The sun was long gone below the horizon when two black SUVs inconspicuously pulled along the side of a dirt road a few miles away from I-49, still a good mile’s walk from their final destination but far enough away not to attract any unwanted attention from the residents of SouthWest Moe’s RV Park and Campground. Cadence had wondered if Moe was just a clever take on the abbreviation for the state of Missouri until she saw the website and realized the owner was an older fellow by the name of Moe Wilson whose parents may have had an affinity for slapstick and eye-poking. She wondered if he had any brothers named Larry or Curly.
She double-checked her Glock and her Beretta before climbing out of the passenger side of the Enclave and heading into the bushes by the side of the road. None of them would speak aloud from this point on. They were still far away from the target, but there was no way of knowing whether or not the Vampires had lookouts. If they did, this was only one of two roads that accessed the RV park, so it was likely they’d have eyes here.
According to Aaron’s local sources, there were anywhere between fifteen and twenty Vampires here, and that included the recent recruits that had been Resurrected from the formerly living residents of the park who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when three RVs pulled in a couple of weeks ago, right after the blue moon, and laid claim to the park in more ways than Moe had probably ever imagined. Cadence was unsure as to whether or not she would be seeing the owner among the undead tonight.
The ride over had been relatively lively, which was odd for their group. Since it had taken less than an hour to reach their destination, there hadn’t been much time for in-depth discussion, but Aurora and Shane had been debating the pros and cons of grass-fed beef, which drew Meagan Meyer into the conversation about eating animals in general. She wasn’t a vegetarian, but she always said she wished she could be if she just didn’t like bacon so much. Cadence had listened but mostly stared out the window, trying to mentally prepare for the hunt.
Aaron had also stayed out of it, but she knew what was bothering him wasn’t what weighed on her mind. He was thinking about the portal, no doubt, while Cadence was thinking about the two girls in the other SUV. She was worried about Cassidy for obvious reasons. And then there was Ashley.
Her sister had wanted to ride with Brandon, and Brandon was riding with his dad, who was the other driver, so Cadence hadn’t put up a fight when her sister got into the other vehicle. It did irritate the crap out of her that Cass and Brandon sat in the back with Ashley, though. Was the blonde just trying to be her now?
It was stupid. The whole thing was stupid. And yet, as she headed toward the designated staging area, she turned around to see the three of them walking along with big smiles on their faces like they were telling jokes through their IACs, and she wanted to yell at them to get serious. Or shoot one of them. She turned and kept going.
“Something bothering you?” Aaron asked. He was walking about three feet to her right, giving her space, she assumed.
“No. Just uneasy,” she replied, not wanting to get into any of it now.
“This shouldn’t be too hard,” he reminded her. “We should be catching them early enough that they aren’t out hunting.”
“Affirmative,” she said, realizing he wasn’t looking at her and wouldn’t see if she nodded, which was about all she felt like doing. As far as they could tell, the Vampires hadn’t been going out much, anyway, since there hadn’t been many reports of missing people in the area. She imagined they might have saved some of the former residents as reserva de sange, a phenomenon the team still didn’t quite understand. How a Vampire managed to feed off of the same person over and over again without turning them, until they died, was a mystery, and she knew that Christian was dying to get his hands on one of them to try to figure it out. He, too, had been in the other SUV and was behind her. She didn’t bother to turn and look at him. She’d hardly spoken to him since he’d put her sister in danger except for in the meetings where she had to. Still, if he hadn’t helped her smuggle Elliott out of headquarters, he probably wouldn’t be here now. Part of her wanted to forgive him. The other part of her wanted to slap him. There weren’t too many people who didn’t fit in that category right now, however, and she walked on, hoping all of this agitation could be taken out on the bloodsuckers before them.
They closed in on the area Aaron had earlier designated as their staging location. They were close enough to move into position without rousing the residents—hopefully—but not too far away that they couldn’t see the RV park off in the distance. The trees were a lot thicker than they had been on the photos the team had looked at earlier, and though Cadence could make out a few RVs between the heavy branches of the evergreens between Location A and her current position, she couldn’t see if the number of vehicles had increased since the estimated seven the local scouts had counted a few days before.
The team spread out. There was no reason to huddle together to hear instructions under the circumstances. They all pretty much knew what they needed to do, who they were paired with, and what direction they would approach from. The little computer chip in their eyes allowed them to talk without being too close together.
So when Ashley approached Aaron, it was completely unnecessary. Whatever she wanted to ask, she could have done so through her IAC, and in fact, she did ask him through her IAC. Cadence turned and looked at the two of them, annoyed, and saw Aaron acknowledge whatever she was asking through the slight shift in his eyes. Ashley smiled, patted him on the arm, and then turned to walk away. Whether it be bad luck or happenstance, her foot caught in a root, and she tripped, stumbling into him. Of course, he caught her, and while Cadence hadn’t been part of the private conversation that had brought her here, she did get the, “Oh, I’m so sorry!” message.
“No problem,” Aaron replied dismissively, letting go of her arm and making sure she was steady on her feet before he turned away from her.
Ashley kept her eyes on the ground as she headed over to her position near Mickey, the Guardian she was paired up with, and Cadence tried not to stare after her.
“What?” Aaron asked, intercepting her line of sight.
“Nothing,” was about all she could manage, although she knew for certain it was something. Now wasn’t the time, though.
