Transformation: The Clandestine Saga Book 1 (5 page)

Cadence shook her head and began to chew absently on her cuticles, a bad habit she had been trying to break, but given the stresses of the day, she was going to have to let it slide.  “And what is that?”

Another sigh and a pause.  Then, Eliza nodded and slowly answered, “We guard Hunters against Rogue Vampires.  And, we guard Conforming Vampires against Rogue Hunters.”

She had to mull that over in her mind for a few moments. “So, you’re saying that all of those people I saw in black today only have the job of protecting hunters from Vampires? You mean, like, deer hunters?”

Eliza laughed aloud.  “I’m sorry!” she said waving her right hand in Cadence’s direction.  “That was rude! I’m so sorry. You really don’t know anything about this do you? And I thought Aaron was going to explain the basics to you,” she said emphasizing his name, as if Aaron was actually in the car.

“Whose Aaron?” Cadence asked, but even as the question came out of her mouth she realized she already knew the answer.

Even though she was going well above the speed limit, Eliza was having no trouble handling the sports car she was so driving.  “He’s our leader. He is the one that gives us all of our directions.”  Then, she added,  “He’s the one that you said was ‘creepy,’” chuckling once again.

As much as Cadence liked Eliza, she was beginning to get annoyed. “How do you even know about that?” she asked.  “Were you eavesdropping or something?”

“No! Well, not exactly,” Eliza attempted to clarify. Then to Aaron she said,
“Why don’t you just let me explain everything to her? She deserves to know.”

His simple response was what it usually was, “
Follow protocol.”

“
She’s completely unaware that anyone else can see us or hear our conversations. It’s not fair. She should know that!”

“She will.”

“But not now!”

“Follow protocol!”

“Grrr!  You could be a little more flexible!”

“And you could be a little more compliant. Tell her to take a nap or something. You’ll be there in a forty minutes at the speed you’re going.”

“Fine! Whatever you say, Bossman!”

Cadence watched in confusion as Eliza’s expression changed rapidly as if she was having a conversation with someone, which she did not appear to be, and yet, it seemed like, perhaps she really was. Finally she asked, “Are you talking to someone? What’s going on?” she looked around the car as if there might be someone else present.

“See, she’s too smart for this!”

“Follow protocol!”

“I know, I know! I wish I could turn
you
off!”

“Um, all of that will be explained to you shortly. You’ve had a really long day,” Eliza coaxed, “Why don’t you try to take a nap?  We’ll be at our destination soon.”

“And where is that?”

“You’ll see,” Eliza reiterated, flipping the radio on, hopeful that the music would end the conversation.

As much as Cadence wanted her questions answered, she quickly realized that she was not going to get any further with Eliza than she had with Jamie or Aaron. Feeling a bit defeated but even more exhausted, she finally gave in and closed her eyes.

                            ***

It was quite evident when Jack brought Drew’s body into the emergency room that there was nothing the doctor’s could do for her.  When the hospital staff began asking questions about what had happened, Jack didn’t know exactly how to respond, nor did any of the rest of Drew's friends. They certainly couldn’t tell them the truth. Luckily, their good friend Elliott showed up shortly after they arrived at Shenandoah Medical Center, and he was able to explain the tragic accident that had resulted in Drew’s death.  He carefully explained how she had been rock climbing early that morning and slipped on a loose rock.  Her friends had been nearby, but when they reached her, they could easily see that Drew had a gaping gash in her neck.  They tried to stop the bleeding, but it was too late.  She had died.  It was just one of those things that happen.  They had all agreed; it had been a tragic accident. When Elliott explained it, it just seemed to make perfect sense.  There was no reason to question what had happened, no reason to think anything bizarre or paranormal had happened. They had all been rock climbing, that was true, even though Jack wouldn’t generally wear these shoes while climbing. And Drew was ahead of them, also true.  She just fell. They were all very sad to see her go, but this is the sort of thing that happens sometimes.  It was not unusual.  They all knew that to be true.

When Drew’s parents arrived at the hospital, they were hysterical.  But Elliott had been there for them as well, and he explained to them what happened in a way that they could accept and understand.  Elliott and Drew had been friends for so long that Drew’s parents trusted him and believed what he had to say. They were so very sad to lose their daughter, but they understood that sometimes tragedies happen, and we just have to accept them and move forward.

