"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 to 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?" Giovani 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, clutching 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, toward 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.
