Cadence spent the rest of the day hanging out with her little sister, listening to music, and attempting to elicit whether or not Cassidy currently had a boyfriend. By the time 9:00 hit, she was exhausted. She told her sister good night and went in to her own room, excited to have the opportunity to sleep in her own bed again for a change. Though she was tired, she decided it might be a good idea to take a shower before she went to bed. The possibility of using her own soaps and shampoos made her happy. As she approached her bathroom, the pink bean bag chair on the floor next to her window caught her attention. She stared at it for a moment, contemplating whether it would be easier to keep the things that reminded her of Drew or get rid of them. She sighed, knowing this was just the first of many instances where she would suddenly be reminded that Drew was no longer here, and nothing would bring her back.

She took her time in the shower, letting the hot water wash away as many worries as she could flush down the drain. Though it was difficult to be home with so many reminders of Drew, at least she knew for sure her family was safe. She hadn’t spotted any Guardians in the area when she made the drive in, but she had been assured that they were nearby, and she felt confident that her presence had not placed her family in any danger.

She turned the water off, wrapped her hair in a towel, and began to dry off. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and noted that she looked even more muscular than usual. Not “bodybuilder” muscular but definitely more chiseled than she had remembered. She wondered, if a simple Transformation could do this, what would a few weeks of training produce? She was looking forward to grabbing a fresh pair of pajamas out of her drawer as she had been wearing the same ones at her grandma’s house for the last several days. Since she was in her own room, she didn’t usually find it necessary to cover up before she went out to get her pajamas. However, since her house was under surveillance, and she wasn’t exactly sure whether or not the curtains had been drawn, she decided to wrap another towel around her body before she walked out the door.

Cadence opened the door and exited the restroom. Glancing up, something very unexpected caught her eye, and she literally jumped back, into the doorjamb, the towel around her head the only cushion she had from what would have otherwise been a ridiculous blow to the head. “What are you doing in my bedroom again?” she demanded.

“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!” Aaron began. “I just climbed in the window…. I had no idea you were in the shower. If I had known, I wouldn’t have come in.”

“That doesn’t excuse the fact that you keep climbing in my bedroom window!” she exclaimed, adjusting the towel around her body to make sure everything was covered and suddenly fully aware that she had a large turban like fixture wrapped around her head.

“I know; you’re right. It doesn’t. I just needed to talk to you. And I didn’t want to bother your parents. And you don’t have the IAC yet….” Piling on excuses seemed to make it worse, so he finally stopped. He was staring at her; she raised an eyebrow to alert him of this fact, and once he realized she had noticed, he turned his eyes away, his hand automatically flying to his hair as he did so.

“Have you ever heard of a cell phone?” she asked, picking her iPhone up off of the nightstand and shaking it at him. “Or perhaps an email? Surely your people can get their hands on any phone number or email address they need.” She was beginning to calm down now, even though she was still upset that he had almost walked in on her completely naked.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, I promise,” he said, still refusing to look at her.

“All right then,” she said, walking around her bed toward her dresser, having to squeeze by him in the process. He took a few steps back, giving her a wide berth. She grabbed her cutest pajamas out of the drawer, slid by, made her way back to the bathroom, and slammed the door.

Now that her initial shock was over, she was actually quite enjoying watching him turn from pink to red to some sort of maroon color as he became more and more embarrassed. “I’ll be out in a second,” she shouted, hoping he didn’t disappear while she was in the bathroom. She took a moment to run a brush through her hair and tie it back before she came out. She couldn’t hear him, so she was wondering if he might have ducked back out the window

When she opened the door, he was still there, though he was sitting in one of her chairs across the room now. Despite the fact that it was almost winter, she was wearing a camisole top and boy cut shorts in a light pink that she felt really complimented her skin tone. Since the Transformation, she hadn’t been affected by the weather the same way she was as a human. In fact, she almost felt as if she were generating her own source of body heat.

