Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Brandon was already moving toward his father before even realizing he’d said nothing to Jamie to let him know about the conversation he’d been having with Cadence and Cassidy. The Healer reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Brandon? What’s going on?” Jamie asked, stopping the teen and spinning him around.

“I don’t know. Something weird is going on with Cassidy. I need to find my dad.” His eyes trained over the crowd, seeking out his father’s familiar face but not seeing him anywhere.

“Okay,” Jamie said with a reassuring nod. “They’re over there.” He gestured in the direction of the big tent, the way Brandon had been walking before the doctor had slowed him down. Jamie didn’t take his hand off his shoulder as they moved in that direction.

Unless he used his superhuman speed, which might alarm the Vampires dancing and gallivanting around between his current location and where he needed to be, it would take a few moments. Brandon grappled with the idea of mowing them all over, but he didn’t want to be the one to take what had, so far, been a peaceful get together to something more.

A woman with long blonde hair stepped right in front of him “Oh, sorry,” she muttered, but every time tried to move, she stepped directly into his path. It almost seemed like she was doing it on purpose. Just when he was about to pick her up and move her out of the way, she stepped aside, and mumbling a few curse words at her under his breath, Brandon got around her.

“Try to take some deep breaths,” Jamie suggested. “Whatever is going on with Cassidy, it’s probably not as bad as you think it is.”

He froze in his tracks and turned to face the Healer. “She was shouting something about the moon... moving,” he replied, running his hand through his hair. “She sounded really crazy, Jamie. And then Cadence said she blacked out.”

“I can see why that would be startling, but let’s see if we can get her back on the IAC. Maybe she’s all right by now.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He hadn’t tried since Cadence had turned him off, but it had been several minutes now. Maybe everything was better. He tried to access her, but just before he sent the signal, something in the distance caught his attention. Across an open space, on the other side of a flaming bonfire, he thought he saw a familiar form. A girl, moving quickly in his direction. “Is that... Cass?” he asked, pointing to the woman, dressed in black, with long, flowing dark hair, who seemed to be running right at them.

Jamie turned to look where Brandon was pointing. “It looks like her. But... how could she get here so fast?”

“I don’t know.” His feet were already moving in that direction. Behind him, he heard the familiar shout of his name and realized they’d walked over to where Dax and Alex were stationed. Brandon didn’t have time to talk to his friend right now. He needed to see whether or not the girl running toward him was Cassidy. Worry consumed him as he picked up speed, not even realizing where he was headed until he heard a strange chanting and everything around him went black.

* * *

“What the hell is going on?” Elliott asked, turning to face Aaron with his hands on his hips. “Cass thinks the moon is moving?”

“I don’t know. The whole thing is... odd.”

“You had Christian check everything, right? I mean everything? Every legend, every story, every damn book in that whole stinking archive no one ever uses?”

“Yes,” Aaron confirmed. “He said he couldn’t find anything alarming at all. That the blood moon was just red from the eclipse, and there was nothing to worry about.”

“Where is that son of a bitch anyway?” Elliott asked, turning back around and surveying the landscape.

“He’s stationed on the west side, over by the parking lot,” Aaron reminded him. “I haven’t heard much out of him all night.”

Elliott shook his head, not sure what to think. Christian Henry was a damn dirty scoundrel, not one to be trusted. Elliott should’ve done some research himself, even if that wasn’t his strong suit. At least Cass had climbed around inside Mika Ito’s head, and if she couldn’t find anything nefarious going on inside of the organizer’s mind, maybe they would be okay, but he couldn’t help but think maybe Cadence and Cassidy were in danger. “I think I should head back to the B and B,” he said, finally turning back to face his boss.

Aaron took in a deep breath. “Maybe so.”

“I know you need to stay here. But I don’t like this.”

Aaron nodded and opened his mouth. Elliott thought for sure he’d tell him to go, but then his forehead crinkled, and instead of giving him the okay, he said, “What the hell?”

Elliott turned back to look in the direction the Guardian Leader was staring. Off in the distance, across an opening in the crowd, a woman was hurrying their direction. She had long, dark hair, and from this distance, she looked like Cadence. “How could she get here so quickly?”

“I don’t know,” Aaron admitted. “Maybe it’s not her.”

Elliott remembered Laura changing herself to look like Drew. He had a point. “Well, we can’t hardly let some Vampire run around impersonating your wife all night. Come on.” Whatever was happening, they needed to get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later.

Aaron seemed more hesitant than Elliott felt, but after a second, his feet began to move, and they headed in the direction of the approaching woman, cautiously. It wasn’t until Elliott stepped over an oddly placed bucket of water, nearly shattering a mirror in the process, that he realized something was wrong. Off in the distance, he heard someone shout, “Leig solas na fala fala a-mach d ’anam!” and then everything went black.

***

Grabbing her Glock off of the dresser, Cadence slipped it into her holster before she realized she needed to tie her boots. She dropped onto the bed. “Where’s your weapon?” she asked her sister, who was already pacing by the door.

“In its holster,” she replied, pulling open her jacket.

It hadn’t occurred to her that Cassidy was packing heat while she was sitting on the bed. “Keys....” Cadence mumbled once her boots were tied. Her hair was down, which generally drove her crazy during a hunt, but she had no time.

Cassidy picked up the keys to the SUV Aaron had left them off of the dresser and tossed them to her older sister. “Come on! Let’s go!”

Cadence glanced around, thinking it would be better if she took more guns, but they needed to hurry. She gestured toward the door, and Cassidy flung it open, both of them charging into the hallway, nearly colliding with Ashley who was just coming out of her room.

