Cadence watched as her sister lured Gibbon into the tiny ticket room, aware that if any of them tried to force their way in, he would likely hurt Cassidy, possibly kill her. While she couldn’t tell exactly what Cassidy’s angle was, and she heard many of her teammates exclaiming that Cassidy had flipped, she knew that wasn’t the case. She had no way of knowing Cassidy had stolen a grenade from Christian until Gibbon burst into flame. Even then, however, he wouldn’t die. Once he shattered the windows and shot off for the front entryway, she took a deep breath, and holding her hand to her side, took off after him. Though all of Andrew’s people were still out there, it was really down to Elliott now.
And he was ready. She could see that through her IAC. As Gibbon passed by the watchtower, Elliott jumped, much as Cadence had earlier. Only, the Guardian was jumping from several hundred feet, onto a moving object, that was in flames, and even though Elliott wasn’t able to die, Cadence winced, afraid he would certainly hurt himself.
Elliott knocked Gibbon to the ground. The Vampire definitely hadn’t been expecting a projectile of that proportion to be coming at him at such velocity. Elliott jumped up almost immediately, his jacket still on fire as he began to kick Gibbon in the side and head. Clearly, he’d learned that shooting this monster did little good, and as Aaron and Cadence reached the location, Gibbon was struggling to get to his feet, still unwilling to go down without a fight.
The Vampire rolled beneath a nearby bush and then popped up, the flames dying down, though his skin was blackened and smoldering. Elliott removed his flaming jacket and then kicked him hard in the stomach, sending Gibbon stumbling backward toward the greenhouse. Once again, the monster launched himself at his assailant, but this time, his attack was much weaker, and as Elliott’s boot met him, he went crashing through the greenhouse wall, slivers of glass spraying up into the air. Gibbon was down now, and despite his best efforts, he didn’t seem to be getting up.
Aaron arrived a few seconds ahead of her, and with Elliott’s help, he hauled the Vampire up to his feet, each of them encapsulating one of his massive arms. The monster looked broken and defeated now, just a shell of the beast they had been chasing for so long.
“You got this?” Aaron asked, a bit out of breath himself.
Cadence couldn’t speak, but she could nod, and fighting against the stabbing pain in her side, she launched herself at the Vampire, using his own thigh as a stepping stone to project herself up into the air, and taking his head in both of her hands, she began to twist. Despite the gunshots they’d landed and the grenade, Gibbon was still strong, and he was attempting to rotate away from her. Repositioning her knees around his chest, she ratcheted his head again, and this time, Aaron and Elliott pulled in the opposite direction, countering her efforts, and within a few seconds, Steven Gibbon’s head was in her hands.
A moment later, her hands were full of ashes, and Aaron caught her before she hit the ground, the echoes of a low moan still vibrating in the air around her as the last call of the Vampire reverberated in the night.
Aaron lowered her to the ground a few feet from the pile of ashes she was certain Elliott would take care of in a moment, likely delighted to get to use the Extracto 9000 again, and she turned to face the group who had gathered behind her.
They were all beaten and bruised, some bloodied, except for her sister whose brown hair billowed in the breeze behind her, not a scratch that Cadence could see. She was standing next to Brandon, who was cradling his right arm. Meagan was hanging onto Shane, as if a Healer had gotten to both of them, but neither of them was completely patched, and Mickey and Ashley were leaning on each other. In the back, Jamie was slumped between Cale and Christian, clearly exhausted from having to save everyone, and Scarlet supported Hannah and Morgan, Aurora behind them. They were all alive—they were all safe. Cadence smiled and gave them a thumbs up before she slipped into the oblivion that was beckoning, her view slowly fading to black.
Cadence sat in silence for most of the flight back to Kansas City, holding Aaron’s hand and trying not to breathe too deeply. Three broken ribs and a punctured lung had been the diagnosis, and Jamie had put her back together as soon as he had regained enough energy to do so, but she was still sore, and even though he was a miracle worker, it would take a day or two for the pain to completely go away.
Gibbon was gone—which meant the only lingering effects they still had from Giovani were Laura and Sam, still prisoners in the basement jail cells back at headquarters. As soon as the plane landed, Aaron had promised Elliott he could go take care of a little business, and while she’d hoped to be able to see that first hand, she knew he needed to take care of it alone.
Aaron had told her as soon as he thought she was well enough to hear it that, as hard as it was to take Gibbon down, whatever she’d unleashed from the other side would be ten times harder, and she believed him. She just hadn’t imagined anything could be that difficult, and her naiveté had forced her to look more closely at herself and what she was capable of. One thing was for certain; having Elliott there had been tremendously helpful. If he hadn’t slowed Gibbon down, the Vampire might have broken the perimeter and disappeared—literally in flames. If this is what it was going to take to hunt down demonic Vampires, then she needed to train harder, and they needed better grenades.
Christian had attempted to apologize more times than Cadence could count, but she wouldn’t hear it. She knew how tricky her little sister could be. At the end of the day, she’d been the one to let Cassidy come on the hunt, and if something had happened to her, she would be responsible. However, Cassidy proved herself invaluable. It had been the newest member of their team who had tricked the Vampire into giving himself up, and if Cassidy hadn’t found a way to lure him in and set him on fire, he likely would’ve gotten away.
Cadence glanced back at her sister, who was sitting in the back with a fully recovered Brandon laughing about something. She was so young and innocent. As much as Cadence longed for her own life before Vampires, she desperately wished she could take Cass back in time to before Drew died and everything was as it should be. Now, she was a sixteen-year-old forced into a world she shouldn’t even know about and could hardly understand. At least she had Brandon, and despite what evils may come, she had Elliott as well. Even if something did happen to Cadence, her sister would still be well taken care of. Not that she couldn’t take care of herself.
Shifting her eyes to the attractive man holding her hand, Cadence couldn’t help but smile. Despite everything they had gone through, he was always there for her. Early on, back when he’d taken a bullet for her, he had said that he did whatever it took to keep her safe because it was his job. She knew now that it was more than that. It didn’t matter what the reason was. Aaron McReynolds loved her. And that made her the luckiest woman alive.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked, a curious grin spreading across his face.
She hadn’t even realized she was smiling. “Oh, nothing. I just wanted to say thank you.”
“For what?” he asked. “Letting you get your ribs broken? No problem.”
She laughed, but only for a second before the pain reminded her that wasn’t a good idea. “No. For loving me.”
“Oh, that. Well, that’s easy. What’s not to love?” His blue eyes twinkled and he squeezed her hand.
“I could make a list,” she admitted. “But something tells me it doesn’t matter. Even when I am the biggest pain in the ass you could ever imagine, you still love me.”
“Yes, and I always will,” he replied, kissing her on the top of her head.
Cadence leaned against his shoulder, happy that she was with him, whether it was fate or free will. At the end of the day, it was the togetherness that counted. “Let’s set a date,” she said, sitting up and looking into his eyes.
Aaron’s eyebrows raised. “Are you sure?”
“Yes….”
“We’ve talked about this lots of times before, and you keep saying later.”
“I know. I mean it now. Let’s set a date.”
He nodded. “Okay. When were you thinking?”
Cadence thought for a second, but that’s all it took before the perfect date popped into her head. “How about September second?”
A flicker of a question brushed across his face before she saw the recognition. “Your grandparents’ anniversary?”
“Yes. Why not? If it wasn’t for them, we might not have ever even met.”
Aaron smiled the crooked grin that had lit her heart on fire from the very start. “All right. September second it is.” He leaned forward and kissed her, and any doubts Cadence had ever had about why they were together melted away. They were absolutely meant to be together, and that was exactly as it should be.
