The brief meeting held before the hunt was an essential part of the task. If the directives were not given, if all of the members of the team weren’t clear, if the objective wasn’t stated accurately, the entire mission could be thrown off just from poor planning.
Aaron liked to arrive early if possible so he could prepare his materials before he presented them. He wasn’t always able to do that, particularly if the location was far away. But tonight’s location was just a few blocks from LIGHTS, in downtown Kansas City, so he had plenty of time to prepare.
As he was finishing the last few tasks he needed to accomplish, Cadence arrived. On one hand, he was extremely happy to see her, especially since she looked amazing in the skin tight dark blue leather pants she was wearing. On the other, he was extremely cognizant of everything Elliott had said earlier, and he wanted to make sure that she did not let what had happened between them last night become a distraction. Instinctively, he went into “leadership mode,” even though he knew she didn’t particularly care for that tone. It was the only way he was going to ensure she realized that there could be no level of familiarity between them while they were working.
“Hi!” she said bouncing through the doorway. “Where is everyone?”
He glanced up at her and then returned to what he was doing, attempting to be completely professional. “You’re a little early,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “You can have a seat though, if you’d like. They should be here shortly.”
Cadence’s entire demeanor changed. “Okay,” she said finding a seat in the back where she would be out of the way of those active on the hunt.
He could feel how much she hated that he’d spoken to her in that direct tone. Considering what had happened last night, she likely expected him to be happy to see her. And he was; she just couldn’t know that. Her emotions told him that she thought he wasn’t happy to see her at all, and she was suddenly wondering what it was that she had done wrong. Was he mad at her or just being short because he was in a hurry? She wasn’t sure, but either way, the high she had been riding when she walked into the room plummeted toward earth. He sighed, realizing she wouldn’t bother to try to talk to him again, not now, not even through IAC, as she clearly thought he didn’t have time for her.
Despite the dismal emotions radiating from the back of the room, Aaron continued setting up for the brief in silence. Being aware that he had offended Cadence wasn’t enough for him to let her become a distraction just then. He would find a moment to speak to her before the action began, but for now, he would rather she gave all of her attention to the task at hand. Surely, once Meagan and the rest of the team arrived, she’d regain her cheery mood.
Cadence sat in the back of the room wondering what in the world she had done to make Aaron treat her so coldly. She thought, perhaps, this is just how he was when he was on a hunt; she had no way of knowing. Still, she didn’t like it. Arriving early should’ve given her a moment to speak to him before the crowd got there, not made her feel sick to her stomach and on edge more so than she already was but for a completely different reason.
The other members of the briefing party arrived just before 9:00. Seeing them file in made her feel a little bit better and gave her something else to focus on, other than the incredibly sexy man in the front of the room who seemed to be purposely ignoring her. One of the team members joked to another that they didn’t dare be late but no one wanted to be early either. The response was a whisper she only caught part of but the words, “piss off Aaron” were clear. They both had a chuckle, and she was certain he had to know what they were saying, though he didn’t make any indication. He seemed to know everything.
Cadence didn’t recognize many of these people, and that made her even more nervous. She was hoping that Eliza or Jamie would be there, but neither of them was. She did see Christian, who smiled at her when he entered the room, and she recognized Elliott, but he didn’t so much as glance in her direction. She found that rather odd since they had been amicable during Thanksgiving dinner, the last time she had spent any significant amount of time with him. Maybe he was upset she hadn’t said hi to him this afternoon when she came to thank Aaron at the simulator….
Promptly at 9:00, Aaron said, “All right, let’s go ahead and get started. Most of you know why we are here, but we do have a few items to go over.”
Aaron took about 30 minutes to explain who the Rogue Vampire was, what he was accused of, and what the plan was for catching him. Cadence listened intently. She knew she was just there to observe, but she definitely wanted to know as much about this particular Rogue’s background as possible.
His name was Henry, and he had been killing humans with no regard as to whether or not they were considered Innocent or not. Innocents were not to be touched while the others, criminals and the other lower echelons of society, were fair game to a Vampire. In fact, Henry had even killed some human children quite recently, and that was something the Guardians and Hunters both took extremely seriously. Three Independent Hunters had chased him into the Kansas City area a few days ago. All three were present, and all three looked rough to Cadence. Their names were Sam, Finn, and Camille, and they had worked together as a team for almost one hundred years. Sam was the oldest looking of the three. He had a large handlebar mustache and wore a slouch cowboy hat and boots. Finn was so angry looking; Cadence imagined that’s what someone must look like who just drank piss in place of orange juice. He had shoulder length blond hair and was very scruffy looking, though she did think he might actually be attractive if he didn’t scowl and considered purchasing a razor blade. The lone woman of the trio, Camille, was a middle-aged looking African-American woman with long black braids. She didn’t smile, not even once, not even a little bit, and Cadence thought they could all benefit from some play therapy.
Nevertheless, these three were the most familiar with Henry’s story. They knew what to expect, and they understood how he would react when he realized the position he was in. Aaron had given strict orders; his team was there to assist in whatever way Sam, Finn, and Camille needed, but they were in a supporting role here and were not to take the lead under any circumstances unless specifically directed to do so by him. All of the Guardians and Hunters in the room agreed, and Aaron stepped aside so that Shane could give some information about the location they would be traveling to.
The bar Henry was known to be frequenting was called What’s Happening, and it was located near a railroad track on Prospect Avenue. Though Cadence had grown up in Iowa, even she was familiar with the idea that you never went down Prospect Avenue at night, not if you were a human and valued your life anyway.
