Repercussion: The Clandestine Saga Book 3 (27 page)

              "Lucy, thanks so much for bringing her home," Liz smiled. "You're such a good friend. I bet your parents will be so excited to see you, sweetie."

              "Oh, yeah, I guess I should be getting home," Lucy nodded. She said her goodbyes, took one more lingering look at Aaron, and then bounded out the door.

"Now that little girl has a lot of hair," Aaron commented as Cadence took his hand and followed her mother into the living room. Cassidy was sitting on the sofa and her father was asking her about cheerleading camp.

              "We came in fourth, which isn't bad, but I really feel like we can do better next year," she was saying. As Cadence entered the room, she looked at her with a peculiar expression on her pretty face, and then repeated her earlier question. "So, you didn't answer me. How come Elliott's not here? Is he at the hotel or something?"

              "You know what, I was just about to put some cookies in the oven," Liz remarked. "Eli, darling, can you help me?"

"Do you want me to stay or go?"
Aaron asked.

             
"Go,"
Cadence replied, knowing her sister would be more comfortable if he was out of the room.
"But not far."

              He kissed her on the cheek and followed her parents out of the room, and Cadence absently thought the conversation he was about to have with her parents would seem painful when compared to any other conversation in the universe, save the one she was about to have herself.

              Cassidy was extremely bright and the mass evacuation of the room was not lost on her. As Cadence sat down next to her on the couch, tucking a foot beneath her and placing a throw pillow on her lap, she said, "Cadey, you're scaring me. What's going on?"

              Even though Cassidy had not been friends with Drew, she had known her. Cassidy had been extremely fond of Jack. As excruciating as it had been to go through those two deaths for Cadence, it had been difficult for her sister as well, and part of Cadence's suffering came from knowing her sister was so upset. This would be the hardest of all, however. Cassidy had grown extremely fond of Elliott over the last six months or so. Despite the fact that Cadence had gone over this conversation in her head dozens of times in the past few days, she knew there was no way to break it to her in a way that would prevent her from falling part. Nevertheless, it had to be said, and she had to be the one to say it.

              "Cass, there was... an incident... at work, a few days ago," she began.

              "Cadence, is Elliott... dead?" Cassidy asked, getting straight to the point.

              Cadence stopped talking and stared into her sister's hazel eyes. After a long pause, still holding her gaze, she simply said, "Yes." She watched Cassidy's porcelain face begin to crack, starting with a single tear, which splintered into a rivulet of sobs over the course of several seconds as the realization set in. "I'm so sorry, Cassidy," Cadence said, pulling her sister into her arms.

              "How is this possible?" Cassidy asked in disbelief, her head still buried. "I just talked to him, like, last week. He was here... right here... on this couch, giving me a hard time about how short my cheerleading skirt is, and this stupid boy at school, and now, just like that, he's gone?"

              Cadence was surprised to hear he had just been at her house, but she didn't question that aloud, not right now. "I know," she agreed. "Believe me, I'm having an extremely difficult time accepting it myself, Sis."

              "What happened?" she asked, pulling back a bit, absently swiping at her nose with the back of her hand.

Cadence had thought ahead and made sure there were tissues handy. She pulled a few out of the box on the coffee table and handed them to her sister. Remarkably, she had been able to hold back her own tears this time, so far. "I can't really go into detail, Cass. But, sometimes our job is dangerous. "

              Cassidy was shaking her head. "Cadence, why do so many people you love die?"

              "Ha," Cadence said, the truth of what her sister was asking hitting a raw nerve. "If you had any idea how many times I have asked that question myself lately, Sis.... I don't have an answer for that, I honestly don't. I wish I knew..."

              "Was it an accident?" she asked, tears still streaming down her face.

              Cadence knew her sister would ask a lot of specific questions, and she wanted to be honest with her, but there were so many things she wasn't allowed to tell her, not yet. "No, it wasn't an accident. But I really can't say much else, Cass. I'm sorry. I wish I could explain everything to you, but I'm not allowed to. It's just part of my job."

              "I know," her sister said, pointedly.

              "Good, I'm glad you understand," Cadence said, mustering a weak smile, her hand on her sister's knee.

              "No, I mean, I know, Cadence. I know."

              Cadence raised an eyebrow at her sister, a skeptical, but cautious expression on her face. "What do you mean, you know?"

Cassidy swallowed hard, choking back tears, but clearly also contemplating how to reply. "I mean, I know that you're a... Vampire Hunter. I know."

              Cadence drew a deep breath. Shocked, she said, "What are you..."

              "Please don't pretend it's not true," Cassidy said, her eyes showing the truth of the matter.

              "Uhm, listen, Cass, I'm not allowed to talk about what I do," she stammered.

"Why not?" Cassidy asked. "Don't you think I deserve to know?"

              "I do," Aaron said, and Cadence wondered how long he'd been standing behind her. It wasn't like her not to know when he was in the room. "Tell her," he said quietly.

              Cadence turned around, meeting his eyes. "Tell her?" she asked, not sure why he would authorize such a thing. She wasn't able to Transform until she was at least seventeen, and generally speaking, Hunters and Guardians put off having such conversations until their offspring were old enough to go through the change process.

"She's been through enough. You can explain it to her," he assured her.

              "But what about Grandma's book and..."

"Cadence," he said, stepping forward and squeezing her shoulders. "I think we're passed all the bullshit at this point. Tell your little sister what we do." He leaned forward and kissed her on the top of the head, and then crossed the room to sit in the armchair opposite her father's, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.

