Cassidy had never been on a train before, and neither had Brandon, so pulling into the Amtrack station and determining what to do next was a bit of a challenge for both of them. Cassidy had already purchased her ticket online, but she made her way to the ticket booth, credit card in hand, and made sure there was a seat for Brandon as well.
“I can pay for that, you know,” he said as he lingered beside her in line.
“I know,” she said shrugging, “but why should either one of us pay for it when my sister can? She has an actual Monet hanging in her apartment. I think she can handle it.”
“How did you get your sister’s credit card?” he asked, grabbing her by the arm as she took the receipt from the booking agent.
Pulling away, she said, “She keeps an emergency card in her freezer. Now, come on. We need to board.”
“But—what if she uses the credit card to track us?” Brandon asked hurrying to keep up with her despite his super powers and her lack thereof.
“She won’t notice until it’s too late,” Cassidy assured him. “Let’s go. I’ll feel much better once we are on the train. If anyone from LIGHTS followed us, they’ll be out of luck once the train pulls out of the station.”
Brandon complied, looking over his shoulder for any semi-familiar faces. He did see one strange looking man staring at them, but he looked away quickly, and Brandon assumed it was just a coincidence; he’d definitely never seen the man before. “I bet your sister could find a way to stop the train if she really wanted to,” he muttered as he followed her to the loading platform.
“She’s not going to leave Philly to come and chase us down, and by the time she figures out where we are, we’ll be disembarking at…” she looked at her ticket, “Thirtieth Street Station.”
“And a few hours after that, we’ll both be dead,” Brandon said sarcastically.
“Oh, come on, Brandon! Be adventurous!” Cassidy chided.
“I’m still in the middle of my last adventure,” he reminded her. “You be adventurous—I’ll be planning my new, new future.”
“It’ll be fine,” Cassidy assured him. “She’ll be mad, but she’ll get over it. She likes you. She loves me. We’ll survive!”
“I’m glad you’re so certain,” he replied, tossing his gym bag over his shoulder. “I just hope it’s all worth it.”
“It will be,” she assured him as they boarded the train. “It will be.”
Neither of them noticed the odd-looking man was not only staring at them intently, he was also following them aboard the train.
* * *
It was difficult to get rooms at the Warwick Hotel, Rittenhouse Square, on such short notice, but Andrew had managed to pull a few strings, and once Cadence and Aaron reached their room, she was tempted to collapse on the bed and take a long nap. She’d tried to doze on the plane, but she kept dreaming that she was falling—thanks to her last experience on an aircraft—and now she felt even more tired than she had before they left KC.
“What’s the plan?” she asked, exiting the luxurious sleeping quarters and approaching Aaron who was sitting on the sofa working on his laptop.
He finished with whatever he was typing before he turned his attention to her. “Well, Andrew set up a meeting with Detective Abby Watson for 3:00, which is in about an hour, and then I thought the three of us and Christian should go drive the route Giovani’s henchmen took and see if we can figure out where they might have disappeared to.”
“Okay,” Cadence agreed, dropping onto the couch beside him. “Who is Watson again?”
“She’s one of the detectives who brought Gibbon in, the lead on the case, in fact. She was there last night when Giovani showed up, but she was asleep in another hallway. She came out to see if she could save anyone, especially her partner, but by the time she got there, it was too late,” Aaron explained.
“I see,” Cadence said mulling the information over. “So, you need to talk to her why?”
“Andrew seems to think she may know something more,” he replied, closing his laptop. “I don’t know how helpful it will be, but it can’t hurt, and since I have no idea how much of a hurry we need to be in, I can only assume we have time.”
“Sure,” Cadence agreed, shaking her head in disbelief. “Well, we may have a better chance of finding Giovani during the daytime, but chances are he won’t come looking for us until after dark.”
“Right,” Aaron agreed. “He’s not likely to come out into the light if he can avoid it. He feels more comfortable lurking in the shadows.”
“It’s funny to think of someone being afraid of the light when we are so conditioned to being frightened of the dark,” Cadence thought aloud.
“People fear the unknown—Vampires fear discovery. It’s all about perspective.”
“Very true,” she nodded. Then, with a sigh, she changed the subject and said, “Well, assuming you don’t need me, I think I’ll head over to Andrew’s office and see what they’ve put together. He said that they have one MIA employee, who just happened to work in the blood bank….”
“Ah-ha,” Aaron exclaimed.
“So, I’m guessing that’s our insider, most likely.”
“All right. Be careful,” Aaron said leaning over to kiss her.
Cadence tipped her head up and pressed her lips against his, and then pulled back to say, “You, too,” before he pulled her in again for one more kiss.
“Always am,” he replied, sarcastically as he stood to leave.
“See you in a bit,” she smiled. “Hopefully, we’ll have more answers by then.”
“Not likely,” he admitted as he crossed to the door. Pulling it open, he added, “I’ll be happy if we don’t end up with more unanswered questions.”
***
The world around him was spinning, full of darkness, dampness, and pain. Above all else, there was the unbearable pain. Every vein in his body seemed to pulsate with an overbearing burning sensation. His arm ached, his ribs stabbed him with each breath, and his neck was swollen, the gaping holes festering and bleeding. With blurry vision, it was hard to make out the body of the nurse where she lay crumpled next to him. She had to be in even more agony considering she had also been shot. He secretly hoped she would just die so that she wouldn’t be in such misery, but he could hear her crying softly. Dixon was born to help others; knowing he was helpless to save her, in many ways, was far worse than the physical pain he was experiencing. If he had enough energy, he would reach over and wrap the chain that held him to the wall around her throat. But he couldn’t move. Even if he somehow managed to rest long enough to restore himself, he knew they would just come and drain him again.