Transformation: The Clandestine Saga Book 1 (14 page)

              She nodded in agreement. Now would come that really awkward good-bye routine that neither of them wanted to confront. He stood first, the window he used to get in and out just a few steps behind him. She stood also, but she didn’t step toward him, in fact she didn’t move at all. She was wondering if he could tell how badly she wished he would kiss her.

              He did know. It was almost as if she was transmitting the thought directly out of her head and into his, like she was using an IAC, it was so strong.  And he really wanted to comply with her wishes. But he had already sworn to Elliott that he was not interested in her that way. Clearly, he had been lying and he knew that, but he also knew it was far too early in this relationship for him to complicate matters by moving ahead romantically.  Still, Cadence roused feelings in him he could not remember having felt for decades and with her standing there looking up at him between those long eyelashes, it was almost impossible for him not to lean over and press his lips against hers.

              Luckily for him, self-control was another of his super powers, or at least it was tonight, and he was able to resist the urge to kiss her, once again.  He decided, however that a hug would be much less harmful and he opened his arms and stepped towards her. She returned his embrace and rested her head on his shoulder, her face looking away from his, which made maintaining his decision much easier.

              Her hands were on his chest and she couldn’t resist the urge to feel his muscles as she slowly slid her arms around him.  She knew that, if she turned her face towards his, he would probably kiss her. However, since he had not done so before, she knew there must be a reason he did not want to kiss her. Hopefully, it was just a matter of time.  He was smoothing her hair with his right and, his left rubbing her back and she would have stood that way for a very long time if he had let her. After a few minutes, however, he released her and she stepped back, looking up at him intensely.

              “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

              She nodded.

              “Please try to remember that, when I am your boss, I can’t be your friend. When I am a friend instead of a leader, individuals die. Do you know what I mean?”

              Again, she nodded. 

              “Good night, Cadence” he said, gently stroking her cheek before stepping towards the window once more.

              “Good night,” she said as she watched him disappear from view. She walked over to her bed and flung herself onto it, elated and dismayed all at the same time.  At least tomorrow morning should be fun before the real work began. She was looking forward to training, but she was also a bit terrified that she wouldn’t live up to everyone’s expectations. She knew they would all find out soon enough.

Chapter Nine

              Shopping with Eliza was a little bit like watching a cat chase a laser pointer. No matter how many times she seemed to pounce on an item and declare that she “Loved it!” there was always something else within her eyesight begging for her to pounce it, too.  By the time they were done, Cadence had spent more money than she could possible imagine, needed assistance with her bags, and was developing a stress headache from her attempts to reign Eliza in all day.

              But it had been an amazing experience.  Aaron was correct in assuming they would need a plane, and this was not just any plane, it was a Gulfstream G550, one of the most luxurious and fastest jets available.  Cadence had assumed that Aaron had just chartered it for them, but then Eliza explained the Guardian Passel actually maintained their own fleet of jets simply because, if they needed to get somewhere quickly, they had to be able to do so. She was finding out that this was really a monstrosity of an organization, and she was beginning to wonder how it’s leader had managed to spend a week of his valuable time in Shenandoah, Iowa. When she had questioned Eliza, she simply said, “You’re special,” and changed the subject. Cadence wasn’t sure if she was joking or not.

              They had flown straight in to Beverly Hills, first stop Rodeo Drive.  Eliza explained that her first choices would have been Milan or Paris, but since they needed to get her back to LIGHTS relatively soon, this would have to do.  And Cadence was rather surprised by how many outfits Eliza was able to find that would actually be accommodating for Vampire hunting. Eliza had helped her pick out quite a few outfits for hunting and several for training as well.  She said since Aaron had handed over his credit card that morning, she was more than willing to do as much damage as possible. When Cadence had asked if it was akin to a corporate credit card or if it was his actual personal credit card, Eliza replied, “It really doesn’t matter. They’re both richer than God.”

              She had also bought a few casual outfits and a dress or two, in case there were any special occasions or other evening activities she needed to be elegantly dressed for. She had never spent money like this before and wasn’t sure how Aaron was going to feel about when he saw the bill, but Eliza assured her it was fine.

After several hours of shopping, they finally headed back to the plane and were on their way to LIGHTS.  Cadence had told her family good-bye that morning. Her mom had cried, as she knew she would, and her sister had a bit, too. But she had been able to hold back the tears, content in knowing she had made the right decision and fully ready to start a new chapter in her life.

