Dr. Hamish Stewart looked almost exactly like Cadence expected him to. Disproportionately large nose, thick glasses (which made no sense since he was a Vampire, but then Hines wore them...), messy salt and pepper hair, button down shirt unbuttoned one button too far, slacks, loafers, and a smirk on his face that told her he wasn’t planning on saying much of anything.
She’d figure out how to change that.
“You sure you don’t want me in there with you?” Cale had asked in the hallway right before she’d gone in alone. “If he does anything....”
“He’s tied to a chair. What can he do?” she’d countered. Cale had been standing a step too close to her, breathing a breadth too deeply. She’d been completely oblivious to Christian’s feelings, but Cale was much easier to read, and especially now that he was single, Cadence was aware of every subtle look, every lingering glance, every word that didn’t quite flow with normal conversation between friends.
“Still... I’d be more comfortable if I was in there with you.”
“And I’ll be just fine.” She’d given him a stiff smile and patted him firmly on the shoulder a couple of times, hoping he’d get the picture. Stepping around him, she’d pressed the code into the door and waited for it to slide open.
Now, she stood face to face with one of several monsters she could hold responsible for making her husband disappear. She took him in for a moment before pulling her Glock out of its holster and checking to make sure it was loaded. It was. She pulled a rusty metal chair out from under an equally dilapidated table with her foot and spun it around without using her hands, sitting down on it with her Glock hanging over the back of it, waiting for him to say something.
Stewart began to chuckle. It was a rich roar that shook his chest around the rope that secured him to an equally over-used chair. His hands were still handcuffed behind him, and his legs were secured to the chair as well, which she noted had been bolted to the floor. Despite the rust stains and the chipped finish, she was aware these chairs would hold. Appearances weren’t always what they seemed, and behind his steel gray eyes, she could see an emotion he was trying to hide. Fear.
“Do you know who I am?” she asked, trying to keep her voice as nonchalant as possible because at this point there likely wasn’t much he could give her anyway. May as well scare the hell out of him if she could, and that would take a slow rise, like the trip up to the top of the landing on a rollercoaster, that click, clack, click, clack lulling you into a false security before the whole cart goes sailing over the other edge, launching you into a freefall that makes your stomach catch in your nose and your lunch end up lodged in your esophagus.
“I do,” he said, his Scottish accent fake but still there. She noticed when he cracked his mouth to speak his fangs were bared. “Cadence Findley. Hunter Leader. Granddaughter of Jordan and Janette Findley.”
“Close,” she said shifting her head from one side to the other as if she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. “That’s who I was up until a few days ago. But you see, Hamish, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret.” She was aware that there were plenty of people listening in on her IAC who didn’t know what she was about to say, but she didn’t care. Most of them would probably assume she was just messing with him. The others could ask her later. “I’m actually Cadence Findley McReynolds.” His eyes shifted but only to display his confusion. “Yeah, Aaron and I got married while we were on that little trip to Vegas. I’m sure you know about it. All of the Vampires had to be talking about it, right? How we took out that last remaining pocket of bad seeds. Until, of course, you came along and started things all up again. I bet you’re proud of yourself, aren’t you?”
He was reflective for a moment before he started to slowly shake his head. “I’m not sure what your angle is here, Mrs. McReynolds, but I assure you, there’s nothing left for me to divulge. I know that sister of yours has been walking around in my head for hours. Bowers has worked me over. So has your friend Christian. If there was anything else for me to tell you, I would. But I know nothing. I don’t know where Holland or Asteria or whatever the hell you want to call her is. I don’t know where Hines is. I don’t know where her baby is. I don’t know anything. So if you’re going to shoot me, go ahead and do it already and put me out of my misery!” By the time he finished, he was shouting at her, his lips curled back, his fangs shining in all of their fury.
“Okay,” Cadence replied and unflinchingly sent a titanium bullet into his shin. Hamish jumped back but stayed in his seat because he had no choice. The hole in his leg began to smoke, and ash tumbled to the floor as he tried to hold back a scream. His eyes widened before he squeezed them shut. “Is that what you had in mind?”
“No! I meant end me. Bloody hell!”
“Oh. I’ve never been very good at reading people.” She fake laughed and stood, spinning her chair around and positioning herself on the edge of it. “You’re right, Hamish. We do have basically every tiny bit of information about the attack we could possibly squeeze from you. But you see... I just came into some new information, something I can’t quite sort out. And I need to know everything you know on the topic so that you can help me determine how Holland knows where the portal will open later tonight.”
