The Enclave was still parked where they had left it, which shouldn't have been surprising to Cadence, but returning from a hunt was always a bit like waking from a dream, and it took her a bit to get her bearings. She wouldn't have been too surprised to see that it had been carried off by dragons.
Elliott pulled the door open for her politely, and she slid into the passenger seat. "When does that no-longer-need-to-sleep phase kick in?" she asked, reaching back and pulling the seatbelt across her lap as Elliott shut the door behind her.
He rounded the front of the car and pulled himself in as he answered. "I would say a year or two, but for you, who knows. You don't seem to fit any of the statistics."
She couldn't help but snicker at that, though she couldn't deny the truth. Even before he had pulled the car around and was heading back down the windy path, she had her head back against the seat, eyes closed. "It must be like coming down off of illicit drugs," she said quietly. "I go from the ultimate high to a crashing low."
"You do need to catch up on some sleep," Elliott remarked as he made his way down the bumpy road. Only the light of a few wayward stars complemented the headlights, which were on high. "I still can't believe you just did that…."
Her head shot up momentarily before she slammed it back against the seat. "Whose idea was this?" she asked quietly.
"I told you," he explained, his right hand steering while his left supported his head. "I didn't think you'd actually go. I was going to stop you at the gate. You're just too damn fast." He glanced over at her to see if she was still awake before continuing. "I bet you're that kid everyone always dared in school 'cause you'd do anything."
"Ha," she snickered. "Not hardly. I was a different person . . . before. Now, I guess, maybe I'm a little overly confident. I don't know. I just felt like I could do it, so I did."
"How did you know where he would be?" Elliott asked as the dirt road met up with the narrow county road that would take them back toward the interstate.
Cadence considered his question. "I'm really not sure," she admitted. "It just seemed logical that he would be in the center of the house, in a room that was difficult to access but near an exit. I don't really think once I start a hunt; instinct completely kicks in, and I just do what my body wants to do."
"Like, when you chased Henry?" Elliott asked, referring to incident that had led to the biggest rift he and Cadence had ever had.
"Exactly," she confirmed, nodding. "I just had to chase him. I heard Aaron telling me to stop, but I couldn't."
After that incident, Aaron had been outraged, and Elliott had publicly called for Cadence to be removed from the team. After some explanation from the newly-Transformed Hunter and some research, Aaron had let it go, accepting her explanation that she literally could not stop herself. Elliott had disagreed with his statement, thinking Cadence's recklessness was dangerous for the entire team. Now, however, after having carefully watched her in action, he could see exactly what she meant. "Listen, Cadence," he said quietly, "I think I owe you an apology. I never should have stuck my nose in your business with Aaron. It wasn't my place, and I'm sorry. I'm also sorry I said he should fire you. Glad he doesn't always listen to me."
Elliott's apology meant a lot to Cadence. She had been seeking his approval for a while now, knowing just how close he was to Aaron. She knew it had to be difficult for him to apologize, however, and she didn't want to embarrass him. Without even opening her eyes, she patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thanks, big guy. I appreciate that. Just see what you can do to help me fix it, okay?"
He glanced over at her again, chuckling under his breath. "I'll see what I can do," he replied, starting to feel like he was her older brother. "By the way," he added, waiting to make sure she was listening. She opened her eyes a crack, and he continued, "Aaron doesn't hear a word about this little Operation Barbarosa bit, got it, kid?"
She laughed softly, shaking her head. "He won't hear about it from me, but you and I both know he's gonna find out. He probably already knows." Then she added, "He probably has a camera in Barbarosa's house."
"Yeah," Elliott agreed, chuckling along with her. "As he was dying, Barbarosa fired off one last telepathic message, "It was . . . Cadence…." he said, in a voice mimicking a dying old man.
Cadence's laughter increased, and she began to realize she was growing slap-happy. "Okay, don't make me pee," she said, holding her stomach.
"Aaron, I am your father," Elliott said in his best Darth Vader/Barbarosa voice. It didn't really make a lot of sense, but he suddenly felt as if Cadence's plea was a challenge.
"Seriously, stop," she said punching him in the arm, trying to contain a fresh outburst of laughter. "You wanna clean this car before you return it to whoever you borrowed it from?"
Considering what that would entail, he replied, "No, I guess not. All right, I'll stop. But you're probably right. He will find out. We just have to make it seem like it's not a big deal, like it was super easy, you know? We just strolled in, took him out, piece of cake."
Wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, Cadence agreed, saying, "Okay, works for me. I'm gonna fall asleep now."
"We'll be at the hotel in, like, twenty minutes," Elliott reminded her.
"I don't care," she said, her head leaning back against the seat again. "I'm so tired. I could sleep for a few days."
They were traveling down the freeway now, and the soft hum of the engine, along with the steady lulling motion, was putting her to sleep. "All right, I'll carry you in when you get there," Elliott replied, only half-joking. He would if he needed to.
"Okay," she murmured. "I'll let you."
Elliott drove on in silence for just a few moments, but there was a question nagging in the back of his mind. Aaron was his best friend and had been for as long as he could easily remember. He had seen Aaron get involved with the wrong girl so many times, leading to disaster for the entire team. Elliott had just assumed that Cadence would be equally problematic. Now, he wasn't so sure. There seemed to be something different about this girl, not just the way that she killed Vampires in a single bound, but the way she understood Aaron, the way she cared about him. Elliott was on the brink of giving his blessing, for what it was worth, to their relationship. Before he did so, however, he felt he needed to know one more thing. "Cadence," he asked quietly, not sure if she had actually fallen asleep yet, "do you love him?"
She wasn't asleep yet, not quite, but his words brought her partially back to reality. "Hmm?" she asked, knowing he had asked her something but not precisely sure what it was.
"I said, 'do you love him?'" Elliott repeated, even more quietly this time.
Without opening her eyes, Cadence replied, "Don't you think, if I do, I should probably tell him that first?"
Elliott considered her answer. "And if you don't?"
Rather than responding, Cadence just smiled and shifted in her seat, rolling a bit so that her face was aimed at the door. He could interpret that however he wished.
For Elliott, a nonresponse was as good as an actual response in this case, and he nodded knowingly to himself. He vowed that, in the future, he would be less of a hindrance to fate and more of a supporter. He had a feeling there wasn't much that could stand in the way of Cadence and Aaron.
