Cale had gotten off two shots before Gibbon caught up to him, and Cadence held her breath as she watched her friend duck into one of the cells, slamming the door behind him. Gibbon looked longingly at the heavy wooden door before letting out a groan and continuing on his way down the cell block. Clearly, he was after easier prey—or just trying to get out now—and Cale would be too much trouble. She was glad the doctor had made that decision; it looked as if Shane and Meagan were both going to need medical attention, and Jamie wouldn’t be able to do all of that alone.
They had passed the human security guard on their way down the hall, and he hadn’t even noticed them, but Cadence was concerned for his safety. Gibbon could easily kill him. She knew that Jamie and Scarlet were right behind her, so she ordered Scarlet to escort the guard to a cell and secure him there, however she could, before she continued. She also told Jamie not to engage with Gibbon if at all possible. There was no way they could get through this if their best Healer was hurt.
Gibbon stood before her now like a recurring nightmare, and as Cadence and Aaron both blocked his path, weapons drawn, he seemed to realize there was no way he could get past them. He stared at them and growled, and Cadence remembered what it had been like that night in the makeshift cell Giovani had locked them both in together, a fight to the death on his agenda. They had both escaped that night, but Cadence was determined that Gibbon would not make it out this time.
Cadence knew that Meagan was out there somewhere in the dark, near the end of the hallway, but since they didn’t have any titanium bullets, neither she nor Aaron could harm the other Hunter. Still, the thought of hitting her with a barrage of bullets while she was unconscious made Cadence hesitate. She decided it would be best to aim up at Gibbon so that her shots would either strike him or hit the ceiling, hopefully staying far away from her wounded friend.
As Gibbon bared his teeth and began to fly down the hall in their direction, Cadence dropped to a knee and opened fire. Aaron stayed standing but unleashed a round of heavy fire as well. While she could see that the bullets were hitting their mark, Gibbon just kept coming, and at the last second, she rolled out of his way into an empty cell. Aaron took the full impact of the angry Vampire who dragged him down the hall a bit before slamming him into the concrete wall and took off toward the observation circle, his wounds leaving a stream of wispy smoke behind.
“Are you okay?” she said, running to her fiancé’s side.
He was already dusting himself off by the time she was on her feet and to him, and after a quick inspection, she believed him when he said he was fine. They realized that Gibbon was headed toward the hub now, with only Ashley and Mickey in position to stop him from getting out the front entryway since Jamie and Scarlet must have retreated to an empty cell until Gibbon passed so that they could help Meagan and Shane. So they took off running behind him, hopeful that they could stop him before he got out of the building.
“Surely, those bullets will have to have some effect,” Cadence hollered over her shoulder as the sprinted down the hall.
“One would think so, eventually. But he is a lot stronger than most Vampires, and he seems to have some sort of adrenaline rush right now—possibly from the guard,” Aaron answered her.
“Will it at least slow him down if we keep shooting him?”
“God, I hope so.”
There was a barrage of bullet fire flashing in front of them, and once again Gibbon let out a loud growl, almost like a lion’s roar. The next sound they heard was Ashley screaming, and when they came into the room, Cadence watched as the pretty blonde went flying into the air, smashing against the ceiling before she went silent and fell straight to the ground.
Mickey hurled himself at Gibbon, full force, and even though he was new, he was strong. The effect was as if a cannonball had hit Gibbon. He went crashing into one of the exhibits, knocking it over on top of them. Clearly, Mickey had taken Gibbon by surprise, but it only took the Vampire a few seconds before he shook the newbie off, and before Aaron and Cadence could even reach him, Mickey was up in the air, and Gibbon was sprinting down another corridor.
“At least it isn’t an exit,” Cadence muttered as she took off after him.
“At that speed, he could make his own exit,” Aaron noted, right behind her.
* * *
Cassidy was watching everything unfold on her IAC, and while she was still terrified at first, the more she watched her teammates being injured, the angrier she became. When Gibbon rammed Aaron into the concrete wall, she pulled herself out from under the desk and joined Christian by the door. Glancing behind her, she saw that the table she had been hiding under housed credit card machines, and behind them were two rather large windows that opened up to the main entryway. She wondered if Jamie had realized how compromised her position might become when he shoved her inside or if he had been too busy to notice.
Standing next to Christian by the door, she used the tiny window there to peer out at what was happening. She could barely see Ashley and Mickey putting up a fight and steering the Vampire away from the exit. Now, her sister and her fiancé were chasing him off around the corner where she could no longer see without using her IAC, and Cassidy began to wonder if there was anything she could do to be of help.
“They’ll be all right,” Christian assured her, and when she looked up at him, he offered her a weak smile. There was something about him that Cassidy couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she’d never much cared for him. He’d always sort of given her the creeps. Now that she was locked in a tiny room with him, she hoped she wouldn’t find out exactly what it was that had made her uneasy all those times before. Of course, she realized, if she really was a dominant Hunter and not a Vampire, then she should be able to kill him should that ever become necessary. She immediately wondered where such a macabre thought came from and tried to bring her mind back to finding a way to help her sister.
Christian had his hands in his pants pockets, his jacket pushed back out of the way, and as Gibbon disappeared, he began to pace, as if he was itching to get into the fight but knew he couldn’t because he had promised Jamie he’d take care of her. She looked curiously at the utility belt he wore. She assumed other team members must have worn them as well, but she’d never really noticed before. She saw the guns and knives, which she expected, but on Christian’s belt, there was something else. “Are those grenades?” she asked.
Christian glanced down at his belt, as if he was surprised that she could see them. “Oh, yeah. It’s something new I’ve been working on. They spray silver, the same concentrate we use in the bullets. We haven’t used them before, but Aaron said I might get to try them out tonight.”
Cassidy nodded. “Won’t they blow up the whole prison?”
“No,” he laughed, that creepy look in his eyes, like he was a serial killer trying to lure her in with his smile. “They use a special charge that sprays the silver but doesn’t actually blow anything up. Theoretically, I should be able to toss one in Gibbon’s direction and burn him to death without hurting anyone or anything else.”
“I see,” she muttered.
“Except for maybe you,” Christian added, as if it had just occurred to him that Cassidy was also part Vampire. “Aaron said not to use them anywhere near you for fear they may also burn you.”
“But I’m a Hunter,” Cassidy said, a bit irritated that Aaron would suggest she was anything other than just that—even though, technically, he may be right about her being part Vampire. “I can touch the silver bullets, and they don’t bother me.”
“This silver is a bit different,” he replied, tipping his head from side to side as if he were working out a difficult math problem. “Have you ever been hit with a stream from the silver liquid we fire out of the Berettas?”
“No,” she admitted.
“It’s more like that. It might have a different effect. At any rate, I definitely won’t be using them if you are around. The last thing I want is to have Cadence and Aaron mad at me for not keeping you safe.”
“Right,” she said. However, she could see through the IAC that things were not going well with Gibbon, that there was a good chance that the others, the ones who could not do what she could do, were going to end up hurt, and she began to formulate a possible resolution, one only she could pull off. Even though it made her a bit nauseous to do so, she said, “I’m just so scared for my sister,” and as Christian stepped forward, she wrapped her arms around his waist, letting him comfort her as his jacket enveloped her. Being sneaky had gotten her into serious trouble before, but maybe this time being sneaky could finally put Gibbon away for good.
