The Melbourne team, along with Margie and Grant, set up a perimeter around the bottom of the department store while the KC team used the same fire escape Paul had climbed not that long ago to make their way to the rooftop. With three Guardians and four Hunters on the ground, as well as four overly-protective Guardians and Cadence alongside her, Cassidy would have a decent chance of figuring out where Paul was before anything could get through all of them. Of course, as Cadence looked out over the short brick wall that served as the only barrier between herself and a sharp drop to the ground below, she wasn’t completely convinced it would be enough to stop anything Holland and Carter threw their way.
Cassidy took a seat on the rooftop about where she supposed Paul would’ve been standing. Her legs were crisscrossed, her eyes closed tightly. And about the time she seemed to fall into some sort of self-induced trance, Cadence noticed a fog began to roll in, encapsulating the sidewalk around the movie theater and the bottom of the department store. She found this rather odd since there were no bodies of water anywhere near where they were standing.
The mist was milky and thin, unlike the thick bluish tinged variety they’d determined had faces at the RV park, so she didn’t necessarily know if this was Vampire produced or just an eerie coincidence, but as the consistency thickened and it began to encompass the first floor, she decided this had to be Holland’s doing.
“I think we need to get her out of here.” She didn’t even turn her head to look at Aaron when she spoke.
“Just give her a minute,” he said quietly, and Cadence continued to survey the decreasing visibility.
“What is this shit?” Margie asked through the IAC.
“You remember Wallachia?” Jamie’s question was more of a statement.
“I don’t remember this,” was all Margie could say in return.
“Well, everything else we’ve encountered has been just like that.”
“Great,” Margie muttered, but she didn’t sound the least bit frightened, only irritated.
The fog continued to climb until Cadence could no longer see the windows in the bottom floor of the theater. The sensation of roaring dragons flying around in her midsection let her know they were not alone. “Aaron….”
Before he could respond, Cassidy’s voice , almost unrecognizable in an unnatural whisper, cut through the possible discussion. “He’s here.”
“Who? Paul?” Brandon asked, dropping to a knee beside her.
“Yes. In the theater. I see him—tied up, alone, in front of a flickering movie screen. Some weird, old movie is playing. They’re trying to make it look scary, but they aren’t there.”
“You hear that, Margie?” Aaron asked. Cassidy had spoken aloud but their IACs had picked it up too.
“Ten-four. We’re on it.”
“Wait!” Cassidy insisted, her eyes flying open. “He’s here, too.”
“Where?”
Cassidy didn’t even get a chance to answer Aaron’s question before Cadence was pulling her sister to her feet. “Get her out of here! Get her out of here now!” She was pushing her at Brandon and then past him to Jamie who was a good ten feet away, but Cadence had closed that space in mere seconds.
“He’s down the street,” Cassidy continued, undeterred by the shoving. “He’s headed this way, and he’s not alone. We won’t make it to the SUV in time, Cadence. He’s not after you. Not yet. He’s after me.”
That didn’t make her feel any better at all. “How do you know that?” Cadence demanded, stopping her sister in her tracks, clutching both of her arms tightly.
“I saw it. In his head. He wants to capture me and force you to kill Aaron or else he’ll kill me.”
“But he can’t kill you,” Brandon insisted.
“I’m not sure he knows that,” Cassidy replied.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s not capturing her.” Cadence looked at Aaron, needing some guidance more now than ever before.
He looked almost as torn as Cadence felt. “Cass, are you sure you can’t make it to the SUV in time?”
“I’m sure. But I’m not afraid of him. I can take him.”
Cadence did her best not to scoff. “You’re not going to find out. What about Holland?”
“She’s not here. Not yet. She’s close by, though. She is… messing with things. They decided it would be best for her to hang back and concentrate on disruptions.”
About the time she spoke, Cadence’s IAC went haywire. She’d gone from visuals of Margie, Grant, Jeb, and Becky entering the theater to find Paul to gruesome images of Margie’s throat slit, blood dripping all down the front of her black T-shirt.
“It’s not real, Jamie,” Cassidy assured him. “I can still see her. She’s fine.”
A glimpse at the Healer’s face told Cadence he wasn’t completely convinced, but he nodded.
“All right. I say we leave you here for now then, Cassidy. Cadence and I will go face Carter, and everyone else will stay here,” Aaron said, about as unsure of himself as Cadence had ever heard him.
“I think you should stay with her,” Cadence said letting go of her sister and turning to her fiancé. “You’re the strongest. If something happens to me, you need to protect Cass.”
“I’m not an invalid,” Cassidy protested, but Cadence hushed her.
“He’s not alone, and I don’t know if you and Elliott can handle him,” Aaron said, no time to spare anyone’s feelings.
“We can handle him,” Cadence assured him.
“I’ll handle the hell out of him.” Elliott had been strangely quiet up until then.
With a sigh, Aaron nodded. “Fine. Take this.” He handed Cadence the same knife he’d used on Bonnie, the one that had belonged to Van Helsing. “You won’t be able to shoot them. You’ll have to decapitate. And we need to go IAC dead now. She’s really starting to screw around with everything.”
Margie and the others seemed to be screaming for help, but Cadence couldn’t hear them with her ears, so she knew that wasn’t the case. It did help that she knew Cass could see them as well.