“There is no way...” he grunted.
“Well, there must be. Because someone from Holland’s entourage landed in Rome a few minutes ago. And we know for a fact that’s where the portal will open soon. So... how can she know that? Hmmm? You figure it out and tell her?” Cadence brought the nuzzle of the Glock around, aiming at his other leg.
“No!” he screamed. “I don’t know! I wouldn’t have any idea how she could tell that.”
“I think... you’re lying.” She closed one eye, as if she needed it to line up the shot.
“No, I’m not! I promise! She must’ve found that out from someone else!”
“Who? Who else might’ve known?”
“I have no idea!”
Cadence wasn’t playing around. She shot him again, this time in the opposite kneecap. Stewart screamed in pain as pieces of his knee began to disintegrate and fall on the concrete floor. “Think harder!”
“I promise, I don’t know. I... I can feel around, see if there’s any trace of anyone being approached, anyone in my professional circles. There are not too many people who would be able to interpret the writings in the book.”
Cadence stood up and took two steps so that the end of her Glock was lined up with his forehead. “Start searching.”
“Please—I need time. I need... a chance to think.... I can’t... I don’t know.”
“Start listing names. Anyone you can think of.” She knew Cassidy was listening in through her IAC and would be able to immediately search the minds of anyone Hamish mentioned, especially since she could also access his thoughts.
Stewart started naming people he’d worked with. He got seven or eight names off quickly and then started to languish a bit. “Better think faster.”
He squealed a bit like a stuck pig before rattling off a few more. “Who else?”
“I don’t know! I swear, I don’t know!”
“If there is anyone else, you’d better tell me right now!”
“I don’t know!”
“Stewart!”
“I swear to God, Mrs. McReynolds, I can’t think of anyone else! If I do, I’ll tell you, I promise!”
“You won’t get the chance, Stewart. This is the end of the road for you. You should’ve known better than to help those bastards.”
“No, please, I’m not ready to die yet!” He had no tears in his eyes because Vampires aren’t capable of crying, but she could tell how desperate he was from his tone, his story changing now that he was faced with his own demise.
“I’m sorry, but you picked your side.”
“Please, no!”
“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do....”
“I’ll tell you anything, anything at all! Please just don’t end me!”
“Bang!”
Stewart jumped and the sweet smell of urine filled the air. Cadence took a step backward, completely unaware until that moment that Vampires could pee. “Huh, learn something every day.” She holstered her Glock and waited. Slowly, Stewart opened one eye and then the other. “I’m not gonna kill you, Stewart, not now. But I do have a different kind of hell planned for you. If you want to be spared, you’ll cooperate. I need to know any other names that come to mind as soon as you think of them. I also need you to try to find Hines for me. Got it, pal? If you don’t wanna be my special guinea pig, find me Hines or Holland.”
“I... I’ll... try.”
She leaned down, ignoring the stench, so that her face was right in front of his. “You’ll do more than try. Find them. Or you’ll regret it.”
Cadence started singing the little that she knew of the song “Blue Moon,” changing the words to “Blood Moon,” and pulled open the door to see Cale standing across the hall with his arms folded.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, he said, “You’re even more of a bad ass than I thought you were.”
Shrugging, she said, “After I shot Laura, it wasn’t that hard anymore. Can you go heal his legs, please? I need him in one piece. And... Vampires can piss themselves?”
“Yeah. Weird, right?”
“You might wanna grab some gloves.”
Cale shook his head at her. “I’ll get those two dumbasses in here to take care of that. What’re their names?”
“Paxton and Smith,” she replied headed for the stairs. “But, hey, keep an eye on them. They are liable to end up the ones chained to the chair.”
He laughed, and shaking his blond head, he said, “You’re something else, Cadence Findley.”
She was already on the second step. Without turning to look at him, she said, “It really is Cadence McReynolds.” Her head swiveled to see his reaction then, and she was relieved when he didn’t flinch. “I wasn’t making that up.”
“Oh.” He inhaled deeply before he added, “Then... congratulations.”
“Thanks.” A half smile pulled up one corner of her mouth, but she was in no mood for celebration. If Cale was disappointed she was married, he’d have to get over it. She’d made her choice a long time ago and had never regretted getting back together with Aaron. As much as she liked the Healer, as handsome and sexy as he was, she was meant to be with Aaron. There was no doubt in her mind. So she would stop at nothing at getting him back.
