Cadence glanced down at the number on the screen of her cell phone. She didn't recognize it, but she knew it was local because the area code was the same as the number in Jack's dorm room. Thinking it might be someone back at the hotel, she answered. "Hello?" she said, still trying to hear the conversation going on around her.There was no answer at first, just some commotion in the background. It sounded like a restaurant or other public venue. "Hello?" Cadence said again, this time slightly louder.

Mitzy from Lincoln wouldn’t normally have been one of the first people Aaron would expect to hear from after awaking from surgery, but under the circumstances, he wasn’t surprised. "Just wanted to make sure you're aware that we've got a newbie in Lincoln. He's hooked up with Giovani, and a couple of free agents are attempting to relocate them now. Think they're headed toward Omaha. I saw him earlier and was about to call him in myself, but I heard you were a little under the weather and didn’t want to bother you. But these two Independents were persistent."

As she drove, Laura reflected on what had brought her to this pursuit in the first place. It had been a botched job, one that had cost her more than she could bear to think about. The team had approached the club that night convinced of their ability to successfully take out two Vampires, one so old she was almost an ancient, the other her relatively fresh spawn, already causing havoc even in his first few years of life. Over the years, she had rehashed the scenario time and again, never quite sure what had made her act the way she did. She had clearly and emphatically disobeyed orders. She had argued with the Guardian Leader. She had cost her team a major kill, and allowed two Vampires to walk right by her undetected. All because she thought she was right, and she was more concerned with winnin

Before the Enclave even came to a full stop, Cadence was out of it, her eyes covering the fence as rapidly as a cheetah stalking its prey. By the time Elliott caught up to her, she had already found what she considered to be the weakest point and was scaling the structure, almost to the top."What are you doing?" he called from below her, unable to believe how quickly she had surveyed the situation and started to move.

Laura and Laney had driven up and down the same few streets hundreds of times over the last few weeks, constantly looking for the elusive black Corvette Giovani was known to wheel around town. They only knew that he was staying somewhere in the area because they had caught a glimpse of him peeling out once, several weeks ago, followed shortly thereafter by an incident where they had trailed him into the area, only to be found out and led on a high-speed chase across town, ending with a smashed-up fender on Laura's Charger. The paint job had not been spectacular, and each time she caught a glimpse, it made Laura's blood boil all over again. It was yet another reminder of how close she had been to finally ending this weary, exhaustive search.