He seemed to notice what she was wearing, but he didn’t make any remarks. She sat down in the chair next to him, picking up a throw pillow and hugging it to her chest. “So, what brings you by?” she asked.

He still hesitated to look at her, even though she was somewhat clothed now. He glanced in her direction and then back at the floor. “Well, I wanted to see how you were feeling,” he began, cautiously. “I haven’t seen you since the procedure, and I wanted to check in with you.”

“I’m good,” she said, nodding her head. “It took me a while to come around, you know, after the process,” she explained, and he nodded that he was aware of that situation. “But now I’m good. I’m getting used to things, changes. I think that will take a little time, but I’ll get there.”

“That’s good. So, what have you noticed so far?” he asked, finally becoming a little more capable of looking in her direction.

“Oh, just the way things move, mostly. It’s almost like I can control it, you know? Like speed it up or down. It’s weird. That’s going to take some adjustment.”

“It does,” he said as if remembering having similar experiences early after his own Transformation. “You will get used to it, and it will really help you when you are in battle,” he added.

“Right, battle,” she said widening her eyes. “Not exactly something I do every day.”

“That is part of the job description, you know?” he said smiling.

“Oh, I know. Trust me, I know. Just not sure I’m ready for that yet.”

“No, you’re not,” he agreed. “But we’ll get you over to LIGHTS in the next couple of days, and within a few weeks you’ll be ready to go.”

That statement opened the door for her question of earlier that day regarding who exactly would be training her. Now, with the topic hanging between them, she was hesitant to ask.

He seemed to know what she was thinking, however, so he broached the topic himself. “I spoke to Eliza earlier today,” he said, clearly choosing his words carefully.

“Did you?” she asked. She kind of had a feeling Eliza would be asking if he was planning on training her or not, wanting to know for her own purposes. Something seemed to be going on there, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was. Eliza just seemed very protective of Aaron, like she didn’t want Cadence to get too close.

“Yes, I did,” he reiterated. “She told me the two of you had had a conversation about your training and that you had some questions. That’s really why I decided to just come over and meet with you, though you’re right a phone call would have been nice.”

She smiled. She was over it now. “Well, yes,” she began. “I felt like, when we talked about its few days ago, that you had indicated that you would be doing my training, or at least the majority of it. But then, after speaking to Eliza, I was confused. She said that you don’t really train anymore, and it would probably be someone else. So, I just wasn’t sure what your plan was, or if you had a plan yet, or what was going on.”

He seemed to consider her question carefully before he responded. “Okay, so, first of all, you need to know that, she is right. I don’t usually do training anymore, unless something comes up, there’s an emergency, that sort of things.” Cadence’s face fell. He could tell that she was not happy with his response so far, so he started talking faster. “However, I am planning on making an exception for you.” She took a deep breath and began to calm down a little bit. “Reason being, I don’t think we have any trainers who will be able to keep up with you for one, and also because I know that we had talked about that as part of our agreement. So, yes, I will be doing the majority of your training. Although, I can’t guarantee that no one else will ever be involved.”

“Sure,” she said, nodding along.

“You know, there might be times when I just can’t make a session, that sort of thing, and then someone else may have to fill in. But, my intentions are to train you myself.”

“Okay, good,” she felt much better now and was glad that he had come even though things could’ve been very embarrassing for her.

“Now, that being said,” he continued, “you should also realize that I’m going to be a lot harder on you than anyone else would be. You do realize that, right?”

Cadence wasn’t sure if the thought had occurred to her before or not, but she nodded her head. She realized it now.

“If I’m responsible for training you, and I’m responsible for keeping you safe, you’d better be damn sure that I’m going to whip your ass into shape well before you come into contact with any more Vampires. That’s a guarantee.”

Even though what he was proposing did not sound like a lot of fun, it did make sense, and she was relieved to hear it in a way. At least, she should be as prepared as possible before she ever had to face the enemy.