As Jack entered his bedroom, he realized just how completely exhausted he was. Taking his jacket off, he mumbled to himself, “We shouldn’t go rock climbing in the middle of the night anymore. It’s too dangerous.” As he went to hang his jacket on his coat rack, he noticed a small tear in the left shoulder. “I must have fallen, too,” he thought.  He rubbed his shoulder absently, realizing there was also a small tear in his shirt. His shoulder didn’t hurt and he was too tired to investigate right now so he decided to go to sleep. In the morning, he knew he would feel much better. Elliott had told him so.

                            ***

It seemed like Cadence had only been asleep for a few minutes when Eliza brought the car to a halt.  “Cadence,” she said, gently shaking her arm, “We’re here.”

Yawning and rubbing her eyes, Cadence sat up and tried to remember where she was and what she had been doing.  At first, the memories that popped into her head seemed so ridiculous that she thought they had to be fragments of a dream. The sound of a motorcycle pulling in behind them as well as the remembrance of being in an extremely expensive sports car, such as the one she found herself in now, were firm reminders that she was, in fact, recalling what had happened correctly.  Vampires truly had attacked her, and she had ripped the head off of one of them because he had killed her friend.             

Which meant, Drew was really gone.

And now she wished she hadn’t followed that chain of thought quite so far.

“Come on, let’s go,” Eliza exclaimed, flipping her door open and practically dragging her out of the car.

“How can you be so chipper after having been up all night?” Cadence asked, yawning again.

“We’ll explain all of that,” Eliza said, smiling,  “Be happy! It’s finally time to learn everything!”

For the first time, Cadence looked up and realized where she was. “Holy hell,” she muttered, “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

The Queen Anne with the buttercream paint and white gingerbread trim was quite familiar.  They were standing in the driveway at her grandmother’s house.

Chapter Four

              Her grandmother had lived in this house for as long as Cadence could remember.  Her parents had tried to make the trip from Shenandoah to Des Moines at least once or twice a month. It took about twice as long in the family car as it had this time, traveling at over one-hundred miles per hour.  The trip generally took at least two-and-a-half hours while Eliza managed to cover it in about half that time.

              Grandma Janette had been up and expecting them when they pulled in.  Cadence wasn’t sure if she should introduce Eliza and Jamie or if she already knew them. However, they seemed to have at least met before because she asked them both, “How have you been?”  How is it that her grandma knew these two people that she just met yesterday?  She was very much ready to find out what the hell was going on.

              As most grandmothers do, Grandma Janette insisted on feeding her first before she said a word.  She had already made biscuits and gravy and had it sitting on the warmer.  She fixed Cadence a plate but no one else, which also seemed extremely peculiar.  “Don’t you guys eat?” she asked of Jamie and Eliza who had followed them into the kitchen but were just standing behind her, leaning against the counters.

              Eliza opened her mouth to answer but Janette, signaled for her not to. “Why don’t you kids go sit in the living room, make yourselves comfortable. We’ll be in shortly.”

              As they filed out, Janette turned back to Cadence.  “Darling, I am so very sorry to hear about your friend. I remember Drew. She was a sweet girl.”

              Cadence temporarily gagged on her biscuit. She knew her grandmother meant well, but thinking of Drew instantly made her choke up.  She took a sip of water, and after regaining her composure, said, “Thanks, Grandma.  I’m just having a really hard time wrapping my mind around all of this, especially the idea that Drew is gone."

              Her grandmother just nodded slowly, as if she understood exactly what she was saying.  “It will all start to make more sense soon, I promise you.”

              Cadence was tempted to swallow her breakfast whole so they could get on with the transferring of information, but she knew how much her grandma appreciated a nice breakfast, though, come to think of it, she really couldn’t remember ever seeing her grandmother eat a nice breakfast, so she continued to shovel the food into her mouth as quickly as she could without gorging herself, all for the sake of her grandmother’s happiness.

              Neither of them said much while Cadence ate.  Her grandmother usually asked a million questions about school, her friends, her boyfriends, etc. but today Janette was leery of saying the wrong thing and she didn’t want Cadence to start asking her questions just yet.  She’d been waiting a very long time to have this conversation and she almost thought that it would never happen. Now that it was finally upon her, she was a little nervous about the possible outcome. 

