Aaron’s touch made her tingly, like it always did, but it also made her want to flinch away. She didn’t. Nor did she disagree with what they were saying. After they were done having their chuckle, she said, “Eventually, instinct kicks in. For me, anyway. I don’t really think about what I’m doing. It’s like I see the movements that I need to make laid out in front of me, and I just follow that path.”
“But what if the Vampire moves?” Ashley asked, clearly hanging on her every word.
“I anticipate that ahead of time. I see all the possibilities and create a contingency for each. Wherever they go, I’m already there.”
“That’s amazing,” the blonde said, shaking her head. “So, the first time you killed a Vampire, did you decapitate it?”
“Yes.”
“Were you scared?”
“No. I didn’t have time to be scared,” Cadence replied, remembering that moment like it was just yesterday.
“I guess I’m just afraid I’d get in there and forget what to do,” she admitted shrugging. “Then I’d probably panic and end up getting hurt. Does that happen?”
Cadence shook her head. “I’ve never seen it happen. Your instincts really do take over. I’ve had to give direction before, to jolt someone out of panic mode, I guess. But no, I’ve never seen anyone just freeze.”
“Have you, Aaron?” the young girl asked, her eyes wide.
He seemed to hesitate. “Not very often. And not recently.”
“But it has happened.”
“Sure. I’ve been around a long time. I’ve seen just about everything.”
Ashley seemed a little nervous. “What happened? Did the Hunter die?”
Aaron obviously didn’t want to answer that question, but he was honest to a fault most times, so he did. “Once. But that was before our current training program, and the Guardian assigned to that new Hunter was not very skilled either. We’ll keep you safe, Ashley,” he promised.
“We’ll make sure you go on a few more hunts before we put you out in the field,” Cadence assured her. “I’ll make sure you see at least one decapitation.”
“Thanks,” Ashley replied, seeming a bit more calm.
“All right, any other questions?” Aaron asked, leaning on the back of his chair now as if he couldn’t stand up any longer but didn’t want to sit next to Cadence.
Though they’d pushed through the initial uncomfortableness, no one seemed willing to prolong the conversation, and when everyone passed on asking anything more, he thanked them for their time and dismissed them.
Hannah almost immediately swept Ashley and Mickey up and out the door, and Cadence was certain she was trying to prevent the newbies from experiencing any more tension on the team. Aurora and Jamie stayed for a moment, and Cadence was sure they had questions for her they didn’t feel comfortable asking in front of the inexperienced members.
As soon as Hannah had the others out the door, Aurora asked, “What the hell, man?”
“I’m sorry,” Cadence replied, staring at the table in front of her instead of at her friend.
“I mean, if I’d had any idea you were going to do that, I would have saved myself some effort and moseyed over instead of sprinting.”
Aaron turned off the projector and finally sat down next to her, though he kept his distance. “I think that might have been a last minute decision,” he offered.
“No, it wasn’t,” Cadence interjected, not allowing him to let her off the hook. “I was mad, and I didn’t think about any of the rest of you. I just did what I wanted to do without bothering to communicate with the team. I’m sorry.”
Aurora accepted that explanation. “Okay, well the next time, a little heads up would be awesome.”
“Sure thing,” Cadence replied.
“And since I am the only person in this room who doesn’t know what the hell is going on, I guess I’ll go now. Unless any of you want to fill me in?” She looked at the three faces staring back at her, and when none of them flinched, she said, “No? Okay. Peace out,” and walked out the door to a chorus of goodbyes.
Once she was gone, Jamie said, “At the risk of sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong, will the two of you at least promise each other that, no matter what happens with the portal, once next Wednesday has passed, you will let it go? Whichever of you gets your way—the other one has to live with it. And if you let it affect you like it did tonight, it will affect the rest of us as well.”
“You’re right,” Aaron admitted. “Yes, of course. I didn’t realize it was going to affect us tonight.”
“Because you can just set your personal feelings aside the second we move into a hunt—and I can’t,” Cadence exclaimed, swiveling her chair to face him.
“I do because I have to.”
“And I don’t because I can’t,” she replied.
In his calm and reassuring voice, Jamie reminded her, “Hannah was trying to help you and you wouldn’t let her.”
Cadence knew that was true. She’d told her to stop. “Fine,” Cadence finally said, looking at Jamie. “Yes, I will let it go. But it won’t be easy.”
“Nothing in our line of work ever is,” the Healer said, leaning back in his chair.
“True. Besides, it doesn’t matter. As long as I have the opportunity to see if the portal will open, I’ll be satisfied.”
“And I refuse to let you do that,” Aaron reminded her with that assertive tone that annoyed the hell out of her.
Cadence didn’t bother to say anything else about it; it was pointless to keep going around in circles. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed. I assume you have work to do?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe you should go to your office to do it.”
“Fine.”
“I’ll walk you home,” Jamie offered, and Cadence nodded at him before stepping as far around Aaron as she could to reach the door.
Once they were out in the fresh air, she felt her muscles begin to relax. She hadn’t even realized how tense she’d been.
“Cadence, you’ve got to calm down,” Jamie said, his hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t you know that the quickest way to make a woman angry is to tell her to calm down?” she asked, though the way he’d made the statement hadn’t made her angry at all.
He laughed. “True. But I think that’s only the case if it’s your significant other, isn’t it?”
“Maybe,” she shrugged. She looked up at the stars, and like every other time she had done so recently, she wondered if Elliott could see them. Did he know they were debating opening the portal for him? What would he think of the situation?
As they approached the apartment building, Jamie pulled her closer and whispered, “Let me tell you a little secret. Aaron doesn’t like it when people don’t do what he says.”
“What?” Cadence fake overreacted. “This is brand new information!”
Laughing, he said, “I know that you have a bit of that going on yourself, missy. And here’s the deal. It’s tempting to fire back at him, to push his buttons, but honestly, if you really want to find a way to skirt around him with this one, you’re going to have to pretend that you’ve let it go.”
“How can I possibly let it go?” she asked as he held the door open for her.
“I didn’t say actually let it go. I said pretend to let it go. Honestly, you don’t have to make it until Wednesday. You only have to make it till tomorrow at six when his plane leaves for Connecticut.”
They boarded the elevator and Cadence pressed the button for Jamie’s floor and then hers. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well, I mean, you could take Elliott and leave right now, but it would be a hell of a lot easier to do it when he’s not here.”
“And go where?” she asked as the elevator stopped at his floor.
The doors opened and he stood between them for a second to answer her question. “Wherever the skies are projected to be clear next Wednesday, I guess.”
He was right. Just because Aaron said she had to go to Philly didn’t mean she had to. And she could get Brandon to bring Cassidy down and Aurora to work with her. She could go. Her task was more important than any of those others.
“’Night, Cadence,” Jamie said, stepping back so the doors could shut.
“’Night, Jame,” she called as the doors began to shut between them.
“Jame?” he questioned as the elevator began to rise.
“Yep. What? Do you have an ex-girlfriend who used to call you that? Do you find it annoying?”
“No, not at all. You’ve just never called me that before.”
“Well, as far as I know, you’ve never single-handedly solved almost all of my problems with one simple suggestion,” she replied.
“Have a good night, Cade,” he said, clearly laughing over the IAC.
“You, too,” she said, but she knew it wouldn’t be a good night unless she could avoid the person she loved the most in the world, which didn’t even seem to make sense, and yet it was true.
