Obliteration: The Clandestine Saga Book 8

They saw her just as the barrier they’d been dancing across terminated into a wide open concrete area near a fountain. The tourists were a few yards behind them but closing quickly on the moving walkway. Vampire number one took off running toward the fountain as Cadence brought her weapon around, checking there was nothing behind the pair poised on top of the marble wall. She fired at the man first, thinking she could see the girl better with her hair, should she get away. He was hit in the shoulder, the titanium bullet leaving a gaping hole. He grabbed ahold of his wound and jumped backward off of the marble wall onto the concrete and started running, but Cadence knew the shot was fatal.

The girl’s eyes bulged. She looked back at the group of humans that had nearly caught up with them, though the sound of Cadence’s gun going off sent them backward a few steps, scrambling down the escalator the best they could, running into other families who were trying to make their way up. Elliott would have to fix all of this later. Even with a silencer on her gun, it was obvious shots had been fired. Luckily, no one near the fountain had heard anything.

Until what seemed like a meteorite slammed into the Vampire with the long black hair as he tried to cut around the fountain. Cadence glanced up, the overhang of the moving walkway actually swaying from the breeze her partner had created when he leapt from the tower. Tiny splinters ran through the pavement, ending at the lip of the escalator. “So much for not ruining anything,” she muttered just as the girl took off back the way she came. “Dammit.” She leapt over to the marble, thinking it would be easier to follower her there than to try to cut through the panicked people running into each other on the walkway.

As Cadence sprinted after the girl, a rush of tourists seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Where are all of these people coming from?” she asked over her IAC, not of anyone in particular.

“One of the shows just let out down the strip. Maybe from there,” Dr. Jamie Joplin, their resident Healer, who was further down the street from the Venetian, around Paris, Cadence thought, answered in her head.

“Are they all staying at this hotel?” Cadence barked back, but there was no answer that time. The people seemed to be in a rush, and she wondered if it had more to do with the fact that there were Hunters and Guardians with guns everywhere. Maybe Elliott’s descent had caused a panic, or maybe her shot at the Vampire a few moments ago had inspired the stampede. At any rate, she was having trouble keeping up with the smaller woman who wound her way through the people more quickly.

The doors that led back inside to the shops and the canal were just ahead of them. Cadence needed to reach the woman before she went back inside. Her gun wouldn’t help her now; there were too many people in the way. So she holstered it and ducked around a woman with two small children who should’ve been in bed ages ago.

The woman paused with her hand on the door and shouted, “Oh, my God! She has a gun!” The small crowd of people picked up speed and started running in every direction, many of them colliding with Cadence, the very person they should’ve been trying to get away from if they had any idea who the punk rocker was shouting about.

“Son of a bitch!” Cadence muttered just as the Vampire ducked back inside. She’d never had one of them try to influence humans to blockade her progress before, and it sort of made her feel bad that she was about to destroy someone so clever. Nevertheless, she had to. This cell had been part of the group Holland had organized to invade the Reno Area headquarters. Cale and his team had made short work of their allies, but this group had managed to hide out in a desert ghost town and had only come back to civilization a few days ago. Aaron had gotten his team on a flight within hours, and now here she was running back the way she’d come, chasing a Vampire who was just about out of options.

The canal was up ahead of them. This time of morning, there were no boats on the water at least, though there were plenty docked nearby, including the one Cadence had already accidentally destroyed. The Vampire glanced behind her and then looked around, trying to decide whether or not to make for one of the shops or try to find another group of people. Out of options, she did the one thing Cadence was praying she didn’t do and dove into the canal.