It was believed that Henry may have been utilizing the railway to travel from one state to the next, and they believed, if they were unsuccessful in his capture or termination this evening, chances were he would disappear on the next available train. Shane covered the exits of the bar, a front door, a back door, and the bathroom windows, which were big enough for Henry to escape through, and he went over the positions the team members would hold. There were only two other Hunters present, besides the visiting three, Meagan, and Cadence. One was a tall blond named Destiny and the other was an older looking man named Rusty. Besides Aaron, Shane, Elliott, and Christian, there were two more Guardians present. Their names were Paxton and Smith, and by the looks of them, Cadence wondered exactly how they’d ever passed the sim. Paxton had glasses and a bad complexion while Smith had a faux hawk and breathed through his mouth, his jaw hanging open.
When Shane finished, Aaron asked if there were any other questions, and there were none, so he gave the order to turn their IAC’s on to the current team members and to load up.
They walked outside to an assortment of dark-colored vehicles. Shane was directing everyone into the proper rides for his or her location. He told Meagan and Cadence they would be riding with him, and in fact, they would be staying with him at all times.
Cadence looked around for Aaron and saw him standing near his motorcycle talking to Sam. She noticed Sam seemed to be gesturing at her and Meagan, and she wondered what in the world he could possibly be talking about.
She slid into the back seat of the Mercedes ATS and buckled her seatbelt. Meagan joined her, but neither of them said a word. After a few moments, Shane climbed in and started the car. “All right, let me go over this one last time,” he said in as stern a voice as either of them had ever heard him use. “We are observing. All three of us. Just observing. We are not helping. We are not interfering. We are not saving the day. Does everyone hear me?”
“Yes, sir,” Cadence replied instinctively. “I mean, yes, of course. I hear you.”
“I understand, too,” Meagan chimed in.
“Okay, good. We are going to be located off to the side of the bar so that you can see how the Hunters and Guardians work together to surround the Vampire and corner him. After the mission is complete, I also want you to see how Elliott goes about cleaning up our mess. All right? Questions?” They had no questions, so the three of them sat in silence for the next few minutes it took until they reached the location.
There was an art to congregating so many non-humans in one place without anyone detecting anything strange, and the team had it down. The vehicles spread out and parked in specific locations already determined ahead of time. In fact, Cadence could see just how much planning truly went into this, and she became even more impressed by what Aaron did every day.
Shane pulled the car into a parking lot a few blocks from the bar. They made the short trek to their station and took up a spot in the alley between the bar and an abandoned building. Judging from the drawing Shane had shown them during the briefing, Cadence believed they were on the side of the building with the bathrooms. There were two windows large enough for a typical sized adult to squeeze through. She remembered that Paxton was to be stationed outside of the bathrooms and that their observation party was to be on the other side of the building. Just as she was about to ask Shane if he was sure he knew which side the bathroom was on, Aaron approached her.
“Cadence,” he said in that rushed tone he reserved for business purposes, “I need to speak with you for a moment.”
Shane and Meagan were conversing about something a few steps away, and even though Cadence wanted to talk to Aaron about how he had made her feel earlier, she really didn’t think this was the time. “Yes?” she said quietly.
“Listen, Sam and his gang have some trepidations about you and Meagan being out here. He thinks that your presence is an indicator that I’m not taking this seriously. I explained that you’ve both met the requirements, and I even told him your background, but he’s still not comfortable. This is their hunt. We’re just supporting, so just do your best to stay out of the way, all right?”
She could tell by his distracted expression that he was getting lots of chatter on his IAC that he needed to attend to. “Okay,” she said.
“One more thing,” he added. “This is completely against protocol, but since I’m in charge of protocol, I’m doing it anyway.” He slipped a Glock out of his waistband and handed it to her. “Do you have some place you can keep this?”
She nodded her head.
“Good. You do not use this gun unless a Vampire is headed directly at you. Understand? Under no circumstances do you use this gun unless you—not Meagan, not Shane, not even me—unless you are in immediate danger. Or unless I tell you to. All right?”
She nodded her head again, taking the gun and sticking it in the back of her pants under her shirt.
“All right. I’ve got to go. I will see you when this is all over,” he said, smiling at her meekly and disappearing into the night.
She watched him walk away, feeling more confused than ever before. He hadn’t given Meagan a gun, which must mean something. And he had smiled at her. Maybe the way he’d treated her earlier was due to the hunt preparations and truly had nothing to do with her. With a sigh, she headed back over to Shane and Meagan, suddenly remembering the situation with the bathroom windows. They were still talking and laughing, and she couldn’t seem to get their attention so she slunk back against the wall and turned her attention to the action.
Cadence had her IAC on, and she had gotten much better about tracking what was going on where and who she should prioritize. She had requested access to Sam, Finn, and Camille but had been denied. She didn’t want to bother Aaron by asking him to grant it for her anyway. As the three visiting Hunters were the only ones in the bar, she had no idea what was happening on that front. Shane knew, however, and he was attempting to relay everything to Meagan. Cadence tried to listen in, but she was frustrated. There wasn’t much use in her even being there if she couldn’t see or hear what was going on.
“They are confronting him now,” she heard Shane say. So, the Vampire was in the bar. Surely, with the three of them inside, they would be able to trap him.
"Shane, I think we're on the wrong side of the building," Cadence said hesitantly. However, he was so busy relaying information to Meagan, he barely even glanced in her direction. Cadence sighed and tried again. "Aren't those the bathroom windows?" Again, Shane said nothing.
About that time, she heard Aaron saying, “Someone is out of position.”
There was no immediate reply, and Cadence was almost certain it was Paxton, but she didn’t feel it was her place to answer Aaron, considering she was just there to observe.
