It was around 2:00 AM when Cadence felt a stirring in her gut that let her know Holland’s army was on the way. By then, she’d gotten a few texts from her friends on the other side and sent one back—to Brandon’s phone, which didn’t seem right, but she understood Aaron’s reasoning when he said to keep everything going only to one place for now. She hadn’t mentioned the impending attack, only that they would be headed back to KC in the morning to look at the book with Ward and see what they could come up with. What she assumed would be the last text directly from Aaron had said they were working hard to get out of there, and she believed him. Elliott’s had been full of jokes, which was a good thing because there wasn’t much to laugh about, especially not now, as the fluttering in her stomach started to feel less like a summer’s breeze and more like a hurricane. Jamie promised he was keeping them all safe.
Cassidy had come back around the same time as the texts arrived. She was sitting in a chair across the room, legs crisscrossed, her eyes closed. They flew open now. “Are you ready?”
“I was born ready,” Cadence replied, channeling her inner Elliott. Cassidy snickered. “Should we go get Ash?”
“Got it,” Cassidy replied, sending a message to her friend either through her IAC or telepathy. Whichever way, the blonde arrived in their room a few seconds later, a Glock in her hand.
“Should we go ahead and move to the vehicle?” Ashley asked, glancing out the window. “They’ve gotta be close.”
“No. We’ll let them engage first,” Cadence replied, aware that the enemy was nearly on top of them now. She heard a noise on the roof and realized her prediction was more literal than she’d imagined.
“What if they’ve tampered with the SUV, or they’re blocking it in?” Ashley seemed more frightened now than she had in as long as Cadence could remember working with the girl.
“It’ll be fine,” she said, double-checking the after-market safety on her own weapon and that the silencer was secure, not that it would do much good. Before she could explain anything more to Ashley, there was a thunking sound as a body collided with the window.
The Vampire looked just as startled to see three Hunters staring back at him as Cadence was to see him hanging there, like a fully-grown human bat. She immediately fired, shattering the glass, and ash sizzled out of his chest cavity, spraying all over the floor as he began to slide off.
One bullet wasn’t going to do it, though. She’d learned that from Holland’s other ventures into the realm of “take the Findley sisters prisoner.” Sure enough, when she made it over to the window and glanced down, he was already springing back in their direction. She opened fire, hitting him several times in the head, but he kept coming. It wasn’t until he was even with the window again that Cadence managed to pull a silver knife out of her pocket and plunge it into the gaping hole her first shot had left in his chest. He dissipated and a shower of ash covered the ground beneath the window, but as Cadence surveyed the back yard, she saw he wasn’t alone.
“Okay, time to head for the SUV,” she said as another screeching Vampire flung herself up toward the window. Others were making use of a large elm tree whose branches nearly touched this side of the house.
“This’ll be fun,” Ashley mumbled, heading toward the hallway. The front door flew open beneath them, and at least four or five Vampires poured in. All of them looked relatively young to Cadence, all of them had their fangs bared, and she could tell Holland was manipulating each of them into doing whatever it took to capture the Hunters, even if it meant meeting their own demise along the way.
Ashley opened fire as the Vampires spread out across the room. Through her IAC, Cadence could see that Job and his team were also engaged along the perimeter they’d set up. He said, “A few got through.”
“I noticed,” Cadence replied, but that was okay. It was part of her plan. She wanted them here so they would follow her.
Cassidy leaped over the balcony, which was a difficult feat considering how close the railing already was to the ceiling. She landed in the living room, a knife in one hand, her Glock in the other, and opened fire as Ashley rounded the landing at the bottom of the stairs. A Vampire launched himself at her, catching her shoulder. She screamed, and Cadence couldn’t help but wish Jamie were there even more than before to heal her as Ashley delivered a roundhouse kick to the monster’s head. He stumbled backward, letting Ashley regain her feet, and in a moment, she had her knife plunged deep into the bloodsucker’s throat.
Cadence didn’t have time to watch. She opened fire as well, slowing but not killing two more men who were closing in on them. Cassidy had ended one of her assailants and was moving to a second, but out in the street, Cadence could see more coming as sirens wailed in the background. She was certain the home owner had to have awoken and called the police by now. She’d let Job’s team handle that. Cadence needed to grab her girls and get to the SUV.
When bullets didn’t stop the two men headed her way, she took to the knife, throwing it across the room at the first one. It sank to the hilt in his throat. Using the second Vampire as a stepping stone, she launched herself off of his chest, kicking him in the face hard enough to slow him, as she reached for her knife, twisting and sawing while hanging in the air. She got halfway through his sinewy throat before she extracted it and shoved it into the chest of the second Vampire. His claws bit into her bicep, and she winced in pain, but the blood trickling down her arm didn’t slow her. She managed to drag the knife down, hard, cutting into his heart. A moment later, he was ash, and his friend with the floppy head began to panic.
