Repercussion: The Clandestine Saga Book 3

Chapter 3-4

Aaron had been paying careful attention as Cadence flipped through the pictures. "You going to light that second story?" he asked her directly.

"No," she replied shortly, eyeing Cale.

"Because...?"

"Stop interfering!" she shot back. He didn't say anything, but she realized he was no longer sitting idly in the car, and the promise of quiet observation had gone out the window.

"You ready?" Cale asked, not seeming to pay any attention whatsoever to Aaron who was now accessing the small trunk of his sports car.

Cadence nodded at Cale. He gave the signal, and she approached the front pedestrian door. This time, rather than kicking it in, she turned the knob slowly, easing it open, and slipping inside, Cale following. Even though she was the first through the door, he immediately stepped in front of her to shield her, his Glock drawn and ready to fire. While she appreciated his aggressive approach at guarding her, he was impeding her line of sight, and she felt constricted. She changed her IAC view so that she could primarily access what he was seeing in order to compensate.

She had been hopeful that the bloodsuckers would be obvious when they entered, but she was having trouble locating them, even with her night vision, which meant they were either currently dormant--or hiding. She slowly began to make her way across the room, hardly making a sound, knowing she would feel it when she was close. Cale attempted to stay in front of her at first, but he couldn't possibly anticipate her every move, and ended up running into her a few times before she finally said, "It's all right, you can follow me, at least until we find them."

He didn't seem to like that idea, but he complied. Just then, a creaking sound caught her attention. She put her hand out, intending to tell him to freeze. Cale bumped into her hand, and she grabbed him to steady his movement so that she could listen. She heard it again, this time a bit closer. Suddenly, the lid burst off of the crate directly in front of her, raining shards of wood down on them. She threw her arms up to protect her face as Cale leaped between her and the Vampire who exploded out of the box, firing what seemed to be a heavy duty machine g*n.

"They have machine guns?" she asked in disbelief. She had never seen a Vampire use heavy artillery before. In fact, most of them didn't even use guns at all.

"Apparently," Cale replied.

"s**t!" Cadence spat as she slid behind a crate nearby. She felt incredibly lucky that she hadn't been hit. It didn't appear that Cale had been either, though if he had, the bullet would have simply bounced off. It still would have been painful, but it would have done no harm.

As soon as she had her composure, Cadence ducked back around the corner, utilizing her own IAC view again, and firing in the direction where the Vampire had been only a few seconds before. He was no longer there, but she could see two shapes making their way up the stairs. Behind her, she heard what sounded like more crate lids flying off. "Cover my six!" she yelled to Cale, as she stood and gave chase to the Vampires headed for the stairs.

She heard Cale firing behind her but did not hear any return fire. As she reached the stairs, she could clearly see the outline of what appeared to be a small, female Vampire cresting the top of the steps. She fired, and the figure dropped, falling backwards right towards her. She fired again, and by the time the body reached her, nothing was left but ashes, which rained down in her face, causing her to temporarily close her eyes. She had no idea where the other Vampire that had made it up the stairs had gone, and she could only hope that Cale had some idea where the other three were.

Once the air cleared a bit, she began to climb the stairs. "Stay down!" she distinctly heard Aaron say through her IAC, and she immediately jumped backwards toward the platform at the bottom of the stairs, landing with a thud, her knees on the bottom step. Just then, the second story exploded in a flurry of bright orange and purple flames. She was low enough to the ground that the smoke didn't affect her, but she could feel the heat from the blazing inferno above her.

"Did he get out?" she implored, wondering if they had got the second machine g*n wielding Vampire.

"No!" Aurora shouted back. "He's still in there!"

Fire couldn't kill a Vampire, but it could certainly mess one up, and she knew wherever this guy had gone, he would be in excruciating pain, thinking irrationally, and hell-bent on retaliation. She couldn't go up the stairs because of the fire, but she decided to wait a few more moments, despite the fact that Cale was now engaged in heavy gunfire to her left, over by the Hummer.

"Aaron! This isn't working!" She hadn't put much thought to whether or not it was appropriate to contact him for help, under the circumstances. It had just come naturally. She was almost positive he had created whatever explosive had been hurled into the top floor. Right now, he was the only person she trusted.

"Do you want me to come in?" he asked, his voice even and calm as always.

She hesitated. She had called out to him privately so no one else knew. She didn't want to give up on Cale, not yet, but she was afraid they were in over their heads. Before she could answer, the Vampire from the top of the stairs came roaring at her, completely engulfed in flames and charging more quickly than she had ever seen a bloodsucker move. He was literally flying at her. Instinctively, she began to shoot, realizing that, even if she killed him, those flames would have to go somewhere. She fired several times, fairly certain she had inflicted some mortal wounds, and then rolled out of the way, taking cover behind a crate near the landing. She peeked around the corner just in time to see an explosion of ash and flames as the vanishing Vampire snuffed himself out.