The next time Aaron was a little firmer. “Shane, who is out of position?”
Shane was still not listening however, as he was so intensely relaying information to Meagan.
“Shane,” Cadence whispered as loudly as she dared, “did you hear that?”
He looked up at her absently. “What’s that?”
Shane who the hell is out of position?
He had heard Aaron that time. “Oh, shit,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m checking.”
But by then it was too late. There was a loud crash, and glass flew from the shattered bathroom window into the air, raining down on them even twenty feet away. The Vampire had smashed through the window with the same velocity of an exploding bomb. Cadence covered her face and jumped backward into the brick wall behind her. She peered out over the top of her jacket, the corner of which she was using to cover her face, and saw Henry standing there, looking around, trying to determine which way to go. She knew he must be looking for a Hunter or Guardian to be stationed right outside that window, and since there were none, he could go either way.
To his right was Prospect Avenue. Though it was a high crime neighborhood, it was also fairly busy, especially this late at night when a lot of deals were going down. To his left was a parking lot, some abandoned buildings, and a semi-busy street. On the other side of the street were some rundown apartment buildings. But behind those buildings was a park. Cadence knew all of this from the planning meeting. If Henry could make it to that park, chances were, he could lay low and find a way to escape. He looked up at the top of the buildings. No Hunters were visible on the roofs, though he must’ve assumed some might be hiding. He made his choice and headed toward the park.
Shane and Meagan had recovered from the spray of glass, and as Henry took off running, he ran right by all three of them. “Aren’t you going to chase him?” Cadence asked Shane.
“No, I told you, this isn’t my hunt. We are all three just observing.”
“But, he’s getting away,” Cadence pleaded. This was a Vampire who had killed children. How could Shane just stand there and watch him escape?
Henry was almost through the nearly empty parking lot when Cadence’s instincts kicked in. Without thinking of the consequences, she began to give chase. She heard Shane’s voice echoing behind her to stop and thought perhaps Shane even chased her a few steps. To her left she saw a flash and somehow knew it was Finn. But she was faster and got ahead of him. As she made it through the parking lot, she was keenly aware that Aaron was screaming at her to “stand down immediately.” But at this point, she physically could not stop her legs from moving.
Henry caught the traffic light just right and made it across the intersection while Cadence and Finn, who was close behind her, had to stop.
“What the hell are you doing?” he spat at her.
She didn’t have time to answer. She saw Henry weaving in and out among the shadows near the apartment buildings. Despite the fact that there was oncoming traffic, Cadence began a game of Frogger and started to dodge the cars. She was able to make it through safely, but Finn was not so lucky. There was a screech and the sound of an impact. She didn’t stop to see if he was okay. She was pretty sure a car couldn’t kill him.
Aaron was stationed atop the building directly behind the bar, to the left of the parking lot. He stopped giving orders to the team through his IAC now and was screaming at Cadence to stop only on her own frequency. He had a feeling, however, that nothing he could say was going to stop her, so he was also moving. He had one tool that Cadence didn’t know how to use yet and that was infrared. If he could pick up on where Henry was, perhaps he could at least protect her that way. He just didn’t know if he was fast enough to catch up to them.
Henry had to make another choice. He turned and looked at her discovering she was fast on his heels. He looked off in the direction of the field but must’ve known that, if he decided to go that direction, there was a good chance she would reach him before he could find a good hiding spot. His other option, however, was to enter the apartment building and try to find a place to hide there, or at least something to make a bargain with.
If he had made his decision one second more quickly, perhaps Cadence wouldn’t have seen which fire escape ladder he jumped up and grabbed ahold of. However, she came around the corner just in time to see him pulling himself up onto the ladder connected to building four. Even though she was no longer listening to the chatter on the IAC, she decided she should let everyone know where he was, so she passed that information along as she sprinted for the ladder he had climbed.
As she sprinted to the ladder, she caught a visual of Aaron climbing on the motorcycle he had parked at the foot of the fire escape on the building he had been stationed on. For some reason, the idea that he was coming to help stilled her a bit, even though the fleeting idea that he would be livid when this was over also crossed her mind. A few hurried words caught her attention as she came to a screeching halt beneath the ladder, and none of them were promising. “Dangerous… monster... furious… disobeyed my orders.”
Cadence could still see Henry clambering up the ladder from her vantage point directly below him. Taking a lesson from her training, she was easily able to jump from the ground to the first platform without even using the lowest ladder. Henry must have glanced down just in time to see that and realize she could catch him in just two or three leaps, so he shattered the window next to the landing he was currently standing on and leapt inside. In the distance, Cadence heard an approaching motorcycle and hoped its engine noise wouldn't wake any slumbering humans.
Cadence cleared the rest of the stairs in just a few seconds. “He’s in the apartment at the back of building four on the sixth floor,” she reported, wondering if anyone else was even anywhere near her location. She cautiously pulled herself inside through the shattered window and found herself standing in the living room of a small apartment. Wherever Henry was, he couldn’t have gone far. Instinctively, she pulled the gun out of her waistband and began to peer through the darkness.
She heard a noise from the back of the apartment and realized it was a baby whimpering. Afraid he might harm the child, she rushed to the room where the noise was coming from. There, she saw a horrific sight. Henry stood next to a bassinet, holding a baby girl by her throat with one hand, the claw-like fingernails from his other hand outstretched, threatening to scratch, bite, or ring the neck of the baby.
Though the baby was crying, the young, exhausted mother had yet to realize it, and she was still sleeping on the bed between Cadence and Henry. There was a window just to Henry’s right, and the way he was looking at it made Cadence increasingly nervous.