“Oh, hey! Glad you’re both still up. Something weird seems to be going on. I can’t get ahold of Jamie. I’m sure it’s nothing....” Her tone seemed way too nonchalant to Cadence, who did think it was something. Maybe it was because she’d witnessed the strange reaction from her sister, but she wasn’t about to stand around and play with Ashley right now.

“We are on our way over there now,” she said, shoving Cass past her toward the stairs. “You can come if you want.”

“What? No, we can’t, remember? No Hunters allowed.” Ashley laughed nervously, and Cadence was reminded of all the reasons why she didn’t like this woman.

“There’s no time to explain.” Cadence was taking the steps far too quickly. Should a human see her, she’d have to make up some silly excuse. Luckily, they’d bought out the B and B, and the only person staying there was the owner, and she’d said she’d be in her room in the basement if they needed her. “Are you coming or not?”

Ashley’s face went pale. “Yeah. I’m coming. Let me grab my Glock.”

“Hurry,” Cass instructed, and the two Findley girls shot out the door.

Cadence had the SUV started before a banging on her window had her practically leaping out of her skin. She recognized May, one of the local Hunters Aaron had asked to keep an eye on her and Cass. Rolling down the window, she said, “Yeah?”

“What’s going on?” the older Hunter asked. “Where you headed?”

“The festival. Something weird’s happening.” She didn’t have time to explain. “Look, I don’t think you guys are going to see any action here. Why don’t you head across town and set up a loose perimeter around the festival grounds? Major roads on surveillance for certain. Hopefully, it’s nothing, but if I need you to close things down, I’d rather you were already over there.”

The idea of doing something useful seemed to perk May’s ears right up. “You got it, chief,” she said, pounding the top of the vehicle, sending her swing bob swinging.

Cadence shook her head as she watched the woman head off into the shadows, likely using her IAC to pass on instructions. “Come on, Ash!” she whispered sharply, thinking she might just leave without the other Hunter if she didn’t get her butt in the car.

A second later, the front door to the Queen Anne house in front of them came flying open, and Ashley was in the back seat a moment later. Cadence threw the car into reverse, noting Ashley had grabbed more than her Glock. She hoped the Berretta didn’t send any Compliant Vampires over the edge if this turned out to be nothing, but until she got into contact with Aaron or Elliott, Cadence wasn’t playing anymore.

“Hannah!” Cass exclaimed as Cadence turned right, blowing through a stop sign. “I got Hannah.”

Relieved that at least someone still had communication, Cadence flipped over to the second in command of the Guardians. “Hannah, what the hell is going on?” Cadence asked, praying her friend would say the guys were having trouble with their IACs, but she could see them all, and they were just fine.

“I don’t know,” Hannah practically shouted back. It was so strange to hear her typically calm voice so out of sorts. “I can’t find Aaron anywhere. Elliott seems to be missing, too. We’re looking.”

“What about Brandon?” Cassidy asked, and Cadence reached out and put her hand on her sister’s leg.

It took Hannah a moment to answer, as if she hadn’t even been checking for the youngest Guardian. “No, I don’t know.”

A whimper escaped her sister’s lips, and Cadence squeezed her thigh. “It’ll be okay, Cass. He couldn’t have gone far.”

Her sister nodded, but neither one of them believed that was the truth.

Ashley was asking something from the back seat, and Cadence was attempting to work her way through the narrow side streets of a town built before the Civil War. “Hannah, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Don’t let any Vampires leave. Shut the thing down the best you can. Get your hands on Mika Ito and anyone else who had anything to do with planning the festival, all right? And above all else, find the missing Guardians.”

“Got it,” Hannah said, but Cadence had a feeling at least one of those objectives wasn’t going to be simple.

“What’s happening?” Ashley asked again, her voice indicating she was also out of patience.

“We don’t know.” Cadence was headed out of town now. She’d only had a glimpse at the map of the location, but she was certain she was headed the right way. It was as if she was tracking Aaron, and he was helping her find him, the way he’d done in Ireland. But she had a feeling this was going to be different. Hopefully, this time he wouldn’t die....

No one said anything else as Cadence located the festival grounds and worked the SUV through the field where dozens, if not hundreds, of other vehicles were parked in the grass. She got as close as she could before abandoning the car, not caring at all if it was blocking one of the avenues out. She needed these Vampires to stick around.

The scene before her could only be described as organized chaos. There were lots of Guardians running in every direction, Vampires ambling around, many of them looking more than a little worried. The occasional human was also caught up in whatever was going on. Cadence looked around for Hannah and saw her standing near the bonfire with what looked like a broken mirror in her hands.

“Hannah! What is that?” Cadence asked, running up on her.

“I don’t know. One of the local Guardians found it. There’s another mirror over there.” She pointed across the bonfire. “And each of them had a bucket of water and this strange rock next to them.” She produced a large, flat, shiny rock from her pocket.

Cadence was hesitant to touch it, but Cassidy snatched it out of Hannah’s hands. “Obsidian?”

“I guess,” Hannah shrugged. “What is it for?”

“I have no idea,” Cassidy admitted. “But it’s rare.”

“Keep all of this stuff,” Cadence instructed, and Hannah sent someone off to get the other pieces. “Where’s Mika?”

“Over there with Christian.” Hannah pointed off in the distance, and Cadence and Cassidy shot off in that direction, Ashley following.

“Tell us what you know!” Christian was demanding. The small woman looked terrified as she stared up at him. “We need to know what you did!”

“I told you, I don’t know anything!” She was close to tears, her arms folded in front of her, and when she spoke, Cadence could see her fangs. She assumed they had dropped because she was upset; Mika Ito didn’t seem like a threat.