Chapter 49: Chapter 49

“But Skelton said not to take any Hunters,” Elliott noted. “Remember?” He looked at Cadence, and she nodded. “Do you think that’s because Daunator can’t kill Guardians?”

Cadence wasn’t sure if the question was to her or in general, but she answered. “I have no idea if he can or can’t. But... why keep Christian in a hole in the ground if he can kill him?”

“To lure us there,” Aaron replied quickly.

“Do you think he can kill Guardians?” Aurora asked the Guardian Leader.

“No.” Once again, Aaron’s response was definitive. “But that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous. We know he can get into people’s minds, even if we don’t believe Skelton’s story that Daunator made him kill Jordan because Daunator jumped Cassidy last night.”

Jamie’s voice was so quiet at first, Cadence almost didn’t recognize it. “If he can jump into Hunters’ heads... then he can kill Guardians. Just not directly.” The end of the statement was louder, clearer, more like the Jamie she was used to. “He’ll jump into their heads and use their fingers to pull the trigger.”

It was a logical conclusion, one Cadence wished she’d seen half-an-hour ago. She glanced in Aaron’s direction and noted he seemed to have already figured that much out, though for whatever reason, he hadn’t mentioned it aloud. “Then we can’t take any Hunters,” Cadence said conclusively.

“But we don’t know that he can’t get Guardians to do the same thing,” Elliott reminded them. “And with the right weaponry, a Guardian could take out another Guardian, right? If a titanium bullet will let a Guardian kill a Hunter, then won’t it also work Guardian to Guardian?”

Jamie was nodding. “Tissue sample tests say yes. We haven’t tried it out.”

“Are you volunteering?” Aurora muttered under her breath, and Cadence cringed. So far, her friend had been playing nice, but that comment was uncalled for and rude. Aurora shook her head slightly. “Sorry.”

Elliott ignored her, which Cadence appreciated. “Not taking titanium with us would also be a mistake.”

“Whoever we take, we’ve got to be prepared for a difficult fight, even if our first step is just getting Christian back. We can take certain precautions against anyone getting shot by our own teammates, but there are no guarantees. Bulletproof vests help, but they aren’t foolproof.” Aaron looked at Elliott, who had been wearing a vest when Sam shot him in the head, and there was nothing else the Guardian Leader needed to say on the topic.

“We should probably hurry up and get over there, though, if we’re going to save Christian. Who knows what kinds of psychological trauma he’s already suffered if he’s been in that hole for several days.” Hannah sounded both clinical and concerned.

Elliott started to say something, but stopped, and once again, Cadence found herself proud of his ability to bite his tongue. Taking a jab at Christian’s usual psychological state would’ve been easy with that set up, but her friend didn’t go there.

“Should we ask Mila’s team to see if they can find him?” Aurora asked. “They’re a lot closer.”

Aaron was shaking his head before she finished the question. “I wouldn’t trust her to be able to get it done without someone getting hurt. No, we’re taking our A Team, and like Cadence said earlier, no extra Hunters.”

“What do you mean by extra?” Aurora asked.

“I mean only essential personnel.”

“He means me and Cass... and Heather,” Cadence said, trying to be honest without hurting her friend’s feelings. “Sorry, Roar, but I can’t take the risk of bringing you with us. It might be possible that Guardians could be infiltrated by Daunator, too, like Elliott said, but they have to go.”

Aurora glowered but didn’t say anything for a long moment. Eventually, she asked, “Can I at least come and stay in the hotel?”

Cadence was tempted to turn her head and look at Aaron for his advice but decided not to dilute her authority by doing so. “I’ll think about it.”

Her second in command nodded, but it was obvious she wasn’t happy with that answer. Cadence couldn’t put too much effort into trying to spare her feelings. If it meant protecting the Guardians, then that’s what she needed to do.

“That means Ash can’t come either, Jamie,” Aaron mentioned to the Healer sitting on his right.

“I understand,” Jamie said, which surprised Cadence a little bit. She thought maybe he’d insist his girlfriend be allowed to go, as he had with the Eidolon Festival. There was something in his expression that made her think perhaps he wanted to say more, but he didn’t, and Cadence put it out of her mind as Aaron continued.