“Put the baby down,” she said as calmly as she could muster. At the sound of her speaking, the mother stirred.
“Now, why would I do that?” he asked, his voice just as ghoulish as his appearance. “Unless, of course, you mean, put it down there,” he said, gesturing toward the window.
The mother was awake now, and she appeared to be frozen with fear. She was staring right at Cadence, and if Henry realized that she could also be used as a shield, Cadence’s challenge would be a lot more difficult. “Ma’am, I know you have no idea who I am or what’s going on, but please, get over here behind me, right now,” she said, leaving the gun trained on Henry.
Perhaps motivated by fear of the weapon, or perhaps because she was not fully awake and thought she might still be dreaming, the woman complied and ran across the room to where Cadence was standing. It was only when she turned around that the horrific scene Cadence had been staring at for several seconds unfolded itself to her. “My baby!” she shrieked.
"I need you to stay calm, and stay right here,” Cadence said, reaching her arm out to the woman as a reassurance that she should not move back toward the child.
“Why, you’re nothing but a little kitten, are you?” Henry was saying to Cadence now, trying to get into her head. “Not even a full-grown pussy.” His greasy, thinning hair blew in the wind, and Cadence noticed he was swaying.
“Put the baby down.” Cadence stated again. She remembered what Aaron had said about shooting this gun, and she wondered how much trouble she was in already. Would it be worth it to take the shot? Then there was the possibility that she might miss and hit the baby, in which case her game was over before it even began.
“You know, every small child dreams of flying.” He took a step toward the window.
The mother began to weep louder now, and Cadence was afraid she might try to save her child, putting her directly into her line of fire and potentially causing Henry to harm the baby or possibly infect the child with his DNA, transforming her into a Vampire.
“Henry,” Cadence began, “put that baby down, and you can walk out of this building. I promise, I won’t shoot you.”
He began to chuckle, “And what of the rest of your forces, hmm? The old cowboy? The black lady? The hippy? Will they be so kind as you, kitten?” As he spoke, he reached with his free hand over to the window and slowly pulled up the glass.
The mother was frantic now. Henry seemed to know he had little chance of escaping unharmed. “You know, I’m toying with the idea of tossing this child out the window, just for shits and giggles.” He began to laugh maniacally and Cadence felt sick to her stomach, but she didn’t respond. What could she say that she hadn’t already?
She wasn’t sure if she could take the shot in time and dive across the room, catching the baby before the little one fell.
As Henry held the child closer to the cold night air, she began to wail even louder. The noise was making it increasingly difficult for Cadence to think. Just then, she heard Aaron’s voice come over the IAC. His orders were clear, and she trusted that he could see the situation as she did.
“If you’ve got the shot, take it.”
Henry was still swaying back and forth. In order to save the baby from becoming contaminated, she needed a straight shot right into his heart. Otherwise, he might have time to hurt the child before she could kill him. When he swayed to the right, his right arm provided enough cover to prevent her from trusting her aim. But, when he swayed to the left, he opened up just a bit more and she thought she had a clean shot to his heart. It had to be clean.
She pondered the idea of giving him one more opportunity to put the baby down, but she knew he was not going to comply, no matter what she said. He was driveling on again now, something about cats, but she wasn’t listening. She was using every ounce of her concentration to time her shot.
To the right, to the left. Fire.
Even as her finger pulled the trigger, she began to dive across the room. Initially, her goal had been to catch the baby; she hoped to grab her before she fell out of the window to the sidewalk below. However, as she flew through the air, she realized Aaron had burst through the door and was diving for the child. Cadence shifted her focus midair and reached for Henry’s head instead. As Aaron dove under her, she forced her momentum upward, grabbing Henry’s skull and giving it one swift crank to the right. Not only did she break his neck, but just as had happened with Carter before, as she pulled, the Vampire’s head came off in her hands.
She turned to see Aaron’s upper body hanging out the window, his legs resting on the bed and the nightstand awkwardly. Tossing the head aside, she rushed over to him, afraid he might fall out of the window. If he had the baby, it might be difficult for him to work his way back in. She pulled him back into the room, relieved to see the baby girl wiggling angrily in his arms. On the sidewalk below, Cadence caught a glimpse of Elliott and felt relieved that even if Henry had dropped the baby, she would’ve been caught.
The mother hurried over to take her daughter. Her screams of terror had quickly shifted to tears of joy as she held her precious baby in her arms. Even while the mother was cradling the child, Aaron quickly and carefully checked to see if there were any scratches or teeth marks on the baby. He shook his head at Cadence, letting her know that Henry had not harmed the child, so he allowed the exhausted mother to calm her little girl.
Cadence could hear sirens in the distance and realized that, even in this neighborhood, shattering glass, the mother’s screams, the roar of a motorcycle engine on the lawn, and shots fired had probably alerted the building’s other residents to call the police. She looked down to see that Henry’s body had already turned to ashes.
Just as the mother began to ask questions, Elliott entered the room. Cadence and Aaron were both more than willing to let him talk to the shaken woman. Christian had also arrived carrying some sort of vacuuming device, which Cadence assumed was to collect the remains of Henry. Without saying a word, Aaron grabbed Cadence by her upper arm, not hard enough to hurt her but firm enough to get her attention. He directed her toward the door, and as she passed Christian, he gave her a pathetic smile. The reality of what she had done began to set in, and Cadence realized she was going to have a lot of explaining to do. It was evident that Aaron was extremely unhappy.
Just as they reached the doorway, Elliott picked the Glock up off of the floor and, without turning his head, tossed it backward to Aaron, who caught it with his free hand without looking and tucked it into his waistband.
