“Jamie’s wrong,” Aaron said, sitting across the table from her in their kitchenette.
“I knew you were going to say that,” Cadence said, the ham and cheese sandwich in front of her suddenly looking unappetizing.
“Look, Cadence, there’s not anyone whose opinion is going to change my mind. This is a bad idea, and it’s not happening,” he said, a very matter-of-fact tone to his voice.
With a sigh, Cadence pushed her plate away. “Maybe we should just not talk about it anymore,” she suggested.
“Does that mean you’re not going through with it?” he asked, placing his hand on top of hers.
“I didn’t say that,” she clarified, interlacing her fingers with his. “I just don’t see the point. We obviously disagree. And we’re not going to change each other’s minds.”
He made a face that told her it was killing him that he couldn’t convince her she was wrong, and she counted that a small victory. “Fine,” he finally said.
“What have you been working on?”
“I think we should probably head to Blue Springs tonight,” Aaron said, still holding her hand. “We’ve basically got a location on those twins that have been hitting the strip mall parking lots.”
“Cool,” Cadence replied, always up for a hunt. “You got a team together?”
“I’ve got my people,” Aaron nodded. “Can you get a few Hunters together?”
“Yes,” she nodded, the sandwich seeming more appealing now that the subject was changed. She let go of his hand and took another bite.
“Who are you thinking?’
“Paxton and Smith, of course,” she said between bites. She thought that would make him laugh, and it did. They were actually Guardians and by far the worst recruits on the team. Their primary jobs now had to do with surveillance and handling menial tasks around headquarters. They hadn’t been on a hunt for a very long time. “I need to get a few recruits out to observe. That okay with you?”
“Sure.”
“One Hunter one Guardian?”
“If you’ve got people.”
“I’ve got people,” she replied. “You taking Shane?”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“That makes it harder to take Meagan,” Cadence reminded him.
“That’s ridiculous. Besides, this should be a pretty quick take down. I’ll take Jamie for obvious reasons and Hannah. That’s really all I’ll need.
“Not Brandon?”
“No. Hannah can call it, and I’ll stay on the ground with you.”
Cadence nodded. Brandon was the only other Guardian that could keep up with her, and he’d been with her several times since he Transformed a few months ago. “All right. I’ll bring Aurora with me, then. That should do it.”
“Sounds good,” Aaron agreed. “And when are we going back to Philly?”
Cadence groaned. “Why? No sightings right?”
“No, but we do have at least three major league Vampires that haven’t been heard from for a while. I would really hate for one of them to be working with him.”
She slid her almost empty plate away again. “Whenever,” she replied, not convinced that Gibbon was nearly the threat dead that he was when he was alive.
“Why don’t you want to get him, Cadence? He’s a serial killer.”
“Was,” she corrected him. “Isn’t the real Gibbon dead? Isn’t this something else? I mean, you always said, ‘that’s not Jack.’ So this isn’t really Gibbon, right?”
Aaron shrugged, both hands turning out as he did so. “I guess. That’s the theory.”
“You know, it sure seems like an awful lot of what we operate on is just theory,” Cadence observed as she took her plate over to the trash can, dumped it, and rinsed it off.
“How could I possibly know that for sure?” he asked, turning to face her.
“I don’t know. But if that’s just a theory, then maybe I did kill Jack.”
“And maybe we’ll all wake up tomorrow and the sun will be green. I don’t know, Cadence. I do know that Gibbon is dangerous, and we need to go get him.”
Clearly, he was still irritated about their previous discussion, and Cadence was growing a bit irked herself. “Fine,” she said crossing her arms. “When?”
“Sunday or Monday, I guess?”
“Why not just go get it over with?”
“Because I have to go to Connecticut tomorrow, remember?”
He had mentioned the trip before, though it had slipped her mind. “That’s two days?”
“Should be.”
“And Saturday?”
“We’re always busy here Saturday. And isn’t your sister coming down?”
She nodded. “Supposed to be. How long are we staying in Philly?”
“As long as it takes?”
Shaking her head, Cadence said, “I need to be back here by Wednesday.”
“Why?” he asked, blue eyes narrowing.
“You know why.”
“You are impossible,” he said, standing, pushing in his chair, and walking toward the living room and the front door.
“I’m impossible?” she yelled, following him.
“What? There’s no moon in Pennsylvania?” he asked, his hand on the doorknob.
“You know I’m not taking an urn on an airplane.”
“You’re not taking an urn anywhere because this is not happening!” he shouted at her, both hands in the air.
Cadence said nothing, only glared at him.
“All right. I’m going back to the office. Some of us have work to do,” he said as he opened the door and walked out into the hallway.
Now, she was pissed. Flying after him, she flung the door open and yelled, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“What do you want it to mean?” he asked, standing near the door to the stairs.
“You think I don’t do anything don’t you? Just because I’m better at delegating than you are?” He always thought his way was superior, even if it didn’t work as well as whatever new system she’d come up with.
“I’m not having this conversation,” Aaron said, pushing the door open. “See you later, Cadence.” He shot off down the hallway as if he didn’t even care that he was now a blur to her and the rest of the world.
Even though he was gone and the door was closing, she growled after him and shouted, “Don’t say my name like that!”