              Cadence took another deep breath and turned back to her sister, who was looking at Aaron with a grateful, yet surprised, expression. "Okay, Cass. I'll tell you. I am a Vampire Hunter."

              "I knew it!" she exclaimed, just above a whisper.

              "So, Elliott didn't tell you?"

"No, he wouldn't tell me anything," Cassidy confirmed. "I just... did some research."

              Cadence glanced at Aaron, but he was clearly lost in his own thoughts. She pondered what type of research was available, but returned her attention to her sister. "My job is, obviously, to kill Vampires, but only the bad ones."

Cassidy nodded. "There are good Vampires?"

              "Well, there are Compliant Vampires. If they follow the rules and only feed on animals or very bad people, we leave them alone."

              Cassidy absorbed that for a second before asking, "And was Elliott a Vampire Hunter, too, then?"

"No," Cadence answered quickly. "He... was... a Guardian." It was still difficult to use the past tense when speaking about her friend.

"What is a Guardian?" Cassidy asked, glancing at Aaron who was sitting back in the chair now, quietly observing.

"A Guardian's job is to protect Vampire Hunters from Vampires. When we get in trouble, they can intercede and keep us safe," Cadence explained.

              "So, can Vampires kill Guardians?"

              "No."

              "But Vampires can kill Vampire Hunters."

              "Yes."

              "What can kill a Guardian?"

              Cadence glanced at Aaron, who gave her a sympathetic look, before turning back to Cassidy. "Only a Vampire Hunter.

Cassidy took that in. "But why would a Vampire Hunter want to kill a Guardian?"

              With a deep sigh, Cadence said, "If I knew the answer to that, maybe these last few days wouldn't have been hell on Earth, but I honestly have no idea."

Nodding, Cassidy said, "So, it was a Vampire Hunter that killed Elliott?"

              "Yes."

              "And is this Vampire Hunter still alive?"

              "Yes--for the time being?"

              "But you're going to get him?"

"Hell, yes, we're going to get him," Aaron replied, causing them both to turn and look in his direction.

              Cadence nodded at him confidently before returning to her sister. "We were in a situation where we were trying to bring in a very dangerous Vampire and a team of Vampire Hunters that were angry with us over another situation ambushed us. Elliott died protecting my friend Meaghan. He died a hero--he is a hero."

"So, how are you going to find this Vampire Hunter, the one that killed Elliott?" Cassidy asked, the wheels in her head clearly spinning.

              "We'll find him," Cadence assured her.

"I want to help," Cassidy replied, meeting her sister's eyes.

              "I'm sorry, Cass, you can't, not yet. You're not old enough," Cadence replied sympathetically.

              "What? What do you mean?"

              "You're going to have to wait until you're seventeen to go through the Transformation process and become a Vampire Hunter, if you decide you want to," Cadence explained.

              "That's bullshit," Cassidy exclaimed.

Cadence's eyes widened. She had never heard her sister use a swear word before. Ever.

              Cassidy threw her hand over her mouth. "Sorry. I didn't mean..., but Elliott was like a brother to me. You've got to let me do something," she pleaded.

              "I'll tell you what, we'll talk it over, and see if there's something you can do when the time comes. But we have a lot of other things to consider right now--and we have to find him," Cadence said, hoping to offer some sort of consolation to her sister. "There are a lot of rules, a lot of other things that you don't know about yet. It takes time to and a lot of exposure to all the moving parts to figure this all out, Sis. It's like a completely different world, one you have been living in your whole life that you didn't even know existed. It's really very overwhelming, and I can't explain it all to you right now." For the first time since Cadence had been exposed to the Clandestine Ternion back in November, she finally had some clarity as to why Aaron didn't tell her everything all at once. Once again, she met his eyes, and she saw the acknowledgement there that he recognized her new perspective.

              Cassidy seemed to accept that but made one last plea. "Fine," she said, "but if there's anything at all that I can do to help find this... creep, you've got to let me."

              "We will," Aaron assured her.

"Thank you," Cassidy said, managing a small smile. Then she added, "So, Aaron, what are you?"

              He laughed quietly.
"Good question,"
he shot to Cadence, who smiled in acknowledgement "I'm a Guardian," he replied.

              "A Guardian?" Cadence asked, looking at him skeptically. He shrugged at her and she threw the pillow she'd been holding at him, which he was able to dodge. When she turned back to her sister, she looked confused. "He's the Guardian Leader, Cass. He's in charge of every Guardian in the world."

"Oh, wow," Cassidy said in awe. "That sounds pretty important."

              "Yeah, and since there's currently no Hunter Leader, he's in charge of all of them, too."

"But," Aaron chimed in, "we are in the process of electing a new one of those, so hopefully that won't be an issue for much longer."

"If we can find a suitable candidate," Cadence muttered, just before the pillow came whizzing back in her direction. She caught it with one hand without looking, and Cassidy's mouth fell open. "I can do lots of cool stuff now, Cass. You should see how fast I can run."

"I'm..." she began, "overwhelmed. You're right. Okay. I guess I need to process all of this, and figure out what to do without Elliott," she said slowly.

              "I think we're all going to need some time to figure that out," Aaron said quietly.

Cassidy nodded. "I'm sorry. He was your best friend for a really long time, huh?"

              "Yes."

              She was clearly fighting back tears again. "I think I'm going to go to my room now," she said, pulling herself to her feet.

"Okay, Cass, but there's just one more thing," Cadence began. "You can't tell anyone about this. No one. Not Lucy or Emma, not Milo or Wes, or any of your other friends, okay? If you feel like you need to talk about it, you have to talk to one of us."