A shower and a nap later, and Cadence woke up feeling refreshed—and famished. She sent a message to Cale to ask if he would mind if she raided his refrigerator, and since he was well aware of how she could pack it away, she didn’t feel at all bad cleaning out most of his foodstuffs once he’d given his permission to do so.
When she was done eating everything she could find that was reasonable to make or cook, she realized she’d left his kitchen a mess, so she did the dishes and changed out the trash bag, though she wasn’t willing to actually chance running into someone by taking it out to the chute. She set it in the corner of the pantry instead.
Making herself comfortable back in the guest room bed—which she felt less likely to ruin than the pristine white sofa—she went through a series of checks to make sure everything was as it should be. Aaron was still in Connecticut, preparing for that night’s hunt. Christian was doing his best to make sure that he stayed as long as possible, and Jamie assured her everything was just fine at headquarters. So far, he’d even been able to dupe Hannah into thinking Cadence was still there. This was important because if anyone would sell her out to Aaron, it would be Hannah. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Cadence; she was just extremely loyal to her boss.
Cassidy was out of school now, and when Cadence contacted her, she was shocked to find that she was actually out on a date—until she realized it was with Brandon. She hadn’t grasped he’d been able to get there to pick her up and get back so quickly. “Where did he take you?” Cadence asked. “Some place fancy, I hope.”
“The fanciest,” Cassidy replied. “Pizza Triangle.”
“The pizza place with the arcade games at the Plaza?” Cadence asked, not sure if she should be disgusted or charmed.
“Yep,” Cassidy said. “But it’s actually kind of fun. I think watching him shovel pizza into his mouth is more entertaining than watching him lose all the games.”
“Surely he can beat some of them. He’s a superhero, after all.”
“No one can beat these games,” Cassidy reminded her. Everyone knew the games at Pizza Triangle were rigged.
“Maybe he is the chosen one,” Cadence said in a creepy, sci-fi voice.
Cassidy laughed, a sound Cadence hadn’t heard enough of recently. “Maybe.”
“Hey, I don’t want to interrupt, but I had a question. I’ve seen some weirdo Vampire behavior in the last couple of days. You wouldn’t happen to be picking up on anything bizarre would you?” She knew Cassidy didn’t particularly like to acknowledge the Vampire part of herself, but Cadence felt that, the more quickly they could show her how invaluable she could be to their team, the better.
“Well, actually, I have been feeling a little odd lately,” Cassidy admitted. “I feel like something is… about to happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to explain. I feel, like, a tingly sensation in my gut, you know? Like when you’re waiting for Christmas or on a roller coaster and you can see the big drop ahead, but you’re still just poised at the top. Sort of like that.”
Cadence considered her answer. “That’s really interesting.”
“Yeah, and it’s been making me a little irrational, I think.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“I don’t know. Like, a few days,” Cassidy replied.
“And you’ve never felt like this before?”
“Nope.”
“Hmmm,” Cadence said, thinking. “Do you think it might be because of the full moon?”
“Maybe. But I’ve been through full moons before, and they just made me have more energy. This is different, I think.”
Mulling everything over in her mind, Cadence pondered whether or not to ask a favor of her sister that she was pretty sure might offend her. If she could do it, it might be quite helpful, though, and she felt like it might be worth it. “Look, Cass, you can do something the rest of us can’t do,” she reminded her.
There was a groan of disgust. “Caaaadence…”
“Just listen. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but if you could start actually listening to those voices you hear in your head, maybe you could see what the real Vampires are saying. Maybe they know what’s happening.” She had intentionally chosen the word “real” as a way to distinguish her sister from the dangerous bloodsuckers she was made to kill.
“You know I can’t understand them,” her sister replied quickly.
“I know. But maybe you’re not close enough. Or maybe you’re not concentrating. Or maybe you have to hold your mouth a certain way. I don’t know. But would you consider trying?”
There was a very long pause, and Cadence would have assumed her sister had cut her off if she didn’t still see her name flashing in her IAC, which meant she was still there. Finally, she came back with a quick, “Fine.”
Cadence wanted to pretend like it wasn’t a big deal that she’d agreed to this, something they’d been asking for a while now, so she just said, “Thanks.” If she made a major thing of it, Cassidy might change her mind. “Okay, I’ll let you get back to quality time with what’s his name.”
“We’re just friends,” Cassidy reminded her.
“Yep. Me and Aaron are just friends, too,” Cadence shot back, including a winky face emoji.
A moment later, there was an eye roll emoji in her field of vision, followed by her sister’s distinct, “Whatev.”
“I love you, little sis,” Cadence gushed in as sickening a voice as she could choke up.
“Ditto,” she replied, still pretending to be put out.
“I’ll see you soon. Promise,” Cadence said as she disconnected and let her sister get back to her not-a-date with her not-my-boyfriend whom she obviously adored. She was perfectly fine with the idea of her little sister dating him, though. Cass could do a lot worse than Brandon Keen. She did wonder, however, what his father might think about it. Would he be proud of his son for finding such a hot girlfriend, or would he be the over-protective big brother trying to keep his little sis safe? Cadence wasn’t sure, but she secretly hoped she would find out soon enough. Despite her promise not to ask him to come through, she definitely wished that he would decide to do so on his own accord.
