Laura pounded her thumbs nervously against the steering wheel as she waited, her eyes focused out the windshield but her mind racing through all the scenarios of what might happen next. The information from Eliza had been greatly helpful. Once Laura and Laney had reached Shenandoah, they had easily located the familiar Corvette parked outside a little motel just outside of town. They weren't sure how long Giovani had been there when they arrived, but camping out in the parking lot across from the hotel and sleeping in shifts had yielded no sightings. If he left the hotel, he did so from a different door and on foot. In the day or so they had been watching, the car had not moved... until around 1:00 that afternoon.
Giovani and Jack had made their way out of the hotel and into the Corvette, not even glancing around to see if they were being observed. The sisters trailed the Vampires to the local school complex, watched as Jack spent a few minutes at what appeared to be his own funeral, and then stalked the Corvette as Giovani drove it around town. Eventually, he pulled into a neighborhood and parked down the street from what seemed to be a semi-busy house, which the girls concluded must be the site of Jack's reception. The two Vampires didn't seem to be planning on attending the get-together, however, disappearing into the trees at a nearby park instead.
As soon as the two vampires were gone from site, Laura sprang into action. "This is our chance," she said, pulling her various weapons out of locations in the car and shoving them into her holsters and waistband.
Laney agreed. "All right, but we have to be smart and careful. There's a neighborhood nearby. And this is a park. Even if there's snow, there still might be kids. There's a play area right over there."
"I know," Laura exclaimed, rolling her eyes at her sister. "I'm not going to do anything stupid."
Both of them were aware that Aaron was in town somewhere, though they didn't know where. From a distance, they had seen Cadence at the high school, recognizing her from pictures on the newsfeed. She knew Laney was worried about the cloudiness that might invade her thinking if Laura were to spot the two of them together. "Just focus on the job, and we'll be fine," she reminded her older sister, grabbing her own Glock and stepping out of the car.
"All right," Laura replied, still obviously annoyed. "Why don't you circle to the left, and I'll go to the right? If you get a shot on either one of them, don't hesitate to take it."
Laney wasn't as quick to fire as Laura, so she knew there wasn’t much of a chance she’d actually fire at Jack. As far as Laura was concerned, that was the quickest way to end this.
As Laney followed Laura's directions, she sent a message to Eliza. "We've spotted Giovani and Jack at a park in Shenandoah. Is your team aware of this?"
"Affirmative," Eliza answered almost immediately. "We are also in position. Be advised. You have six Guardians and one Hunter in your immediate vicinity. Please advise your sister and anyone else working with you. You'll need to request visuals."
"It's just my sister and me," Laney replied. "I'll advise her."
Laney carefully made her way through the snow, trying to stay in the trees whenever possible. Though she didn't know if her sister would be so smart, she immediately requested visuals from Eliza, and once she had those rights, she was able to pick up the rest of the LIGHTS team and started turning them on as well. She didn't request permission from Aaron or Cadence, however. She could see that Elliott had them in his view, but no one had either of their feeds turned on, and she assumed there must be a reason for that.
As she was gaining visual access, she sent a message to Laura. She could see through her sister's visuals that she was approaching a clearing in-between the trees, but she couldn't see anyone through her visuals. "Laura, we have company. The LIGHTS team is here. You need to request visuals from Eliza and the rest of the team."
"Negative," Laura replied. She still refused help from anyone but her sister.
"Laura, there are six Guardians on the ground. If one of them gets caught in our crossfire, that will be a huge problem."
"Please advise your friends to stay the hell out of my way," Laura replied. She was absolutely pissed at her sister for coordinating with Eliza and the rest of her team. She turned her sister's visual access off and set her IAC to Full Off, a sign that she no longer wanted her help either. Behind her, Laura heard the crunch of snow and assumed it was one of the LIGHTS crew. She turned, her weapon drawn, just in case, and was immediately knocked to the ground from her right side. The Glock she had been holding in front of her went flying across the snow.
Her left arm was pinned beneath her, but she was struggling against the ferocious Vampire with her right arm. Giovani was amused, his bodyweight, though slight for a man, was enough to keep her down, despite her attempts to throw him off. He began to pull out weapons with one hand as he kept her on the ground with the rest of his body. He pulled another Glock out of her holster, one out of her waistband, and a Berretta from the back of her jacket. He shoved the Glocks into his pockets and tossed the Berretta into the trees.
"Wow, you were packing," he said, amused. "Whatever shall we do with you, pretty one, now that we have you? Hmm? I have some ideas." He pulled a length of rope out of his back pocket and wrapped it around her wrists then forced her to her feet. "I bet you've been wondering for years if that ex-boyfriend of yours still loves you," he snarled, inches from her face. "Well, let's go find out."
