The forest around Klet was alive with the sound of animals stirring, leaves trailing across bark as they tumbled to the ground, and the footsteps of twenty or so assailants dressed completely in black winding their way up a steep incline in search of a wayward friend—and maybe their worst nightmare.
Cadence knew she wasn’t herself and that Aaron was worried. The flight from Budapest had brought many questions, none of which had been answered truthfully. Yes, she was fine. No, nothing was bothering her. Sure—she was just concerned about the hunt. Whatever she’d needed to say to make him feel better, she’d said it. The idea that she was carrying another person up the mountainside along with her was a constant distraction, one she didn’t need on the cusp of probably the hardest fight of her life. But there was no pushing it out of her mind at the moment. As she tried to avoid piles of fallen, crunchy leaves, her mind wandered to what the future might hold. How could she put herself in harm’s way time and again if there was a child back home waiting for her to return? How would she launch herself at a Vampire that night with her child along for the ride?
She had no answers, only more questions, and they were nearing their destination. Cassidy knew exactly where they were going, even though she hadn’t tipped Christian off that they were coming for fear that she might also alert Daunator. The stirring deep inside Cadence’s gut told her that the monster already knew. And Elliott was right. He wasn’t the only Vampire around.
If the others had noticed Cadence’s emotional state, none of them let on, save her husband who was also letting it distract him, which Cadence hated. He kept glancing over his shoulder at her, checking to see if she was okay. At least one of them needed to have their head in the game, so she did her best to pretend everything was all right, but there was no fooling an emotional empath.
Cassidy stopped at the edge of a clearing, and the rest of the extraction team pulled up behind her. “This is it,” she said to the other four. “Christian is in the ground about twenty feet in front of us.”
How she knew, Cadence had no idea, but she’d take her sister’s word for it. Now, there was just the question of how in the world would they get him out? They’d have a few minutes to think about it since they were waiting for the rest of the team to get into place, and some of them had had to circle the mountain before they could climb up the other side and reach their assigned positions. Behind her, Cadence heard footsteps as the first line got into place, and she watched through her IAC as Heather contemplated which tree was the tallest. With Paul’s help, she settled on one, and they both made their way to the top, Lex following but stopping about halfway up in case a threat came from below them and Margie at the very bottom, still on the ground.
It all seemed surreal in a way. Cadence had been training for a situation like this for over two years, a battle with a power so strong, so evil, it would test her strength like no other. But now that she was on the brink of facing Daunator, it seemed more like a dream than reality. Her fingers flickered against a grenade she had strapped to a utility belt around her waist, something she didn’t usually wear but thought might be a good idea under the circumstances. If Christian’s new grenades did what he thought they did, this wouldn’t be that difficult. The problem would lie in getting close enough to Daunator to implant the grenade and staying alive doing so.
Aaron had already told her not to try it, that if anyone needed to charge the monster and implant the grenade, it needed to be him. She’d agreed, but she was never one for holding back. If she had the opportunity, she knew she’d take it and think about the consequences later. The fact that she wasn’t just risking her own life was a fleeting thought that wouldn’t stick in the small area of her mind still rooted in reality.
“We’re all in position now,” Aaron said over the IAC. As if the heavens were acknowledging their presence, the clouds parted, and a stream of moonlight illuminated the clearing in front of them, seeming to highlight the spot where Cass believed Christian was planted.
“Then... let’s go get him,” Cadence suggested. “Cass, can you bring up the dirt on top of the hole? It can’t be too thick, can it?”
Her sister concentrated for a second. “I’m not sure what’s holding it in place.” Cassidy’s eyes were closed tightly. “It’s some sort of power I’m not familiar with. There are holes all over the place here, but the loose earth overtop of them doesn’t fall down inside. If a person were to step on one, they wouldn’t fall through either.”
“That’s good,” Elliott muttered. “Otherwise, we might just end up with six people in holes in the ground instead of just one asshole in a hole in the ground.”
“I said person,” Cassidy pointed out. “I think Daunator could very well intend to suck us all down.”
“You can’t levitate us all at the same time,” Jamie pointed out. “How do we avoid that?”
“You can use your X-ray vision to see the holes. But even then, he can still suck you down. He can make new holes any time he wants.”
Cadence didn’t like the sound of that and wished they could all float on top of the air like her sister. Still, there wasn’t much they could do about it except for be quick on their feet. Maybe Daunator’s powers weren’t strong enough to contend with the new speed the second dose of Transformation serum had given them.