“Twenty minutes to debrief. Resume protocol.” Aaron instructed to the team sharply as he moved Cadence to the staircase.
Cadence ascertained that the last portion, the part about protocol, had to be stated because of her. She had broken protocol. And she had broken it good.
Aaron didn’t say anything at all to her as he led her down the six flights of stairs. As they reached the landing before the external exit, he said sternly, “Do not say anything to anyone. Do you understand?”
Taking his directive quite literally, she nodded her head in the affirmative and walked with him out the door.
Most of the team had assembled on the sidewalk here, except for the two that were still inside and Meagan and Shane who, no doubt, were still standing in the alley. Cadence thought they might remain in their positions for the next several years if Aaron never gave them specific permission to move.
She could see that Finn was pretty beat up. His arm looked to be broken, and he had several lacerations on his face and legs. He was standing with his team on the sidewalk across the street. As Cadence and Aaron exited the building, Sam approached them, weaving in and out of traffic, screaming a trail of expletives at both of them. Aaron seemed to ignore him and led her over to where he had dropped his bike on the sidewalk before he kicked in the front door and sprinted up the stairs to save the baby. Cadence assumed she was riding with Aaron back to headquarters so she stood by as he righted his motorcycle. Sam had a few more choice words for her, and they were becoming more and more vulgar with each passing second. Though she was trying to tune him out, it was becoming increasingly more difficult. She didn’t know if she should punch him in the face or start to cry.
Aaron looked at Sam sharply and slowly stated, “Sam, that’s enough. I said I would take care of it. Now, leave her the hell alone.”
The old man looked a bit intimidated at first, but then he remarked, “Yeah if everything you said happened, we wouldn’t be in this situation now, would we?”
“I gave the order for her to take the shot.”
“If that bitch hadn’t taken off on her own like that….”
Suddenly, the older man jumped back a few paces and stopped speaking mid-sentence. Cadence had no way of knowing what Aaron had said to him over the IAC, but she got the impression he had used a few expletives himself. Whatever it was, it was enough for Sam to bite his tongue.
Cadence didn’t understand why Sam and his party were so angry. She had completed a task they had failed at for years. They should be thanking her! Clearly, she was missing something, however, and since she had promised she wouldn’t say anything, she was glad that Aaron had handled it. Even though he was obviously angry with her, she felt a little better knowing he had stood up for her against the verbal abuse of Cowboy Sam.
Aaron climbed on his bike and gestured for her to get on as well, which she did immediately. If he was giving directives to the rest of the team, he was doing so individually because she saw nothing more from him come across the team IAC.
Cadence glanced back over her shoulder as they pulled away and saw Sam’s ire was up again. This time, he was speaking to Elliott. It was difficult to tell whether the Guardian was agreeing with the cowboy or telling him off, and as they turned a corner, Cadence lost sight of all of them.
Aaron neither said nor sent a word directly to her the entire ride back. He pushed the motorcycle’s limitation on speed, and she had to hold on tightly to keep from flying off especially when they went around corners. Under normal circumstances she would have loved the idea of riding his bike with him. But right now, she felt like a small child who had been warned that she would be receiving a spanking when she got home.
As they pulled into the lot in front of the meeting room, Cadence’s emotions began to get the best of her. She was doing everything she could not to cry. He parked the bike, waited for her to get off, and then, without a word, walked into the building, clearly expecting her to follow. He led her down a hallway to a small room near the back of the building. Looking at his watch, he let out a sigh. Cadence checked the time on her IAC and saw they only had ten minutes until the debrief was to start. She assumed he would need much more time than that to go over this mess with her.
Gesturing toward a chair on the other side of a small table, he said simply, “Sit. I’ll be back.” He slammed the door so hard behind him that the entire room shook.
Despite having such a small window of time to return for debrief, every single member of the team was punctual. No one dared be late when Aaron was this angry. The three Independent Hunters were noticeably missing, however. Cadence’s IAC was still tuned to the rest of the teams, and Elliott mentioned that the Independents were extremely angry at both Cadence and Aaron and had been mumbling about seeking vengeance. The Leader said nothing in response to that comment, and Cadence wondered if it was something she should be worried about.
Right now, she had other concerns. Aaron stood at the front of the room with his arms crossed for a few minutes before he began. The same visual supports that were up earlier were up now, a reminder of the mistakes they had made. This mission had been a disaster from the very second they walked out the door, and while Cadence was certainly to blame for taking them off protocol, she wasn’t the only one at fault. She wondered if any of that would come to light as they spoke or if everyone would be focused on her. Finally, after a few minutes Aaron began, saying, “All right guys, let’s start at the beginning.”
By now, some of the team members had assumed they should turn Cadence’s vision off, and they had done so. But she could still see from Aaron’s perspective and from Christian’s, so she decided to observe from the latter’s trying to see if she could ascertain whether or not she should just pack up and leave right now or if there was a possibility she might get one more chance.
Aaron crossed over to the map of the bar. “Our first problem, in my opinion, started right here.” He gestured at the map and waited to see if anyone said anything. The room was silent. “What is wrong with this picture?” When no one volunteered any comments, he looked directly at Shane and waited.
Shane cleared his throat. “I had the restroom windows marked incorrectly on the map,” he finally admitted.
“That’s exactly right,” Aaron said, taking out a marker. “You had the bathrooms marked on this side of the building, not over here where they should have been. So, our cut-off, Paxton, who was supposed to be watching the bathroom windows, was on the wrong side of the building. Which leads us to another problem. Guys, if you’re supposed to be watching something—a window, a door, a car, a building—and you can’t see it, you’ve got to take responsibility for letting me know so I can help reposition you.” He waited to see if anyone was going to say anything, but though they were all nodding, no one did. “Paxton, did you notice that you were not in front of the bathroom windows? The windows on that side of the building were small, and there was no way a full-grown man was going to be able to escape through them.”