              She had learned from Eliza that her belongings from her college dorm room had been collected and placed in her apartment at LIGHTS. Aaron had also arranged for a moving team to take whatever else she wanted from her bedroom at home to be transferred. She had made a list, including most of her clothing and personal affects. She was sure, however, to make note that they were not to bring the pink beanbag chair.

              As the plane landed at Kansas City Downtown Municipal Airport, Cadence felt flutters in her stomach. She was beginning to get a little nervous, as this all became a reality fairly quickly.  When they deplaned, Cadence was surprised and happy to see Jamie there with a car to collect them. She felt like a celebrity with her plane pulling right up alongside the Cadillac Escalade Jamie had driven over.

              “Jamie!” Cadence said, running the short distance to where he waited. She threw herself in to his arms. Though it had only been a few days since she had seen him, it felt like much longer, and she was glad to have the opportunity at last to tell him how thankful she was for his willingness to use his healing powers on her when she was going through Transformation.

              “Hello, Cadence,” he said, as happy to see her as she was to see him. “Eliza,” he said as she also approached the vehicle.

              “James,” she said in a thick British accent, as if he were her chauffeur.

              “How was the shopping trip?” he asked, pulling the passenger side doors open.

              “Great,” Cadence replied. She saw that Eliza seemed to be content to ride in the back so she slid into the front seat.

              Eliza had arranged for all of their bags to be delivered directly to their apartments, so they were able to precede the short distance to LIGHTS without waiting on anything else being deplaned.

              Jamie slid into the drivers seat and headed out of the airport.  “Well, are you excited?” he asked glancing in Cadence’s general direction.

              “I’m very excited,” she replied. She was looking out the window at all of the tall buildings, wondering how far they were going, eager to finally see what LIGHTS was all about. “And, I wanted to tell you thank you for everything you did for me during my Transformation. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

              “You’re welcome,” he said, smiling as he made a sharp right that would have sent her reeling across the seat if she had still been a human.  Apparently, Guardians did not reserve extreme driving for the interstates. “We’re excited to have you here,” he said smiling, completely unaware that his driving was anything at all out of the ordinary.

              “I have your agenda,” he said picking up a sheet of paper from the console and handing it to her. “It’s really more like a list since we weren’t exactly sure what time you were going to arrive.  Our agendas are programed into the IAC every morning, but since you don’t have that yet, Aaron wanted you to have a paper copy.”

              “You have an agenda everyday?” she asked, a bit surprise.

              “Oh yes, every day,” Eliza chimed in from the backseat.

              “It makes sense,” Jamie said defending the notion.  “There are so many of us, we have to have some sort of organization. We’re really just assigned to tasks as they pop up and the agenda helps keep track of who is involved in what.  It’s not like we have scheduled bathroom breaks or anything,” he added.

              Cadence looked it over, and it didn’t look so bad to her.  She read it aloud so that Eliza could hear. “Visit apartment, tour facility, train, IAC implant with Christian,” she modified the phrase “train with Aaron” so as not to offend Eliza.  It looked like a pretty good agenda to her. “Who is going to be showing me my apartment?” she asked.

              “That would be me,” Jamie replied. “I am your host, unless otherwise specified.”

              “Terrific!” Cadence exclaimed.  “I’m so glad we get to spend the rest of the day together!”

              “Wait, you’re training her?” Eliza asked, knowing that couldn’t be right. Jamie was great at what he did but training was not his area of expertise.

              Jamie knew exactly why Cadence had not read that part aloud and he wished to avoid it as well. “Um, I’m not sure about that,” he lied. “Probably not. I guess I’m your host for most of those events, put it that way. We’ll figure it out.”

              Eliza snorted in disgust but she didn’t ask any more questions.  If she had drawn any conclusions, she didn’t say so and Cadence chose to change the topic, rather than face her wrath.

              “Will you be there when I get my IAC?” she asked Jamie.

              “Do you want me to be?” he inquired.

              “Yes, please!” she responded without hesitation. She wasn’t sure if this was going to hurt or not, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

              “Then, I will be there,” he replied. She grabbed his arm and gave it a squeeze, and Eliza didn’t miss the delightful expression on his face.

              “Unless it’s not on your agenda,” Eliza blurted.

              “Listen here, Eliza Doolittle, you have quite the attitude this afternoon. Didn’t shopping make you happy?” Jamie asked catching her eye in the rearview mirror.

