The conversation with Laura had been long, exhausting, and ultimately ended in a rather intense disagreement, which was no surprise to Aaron going in. Why would 15 years of silence change the fact that the two of them were unable to talk about much of anything without getting into an argument?
She had started off with sweet sentiment, thanking him for helping her escape the situation with Giovani and allowing Jamie to heal her. He had said it was no big deal, of course. He was just glad that she was okay. They had spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries, discussing other team members, mutu
As soon as Aaron walked in the door, Eliza was there, blocking his way. "How did it go?" she asked, a look of concern on her face. He noted it looked forced."Wonderful," he said sarcastically. She was standing between him and everyone else, notably Cadence, and it seemed evident this was on purpose. While she appeared to want to ask him something else, he had no patience left and simply stepped around her.
Eventually, Aaron pulled the car to a stop in front of her house. All of the lights were out, and Cadence glanced at the clock on the dash. She'd had no idea it was 11:30. Despite her vow of silence, she decided she would have to speak eventually. She wasn't ready to get out of the car just yet, not as long as he was holding her hand. "Thanks for driving me home," she said quietly."Of course," he replied, obviously still lost in thought. He looked at her briefly but then directed his gaze back out the windshield.
Cadence made it through the door almost as quickly as she had at Barbarosa's house. Once it was shut tightly behind her, she leaned back against it for a second, catching her breath. It took her a second to realize that she wasn't alone. "Mom?" she said, peering into the dim light of the living room.Liz was sitting in her husband's chair, curled up under a blanket, the only light the soft glow of her Kindle reader. "Hi, honey. How was the party?" she asked, setting the Kindle down as Cadence entered the room.
Cadence wasn't shocked when it was Elliott who knocked on her door the next morning, ready to pick her up and drive her to the airport. The goodbye to her parents and sister had been brief; they had no idea she wouldn't be back in a few days for Christmas Eve. At this point, she wasn't even sure if she'd be back for Christmas Day, but they didn't need to know that either. Cassidy was ecstatic that she got to tell Elliott goodbye, however, so in that respect, Cadence was glad he had stopped by. "Where's Aaron?" she asked, following Elliott across the snow covered yard to the Lamborghini."Tryin
"So, what happened with Cadence last night?" Elliott asked Aaron, once he could see that his boss was done with the conversations he was clearly having in his head."What?" Aaron asked, a questioning expression on his face. "Nothing, why?""I just thought it was a little weird that you actually came in and went to sleep last night. You never sleep. And then, I went to pick her up, and she se
"Hey," Aaron said, stopping in the row next to Cadence.She looked up, smiling. "Hey! How are you?" she asked, happy that he had come up to talk to her."Good. Sorry to interrupt," he said, looking at Jamie.
The weather in Cabo San Lucas was perfect; perfect for swimming, sunning, and picking off unsuspecting tourists stumbling back from the bars late at night. At first, Jack had been hesitant to participate, especially when it came to targeting Americans, though that seemed a bit ridiculous, considering all of his other victims had obviously been Americans. He wanted to look for locals, those who lived on the street, similar to the way the Compliant Vampires operated back home. But Zabrina and Giovani made him feel like a loser pretty quickly, and before he knew it, he was just as much a part of the operation as the other two. Quite often, Zabrina would lure an unsuspecting male tourist into a dark alley, and then the other two would pounce on him. Occasionally, Jack or Giovani would act as the bai
Cadence hung up her phone in frustration. Her mother really didn't seem to understand how serious her feelings for Aaron were, or perhaps she just didn't want to accept them. Nevertheless, Liz had cried when Cadence said she wasn't going to make it home that evening for the Christmas Eve service at church. Now, Cadence felt bad. But nothing was going to stop her from going out with Aaron tonight--nothing.She hadn't spent a lot of time watching television since her Transformation, but she flipped it on now, hoping to distract herself from anger at her mother and excitement for that evening. Th