Chapter 212
Cadence was clearly trying to determine if a Vampire Hunter could kill a Hybrid through determination and will power alone. She had me running up and down The Hill for almost an hour, after weight training, an hour in the pool, and almost two hours on the treadmill. I really thought by the end I wasn’t going to be able to take anymore, but every time she gave me another order, I said, “Yes, El Capitan!” over the IAC, just to show her I could, and then did it. I didn’t say a single word out loud to her for the entire attempted murder, I mean, workout session, and I also managed to request visuals from her at least every five minutes, which she continuously denied. I knew I should be the grownup and let it go, but I was trying to prove a point to her—I just didn’t know exactly what it was.
After about my thousandth run up The Hill, she finally said, “Okay, that’s it. We’re done.”
I bent over and put my head between my legs, trying to catch my breath. I didn’t want her to see that she had nearly broken me, but I was also sucking wind. Thank goodness Aurora had her troops outside so that Brandon couldn’t see me. I was pretty sure if the Grim Reaper showed up, he’d walk right past me, assuming I’d already been collected.
“Listen, Sis, here’s the deal,” Cadence said as she picked up my water bottle and handed it to me. “You know I like to have fun just like anybody else, but when we’re out there on the battlefield, we have to be completely serious or someone will get hurt. You can’t be goofing off like you were last night.”
“Last night we were sitting on a couch in an apartment,” I said, collapsing onto the ground and pretending to stretch like that was my reason instead of the fact that I was too tired to stand any longer. “Who was going to die?”
“No one, but if you don’t know how to use your IAC properly, then something could go wrong. I was trying to help you.”
“And I was just joking around, Cadence,” I said as she sat down next to me on the gym floor. “I’m sorry it upset you so much, but seriously, did you think I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to turn it off and on? I got that command before I even had it installed.”
“Well, it wasn’t so easy for me,” she said. “Mine malfunctioned, and if Aaron hadn’t been there to talk me through how to turn it off, I would’ve clawed it right out of my eye.”
Of course I didn’t know that. “I’m sorry,” I said. “You didn’t ever mention that to me.”
She shrugged. “Why would I?”
“Why wouldn’t you? There’s a lot of things you haven’t mentioned to me, Cadence.”
“I wasn’t allowed to,” she countered.
“Even after you were allowed to, there’s still stuff you haven’t told me. Other people have been a lot more forthcoming with information. Do you know that Brandon and I went to talk to Aaron yesterday?”
“He mentioned it,” she said, brushing her hair back over her shoulder. “But the question you had was about him. So why would I tell you that?”
“Why would my sister tell me that her fiancé died and came back to life?” I asked, wide eyed and wild. “Seriously? If I had kept that sort of information from you, wouldn’t you be mad? Do Mom and Dad even know?”
Her expression was much more solemn now. “They know,” she said with a quick bob of her head.
“But I didn’t. He told me about Grandpa, too. Why couldn’t you have told me that?”
She shrugged. “It never came up.”
I shook my head at her. “You could’ve brought it up.”
“Listen, Cassidy, I know I’ve been stuck in my own head a lot lately,” she said, resting her hand on my shin. “I guess I haven’t really thought too much about all of this from your perspective.”
“You haven’t thought about it from anyone else’s perspective,” I said, a little too sharply. I’m not sure when I made this about her, but it seemed to be working in that direction, so I continued with it. “There are things about your teammates that I know that you don’t. You honestly didn’t think I’d remember who Jamie was when I came to visit before Philly? He drove me to Grandma’s house, Cadey. And Christian installed the software on my computer.”
Her eyes went wide as saucers. “Jamie drove you to Grandma’s?”
“Yeah. So… I know this is your world, and I have just managed to squeak my way into it one way or another, but I’m here now, whether you like it or not. And I may have to go home in a few days, but I’ll be back.”
“I want you here!” she exclaimed. “Eventually! You do need to finish high school at home with your friends, but after that, don’t think I don’t want you here, Cass. I do. There’s just… so much going on. And I’m in charge of a lot of it. It’s overwhelming.”
I could see in her eyes that she was mentally exhausted. “I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it. “I can empathize with that. It’s not easy being… whatever I am either.”
“Oh, Cass, I know it can’t be,” she said, scooting closer to me. “And I want to be there for you, I really do. It’s just so hard when I’m trying to coordinate so many people all over the world. I’ve got to figure out a better system, something that works for me, because the way that Aaron runs things… I just can’t handle it.”
“So change it,” I said. “Make it work for you.”
“That’s easier said than done.”
“I bet Grandma didn’t do things the same way he does.” I couldn’t imagine anyone micromanaging things the way that Aaron controls everything.
“Things were different for the most part when she was the leader, though,” Cadence reminded me. “They didn’t have IACs. Everything was a lot slower; regions operated a lot more independently.”
“And did it work? Do you have good people out there? Can you rely on them to do their jobs and just check in when you need to?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I hope so.”
“Well, find out. And if you can, then do it. And if you can’t, then fix it. People should be able to do their jobs without asking you every two seconds if they can blow their noses. I mean, that guy in Philly? Andrew? He was a joke, and I only saw him on the video. I can’t imagine what it was like working with him.” She rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement. “So… when we go back up there to get Gibbon, he better have his stuff together.”
“We?” she asked, wrinkling her forehead and missing my point.
“Cadence, get your people sorted out. Get the good ones in the right positions, then go find Gibbon. You know I can help you with that, right?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “How so?”
I tried to be as nonchalant as possible. “We are more alike than we are different.”
“Cass, that’s not true. At all. He was a serial killer. He’s a murderer. You’re only…”
“Half what he is,” I filled in for her.
“No. You’re not half of anything when it comes to Gibbon. Believe me.” She physically shuddered as I imagined she was reliving what it was like to be in that cell with him.
“Okay,” I conceded. “I’m just saying… it might be easier to catch him with someone more like him. That’s all.”
She scrutinized my face for a moment longer before she cautiously asked, “Do you think… do you think you can find him? With your… telepathy?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I wasn’t willing to try. Not right then, anyhow. “I don’t know,” I said slowly. “But… maybe. I’m not sure I’d want to spend any time inside his head.”
“I don’t blame you,” she said, leaning back a little bit. “I’ll keep that in mind, Cass, but for now, I wouldn’t plan on making any trips with us to Philly any time soon. Aaron wants to go back in a few weeks, and I think we probably should, but I doubt we’re going to find him.”
“Why is that?” I asked, meaning both parts. Why couldn’t I go, and why didn’t she think they’d be able to locate Gibbon?
“He hid from the police for years while he was alive. Now, he’s programed to seek the darkness. Finding someone who doesn’t want to be found, with his skill level… it’ll be hard.”
I nodded, not sure I was willing to promise any miracles at this point. But if the time came, and the only way they’d let me go with them was to promise to call Gibbon out, I’d be willing to do it. Probably.
“Come on, let’s go.” Cadence hopped up and offered me her hand. I grabbed it, and she pulled me up. “Man, do you need a shower.”
“Thanks to you,” I mumbled, wiping my brow on my sopping wet towel.
“You deserved it,” she replied. I had no response to that, so I just walked along with her, trying not to notice the pain in my legs. “I hope your boyfriend doesn’t see you like this.”
“Knock it off,” I said, elbowing her hard enough to push her off balance. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Yet,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
I shook my head but kept my mouth shut. Some things aren’t worth arguing about even if it was with my most favorite person in the world to argue with.