              “Yes,” Eliza admitted, “It did. I’m just crashing, I guess,” she muttered.

              They turned a corner and the LIGHTS buildings came into view.  They were out of the city now, and the campus seemed to take up several acres. They passed through a fence, which opened automatically as the vehicle approached. Cadence assumed there must be some sort of sensor. Then they wound their way up a little hill towards the main buildings. 

              “Those two taller buildings in the back are the apartments,” Jamie explained. “That building that looks like a gym is the
gym
,” he said smiling, “and you don’t have to worry about most of these other buildings because you won’t ever be in them. Unless of course you get called into Aaron’s office for doing something stupid, which happens more frequently for some people than for others,” he added, glancing in Eliza’s direction.  She stuck her tongue out at him but said nothing. “His office is in that building right there,” he said pointing to one of the taller buildings. “And then this little building right here is where we meet to talk about hunts, both planning and debriefing.  Over here is the parking garage where we house all of the vehicles, except for the planes and boats for obvious reasons.  You’ll learn as you go, but basically, you can have a car delivered and picked up in front of you building so you don’t have to worry about bringing it over here unless you’re in a hurry and want to pick it up yourself.”

              She was nodding along.  “So how many people live here?”

              “Well, it varies,” Jamie said thinking. “There are about sixty-five full-time Guardians on our team and twenty other full-time Hunters. We work with other Hunters and Guardians as well, but most of them don’t belong to our central team. There are other teams in other parts of the country and the world as well.  The other ones around here that aren't part of our time work like independent contractors. Some Guardians and Hunters have long term working relationships. Other Hunters don’t use Guardians. Some Guardians are freelancers; it’s a whole convoluted mess when you really stop to think about it.  And then every new Hunter and Guardian in the world is required to come and train here.  They must stay on location until our trainers determine they are ready to move to observational hunts and then to be released, at which time they could possibly be asked to join our team, though that doesn’t happen very often, or another team in a different region. So, that’s where the majority of the individuals on campus come from and there could be up to two hundred or so of them at a time. It really just depends on who is Transforming.”

              They had come to a stop in front of one of the two apartment buildings.  “This is the building where team members live and that building over there is for the trainees.”

              “What, you’re going to make her walk?” Eliza chimed in.

              Cadence and Jamie exchanged glances before he responded. “No,” he replied, “not any further than you are.  Cadence is on our team now, Eliza, didn’t you realize that?”

              “What?” Eliza asked. “How is that possible? You haven’t even completed training yet. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s great to work with you and all, but what if you suck?”

              Jamie just shook his head and Cadence didn’t know how to respond.  She was beginning to understand why Aaron had warned her that Eliza didn’t get along well with other girls.  “I’ll show you to your room,” he said, climbing out of the car. He tossed the keys to a valet who came out to move the car, which raised another question for Cadence.

              “So, who are the other people that work here?  They know about Clandestine Ternion, too, right? Are they humans?”

              The doorman pulled open the heavy glass door and Cadence found herself in a fairly large lobby.  The center of the building was open all the way to the top, where there was a skylight. It wasn’t a towering building, perhaps only twenty floors or so, but it was still impressive and Cadence was feeling more and more at home.

              “Most of them are non-Transformees,” Jamie explained. Eliza was behind them but she was loafing, obviously still offended that she wasn’t consulted before Cadence was asked to join them.  “A few of them are Transformees who either couldn’t cut it or decided it just wasn’t for them.  It’s not easy doing battle with the powers of darkness every night,” he said attempting a bit of humor. Cadence chuckled, but she also saw the truth in what he said.

              Jamie manually pushed the up button on the elevator, though he could have called it through his IAC, and they all stepped inside. “Are you going with us to see Cadence’s apartment?” Jamie asked Eliza, praying she would say no.

              “Sure!” she said in the most chipper voice she could muster. “I have nothing else on my agenda. For now.”

             
Great
, Jamie thought. “Okay,” he said nonchalantly. In his mind he activated the elevator and requested it go to level twenty-two. He knew he was grasping at straws, but he thought, maybe if he didn’t manually press the button, Eliza wouldn’t notice where they were going.

              She was distracted by her phone at the moment. Though she rarely used it for actually communicating with anyone, she liked to have it around so she could play games with it. It was much more fun to play Candy Crush with her finger than her eye.