Cadence swallowed hard and nodded sharply. “I can do it.”
“I know you can,” Aaron agreed, “or else I wouldn’t even let you go. But we cannot make the same kind of stupid mistakes we did last night. No one goes on this hunt that we don’t completely trust not to do anything moronic.”
Before Cadence could respond, there was a knock at the door and Jamie came in followed by Cassidy and Brandon. “Hi!” Cadence exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. “How are you guys?”
“Never better!” Brandon exclaimed, and she couldn’t tell if he was being serious or sarcastic. She gave him a hug and then wrapped her arms around her sister as well.
“You feel different?” Aaron asked Brandon, clasping his hand.
“Nah, I’ve always been like this.”
That was definitely sarcasm, Cadence thought as she gestured for them to take seats. The table was plenty big enough for everyone they had invited so Cassidy sat down next to her sister, in the chair Elliott used to sit in, with Brandon next to her. Jamie went around and sat next to Aaron. “Everyone else should be here in just a few minutes. Remember, no talking during the meeting.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cassidy said, a bit of attitude in her voice.
“May we blink?” Brandon asked.
“As long as I can’t hear it,” Cadence replied.
“What’s all this?” Jamie asked gesturing to the papers in front of Aaron.
“Oh, maps, mostly,” he replied. “Pictures of the two victims taken from the scene as well as Gibbon and Giovani. We were also able to identify one of the Vampires fleeing the scene through that side door. Ex-Black Op named Frank Howard.”
“Interesting,” Jamie said studying Howard’s picture. “So, it was military then?”
“I guess you could say so, though it’s not as if these Vampires are still the war heroes they were before they Resurrected,” Aaron responded.
“What do you mean?” Cassidy asked. “Oh, wait—can I talk now, before everyone gets here?”
“Of course,” Aaron answered her, pretending he didn’t realize she was being a bit snide. “We have a theory that Vampires are not really the same people they were when they were alive. There’s not much of a way to prove it.”
“Really?” Cassidy asked. “What do you think they are?”
“Some sort of demonic manifestation,” Jamie answered. “Something that takes on the same characteristics of the person but isn’t really them.”
Cassidy took in that information and mulled it around for a moment before she asked, “So, you don’t think you really killed Jack, then? You think you killed some demon who had taken over his body?”
Cadence wasn’t prepared for the question. She considered her answer for a moment. “I honestly don’t know,” she finally replied. “I mean—maybe it wasn’t Jack. But it seemed like Jack to me.” She studied her coffee cup for a moment, not wanting to say more, and she felt Aaron’s hand on her leg beneath the table in an effort to reassure her that she had not been the one to end it all for Jack.
Meagan, Shane, Hannah, and Aurora arrived a few moments later, and after congratulating Brandon on his Transformation, they all took their seats and waited for the team members joining them virtually to dial in. First, Cale’s handsome face popped up on the TV screen. He greeted them all warmly, and Cadence did her best not to blush when he specifically said hello to her. Despite being madly in love with her fiancé, she couldn’t help but feel a slight attraction to the handsome doctor.
Morgan joined them shortly, saying hello to everyone and remarking about how much Brandon looked like his dad. Remembering Cadence’s rule about not talking, he just smiled, and then Andrew came on and everyone was present and accounted for.
“I want to thank you all for joining us this morning,” Aaron said by way of starting the meeting. “As you know, we have a very serious situation on our hands in Philadelphia, and I have asked all of you to join us because I know that you all have something that you can contribute to our efforts in defeating Giovani.” There were lots of nods of agreement from those members present, and Aaron continued. “Why don’t we start off with a quick recap of everything that happened last night, Andrew?”
The Philly Area leader was obviously exhausted, but he cleared his throat and began to rehash the events of the night before. “Well, we received the information from Aaron yesterday evening around ten o’clock our time that there was a possibility that Giovani was in the area, and there was a chance he was going to attempt to turn Gibbon. We didn’t really know what to expect—would he turn him in the hospital or take him? We have never really handled anything like that before. So, I pulled my top team members together, about fifteen of them, and we began to come up with a game plan. We had to figure out what weapons we had available, get the layout of the hospital, etc. By the time we got everything together and were able to proceed to the hospital, it was about one in the morning.”
“Wow, that took a really long time,” Morgan chimed in.
Andrew could see her on his own TV screen, and he seemed to stare at her for a moment before replying, “We wanted to be cautious. We weren’t sure what we would be facing, and we had no idea that Giovani was actually planning on moving on the hospital that night.”
“Can you tell us what you found when you got there?” Aaron asked, not acknowledging Morgan’s exclamation, but not dismissing it either.
Again, Andrew cleared his voice, as if remembering the incident was painful. “When we arrived, Giovani was already in the process of extracting Gibbon. A helicopter was taking off overhead when we pulled into the parking lot. With Aaron’s help, I deployed my team to cover the exits, and I led a team of three into the hospital to attempt to stop the perpetrators as they were fleeing the building. But we weren’t successful.”
