Cadence turned away from Aaron, looking toward the origin of the sound. She took a step forward but felt Aaron's hand on her arm.
Pulling a Glock out of the back of his waistband, he offered it to her. "Take this. You might need it."
Cadence looked at the gun in disgust, her hands buried deep in her coat pockets and not coming out. "I'm not taking that. I would never shoot Jack." She pulled her arm out of his grasp and started walking forward. She could see Jack in the distance now, standing between two trees, apparently waiting for her.
"Cadence," Aaron yelled after her. "He's not alone."
She kept walking, ignoring him and not turning back. Jack was waiting for her, and she wanted to talk to him. It seemed very surreal that she was now approaching the man whose funeral she had spoken at earlier that day.
"Damn it," Aaron mumbled under his breath, hating that she walked away from him unarmed but fully aware that she would refuse the weapon even if he thrust it at her. "I can't see a damn thing from here," Aaron said to Elliott on the IAC. His team had not gone back to the hotel. Rather, they had followed the Lamborghini to the park and set up a perimeter, fairly certain that Jack and Giovani were also intending to track Cadence down. They were all in position, their objective to take Jack into custody and destroy Giovani.
"Trade me spots," Elliott insisted, coming down from his perch atop a tall pine tree nearby. He didn't exactly take the same position as Aaron, however, staying behind the nearby tree line under cover, hoping to keep Jack unclear about his exact location. Aaron replaced Elliott as the lookout so that he could better view the field. He had visuals from everyone else, but he needed to actually be able to see locations and movement as well. He didn't think Jack would harm Cadence, but he had no idea what Giovani was capable of, and at that moment, he wasn't sure exactly where Giovani was.
Cadence approached Jack cautiously. Her instincts were beginning to take over, and she was fighting a battle between her urge to rip his head off and her joy in seeing him alive. "Jack," she said, stopping a good twenty yards from him. "How are you?"
He seemed a bit puzzled that she had stopped so short of his location. "I'm good, Cadence. Really good. How are you?"
"Well, I was pretty upset," she admitted. "I thought you were dead."
Jack chuckled softly. "Yeah, sorry about that. But I called you. I told you I was coming. Everything's different now, Cadence. It's amazing! You won't believe how freeing it is, once you cross over."
It was obvious to Cadence that no one had bothered to tell him that she was not capable of crossing over. She began to wonder exactly what this Giovani person had told him about her current state of existence. "Jack, you've got to come back to LIGHTS with me and get trained. You haven't done that yet, and it's not safe for you to be out running around, not knowing the rules and expectations."
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.
