Cadence supposed Aaron was right. She sould be proud of her team. She could only imagine how those teams who had lost someone might feel, though. At least she knew her sister was safe. “Thanks. Did Elliott get Sam? Did he show up?” She had a feeling once she’d killed Laura that Holland must’ve somehow figured out where she and Aaron would be and that Sam was likely headed for Elliott’s location.
“No, he didn’t,” Aaron replied, and Cadence’s forehead crinkled, wondering if there was more. “Meagan did.”
A smile spread across her face as she thought of her friend getting revenge on the bastard who’d haunted her dreams for far too long.
“Are we ready to load up?” Alex asked. “I believe the other Guardians are finished speaking with the authorities.”
Cadence hadn’t even considered who was running interference in Elliott’s absence but was glad Aaron had found someone who could do it. With all of the shots fired, there was bound to be some police called, even though they were not in a residential area.
“I’m ready,” Cadence assured him. “Just help me up.”
Martin took one side of her and Aaron took the other, even though she wished someone else could’ve stepped in for him since he was injured, Alex, or Paxton who was standing nearby with his mouth hanging open gazing at the stars. She got to her feet, and Martin opened the back passenger side door for her. She got in, and Aaron went around and climbed in next to her, tossing the keys to Rusty who seemed to appear out of nowhere, but Cadence imagined he’d been standing on the other side of the SUV.
Once they all piled in, Cadence slid over and rested the uninjured side of her head on Aaron’s uninjured shoulder. “I guess we did what we set out to,” she thought.
“Yep. Holland’s forces are greatly diminished, her sanctuary is burning to the ground as we speak, and she’s running out of places to hide. It will just be a matter of time now.”
Cadence closed her eyes, and for the first time since she’d found out about the Clandestine Ternion, she imagined a world with no Vampires. When she first started out, she never would’ve dreamed it was possible, but now, it seemed it was within their grasp. A smile spread across her face, thinking about living a normal life with the man she loved, maybe a baby or two, doing normal family things, like visiting the beach and amusement parks that were not infested with the undead. Perhaps those dreams were possible after all now that Holland’s team had been annihilated. She just needed to kill the queen herself, and then it would all be over—once and for all.
Asteria was inconsolable. Her entire queendom was crumbling around her, and all she could do was watch through the minds of those who suffered and died, those whose final thoughts would haunt her as she witnessed them bursting into ash.
She sat alone in the library, the musty smell of old leather and papers reminding her of ages gone by, those she could still remember if she let the memories in. Her child had been taken back downstairs, and while she’d protested at the time, she was glad for it. What he was exactly, she wasn’t sure, but sitting near the window, looking out at a sky transitioning from night to dawn, she wished that the rising sun really was capable of burning both of them into oblivion, all of them into oblivion.
She heard a noise behind her but didn’t need to turn her head to identify the shuffling feet as Hines. He had been beside himself earlier, watching his experiment fail, Joanna screw everything up and try to run away. At least they’d gotten that little bitch, Asteria thought to herself.
“It’s all gone,” she whispered, the words stinging her tongue like a knife to the throat.
“We tried, Your Majesty. We simply can’t defeat that which we cannot kill.”
He was right, she supposed, and she felt foolish for putting so much effort into something she couldn’t accomplish. Why couldn’t she have just left well enough alone? She and Perses could’ve hidden together somewhere, perhaps taken over a small island and claimed the tourists. Instead, she was in this rotting castle with a demonic child, surrounded by incompetents, and her dreams were as shattered as the glass Sam’s ashes now lay intermingled with.
“Your Majesty… we can still make her pay.”
“No, we can’t. It’s over. She’s won. There’s nothing we can do.” Even as she spoke the words, a tinge of hope bubbled up inside of her. She wanted to believe it was possible, that even if she couldn’t end the other two Passels, at least she could make Cadence Findley suffer the way she was suffering now, to feel her heart wrenching from the inside out.
“There’s still… the portal.”
Asteria remembered Hines talking earlier, downstairs, but at the time she’d been too preoccupied with her child to listen. She slowly turned her head. “Portal?”
“Yes. I’ve done more research, and I believe it’s a viable option. I think… if we plan everything out perfectly, perhaps, we can trap them inside of the portal, leaving only Cadence. And then you can destroy her.”
She liked the idea, but needed more information. She swiveled about in her chair. “Who is everyone?”
“Everyone who means something to her. Certainly Aaron and that idiot Elliott. The Healer will need to go, too. Whoever you’d like, my Queen.”
The small bubbles of hope began to effervesce inside of her. “Do you think there’s still a possibility, then, that we can make her pay?”
“Yes, my Queen, I do. But we shall have to wait and play our cards right. It won’t be easy, but if anyone is capable of destroying Cadence Findley, it’s you.”
A smile cracked across her face, and Asteria allowed her mind to wander to the possibilities. “We shall do whatever is necessary, take our time, make sure everything is in place, and then, when the time is right, we shall do what we can to destroy her.”
Hines smiled back at her, bending down to clasp her hands. “It isn’t over yet, Your Majesty. Now, we wait. For the Blood Moon.”
