Aaron was clearly holding back a laugh, which infuriated her a bit more. However, he had the ability to even her emotions out, and she could feel that he was doing that as he said, “We did what we needed to do. We got Sam; Jamie’s fine. You’re fine. I’m fine. The plane… not so much. But that wasn’t your fault.”
“If I had gotten to Sam before he got in that plane…. Damn pothole.”
“Things like that happen, Cadence. It’s called life. We roll with it.”
She looked into his eyes and knew he was right. They’d accomplished what they set out to do. It was over now. Adjusting her towel, she nodded her head and asked, “What happened after I left?”
“Not much. Local police and the FAA showed up. Hannah bluffed them away. We grabbed Sam and moved him here. He’s hanging out in the cells with Laura.” Her eyebrows raised, and he clarified. “Not with Laura--near Laura.”
“Everyone else was all right to fly back?”
“Yep. Jamie slept the whole way, but I can’t blame him. How’s your knee?”
She glanced down at it as if she could tell something by looking at it. Twisting it in and out, she replied, “Feels fine. He said he needed to look at it, but….”
“You need to let him look at it,” he assured her.
She groaned. Sometimes the fact that he was also her boss was a real pain in the ass. Of course, he wasn’t technically her boss anymore, but she always deferred to him when there was a question. She decided to change the subject instead of arguing about her knee, which was clearly just fine. “Now if we can just find Giovani, we can put all of this behind us.”
Though his expression revealed that he realized she had just ignored his remark, he agreed. “I’m glad your sister volunteered to go through all of that footage from major airports, but I don’t think he’s going to turn up in any of it. I’m sure he has his ways of getting around that, especially since that’s how we caught him last time. He can’t stay hidden forever, though. We’ll find him.”
Cassidy had wanted to help so badly in finding Sam and Giovani, Cadence had agreed to let her pour through surveillance footage of all the major airports. So far, it had turned up nothing. “It’s like he fell off the face of the earth.”
“There’s a chance someone at the Eidolon Festival might know something,” Aaron explained. “I doubt they’ll be willing to talk, but if he hasn’t turned up by then, it’s worth a shot.”
“So, we just permit Vampires to gather and do whatever they want to do once a year? Is that how that works?” Cadence asked, needing clarification. Despite the fact that she had first began her Transformation process at the Eidolon Festival in Villisca, Iowa, she had never asked a lot of questions about how it worked.
“Not exactly,” he replied. “We do let them gather a few times a year in various places, so long as no Innocents get hurt. But we usually don’t patrol it very closely, and if something does happen, only the Vampire who committed the crime can be punished.”
“You mean, even though Holland clearly let Carter take Drew away from us, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything to punish her? I thought you just couldn’t get her because you were too busy trying to rescue my friends and me.”
“Carter is the only one who broke the rules, and you took care of that for us. I was able to step in and keep Holland from hurting anyone else--at least, I thought I had,” he added, remembering that Jack had also become a victim from that night. “But I couldn’t hold her responsible for what Carter did.”
Cadence was shaking her head now. “I hate that there are so many stupid rules.”
“The rules are there for a reason,” Aaron replied adamantly. “Remember, the only reason Guardians fight with Hunters is because Vampires continuously break the rules. If we were to get ourselves into a situation where Hunters were breaking the rules, then we’d have to fight to defend Vampires.”
Cadence shuttered at the thought. “That seems crazy to me. We are the good guys; they are the bad guys; end of story.”
“That’s the way it seems right now, but the Ternion is a delicate balance. Each piece has a job to do to keep everything in harmony. Right now, the Vampires are stepping out of bounds. Our job is to bring them back, not destroy them.”
Rubbing her temples, Cadence shook her head. “Whatever you say,” she said. “My head hurts. I don’t want to think about any of that technical mumbo jumbo right now. I just want to kill Giovani and any other Vampire who happens to be preying on innocent people.”
“That’s your job,” he agreed, and Cadence was relieved that he didn’t take offense at her use of the term “mumbo jumbo,” or at least, if he did, he let it go. “I think we should go see the Pryor High School Football Tigers take on the Wagoner Bulldogs next Friday night and maybe take on a local bloodsucker who has been terrifying the residents the last few weeks.”
“Say what?” Cadence asked, taking a step back in confusion. She knew she must be missing something.
He pulled her in closer. “It will give us a chance to get away from everyone else, get some work done, and enjoy some small town high school football.”
“Why would we…,” and then she realized why they would go all the way to Oklahoma to watch high school football. “Does Brandon Keen happen to play for the Tigers?” she asked, a broad smile spreading across her face.
“Maybe,” he replied, returning her smile.
“Oh, that would be awesome!” she practically squealed. “That’s the best idea you’ve had in a long time!” She grabbed both of his arms and squeezed, unable to wipe the smile off of her face.
Still laughing at her excitement, he took both of her hands back in his. “Well, I have other ideas,” he said coyly. “Other… fun ideas.”
She tipped her head to the side, still smiling, his intent obvious. “I guess we’re okay then?” she asked quietly.
His face contorted in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you threw me out of an airplane today,” she reminded him.
“I said I love you before I threw you out.”
“You turned your IAC off right before you crashed.”
“I didn’t want you to see me splat all over the place or cry like a little girl,” he explained.
“You didn’t say anything at all when I left without you.”
“You seemed like you needed some alone time.”
“And you didn’t come into the shower with me.”
“Again, I thought you wanted to be alone. And, as I reminded you earlier… I do have X-ray vision.”
She shook her head slowly, and he leaned in, resting his forehead against hers. “Cadence, did you really think we weren’t okay?” he asked quietly.
“No,” she sighed. “It’s just… this job is hard. I just wanted to make sure.”
“We’ll always be okay,” he assured her. “Better than okay. Okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed. He leaned in and found her lips with his, and she immediately knew beyond a shadow of a doubt they were definitely better than okay.