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

A puzzled expression crossed her face, but Cadence answered. After all, she had told him numerous times before there was nothing going on between her and Christian, so there was no reason to deny being with him. "He's okay," she said shrugging. "I don't think he's happy," she added, "but he'll live."Aaron nodded, not saying anything at first. "Good," he finally said. "I'm glad he's okay with this. Of course, he probably knew all along what was going on, so he's had some time to adjust."

Back in her apartment, Cadence oscillated between rage and uncontrollable crying. Christian had tried to contact her several times on the IAC, but she ignored him. He was the last person she wanted to talk to. Well, second to last.As the time that she was supposed to go on her date with Aaron came and went, the tears became even more overwhelming, and she wished she had gone home. At least if she were at her parent’s house the traditional Christmas Eve routine would do something to distract her. In the solace of her own quiet apartment, she had nothing to occupy her mind.

Cadence landed silently, but she was sure he would know she was there. If nothing else, the change in room temperature from the now open window would be enough to give her away. He didn't move. He must not have realized she knew where he was.Her Glock was in her side holster. She quietly drew it out and cocked it. She wouldn't use it unless she had to, but some Vampires were unpredictable. There was also the small possibility that he was armed. She quietly began to cross the dirty concrete floor that led to his hiding place. She was within 20 yards of him and could hear his heavy breathing. J

When Giovani and Zabrina had run out of new places to hit along the Caribbean coast and the Mexican shoreline, they had returned to Cabo San Lucas, Jack in tow. They had long since given up on counting the number of victims. No one could touch them--the authorities thought they were chasing some sort of terrorist group. Every night, they took multiple victims, no longer caring about the possibility of being detected by either witnesses or recording devices. In fact, they were getting a little sloppy, and Jack was the only reasonable voice amongst them. He continued to caution that they needed to wrap it up and get back to the states so he could see Cadence, but by mid-January, Giovani was on such a high, Jack wasn't sure he was ever going to come back down.