Paxton looked at Aaron nervously. When he finally spoke, it was just above a whisper. “I was confused. I saw that Smith was on the same side of the building as me. We talked about which one of us was out of position, but we didn’t get it settled before everything went down.”
Aaron nodded his head slowly. “All right, that’s a start. So, if you are ever in a similar situation again, what do you think you should do?”
Paxton looked at Smith who was staring at the floor. After another long pause, he said, “We should let you know, and if we don’t have time we should just make a decision.”
“There you go.” He opened his mouth as if he might make another comment to the Guardian, but stopped himself as if deciding spending any more time on those two was pretty worthless. “Then, we had another issue. Shane, I could not get ahold of you on the IAC. I knew there was a problem. I was trying to get you to fix it, and you were not answering. What in the world were you doing?”
“I’m not exactly sure, to be honest,” he said, scratching his head. “Cadence kept yelling at me about something, and it made it really hard for me to hear anything else.”
“Really?” Aaron asked a sarcastic look on his face. She hoped that meant he couldn’t believe Shane was trying to pin this particular problem on her. “That’s what happened? Are you sure about that? Because I have the recording. We can go over it.”
Shane seemed to think for a second to see if he could come up with a better answer. “Well, she was trying to tell me something. I don’t know what. And I was trying to listen to what was going on in the building and relay the information to Meagan because she didn’t have access to the IACs in the bar, and I wanted her to know what was going on.”
“You don’t know what Cadence was trying to tell you?” Aaron asked, giving Shane one more chance to come completely clean.
Shane shook his head no, hoping Aaron would just let it go. But it wasn’t Aaron who had to call him on it. “She was telling you about the bathroom windows, remember?” Meagan chimed in. Shane looked at her like he wanted to strangle her, but she kept on talking. “She said that she thought someone was out of position and that the windows were on the wrong side of the map. Don’t you remember that?”
“Thank you, Meagan,” Aaron said.
She smiled. “Happy I could help.”
Aaron moved back to Shane. “What did you say to Cadence when she told you that you had made a mistake?”
Cadence wondered if Shane’s first instinct would be to lie and try to cover his own ass again, but he must have realized that, if he did so, Meagan would throw him right back under the bus. “I didn’t say anything,” he admitted. “I just ignored her.”
Aaron was nodding his head again. “And you ignored me.”
Shane said nothing more, looking at the floor.
“All right, from that point forward, we were in an Emergency Procedure. Clearly, we did not plan for Cadence to attempt to chase the Rogue down. I will be speaking to her shortly and determining the consequences for her actions.” He surveyed the room and saw that everyone was staring at the floor, so he continued. “As far as how the rest of you handled the EP situation, I have no complaints. Meagan and Shane, you held your positions as instructed. Paxton and Smith, you took care of the people at the bar. Christian and Elliott, you both moved into strategic positions quickly and handled clean up protocol. Everyone else did what was expected, held the perimeter, ready if called. Our three friends who decided they didn’t need to come to this meeting broke protocol as well. I will handle that separately. Are there any questions?”
“I have a question,” Christian said, raising one finger in the air.
“Go ahead,” Aaron said folding his arms across his chest and looking unbelievably tired for someone who needed little to no sleep.
“I understand that Cadence broke protocol and disobeyed directives; I get that. I know what she did was impulsive and dangerous, perhaps a little insane. But, does she get any credit at all for actually killing the Vampire?”
Aaron checked the room again. A few heads nodding in agreement. Most of them stopped when they saw him looking directly at them.
“You know, that’s something that Cadence and I are going to have to discuss.” His tone conveyed that this was not a topic he wished to say more about.
Christian wasn’t done, however. “Good,” he said, nodding his head, “because, I just feel like, maybe if we were utilizing our people better…”
“All right Christian, you made your point….” Aaron asserted.
“I mean, maybe we should have let her participate in the first place, and then she wouldn’t have had to break protocol.”
“Yes, I understand what you are saying. All I can say to you is that, sometimes there are circumstances that you don’t understand that require certain procedures.” Clearly, Aaron was ready for this conversation to be over, but another member of the team had finally found his voice as well.
“Man, that’s just... that’s just screwed up,” Elliot was saying shaking his head at Christian.
“What?” Christian said, gesturing wildly.
“You’re going to sit here in a debrief and try to call Aaron out on something you know nothing about?” Elliott continued.
Aaron waved him off, “Elliott, it’s all right. Just let it go.”
“She’s not even here. She’s not even here to defend herself,” Christian said, his frustration starting to show in his face.
“She doesn’t need to be here,” Elliott yelled. “At all! Anymore!”
Now, Aaron looked like he was starting to lose his cool. Both Elliott and Christian suddenly leaned back, and although Cadence had no way of knowing exactly what Aaron might have said to them over the IAC, it must’ve been stern. Aloud, Aaron said, “All right, we’re done. Go home. Everyone needs to review Set-Up Protocols. Leave.”
The majority of the team members left as quickly as possible. Christian lingered for a second and Cadence wondered if it was because he thought Aaron might want to say something to him privately or if he was waiting for her. He must have known he overstepped his bounds, but clearly, he didn’t feel like the situation was handled correctly at all. He seemed frustrated at Aaron’s inflexibility when it came to following protocols. Cadence couldn’t blame him for wanting to get the conversation over if Aaron had anything else he wanted to say about it. Aaron did not look in his direction, though, so he finally headed to the exit. He did pause by the door and look in the direction of the room he knew Cadence was being kept in thanks to her own IAC visuals, and the sympathetic look on his face made her feel slightly better--momentarily.
