They walked outside to an assortment of dark-colored vehicles. Shane was directing everyone into the proper rides for his or her location. He told Meagan and Cadence they would be riding with him, and in fact, they would be staying with him at all times.

Cadence looked around for Aaron and saw him standing near his motorcycle talking to Sam. She noticed Sam seemed to be gesturing at her and Meagan, and she wondered what in the world he could possibly be talking about.

She slid into the back seat of the Mercedes ATS and buckled her seatbelt. Meagan joined her, but neither of them said a word. After a few moments, Shane climbed in and started the car. “All right, let me go over this one last time,” he said in as stern a voice as either of them had ever heard him use. “We are observing. All three of us. Just observing. We are not helping. We are not interfering. We are not saving the day. Does everyone hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” Cadence replied instinctively. “I mean, yes, of course. I hear you.”

“I understand, too,” Meagan chimed in.

“Okay, good. We are going to be located off to the side of the bar so that you can see how the Hunters and Guardians work together to surround the Vampire and corner him. After the mission is complete, I also want you to see how Elliott goes about cleaning up our mess. All right? Questions?” They had no questions, so the three of them sat in silence for the next few minutes it took until they reached the location.

There was an art to congregating so many non-humans in one place without anyone detecting anything strange, and the team had it down. The vehicles spread out and parked in specific locations already determined ahead of time. In fact, Cadence could see just how much planning truly went into this, and she became even more impressed by what Aaron did every day.

Shane pulled the car into a parking lot a few blocks from the bar. They made the short trek to their station and took up a spot in the alley between the bar and an abandoned building. Judging from the drawing Shane had shown them during the briefing, Cadence believed they were on the side of the building with the bathrooms. There were two windows large enough for a typical sized adult to squeeze through. She remembered that Paxton was to be stationed outside of the bathrooms and that their observation party was to be on the other side of the building. Just as she was about to ask Shane if he was sure he knew which side the bathroom was on, Aaron approached her.

“Cadence,” he said in that rushed tone he reserved for business purposes, “I need to speak with you for a moment.”

Shane and Meagan were conversing about something a few steps away, and even though Cadence wanted to talk to Aaron about how he had made her feel earlier, she really didn’t think this was the time. “Yes?” she said quietly.

“Listen, Sam and his gang have some trepidations about you and Meagan being out here. He thinks that your presence is an indicator that I’m not taking this seriously. I explained that you’ve both met the requirements, and I even told him your background, but he’s still not comfortable. This is their hunt. We’re just supporting, so just do your best to stay out of the way, all right?”

She could tell by his distracted expression that he was getting lots of chatter on his IAC that he needed to attend to. “Okay,” she said.

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“One more thing,” he added. “This is completely against protocol, but since I’m in charge of protocol, I’m doing it anyway.” He slipped a Glock out of his waistband and handed it to her. “Do you have some place you can keep this?”

She nodded her head.

“Good. You do not use this gun unless a Vampire is headed directly at you. Understand? Under no circumstances do you use this gun unless you—not Meagan, not Shane, not even me—unless you are in immediate danger. Or unless I tell you to. All right?”

She nodded her head again, taking the gun and sticking it in the back of her pants under her shirt.

“All right. I’ve got to go. I will see you when this is all over,” he said, smiling at her meekly and disappearing into the night.

She watched him walk away, feeling more confused than ever before. He hadn’t given Meagan a gun, which must mean something. And he had smiled at her. Maybe the way he’d treated her earlier was due to the hunt preparations and truly had nothing to do with her. With a sigh, she headed back over to Shane and Meagan, suddenly remembering the situation with the bathroom windows. They were still talking and laughing, and she couldn’t seem to get their attention so she slunk back against the wall and turned her attention to the action.

Cadence had her IAC on, and she had gotten much better about tracking what was going on where and who she should prioritize. She had requested access to Sam, Finn, and Camille but had been denied. She didn’t want to bother Aaron by asking him to grant it for her anyway. As the three visiting Hunters were the only ones in the bar, she had no idea what was happening on that front. Shane knew, however, and he was attempting to relay everything to Meagan. Cadence tried to listen in, but she was frustrated. There wasn’t much use in her even being there if she couldn’t see or hear what was going on.

“They are confronting him now,” she heard Shane say. So, the Vampire was in the bar. Surely, with the three of them inside, they would be able to trap him.

"Shane, I think we're on the wrong side of the building," Cadence said hesitantly. However, he was so busy relaying information to Meagan, he barely even glanced in her direction. Cadence sighed and tried again. "Aren't those the bathroom windows?" Again, Shane said nothing.

About that time, she heard Aaron saying, “Someone is out of position.”

There was no immediate reply, and Cadence was almost certain it was Paxton, but she didn’t feel it was her place to answer Aaron, considering she was just there to observe.

The next time Aaron was a little firmer. “Shane, who is out of position?”

Shane was still not listening however, as he was so intensely relaying information to Meagan.

“Shane,” Cadence whispered as loudly as she dared, “did you hear that?”

He looked up at her absently. “What’s that?”

Shane who the hell is out of position?

He had heard Aaron that time. “Oh, shit,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m checking.”

But by then it was too late. There was a loud crash, and glass flew from the shattered bathroom window into the air, raining down on them even twenty feet away. The Vampire had smashed through the window with the same velocity of an exploding bomb. Cadence covered her face and jumped backward into the brick wall behind her. She peered out over the top of her jacket, the corner of which she was using to cover her face, and saw Henry standing there, looking around, trying to determine which way to go. She knew he must be looking for a Hunter or Guardian to be stationed right outside that window, and since there were none, he could go either way.

To his right was Prospect Avenue. Though it was a high crime neighborhood, it was also fairly busy, especially this late at night when a lot of deals were going down. To his left was a parking lot, some abandoned buildings, and a semi-busy street. On the other side of the street were some rundown apartment buildings. But behind those buildings was a park. Cadence knew all of this from the planning meeting. If Henry could make it to that park, chances were, he could lay low and find a way to escape. He looked up at the top of the buildings. No Hunters were visible on the roofs, though he must’ve assumed some might be hiding. He made his choice and headed toward the park.