That night, in her dreams, Cadence was chasing the Vampire version of Jack through an airport as he feasted on children of all ages, from infant to teen. She was always just behind him, never able to catch up. By the end of his reign of terror, she had finally trapped him against a wall where he had nowhere to go. "Give it up, Jack," she had said in her sternest Vampire Hunter voice.
With a maniacal laugh, he stated, "I'm not Jack, you fool!" and came at her, teeth bared.
She had awoken just before those fangs met the soft flesh of her neck.
Without pausing to throw on a robe or even wipe the sweat off of her brow, Cadence jumped out of bed. A quick glimpse at the clock showed it was only 5:30, but she knew he would be awake. Dressed in matching black boy shorts and a halter top, she grabbed her iPhone and marched her way next door, banging on Aaron's door. She was shocked when it wasn't him who answered.
"Hi, neighbor!" Eliza said, wearing only a T-shirt that barely covered anything and her panties. "You're up a little early, aren't you?"
Cadence stared with her mouth open, rendered speechless.
Eliza continued. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did the banging of the headboard wake you up, hon? He likes it rough, you know. Oh, no wait, I guess you wouldn't know."
Cadence snapped her mouth shut, shook her head, and spun around to leave. Just as she reached for her own door, a fully-clothed Aaron pushed his way past Eliza, chastising her as he did so. "Cadence, wait," he said, stepping into the hallway.
"Now, I hate you!" she screamed, pulling her door open.
"WAIT!" he implored her, catching up with her just in time to stop the door from slamming shut. She did, however, manage to catch him in the door, and she couldn't help but smile as he winced in pain. "Cadence, it's not what you think," he said.
"Really? Your half-naked girlfriend telling me you like it rough isn't what I think?" she asked, her voice so shrill she could barely understand herself.
He shut the door behind himself so that Eliza couldn't come in, even if she dared, and said, "No, we didn't... I mean, we weren't.... She's lying!"
Cadence crossed her arms across her chest. "Does it matter? Does it really matter? Because it's not like you haven't, right? Right?" His expression said it all. "God! I'm an idiot!" she muttered under her breath. "I almost... for one second thought that maybe my mother was right... but then... Oh my GOD!"
"Cadence, I haven't slept with her since that first night when... not since Christmas Eve. I promise," he attempted to explain.
"Oh, well then, that makes it all better. That bitch lies to you, edits video so that it looks like I've cheated on you, and then steals you away from me hours before we're supposed to go on our first date--but you haven't slept with her since that very night. Well, that's just perfect. That's awesome!"
"Cadence, I literally could not help it," he said shaking his head. "I don't expect you to believe me, but it's true."
She temporarily buried her face in her hands before flinging her hair back and saying, "God, what difference does it make?" staring at the ceiling as if she was actually asking the Creator a question. "You haven't broken it off. You've made it clear you don't want to be with me. Ugh, fine, just go screw your girlfriend."
"I don't... I'm not..." but he had no idea what he was trying to say. "It's very complicated, Cadence," he finally admitted. She said nothing, just stood there barely dressed herself, with her arms crossed and her hair disheveled. He hadn't been sure that he didn't want to be with her since the day he told her they were done. Now, he was even less sure.
Eventually, she began to nod her head. "Fine, whatever you say," she said, refusing to cry. "I was just coming to tell you I'll do it."
He raised one eyebrow. "You will?" he asked cautiously. "You will--or you would have?"
She seemed to consider her answer before saying, "I will. I'll do it. But we play by my rules. I set it up, I name the team. Got it?"
"Yes," he agreed. "Of course, whatever you want."
She was surprised at how quickly he agreed. "Okay, then," she said, looking down her nose at him. "So, I don't want any dumbasses on my team. Only people I trust who I know won't act like a bunch of morons."
"Okay," he said nodding his head.
"That rules out a lot of Guardians," she continued.
"Possibly," he admitted.
"So, I want Meagan and Aurora of course," watching him nod, she continued, "and Laura and Laney will need to be there. That's enough Hunters. We can take them both out, I think." She corrected herself. "I know. I know we can."
"I agree," he said, still nodding.
"I want to pair Shane with Meagan because even though he's a liability, they work well together. I want Hannah with Laney and Laura. I don't want them involved with Jack. They're just there to find Giovani, so Hannah should be able to handle that by herself until we take out Jack, and then we can all work on Giovani. I'll put Christian with Aurora and I want Jamie on the ground with me. I'll meet him in a public place and... go from there."
"That all sounds reasonable," Aaron agreed.
"One more thing," she said, her arms still crossed in defiance. "Elliott calls it. I don't want you or Eliza anywhere near the location."
"What?" Aaron said, not believing his ears. "You can't possibly mean that..."
"Oh, yes, I most certainly do," she affirmed. "You told me earlier this had nothing to do with you..."
"But... it's my team..."
"You said I command the field..."
"This is a big deal, Cadence..."
"We do it my way, or we don't do it."
He considered her request for a moment, clearly thinking it was a huge miscalculation not to have the Guardian Leader on the field when the team was trying to take down one of the most vicious Vampires on record and a newbie who had quickly garnished a reputation for being ruthless. Seeing her resolve, he finally consented. "Fine. We'll do it your way," he nodded. "But, I hope you aren't making a big mistake."
Although those words seemed ironically familiar to her, she did not acknowledge them. "Here," she said, flinging her phone at him. He caught it before it smashed into the door. "We'll talk again once I've spoken to Jack. Now, get out."