Elliott was the only remaining team member in the room with Aaron. “I’m sorry, man,” he said.
“You should be,” Aaron stated with all seriousness. “If I tell you to let something go, you’ve got to let it go.”
“I know, but man, I told you this was going to happen.”
“No, no, this had nothing to do with that,” Aaron said adamantly.
“You know it did. She thought you’d let her get away with it because she thinks she’s your girlfriend. And look what happened. All the information Henry had, all gone, down the tubes.” Cadence tried not to shudder at his word choice.
Aaron said nothing at first, just shook his head. “I know nothing I can say will change your mind, but you’re wrong.”
Cadence felt anger rising up inside of her. She had no idea exactly what Elliott was talking about, but she knew she was not Aaron’s girlfriend, and nothing that had happened tonight had anything at all to do with her feelings for the leader. Who was Elliott to stick his nose in anyway?
“All right, brother,” Elliott was saying, patting him on the shoulder as he walked to the door. “Good luck. Man, you’re gonna need it.”
Aaron watched his best friend walk out the door and continued to ponder his comments. Of course, Elliott had no idea that Cadence heard every word that he said. He likely assumed that she had turned her feed off, but the leader had purposely left her on. Despite his frustration, Aaron wanted her to know how the debrief went, what the others had to say, that he recognized the contributions she had made, and that he realized that others had made errors as well. The thought that his best friend might actually be right was more than a little unsettling.
Once everyone was gone, Aaron walked back to where he had left Cadence. He opened the door but didn’t go in at first. He just stood in the doorway looking at her. Clearly, she had been crying, but she wasn’t just then. After a few moments he finally entered, pulled a box of tissue off of a shelf, slammed it on the table and sat down across from her, his arms folded across his chest.
She looked at the tissues, but seemed resolved not to use them, or even touch the box. Her mouth opened, like she was going to say something, but she closed it. He imagined she had dozens of questions burning in her mind, but she waited for him to go first. After all, he was clearly the one in charge here, or at least he thought he was.
He wasn’t exactly sure where to begin. After considering his options for what seemed like an eternity, he finally asked, “What in the world possessed you to disobey my directives and give chase to a Vampire on your own?”
“Does it matter?” she asked. “What’s done is done.”
“Yes, yes it matters. It matters a lot, quite frankly. You’ve always done exactly what I’ve asked you to do until tonight, until it really counted.”
She sighed, “I can’t even explain to you why I did it. I just... had to. It was instinct. I saw a Vampire getting away, and I had to get him.”
“I want you to realize that never, in over 150 years of working in this field, have I ever, not once, seen a Hunter do something so reckless and stupid. Not one time.”
“Then, I guess, I’m just an idiot,” she said dryly.
“No, you see, that’s the thing," he said, uncrossing his arms and leaning toward her, elbows on the table. “You’re not an idiot. It’s like you weren’t even listening to me. At all.”
“I wasn’t. I wasn’t listening to you. Literally,” she admitted
“Then what were you listening to?”
“Nothing!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air. “I was just reacting. I wasn’t intentionally disobeying you. I think I did hear you once or twice, while I was sprinting across the parking lot, and before I jumped the fire escape, but what you were saying wasn’t registering.”
“You could have gotten killed.”
“I know.”
“You could have gotten that baby killed,” he added.
She nodded her head. “But I didn’t.”
“Thank God. How did you know I would be able to get there in time? What was your plan if I hadn’t?”
“I just knew you would,” she said emphatically.
The anger and frustration were building in his voice as he exclaimed, “You just knew I would get there in time to save a freaking baby dangling out a window?”
“No, I didn’t know if we’d be able to save the baby,” she said, the tears streaming down her face again. “But I knew you would get there in time to save me.”
Aaron leaned back in his chair, his hand brushing through his hair. He was quiet for a few moments, considering everything she had said, trying to come up with a fitting response. His conversations with Elliott were fresh in his mind, and even though he wanted to believe this was all about an instinctual response, at this point, he just wasn’t sure. His heart was telling him one thing, but his logical mind, the one that put his team and his mission above all else, was telling him something different. “Listen, Cadence I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to...” he began but that’s all he got out before she interrupted him.
“No, Aaron, it’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. I get it. I understand,” she said, her tears drying up. She sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her hand, still refusing the tissues.
“Do you?” he asked, not sure how that was possible when he didn’t quite get it himself.
“Yes, I do. It’s fine. It’s just fine.”
“Okay,” he said quietly.
They continued to sit in silence for a few more minutes before Cadence asked, “What’s my punishment?”
He had been thinking about that a lot. Even before Christian had said anything he had realized, despite the fact the whole idea from the beginning revolved around capturing Henry alive, Cadence didn’t know that. She had done her job as far as catching and killing Vampires was concerned, and she had done it better than any new Hunter he had ever seen. Despite the fact that she had broken protocol and put the entire team at risk, he felt that telling her he was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with her was punishment enough. Though she had said she was fine, her eyes were telling him something very different. He suddenly felt inclined to be lenient. “Why don’t you take a few days off? We’ll call it a suspension, but it’ll just be an opportunity for you to go see your family, to visit your friends, whatever you need to do.”
“Okay,” she agreed, devoid of emotion.
“All right then,” he said, standing and pushing his chair in. “You should go home, back to your apartment. I’ve got some things to work on here.” She stood and rushed past him to the door careful not to touch him as she squeezed by.