She didn't have time to exhale, however, as it became very apparent that the shootout behind her was way out of hand. She leapt to her feet, located Cale, and made her way to where he was crouched behind a crate. "Stay down!" he yelled at her. "I've already been hit twice."

"s**t!" she replied, unwilling to test his healing powers just then. "Quit firing!" she directed, pulling on his arm.

"What?" Why?" he asked.

"Just stop!" she insisted. "They're going to be coming your way in a Hummer!" she warned Aaron.

"I'm ready for them," he replied, his voice still serene.

"Well, wait for me!" she shouted back. She knew she couldn't safely get up until the vehicle had exited the building, so she continued in her crouched position as she heard car doors opening and slamming. Then, another thought occurred to her. "Aurora? You still in front of that cargo door out front?"

"Yeah."

"Move!"

"Huh?"

She didn't have time to repeat herself as the screech of the tires fighting for traction on top of heaps of paper and shards of wood peeled through the night. The trio of Vampires took off, the driver gunning it and piling through several crates and pieces of old furniture before smashing into the cargo door, ripping it from its pulley.

Cadence could see through her IAC that Aurora had gotten clear of the vehicle. Without so much as a word to Cale, she took off, realizing the window would be her quickest exit point. She hurled herself through it, tucking into a tight ball, shattering the glass, but landing mid-stride. Aaron had the door open for her, but he didn't wait until she closed it before taking off behind the Hummer.

"Where are they?" she asked, pulling the door shut, not seeing the other vehicle in front of them.

"They just turned left up here, headed toward the freeway, I assume," he replied.

She took a deep breath, attempting to regain her composure. She still had both of her Glocks, but glancing around, she saw a Beretta propped between the seats. Pulling it out, she inspected it, making sure it was loaded and ready to fire. They rounded the corner and the gray Hummer came into view not too far in the distance, headed toward the on ramp. It wouldn't take long for the Aventador to catch up to them.

"Have you ever done this before?" he asked, driving in excess of 100 miles per hour with one hand as he reloaded his Glock with the other.

"Killed Vampires?" she asked sarcastically. "A few times."

"No, shot from a moving vehicle," he replied as they came within a few yards of the other automobile.

"No, but I've seen all of the Fast and Furious movies," she stated, rolling down her window.

"Try to hit the Vampires, obviously, but if you can't, the tires or the gas tank also work," he explained, glancing over at her.

"The last thing I need is another fireball Vampire," she muttered. She pulled herself most of the way out the window, though she was still inside from the waist down and as they neared the back end of the Hummer, she began to fire.

"Cadence, be careful!" Aaron warned, wishing he could trade her places.

"If I fall, I won't die, right?" she asked between shots.

"No, but it won't feel good."

"What doesn't kill ya makes you stronger...." They neared the driver's side window and the Vampire in the back opened fire. It was not a machine g*n this time, at least, just a hand g*n. Nevertheless, Cadence ducked back inside, fear of getting shot temporarily quelling her bravado.

Aaron slowed down a little bit, partially to give her time to regroup and partially because they were approaching another car. He glanced over at her and could tell she was ready to try again, so he cleared the uninvolved minivan and accelerated.

"Any advice?" she asked, pulling herself back out the window.

"Yeah, don't get shot," he replied. She snickered, so he elaborated. "Take out that guy in the back first. The driver is going to have a hard time shooting at you, and so is the passenger. You know they aren't going to be able to aim well under these circumstances."

"Neither am I."

"Sure you are just... be ... careful...."

Clearly, she wasn't listening. She was completely out the window now, only the heels of her purple boots resting inside the vehicle. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Killing Vampires," she replied, the calmness back in her voice. She couldn't think about the fact that she was balanced on a thin window sill traveling at 120 miles per hour. As they closed in on the back window again, she found her new position much more conducive to directing her fire. Granted, she was also much more receptive to return fire, but if she got her shots off fast enough, it wouldn't matter.

Even the Vampires looked shocked at her new stance. She relished shooting the one in the backseat right between the eyes as he gawked at her, fumbling with the trigger.

Somehow, the driver managed to get a few shots off, however, and she felt a bullet whiz by near her side. It was enough to make her lurch to the right, causing her to temporarily lose her balance. She bent her knees and corrected, but Aaron saw her wobbling and slowed the vehicle down, allowing them to drive out of her range once again.

"s**t, Cadence, get in here," he implored. "You're scaring the hell out of me."

Despite her innate desire to argue with everything he said, she agreed that she was possibly taking an unnecessary risk. She'd gotten three of them, however, and she was determined to get the other two.

As soon as she began to pull herself back inside, she felt his hand on her leg, attempting to make sure she didn't fall out of the car, but the contact didn't go unnoticed, and she couldn't decide whether to embrace it or slap him away. Once she was back inside, he let go of her and picked up his g*n, which he had temporarily stashed in the cup holder.