“All right. I’m not sure what else there is to talk about right now. Obviously, everyone else at this table is going, as well as Shane. We’ll take Cale and Scarlet, too. The more established Healers we have, the better.” Aaron was still thinking, his eyes darting around as he looked up at the ceiling.

“Margie?” Cadence offered.

“Yeah.”

“Paul?”

“Sure. And probably some of the others who did a great job on the last hunt.” Aaron folded his hands and dropped his head for a second before he looked up, and not meeting anyone’s gaze added, “And we’ll need to bring in Mila and the other Guardians on her team... including Eliza... because they are the only ones with experience fighting these demonic creatures.”

Cadence’s eyes widened, but she took a note from Elliott and kept her mouth shut. The last person in the world she wanted on the hunt was Eliza.

“We think Daunator really is able to make these creatures because he came out of the Blood Moon Portal?” Elliott asked, reminding them of what Skelton had mentioned earlier. “Are they half-demon, half-Vampire?”

“No idea,” Aaron admitted. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

“If he’s been through both portals, like Skelton said, he’ll have all sorts of tricks we’ve never seen before, or at least not in a long time,” Jamie reminded them.

“He’s one scary son of a bitch,” Cadence agreed. “But Christian has left us little choice. Maybe if he would’ve stayed here, we could’ve gone over there and fought the symptoms, taken out his henchmen, cut off his blood supply. But now... our hands are tied. We can’t leave him there....”

“Well....” Elliott began.

“There it is. I’ve been waiting for it this whole time.” Aaron smirked at his friend, but it was clearly a warning, too.

“I’m just kidding.” Elliott raised both of his hands in protest. “Here’s another question for you, though. We take Cass, Brandon’s gonna insist we take him, even if they are currently split up. I don’t want him to go even though he’s already asked me if he can. What do we do about that?”

“Simple enough. There’s no reason for him to be there, so why would he go?” Aaron replied.

“Unless Princess Cassidy gets it in her head that she’s not gonna do her job without ‘im,” Elliott said, and Cadence thought about earlier when her sister had refused to help them out by revealing what she knew about Christian’s location. It was a possibility.

“She can stay here, too, then,” Cadence said knowing it was a bluff she wouldn’t be able to back up. Her sister had to go, despite the dangers involved. They’d absolutely need her power.

Elliott laughed, calling her out. “Sure. You go ahead and see where that gets you, big sis.” He patted her on the shoulder and then everyone pushed their chairs back at once, as if they knew the meeting was over.

“We’ll look at weapons, get some flight information together, and let you know,” Aaron said, looking at each of them. Cadence stayed put, but everyone else was gathering their belongings and heading for the door. “Thanks, guys.”

Jamie picked up the few items he’d brought with them and started to follow the others out, but before he made it into the lobby, he stopped. Cadence remembered the odd expression from early and glanced at Aaron, but he was clearly busy with something else.

Taking a few steps back, Jamie rested one hand on the back of an empty chair, the other holding a water bottle, pen, and pad of paper, he waited, and Cadence raised her eyebrows at him. Once Jamie had their full attention, he said, “We weren’t going to mention this yet, but I feel like, maybe the two of you need to know.”

Her eyes stayed wide as Cadence waited for him to tell her something import—like maybe he and Ashley had broken up, or she still wanted to be transferred, or it turns out she wasn’t really a Hunter after all and was going to be leaving the team.

His real reason for speaking to them in private was not in line with her fantasies of never having to see Ashley again, but it was just as shocking. “Ash is pregnant.”

The feeling of all the blood draining from her face and pooling in her stomach kept Cadence’s brain from functioning as she scrambled for something to say. Luckily, her husband was much quicker to react. “That’s awesome, man!” Aaron said, practically leaping out of his chair and embracing the doctor who looked slightly relieved at having revealed his secret to someone.

“Yeah, thanks,” Jamie said, once Aaron released him. “It’s still early on, so we’re keeping it quiet, for now. But since you’re her boss and everything,” Jamie said looking at Cadence, who had recovered from her shock enough to at least give her friend a smile. “Anyway, I’d just as soon she took it easy, as much as possible. I know Janette was fighting Vampires when she was nine months pregnant, but... well, I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

Aaron was nodding, but in his eyes, Cadence could see raw emotions he normally kept better hidden. Envy, longing, sorrow.... She couldn’t blame him. It had been almost two hundred years since his first wife, Aislyn, and his unborn daughter, Aarolyn, had passed away, but Cadence knew not a day went by that he didn’t think about the little girl at the very least.