Aaron didn’t turn to watch her walk out the door, but the second he heard it slam behind her, he began to question everything.
Cadence covered the short distance back to her apartment building as quickly as she could. Hopeful that the tears would wait until she reached the solace of her room to start again, she avoided contact with everyone in the lobby as she made her way to the elevator and climbed to the twenty-second floor. She was slightly distracted by the number of messages she was receiving on the IAC, and though many of them were positive, she decided to turn it off. It would be better if she simply did not think about tonight’s events at all.
After what seemed like an eternity, the elevator door finally opened. Stepping out of the elevator, she was surprised to see Christian leaning against her apartment door. He was still wearing the same clothes he had on for the hunt. He looked almost as despondent as she felt, and even though she was in no mood to discuss the events that had transpired, she was happy to see him.
As she approached, he opened his arms and she let him envelop her, burying her head in his chest, her tears held back only by sheer will power. He smelled of leather and a slight hint of cigarette smoke, something Cadence had never noticed before. Perhaps her renegade actions had driven him to lighting up. His arms were strong, and she felt solace in his embrace.
After a few moments, he spoke, concern and sympathy evident in his tone. “You holding up?”
Cadence pulled back a step, but he did not loosen his grip around her. “I’ll be all right,” she said, hoping it was true.
“Good,” he replied. “What you did out there tonight was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. To think that it wasn’t completely appreciated makes me furious. I just wanted to make sure you are all right, that Aaron didn’t tear you down too much, and to let you know that I, for one, am convinced that you are a superhero.”
She had to smile at that last bit. She didn’t feel like a superhero, not right now anyway. “Thank you,” she said, using the same quiet tone he had spoken in. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support.”
It was getting late, and Cadence was tired. She was also very aware that Aaron could return to his apartment at any moment, and while she honestly didn’t care if he saw her talking to Christian or not, she was not prepared to have to see him again so soon. She tried pulling away again, and this time Christian allowed her to, moving his hand to her hip. For reasons unbeknownst to her, she did not push his hand away.
She dug in her pocket for her key, absently thinking about how much easier it would be when they updated the lock on her door, inserted the key, and pushed the door slightly ajar.
Fully aware that Christian’s hand was now caressing her side, she hesitated for a brief second, knowing that inviting him in would complicate matters. Yet, she was suddenly quite attracted to him, and it was getting more difficult by the minute to send him away. Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Would you like to come in for a few minutes?”
In reply, he leaned forward, bringing his lips down on hers hungrily. With one hand, he pushed open the door, gently guiding her inside of the apartment with the other. He continued to kiss her, leading her over to the couch, not bothering to turn on the light, releasing her only long enough to allow her to drop down on the sofa and then joining her, finding her lips again.
Cadence quickly found herself breathless. Her mind was already cloudy with the events of earlier, and she found it much simpler to let her body respond, rather than lending any thought to what was happening. As his mouth explored her neck, her earlobe, she became extremely aware of his hands. She was hesitant; having only been intimate with Jack, she wasn’t sure that she was ready to take her relationship with Christian so far within the first few days. In fact, until this very moment, he had been nothing to her but an attractive friend. Now, with his lips caressing the nape of her neck, she realized she had a decision to make, one she needed to make rather quickly.
“Christian,” she said quietly, unsure of her own voice, “I think we better stop.” She intended to push him back, but her hands were not responding the way she had hoped they would. If he heard her, he did not comply. His teeth gently nipped the tip of her earlobe, and she began to feel as if she were floating. It was only the incessant idea that she was in no state of mind to make this sort of decision that kept nagging at her to stop. Once more, she gave him a gentle nudge with her hands, this time a bit harder and said, “Christian? Christian! Stop.”
He seemed to get the message that time and sat up abruptly, straightening his clothing as he did so. Cadence sat up as well, pulling her shirt down completely and glancing down to see if it was still buttoned. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “It’s nothing against you—at all. It’s just been a very long, emotional day.”
“No, I understand,” Christian interjected. “It really wasn’t fair of me to put you in that situation. I’m just extremely attracted to you, Cadence, that’s all.”
She wasn’t sure what to say. Of course, she found him attractive, too, but saying so wouldn’t help her present cause. She smiled, shyly, feeling herself begin to blush. “Thank you,” she said quietly. She wanted to say something more, but no fitting words would come to mind.
Christian looked around the room awkwardly. Finally, he said, “Well, I should let you get some rest.”
He stood and walked slowly toward the door. Cadence followed, still searching for something, anything, to say. She opened her mouth briefly but closed it again. Every sentence that popped into her mind sounded ridiculous.
Opening the door, Christian paused for a moment and turned back to face her. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” Cadence nodded, and he slowly leaned down and kissed her softly one last time before exiting her apartment.
Cadence rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. Her life was becoming increasingly more complicated by the second, and in that moment, all she really wanted to do was get some sleep. She resisted the urge to bang her head against the door and instead made her way toward her bedroom, hoping for sleep and the mental clarity morning may bring.
As Christian made his way back to his own apartment on the sixth floor, he couldn’t help but feel a bit defeated. Though he certainly didn’t wish to take advantage of Cadence’s emotional vulnerability, he had been hopeful that she would confirm his suspicion that she was as physically attracted to him as he was to her. Now, he wasn’t quite so convinced he had been reading her signals correctly. He certainly hadn’t allowed anyone else to view their interaction on the IAC, but he had been recording it. He had a bit of a fetish for such things. Now, however, he was thinking he should review the footage to see exactly where he went wrong. He was hopeful that he would have another opportunity with Cadence, and the next time, he wanted to make sure her answer wasn’t no.