              When Cadence finished, Janette offered her more but she insisted she was stuffed. Then, she rinsed her plate off and placed it in the dishwasher.  “Okay?” Cadence asked.  “Can we talk now, please?” she asked.

              Janette slowly rose from the table and reluctantly made her way into the living room.  Though the sun was up now, it was nearly eight o’clock, the room had heavy curtains and not a lot of light entered the room. Eliza and Jamie were sitting in armchairs on either side of a coffee table, both of them staring intently at the screens of what appeared to be iPhones.  As the ladies entered the room, they both put their devices away and gave their full attention to Janette and Cadence. 

              Gesturing for Cadence to have a seat on the sofa, Janette crossed over to the bookshelf.  On the very top shelf, there was a well-worn photo album, one that Grandma had always cautioned the children not to touch. It was too fragile. They would see it when they were older. Now, it seemed, Cadence was old enough at last.

              Sitting down next to Cadence on the sofa and resting the book beside her on the opposite side, Janette cleared her throat and slowly began to unfold the story Cadence had been waiting to hear.

              “Cadence, darling, do you know what the word Clandestine means?” she asked.

              Nodding her head, Cadence said, “Yes, it means secret.”

              “That’s right,” Janette concurred.  “What about the word Ternion?”

              Cadence thought for a moment.  That word did not sound familiar to her. She shook her head.

              “Ternion means a set or group of three, like a triad,” she explained.

              “Like a trilogy?” Cadence asked.

              Janette nodded her head, “More or less.  Today, you are going to learn about one of the most well kept secrets in the history of the world, the Clandestine Ternion.”

              Cadence looked at Eliza and Jamie and they were both smiling reassuringly at her. “Okay,” she said quietly, grabbing a pillow off the edge of the sofa and pulling it to her chest.

              “You see, the Clandestine Ternion is made up of three distinct types of beings. As of last night, you have now been introduced to all three types.  Do you know what they are?”

              Again, Cadence stopped to think. She was sure about two of them.  “Well, Vampires,” she said, watching the rest of the group nod.  Gesturing at Eliza and Jamie she said, “And Guardians.”

              “Those are both correct,” Janette agreed.  “And the third?”

              Cadence swallowed hard, hesitating. “I take it the correct answer isn’t humans?” She watched the others shake their heads. Then, she thought back to what Eliza had told her in the car.  “Hunters?” she asked meekly.

              They all nodded and smiled proudly and Cadence felt like a kindergartner who had correctly identified her colors.  “Now, you should know that we refer to each of those groups as a Passel.  Within the Clandestine Ternion there are three Passels; Vampires, Guardians, and Hunters. ” Janette continued, “What do you think each of those Passels does?”

              If Cadence had known this was going to be a quiz, perhaps she would have had more coffee or gotten more sleep.  “Well, I know what Vampires do,” she said, starting with the easiest one.  “Obviously, they kill humans and drink their blood.”

              “That’s true, some of them do that, amongst other things.  Go on.”

              “Well, I assume that Guardians guard things—uh. . . people . . .uh . . .Passels? And I think that Eliza told me that they guard Hunters, right?”

              “Yes, that’s correct,” Janette confirmed.

              “And then, I guess Hunters hunt—Vampires?” she looking for confirmation.

              “Very good!” Janette said clapping her hands together.  Jamie and Eliza looked pleased at Cadence’s answers, but also amused that Janette was so impressed by Cadence’s simple responses. “Let’s go a step farther, alright?”

              Cadence nodded and her grandmother continued. 

              “What you must understand is that there are forces and powers beyond your present human understanding that balance the Clandestine Ternion and keep things in order.  There are some rules that you must recognize and there are some laws that simply cannot be broken. Let’s go over those, alright?”

              Again, Cadence nodded, still trying to figure out how she fit into this picture.

              “First of all, a Vampire is not capable of killing a Guardian. If a Vampire could kill a Guardian, the entire Ternion would be off balance and things would quickly spiral out of control. We would end up with a world ruled by Vampires.”

              Cadence needed some clarification. “Wait—are you saying that they are not physically capable of killing a Guardian or they truly cannot kill them?”

              Eliza chimed in this time, “Cannot!” she said, shaking her head from side to side vigorously.

              “Okay,” Cadence said, understanding.  “So, if Vampires could kill Guardians they would just kill them all and kill all of the Hunters and kill all of the people?”

              Three heads nodded up and down confirming her assumption.

