It was no wonder her head was beginning to ache again and the tumultuous feeling in the pit of her stomach hadn’t quite gone away. She was considering another round of Jamie’s blue light when Aaron returned, looking as annoyed as she felt. “It’s like having teenagers,” he said, shaking his head. “Well, I mean, I guess. Not that I’ve ever had teenagers. Except your sister.”
“And she only lived with us for a few weeks, but yeah, I get it. What was the problem now?”
“Apparently, Aurora got on the plane early and took off all of the Cheetos Elliott had requested be stocked in the snack center. Really? The man can’t go a few hours without his favorite chip?”
Cadence bit back a chuckle. “In fairness, that was a pretty petty thing for her to do.”
“I agree, but calling her out on it is just going to make her act even more childish. And I thought Elliott and Christian’s squabbles were bad. I hope no one else on our team ever breaks up. Maybe we should be total hypocrites and make it a rule that no one can date another team member.”
Laughing, Cadence said, “The heart knows what it wants... or in their case other parts of the anatomy. I’d hate to say this, but maybe we need to start thinking about a transfer.” Aurora had only been her second in command for a few months, and she was doing a good job--on the battlefield. Was it really worth it to have to put up with this sort of distraction all the time? Cadence didn’t think so.
Aaron settled back in his seat. “I assume you’re talking about her and not him.”
“Of course,” Cadence clarified quickly. “I’d never be able to transfer Elliott even if my sister wasn’t dating his son—again.”
“Then who would you bring in for your number two?”
Cadence thought about some of the other strong Hunters she’d worked with. A few people sprang to mind. “I don’t know. I’d have to think about it.”
He nodded. “Well, I would suggest you warn her first. Let her know that if she doesn’t stop agitating Elliott, she’s going to have to go somewhere else. She’d make a great Area Leader. There’s a chance she might actually prefer that.”
“Maybe,” Cadence agreed, but she really couldn’t spend too much time thinking about it at the moment. They still had several hours in the air, and she intended to spend part of that time sleeping, but she needed to go back over the film from the hunt Mila’s team had just completed. “At least Eliza was able to get Jamie’s specimen. I hope they can figure out how to keep that thing alive until we get to Budapest.”
“Me, too. Jamie won’t have too long to look it over, though. We’ll only be in Budapest a few hours before we head to Cesky Krumlov. The longer we take to get things underway, the better the chances Daunator will get tipped off. I’d just as soon avoid a full out fight at this point, if we can avoid it.”
Cadence’s head rocked back and forth in agreement, but she didn’t think there would be any getting around it. Ideally, Aaron planned to go get Christian, get him away from Klet, somewhere safe where they could pick his brain about the monster, and then go back and face Daunator. Cadence doubted that was how the operation would go. Chances were, when they arrived on the mountain, Daunator would be ready, whether he got a tip off from anyone’s train of thought or not.
“We’ll just have to be ready to throw everything we’ve got at him,” she said with a sigh. That unsettled feeling was back with a vengeance, strong enough that she couldn’t ignore it. This could very well be the most significant battle of her life, even more so than defeating Holland the second time. If things went wrong, people could die, and she hadn’t forgotten what Jamie said about Daunator using Hunters to kill Guardians. She’d like to think the other Hunters on her team were all mentally strong enough to overcome any mind tricks the Vampire threw at them, but there was just no way to be certain.
“We’ve got several of Christian’s new grenades. Hopefully, those work. And you brought the bracelets he was working on, right?”
“Yes,” Cadence said, gesturing to the bag between her boots. Her dad had mentioned Christian was working on something for protection, though he hadn’t tested it yet. They looked like ordinary silver bracelets, but Cadence had decided to bring them along in case they might be useful. “And you brought the crossbow?”
Aaron nodded. “Not sure I feel comfortable using a prototype of a weapon that shoots molten silver nitrate, but most of Christian’s inventions end up working. Eventually.” He snickered, and Cadence wondered if there was a specific instance he was thinking of but didn’t ask. “We’ll go over everything with the team when we get there. Everyone should’ve had plenty of time to get in the air so that we’re arriving about the same time.”
“Good.” Cadence was looking forward to working with the best of the best LIGHTS members, particularly since she wasn’t able to bring all of the Hunters she’d normally have alongside her. “I’ll just be happy if we can all get out of this alive. I don’t want to test Jamie’s skills.”
“We’ll be all right,” Aaron assured her, but there was a hint of a waver in his voice, one that let her know he was also leery of what lay before them. She reached over and took his hand, resting her head back against the seat, and closing her eyes. She’d go over the footage later, but for now, sleep was calling, and something told her that being well rested would be even more important than having as much information as possible. After all, it might be a question as to whether or not Daunator could kill Guardians, but there was no doubt the Vampire could most certainly end her, and since there was a hundred percent chance he would be giving that task his all, she would need every ounce of strength possible to be the one walking away from the battlefield when all that was left was smoke and ashes.
