have a spare weapon?" she asked. Neither of them offered her one, however, and she realized she should have taken the one Aaron tried to give her. If she had a gun, she would end this right now.

  "Well, hello, Romeo," Giovani shouted, not leaving the coverage of the tree. "I was wondering how many of your girls I could shoot before you showed up. I guess the correct answer is two. What a shame. I was looking forward to shooting the third."

  "You are leaving. Now!" Aaron ordered. "Otherwise, you're not leaving at all. Take your pick."

  Giovani wasn't sure if he had killed Laura or not, but he didn't want to leave empty-handed. "Sure, we'll leave. Just give us Cadence, and we'll be on our way."

  "You and Jack will leave now. Alone," Aaron insisted, pointing his gun at Jack. Jack seemed extremely nervous, no doubt in his mind that Aaron would shoot him and fairly confident there was nothing he could do about it.

  "Don't point that gun at Jack!" Cadence implored.

  Aaron ignored her.

  "You won't shoot him," Giovani cried, confident that Aaron wouldn't shoot someone Cadence cared so much about it.

  Without even turning his head to see where he was aiming, Aaron fired once, purposely hitting Jack just above the knee. The new Vampire fell to the ground clinching his leg, screaming in agony. Aaron's expression looked rather bored, as if he were challenging Giovani to dare him to do it again.

  Christian and Elliott held Cadence back as she began to claw, trying to get to Jack. It was not easy, but the two of them were able to keep her at bay. "Jack!" she screamed. "Oh, my God! Is he okay?"

  "He's all right," Aaron assured her.

  "I cannot believe you did that!" Cadence reprimanded.

  "Holy, hell!" Giovani cried, suddenly realizing the seriousness of the situation.

  "Now, as I was saying, you and Jack walk out of here now or else you don't walk out of here at all," Aaron continued, his voice completely calm.

  "Fine, fine," Giovani reluctantly agreed. "What do you want me to do?" It was obvious Jack wasn't going to be able to walk on his own.

  "Throw your weapons out," Aaron ordered, waiting for him to comply. It took a moment; clearly Giovani was hesitant to face them with no weapons. Part of Aaron really wanted to take Giovani out now, since the opportunity had presented itself, but he had given his word, and he wasn't going to go back on it. "Keep your hands in the air, and come out from behind the tree." Giovani stepped out cautiously, keeping his hands in the air. "Walk over here, collect your brother, and get the hell out of here. And next time," he added, "I won't be so lenient."

  Giovani kept his eyes on the guns, several of which were trained on him, as he approached his brother. Jack was still obviously in excruciating pain, but he managed to pull himself up off of the ground. Giovani took his brother's arm and wrapped it around his neck before pulling him quickly into the trees and disappearing.

  "Follow them," Aaron ordered Elliott, who left Cadence to Christian and took off to tail the Vampires, making sure they actually left.

  Cadence had calmed down a bit, but Christian still had his arms around her. "Are you okay?" he asked her quietly, loosening his grip.

  "I am beyond pissed," she spat, pulling his arms from around her waist.

  "He'll be okay," Christian assured her. "Vampires heal very quickly."

  "That's not the point!" she replied. "What if he would have killed him? He didn't even look where he was shooting."

  Hannah and Laney had joined the rest of the Guardians around Laura now, assessing the situation. The wound in her hip was deep, the one in her back in a very bad location.

  Aaron stood off to the side a bit, not wanting to get too close to her. He knew how she felt about him. "How is she, Jamie?" he asked as soon as the Healer had gotten a chance to survey the situation.

  "Not good," Jamie admitted. "But I can save her. I need to get the bleeding stopped, and then you'll need to move us to a better location, like, back to the hotel, I guess."

  Cadence was surprised that no one from the neighborhood had called the police, what with all the shots fired. It was hunting season, though, so she thought it was possible that they were used to hearing some shots from the woods, even though there was certainly no permissible hunting in the park. She approached Aaron cautiously, knowing that the words she wanted to say to him were filled with rage. He was her boss,
after all. She stopped next to him, her hands on her hips. "What the hell?" she asked, the rest of the phrases entering her head seemed much more inappropriate.

  "I did what I needed to do," he responded calmly, not turning to look at her.

  Cadence gasped. "You did what you needed to do? You shot Jack. He was just standing there, minding his own business, and you shot him!"

  "We're not going to discuss this right now, okay?" he said, turning to look at her at last, his voice as even as he could keep it. He took a step away from her, towards Laura.

  Crossing her arms, Cadence said, "Fine, well, you let me know when you're ready. Go, check on your girlfriend. I've got a freaking wake to attend, for someone who isn't dead, that you just shot.

  "My girlfriend, really?" Aaron replied, switching to IAC. "Real mature. Should I say the same thing about your Prince Charming who ducked out of the woods to save you without being ordered to do so?"

  Cadence had no idea that Christian hadn't been ordered to protect her. She stopped for a second, glancing at him over her shoulder. He was with the rest of the team, attending to Laura. "Well, you didn't do it," she spat back angrily, walking away from him, back through the park towards Uncle Mike's house.

  "I didn't do it?" Aaron shot back, hoping his face didn't show how incredibly angry he was now. "I was trying to coordinate a battlefield, with people I didn't even know were here, and idiots who wouldn't turn on their goddamn IAC!"

  "Perhaps if you had better intel," she suggested, a blow she knew would hit him hard.

  It did. "You're right," he agreed. "If I had been out gathering information instead of making out with you, we probably would have had better intelligence. Good call. I'll be sure not to make that mistake again."

  "Good!" she shot back, as she began to cross out of the park.