              This made perfect sense to Cadence, though she wondered why whoever made this rule didn’t just make it impossible for anything to kill anything, but that was beside the point at this juncture.

              “So can anyone kill Guardians?” Cadence asked.  The room went silent and Cadence got the impression that she may have crossed a line or jumped ahead.

              “We’ll get to that, I promise,” Janette said, trying to stick to the order she was taught to follow while explaining the Ternion.  “Vampires can kill Hunters and of course Hunters can kill Vampires. However, Guardians also guard against Hunters wiping out the entire species of Vampires.”

              “What? Why?” Cadence asked, thinking it would be a great idea to just completely wipe out all of the bloodsuckers and do away with the problem completely.

              “Because, believe it or not, Vampires do serve a purpose,” Janette explained.  “When they do their job correctly, Vampires clean up the under-belly of the human population.  They eliminate evil and corrupt humans.”

              Again, Cadence had to check the room to make sure she understood correctly. She looked at Jamie this time.  “So, Vampires are allowed to kill humans as long as they are bad?” He nodded his confirmation, making her head swivel to Eliza.  “But, who determines who is a bad vampire and who is a good vampire? Or who is a bad human or a good human? How do I know for sure that jackass I killed last night wasn’t on the Nice List?”

              “You’re jumping ahead again, darling,” Janette stated, bringing her back down a bit. “We’ll get to all of that, alright?

              Cadence nodded her agreement and Janette continued.

              “There’s just one more thing you need to know,” she hesitated and looked at Eliza and Jamie for support.  “It rarely happens, but it is possible, for a Hunter to kill a Guardian.”

              Cadence’s face took on a look of confusion.  “Why would a Hunter ever want to kill a Guardian? Aren’t Guardians there to help Hunters?”

              Janette said nothing so Eliza picked up for her. “Yes, our primary roll over the years has become the protection of Hunters who are engaged in battle against Vampires.  However, occasionally, and on extremely rare occasions, a Hunter will find reason to eliminate a Guardian and there is very little that we can do to protect ourselves because a Guardian cannot kill a Hunter.”

              Cadence thought she understood precisely what Eliza was saying, but she didn’t quite understand why her grandmother was so upset. Having learned from her previous mistakes, she chose not to ask just yet but to wait and see what topic came up next.              After a moment, Janette seemed ready to continue. “You asked who determines which Vampires are good and which are not?” Cadence nodded.  “Well, the Guardian Passel has a leader and that leader determines the majority of what the Passel does.  He or she communicates with all of the Guardians and the preponderance of the Hunters and lets them know the status and location of all of the Vampires. It is solely up to the Guardian Leader to determine who is considered a Rogue Vampire and who is considered a Compliant Vampire.  Hunters are not allowed to hunt Compliant Vampires and, if they are caught doing so, the Guardians will no longer provide service to them.”

              “Wow,” Cadence muttered, pondering all of this new information. “It seems like it would be nearly impossible to keep up with all of the Vampires in the world and then adding in most of the Hunters. How in the world does the leader keep up with it?”

              This time Janette deferred to Jamie has he was more of an expert on the system in place now.  “Well,” he began, “every Hunter and every Guardian has a device implanted directly into his or her eye. It’s called an Intelligence Assistance Communicator, or IAC. It’s basically the smallest and most powerful computer ever invented. It allows you to communicate via thought with anyone else who also has an IAC implant.  We can also access the use of each other’s eyes, record data, etc. just by our thoughts.”

              Cadence looked around the room to see if anyone else was buying this. “Seriously?” she asked, “You expect me to believe that you each have a computer chip in your eye that let’s you communicate telepathically?  No way, that’s not possible. I believe the Vampires, Ternions and the Pastels or whatever their called, but there’s no way I believe that you have a chip in your eye. That’s insane! If that were true, we’d all have them."

              Jamie and Eliza exchanged glances. “I guess you’ll believe that part later when we implant yours then,” she said, laughing.  Suddenly, her demeanor changed and she looked like a scolded puppy.

              “See now, what was that?” Cadence said, picking up on it. “Why did you make that face?”

              Eliza’s first instinct was to plead ignorance, as that is what she had been doing the last several hours, but then she decided to use this as an example.  “Because, I just got
in trouble
for saying that!” she emphasized the “in trouble” portion as if she was not speaking to Cadence when she said it.