Epilogue
One Week Later…
Kansas City, Missouri
Christian should’ve guessed Aaron would be right. It wasn’t often the Guardian Leader got things wrong. In this case, if he’d been off at all, it had been due to an underestimate.
Cadence Findley had certainly caused a stir at the Eidolon Festival. Beheading a Vampire as one was in the throes of Transforming was no small task, and yet she’d done it. Unfortunately for her, it had cost the life of one of her friends, but she was part of their team now, having undergone the Transformation process, completely using the new serum. She’d have plenty of friends soon enough.
He hadn’t met her yet, which was also unfortunate. Other members of their team were already fawning all over her. Aaron. Jamie. That bitchy Guardian, Eliza. Even Elliott had met her before him, though at least he didn’t seem to like her. That was a good thing. He and Cadence could have a common enemy. If Christian was going to have any chance at all to overthrow Aaron and take his position, he’d have to have Cadence Findley on his side. It was a longshot, but he’d need to align himself with her early and often to make it work.
He was sitting at his computer, scheming, going over some plans he’d been toying with, when he heard a sound behind him and turned to see the most beautiful face he’d ever seen in his life—bar none.
She was even more striking in person than she’d been over the IAC. Those brown eyes seemed to peer right through him. He found himself so fascinated with her, staring, that he forgot that Aaron and Jamie were also there. Christian stood and introduced himself, trying to be as normal as possible so as not to make her uncomfortable, so as not to immediately brand himself as a socially awkward introvert or a jerk, as so many others labeled him. She was smiling. She seemed to like him. Perhaps he could keep it that way.
Her IAC was ready to be inserted into her beautiful eye, her reason for being there. This one was slightly different. He wasn’t about to tell Aaron or anyone else that, though he assumed they’d discover it on their own soon enough. Let them think it was something different on her end, something to do with her superpowers, not the fact that Christian wanted Cadence to have the freedom to distance herself from the Guardian Leader whenever she liked. Just like Aaron’s IAC, and Christian’s, no one could control Cadence’s device except for her.
She settled back into the chair, a little nervous, but excited, and he smiled at her, hoping to ease her anxiety. A girl this beautiful would be easy to pretend to fall for; he’d just have to make sure he didn’t actually fall for her. The last time he’d fallen in love, it had cost him his life, and while that couldn’t be the case this time, losing his heart again might mean losing all that he’d built for himself here. He needed Cadence Findley to help him gain, not lose.
He took a deep breath, steadied his hand, and readied himself for what was certain to be the next chapter in his long, never ending life. If he could spend the next couple of hundred years staring into those brown eyes, it would all be worth it.