“Congrats, Jame,” Cadence said, pushing away all of the ugly thoughts she’d had about Ashley before for Jamie’s sake. “I didn’t even know you were trying.”

Jamie looked a little surprised at her statement, and Cadence regretted it, thinking perhaps she’d accidentally been rude. It really wasn’t her business whether or not her friend had intended to knock his girlfriend up. “Well, we weren’t. I mean... I think both of us would’ve just as soon gotten married first. But... I don’t know. It just happened.” He nodded a few times, and another comment that would’ve pushed the boundaries popped into Cadence’s head. He was a doctor—he should’ve known how it worked. “And yes, she was on the pill. But... it’s only ninety-eight percent accurate. Guess we’re part of the two percent.”

Cadence laughed at his mind reading and his assessment of their odds. “Well, I think it’s great,” she said, still smiling. Rather you than me, also came to mind, but considering how desperately Aaron wanted to have kids, she kept that remark to herself.

“Thanks.” Jamie nodded a few times, and Aaron patted him on the back, genuinely excited for his friend. “I’m gonna go. I’ll see you guys later.”

They both said goodbye, and Jamie left, Cadence watching him disappear out the door before her mind returned to matters from earlier. As great as Jamie’s news was, they had more urgent matters to attend to. Every single decision she made was a calculated risk. She didn’t like the odds, and she didn’t feel confident that they could rescue Christian without anyone else getting killed.

“Bulletproof helmets would’ve been a good idea,” Aaron muttered, unplugging the tape recorder from the wall. He still had a smile on his face from Jamie’s announcement, but Cadence was glad they weren’t going to talk about it. He’d made it clear how badly he wanted to start a family more than once. She’d gotten that message and was glad to focus on the task at hand.

Thinking about the helmets, she asked, “Wouldn’t that just mean a lot of people getting shot in the face?”

“Yep. We have regular helmets, but I was thinking knights of Camelot style, with the face guards and everything.”

Cadence giggled, imaging all of them wearing silver helmets with big plumes of red on top. “If we have regular helmets, why not use them? Can’t hurt.”

“We could, but I don’t know if anyone would wear them. Kinda funny looking,” he said with a shrug, taking the tape out of the player and wrapping the cord around the recorder. He paused for a second, looking at the tape, and then picked it up and walked to the closet. Cadence thought about asking if she could hear the rest, but again, as much as she was curious to know what had transpired, she didn’t think she could sit through it.

When Aaron came back over to the table to straighten up the stack of papers on the corner that hadn’t moved a bit, he said, “You can take Roar if you want. She’ll be okay. And... I was thinking about taking Grant.”

Cadence wasn’t sure. She had that feeling down deep in her gut, the same uneasy sensation she’d had before Sierraville. “I’ll think about it.” Why she’d rather have Grant there than Aurora, she wasn’t sure, but maybe it was because he had more experience. “Lex would be good.”

Aaron thought for a second and then nodded. “Yeah. Unless you’re just saying that because he’s an Italian stallion, and then, no thanks.”

Laughter burst out of her mouth before Cadence could stop it. “You did not just say that. Seriously? Although, you should’ve seen Roar’s face when she met him for the first time. It was pretty hilarious.”

“I would’ve loved to have seen it first hand,” Aaron said, sitting on the edge of the table next to her chair. “But I was trapped in a portal.”

“That’s right. I’d forgotten.” She smiled coyly at him and rested her hand on his leg. Aaron brushed her hair back from her face, his fingertips lingering on her cheek as he smiled at her.

Cadence pushed back her chair and stood, situating herself between his knees as his arms came around her. The task ahead of her was going to be unbelievably complex, but surrendering to Aaron’s kiss was simple, so she took advantage of the opportunity to skip past the Blue Moon and remembering how fun it was to pretend they might be making a baby, even though she wasn’t ready for that. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his, and momentarily forgot about Daunator and his minions for at least a few moments. Something told her the monster would still be there when she opened her eyes.