It really wasn’t unusual for Aaron to be up all night. In fact, it was to the point now where he rarely slept at all. The only reason he ever did so was because he truly enjoyed dreaming, especially when those dreams included visions of loved ones long gone. But last night, he had been up for several different reasons, none of them good ones.

First of all, he had to attempt to locate Sam, Finn, and Camille and let them know that, if they continued to disobey his directives, they would no longer be eligible for Guardian support of any kind. They had all left without permission last night, not to mention Sam’s refusal to follow his orders to stop screaming obscenities at Cadence after the debacle of a hunt had concluded. He understood that Sam had his reasons to be mad, and while Aaron had agreed that they would capture Henry unharmed for several reasons, not just the ones Sam was aware of, Cadence had followed protocol in destroying a Rogue Vampire. She just hadn’t followed his commands up until he gave her the order to take the shot, which was his decision. By then, there was no way to bring Henry in and save the baby.

Though Sam and his gang had some personal reasons for wanting to capture Henry rather than destroy him, Aaron wanted him taken alive because he had heard rumors that Henry was aware of exactly where Holland was. And it made perfect sense that he would know, too, because Henry was created by Holland, and Vampires tended to keep track of their own family members. His plan had been to capture Henry, extract any information he could get from him, and then hand him over to Sam. Now, with that plan busted, he determined he needed to return to the only leads that had thus far been successful. Rumor had it that Holland had returned to her roots, that she was somewhere in Europe, possibly Spain or France, and he needed to find her quickly, especially now that Cadence had taken out another one of her loved ones. As for the band of renegade Hunters, he had heard that they were on their way to Texas; another Rogue Vampire on their list had made an appearance and they were determined to make this one pay. So long as Sam and his minions stayed out of his way, Aaron would let him go.

Aaron had spent most of the night second-guessing his decision to tell Cadence that they needed to go their separate ways. As much as Elliott was convinced the events of last night transpired because Cadence was taking advantage of their relationship, Aaron was fairly certain that was not the case. When she said that she really could not control her instinct to chase a fleeing Vampire, he tended to believe her. He had never worked with a Hunter this powerful before. In fact, he wasn’t sure one had ever existed, so, while it was still a problem if she could not control her instincts, at least he knew she had not purposely disobeyed him. He was beginning to think that he had acted too rashly, and he should have given it some time.

Just as he was beginning to think he should ask Cadence to stop by so he could apologize, he got her message requesting an airplane instead of a car. Finding the inquiry rather odd, he messaged her back wanting to know if everything was okay.

“Jack is very sick, and I can’t get ahold of his family.”

Aaron did not hesitate to arrange for her to take one of the smaller planes even though the idea of her racing off to see an ex-boyfriend was extremely unsettling. He was now completely convinced he had acted like an idiotic jerk for making such an important decision under such stressful circumstances. Now, when he had begun to realize his mistake, it seemed like it might be too late. For once, he found it rather fortunate that he had so much work to do to help keep his mind off of Cadence.

* * *

Cadence was extremely thankful that Aaron was not only willing to let her borrow one of the planes, he actually made all of the arrangements for her, including a ride to the airport. He even arranged for a car service to pick her up at the airport in Lincoln and take her to Jack’s dorm room. Unfortunately, his kindness made him even more endearing to her, which didn’t help her cause of trying to let him go.

As Cadence’s plane touched down in Lincoln, she received an IAC from Christian, asking if she wanted to grab dinner. “Shit,” she thought, realizing she hadn’t even told him she was leaving town. She messaged him back, letting him know the situation with Jack. He sent his condolences, offered his assistance in any way, and requested a rain check for dinner, which she agreed to. She had been so focused on Jack, Christian had completely slipped her mind.

Stepping out of the car into the December chill, Cadence surveyed the area, not exactly sure where she was or how to find Jack. She had only been to Jack’s dorm once, earlier in the fall semester. She had agreed to go with him to a fraternity party for the group he was pledging to. Being with such a large group of strangers had made her very nervous, and she had ingested a lot of alcohol, something she didn’t normally do. Now, looking around the cluster of dorm buildings, she wasn’t quite sure she could remember which one was his. He had not answered his cell phone, nor the phone he had called her on earlier in the day, and she still couldn’t get ahold of any of his family.

Standing on the sidewalk, staring at her options of buildings, they all seemed to look the same. She thought about randomly walking inside one of them and asking if they could look up his room number in some sort of database. As if he was reading her mind, she got a message from Aaron saying, “Did you get there okay? Need anything?”

She was so startled that his timing was so perfect, she actually checked her IAC to make sure he wasn’t connected visually. “Dorm building and number?!?” she replied.

“That might be helpful. Last name?”

“Jack Cook.”

Within seconds he replied:

“Rm 402, Sandoz Hall”

“Thank you!”

“You bet. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Cadence was glad to find that the main door was unlocked, though she didn’t know what she would do if his room were locked, and he couldn’t open the door. Busting into his room didn’t seem right. Fortunately, when she reached the fourth floor and found his room, it wasn’t a problem. Not only was his door not locked, it wasn’t even closed all the way.

She entered slowly, afraid his roommate might be there, afraid she might encounter Holland or one of her cronies, and slightly afraid that she might be too late and find only his corpse.

Jack was lying on his bed in his boxers and a T-shirt, his blankets disheveled and hanging over the edge onto the floor. She could see that he was breathing, but even in the dimly lit room, she realized that he was extremely pale. She glanced around the room and didn’t see his roommate anywhere, so she assumed he must be in class. The room was a filthy mess, especially Jack’s side, with pizza boxes, soda cans, and various other trash items strewn about and mixed in with piles of dirty clothes. This was not the Jack she had known and loved, Mr. Organized, and the state of his room made her wonder just how long he had been feeling so ill.