“Oh, sorry, Cadence!” Ashley said, stepping back out of the way.
“No, I’m sorry,” Cadence replied, forcing a smile on her face. They danced around each other for a moment before Cadence finally stepped out into the hall and held the door open for Ashley. They shared a little giggle, which was totally fake on Cadence’s part, and then she headed onto the shower, the easy smile Aaron had brought to her lips only a few moments ago gone.
She tried not to think about Ashley, although there was just something about the new Hunter that rubbed her the wrong way, and entered the locker room. She knew she needed to hurry. There was a good chance Aaron wasn’t the only one waiting on her, so she didn’t bother to turn her IAC back on for fear she’d get distracted. Instead, she rushed through a quick shower and got dressed, hoping her body wash would be strong enough to rinse away the stench her beloved had referred to earlier.
By the time Cadence reached the conference room, about twenty minutes had passed, which wasn’t bad. Her hair was still damp and she hadn’t bothered to put on any makeup, but she seriously doubted anyone Aaron would’ve assembled there would care anyway. Since Elliott was out of town, she expected to see Hannah Roberts, Jamie Joplin, and Christian Henry there, and when she walked in, that’s exactly who greeted her, and Aaron, of course, who pulled out her chair as she walked in.
“Sorry to keep you all waiting,” she said, rushing over and taking her seat.
“No problem,” Hannah said, speaking for all of them. “Sorry you didn’t get a chance to finish your workout.
“Do I smell any better?” Cadence asked, eying her fiancé, who had on a different shirt, though she thought his pants were the same. She wondered if he kept clean shirts strategically located throughout headquarters, though she’d never thought about it before.
“Much,” he replied smiling at her before he turned his attention back to the rest of the team. “Okay, I received a message about an hour ago from Daniel Bower, the head of the San Francisco Area. As you all know, he’s been running most of California recently.” Aaron looked at Cadence out of the corner of his eye, an indication that he was referring to her new system, one he wasn’t necessarily fond of, but Daniel had proven himself in San Fran, and Cadence had recently expanded his responsibility. “He said he got a telephone call early this morning from a park ranger at Angeles State Park, saying that there was a death in the park last night, and this ranger thinks it could be one of ours.”
Cadence’s eyes narrowed. “What makes him think that?” she asked, leaning in a little bit. “How did he even know who to call?”
“What’s the ranger’s name?” Christian asked. “Anyone we’ve contacted before?”
Cadence looked at him sternly for a moment, wondering why he didn’t give Aaron a chance to answer her questions before he interjected, but Christian looked oblivious. The anger she’d felt at him for allowing Cassidy to put herself in another dangerous situation was still bubbling just under the surface and for a moment she wondered what the chances were that Aaron might reassign the Guardian. To Timbuktu.
Aaron cleared his throat and went about answering all of their questions at the same time, even the unasked once. “The kid’s name is Dax Forest, and yes, we think he might be one of ours. He said his grandmother, Melanie Forest, has been talking about Vampires for years, so he got Daniel’s contact info from her.” Cadence saw a flicker of recognition cross Jamie’s face, but the Healer didn’t interrupt. “Apparently, a young girl and her father were camping. Dad went to relieve himself and something ripped his throat out. He was able to scream at his daughter to run, so she took off, ran into Forest on the road….”
“The one coming out of the forest?” Jamie asked, and Cadence stifled a giggle, thinking if Elliott had been here, he probably would’ve asked the same thing.
Aaron didn’t even pause, “The ranger said he saw something disappear into the woods, and the girl, Delilah Lewis, described some sort of pale person with long stringy hair and sharp teeth.”
“Sounds like one of ours to me,” Hannah agreed.
“Yeah, so Daniel’s team is taking care of it, but he wants to know if we want him to recruit Dax,” Aaron concluded.
“Of course,” Jamie said quickly. “Guy with park ranger experience? Why not? Besides, I’m pretty sure he’s already on our list. That name sounds familiar.”
Christian was nodding. “Yeah, Melanie Forest is Grayson Townsend’s great-granddaughter. I’ve got it pulled up. Dax and his sister Gretchen are on the list. We just hadn’t gotten to them yet.”
One of the changes Cadence had made when she’d taken over as Hunter Leader was more aggressive recruitment. Aaron had never had time for it when he was trying to do everything by himself, but Cadence thought they could build the team faster if they actively went after kids between the ages of seventeen and twenty to try to convince them to join the LIGHTS team before any sort of encounter started the Transformation process or they missed their window altogether. Aaron had always believed it should be up to family members and fate for the most part to convince people to go through with it, but Cadence knew how desperately they needed good Hunters and Guardians, and so far her method was working.
“Hunter or Guardian?” Cadence asked, crossing her fingers.
“Guardian,” Christian replied.
“Nuts,” she muttered, snapping her fingers in disappointment.
“He hasn’t even agreed to Transform yet,” Aaron reminded her.
“I know, but he will. You don’t go back from that. I assume he saw the bloodsucker, too?” she asked. Aaron slowly nodded his head. “Yep. New recruit for you.”
“Okay, well, beyond all of that, the fact that this happened in a state park—in February—got me wondering. We haven’t had very many attacks in the last week or so, but the ones that have taken place have all been in strange locations.”
“What do you mean?” Hannah asked, brushing her strawberry-blonde hair over her shoulder.
